For many indie rock fans, the name Ed O’Brien carries no particular immediacy. Invoke O’Brien’s decades-long tenure with English superstars Radiohead, however, and these same fans will gush accolades. The art rock group enjoys a rare status with critics and aficionados, appealing to ravers, indie rockers and even some metalheads.…

Marking the inexorable shift into a post-1990s phase of rock heroism, New York City’s The Strokes may be the most recent guitar band that was able to have its cake and eat it, too. Artistically singular, wildly popular and championed by the press, it came to epitomize the hipster…

Few musicians today can compete with the resume of Stephen Bruner, better known as Thundercat. Bruner developed his virtuosic stringmanship alongside some of L.A.’s brightest talents. He was instrumental to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly (widely regarded as Lamar’s best) and collaborated on albums by Erykah Badu and jazz bandleader…

British singer-songwriter Morrissey thrives on the psychologically dubious. A flavor of malice runs through his work, lacing his sincere efforts in song-poetry with danger and distrust. So it is a bit of a departure when he asserts his curmudgeonliness with heightened directness on the title track of his new…

Thundercat performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on March 6, 2020. Onome Uyovbievbo/STAFF. OAKLAND — Stephen Lee Bruner is a man who can really play the hell out of the bass guitar. He proved it again on Friday night, guiding his jazz trio through multiple structural breakdowns and outlandish…

As rock clichés go, the phase when the aging rock star begins experimenting with exotic instruments in the studio must be one of the most scoff-inducing. When the rock star in question is Stephen Malkmus, the listener can assume the artist is in on the joke. As the golden…

Shigeto Live Ensemble performs at The New Parish in Oakland on Feb. 27, 2020. Sean Liming/STAFF. OAKLAND — Underground electronic musician Zachary Saginaw, better known by his stage name Shigeto, performed at the New Parish Thursday night as part of Noise Pop Music And Arts Festival. Saginaw proclaimed it a…

Hot Tuna performs at The Sing out for SEVA benefit concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco, on Nov. 2, 2013. Derek Simmons/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — It’s said that if you remember the 1960s, you weren’t there. San Francisco’s rock and roll crowd got a handy reminder Saturday night…

Cultural phenomenon Ozzy Osbourne is a hard man to pin down. Is he the originator of the look and feel of heavy metal? A guy who managed to be in the right place at the right time? A doddering madman, deteriorated by decades of drug excess? Ordinary Man Ozzy…

George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic perform at Cornerstone in Berkeley on Feb. 18, 2020. BERKELEY — “Godfather of Funk” George Clinton performed for two full hours Tuesday at Cornerstone as his large ensemble, laid down distinguished grooves and tested the party stamina of the sold-out crowd. Chant-along refrains and opportunities to jump…