“Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” was Mayer Hawthorne’s first foray into modern soul music. The red, heart-shaped 45 released on Stones Throw in 2008 caught fire in year of forgettable singles, propelling Mayer Hawthorne’s career into the stratosphere. Four years later, he’s revisiting his roots on October 26 at the Pagoda Lounge.
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For a city that struggles year in and year out to foster a vibrant local music scene, the SVSX festival—which featured over 20 bands in 9 venues—was a success. Mike Huguenor, who opened the Pagoda Lounge lineup, took a moment during his set to comment on what an incredible event SVSX was…
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The complex backdrop of Mexico City—a town full of ancient architecture and modern technology—is a fittingly the home for Camilo Lara, the man behind the Mexican Institute of Sound, a leading act in the budding Mexican electronic scene. His music epitomizes the crossroads of old and new, organic and synthetic, traditions and…
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Boston electro duo Sonnymoon generated a lot of buzz when they played San Jose in June, and left a lot of people who missed their show at the Pagoda chomping at the bit to see them. That explains why tickets are already being snapped up for the group’s return on Friday, Aug.…
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Anyone whose knowledge of Detroit hip-hop begins and ends with Eminem would do well to study up on Slum Village. The story of this crew is one of the strangest in modern hip-hop, a sprawling saga that begins in the same world of Motor City battle rap that 8 Mile made famous,…
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Sometimes Aaron Aquino can’t believe what passes for a live show from beatmakers. If it’s some guy fiddling half-heartedly behind a laptop for the whole set, the man better known by his DJ handle Squareweezy is not impressed. “Is he checking his email, or performing for us?” Aquino says he has to…
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Anya and the Get Down’s first EP got the local scene buzzing, its Amy Winehouse-type confessional rock blendly effortlessly with dubstep, reggae and hip-hop—not to mention the revelation that was Anya’s vocals. Their new, still nameless second EP, which will be released in conjunction with a headlining show at the Pagoda Saturday,…
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Peanut Butter Wolf works in mysterious ways. The South Bay music legend pioneered sophisticated production in San Jose’s underground scene in the early ‘90s, before founding the Stones Throw label and signing hip-hop revolutionaries like Madlib, J Rocc and J Dilla. And he’s still engineering musical mini-movements, as Boston band Sonnymoon learned…
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by
AARON CARNES on June 6, 2012
For hardcore soul music fans, hearing the same old Curtis Mayfield tunes or Al Green songs can get a little tiresome. Nothing against them, James Brown, Marvin Gaye or any of the other well-established geniuses from the soul era, but for a lot of DJs, that’s about the extent of their soul…
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It’s been 15 years since Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truthspeaker recorded together as Latryx. But after performing on each other’s solo releases, they’re back in the studio for a new Latryx album, and they’ve signed on the South Bay’s most successful hip-hop crew the Bangerz to produce some of the tracks.…
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