At a recent battle-of-the-bands contest sponsored at Lafayette’s Centaurus High School by the community’s police department, the five local teenagers known collectively as the Gashcats were subjected to unseasonably cold temperatures, stinging winds and no fewer than four power outages. But what drummer Sean Merrell, singer Adam Beckley, lead guitarist…

The Offspring Ixnay on the Hombre (Columbia) Despite the presence of Jello Biafra on “Disclaimer,” a bit o’ hucksterism plopped at the top of this disc in an effort to rent a little credibility, Ixnay is punk rock only in the broadest sense. The comfort lead shouter Dexter Holland displays…

“People can’t just take Stevie Ray Vaughan and think he’s the creator and almighty god of the blues, because that’s just not how it is,” says Denver bluesman Lonesome Dan Kase. “He played rock and roll, which was good. But when you base your whole philosophy on a guy who…

In its three years of existence, the Fort Collins-based Immortal Dominion has received about as much attention from the mainstream media as Tom Selleck might from ticketholders at your average Indigo Girls concert. But that doesn’t mean that the group’s members–guitarist/vocalist Ray Smith, guitarist Brian Villers, drummer Ben Huntwork and…

U2 Pop (Island) The hype, the hype, the hype. Regular reports over the course of a year about the making of U2’s latest–who was producing, who was mixing, who was standing in the spotlight, who was standing on the sideline. Internet leaks (which were probably intentional). Cease-and-desist orders (which were…

Three of the four members of ’76 Pinto reside in the Boulder area, but that doesn’t stop the act’s Louisville-based drummer, Pat Gill, from saying nasty things about the musicians who live there. That ’76 Pinto shares so little in common with the typical Boulder combo is, he claims, “a…

Most musicians aren’t known for having impressive vocabularies. Then again, most musicians aren’t members of volplane, a Colorado combo whose unexpectedly arduous search for a name amounted to a crash course in lexicography. “I guess we’re just too damn picky,” says volplane guitarist/vocalist Jeff Suthers–and he’s not exaggerating. The group,…

Ivo Perelman + “Cama de Terra” (Homestead) Oranj Symphonette Plays Mancini (Gramavision) The phrase “forward into the past” is such an obvious (and amusing) contradiction that the comedy troupe Firesign Theatre used it as the title of a Seventies-era compilation album. Yet the notion, jokey though it may seem, is…

Tricky Pre-Millennium Tension (Island) In a music scene dominated by the safe, the threadbare and the predictable, Tricky comes on like a sonic anarchist–a ceaselessly creative sort who’s eager to abolish all rules, tear down those power structures that have outlived their usefulness and destroy anything trite that crosses his…

During performances of “Crazy Song,” a variation on the Patsy Cline favorite, Boulder’s Lisa Wagner displays an impressive voice–or maybe two. She delivers the ditty’s familiar lines in a heartfelt croon but is continually interrupted by a demonic alter-ego who recalls Linda Blair during the possession scenes from The Exorcist…

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Now I Got Worry (Matador) R.L. Burnside A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (Matador) Mr. Spencer doesn’t fit the mold of your run-of-the-mill sonic archivist. His music is derived from the blues, rockabilly and rock and roll, but his approach to these genres couldn’t be further…

John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey Dance Hall at Louse Point (Island) This disc has garnered the worst reviews of Ms. Harvey’s brief career, and that’s understandable. Compared with 1995’s remarkable To Bring You My Love, it’s resolutely minor. Moreover, the work contains several of our gal’s weakest moments on…

Let’s get this out of the way right at the top: The father of Evan, Paige and Preston O’Meara, who constitute three-fifths of Denver’s 8-Bucks Experiment, owns Northglenn-based O’Meara Ford Center and O’Meara Isuzu, two of the metro area’s largest and most heavily promoted car dealerships. But while Pop is…

Carman Righteous Invasion of Truth (Sparrow) The rub with so much of today’s contemporary Christian music isn’t its focus on God with a capital G. Good songs can be written about anything–Teen Spirit, girls named “Lump,” whatever. No, the problem, simply stated, is this: A majority of the folks operating…

“We’re a very high-maintenance band,” confesses Christina Ortega, singer and guitarist for the Front Range’s Velveeta Sisters. “When we get gigs, we tell them, ‘We really need a big dressing room with electrical outlets, okay? Trust me–when you see us, you’ll understand.'” “It takes us a long time to get…

“Recently,” says singer Cosy Sheridan, “I’ve attempted to look at songwriting sort of as a public service.” This comment doesn’t mean that Sheridan’s recordings lack an individual perspective; in fact, she’s one of music’s more distinctive tunesmiths. However, she feels that many of her earliest compositions were little more than…

Soul Coughing Irresistible Bliss (Slash/Warner Bros.) On Ruby Vroom, Soul Coughing’s bow, bandleader M. Doughty and his compatriots (complemented immeasurably by genius producer Tchad Blake) seemed absolutely fearless, slamming together jazz, hip-hop and beat poetry with an abandon that was utterly refreshing. So the sight of producer David Kahne’s name…

Nas It Was Written (Columbia) The reported death of gangsta rap has been greatly exaggerated: It Was Written entered the Billboard sales charts at number one, and three weeks later, it’s still there. But although this album contains the usual verbal allotment of niggas, bitches, gats and gunshots (as well…

Twenty-something singer-songwriter Dar Williams confesses, “I’m probably getting a little more hype than I’m worth.” This becoming display of modesty is prompted by a line from a recent edition of Stereo Review; a critic there dubbed her “the Great Folk Hope.” To Williams, this designation is flattering but somewhat premature…

The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Chaos and Disorder (Warner Bros.) Spite is often overlooked as a spur to creativity, but it’s as capable of providing artistic inspiration as love and beauty–something that Chaos and Disorder amply demonstrates. Prince, you see, has been sniping at his mega-label for years–but rather…

“Our style of music is called garage punk,” says Michael Daboll, lead singer and guitarist for Denver’s Element 79–and he’s glad to elaborate. After all, Daboll and his brethren (bassist Mike Gilligan and drummer Jeff Learman, supplemented by Dancin’ Boy Wade Morse, “the only male go-go dancer in a five-state…

Patti Smith Gone Again (Arista) For an artist with such a stratospheric reputation, Smith’s body of work is, in a word, skimpy. Horses, from 1975, stands as one of the most impressive debuts in the annals of pop; the first words out of Smith’s mouth (“Jesus died for somebody’s sins/But…