Category Archives: Music

The banjo is not typically associated with popular music in Southern California. Neither is the mandolin, accordion or electric blues harmonica.

Zach Meyerowitz was in the car listening to a mix CD from his friend Patrick Morrison when he first heard the ska song “King Samuel” by Justin Hinds and the Dominoes.

Last week, the two weird sisters of pop rode into town on the backs of motorcycles.

The Beastie Boys has officially become “old school.” Its brand of funky, heavy, guitar-tinged hip-hop faded off the radio airwaves years ago, relegated to the same cultural graveyard as boom boxes, Lollapalooza and other facets of the ’90s.

However, nostalgia can be a band’s best friend.

Forget about sophomore slumps. Fleet Foxes’ second album, “Helplessness Blues,” lives up to the expectations of the band’s critically acclaimed debut album with a collection of gorgeous indie-folk songs that wrestle with heartbreak and existential questions about life and purpose.

That’s not to say the album came easy.

Friday, third-year ethnomusicology student Miles Freeman will be paying ““ and playing ““ a tribute to one of his inspirations, a man he describes as the “American Mozart.”

Releasing a critically acclaimed album can be both a blessing and a curse for a band.