When Lou Reed, the singer, guitarist and poet behind the influential rock ‘n’ roll band the Velvet Underground, died Sunday from a liver-related ailment, it almost seemed fitting for a man that gave so much to music, including the beautifully haunting “Sunday Morning,” that he would die on a Sunday morning. Reed, who never achieved the […]
Category Archives: Music
UCLA student’s new video game music performance group open to all levels
When UCLA cut Masha Lepire’s classical guitar program due to lack of funding last year, she worried that she would never have the opportunity to perform in a formal musical setting again. Lepire decided to solve this problem herself, combining her passion for music and lifelong love for gaming into creating a video game orchestra […]
Album review: ‘Reflektor’ by Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire has discovered what most of the music world has known since the band released its debut album, “Funeral,” in 2004: It is one of the most talented and compositionally brilliant bands of the 21st century. Unfortunately for the music world, Arcade Fire’s new album, “Reflektor,” demonstrates this newly found knowledge with 13 pretentious […]
UCLA alumna Sara Bareilles finishes tour with intimate performance
There’s something unquestionably charming about a live performance by UCLA alumna Sara Bareilles. Perhaps it’s her witty banter between songs or the bright smile she radiates on stage. Or it might even be the “Sara Bareilles is my bestie” T-shirts sold at the merchandise table. But whatever it is, it’s working. Thursday’s performance at downtown […]
Love|Hate: Does Arcade Fire live up to its hype?
Ever since their surprising win for album of the year at the Grammys in 2011, Arcade Fire has risen in public acclaim to something like ’90s Radiohead: too popular to be indie, too indie to be commercial. The increased scrutiny comes with backlashes, and backlashes of backlashes, and the upcoming “Reflektor,” their follow-up to breakout […]
Throwback Thursday: The Pixies help define ’90s alternative rock
The Pixies are not a band you start listening to in sixth grade to impress a girl. They’re the band that you’re drawn to when you’ve come to detest the glamour and manufacturing of popular music, for the weirdly artistic sounds of a Pixies record. When I first listened to the Pixies, seeing the video […]
Punk rock musical addresses sexual abuse
More than a decade ago, UCLA professor Paul Abramson became involved as an expert witness in a sexual abuse case so influential to him that he wrote a musical about it. “The Saint of F’ed Up Karma” is an autobiographical punk rock musical written by and starring psychology professor Paul Abramson. Based on a real […]