Fantastic Negrito, “Son of a Broken Man.” It’s been 10 years since Xavier Dphrepaulezz unretired from music and became Fantastic Negrito. Since then he released a self-titled reintroduction, won the inaugural NPR Tiny Desk Contest, won Grammys for three consecutive albums, opened for Temple of the Dog and collaborated with Sting,…

Konyikeh, courtesy. London soul by Konyikeh, a soft acoustic ballad by Naima Bock, Bay Area blues from our very own Fantastic Negrito, a glitch-pop tune by re6ce, alt-rock by the U.K.’s Delta Sleep, garage rock by Kylie V and Punjabi rock and roll—a first for Tuesday Tracks—by Sonny Singh.…

Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the San Francisco Pride Parade on June 30, 2019. Gary Chancer/STAFF. Back in 2020, when Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris to be his Vice President, I wrote a column featuring artists from her father’s home country of Jamaica. I was excited that someone…

Fantastic Negrito, courtesy. Despite being nominated, Fantastic Negrito won’t be in attendance at the Grammys on Sunday. Grandfather Courage Fantastic Negrito Storefront Records, Feb. 3 Get the album on Amazon Music. Xavier Dphrepaulezz won’t even be in the country when he releases an album on Feb. 3. He’ll be playing…

Metallica performs at BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 27, 2022. Sean Liming/STAFF. NAPA — Taking an informal poll of the 40,000-some attending the opening day of BottleRock Napa Valley on Friday, it was pretty clear who most were there to see. Heavy metal heroes Metallica…

Fantastic Negrito, courtesy. This week’s Tuesday Tracks is heavy on the guitar featuring blues rock, soul rock, ’70s SoCal rock, funk, indie rock and three-time Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito, who’s whatever kind of rock he feels like being today. Fantastic Negrito, “Trudoo” — Friend of the site Xavier “Fantastic…

Clockwise from top left: Read Southall Band, Fantastic Negrito and Miko Marks, Wage War, Hayes Carll, Carter Ace and Men Without Hats. The modern brilliance of Fantastic Negrito, a ’90s throwback by Wage War, an ’80s revival by Men Without Hats, the country stylings of Hayes Carll and the…

Three-time Grammy winner and Oakland native Fantastic Negrito has formally released “Root City,” the new official anthem of the Oakland Roots Sports Club. “Root City” was originally written for the Roots’ Justice Match in 2020, created to promote racial equity and support the then-ongoing George Floyd protests. It was…

Fantastic Negrito performs during a livestream concert at the Downtown Theatre in Fairfield, California, on Jan. 23, 2021. Photos courtesy: Nathan McKinley. Fantastic Negrito is a lot of things: Musician, self-described recovering narcissist, two-time Grammy winner who’s likely to make it three in March. But more than all those…

Roman Gokhman writes about some of his favorite interviews of the year: Loyal Lobos; Damian Lillard; Allan Rayman; Lindsey Stirling; Brandon Leake; James Hersey; Rufus Wainwright; Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner and Pekka Kuusisto; Vincint; Fantastic Negrito; RAC; Micky Dolenz; Mathilde Froustey; Lisa Loeb; All We Are; and Hailey Whitters.…