Email Author Annie Zaleski

2008 Stories by Annie Zaleski

• Resolution No. '09

  published December 31, 2008

  The beginning of the year is traditionally a time when people examine their lives and figure out what they need to change or improve. In honor... More >>

• The Sham

  published December 31, 2008

  Although the Sham hails from St. Louis, the band sounds like it honed its dreamy indie rock in the Pacific Northwest. The young... More >>

• Straight to Hello: Beloved local rockers Pale Divine reunite for a show. This is their story.

  published December 24, 2008

  There's nothing St. Louis loves more than reunions — especially when it involves beloved bands from the past. '90s electro-rockers... More >>

• Ear Burns: Our critics spew some haterade about 2008's bummer songs, albums and events

  published December 17, 2008

  The end of the year is a time for critics to reflect on the best music they heard in the past twelve months. But such positivity neglects the... More >>

• We made you a mixtape! 2008: The year in music.

  published December 17, 2008

  2008 was a weird year for music. Gloom and doom predictions about sinking album sales overshadowed the industry, and labels seemed to... More >>

• The Natural Selection

  published December 10, 2008

  Now based in Denver the Natural Selection was until recently at St. Louis band. Bassist Nick Jost, a graduate of SIUE's Jazz Studies... More >>

• St. Louis Music — R.I.P.

  published December 10, 2008

  On Saturday, December 13, the Trip Daddys, Giants in the Sky and others will perform at the Kat Club (1440 North Broadway) to honor the legacy... More >>

• Semi Precious Weapons

  published November 19, 2008

  The rest of the country — including celeb blogger Perez Hilton — is finally starting to wake up to something St.... More >>

• Reel It In: SLIFF rolls on with a host of events before the film fest wraps on Sunday

  published November 19, 2008

  The St. Louis International Film Festival continues this week and wraps with a closing-night party at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room at 8 p.m. on... More >>

• Film's Rolling: The St. Louis International Film Festival celebrates its seventeenth year

  published November 12, 2008

  Now in its seventeenth year, the St. Louis International Film Festival continues to bring fresh ideas and bold story telling from all corners... More >>

• Crossing Over: Steve Wynn heads to the other side of the world for his latest solo album

  published November 12, 2008

  Thanks to the hazy psych-pop he crafted with the Dream Syndicate in the '80s, Steve Wynn will always be intimately associated with California.... More >>

• D.I.Y. Now for the Future: The Undertow Collective and Magnolia Summer are using technology to modernize their D.I.Y. creative vision

  published November 5, 2008

  It is a Friday night in late September and Saint Louis University's Billiken Club is bustling with homecoming-weekend activity. Alumni and... More >>

• David Byrne

  published October 15, 2008

  David Byrne needs no introduction — even if the 56-year-old's interest in digital technology and futuristic marketing strategies... More >>

• Indigo Girl Amy Ray gets back to her punk roots on a solo tour, while we catch up with Hum's Matt Talbott, on the eve of his band's New Year's Eve reunion show

  published October 15, 2008

  The Champaign, Illinois, band Hum was a local favorite before it split in 2000. After a few one-off reunion gigs in the subsequent years, the... More >>

• On tour for Narrow Stairs, Chris Walla and Death Cab for Cutie bring musical gems and political smarts to the Fabulous Fox

  published October 8, 2008

  In May, Death Cab for Cutie released its sixth album, Narrow Stairs, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts.... More >>

• Strolling Cones Cock & Bull Sonic Circus

  published October 1, 2008

  We're not sure how to parse the title of this multi-band bill — bets are it's a play on words involving the Rolling Stones — but... More >>

• Prisonshake

  published September 24, 2008

  A local Prisonshake live show occurs once in a blue moon, although these gigs aren't quite as rare as a full-length release from the... More >>

• The Pomegranates/Say Panther/Target Market

  published September 10, 2008

  In the past few months, a band called the Pomegranates has stopped by St. Louis quite a bit, which may have made some think that it's a... More >>

• B-Sides traces the history and evolution of the power ballad in honor of Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick, and examines An Under Cover Weekend's '80s and '90s participants

  published September 10, 2008

  For anyone who came of age in the '80s, the super-sappy power ballads which pilfered the pop charts are mile-markers and nostalgic tearjerkers.... More >>

• Antibiopic: What We Do Is Secret sanitizes the Germs' punk-rock tragedy

  published September 10, 2008

  The year 1980 wasn't a great one for musicians in legendary bands. In May, Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis, distraught over his failing... More >>

• An Under Cover Weekend at the Bluebird tackles the '60s and '70s, while electronic up-and-comer Deadmau5 worms his way into town

  published September 3, 2008

  The 2008 version of An Under Cover Weekend is double the fun of last year's inaugural edition: The event is now spread out over four nights (in... More >>

• With a new U.S. tour alongside Aimee Mann and a fresh look at their greatest hits, U.K. pop geniuses Squeeze are reunited, reinvented — and rejuvenated

  published August 27, 2008

  When it comes to pop songwriters from the UK, several names always crop up as inspirations: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Elvis Costello, David... More >>

• Projekt Revolution

  published August 20, 2008

  It's hard not to consider this year's Projekt Revolution tour a clash of genres on par with the ol' Mods vs. Rockers debate. A few acts... More >>

• Prisonshake took fifteen years to release its new double album, Dirty Moons – but the wait is worth it

  published August 20, 2008

  When Prisonshake released its last full-length, The Roaring Third, unleaded regular gas sold for $1.11 a gallon. Bill Clinton had... More >>

• A Steely Dan fan recalls the evolution of his fandom in honor of the band's intimate theater date, while Nine Inch Nails remains relevant and ferocious with new album The Slip and its Lights in the Sky tour

  published August 13, 2008

  A mere two months after unexpectedly unleashing the murky instrumental collection Ghosts I-IV, Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor... More >>