Soul Music

The Bands Leading St. Louis' Ass-Shaking Groove Revival

Editor's Note: The end of 2012 is upon us (also the end of the world, if you believe in that sort of thing), so we thought we'd put a cap on things by sharing some of our personal favorite shows, albums, events and general shenanigans. Join us as we indulge in some navel-gazing! I'm a music writer ... More >>

The Six Best Songs About Birds

Compiling the best songs about birds is tricky. Many great ones are too metaphorical ("Bird On A Wire" by Leonard Cohen, "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd) and many literal ones are not great ("I'm Like A Bird" by Nelly Furtado). Continuing the Nitpick Six series about animal songs, here are the six best ... More >>

The Ten Best Juke Boxes in St. Louis

​Selecting the Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis 2011 was no picnic. Choosing the winner meant several worthy candidates would go unmentioned -- until now. In this RFT Music series, we're beeboping and scattin' our way through notable runners up in a number of categories. There is no surer way ... More >>

Rough Shop's New Album is Out Saturday: Review and Video

Rough Shop Beneath the South Side Bridge Release Show: 9 p.m. Saturday, April 14. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10 to $13. Rough Shop has always been a band of old souls. Its three principles -- guitarists Andy Ploof and John Wendland and bassist Anne Tkach -- have settled comfortably into middl ... More >>

New Edition with SWV

7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Avenue.

Can musicians find new audiences through tribute nights?

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound at Off Broadway, 12/10/11: Review and Photos

Mike Appelstein​JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound | Bailiff Off Broadway December 10, 2011 Toward the end of its set at Off Broadway last night, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound's bassist Ben Taylor addressed the crowd. Though they'd spent the last few months touring America and Europe, he said, they ... More >>

St. Louis Blues and Soul Revue Aims To Revive the Days of Stax and Motown

The Soulard Blues Band​The variety show is a venerable American musical institution, with a history that stretches all the way from medicine shows and vaudeville to the chitlin' circuit of the 1940s, the early 1950s rock & roll cavalcades promoted by Alan Freed, and the label-sponsored Stax/Vo ... More >>

Kings Go Forth

9:30 p.m. Saturday, November 19. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Morgan Nusbaum's Solo Record Comes Out Friday

Morgan Nusbaum, a former member of the 75s and front woman of the wailing garage outfit Bruiser Queen, will release her first solo album at a show this Friday at Foam. The album, called Let It In was the subject of this week's Homespun review, and Christian Schaeffer notes a departure from Nusbaum's ... More >>

Kanye West and Jay-Z, The Horrors, Pepper Rabbit: This Week's New Releases

​​Each Tuesday, record-store clerks unpack boxes of albums and restock shelves with the latest releases. This week brings many notable releases, including the much-anticipated collaboration between Kanye West and Jay-Z, British shoegaze punks the Horrors and Pepper Rabbit.

It's Final: The Complete Lineup of An Under Cover Weekend 2011

​It's official. This morning's announcement that Union Tree Review will be covering Marvin Gaye at the fifth annual An Under Cover Weekend, completes this year's line-up of the two-day show series on Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10. The series finds some St. Louis groups paying ... More >>

Bo-Keys

3 p.m. Friday, July 15. Euclid Records, 601 East Lockwood Avenue.

Wedding Bands Answer the Five Essential Questions About Playing the Royal Wedding

Photos courtesy of the artists​Kate Middleton and Prince William are getting married in a matter of hours (have you heard about this at all?). You can watch the Royal Wedding via webcam, but let's be honest: Weddings are boring when you're actually there. So we'll take a pass on grainy video f ... More >>

Mary J. Blige/El Debarge/Jazmine Sullivan

8 p.m. Saturday, October 16. The Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard.

