Lessons on how to keep a great band together, compliments of Quasi

We could all learn a lesson in staying power from Portland, Ore., band Quasi.

When Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss formed the band 16 years ago, they were married. They aren't anymore, and haven't been for years. Coomes and Weiss have both been members… Continue

1. Batucaxé

The Blessing of the Beat (self-released)

2. Greg Morton

When Pigs Fly (self-released)

3. Tom Russell

Blood and Candle Smoke (Shout Factory)

4. Various Artists

Fire in My Bones, Raw, Rare and Otherworldly African-American Gospel, 1944-2007… Continue

MUSIC IS EVERYWHERE

With half the bands in the world on their way to South by Southwest (SXSW), which takes place in Austin next week, it's only natural that a fair amount of them would pass our way.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first of two of the busiest music weeks of the year in Tucson.

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Winston Watson has played drums for an astounding list of songwriters, including Warren Zevon, Robyn Hitchcock, Alice Cooper, Perry Farrell and Bob Dylan, with whom he toured from 1992 to 1996. He enjoys gardening and nurturing rescue dogs. His proudest accomplishment is his daughter, Marcella.

What was the firs

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I hate electronic music that's devoid of any humanity; the best electronica reframes human experience in a compelling way. Think Tricky's derelict spacecraft love ballads on 1995's Maxinquaye.

Causers of This, the debut of Toro Y Moi, follows in this tradition of essential music that's as mechanized as it… Continue

Since its first album in 2002, Jamie Stewart's Xiu Xiu has vacillated between artfully pretentious and adventurously moving, but the group's albums have never been anything less than subversive, challenging pop conventions and wrestling with big issues such as faith, desire, self-doubt, life and death.

Xiu Xiu's seventh… Continue

It's a bit of a knotty concept, but here's the gist of it: Producers Ashley Beedle and Darren Morris, inspired by an early-'70s track by soul/gospel icon Mavis Staples (her version of Burt Bacharach's "A House Is Not a Home"), write and produce their own instrumental track as a tribute. They then solicit 11 different songwrit… Continue

Appleseed Cast took an audience of the faithful back in time last week. They played their entire 2001 breakthrough suite, Low Level Owl: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, from start to finish, with one short break and virtually no commentary.

Fans focused intently, almost reverently, on the shifting textures and ambi… Continue

The Big Stuff

Band/Musician of the Year

Ryanhood (R), 39.3 percent

Runners up:


2. Golden Boots (C), 25.4 percent

3. Cosmic Slop (R), 21.6 percent

4. Fourkiller Flats (C), 13.6 percent

Up-and-Coming Artist(s) of the Year


Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta (C), 33.1 percent

Runners up:

2. Race You There (R), 24.9 percent

3. Triple Double Band (R), 24.1 percent

4.… Continue

It was about 13 years ago when Joey Burns and John Convertino, then the rhythm section for influential local act Giant Sand, put together a quiet little album of home recordings under the name Spoke. That self-titled album was released by a small German label.

Soon, though, the group changed its name to Calexico—and… Continue