Email Author Christian Schaeffer

2004 Stories by Christian Schaeffer

• The third annual STLPunk Christmas party, featuring Femme Fatality

  published December 22, 2004

  It's December 26, and another Christmas has come and gone. All of a sudden, the lights on the tree don't shine as bright, the once-crisp snow... More >>

• Miles of Wire

  published December 15, 2004

  Here's a fact about Miles of Wire: The band's demo CD sounds best when played through crummy car-stereo speakers. This may have something... More >>

• Hem

  published December 8, 2004

  Hem came out of left field in 2001 with Rabbit Songs, an album of gentle, pastoral Americana that seemingly had no equal: too beautiful for... More >>

• Camera Obscura

  published November 24, 2004

  Camera Obscura created a minor buzz this year with Underachievers Please Try Harder, an album that mixed sweetly fey pop with introverted,... More >>

• Edith Frost and Manishevitz

  published November 24, 2004

  No matter how hard it tries, St. Louis will always suffer from Chronic Little Brother Syndrome, forever in the shadow of its hipper, savvier older... More >>

• Frausdots

  published November 17, 2004

  Scientists estimate that by the year 2006, 23 different bands will have released albums bearing a sticker that reads: Featuring members of... More >>

• Dogs Die in Hot Cars

  published November 17, 2004

  I'd hate to be the PR person for Dogs Die in Hot Cars, sifting through the reviews of this band. Every reviewer will invariably mention two... More >>

• Noiseday Hootenanny with Tommy Halloran

  published November 17, 2004

  Open-mic nights are, by nature, touch-and-go operations. For those rare moments of transcendental beauty, there are twenty dudes trying to affect... More >>

• Krypton Rock

  published November 3, 2004

  "Superman is one of the most recognizable characters on the planet," says Steve Younis, a 33-year-old graphic designer who runs More >>

• Now It's Overhead with R.E.M.

  published October 13, 2004

  September 1995, Riverport Amphitheater: R.E.M. 's Monster tour hits St. Louis for a two-night stand. The opening act is a band from... More >>

• Tell Us How You Really Feel

  published October 6, 2004

  After 23 years fronting Ministry, Al Jourgensen still knows how to make one hell of an entrance. "I come out and I beat the fuck out of... More >>

• Rilo Kiley

  published September 22, 2004

  To borrow the subtitle from Billy Bragg's Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, this is "the difficult third album" for Rilo Kiley.... More >>

• Bowling for Press

  published September 15, 2004

  Find out more about both bands at www.nothingstill.c om and More >>

• Rogue Wave

  published August 4, 2004

  It was recently announced that the late Elliott Smith's last record, From the Basement on the Hill -- the album that he worked on for over... More >>

• The Good Life with Low Skies

  published July 28, 2004

  More >>

• Rebel Yell

  published July 28, 2004

  The Germans have a word, "schadenfreude," which is roughly translated as "shameful joy." Perhaps some St. Louisans felt a twinge of schadenfreude... More >>

• A.C. Newman

  published July 7, 2004

  A.C. Newman is better known as Carl Newman, the redheaded popsmith behind the New Pornographers. With his other band, Newman has written some of... More >>

• Gimme Shelter

  published July 7, 2004

  Rock & roll? Good. Philanthropy? Also good. Put the two together and you're sure to get the support of St. Louis' tenderhearted rock stars. To... More >>

• Spoon

  published June 23, 2004

  Spoon is the pride of the Austin, Texas, music community -- and rightly so. Few American bands mix classic-pop songcraft and sonic... More >>

• Jay Farrar

  published June 16, 2004

  Jay Farrar is the gold standard (as his win for Best Singer/Songwriter in this issue's Music Awards attests): a singer-songwriter of the first... More >>

• Yo La Tengo

  published June 9, 2004

  There's a void in the universe, a vacuum that has been left empty for the past few years: We need a New Dylan. Sure, the Old Dylan is still... More >>

• The Thermals

  published June 2, 2004

  "Fuckin' A" may be the most wonderfully ridiculous expletive around these days. Is it self-censorship of that unutterable "A"? What is the "A,"... More >>

• The Catheters

  published May 19, 2004

  Some time over the past few years, the "less-is-more" school of thought began to take root once more in rock & roll circles. The rules are simple:... More >>

• Destroyer

  published May 12, 2004

  The fact that Dan Bejar of Destroyer can write an amazing pop song is no surprise to anyone who's come across Streethawk: A... More >>

• Finally Facing Our Waterloo

  published May 12, 2004

  When Mark Ray isn't running St. Louis-based Undertow Records or designing album covers for the likes of Centro-matic, he leads the oft-reclusive... More >>