When everything’s going well, people often say they’re fat and happy. I’m convinced, however, that this is categorically impossible. Those who are fat are rarely happy, and vice versa. Take me, for example: I’ve had the fat part down since the Carter administration, and although I generally seem content –…
Sure, performers should have ambition; otherwise, mediocrity would reign unchecked. But if this characteristic is blended with rampant egomania, the results can be particularly embarrassing — as they are on the Machines’ latest. In essence, Road is a stopgap EP, designed to capitalize on goodwill generated by the act’s full-length…
Unlike the Secret Machines, the Wallflowers resist the temptation to tackle a Bob Dylan song on their new disc — but they’ll likely do so sooner rather than later. Playing that card may be the only way Jakob Dylan, Zimmy’s son, will be able to attract attention in the future,…
It’s way too easy to psychoanalyze musicians through their records. Still, rarely have two albums sounded so reflective of their creators’ souls as The Future Embrace by Billy Corgan and Pajo by David Pajo. Both songwriters have illustrious resumes: Corgan, of course, as the Smashing Pumpkins’ front man, and Pajo…
On Sunday evenings, Jefferson Holland is known as Uncle Jeff, purveyor of all things rustic and Americana on Radio 1190’s popular show, Route 78 West. But his obsessions run farther afield, as evidenced by Bahian Coastal Hwy, the second full-length by his project, Multicast. A collaboration with fellow members of…
When kids choose what instrument they’d like to play, few of them pick the euphonium, which looks like an undersized tuba and is generally relegated to a supporting role in the rare jazz ensembles that include it. Ball attempts to prove that such pigeonholing is unjustified by repeatedly putting the…
Sound Bites is a fresh new addition to Playlist in which we cut straight to the quip. Although I cooked up the initial batch, starting next week a rotating cast of your favorite Backbeat scribes will dish out a half-dozen bite-sized rewviews for you to sink your teeth into. Enjoy…
Lots of bands have gotten their big break by having their music appear in movies. But seeing the Willowz live, it’s obvious that — regardless of the group’s inclusion on the soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — the quartet doesn’t need visions of Kirsten Dunst in her…
While the freak-folk explosion led by Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsome has turned quite a few heads, there are kindred artists of soul and purity who aren’t quite as spotlight-happy. Brooklyn’s Diane Cluck, an exponent of New York’s tightly knit antifolk scene, has been performing her crystalline acoustic songs for…
Robbie Fulks (right) is a bona fide smart ass who has almost too much talent for his own good. Reared in both the South and the Northeast and a graduate of Columbia University, Fulks emerged as an early star of the insurgent country movement that orbited Bloodshot Records in the…
Michael Marsicano, who goes by DJ Micro (below), has a larger catalog of CDs than all but a few of his peers. He made his reputation in the early ’90s courtesy of Caffeine, a record label and related East Coast club night that helped him catch a buzz that’s sustained…
All the best cowboys have tears in their eyes. With a sleepy nod to the Cowboy Junkies and other early-’90s indie folk rockers, Chicago’s Consafos makes Robitussin rock that seems about to collapse under the weight of its own beauty. Over the course of one EP and one full-length, these…
Among the most frequently heard rock clichés are claims by performers that they took up music after hearing a tune by a legendary artist or group: Elvis, the Beatles, the Ramones, Nirvana, etc. LaMontagne, in contrast, declares that he made a similar decision after waking up to the strains of…
Over the years, prolific recording and publishing collective Sparky the Dog has issued everything from pirate- and dinosaur-filled comic books to Christmas- and Halloween-themed musical compilations. Founder Soapy Argyle — an alumnus of Mr. Tree and the Wingnuts, the Orangu-Tones, and Marty Jones and the Pork Boilin’ Poor Boys –…
As half of critically acclaimed dance duo Way Out West (the other half is Jody Weisterhoff), DJ Nick Warren has released his share of classic tracks, cuts such as the seminal ’90s trance anthem “The Gift.” Warren got his start spinning dub and hip-hop in his native Bristol, England, and…
In one of those nonsensical ironies that pepper Grammy Awards history, singer/tunesmith Shelby Lynne won the best new artist trophy for 2000 even though she made her major-label debut in 1989. But she quickly squandered much of the goodwill engendered by this belated recognition by following up her impressive comeback…
The last time Xiu Xiu toured the Midwest, Caralee McElroy, one of the band’s multi-instrumental members, was the focus of a mosquito feeding frenzy — from which she emerged with almost a hundred itchy bumps. Tedious tour-van commutes enhance the temptation to scratch bites bloody, so singer Jamie Stewart has…
A few weeks ago, a radio host likened the Westword Music Showcase, which took place this past Saturday in the Golden Triangle, to a ” mini-South by Southwest.” And aside from the binge drinking, BBQ, industry glad-handing and how damn hard I have to work on the Showcase, he’s right…
Less Than Human, the latest from James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy’s critically lauded DFA label, finds former Six Finger Satellite member John Maclean taking advantage of the recent decision by indie kids that dance music can play their reindeer games. Human reeks of yesteryear, somewhere between the metallic robotics of…
Some bands grow up as they grow older; others are born ancient and simply erode. Over the course of the past fifteen years, Baltimore’s Lungfish has built an edifice of epic, imposing post-hardcore that resounds far beyond the small world that birthed it — and Feral Hymns is another chip…
“Lean Back” gave Fat Joe a chance to make the really big money, and he’s taking advantage of this prospect by embracing the mainstream. He came across as a genial glad-hander while working the red carpet at the recent MTV Movie Awards, and he makes repeated bids for airplay on…
Hand claps, cowbells, sassy horns and “Jumping Jack Flash” rhythms make Less Sophistication the best Summer of Love record not penned by mop-topped limeys in the ’60s. Hailing from the American-garage-rock capital of Scandinavia, the Jessica Fletchers lean heavily on the white-boy soul of the Zombies but aren’t afraid to…
