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Metro Staff on October 16, 2019
Fresh off the release of his latest standup special, comedian Bill Burr brings his outrage to Silicon Valley. The hour-long Paper Tiger, released on Netflix in September, takes aim at political correctness. “Everything has become absolutes,” Burr says, railing against what he perceives to be wrongheaded stances on both the left and…
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Wallace Baine on October 2, 2019
Usually a musical collaboration is one of two things: a defining partnership on which careers are built, or a one-time experimental fling between two or more parties looking for a spark. The latest collaboration between Calexico and Iron & Wine is a third thing altogether: a momentary experiment that slowly built into…
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Steve Palopoli on September 25, 2019
My parents took me to some concerts when I was a kid, but Oingo Boingo was the first concert I cared enough about to get to myself—which is saying something, since I wasn’t even old enough to drive back in 1988. But at least one of my high school friends was.
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Nick Veronin on September 18, 2019
Generational nostalgia follows a reliable, cyclical pattern. What was once at the height of style will inevitably fall out of fashion, only to be reinterpreted and given a second life decades later. Lengthy lumberjack beards; the lean angle and long hood of the Dodge Charger; the practice of releasing singles and shorter,…
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Bill Kopp on September 18, 2019
While she is popular the world over these days, contralto Diana Krall got off to a modest start. Her official debut, 1993’s Stepping Out, earned positive reviews, but it didn’t initially move many units. Yet that release did bring her to the attention of producer Tommy LiPuma. He produced her second LP,…
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Wallace Baine on September 4, 2019
Nobody alive in the 1980s with the scantest interest in music could escape the force of Duran Duran. The slick synth-heavy proto-boy-band from the UK became an MTV sensation, thanks in large part to pouty sex-symbol lead singer, Simon LeBon. Sure, it’ll never be 1983 again, but DD has proved to be…
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Wallace Baine on August 28, 2019
In the field of Mexican norteño music, San Jose’s Los Tigres Del Norte bestride the world like giants. More than 50 years ago, Jorge Hernandez and his brothers, while still only teens, left Mexico to settle in the South Bay, and in that time, they’ve sold well north of 35 million recordings.…
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Bill Kopp on August 23, 2019
Among many music fans, there exists an unshakable belief: No matter how good the musicians, no matter how sophisticated the recording gear, no matter how skilled the recording engineers, a studio recording simply cannot capture the essence of a performer the way a live show can. For those fans and those who…
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Bill Kopp on August 22, 2019
This Oakland-based band is known far and wide for its terrific horn section. Tower of Power has been bringing its unique brand of soulful, high-energy music to albums, audiences and collaborations for 50 years. Like so many “legacy” acts of its generation, Tower of Power has seen many players come and go;…
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Metro Staff on August 14, 2019
Canadian-born singer and songwriter Leslie Feist has been making music since 1991, and has been an integral member of the sprawling Canadian indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene since its founding in 1999. Both she and Broken Social Scene released full-length albums in 2017. Her solo release was titled Pleasure; the BSS album…
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