UCSC Musicians Influenced by Today’s Socio-Political Tensions
As the auditorium hall rumbled from a wall of static noise, international news broadcasts roared from the venue’s speakers, and auto-tuned Malaysian news recording entered to simmer down the arrangement. Guitarist and UC Santa Cruz alumnus James Moore and violinist Andie Springer then accompanied the…
Bitter and Frustrated: A Retrospective of Pop Music in 2017
With political and social tensions increasing in the U.S., disturbance from this broken climate consumed American pop music in 2017. Artists responded to a frustratingly chaotic year with more down-tuned, grim and drained music — an appropriate companion to the multitude of global problems. 2017’s…
Bluegrass & Beyond
The fog cleared and the sun made a rare debut over Golden Gate Park on Saturday at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco. Over 750,000 people packed into less than two square miles of land for the free, three-day event from Friday through…
Building From the Bottom Up
Every year, millions of people attend music festivals around the world but are unaware of the logistics and labor that go into the production. Weeks and hours are spent setting up, and hundreds of volunteers devote time to cleaning up the mess when it’s all…
It’s Bigger Than Santa Cruz
The Atrium provided the perfect intimate setting for artists and audience members alike to connect over their mutual love of hip-hop, when dead prez returned to the Catalyst last Friday. Commonly known for their song “It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop, ” and a household name…
Cultural Arts and Diversity’s Eve of Jackie Opens Tonight
In “The Eve of Jackie,” Chester Gregory will recreate soul singer Jackie Wilson’s last night on stage and unveil a concert that takes you back in time when R&B was pulsing in the ether. “It’s really one man and one mic, really playing to Jackie…
A Case of the Travelling Ills
What started as a New Year’s resolution in 2014 quickly became a lifestyle for singer Cassandra Cronin, guitarist Connor Cronin, drummer Jared Frazier and bassist Dan Cato. The Travelling Ills, or The Ills for short, has brought its unique blend of sounds to the Central…
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
New York-based band The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, headed by Kip Berman, has been delivering wistful, fuzz-fueled indie pop gems since 2007. Following the departure of vocalist and keyboardist Peggy Wang along with bassist Alex Naidus, Berman was forced to reconfigure the band for the making of 2014’s “Days of Abandon.” What resulted was a thoughtful record that scaled back the guitars and streamlined the arena-sized sound of their prior releases.
Lo-Fi Legends: Guided By Voices
Forged in beer can littered basements of Dayton, Ohio circa 1983, Guided By Voices spent years making music before garnering interest outside their immediate circle of friends. Noted for their hissy, lo-fidelity sound, four track to cassette recordings and prolific songwriting, Guided By Voices have become an influential touchstone for indie rock bands.
A Well-Versed Genre For New Ears
Writer and violinist Catherine Drinker Bowen once described chamber music as “a conversation between friends,” because chamber music is typically performed by small groups without a conductor, with musicians relying on cues from each other to create a musical conversation.