From Antigone to student strikers in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, history remembers the conscientious objector who, though misunderstood at the time, eventually becomes a symbol of idealistic sacrifice. Read more...

Built to Spill has been in hiatus since its last release in 2001, at work on arguably its most serious compositional work yet, “You in Reverse.” Singer/guitarist Doug Martsch takes a guitar-heavy path on this album, his voice muted and musical abstractions asked to speak for themselves with tiny sparks of illumination by the words. Read more...

Calexico is one of the few bands still around that writes “folk music” in its original sense ““ the Arizona-based group absorbs the character of the culture around it and, with an eye on both local and national tradition, makes music that is not intended for commercial success, but is rather a portrait of a unique place and time. Read more...

This is “The Animal Years”: folky, affecting and simple, but with all the individual pieces merging together to form something greater, something better. It does not pretend to be groundbreaking in style, but instead focuses on reinforcing the groundwork of folk music with its own personality. Read more...

While DJing for Berkeley college radio station KALX for over a decade, music journalist Oliver Wang took satisfaction in knowing that he was sharing music with a mass audience. Read more...

From the triumph of love in the Antarctic to the tragic fall of Enron, documentary films have lately proved they can be just as dramatic and successful as Hollywood fare. Read more...

There is a stigma which seems to reside primarily among young people that classical music can be stiff and unapproachable. Last Thursday night, there were definitely coattails, high heels and compositions from over 200 years ago. Read more...