By James LanikLocal Music Director Being a BROCKHAMPTON fan has never been boring. With the lightning-fast pace of self-reinvention and brisk stream of releases, within only a couple of years, the boy band managed to establish a universe and lore around themselves that would likely take other collectives years to achieve. Things feel decidedly different this time around, however. For the first time since their inception, a calendar year went […]
By James LanikLocal Music Director “Patrons would always come in with their kids, we would always have a stepstool out on the store floor for the little ones to use to reach the records and look at them, to feel them.” In Bobby Barnard’s handcrafted love letter to music culture, Sundance Records & Tapes, there was no shortage of memorabilia to marvel at, either. To the community that Bobby and […]
By James LanikMusic Journalist "Clipping." are nothing if not timely. Their last album “There Existed an Addiction to Blood” was released to the public just in time for the Halloween season, but despite their self admitted passion for genre fiction and vintage hack and slash horror films, their recent output isn’t your typical Halloween camp. Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson elegantly weave elements of old school horrorcore music […]
By James LanikMusic Journalist San Martians rejoice! Bars aren’t the only thing returning to San Marcos this month. It has been over half of a year since San Marcos has seen any activity in the local live music circles, at least in an official capacity. Apogee’s SM Fest at the courthouse is the first notable music-focused event to take place in downtown San Marcos since quarantine. That being said, it will […]
By James LanikMusic Journalist The phrase “dancing about architecture,” used to illustrate the absurdity of the idea of music criticism, has been attributed to many different people, from Frank Zappa to Thelonius Monk, but no one really knows who coined the idiom first. Regardless, it is undoubtedly an artist’s expression. To one who has made music their life’s work, the brutality of criticism can often seem completely antithetical to stimulating […]
By James LanikMusic Journalist Astute followers of the hip hop scene for the last several years, may have noticed that GOOD Music, Kanye West’s in-house record label, has had a somewhat terrible reputation at letting their more unknown artists get the publishing and coverage they deserve. Former and current signees such as Desiigner and Teyana Taylor have expressed their frustration with the creative restrictions they dealt with during the time […]
By James LanikMusic Journalist On June 30, the rap community endured a collective shock upon learning that Jordan Groggs of the Arizona based rap trio, Injury Reserve, had passed away. That day, the world lost a truly amazing, artistic soul, and one that brought a new wave of music and culture to an area of the US that had previously not been known for its hip-hop exports. Hailing from the […]
By James LanikMusic Journalist In 1997, Fiona Apple famously took the stage at the VMAs to accept her award for Best New Artist and simultaneously call out the world as bulls**t. If any moment in time best illustrated her place in the pop music landscape, it's this one. She has spent every moment in the limelight since then subverting the expectations of people around her hoping to be able to […]
By James Lanik Music Journalist Just a couple weeks after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 crisis a global pandemic, nearly the entire world, has found themselves self couch ridden for days on end. So much has already been said about the state we have found ourselves in, so I won’t attempt to add my thoughts on the matter. All I know is to stay put and don’t endanger […]
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