Top Sellers at Area Record Stores: Week of July 5 - July 11

* = coming to town, = local Robert Randolph and the Family Band will play the Pageant Friday, July 16​Vintage Vinyl 1. Big Boi -- Sir Lucious Left Foot. The Son Of Chico Dusty 2. Roots -- How I Got Over 3. Eminem -- Recovery 4. Drake -- Thank Me Later 5. Black Keys -- Brothers 6. Ratatat -- ... More >>

The Right Now

9 p.m. Friday, July 9. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

Show Review: Fishbone Brings its Unstoppable Punk-Funk Circus to the City Museum, Thursday, June 3

Last night's Fishbone concert at the City Museum was a reminder that there hasn't been a band quite like the California septet before or since. Certainly the band has some pretty obvious forebears; Sly Stone's multicultural rock & roll, Toots & the Maytals' slinky ska, and Funkadelic's paranoid groo ... More >>

Diana Ross

7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 6. The Fabulous Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard.

The Radiators

9 p.m. Thursday, February 18. The Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street.

Soul Searching: The Black Rep examines Romeo and Juliet through the prism of the inner-city Sixties

Sax for Stax Tour

7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 30. The Bottleneck Blues Bar at the Ameristar Casino, 1260 South Main Street, St. Charles.

Solange

8 p.m. Friday, April 17. Webster University, 535 Garden Avenue. Rain location: Grant Gymnasium.

Little by Little: The Little Ones make pop music for shiny, happy people

Hump Day Slow Jam of the Week: Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing"

The Singer: Marvin Gaye needs no introduction. The man basically perfected the Slow Jam with "Let's Get It On" and contributed more to the body of soul music than anyone before or after. This week's jam may not have the clout of "Let's Get It On," but it remains a classic.The Song: Built on a Roland ... More >>

Hump Day Slow Jam of the Week: Smokey Robinson, "Being with You"

The Singer: Along with Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson was a triple threat for Motown Records: a great singer, hit songwriter and an architect of the label's sound. Most people can name a half-dozen songs Smokey sang with the Miracles in the '60s, but his solo career pointed his smoot ... More >>

Hump Day Slow Jam of the Week: The Commodores, "Nightshift"

The Singers: Formed in the late '60s when the members were school mates at the Tuskegee Institute, the Commodores are best known for two things: having fostered a young Lionel Richie, and the funk jam "Brick House". The group's hits were split between "Brick House"-like funk songs ("Machine Gun" and ... More >>

Photo: Vintage Vinyl's Post-Election Marquee

Hump Day Slow Jam of the Week: The Spinners, "I'll Be Around"

Tonight! Eli "Paperboy" Reed vs. the Pink Spiders

Second Spin: DeBarge, "Dance All Night" (Special 12" Mix)

Second Spin: General Kane, In Full Chill

The Black Hollies

8 p.m. Sunday, May 11. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue

'90s Hip-Hop Jam of the Week: Tony! Toni! Tone! "If I Had No Loot"

B-Sides gets our oontz-oontz-oontz on with Canadian DJs MSTRKRFT.

Then we check out a book about Edwardsville's legendary Mississippi River Festival.

"My son [and I] both 'harvested' enemy troops, me in 1966 and him in 1991. The only reason we are in Iraq now is for Bush to cover his daddy's ass."

Week of September 14, 2006

Local Motion: Penelope

Saturday, April 15 at 8 p.m. The Pageant, (6161 Delmar Boulevard)

Local Motion: Red Eyed Driver

Saturday, March 25 at 11 p.m. Mangia Italiano (3145 South Grand Boulevard).

Concerts

Soul Sisters

Floetry keeps it honest

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Week of July 6, 2005

Garbage

Bleed Like Me (Interscope)

Quick Picks

Week of October 13, 2004

The Isley Brothers

Body Kiss (T-Neck/Dreamworks)

Joan Osborne

How Sweet It Is (Womanly Hips/Compendia)

Detroit Wheel

The biggest reason the Rams won't make the playoffs is now the Lions' leading receiver

De La Soul

AOI: Bionix (Tommy Boy)

Ghostface Killah

Bulletproof Wallets (Sony/Epic)

Fugazi

The Argument (Dischord)

What bands got you into music in the first place and keep you going?