Yellow Days – Live at the Catalyst 11.15.21
Written by Kate Marsden I started listening to Yellow Days (the musical alias of alternative music star George van den Broek) in high school and his gravelly, pining sound became a part of the soundtrack…
2022 March Madness
By Charlie Erdman The first day of March Madness started yesterday and it began like it always does, with massive upsets. The biggest upset of them all was 15th seed Saint Peter’s taking down Goliath 2nd seed Kentucky. The Kentucky…
Big Thief’s New Album is Out… and I’m Enamored
by Grady Clark Earlier this month, indie rock/folk band Big Thief released their fifth full-length album titled, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. While in their past albums…
DISRUPTIVE ARCHIVES: Feminist Resistance in Latin America’s Dirty Wars
By John Malkin Dr. Viviana Beatriz MacManus is the author of “Disruptive Archives: Feminist Memories of Resistance in Latin America’s Dirty Wars.” The book was released in 2020 by University of Illinois Press and discusses the history of gender and…
Alice Phoebe Lou – Live at the Chapel in San Francisco
By Anna Tarasova After discovering Alice Phoebe Lou, I immediately fell in love with her sound and lyrics. It felt like she took the little thoughts in my brain about yearning for love and put them behind some of…
MAKE A BEAUTIFUL ECHO: Diane Patterson on New Album “Satchel of Songs”
By John Malkin Diane Patterson’s new album - Satchel of Songs – was released on March 8, 2022, International Women’s Day. It’s her 6th studio album and continues her celebration of life and respect for indigenous cultures and includes guest…
An Introduction To City Pop
By Evan Jones For those uninitiated with the city pop genre, it is a loose label describing Japanese music from the late 70s & 80s featuring heavy western influences from rock and funk to jazz-fusion and disco. In an effort…
Black Artist Spotlight: Kemistry
By Carlos Cervantes Almost late for Black history month, but here it is. Kemistry: one of the seminal figures in the drum and bass scene, a legend and pioneer in a field dominated by men. Kemistry emerged as a…
5 Black EDM Artist’s to Listen to this Month
By Gracia Hmelar From 1950s Blues to 2000s R&B, Black artists’ influence in the music world has defined and innovated music genres for decades, but their credit comes omitted at the hands of white gentrification that dismantles Black culture and…
5 Classic Albums to Listen to this Black History Month + 2 More to Try
"Fire It Up" Album cover featuring Rick James By Jules Champion In honor of Black History Month, I'll be reminding you of 5 classic albums to re-add to your rotation, and introducing you to 2 that should be there…
Interview with Starbucks Labor Union Organizer and UC Santa Cruz Student, Joseph Thompson
Interview by Syd Abad, KZSC News As daunting as labor organizing may seem, Starbucks locations across the United States are voting to unionize in exponential numbers. The unionization efforts began in Buffalo, New York on December 9th…
Santa Cruz Occupy – Ten Years Later
By John Malkin The following story is condensed from three hours of interviews and was originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel in two parts on December 1st and 2nd, 2021. The interviews were originally broadcast on “Transformation…
This Day in History: Summer of Love ’67
The Human Be-In promotional poster. Photo: Casey Sonnabend Fifty-five years ago on this day, in 1967, the dramatic initiation to the Summer of Love occurred in the polo fields of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. A now iconic…
Beat Banter: Erik Ratensperger
Photo Credit: Jonathan Velazquez Erik Ratensperger has lived two lives as a drummer. In Jeromes Dream, he played unhinged hardcore, surrounded by a ring of raging punks who didn’t give a shit about anything but the energy, the catharsis…
Brothers in the Beloved Community: An interview with Marc Andrus by John Malkin on Transformation Highway / KZSC
Art by Hannah Rouland (IG: @hannah.tor.art) John Malkin speaks with Marc Andrus about his new book that was recently released by Parallax Press, “Brothers in the Beloved Community: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr.” In…
News: Unlawful Earthmoving on Amah Mutsun Land
Special thanks to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and Mary Derr By Alyce Thornhill, News Director In San Benito, California, sacred land belonging to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is currently being violated in an illegal earthmoving construction project.…
Sluttony: Santa Cruz’s Riot Grrrls
“I think if you listen to the music we play, and especially when you come to our shows, you can tell what we are really about.” Written by Maya Christensen Sluttony is a four piece punk band formed by third-year…
Festival Review: Outside Lands 2021
Written by DJ Melanchollie In the land of laser lights, camel backpacks, and body glitter, time exists outside linear reality. The evening autumn air is sickly sweet with sweat and clouds of cherry flavored vape. Neon beams of blue, orange…
A VEHICLE TO SOMEWHERE: Gary Numan on his 21st Album Intruder and How He Got Here
By John Malkin Gary Numan has had an extraordinary musical career spanning almost five decades. He rode the first wave of British punk into developing electronic-synth rock fused with science fiction themes. Numan had two worldwide hits in 1979 with…
Beat Banter: Jordan Sobolew — Reptoid
Drum machines have no soul, and neither does Jordan Sobolew Article and Interview by Ben Goldstein Why is Jordan Sobolew, easily one of the most inventive and idiosyncratic drummers of the era, not first to spring to mind when people…
Artist Spotlight: Duncan Hartwell
Written by DJ Locrian Based out of Los Angeles, Duncan Hartwell a producer, singer songwriter, and also tours around california as a lead guitarist for many churches. This artist is a multi-instrumentalist playing through different music mediums such as guitar,…