“A pillar of smoke reaches over to strangle the land/We desert all we have as fast as we can.” Lyrical evocations of one of the worst natural disasters in California’s history find a strange home on a new track by a futuristic U.K. pop act best known for a viral…
The past, present and future of heavy music all became one at another sold-out weekend of the Aftershock Festival at Discovery Park. As it has in previous years, the three-day festival brought together legacy acts with exciting younger bands ready to ascend to the next level. What was different this…
Frank Turner has written a book, launched a podcast and released two full-length albums in the last two years. His 2018 record, Be More Kind, was his first foray into the murky waters of politics after several albums spent looking inward, and this summer he released No Man’s Land—an album…
Get you a man who can do both. A man who can do shimmering, danceable synth-pop and tender indie rock. Oh, and he can pick out stylish shoes for you, too. Get you a Fashionista Boyfriend. Casey Groat’s bedroom pop project got its new name from a shopping trip with…
It seems a staid approach after three decades of output to simply brush up the enigma of Maynard James Keenan and Tool with superlatives. But Keenan’s envious regimen, in particular, is just too readymade for hyperbole. At the heart of it, Keenan and Tool are a study in contrasts—an anti-personae…
Located just minutes from downtown Sacramento on the American River, Camp Pollock is a piece of local history and a true hidden gem. The property is 11 acres total and includes a 4,000 square foot lodge built nearly 100 years ago, which is where more than a dozen killer local…
Bust out your contact mics and start digging through your field recording archive, because NorCal NoiseFest (Oct. 4–6), the longest running noise, experimental and outsider music festival in the country, is upon us once again. It’s difficult to consistently find an outside-the-box interviewee for a lineup that is, by its…
Sacramento’s brewery and taproom scene is a gem. This is well-known. An often undiscussed angle of the local beer boom, though, is how many of our area’s breweries and taprooms consistently host live music, often booking local talent. Ask many of our city’s professional gigging musicians and chances are they’ll…
On Thursday, Oct. 3, treat yourself to a great show at Old Ironsides when touring dark folk act Foxy Blues takes the stage. Originally from the Stockton area, Foxy Blues has many talents—she sings, plays guitar, banjo, cello, fiddle, harmonica and more. Also on the bill is Portland-based five-piece folk…
Identity is nebulous, mutable and controversial—especially today. Even when asked to confront our own identity on a survey or application, there doesn’t always seem to be a suitable answer. Ahmed Gallab, the frontman of the eclectic band Sinkane, has lived with this uncertainty for most of his life. At age…
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