Talking Heads (Band)

Deep Covers: Bhi Bhiman re-imagines rock favorites on Substitute Preacher

RFT Spring Arts Guide 2013: Theater

The Six Best Beats By St. Louis Artists In 2012

In this unprecedented edition of Nitpick Six, we narrow the scope and focus on the stellar work of local musicians this year. Here are the six best beats by local artists in 2012. Let us know your favorites in the comments, and we'll sample them, chop them up and throw down some 808 drops. See also ... More >>

Electric Six is Worth Seeing Nine Times: Here's Why

Even for a band that tours frequently, Electric Six rolls into town quite often. The dance-rocker's show tomorrow (Tuesday, November 6) will be its fifth appearance at the relatively young Firebird, and before that E6 also performed at Fubar and the late Creepy Crawl. I've seen almost all of the ban ... More >>

The Swayback Returns to St. Louis, and This Time it Won't Have to Compete with the Cardinals!

The Swayback is currently on the back half of one of the biggest tours in its ten year history. The first leg brought the Denver rock & roll band to Plush for its first-ever St. Louis show, on the night of a Cardinals playoff game. You can imagine how that went. I went mostly because I wanted to see ... 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 >>

Neil Young and Jonathan Demme discuss their third concert film

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 Worst Songs On Great Albums

Even on a quote-unquote perfect album, one song has to be inferior to the others, just as one song has to rule the roost. Such is the yin and yang of nature. Here are the six worst songs on the best albums. 6. Wilco - "Heavy Metal Drummer" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Heavy Metal Drummer by Wilco on ... More >>

RFT Spring Arts Guide 2012: Music

Five Moments that [Almost] Validated the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

With music being so subjective, it's no surprise that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame emerged over the years as a colossal punching bag. When people disagree over whether Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music is dreck or a stroke of genius, no decision is going to be universally loved. The Cleveland instit ... More >>

Babylon's Burning

Catholic Guilt Beyond Pleasuredome Release Show at El Lenador, 2/11/12: Recap

This weekend El Lenador officially became the epicenter of the South St. Louis music scene. It's a place where locals go to see other locals. There's a tight sense of community, but that's not to say that it feels exclusive or exclusionary. It's a place where bands seem to look out for and support e ... More >>

Six Worst Musical Thefts by White People

Keith Richards early in his career. ​February is Black History Month, the mere existence of which is a reminder that white people have spent a majority of America's existence being total dicks. When it comes to popular music, Caucasians are like a race comprising Winona Ryders who have no prob ... 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 >>

Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom Club at The Pageant, 9/23/11: Review and Setlists

Psychedelic Furs' Richard Butler at a previous show.​Psychedelic Furs | Tom Tom Club The Pageant September 23, 2011 Well? What do you consider fun? In his latest book, Retromania, author/theorist Simon Reynolds explores pop music's current obsession with its past. We're all familiar with ba ... More >>

Psychedelic Furs/Tom Tom Club

8 p.m. Friday, September 23. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

Psychedelic Furs With Tom Tom Club: Ticket Giveaway!

​New wave heaven hits the Pageant on Friday, when Psychedelic Furs share a bill with Tom Tom Club. And we want to send you to the show for free! Go to our Facebook page for contest details. Robin Wheeler and Christian Schaeffer previewed the show in this week's print edition; they're take ... More >>

Punk's Baby Photos

The Ten Most Facepalm-Inducing Uses of French in Pop Music: In Honor of Bastille Day

​Bastille Day is upon us, when all the world celebrates Louis XIV crossing the Delaware or something. We're not clear on the details, and on that front we join countless English-speaking pop and rock stars who took similarly haphazard forays into the Language of Love. In honor of the Frog's b ... More >>

Show Review: So Many Dynamos at the Firebird, Friday, March 4

Save for a few live shows here and there, So Many Dynamos has kept a low profile in the past year or so. The quartet's been focusing on writing new music and experimenting with new instruments and styles, which has resulted in a marked expansion in its sound. That was evident right away on Friday n ... More >>

Show Review: Second Night of Beat 'n' Soul Offers Garage-Rock Fuzz and Sweet Soul Sounds

