Email Author Christian Schaeffer

2008 Stories by Christian Schaeffer

• Listen Up!

  published July 23, 2008

  It's no secret that the Grove neighborhood, that hip stretch of Manchester Avenue between South Kingshighway Boulevard and South Vandeventer... More >>

• Boston/Styx

  published July 23, 2008

  When former Boston lead singer Brad Delp committed suicide last year, it was a stark reminder of the facelessness of so many... More >>

• Twin Tennis Terrors

  published July 16, 2008

  St. Louis sports fans must be getting tired of those "I-70" series, in which our home team takes on the Kansas City squad. It didn't work out so... More >>

• Logos

  published July 16, 2008

  As I was leaving a concert a few weeks ago, a member of Logos handed me a CD-R with a few songs from this EP. Noticing that the band's CD... More >>

• The English Beat/The Fixx/The Alarm

  published July 16, 2008

  If England's second-wave ska revival were broken into bite-size pieces, it might look something like this: The Specials were the urban rude... More >>

• B-Sides catches up with high-flying ex-Flat Duo Jet Dexter Romweber, and busts a move with throwback bluesman Pokey LaFarge

  published July 16, 2008

  In the '80s, Dexter Romweber's band, the Flat Duo Jets, was ahead of the curve. The pair, which featured Romweber on guitar and vocals and Crow... More >>

• Glow

  published July 9, 2008

  Like their '80s male/female synth-pop duo forebears Yaz and Everything but the Girl, keyboardist/programmer Brian Beracha and vocalist Brooke... More >>

• Gladys Knight/Al Green

  published July 9, 2008

  Veteran artists receiving career makeovers at the hands of hotshot producers isn't exactly a new trend (see: Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin and Loretta... More >>

• Light up the Night

  published July 2, 2008

  Oh, those sweet and simple joys of summertime — memories of fishing holes, tire swings and stickball games...wait, that was in a commercial... More >>

• Tell Tale Heart

  published July 2, 2008

  Hiding somewhere within Tell Tale Heart is a great combination-shoegaze/introspective pop band. All the pieces are there: The trio has a... More >>

• The Mae Shi/So Many Dynamos

  published July 2, 2008

  With buzz-saw guitars borrowed from Thunderbirds are Now! and the keyboard-fueled, candy-coated madness last heard on the Unicorns' first... More >>

• Keep Your Ears on the Ball

  published June 25, 2008

  Some of us on the Riverfront Times softball squad have a hard enough time getting solid hits with 20/20 vision — imagine trying to... More >>

• Raglani

  published June 25, 2008

  Joseph Raglani is what's normally called a "noise artist" — a tag normally reserved for people who dare to make music without steel... More >>

• Ingrid Michaelson

  published June 25, 2008

  Don't blame Ingrid Michaelson for her music's ubiquity in maudlin television dramas and sweater-hawking commercials. The New York... More >>

• Modest Mouse

  published June 25, 2008

  When R.E.M. announced that Modest Mouse would open its just-finished U.S. tour, it seemed like an odd choice. While the legendary Athens... More >>

• Via Dove

  published June 18, 2008

  The thick, dreamy gauze of shoegaze meets up with the beefy rhythms of modern rock on Via Dove's debut EP. Singer and guitarist Andy Shadburne... More >>

• Chicago/Doobie Brothers

  published June 18, 2008

  Lead singers serve as a visual and aural focal point for their bands, but they can also be a total pain in the ass when they have successful... More >>

• B-Sides gets historical with Theodore and finds power-pop heaven with Tight Pants Syndrome

  published June 18, 2008

  The local quartet Theodore excels at writing heart-rending folk songs and deconstructing them to their breaking points. Last year's Songs... More >>

• Turn It Up

  published June 11, 2008

  In Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity, Rob is a kind of every-schlub who views each life crisis -- the encroachment of middle age,... More >>

• Jumbling Towers

  published June 11, 2008

  The indie-rock superpower Pavement was not especially known for asking poignant questions, but the 1997 single "Stereo" contained one such... More >>

• Wye Oak

  published June 11, 2008

  Like several other indie-rock boy-girl duos, Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack of Wye Oak write and perform intimate, pretty songs that... More >>

• Joanie Loves Bocce

  published June 4, 2008

  Gas prices are around four dollars a gallon, and our country struggles to wean itself from its dependency on foreign oil. Who wants to think about... More >>

• Southern Accents: The Waco Brothers and Caleb Travers bring their stories to Twangfest

  published June 4, 2008

  As the leader of Leeds, England's Mekons, Jon Langford helped construct the outlines for punk rock by fusing art-school smarts and political... More >>

• The Ultraviolents

  published June 4, 2008

  If a line exists between speed-punk and thrash-metal (and I'm guessing that line, however thin, does exist), local quartet the Ultraviolents... More >>

• B-Sides enters the Vortex with Erykah Badu and catches up with Centro-matic lead singer Will Johnson

  published May 28, 2008

  Amerykah the Beautiful Erykah Badu's latest album, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), follows the progression of the... More >>