Eugene Weekly

Yes, technically speaking, Shabazz Palaces is a rap group. But that sort of classification is about as accurate as calling Bitches Brew a jazz record or Captain Beefheart a rock star. Sure, it gets you in the right galaxy, but it does nothing to describe the bizarre constellation of fractured beats, warped vocals and occult imagery the group has formed during their six years together.  Continue reading →

Last year, Ohio’s Saintseneca released Such Things, one of the freshest, and yet familiar, indie-rock records of 2015.  Saintseneca’s guitar-based music is sweetly earnest, exhibiting the infectious melodies and charmingly snotty lo-fi sensibilities of Pavement. In other words, Saintseneca are quintessential college rock.  Continue reading →

PWR BTTM is a self-identified queer-core duo from upstate New York that now resides in Brooklyn.  Last year the band gained massive critical buzz with the release of its debut LP Ugly Cherries, a collection of punk and power-pop tunes subverting heteronormative guitar rock reminiscent of Weezer. The track “Serving Goffman” draws comparisons among personal identity, dressing in drag and the costumes worn in corporate America — after all, aren’t we all just roleplaying?  Continue reading →

Jessica Lea Mayfield is a chameleon. From her first folk-country release With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt (produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys) through her grunge-alternative record Make My Head Sing, Mayfield’s rural music, tinged with a Liz Phair sound, is ever changing — like a pink-haired glittery punk rocker with the heart of a country singer.  Continue reading →

I saw classical music’s future and its name is … Roomful of Teeth? That takeoff on Jon Landau’s famous 1974 encomium to a young Bruce Springsteen might be a little over the top. But then again, with nearly 30 million Americans singing in choirs and a cappella music a genuine populist phenomenon, an ensemble that combines the universal human instrument — voices — with contemporary artistic ambition might well be a key to bringing new listeners, as well as new singers, to 21st-century classical composers, and vice versa. Continue reading →