Christian SchaefferThe Fleshtones atop Off Broadway's bar​The promise of rock & roll has always been the promise of being forever young, and last night the patrons at Off Broadway got a good argument for music's gift of eternal youth. The inaugural weekend of the (hopefully) annual Beat 'n' So ... More >>

Interview: The Fleshtones' Keith Streng on New York, the Ramones, Lenny Kaye and Rock & Roll

Anne Streng​ According to some garage rock geeks, the Fleshtones is the greatest rock & roll band in the world. For once, the geeks may have a point. At the very least, the New York group, formed in 1976 by high school friends Keith Streng and Peter Zaremba, has come to symbolize what still ma ... More >>

Ten Halloween-Themed Things To Do This Weekend

Evan Swigart/Wikimedia Commons​It's Halloween weekend! Spooky! Don your best costume and head out to the following events. Don't forget to check our main music page for more concerts going on around town this weekend. Friday: Skate or Die! @ The St. Louis Skatium Rollerskating, live bands and ... More >>

Review Setlist Photos: Vampire Weekend, The Very Best and Beach House at Chaifetz Arena

Jason StoffVampire Weekend performing at the at Chaifetz Arena.​Click here for a full set of photos from the show.It's extremely difficult to write about a band that does everything right, as Vampire Weekend did last night at Chaifetz Arena. Even the band's ghastly novelty songs about punctuation ... 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: Various Artists

Test Patterns
(BDR Records)

Review Photos Setlist: Paul McCartney Defies Age at the Sprint Center, Kansas City, Saturday, July 24

Annie Zaleski​Among other things, the members of the Beatles have taught us that we should never take them for granted. While their (relatively) brief time as being part of the world's biggest band cemented them as musical untouchables, as human beings John, Paul, George and Ringo are (or were ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Carlos Ruiz Isn't a Pretentious Record Store Guy -- He Just Draws a Comic About One

Jon Scorfina​The "pretentious record store guy" has long been the bane of the record shop. Despite their wealth of archaic knowledge, music lovers were never sure whether these pompous clerks were an asset or a plague to their shopping experience. Local comic artist and graphic designer Carlos ... More >>

The Tom Tom Club(!) Are Coming to St. Louis

[Update! Wednesday 1:22 p.m. The show is Saturday, September 26. Tickets are $23 in advance, $25 day of show, on sale Friday, June 25 at 5 p.m. 21-plus only.] A little birdy tells me that the Tom Tom Club will be coming to town at the Old Rock House sometime in September. Show info to be announced. ... More >>

St. Louis Producer Phaseone Drops New Mixtape: "The Realest Shit I Ever Wrote"

Why is this the cover art? Nobody knows.​Phaseone, the RFT's Best Producer of 2010, has been getting all kinds of Internet lovin' for his new mixtape "The Realest Shit I Ever Wrote." The fifteen-track, 29-minute compilation was featured on Pitchfork's Forkcast earlier this week and Jeff Weiss, for ... More >>

Mahjongg

8 p.m. Sunday, February 28. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Pretty & Nice The Radical Sons

9 p.m. Friday, April 17. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Euforquestra

9 p.m. Friday, January 2. Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street.

Johnette Napolitano

9 p.m. Thursday, May 31. Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, (6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City)

LCD Soundsystem

Sound of Silver (DFA/Capitol)

Modest Mouse

We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Epic)

!!!

Myth Takes (Warp)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Some Loud Thunder (self-released)

Josef K

Entomology (Domino)

Jenga!

Jumbling Towers curates a monthly night of indie-rock at Cicero's.

Paul Westerberg & Various Artists

Open Season (Lost Highway)

King Sunny Ade

Wednesday, April 19; Duck Room

STILL MAKING SENSE

The Talking Heads' David Byrne once again reinvents himself, this time as an ambassador of Latin American music

ANIMATED WORLDS: TWO DECADES OF PORTLAND ANIMATION

NEEM THE THING

The Neem offer up 29 songs on their self-titled debut

Club Rules

Heat Treatment

Sound Checks