Email Author Christian Schaeffer

2009 Stories by Christian Schaeffer

• Show Review + Photos: St. Vincent and Elsinore at the Firebird, Thursday, October 1

  published Oct 02, 2009

  A few songs into her hour-plus set, St. Vincent's Annie Clark told the crowd that she was "flummoxed by your enthusiasm." For once, it didn't seem like an instance of rock-star faux-modesty -- her wi... More >>

• Steddy P

  published September 23, 2009

  [Editor's note: Corrections ran concerning this story; please see end of article.] Steddy P (a.k.a. Ray Pierce) may hail from... More >>

• Built to Spill

  published September 23, 2009

  Of all the well-respected indie bands that were picked up by major labels in the twilight of the record industry, it was always a little... More >>

• oh my god

  published September 23, 2009

  Fifteen years ago, oh my god would have had it made. With its power-pop smarts, stacked harmonies and recurring lyrical gravitas, the... More >>

• Homespun: Machree Whiteout

  published September 16, 2009

  Genre tags are reductive, absurd and generally misleading, so we'll skip trying to pigeonhole Machree. The sextet takes the six-stringed... More >>

• The Books

  published September 16, 2009

  At their worst, sound collages are the stuff of over-intellectualized anti-music, a type of musique concrète that never hardens... More >>

• Ra Ra Riot

  published September 16, 2009

  The fatalism that runs through Ra Ra Riot's debut full-length, The Rhumb Line, is the byproduct of genuine tragedy —... More >>

• PLAY:stl Music Festival Takes Place September 17-19, Features Atlas Sound, Owen, The Antlers, Samantha Crain, more!

  published Sep 10, 2009

  [NOTE, 9/17/09: The schedule for this post has been updated. Changes in bold.] For the third year running, the PLAY:stl Music Festival and Conference will descend on the Delmar Loop for three days... More >>

• Homespun: Sheila Shahpari

  published September 9, 2009

  If you pick up a copy of Sheila Shahpari's debut full-length, What Is Real — and if you like soulful, restless rock music, you... More >>

• Benjy Ferree/Black Hollies

  published September 9, 2009

  Bobby Driscoll was one of Hollywood's first bankable young actors. He provided the voice and visual inspiration for Disney's 1953 animated film... More >>

• Jumbling Towers

  published September 9, 2009

  Jumbling Towers — one of this city's most promising, if occasionally off-putting, indie bands — is finally ready to come out... More >>

• Homespun: The Bootz Orchestra

  published September 2, 2009

  From the sweetly sung ukulele reveries of Beirut to the raggle-taggle gypsy-punk of Gogol Bordello, the hybrid of Eastern European folk and... More >>

• Covering the Bases: Mike Tomko hosts his third Under Cover Weekend

  published September 2, 2009

  For the third year running, local concert promoter Mike Tomko has assembled a cadre of local bands and given them permission to become their... More >>

• Tonight We Ride

  published August 26, 2009

  You have to admire city bicyclists. You know the kind: always dodging traffic on our town's motorways with grace and agility, making such... More >>

• 2009 Performing Arts MasterMinds: The Improv Trick

  published August 26, 2009

  On a stretch of Cherokee Street not far from the taquerias, hipster resale shops and custom screen-printing storefronts, sits the oddly named... More >>

• Homespun: Bunnygrunt

  published August 26, 2009

  It's easy to forget that Bunnygrunt was once a sweet-cheeked trio considered part of über-cuddly twee-pop movement. The band's current... More >>

• American Idols Live Tour

  published August 26, 2009

  For all of the hoopla surrounding the hosts of American Idol — who will replace Paula? Why is Simon such a dick? How does Seacrest... More >>

• The Lot

  published August 26, 2009

  Like the closing of the neighborhood swimming pool or a Labor Day barbecue, the annual music festival known as the Lot signals the end... More >>

• Pepperland

  published August 26, 2009

  Next month, with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band, video gamers will have a chance to strap on a replica Rickenbacker and take a... More >>

• Homespun: Phaseone

  published August 19, 2009

  Phaseone is the moniker of local hip-hop DJ and producer Andrew Jernigan, a south-city resident who glues together clanging drum machines, airy... More >>

• The Diplomats of Solid Sound

  published August 19, 2009

  In 2001, not long before Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings set the world on fire with its update of James Brown-styled funk, a group of Iowa City... More >>

• Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves/Finn's Motel/The 75s

  published August 19, 2009

  Sally Crewe doesn't have the vocal ticks or audible sneer of a young Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello or Colin Moulding — the... More >>

• Over the Rhine

  published August 19, 2009

  In the course of twenty years and ten studio albums, Over the Rhine's core duo of Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler has found the... More >>

• Review: Blind Pilot and Old Lights at Off Broadway, Tuesday, August 11

  published Aug 12, 2009

  You don't need to be a sociologist to know when a Happening is taking place. A line of concert-goers snaking outside Off Broadway's door is a good sign. A sold-out show on an unusually busy Tuesday is... More >>

• We Got the Beat: The English Beat's Dave Wakeling, on pop, politics and his band's future

  published August 12, 2009

  The Beat emerged from Birmingham, England, in 1979. Buoyed by Dave Wakeling's impassioned, socially aware lyrics, the sextet fused reggae and... More >>