Brian Eno

R&B: Meet the 2013 RFT Music Award Nominees

The 2013 Riverfront Times Music Showcase is this weekend! Think of it as St. Louis music's own official holiday and consider this the season. Throughout May we at RFT Music have been working hard to make our cases for all 130 bands and artists nominated for an RFT Music Award this year in 26 categor ... More >>

Why People Hate Christmas Music

Art and life co-habitate, informing, imitating, and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship. I don't hate hearing Christmas music as much as I hate hearing people complain about Christmas music. " ... More >>

The Art of Background Sounds: Writing Music for Movies

Art and life co-habitate, informing, imitating, and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship The St. Louis International Film Festival has been a catalyst lately for discussing the intersections o ... More >>

The Six Best Songs That Are At Least 50% Guitar Solo

Most rock songs use guitar solos as icing. In some rare cases, the solo is an essential element incorporated into the batter of the proverbial song-cake. Here are the six best songs that are at least 50 percent guitar solo. Let us know your favorites in the comments below. See also: -The many moods ... More >>

The Six Best Effect-Enhanced Guitar Solos

Ever since prehistoric man hit a stick and a rock together and thought "I bet that would sound sweet through a delay pedal," musicians have craved new sonic avenues for their instruments. Here are the six best effect-enhanced guitar solos, including the time in which each solo begins. Let us know wh ... More >>

The Six Best Songs Over Thirty Minutes Long

"American Pie" is eight and a half minutes, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is seventeen. It is not uncommon for a prog track to reach twenty minutes, but it takes a certain breed to break the half-hour barrier. Below is a list of the six best songs over thirty minutes long. Feel free to interject your favorit ... More >>

The 33 1/3 Series is Accepting Submissions

​Earlier this month, Spin announced that it is moving most of its album reviews to Twitter. Music writing is getting shorter, not longer, and yet the 33 1/3 Series, which has the gall to publish entire books on albums that aren't even current, soldiers on. There are 85 installments in print n ... More >>

Your Guide to Tonight's Paul Simon Show

Courtesy of the artist​Paul Simon's So Beautiful or So What tour makes a stop tonight at the Fabulous Fox Theatre -- check back tomorrow morning for a full review and setlist from the show. Paul Simon is among the best songwriters folk music has ever had, and at his worst you could still nev ... More >>

The Six Best Drum Fills

​In rock and roll, singers get the attention, guitarists get the glory and bass players usually just have to show up. It's the drummers of the world who often put in the most effort for the least return, lugging ten times the equipment and playing twenty times as hard as the rest of the band. ... More >>

CBGB's Final Show With Patti Smith (A.K.A. The Day I Got Covered in Brian Eno's Sweat)

​Legendary punk club CBGB closed five years ago tomorrow. In its final week, the venue hosted a string of shows paying tribute its storied thirty year run, and it all culminated with a headlining set from Patti Smith. There were only a couple hundred people lucky enough to get tickets to that ... More >>

Steve Jobs' Six Best Music Innovations

Apple (the Beatles record label) once sued Apple (the computer corporation). After initial squabbles over the right to name their companies after the same fruit, the two agreed that all was good as long as Steve Jobs and crew never entered the music business. As you can probably guess, as you likely ... More >>

Warm Jets USA

Warm Jets USA
(Cheap Guitar Records)

Daydream Lullaby

Daydream Vacation
(self-released)

Twelve Music-Based Documentaries Screening at the Saint Louis International Film Festival

The movie Do It Again.​The annual St. Louis International Film Festival (that's SLIFF for short) began last night and runs through November 21. As it does every year, SLIFF features a generous selection of music-related documentaries. Here's the rundown. For the RFT's full coverage of the film ... More >>

SLIFF brings Icelandic improv, French rom-com, a Civil War spoof and more through November 21

New Release Highlights for November 2: Elvis Costello, Brian Eno, Devin the Dude and More

