David Beeman

Phaseone/Parisian Old Lights/Demon Lover

"It's Not Forever" / "Sean"
(Lefse Records)"Blocking out the Sun" / "MC5 U in My Dreams"
Tower Groove Records

Phaseone and Parisian, Old Lights and Demon Lover Make Like Bananas

In this week's Homespun column we looked at two split EPs featuring local artists: The first is a collaboration between St. Louis' Parisian and the now New York-based Phaseone. The second pairs two beloved locals, Old Lights and Demon Lover. Check out our reviews.

So Many Dynamos Celebrates Ten Years at Off Broadway

See Also: Here's a Look at So Many Dynamos in the RFT Over the Years

The Tedium of Rock & Roll: Bo and the Locomotive Finish Work at Native Sound

It's Saturday and Bo Bulawsky and Steven Colbert thumb their Hill Climb Racing cars ahead on a smartphone and iPad, respectively. They lounge on a boxy, plaid couch in the rear nook of the Native Sound recording studio while Andy Arato stands in the center of the room overdubbing a bass line to a so ... More >>

The Fixer: Dave Anderson's one-stop guitar shop

Out Every Night: The Best Shows From October 22 to 28

This week's list is a bonus-deluxe-super edition, with TEN shows instead of the usual nine, on account of this Tuesday getting twice its usual attention. There's good reason: Tuesday night features separate appearances by both ska legend the Skatalites and nihilistic post-punk pioneer Swans. They're ... More >>

Homespun: Seven-inch Singles from Sleepy Kitty and Kentucky Knife Fight

The New Seven-Inch Sounds of Sleepy Kitty and Kentucky Knife Fight: Review

Seven-inch singles are still the best way to get to know a band. If you can't kick out the jams in under four minutes per side, perhaps the rocking life just isn't for you. The end of the summer brought a few new 45s from two venerable local acts, both building off of and refining what came before. ... More >>

Homespun: Née

Finches EP
www.neemusic.com

Nee Gets Muscular on Finches: Read the Review and Listen to the EP

With a catchy and captivating take on electro-pop and enough smarts to marry buzzy hooks with a kitschy/glam style, Kristin Dennis turned her Née project into a must-watch act on the rise. Her first EP, The Hands of Thieves, presented a gridwork of synths and drum-machine patterns, but Dennis was s ... More >>

Five Years of the Best St. Louis Song: Listen Here

Our yearly giant love letter to St. Louis -- the Best Of issue -- comes out tomorrow. We've encountered some confusion out there, so this seems like as good an opportunity as any to explain that this is different from our RFT Music Awards, which are ultimately determined by a public vote. With the B ... More >>

Tower Groove Records' Seven-Inch Subscription Series: Lineup and Fall Launch [Update]

Update, 9/24/12: Your first chance to sign up for this thing will be at a "Fall Informal" at Apop Records on Saturday, October 20. Few details are available at the moment, but we have been promised "music, food, beer, record painting and more!" So look forward to that -- we'll keep you updated, obvi ... More >>

Arson For Candy: Review and Preview Track

Ed. Arson For Candy's debut EP was the subject of this week's Homespun column. You can purchase the release on iTunes and listen to "Old Jane" below. If the band name Arson for Candy sounds like a particularly hellish form of delinquent-youth recruitment -- or an inversion on those "money for guns" ... More >>

Homespun: Arson for Candy

Arson for Candy EP
www.facebook.com/arsonforcandy

Nee on Regret, the Satanic Influence of the Pixies and What Comes After "Pretty Girls"

"I was trying on my outfit earlier [for the video release party], which is why I have on a crazy outfit right now. This is not my day wear," Kristin Dennis of Née reassures me about her purple one piece jumpsuit with gold buckled belt as we walked into Native Sound Studio. Dennis is lively as her m ... More >>

Out Every Night: The Best Shows From July 23 to 29

Attention cheap and poor folks in St. Louis: Four of the ten shows listed here this week won't cost you a dime! Tenacious D at Vintage vinyl (better show up early to ensure entry though -- big band, small venue), David Beeman & Kit Hamon of Old Lights playing a more intimate set at Plush, then back ... More >>

The 2012 RFT Music Showcase Lineup for June 2

Pop: Meet the 2012 RFT Music Award Nominees

The 2012 Riverfront Times Music Showcase is two weeks away. And if that is our own St. Louis Music holiday, then consider this the season: Throughout May, we've been making our cases for all 125 bands and artists nominated for an RFT Music Award this year, introducing the nominees from one or more o ... More >>

Out Every Night: The Fifteen Best Shows From March 19 to 25

Last week we alluded to the fact that this March is a great time to be a music fan in St. Louis....this week we're driving the point home and then some. Unless you are capable of bi-location (or in some cases: tri / quadro), you are going to miss some good shows this week. We have Andrew Bird at the ... More >>

