Imelda May performs at the 2014 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. Irish singer Imelda May is OK with playing in front of smaller audiences, or opening for others, in the U.S. The 40-year-old with a shock of blonde in her black hair, and a single front…

Zola Jesus, courtesy. Nika Roza Danilova, better known as singer-songwriter Zola Jesus, was raised singing opera on a hundred acres of forest in Wisconsin. She studied under an instructor for several years before going to college and switching to more rock- and pop-focused music writing. Zola Jesus, Operators 8…

Kopecky Family Band performs at Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park on Aug. 11, 2013. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. If Nashville’s Kopecky Family Band never makes it higher on the ladder of success – that of an indie sextet best known in the Midwest for blending orchestral pop with…

Lykke Li, courtesy. I couldn’t believe it when U2 released a complete album yesterday. I didn’t think they had the guts to “pull a Beyonce.” Yeah, there were rumors, but still. I figured we’d get an Apple ad and maybe a new song. As the shock was wearing off,…

Erasure, courtesy. A few weeks ago I spoke with Andy Bell, one half of Erasure. Bell was still in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was playing a role in a one-man play semi-based on his life’s experiences. I wrote a story about Erasure’s return to the U.S. for Paste Magazine,…

Cathedrals. Courtesy. Imagine two entities traveling along opposite frequencies. The first sine wave is bouncing frantically, along its axis, hitting different targets along the way, as if in a game of Pong. The second leisurely coasts across the same plane like a rolling wave. Eventually the two meet. If…

Vance Joy performs at Live 105’s Not So Silent Night at Oracle Arena on Dec. 8, 2017. Alessio Neri/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — James Keogh could have been a lawyer; he’d completed the degree for it. Or he could have been a successful, yet underpaid, footballer in Australian rules football.…

Night Terrors of 1927, courtesy. Jarrod Gorbel is having a hard three days. For reasons that will soon become clear, the leading vocalist of SoCal anthemic pop duo Night Terrors of 1927 (which includes Rilo Kiley guitarist Blake Sennett), has been waking up on the wrong side of the…

The Bots perform at the 2014 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco. Two-member brother garage punk band The Bots dressed for a slumber party – a very loud slumber party – for their Sunday opening set at Outside Lands. Drummer Anaiah Lei (17) wore an oversize…

Iain Cook of Chvrches performs at Golden Gate Park during Outside Lands on Aug. 11, 2018. Joaquin Cabello/STAFF. Glasgow trio Chvrches are big fans of Prince, so Iain Cook was over the wall, recently, to have sold out Minneapolis’ First Avenue for the second consecutive night, and for the…