Obviously, there is a ‘geek’ stigma attached to it,” Dieselboy allows, regarding the title of his latest disc, The Dungeon Master’s Guide. “But I see no shame in it. I was trying to come up with a name for the CD.” Dungeon & Dragons is seldom — if ever –…
House music, an American underground phenomenon in the ’80s, has become a worldwide institution since its inception in seedy warehouses in urban Chicago. One of the key innovators responsible for staking house’s substantial claim on the global music landscape is Chicago legend Derrick Carter, whose first experience as a DJ…
If drum-and-bass were the Mafia, then Scott Bourne, better known as Red One, would be the underboss of one of the most notorious families at large. Red runs the day-to-day operations of Ram Records along with Ram affiliates Liftin Spirits, Frequency and Ratio. Ram is one of the best and…
In the often too serious world of jungle and drum-and-bass, Gavin King, aka Aphrodite, is one of the few DJs and producers who haven’t forgotten that dance music is supposed to be fun. During the U.K.’s acid-house revolution and the later hardcore rave days, Aphrodite was already producing anthems such…
Layo & Bushwacka’s lengthy tenure in electronic dance music began when they were teenagers at some of the U.K.’s original acid-house parties back in 1988. Teaming up with the likes of the Shamen’s Mr. C and the Rat Pack, they were soon hosting their own gigs as well as putting…
It is not uncommon for up-and-coming artists to be a little overzealous when it comes to promoting shows or new CDs: Just check the overcrowded windows of local music venues or the utility poles outside them, where musicians’ fliers compete for space with apocalyptic decrees and ads for miracle weight-loss…
The demise of the Stone Roses was a slow, painful and public dissolution, with plenty of bad luck, bad timing and bad judgment along the way. From a very publicized legal battle with a record label that prevented the band from releasing new material at the height of its popularity…
Running an independent record label is always a tricky business proposition. You needn’t be a business-school graduate to recognize that music is a big, big industry and that the little guy is often squashed beneath the heavy boot of seemingly omniscient major label giants. The prospect of starting an indie…
By this point, to expect an Oasis album not to sound like a discourse on the history of British rock is like expecting Britney Spears not to bare her midriff onstage. The band is a sometimes cartoonish composite of its predecessors — not so much a British Invasion as an…
Steve Blakley has never attended a job interview. He’s never owned a power suit, never riffled through those How to Answer the Right Questions and Land the Right Job books so familiar to many twentysomethings attempting to enter the job market. It’s not that he relishes the trappings of slackerdom…
Ten years ago, most Denverites wouldn’t have known a rave from a Broncos tailgate party. Yet over the course of the past decade, the city’s rave scene has slowly morphed into one of the more vibrant — and respected — in the country. The average citizen might not realize this…
Most working musicians have, at one point or another, fantasized about the day when they sign the dotted line of a recording contract and promptly get on with the business of becoming international superstars. Yet those involved in the world of underground electronic dance music are more likely to view…
