Ryan Wasoba

Americana: Meet the 2013 RFT Music Award Nominees

The 2013 Riverfront Times Music Showcase is a week and a half away! 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 a Music Award this year, introd ... More >>

In St. Louis Music, Life Is a Never-Ending Conflict of Interests

Art and life cohabitate, informing, imitating and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship. Two months ago, my wife and I began renting a building in Edwardsville, Illinois, and moved our home studio ... More >>

A Plea For The Separation of Music And Music Culture

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. As some of these Better Living Through Music columns have pointed out (and as my nemesis Matt Harnish ... More >>

On the Subject of Music and Sound and Air and Science

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. Last night while disassembling a crude table to repurpose its boards for a drum riser-slash-sandbox (lon ... More >>

The Ten Best Shows in St. Louis This Weekend: January 18 to 20

We all all know how that one saying goes: If you're bored, you're boring! But hey, we're people, not grizzly bears, so there's no reason to be snoring in some sort of hibernation space over the next few days. Our city has a wealth of exciting performances to catch this weekend. Don't sleep on it -- ... More >>

Comedians Are The New Rock Stars

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. No phrase encapsulates the worst elements of music quite like the phrase "rock star." My disdain is s ... More >>

Finding Yourself In The Used CD Bin

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. It is possible that a generation of future musicians will create music that is never released physica ... 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 >>

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 >>

Tributes and Tribulations

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 Last week, RFT Music's Jamie Lees wrote an op-ed piece entitled The Problem With An Under Cover Weekend. I ... More >>

Your Guide to FarFetched, the Collective Busting Music Scene Segregation

This week's music feature is the story of the fledgling music collective FarFetched. RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba describes the group early in his story: "The FarFetched Collective is exactly what its name implies, a once-improbable union of musicians across race, gender and genre lines. To its figu ... More >>

Music Is Not A Sport

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. Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen is kicking ass in the Olympics, and doing it efficiently as to minimize drag i ... More >>

Out Every Night: The Best Shows From July 30 to August 5

Time constraints occasionally preclude us from being able to preview every single great show in town. There's only so many hours in the week, and we have to keep the trains running on time in addition to writing up these recommendational blurbs. That said, a couple of shows early this week warrant y ... More >>

Own Your 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. That title may be misleading, so let's clear some things up now: I am mainly speaking to the musicians ou ... More >>

The Spirituality of Vinyl

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. Record Store Day has passed, that noble annual event that gets music enthusiasts out of computer chairs a ... More >>

Win Tickets for Portugal. the Man at the Pageant

Update: Our winner! milwaukee hurt me sound guy ruined 'got it all' help avenge the song Original post follows. Portland-by-way-of-Alaska's Portugal. the Man is playing the Pageant this Sunday, and we've got an extra pair of tickets to give away -- contest time! Inspired by Haiku Lou, St. Louis ... More >>

RFT Spring Arts Guide 2012: Visual Arts

Out Every Night: The Best Shows From April 16 to 22

Ok folks, this week is insane -- the number of excellent shows that did not make the cut for this post could easily fill another, if not for the nagging reality that time is finite. We don't want to short-change you though, so here's the runner-up rundown: Crowbar at Fubar on Monday, Cursive at Off ... More >>

Ben Kweller's songwriting instincts serve him well

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 >>

Mama's Bed N Brunch is a Haven for Touring Bands

As any band that's hit the road will tell you, the glamours of touring are greatly overstated. Musicians deal with a blurry mess of cold floors and gas station meals. It can be a trial by fire that has ended many a promising career. Sharon Scherer knows how hard it can be, and she's doing somethin ... More >>

40 Best St. Louis Releases of 2011: Part Nine

Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace Part Five: Sleepy Ki ... More >>

40 Best St. Louis Releases of 2011: Part Seven

​Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace Part Five: Sl ... More >>

Your Guide to Tonight's tUnE-yArDs Show

Anna M Campbell​tUnE-yArDs, your presumptive early frontrunner in the Year End Listgasm Sweepstakes, is playing at Off Broadway tonight. But the thing to note here is that the album (w h o k i l l, naturally, because the incredible talent behind all this, Merrill Garbus, ain't doing anyone any ... More >>

The Ten Best Things To Do This Weekend in St. Louis: April 22 to 24

Joy Formidible (Wikimedia Commons)​Flip a coin: there's no other way to choose which of the excellent shows to attend this weekend. Whether your betting tastes lean toward the Joy Formidable's melodic fuzz from across the pond, or Ha Ha Tonka's Bible-Belt punk from St. Louis' backyard, odds ar ... More >>

Eleven local bands and artists to watch in 2011

Eleven Local Artists You Need to Know in 2011

​The life cycle of a local music community goes something like this: Bands form, play out, record music, play out more and (eventually) break up. There's plenty of variation in this sequence of events, of course, but in St. Louis, the local-band turnover tends to be rather high. Keeping track ... More >>

