Email Author Christian Schaeffer

2012 Stories by Christian Schaeffer

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  Orgone

  published May 24, 2012

  Call it the Sharon Jones effect: Funk bands are no longer able to make waves based solely on instrumental prowess and stone-cold groovesmanship... More >>

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  Homespun: Ou Où

  published May 24, 2012

  Patrick Weston and Travis Bursik of experimental duo Ou Où defy you to hang a name on them. As an instrumental band that uses samplers,... More >>

• The Educated Guess' Charlie Brumley on Symphonic Pop and Soundtracking the Civil War

  published May 18, 2012

  Back in 2008, the Educated Guess released two fine, grandiose albums, Beautiful Strangers and West Skyline Drive, that paired big-sky Americana with well-orchestrated arrangements that called to mind ... More >>

• Radio on the TV

  published May 10, 2012

  Every week thousands upon thousands of the public-radio faithful gather around the hi-fi for This American Life, the Ira Glass-hosted... More >>

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  Homespun: Bruiser Queen

  published May 17, 2012

  Few other talents have been as rewarding to watch develop and evolve as Morgan Nusbaum's. She's played in bands since high school but came to... More >>

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  Madeleine Peyroux

  published May 17, 2012

  A jazz singer's trajectory from crooner to artist almost necessarily follows this path: Start out with standards to prove yourself, judiciously... More >>

• Adult Fur's New Remix Project RAN is Out Saturday: Review and Album Stream

  published May 10, 2012

  Adult Fur's RAN remix album will have its official release at a listening party this Saturday, May 12 at Brennan's. It starts at 9 p.m., admission is free, and you'll be able to buy posters and downlo... More >>

• Synth Sculptor Raglani Blurs the Line Between Noise and Pop on Husk and Beyond

  published May 09, 2012

  Joseph Raglani is one of St. Louis' pre-eminent synthesists, an instrumental musician whose releases, under various guises, recalls elements of ambient sound-scapes, minimal krautrock rhythms and head... More >>

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  Homespun: Adult Fur

  published May 10, 2012

  Ryan McNeely gets the tables turned on him for his RÁN remix album. As a producer, McNeely's been responsible for creating tracks... More >>

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  Maps & Atlases

  published May 10, 2012

  Cross-promotion has become a form of survival for mid-level indie bands given shrinking record sales and dwindling returns on regional touring.... More >>

• Shakespeare in the Streets

  published April 26, 2012

  William Shakespeare wrote The Tempest believing it would be his final play, and he drops some subtle references to the illusory magic of... More >>

• Homespun: Voight-Kampff

  published May 3, 2012

  Philip K. Dick-heads will remember the Voight-Kampff machine from Blade Runner, the empathy-detecting polygraphs that separate humans... More >>

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  Homespun: Plastic News

  published April 26, 2012

  On Plastic News' Sore Eyes LP, the formula is simple: Put some pre-808 drum-machine beats behind uncomplicated keyboard chord changes.... More >>

• M83

  published April 26, 2012

  Anthony Gonzalez was either born twenty years too late or ten years too early. He's been the force behind M83's synth-and-shoegaze symphonies... More >>

• Brothers Lazaroff's New Record is Out this Weekend: Review and Video

  published Apr 19, 2012

  Science Won Release Show. 8 p.m. Saturday, April 21. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Boulevard. $10. 314-726-4707 Through fate, musical kinship or blackmail, Jeff and David Lazaroff landed perhaps the m... More >>

• iPhoneography

  published March 1, 2012

  Now that smart phones have the convenience of a laptop, personal assistant and surrogate mother wrapped up in a steely graphite rectangle,... More >>

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  Mucca Pazza

  published April 19, 2012

  For a certain stripe of one-time high school jock, a Mucca Pazza show must look like a reunion gone awry: In this punk-rock marching band, the... More >>

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  Homespun: Brothers Lazaroff

  published April 19, 2012

  Through fate, musical kinship or blackmail, Jeff and David Lazaroff landed perhaps the most enviable backing band in town for their roots/rock... More >>

• Rough Shop's New Album is Out Saturday: Review and Video

  published Apr 12, 2012

  Rough Shop Beneath the South Side Bridge Release Show: 9 p.m. Saturday, April 14. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10 to $13. Rough Shop has always been a band of old souls. Its three principles -- g... More >>

• Caroline Smith

  published April 12, 2012

  With a songbird's warble and a coterie of fuzzy, buzzy indie-folk signifiers, Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps makes a joyful noise... More >>

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  Homespun: Rough Shop

  published April 12, 2012

  Rough Shop has always been a band of old souls. Its three principles — guitarists Andy Ploof and John Wendland and bassist Anne Tkach... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Van Dyke Parks at the Luminary Center for the Arts, 4/5/2012: Review and Setlist

  published Apr 06, 2012

  Van Dyke Parks | Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra April 5, 2012 The Luminary Center for the Arts Van Dyke Parks embarked on his first-ever tour this year at the age of 69. It has been a limited... More >>

• Van Dyke Parks on His Invisible Career, Surviving the '60s and the Role of the Beta Male

  published Apr 04, 2012

  Van Dyke Parks doesn't give interviews; he speaks in pull-quotes and aphorisms. If Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker had spent their formative years among rock & roll royalty, as Parks did as an arranger,... More >>

• Such Great Heights

  published March 22, 2012

  Mountain film festivals at posh ski resorts are nothing new. Watch any gossip website for long enough and you’ll see celebs in ski boots at... More >>

• Homespun: JBJR

  published April 5, 2012

  James Bishop is a beatmaker and a producer, a calling that is inestimably vital though often invisible to casual hip-hop listeners. He won last... More >>