“Star Trek: The Next Generation.” I love Star Trek. “The Next Generation” was a major part of my childhood and all the new series are just fantastic, no matter how much the worst nerds badmouth them. So obviously, yesterday I celebrated First Contact Day. The holiday is in honor…

“COWBOY CARTER.” I don’t really like modern country music, at least the mainstream country that gets radio airplay and genre awards. Even beyond my issues with its exclusionary practices and politics, nearly all of it feels derivative. It’s been so insular for so long it’s gone full Habsburg. So…

Does Avial celebrate Holi? Look, I’ll address the elephant in the room: Last week I used a holiday as an excuse to highlight bands from another country, and this week I’m also using a holiday to highlight bands from another country. I’ll own up to that. But it’s not…

My Bloody Valentine, courtesy. Welcome to what’s apparently the third annual St. Patrick’s Day list of Irish bands in which I specifically and intentionally don’t include U2! For those just joining us, our illustrious editor Roman Gokhman is a U2 fan in the same sense that Stan was an…

High Desert Queen, courtesy Stacey Lovett. This week we have soul from Casii Stephan, old-school Southern rock from Little Feat, hard rock by High Desert Queen, Kate Clover and The Idoru, and an outside-the-box history lesson by Kev Bev. Casii Stephan, “Can’t Handle Me” — It’s incredibly hard to find…

Frank Zappa performs in Rotterdam, Netherlands on May 24, 1980. Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns. In my capacity as a data journalist, I go to a lot of conferences, and it’s become a tradition in this column that I mark my travels with a column about artists from each city.…

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony perform at Curran Theatre in San Francisco during Noise Pop Festival on March 1, 2024. Mariana García/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — After 30 years, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony still have it. Their show at BroadwaySF’s Curran Theater to close out Noise Pop Festival was a crowd pleaser. The four Bone…

Otis Redding performs at Monterey Pop Festival, in Monterey, Calif., in June 1967. Photo by Bruce Fleming/Getty Images. It has once again been a long week, so I am once again defaulting to comfort music, and you once again get to hear it, too. You’re welcome. Like I said…

Daniel J. Willis is blue, just like Thom Yorke at this Radiohead show at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Aug. 6, 2016. I am depressed for reasons I’d rather not speak of ever again. That is not a subtle plea to talk about it; leave me alone. Anyway,…

Crews prepare for Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Feb. 1, 2024. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images. Often I struggle to come up with a column idea. This week is easy because I can think about one and only one thing right now: Tomorrow’s Super…