Posts by April Siese

The final day of Hangout Fest was forcibly meandering in the best of ways, barring the lengthy shuttle bus ride over a bridge just to turn around and head back the same direction. As we passed over a gulf inlet for the second time, the bro to my right stopped chugging his liter of bud […]

Day two of Hangout Fest was the day I tried Tinder and immediately got paired with a photographer who had trouble with press credentials, proving just how small the world is and the prowess of the algorithm. More often than not, however, representative bios pointed to slightly perturbed locals — quite a few “I live […]

A festival on the beach breeds lax dress code standards. Nobody was nude at Hangout Fest but they left little to the imagination by way of flashy outfits and minimal thought to the conventions of fashion. Or common decency. The bigger topic of discussion seems to be the ban of the selfie stick, whose consequences […]

[rating=7.00] AWOLNATION is officially now simply Aaron Bruno at this point. The pioneering mastermind nearly single-handedly crafted and recorded the entirety of Run, though he still has a core group of musicians adding their immediacy in the form of a solid rhythm section. Still, it ultimately feels as if it’s Bruno at the helm, more […]

Based on location alone, New Orleans’ BUKU Music + Art Project is poised to be the most New Orleans thing there is, right? Held on the sweeping grounds of Blain Kern’s Mardi Gras World — the place where floats are built and props hang from rafters staring you down like that teenager on molly — […]

Can the world afford to wait every two years until Dengue Fever release another album? The more I delve into their music, the more insatiable my ears become, eagerly awaiting the next psychedelic spy thriller soundtrack set to frontwoman Chhom Nimol’s uber confident vocals. Like a slow drip of the sweetest pressed coffee, their spurts […]

What Festivals Can Learn From the Voodoo Experience It’s nearing the end of festival season, a changing of the guard now so regimented that it’s ushered in via SXSW and dispersed in a bewildered cloud of Rock the Bells and scant, smaller events. Someday that vacillating gap between large-scale live music’s downtime and its uptick […]

[rating=7.00] The many changing ways in which we approach albums makes it difficult to say whether the format itself is on its last legs. Perhaps Weird Al’s singles-focused approach is what’s right for this morphing medium. Or maybe Thom Yorke has struck gold with a BitTorrent bundle, whatever the hell that happens to be. Regardless […]

[rating=7.00] King Tuff is now entering its plugged in phase. Never one to sit still, the Vermont act is in good company on opening eponymous track “Black Moon Spell”. Fellow inexhaustible rocker Ty Segall lends a percussive hand as King Tuff kicks it into high gear. Given Segall’s insane output and similar demeanor, it consistently […]

[rating=8.00] Goth beach is the type of bizarro moniker that can at one turn feel like a salty acid trip or a meandering moonlit stroll along the water. It’s a descriptive phrase that supposedly comes the closest to defining SoCal outfit the Growlers. They’ve latched onto it to a certain extent because everyone needs a […]

Like other city-centric festivals, (Governor’s Ball in NY, Treasure Island in SF) Pitchfork Music Festival unknowingly offers up the best qualities of its host region. Expertly curated and just large enough to feel legitimate without overcrowded, the Union Park event offers minimal musical conflict. All that it asks of you is one identifying thing: which […]