From the opening chord of Bonnie and the Bang Bang’s debut album, Ode to Darkness, the listener is transported to a campfire in rural America at the turn of the century, where the ghost stories are that much more chilling—because they just might be real.
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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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In 1990, LA Times reporter Robert Hilburn said this of rap music: “It was ten years ago that the Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ became the first rap single to enter the national top 20. Who ever figured then that the music would even be around in 1990, much less produce attractions that…
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Claudeo come from San Diego with one purpose in mind—to get people on their feet to dance. In the process, they’ve chosen some unusual places for dance parties. Here in San Jose, they selected the local dive-bar of choice, The Caravan, where they are playing this Thursday, September 13th. But Claudeo—who are…
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Before scoring a record deal in 1978, Devo had already helped shape what would eventually become the major source of promotion for music in the 1980s: the music video. Devo’s initial work in film was a reflection on their creative virtuosity. They were less musicians and more all-around art students that experimented…
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The Limousines short relationship with record labels is coming to an end. After they self-released their EP Scrapbook and full-length Get Sharp, and even got some radio airplay on their own, Universal Republic signed the band for a single-song deal for “Very Busy People” and Dangerbird Records re-released Get Sharp. The duo…
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It’s no mystery that Asian Man recording artists, the Atom Age are obsessed with 1960s pop-culture. Not only is their music a clear nod to 60s rockabilly and garage rock, but every one of their videos so far have been an overt homage to those swinging, groovy times, including their new video…
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Monkey may very well be San Jose’s longest running, consistently-active band. The band emerged in 1995, but unlike a lot of Monkey’s contemporaries, it never mixed punk rock and ska. Monkey always stuck strictly to the traditional more R&B-based sounds of ska’s first wave.
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Since 2009, four San Jose women, known at the Like-Me’s, have been at the forefront of modernizing Khmer (Cambodian) music. The fact that only two of them are Cambodian makes the story that much more interesting.
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It didn’t take long after the Avalon closed for independent promoter Mike Beard to find a new home for his south bay bookings—the Rodeo Club in San Jose.
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