(New albums are typically released on Tuesdays, i.e., today. What can you spend your hard-earned pennies on this week? Find out below.) The Autumn Defense's Once Around​*The Autumn Defense, Once Around Consequence of Sound claims Once Around is "very much worth your time." "There seems to be ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Thrift-Shop Expert Adam Newsham on Surf, Bossanova and the Thrill of the Hunt

The number of chain record stores nationwide has dwindled. However, St. Louis has become an unlikely safe haven for indie record shops as well as for DJs who prefer to spin the black circle instead of scrolling their iPods. In this weekly column, we'll focus on personal portraits of St. Louis' recor ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Orlandez Lewis, Jr. on His Dream Job at Vintage Vinyl, Learning About Music from his Dad and Thriller

(The number of chain-record stores nationwide has dwindled. However, St. Louis has become an unlikely safe haven for indie record shops -- and for DJs who prefer to spin the black circle instead of scrolling their iPods. In this weekly column, we'll focus on personal portraits of St. Louis' record a ... More >>

Caribou

8:30 p.m. Monday, June 7. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Coldplay

7 p.m. Friday, July 24. Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 14141 Riverport Drive, Maryland Heights.

Sing for China Tour, featuring New Pants, Rebuilding the Rights of Statues, P.K.14, and Hedgehog, Off Broadway, September 2

This is a very, very cool event St. Louis likely isn't going to see again for a long time: On Wednesday, September 2, Off Broadway is hosting the Sing for China tour, a four-band bill of indie-rock bands from China. These acts include New Pants, Rebuilding the Rights of Statues, P.K.14 and Hedgehog. ... More >>

We made you a mixtape! 2008: The year in music.

Over the Weekend: Barack Obama Under the Arch, David Byrne at the Fox, Jack's Art Show at Koken, Metro Station, Cobra Starship at Pop's

Show Review Setlist: David Byrne at the Fabulous Fox Theatre, St. Louis, October 18, 2008

David Byrne

8 p.m. Saturday, October 18. The Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard.

David Byrne Kicked Off Tour This Week -- Here's the Setlist

A Steely Dan fan recalls the evolution of his fandom in honor of the band's intimate theater date, while Nine Inch Nails remains relevant and ferocious with new album The Slip and its Lights in the Sky tour

Saturday, October 18: Broken Social Scene vs. David Byrne vs. Cobra Starship

MP3 Weekender: NOMO, Robbie Fulks

Nomo

8:30 p.m. Friday, July 25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue

Spin-Off Contestant #4: Doctor Pong

James, Laid: Lost Classic New Music!

Local Motion

Homespun's top ten local album releases of 2007.

Joy Division

Unknown Pleasures
Closer
Still
(Rhino)Control Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(Rhino)

Eight Days a Week

Fear and loathing in St. Louis: A to Z's week as a woman-about-town.

Belinda Carlisle

Voila (Rykodisc)

Building a Mystery

B-Sides gets the skinny on the renovations going on at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and gets to the bottom of the MetroLink's sound installation.

Head of the Class

Like Star Trek With Worms

Swindled Art

Mark Eitzel

Candy Ass (Cooking Vinyl)

Verboten!

We ban rock cliches, fatwa Eric Clapton and read up on music nerds

Brian Eno

"Ambient Works" (Astrelwerks)

The Bastard Sons of Brian Eno

Ambient music lives on in the Darla Bliss Out series

Mazarin

A Tall-Tale Storyline (spinART)

Depeche Mode

Exciter (Mute/Reprise)

Brave Neu! World

With three new reissues, the Krautrock innovators finally get the exposure they deserve

Arcanum Festival, featuring Kevin Saunderson, Jesse Saunders, Q-Bert and D-Styles and Handsome Boy Modeling School

Saturday, Aug. 19; Black River Amphitheater (Lesterville, Mo.)

King Sunny Ade

Wednesday, April 19; Duck Room

Gutting the Beat

Beating the drum for German electronica