Interview Outtakes: Menomena's Danny Seim on Creed and How His Nerdiness Compares to Rush's Collective Nerdiness

Alicia Rose​In this week's music feature, Menomena drummer Danny Seim goes into detail about the band's unique songwriting process and its newest Barsuk Records full length, Mines. Read on below for some interview outtakes, in which contributor Ryan Wasoba discovers Seim's apparent obsession w ... More >>

Interview Outtakes: Broken Social Scene drummer Justin Peroff on Weird Drum Sounds, The Band's Origin and the Clown-Car Effect

​Tomorrow night's LouFest headliner is Broken Social Scene. In this week's issue, Ryan Wasoba interviewed drummer Justin Peroff about the band's new LP, Forgiveness Rock Record. Here are some outtakes, complete with some drum geek-outs and info on the genesis of the band and its latest album. ... More >>

10 Things to Do for $10 This Weekend in St. Louis, Aug. 20-22, 2010

Pace yourself on Friday and Saturday nights, because St. Louis has a surprising amount in store this Sunday. This weekend is chock full of activities both highbrow (wine tasting, abstract art, Oscar Wilde plays) and lowbrow (rock shows, swap meets, amateur photography), so whether you get down in ev ... More >>

Phoenix Burns Up the Pageant

by Ryan Wasoba In one of a half dozen instances of audience acknowledgment, Phoenix vocalist Thomas Mars announced, "Growing up in Paris, we clapped like this." Mars commanded The Pageant to applaud to the rhythm of "[pause] clap, [pause] clap-clap" -- the complete inverse of the traditional Americ ... More >>

Homespun: This City of Takers

Going Along With the Delusions Will Not Be Helpful
(self-released)

Interview: Kvist Records Owner John Tamm-Buckle on Releasing Albums, Running a Label and his Non-Asshole Pet Rooster

​In this week's paper, Ryan Wasoba interviewed Tom Hamilton about Saturday's performance of Separate Checks at the Kranzberg Arts Center and the double-album reissue of Pieces For Kohn / Formal And Informal Music on the local avant-garde label, Kvist Records. John Tamm-Buckle of Kvist also chi ... More >>

Tonight: Mondo Drag, Polysics

Polysics are not robots.​So, the Snowtorious B.I.G. they were calling for has already seemed to clear up out there. (All hail the D.C. NBC affiliate for coining that term for a blizzard.) And so you have no excuse to avoid hitting Off Broadway for Iowa psych-rockers Mondo Drag (playing with lo ... More >>

MP3: On Fillmore, "Master Moon"

In last week's paper, Ryan Wasoba profiled On Fillmore, the instrumental music project featuring Darin Gray and Glenn Kotche. The band's latest album, Extended Vacation, came out recently. Here's an MP3 from that album. MP3: On Fillmore, "Master Moon"

Show Review: The Dave Holland Quintet at the Sheldon, Saturday, January 24

(Words by Ryan Wasoba)The payoff of improvised music comes in the form of unspoken, unplanned climaxes born of highly evolved communication between disciplined musicians. These moments come in the form of well-placed melodies, unexpected texture changes and tension-releasing cymbal crashes. They mat ... More >>

Show Review: The Bad Plus at Jazz at the Bistro, Friday, January 9

The audience present for the 8:30 p.m. Bad Plus set last evening leaned more toward curious observers than diehard fans. It was difficult to suspect the sort of crowd that would take interest in the piano, bass, and drum trio, and even harder to guess what aspect of the group appealed to whom. Some ... More >>

Interview: Faint Keyboardist Jacob Thiele

In 2001, the Faint released Danse Macabre, which practically created the template for the new-wave/dance-punk revival which occurred two years later. Since then, the Omaha quintet has stayed barely under the radar and just ahead of the curve. Keyboardist Jacob Thiele took a break from the band' ... More >>

Interview: Australian Pink Floyd keyboardist Jason Sawford

Over the Weekend: Halloween Parties, Stephen Malkmus, Neil Diamond, $2 Gasoline

Show Review Photos: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Blitzen Trapper at the Pageant, Saturday, November 1

Parts & Labor, Saturday, October 25 at the Billiken Club

Show Review Photos Setlist: Broken Social Scene at the Gargoyle, Saturday, October 18

Two writers debate the pros and cons of indie-rock/Afropop sensations Vampire Weekend, who are making their St. Louis debut on September 10

Over the Weekend: Weird Al Yankovic at Family Arena, '80s Prom at Gramophone, White Hot Party at rBar, Jon Hardy and the Public at The Chapel

Show Review: Mates of State, Headlights at the Bluebird, Sunday, June 8

Interview: Nada Surf's Matthew Caws

This Band Could Be Your Life, Part III: So Many Dynamos Tours to SXSW

This Band Could Be Your Life, Part II: So Many Dynamos Tours to SXSW

This Band Could Be Your Life, Part I: So Many Dynamos Tours to SXSW