Van Dyke Parks

The Six Best Shitty-Sounding Records

Before we begin, let us clarify that "shitty" and "bad" are not the same. Bad-sounding records aim for a certain result and fall short. Shitty-sounding records result from conscious decisions consciously executed. Here are the six best shitty-sounding records. If your favorite entry is missing from ... More >>

2012: The Year in St. Louis Music

The 20 Best Concerts That Happened in St. Louis in 2012, According to Us

It's been another steller year for live music in St. Louis, whether you were looking for the most legendary living pop artist or the quiet birth of a powerful local band. We've racked our brans and come up with our twenty favorite shows (they're listed below), but what tops your list? Was it The Ur ... More >>

Tonight, WHY? will Play the Final Show at the Luminary's Current Location

The Luminary Center for the Arts is moving to Cherokee Street and will thereby expand its size and services to the art community greatly. There's still plenty of work before the McAnallys will be opening their new doors, but tonight they and the rest of the Luminary crew will send off the old space ... More >>

The Luminary Signs a Lease for a Trio of Buildings on Cherokee Street

The Luminary Center for the Arts -- the eclectic incubator for creativity of many stripes currently located near Kingshighway and Arsenal -- is finally moving to Cherokee Street. The new address will be 2701-7 Cherokee, directly across the street from the old Pig Slop studios (and current mushmaus s ... More >>

The Six Best Fakeout Intros

What better time for a "gotcha moment" (to borrow a Palin-ism) than the very beginning of a song? It takes some guts to change a listener's perception of a track before it is fully formed, but it is eternally memorable when executed well. Here is a list of the six best fakeout intros. Feel free to l ... More >>

The Beach Boys' New Album Has Leaked; How Do I Be A Good Fan?

I saw it on the message board where I'd followed everything else, from the early interviews to the speculation over the song titles to the release of the 30-second Amazon and (more excitingly) 90-second iTunes samples, and where we'd argued for months over autotune in live performances and which vag ... More >>

The 2012 RFT Music Showcase Lineup for June 2

You Have One More Day to Submit Your Band for An Under Cover Weekend Six

The annual hero-halloween for St. Louis bands known as An Under Cover Weekend* is scheduled for September 7 and 8 at the Firebird. Want to show everyone your excellent Spice Girls impression (someone please do this)? Now's your chance. The event is taking submissions for another 31 hours as of this ... More >>

Chamber Pop: Meet the 2012 RFT Music Award Nominees

The 2012 Riverfront Times Music Showcase is a month away. And if that is our own St. Louis Music holiday, then consider this the season: Over the next month, we'll be making our cases for all 125 bands and artists nominated for an RFT Music Award this year. Each weekday between now and the showcase ... More >>

Van Dyke Parks at the Luminary Center for the Arts, 4/5/2012: Review and Setlist

Van Dyke Parks | Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra April 5, 2012 The Luminary Center for the Arts Van Dyke Parks embarked on his first-ever tour this year at the age of 69. It has been a limited run of shows in the United States, but with any justice more audiences will get to experience what ... More >>

White Rabbits at Plush, 4/5/12: Review, Photos and Setlist

White Rabbits | Gull April 5, 2012 Plush For White Rabbits (for Gull, too) music is not a tender nerve. It is not a quiet moment of confession. It is a raging, delirious case of id, an animal instinct given form by relentless repetition and experimentation. At Plush we welcomed the homecoming cr ... More >>

Van Dyke Parks

8 p.m. Thursday, April 5. The Luminary Center for the Arts, 4900 Reber Place.

Van Dyke Parks on His Invisible Career, Surviving the '60s and the Role of the Beta Male

Van Dyke Parks doesn't give interviews; he speaks in pull-quotes and aphorisms. If Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker had spent their formative years among rock & roll royalty, as Parks did as an arranger, songwriter and singer, they might have viewed that world with the same big-hearted verbosity that P ... More >>

Out Every Night: The Best Shows From April 2 to 8

Well Spring has sprung, or whatever, though the 90 degree temperatures belie the notion. Flowers, cool breezes, light jacket weather? Nay: air-conditioner-in-April, sweating in the shade, when-the-hell-do-the-pools-open weather -- you'd think we skipped to summer already. This week's list of shows h ... 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 >>

Shabazz Palaces, Idle Warship Lead This Week's Show Announcements

Shabazz Palaces is genius. 2011's Black Up made instant waves as the left-field "hip-hop" release of the year; the spare, esoteric beats percolate under Ishmael Butler's outré flows, and the fine folks at the Luminary have booked them on April 24. Idle Warship, made up of Talib Kweli and soul songs ... More >>

Van Dyke Parks is Coming to the Luminary

Van Dyke Parks is coming to the Luminary Center for the Arts (4900 Reber Place, 314-807-5984)! It's part of the venue's Elevator Music Series, where the audience is seated in the gallery space, and there are only 250 tickets. They're $22 each and on sale now. We can find a record of when the legen ... More >>

Dr. Dog

8:30 p.m. Saturday, November 5. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

STL Loud Leaks Artwork, More Nuggets of Information [Updated with Band Group #1 #2]

​[Update #1, Tuesday 10:30 a.m.: The first group of bands recording was announced yesterday See below. ][Update #2, Wednesday, 3:45 p.m.: The second group of bands recording was announced today. See below!] Last week, we told you about STL Loud, the local music compilations being compiled by R ... More >>

An Under Cover Weekend Night Three: Theodore The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra, Fractured Army, Makeshift Gentlemen, The Dive Poets, Via Dove

This year's Under Cover Weekend ended with a strong turnout at the Firebird last night. The crowd awaiting the opening super-group featuring Theodore and The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra already surpassed the somewhat-skimpy attendance for last Saturday's event. It's a good thing so ma ... More >>

Van Dyke Parks Approves of Theodore and the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra's An Under Cover Weekend Set.

Parks' 1972 LP​Tonight is the third and final night of An Under Cover Weekend at the Firebird. Bands performing include Via Dove (Pearl Jam), the Dive Poets (R.E.M.), Fractured Army (Pat Benatar), Makeshift Gentlemen (the Doors) and Theodore/Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra (Van Dyke Par ... More >>

Hype Machine: The ten most overrated albums of the decade

2006: The Year in Music

Week of December 28, 2006

Joanna Newsom

9 p.m. Tuesday, November 7. Blueberry Hill's Duck Room (6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City).

Overlooked in '05

Ten great discs that were, ahem, underserved by the media this year

Super Furry Animals

Love Kraft (XL/Beggars Group)

Jesse Harris Duo

Thursday, August 5; Gateway Arch Stage on the St. Louis Riverfront

Linda Thompson

Fashionably Late (Rounder)

Geoff Muldaur

Saturday, Oct. 6; Focal Point

The Pernice Brothers with Waterloo

Friday, Aug. 10; Off Broadway

Eliza Carthy

Angels & Cigarettes (Warner Bros.)

1998: The Year in Music, Part 2

1998: The Year in Music