Email Author Todd McKenzie

2009 Stories by Todd McKenzie

• Camera Obscura

  published November 25, 2009

  Early in its career, Camera Obscura seemed fated to languish in the shadows of fellow countrymen Belle & Sebastian. With a shared... More >>

• Headlights/Pomegranates/Fractured Army

  published November 18, 2009

  Indie-pop classicists Headlights have graced the stage in St. Louis so often in recent years, you'd be forgiven for mistaking the... More >>

• Show Review + Photos: Peter Bjorn and John and El Perro del Mar at the Gargoyle, Friday, November 13

  published Nov 14, 2009

  Peter Moren and Bjorn Yttling are a study in contrasts. Bjorn, disheveled and in black, lumbers slowly across the stage. When he approaches the microphone, he drapes his mustachioed upper lip direct... More >>

• Sweet as Pie: Songstress Nellie McKay honors Doris Day with an album of her own

  published November 12, 2009

  Don't let Nellie McKay's plucky voice and immaculately coiffed blonde mane fool you: She's no throwback. Sure, her latest record, Normal as... More >>

• Karl Blau/LAKE

  published October 14, 2009

  Karl Blau's latest album, Zebra, is said to be indebted to the textures of traditional African music, but trying to pinpoint the... More >>

• The Antlers

  published September 16, 2009

  For nearly two years, Peter Silberman stowed away in a New York apartment and wrote a devastatingly beautiful record centered around death and... More >>

• Matt & Kim

  published August 19, 2009

  You probably don't even realize that you're familiar with the music of Matt & Kim. The herky-jerk piano scuttle of its song "Daylight"... More >>

• Man Man

  published July 1, 2009

  There are few bands as grotesquely madcap as Philadelphia's Man Man. On record, the experimental five-piece band dabbles in jittery jazz... More >>

• Julie Doiron

  published June 24, 2009

  Julie Doiron, the former bassist and vocalist of Canadian indie group Eric's Trip, has been releasing a steady stream of austere and... More >>

• Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

  published May 13, 2009

  They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but the title of Dent May's debut album really says it all. The Good Feeling... More >>

• Future Perfect: Max Tundra's world goes pop

  published April 22, 2009

  Parallax Error Beheads You, the third album by London's Max Tundra, is a dizzying example of pop excess. Sophisticated chamber-pop... More >>

• Champions of Breakfast

  published April 1, 2009

  Arriving somewhere between the nerdy fanaticism of Dungeons & Dragons and the hyper-sexualized robo-boogie of Beck's Midnite Vultures,... More >>

• Beach House

  published April 1, 2009

  The city of Baltimore has been a wellspring of creative energies for independent music lately. But while natives like Dan Deacon or Animal... More >>

• SXSWow: In the weeks leading up to and after SXSW, St. Louis draws some of music's biggest talents to town. This year is no exception.

  published March 11, 2009

  Andrew Bird is one hell of a whistler. He takes the relatively simple act of passing air between pursed lips and turns it into a... More >>

• Here We Go Magic

  published March 11, 2009

  In some schools of thought, meditation works through the repetition of a mantra that elevates the practitioner beyond the cobwebs of thoughts... More >>

• Hip-Hop, Unphased: Local producer Phaseone finds under-the-radar success with his remixes

  published February 11, 2009

  Andrew Jernigan, the south-city producer known as Phaseone, likes to keep a low profile. Last June he released Mad Weight, his first... More >>