This should be the best of times for Buddy Guy. Plenty of fans and reviewers agree that he’s the greatest bluesman above ground — and his still-vital artistry remains an inspiration to his fellow performers as well. Last year, Guy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…
Move over, Potcheen Folk Band. Waking Rothko, a band that’s been together only since January, has devised one of the most innovative marketing tactics I’ve seen since Potcheen’s booze cruise. Last week, Rothko delivered copies of its debut platter, ep1, to everyone in the Westword office except me, with this…
For a guy who lost his wedding ring this morning, Ben Harper seems remarkably calm — but as efforts are made to recover the sacred symbol of his vows from the car that just dropped him off, his anxiety surfaces in quick bursts. “Somebody must have that guy’s number,” he…
In synth-pop circles, Gary Numan is the father, the son and the holy spirit — thanks to his work with Tubeway Army in the late ’70s and the indelible (and inescapable) robotic retro-night staple “Cars.” To celebrate the humanoid’s arrival in Denver, a list of some of the more interesting…
Hailing from a little town in Arizona called Peoria, the Format lives up to its name by making pop music that is easily accessible and, well, true to the format. And the fun bus doesn’t stop there: The band went through the formalities of being almost famous with a stint…
Get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. No, really: Get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. The soundtrack accompanying what’s arguably the year’s most anticipated cheese-horror flick is a giant mess — mainly because it’s full of pounding, stuttering dance remixes of songs by new-punk kingpins…
Neptune Pharrell Williams is an ultra-successful producer, yet his attempts to become a pop star haven’t worked out too well — and Mind demonstrates why. Judging by the disc, Williams is better at boosting others’ careers than he is at bringing out the finest in himself. Plenty of big names…
No band has stayed good as long as Slayer, and any argument to the contrary pits the thrash-metal kings against the Rolling Stones, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sonic Youth. Maybe Motrhead. Christ Illusion improves on 2001’s clunky God Hates Us All, the low point of a 24-year run,…
With its latest effort, the Velvet Teen continues to follow an artistic trajectory similar to Radiohead’s. Starting out in 2000 as an artsy-poppy-emotive rock group, the ambitious band spends no time looking backward for inspiration. From the pop perfection of Comasynthesis and The Great Beast February to the dramatic darkness…
The Hi-Beams’ take on twang is decidedly retro. Halden Wofford has that high-and-lonesome vocal sound down cold, and instrumentalists such as dobroist/pedal-steel expert Bret Billings and upright-bassist Ben O’Connor swing in ways that modern Nashvillians eschewed long ago. Fortunately, though, the combo’s latest disc is anything but musty. Country music…
Six years after forming and three years after exploding onto the scene, Rose Hill Drive has finally issued its debut full-length. Similar to the way that Ford has retrofitted the new Mustangs to recall the classic look of the fastback coupes, Rose Hill Drive is a riff-driven throwback to the…
Dave Holland Quintet, Critical Mass (Dare2 Records). Bassist Dave Holland, who emerged from some of Miles Davis’s top ensembles, may be jazz’s most underrated bandleader. His latest is a typically consistent effort that allows collaborators like trombonist Robin Eubanks to shine even as it showcases Holland’s graceful songwriting and unimpeachable…
Laughs are in short supply on the average Bruce Cockburn disc. He’s a serious fellow, whether he’s addressing personal concerns or global issues. But he’s gotten away with dourness for decades, thanks to a handful of specific, and very impressive, skills; his lyrics are extremely precise and often poetic, and…
When Jeff Tweedy talks, people listen. And if they don’t, well, he makes them. Just ask anyone who caught the cantankerous alt-country troubadour’s solo show at the Gothic Theatre last February. Dressed in Bob Dylan’s beard, Tweedy brooded across the stage with his guitar and harmonica, demanding absolute silence from…
Birthed five years ago in Denver but now based in Chicago, the Lavellas are an atmospheric pop band in the best sense. Instead of taking cues from Radiohead and Coldplay, like the bulk of their peers, they draw inspiration from Catherine Wheel, Slowdive and Swervedriver. Boasting a dreamy wall of…
If ever there was a band that didn’t seem built for the long haul, it’s the Red Hot Chili Peppers. When they started out in ’80s-era SoCal, the Peppers were a gimmicky concert phenom thanks to (literally) balls-out performances, but most of their material didn’t hold up once the socks…
Think about South Florida’s intimate relationship with Cuba and the Caribbean, and the influence it’s had on that region’s music scene. That same sort of cross-cultural, stylistic leg-humping goes on in Southern California across the Mexican-American border, and there’s no better example than L.A.’s Ozomatli. The bilingual, genre-smashing, Latin-funk-rock-rap outfit…
Steven Williams, the owner of Midwest hardcore label Init Records, once tried to coin the term “emo violence” as a substitute for the now-convoluted screamo subgenre. At the time, it was tough for independent hardcore acts to differentiate themselves from the growing status of their sissy-pants mainstream rivals. The alternate…
I was once a thirteen-year-old girl. No lie. It totally happened, and I can prove it by deciphering C.Y.S.L.A.B.F. — the acronymic release from Los Angeles-based all-chick band Mika Miko. Any girl that survived middle school knows the basics of gossip: a slip of notebook paper exchanged between classes, scribbled…
Patrick Houston is back. Finally. For years, the fleet-fingered guitarist has been bearing the burden of being an ex-member of Angels Never Answer — a band ahead of its time that imploded before realizing its full potential. Although Houston has spoken of new projects and bandmates in the past, things…
In the electronic scene, where “live” usually means “laptop,” L.A.’s skylab2000 is truly an anomaly. The man behind the Skylab moniker — Dennis Barton — creates sounds live in the moment without relying on loops or pre-recorded instrumentation, allowing the vibe of the crowd to dictate where the music goes…
Could there be a worse name for a guy in a band?” asks John Common of his surname. “Look up ‘common’ in the dictionary, and here’s what it says: normal, plebian, standard…having no special distinction, coarse.” Ironically, none of those terms come close to describing Common. In fact, his latest…