Preview: Other Lives Plays "Tamer Animals" in a Grove Loft

Last month, Other Lives came to town and held the huddled crowd at the Gramophone rapt for the duration of its set. If you're struggling to place the name it might be rattling around in your brain because the band will open for Radiohead at the sold-out Scottrade Center on Friday. Other Lives play ... More >>

New Tracks from Old Lights, Nee and Pretty Little Empire: Native Sounds' Sounds

Yes, these three songs, all released last week, come from Native Sounds studio. So consider this, in some very small way, an introduction to the work being done there. But much, much more important is the music itself, which speaks volumes about three bands we sincerely hope to hear lots more from i ... More >>

Yankee Racers Release First Full-Length with a Little Help from a Lot of Friends

Curt Brewer is a familiar face in the local music community: he plays guitar with the raw, bluesy quintet Kentucky Knife Fight, lays down 1920s-inspired jazz licks in Two Swingin' Picks, and sits in as a gun-for-hire for wedding bands, fill-in gigs and the like. This Thursday night, however, he'll b ... More >>

40 Best St. Louis Releases of 2011: Part Three

​As you may have noticed, we were excited to be St. Louis music fans this year. And there is no more substantial document of the sound of this city in 2011 than the music released by its bands and artists. It is not an exaggeration to guess that the releases in the metro area number in the th ... More >>

Recording Studio Native Sound Aims to Do More Than Push Buttons: Photo Tour

Kholood EidDavid Beeman and Kit Hamon of Native Sound (and Old Lights).​There comes a time when growth for some musicians means giving back to the community. For David Beeman, Kit Hamon and John Joern -- bandmates in Old Lights -- this means helping their fellow St. Louis musicians find a reco ... More >>

Free Music! Free Drinks! City Museum! Win Tickets To The Best Of St. Louis Party

​The dust has settled on our 2011 Best Of St. Louis issue, and now it's time to celebrate our love letter to this city with a party: This Thursday from 7 p.m. to 11 at the City Museum, we'll have a costume contest, food from Wildflower, drinks and music from Pretty Little Empire as well as DJ ... More >>

Ten Best Things to Do in St. Louis This Weekend: September 30 to October 2

Mount Eerie. Photo by Wheat Wurtzburger​It's the end of the week and it's hard to imagine better weather. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to enjoy it this weekend, including (count 'em) three outdoor festivals that involve standout locals: Midtown Alley Fest, Grove Fest and Euclid Recor ... More >>

"I'm still figuring out what it means": Old Lights' David Beeman On Like Strangers (Listen)

Photo by Nate Burrell ​Old Lights' new 10", Like Strangers, is a brutal love story told over six tracks that move with hypnotizing grace. Its the sort of record that you just keep listening to. Its guitars, keys and vocals tee off on one sweet spot after another, peeling off seamlessly or dro ... More >>

The Monads Splitting Up -- But Not Before Releasing One Last EP

Nate JonesJenna from the Monads, rendered as a member of Emmet Otter's Jug Band!​One of the city's beloved live bands, the Monads, is calling it quits after one last show this weekend at Off Broadway. Why the split? In a statement, the band simply says, "We are just looking to go different dir ... More >>

2010 Music Showcase: 1 night, 50+ bands, 5 bucks this Saturday on Wash. Ave.

Old Lights Emerges from the Studio with an Off Broadway Show, New Demo MP3

Jennifer Silverberg​After being away from the city for several months, manicured indie-pop act Old Lights is resurfacing with a show tonight at Off Broadway. Tonight's openers include Jon Hardy, who's doing a solo set, and singer/songwriter/pal of Old Lights David Vandervelde. As we wrote ab ... More >>

Hometown Proud: The top ten local releases of 2009

Light My Way: Old Lights' David Beeman gets by with a little help from his friends

Want To Be in Old Lights' Video?

Old Lights' fundraiser for its upcoming video was a rousing success, because David Beeman writes in with details on how you can be in the video, which is filming this Sunday!We are shooting this Sunday, July 26th. 7 AM to 12 Noon on 8th and Olive downtown. We are doing a big street riot thing with ... More >>

Help Old Lights Shoot a Video -- By Attending a Concert/Party on Saturday night!

If Paste magazine can save itself by raising money through donations, why not this? Old Lights is going to shoot a video with a Webster grad named Cody Stokes -- who OL main man David Beeman says was the "only American accepted into the Paris International School of Film" in 2008 -- and needs to rai ... More >>

Local Band to Know: Old Lights, Opening for Constantines/Crystal Antlers

In recent months, the band Old Lights has cropped up everywhere around town (and beyond): opening for Magnolia Electric Co. in Columbia, playing after the Decemberists in the Halo Bar and tomorrow, opening the Constantines/Crystal Antlers show at the Duck Room. (For good measure, the band is also pl ... More >>

AA Bondy: Outtakes from the American Hearts Interview, with Bonus Verbena Van Woe Stories