Seventeen syllables. Seventeen syllables to say whatever you want, to say as much, or as little, as you’d like. Hell, you don’t even have to use all 17 syllables if you don’t need or want to, says poet and artist Raven Mack. That’s just the typical form of a Japanese haiku in the Western world: […]
Haunting vocals paired with gentle guitar strumming define Sam Marandola’s solo project Oldest Sea. There’s no need for heavy rhythms on her self-released LP Sage Burner—it showcases just how effective pure instrumentation paired with melancholy vocals can be. With Winterweeds, Brandon Morsberger, and The Big Drum In The Sky Religion, fingerpicking blues and psychedelic also […]
It’s a rainy Friday in late October, the first cold night of fall, and the people who’ve dared to venture outside tiptoe quickly around autumn leaves sticking slick on the Downtown Mall bricks. A few stories above, it’s warm and cozy inside the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, where a small crowd has gathered to hear […]
Spacey, slinky synths paired with earnest poeticism and come-hither vocals drive the experimental pop of San Francisco’s Sis. Touring on the heels of its debut album, Euphorbia, the group is already playing up the creative juice that’s flowing to a new release set for Spring 2019. In the [...]
Slam poetry gets a lot more fast-paced—not to mention, a lot shorter—with the Southern Gothic Futurist Haiku Slam. Participants must keep their poems to 17 syllables, as required by the original Japanese art form. Reigning champ Raven Mack hosts and competes, going head-to-head with a contender [...]
The music of Daniel Bachman is known as American primitive guitar, but some may consider that a misnomer. The complex, plucked arrangements distinctive to the Fredericksburg native are anything but simple. Many of his songs stretch past the 10-minute mark, and some are entirely instrumental. [...]
Pittsburgh’s dark-pop quartet Dinosoul takes experimental-indie to the next level, mixing synth, reverb and delay-heavy guitar riffs with emotional vocals and health and wellness. Yes, that’s right. Band founder Donny Donovan is also a health, wellness and fitness coach, and Dinosoul offers a [...]
Psychedelic, space-rock band Ruckzuck finds its unique sound through pulsing synths, fuzzy riffs and, at times, dark but entrancing lyrics that drive the three-piece’s soundscapes. Hailing from the mountains of Pennsylvania, the group’s name has numerous meanings, all of them having to do with [...]
When the six-piece band The Apache Relay quietly ended, brothers Michael and Ben Ford decided to work as a duo, and Airpark was born. One year later, the siblings are creating forward-thinking pop music, mixing vocal harmonies with minimal instrumentation manifested in emotional vibes that [...]
Last April, J.R. Brown stepped onto the wooden stage at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center and looked out at the small-ish audience that had gathered in the auditorium. With the house lights on, he could see everyone’s faces. All of their eyes—and ears—were on him. He was [...]
Improvisation on viola, atmospheric cello and lush acoustics fill a unique bill of songwriters: Touring veteran Dina Maccabee (violinist, violist and vocalist) loops depth, space and complexity into the songs from her new album, The World is in the Work. Cellist, vocalist and composer Janel [...]
During his interactive, choose-your-own-adventure techno-rap show, Gavin Riley might drop his audience into a video-animated scenario about soft serve ice cream. When a video bully asks him if he wants to ditch his swirly cone for a drug called jazz, Riley’s audience can choose his reply: “Get [...]
Moody times call for moody tunes. Locally stacked triple bill The Lightmare Before Christmas featuring the darkwave of Jaquardini speaks volumes to our need for something darker than the blues with the cathartic space beats of This Hollow Machine and the Brickbats’ Corey Gorey in a goth solo [...]
The four members of post-rock band Woods Running are about halfway through a pot of mint tea at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar when they catch the eye of a bearded, ponytailed man sitting at the next table. “Hey guys! I thought that was you,” the man says with enthusiasm. “When’s your next show?” [...]
When R.U.N.T.215th was growing up in Philadelphia in the mid-1980s, he routinely stayed up late and recorded Lady B’s “ Street Beat” Power 99 FM radio show, taping it on his boom box. He’d listen to the tapes over and over—the sets were packed full of Public Enemy, MC Lyte, Audio Two and Melle [...]
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Marian McLaughlin weaves together imaginative lyrics and intricate classical guitar work, then delivers it so rhapsodically that you can’t help but be drawn into her wake. A couple of years ago, McLaughlin captured the attention of NPR’s “All Songs Considered” [...]
The June 29 Downtown Mall fire that started in Ike’s Underground Vintage Clothing and Strange Cargo also has temporarily closed Miso Sweet Ramen + Donut Shop and Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar. The Tea Bazaar suffered from “a fine layer of smoke dust over all of the restaurant including the office [...]
It was nearing lunchtime on the Downtown Mall when smoke began pouring out of the building that houses Ike’s Underground Vintage Clothing and Strange Cargo, Miso Sweet and Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar. Next door at OpenQ, CEO Otavio Freire was in his office, which “filled up very [...]