My Page: Brian Staker

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Am I Blue

Ozma is one of those odd musical mutations that comes up every once in a while, a really heavy kind of pop music in some ways similar to Weezer, for whom they have opened. But then hailing from Pasadena, they have that California eccentricity going for them, and particularly in that part of the state, the echoes of the Beach Boys that still seem to reverberate somehow.

Also this week: Guster, Cut Chemist/Lyrics Born, Ziggy Marley, John Popper Project, Blue Man Group, Eagles of Death Metal, the English Beat [more]

Old Soles

If as Sir Elton John himself once opined, ‘sad songs say so much,’ the oeuvre of my Pick of the Week, Bonnie Prince Billy speaks volumes. The non-de-tune, one of many of itinerant actor and indie songwriter in the alt-country vein born into the world as Will Oldham, isn’t an example of a musical chameleon ala Prince but a man exploring various facets of the same persona, mining rich lyrical ores from the deep vein of the American folk and country musical lexicon.

Also this week: Michael Franti & Spearhead, Strike Anywhere, Dashboard Confessional, Stones Throw 10th Anniversary Tour, Bouncing Souls, Fiona Apple, Jagermeister Music Tour, Evanescence [more]

Found Sounds

A Jason Anderson musical evening isn’t a concert, it’s a campfire singalong, up with people, reunion of best friends celebration all rolled into one. The New Englander, former frontman of Guided By Voices-like garage band Wolf Colonel, has for the last several years pursued his own version of sensitive indie guy acoustic pop. But he’s turned it up several notches. Where others wear their hearts on their sleeve, he’s got it tattooed there. That's why he's my Pick of the Week.

Also this week: Yo La Tengo, Captured By Robots, the Killers, Brandtson, Cursive, Califone, New Found Glory [more]

Method Actors and High Scientists

The ‘California’ in the title of my Pick of the Week is ironic, since the members of the the California Guitar Trio reside in Tokyo, Belgium and Salt Lake City, in the case of Paul Richards. This makes the commute to rehearsals a real son of a bitch. But then they met at a workshop by British fretboard master eccentric Robert Fripp, and toured for a while in his League of Crafty Guitarists, so in the process some of his craftiness rubbed off on them by aural osmosis, and they are crafty enough to pull it off.

Also this week? Method Man, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, Rancid, NoMeansNo, We Are Scientists, Ladytron [more]

Strokes of Luck

It doesn’t seem quite right to call any songstresses in indie rock a diva, but my Pick of the Week Jenny Lewis is one of the genre’s leading lights. The Las Vegas native evokes a long tradition of female vocal personae from Loretta Lynn up to more recently Neko Case. Founding Rilo Kiley in 1998, she has since then warbled at one time or another for The Good Life, Cursive (also coming here several weeks hence) and the Postal Service. Her solo work travels into country music’s rich territory of sadness and loss, bordered by the almost Greek chorus of the Watson twins.

Also this week: KMFDM, The Strokes, Queensryche, North Mississippi Allstars, Meg & Dia, Jedi Mind Tricks [more]

Soulful September

Take two parts early Billy Joel in his streetwise character sketch phase, one part Elliott Smith for his emotional veracity, and a smidgeon of the over-the top vocal persona of Morrissey, and you are maybe a little bit close to describing the pianistic performing protégé of my pick of the week Mark Mallman. Like many Minneapolitans, as a musician he is utterly original, yet rooted in the great American Midwest enough for the ‘everyman’ to relate to. Arriving by way of Milwaukee, he began with a stint in glam band the Odd in the late nineties, and his solo work has some of the dramatic flair of glam to it, without the over-the-top fashion wardrobe. He doesn’t need the stylish clothing to wear his heart on his sleeve. After a handful of releases on various labels, he has settled down to his last two on Badman Records, which is a nice choice as they are home to the solo work of Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, another great emotive songwriter.

Also this week: Soulfly, Side One Dummy College Tour, Starsailorr, Faun Fables, X96 Big Ass Show, Cyndi Lauper, James McMurtry, Damien Jurado [more]

Whale of a Week

Candlebox wasn’t even considered real grunge when they emerged in the 90’s to ride that muddy wave to a multi-platinum apex on the strength of alternative airwaves who parlayed them as a more palatable alternative to the scorching anger of people like Kurt Cobain, who actually had to have certain lyrics bleeped out for our sanitized ears. No, the C-box was more steeped in the bluesy classic-rock sound that grunge had sought to displace, on the radio dial and record store stacks.

Also upcoming: Kenny Rogers, Jerry Joseph, Lawrence Arms, The Draft, Gigantour and Brian Jonestown Massacre (Staker's Pick of the Week) [more]

Shaking Things Up

Mae, The New, The New Amsterdams, Vedera September 6, Avalon Theatre

Mae stands for Multisensory Aesthetic Experience, but it’s not as you might suspect some kind of hallucinatory psychedelic musical journey. Rather, the Norfolk, VA band has done their darnedest to conjure up every dimension of the roller-coaster ride that emo music can be, at its best and worst. They mostly evoke the former, and their second release, last year’s The Everflow, (Tooth & Nail), dispels any worries of sophomore slump by topping their opener in scope, ambition and sheer talent. It’s a brave rock band who risks opening an album with the hushed tones of piano ballad “We’re So Far Away,” but those who aren’t scared away by that quietude will be rewarded with nerve-wrenching pop rockers like “Someone Else’s Arms” and “This Is the Countdown.”
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From Toto to Dave Matthews

Do I really have to tell you who Dave Matthews is? The jazzy, jam-verging music has made him a hit with Deadheads, Phishheads and that ilk since their 1991 foundation. Unlike the Dead, however, in 1996 Matthews initiated an industry crackdown on live recordings. What Would Jerry Say? And you may have heard of the incident two years ago when the band’s bus driver accidentally emptied the vehicle’s septic receptacle onto unsuspecting tourists.

The jokes ceased being made or being funny months ago. The happy-go-lucky faux-world music jive continues unabated. DMB will have their work cut out for them to top last month’s USANA attendance pinnacle set by Def Leppard. But they have a secret weapon. At the end of the show, members of Tool will join Matthews on stage to jam. Not really. [more]

Crackerjack Musical Lineup

The Gallivan Center concert series has been one of the most successful and best-received efforts to revitalize the downtown Salt Lake City area, since it actually gives laborers of collar both white and blue an actual reason to stay downtown after the workday is done. Unlike the relative paucity of libation establishments in the jurisdiction. The fairly middle-of-the-road selection of artists can’t be blamed on city fathers, since they are undoubtedly just trying to appeal to the widest possible audience.

David Lowery (no relation to Newwest.net’s Courtney, and if there is I’m sure she will correct me) and his two groups that in their own inscrutable way epitomized indie music in two different decades are a bit of an exception to the rule. Camper Van Beethoven was one of the bands in the 80’s indie (then called ‘alternative’ before that term got co-opted by mainstream radio marketers) music scene to reach to the 60’s for inspiration.
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