Everyone's a Critic

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Babel, by Mumford & Sons

If anyone were to give credit for making it “cool” to play banjo again, that credit would be due to Mumford & Sons. Since appearing on the Grammys in 2011 with Bob Dylan, the quartet ...

Peter Gabriel Transports Valley View

Peter Gabriel arrived in San Diego to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his commercial breakthrough album So. Beginning with a short yet stunning acoustic set that featured such highlights as “Shock the Monkey” and “Come ...

Centipede Hz, by Animal Collective

The pop tendencies of 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion have been put on the back burner for AnCo's latest release. It's not a bad thing, but c'mon, a little pop can never hurt. What does hurt ...

Shins deliver at Open Air

Opening act Washed Out showed how a 1980s synth-pop sound, so in vogue these days, works well live. Despite the mumbled vocals, the textural polyphony of chillwave synthesizer tracks sounded marvelous through the amphitheater’s crystalline ...

Fifty shades of Adam Ant at 4th&B

Eighties pop star Adam Ant finally made it to town after his rescheduled February date. Brothers of Brazil played an energetic opening set of Bossa Nova rock and then “Ant music” hit the stage with ...

Om, by John Coltrane

“It’s very short, as I recall,” said the resident jazz expert in my life, about McCoy Tyner’s piano solo in this half-hour spiritual yearning — recorded in 1965 but not released until 1968, a year ...

Treatment Bound: A Ukelele Tribute to the Replacements

Ukulele-based covers might seem to bypass an essential element in the Replacements’ mix of yearning with bravado — Paul Westerberg and Co. were rockers, albeit of a power-pop persuasion. But Nashville-based duo Bright-Little-Field’s homespun approach ...

Slash slays sold-out House of Blues

Slash slithered into town with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators and slayed a sold-out House of Blues with a high-octane, ear-splitting performance. It was evident from the first two songs, "Halo" and "Night Train," that ...

Bob Dylan's Tempest

On his 35th studio album, Tempest, there are times when Bob Dylan still has his storytelling style going strong but also moments when he sounds like a frail parody of himself. Most lyrics are commendable ...

Dinosaur Jr. delivers "Sludgfeast" to Solana Beach

The big question when seeing Dinosaur Jr. is always "To earplug, or not to earplug?" On this night at the Belly Up, I decided to strike a happy medium. I set up camp at the ...

The Sheepdogs

All of a sudden, there are reasons to be excited about rock music again. First on the radar for engrossing September releases is the Sheepdogs, a band that’s bringing the boogie back through their feel-good ...

SoCal Music Fest — There's Always Next Year

The inaugural SoCal Music Festival took over the streets of East Village downtown for what could evolve into an annual street festival brought back to “America’s Finest City.” Since the end of Street Scene in ...

Matisyahu's Spark Seeker

Matisyahu's Spark Seeker is not a reggae album. On the first offering from the artist since his break with the Hasidic faith, Matisyahu deftly weaves traditional Hebrew chants and Middle Eastern textures with the ego ...

West Coast Rising at Casbah

Following a commendable opening set from Dostoevsky-referencing Ivan & Alyosha, San Diego’s Heavy Guilt took the stage and showcased a bevy of absorbing new material. It was a sickeningly sweaty night at the Casbah that ...

Alabama Shakes Bring Heat Lightning to House of Blues

The Alabama Shakes brought southern soul and blues to a sold-out House of Blues. The hot and sweaty crowd swayed, danced, and soaked in the soulful voice of lead singer Brittany Howard, the blues licks ...

We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash

Recorded at Austin City Limits last April, We Walk the Line effectively lobbies for posthumous 80th birthday bashes. Brandi Carlile’s opening tear through “Folsom Prison Blues” convinces us she can at least imagine shooting “a ...