“I’ve been listening to music by Charles Manson for a long time, and I really like his songs,” reveals Ang, vocalist for Denver’s Scramblehead. “Charles Manson is interesting in the sense of his situation as a whole, and the man himself is a very interesting story, also. I decided I…

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Murder Ballads (Reprise) “It sounds like you’re playing that at the wrong speed,” a co-worker told me as I spun this CD at my desk–and that’s as succinct an encapsulation of Cave’s pluses and minuses as you’re likely to hear. He certainly has a…

Strange Cargo Hinterland (Discovery) Torch Song Toward the Unknown Region (Discovery) Caroline Lavelle Spirit (Discovery) In the field of ambient music, where putting your face on the cover of an album is considered a faux pas of biblical proportions, Britisher William Orbit is extremely outgoing. Of course, he doesn’t put…

The pop-music aficionados in Aurora’s Simpeltones aren’t looking for corporate sponsorship. They’ve already been involved in one such deal, and the experience left a bad taste in their mouths. “We were actually sponsored by Budweiser for a year,” explains guitarist James Dalton. “Basically, what they did was help us with…

Itals singer Keith Porter has been around since reggae’s inception, producing a sound that helped form the music’s foundation. And he’s not about to change his style now. “Roots music means a lot to I,” Porter says through a thick Jamaican accent. “Because within roots music is the food of…

Terry Allen Human Remains (Sugar Hill) Allen, a country songwriter and Lubbock native who’s earned critical acclaim and practically no real money, reassures fans that he won’t trade his credibility for commercial success with this album’s very first line: He barks, “Hey, I don’t need no chickenshit businessman tellin’ me…

This spring, Los Angeles-based Cypress Hill will be honored with what’s become a symbol of pop-cultural hipness: an animated guest appearance on The Simpsons. The pot-loving crew–front man B-Real, rapper Sen Dog, DJ Muggs and new percussionist Eric Bobo–have been turned into cartoons for the show’s upcoming Lollapalooza episode, and…

Chris Romero, frontman for the Brighton-based band Sick, may not be the only rocker to support his music by doubling as a hit man, but he’s probably the first to boast about it. Of course, Romero’s work as an assassin is only an act; he has a small but important…

“I do sit down to work on songs,” notes slide guitarist Ben Harper, “but really, songs sit me down and say, `It’s time to write.’ When I see something that needs to be written about, I write about it. When I feel something I need to express, music is the…

Genius/GZA Liquid Swords (Geffen) Hip-hop’s in a bad place right now. There’s still plenty of kick left in the style, but by using up the prevalent imagery before they’d found something to take its place, new rappers and old have painted themselves into a creative corner. This self-proclaimed Genius (a…

Every Wednesday night, Tulagi, one of Boulder’s most venerable rock clubs, gets a new look. Seventies-era furniture supplements its usual decor, as do tapestries and murals enhanced by black lights. The audience is different, too: A visitor might see anyone from Shaggy-bearded hippies to the latest fashion victims of gangsta…

According to lead singer J.R. Richards, Santa Barbara-based Dishwalla wouldn’t be where it is today without the inspiration of a certain poofy-haired pianist and his dead sister–otherwise known as Richard and Karen Carpenter. “I’m honest to God a real Carpenters fan,” Richards vows. “I grew up listening to my parents’…

That Son Volt’s first album, Trace, makes excellent driving music has everything to do with the habits of the act’s lead singer and guitarist, onetime Uncle Tupelo member Jay Farrar. “I did spend a lot of time driving from my home in New Orleans to Minneapolis,” says Farrar, who made…

Sublime, with Guttermouth and Skankin’ Pickle, Friday, December 15, at the Ogden Theatre, created a small cult masterpiece in 1992–the album 40 Oz. to Freedom. Since then, these Southern Californians have continued to produce an u nusual blend of lo-fi, thrash-infused ska and dub tunes. As the recent Robbin’ the…

Ken Nordine Colors (Asphodel) Of all the discs released during the high-water-mark year of 1967, this is among the most obscure–and the most wonderful. Nordine, a longtime favorite of performers such as Tom Waits, is now in his mid-seventies, but during his prime he was probably America’s most in-demand voiceover…

There’s no shortage of sweet-voiced, guitar-wielding women in Boulder these days. Toss a quarter on Pearl Street and it’ll more than likely land in a female singer-songwriter’s guitar case. Audiences, however, are harder to come by, and renown more difficult to achieve than that. So it’s fortunate that Wendy Woo…

Reggae original Eek-A-Mouse began wearing costumes long before anyone knew his nom de plume. “I started doing that stuff back in Jamaica,” he says of his often outlandish attire. “I’d just walk around town in that kind of stuff and people would think I was crazy, you know? Then I…

Since the mid-Seventies, hardcore British music has been linked to messages of rebellion. But if you think the multiracial quartet Skunk Anansie is upholding traditions established by the Sex Pistols and the Clash, lead singer Skin suggests you think again. “We don’t do any of that bollocks, to be quite…

Letters to Cleo, Sunday, October 22, at the Bluebird Theater, is built around the girlish, quirky, pissed-off voice of singer Kay Hanley–an instrument that contrasts nicely with Hanley’s pin-up looks and Gidget-style pigtails. As for the band’s music, it’s marked by the kind of full-bodied guitar hooks and clever riffs…

Shaggy isn’t your typical performer. After all, how many dancehall-reggae artists can you name who fought in Kuwait as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps? Of course, armed conflict with Iraqi soldiers wasn’t part of the plan when Shaggy–born Orville Richard Burrell–enlisted in the Corps. “I thought it would…

The members of Denver’s Brethren Fast are more than mere instrumentalists. They’re showmen, damn it, and they’d like everyone to know it. “To be a successful band, you’ve got to have more than just music,” states bassist Mik Messina. “If you’re going to see a band, it should be something…

Lead singers are often noted for their “stage presence”–but Dave Desch of Denver’s Dead City Radio takes the concept to extremes. On slower DCR songs, Desch looks and sounds similar to Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk; his slightly shrill voice can seem soft and melodic without losing its intensity. But this…