In discussing his latest solo project, Year of Mondays, Mike Johnson offers easy dismissals–“It’s no big deal” and “It’s natural,” for example–which imply that sensationalism can find no foothold here. The flexibility and nonchalance of his even-tempered utterances, periodically muffled by clouds of smoke from unfiltered Old Golds, help one…

To the easy rhythm a person assumes when striding through an open-air market, Cornershop’s Tjinder Singh intones, “First I was a foreigner/Then suddenly everything was cool forever/This Western Oriental’s going full circle.” These lyrics–from “Wog,” on the 1995 CD Woman’s Gotta Have It–are the most concise way to sum up…

When bassist Kelly Dermody first joined Denver’s Fatwater, the group members claimed to be a rowdy fraternity of extreme kayak enthusiasts given to shouting “Fatwater!” as they approached frothing rapids. That Dermody was fooled is understandable. One is inclined to believe anything vocalist Judson Harper says. Even when Harper is…

One expects even those rock musicians inclined toward experimentalism to eventually embrace the four-minute pop song, or to otherwise marry the gems of their wanderings to our culture’s more prominent musical conventions. But thus far, John Herndon, one of the five multi-instrumentalists who make up the Chicago-based Tortoise, has resisted…

Six years ago this month, Cristofer Lix was admitted to a hospital with a severe headache, the result of a pharmacist’s misreading of his prescription for sinus medication; for two days he had been inadvertently taking a drug for high blood pressure at an unusually high dosage. But after having…

Paul Westerberg Eventually (Reprise) You’ve got to feel bad for Westerberg. As the mouth behind the Replacements, the man practically invented what’s now known as alternative rock, but pretty much the only thing he got for this achievement was critical acclaim–and we all know how much that contributes to your…

When they’re not making beautiful noise together, the members of Denver’s Moot are agitating for social change. And luckily, the musicians agree on what changes should be made. “I’ve tried to play with conservatives before, and I don’t think you can be of that mindset and be creative at the…

Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to take a mythical trip to the bayous of Louisiana, where deep in the mist lies Evangeline. Once a year, under the light of the full moon, Evangeline comes out to mate. And tonight, it is mating season…it is mating season…it is mating season…..

The Godfathers Birth, School, Work, Death: The Best of the Godfathers Wire Train Last Perfect Thing…A Retrospective Men at Work Contraband: The Best of Men at Work Translator Everywhere That We Were…The Best Of Nina Hagen 14 Friendly Abductions: The Best of Nina Hagen Warrant The Best of Warrant (Columbia/Legacy)…

Jack Logan Mood Elevator (Medium Cool/Restless) Logan’s history (he’s a mechanic turned songwriting savant) has so captivated journalists that many of them have neglected to actually consider his music as anything other than a sidebar to a human-interest story. But unlike last year’s Bulk, a disc culled from hundreds of…

“Before I started the band, I’d been taking singing lessons to build my confidence–because I didn’t think I could sing in front of anybody,” explains Leslie Simon, the hyperkinetic, tambourine-shaking front thang for Denver’s Simon Sez. After studying techniques that strengthened both her pipes and her sense of self-assurance, she…