Remember Nelson? Of course you do. You know, the Teen Beat twins, Matthew and Gunnar, whose “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection” played endlessly during the summer of 1990. Well, they’re back — or, rather, they’re still here. You’d think they would have been swept under the rug with…
Karma involves the cosmic principle of rewards and punishments for acts performed in this life or a previous incarnation (think of Abu Ghraib prison hostess Lynndie England coming back as a rat terrier that gets kicked a lot). Karmageddon 2004, slated for Saturday, May 22, at the Aztlan Theater, will…
The Paladium (1400 West 62nd Avenue) takes advantage of its sprawling sub-suburban territory: This white temple to the discotheque gods is surrounded by a vast, patrolled parking lot. The spacious building also houses Oasis, a gentleman’s club, whose inviting exterior of classic columns promises topless temptations inside. To skip the…
Ah, dawg, we can’t leave yet,” says DJ Chonz, nodding toward the front door. “The cops have this place surrounded. There’s something going down.” With his ballcap tilted to the side and a smirk that never leaves his face, Chonz looks like a mischief maker. But he’s not kidding: In…
Saul Williams has a tip for the Department of Homeland Security. “If I was an FBI or a CIA agent, I’d be stationed at a poetry reading,” says Williams from his monastic loft in Los Angeles. “That’s where young people are empowering themselves. They’re not marching on Washington. They’re finding…
These days, mash-ups of Jay-Z’s The Black Album are becoming as common as massive egos on reality shows. Not to mention that the whole DJ mash-up phenomenon is getting to be as played out as trucker hats at Old Navy. But regardless of the impending irrelevance of the novelty blends,…
When asked by performers how to succeed in the music business, reviewers (who invariably know nothing about how to succeed in the music business) frequently offer this cavalier response: “Make good music.” If it were that simple, the Beta Band, out of Edinburgh, Scotland, would be huge. Steve Mason, John…
“Second verse, same as the first!” When Joey Ramone, innocently enough, heisted this line from Herman’s Hermits, little did he know that it would one day become a battle cry. Since then, untold scores of punk and indie acts have clung fanatically to a simple, profoundly imbecilic idea: making every…
Listening to the collaborative efforts of MC/producers MF Doom (formerly Zevlove X of KMD) and Madlib is like watching Alien and Predator go head to head, then turn and come after you. The essence of a gritty, dark club in a damp and moldy basement resonates throughout; the disc’s tone…
Ms. Rie knows a little something about marketing. Before releasing her self-titled debut album, she introduced herself to industry pros via Mile Hi Mixtapes, a promotional disc on which she interspersed examples of her work with cuts from the likes of Scarface and B2K. It’s doubtful that talent scouts listened…
It’s hard to imagine that until 1893, regular Coloradans could gather in a public square, spread out a picnic lunch and actually watch condemned outlaws swing. Frontier justice, partner, garglin’ on the end of a rope. Yet for the four modern-day members of Horsethief, this self-titled five-song EP serves less…
Jeff Suthers is checking his trunks for chunks. Seriously — listening to him talk, it sounds like my man needs to change his drawers. Rest assured, though, that Suthers isn’t suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, and I’m pretty sure nobody slipped a laxative into his Ho Hos. Actually, there’s a…
Most British bands don’t bother to cross the pond without new product to plug, yet here comes Liverpool’s own Clinic months prior to the appearance of its forthcoming album, set for stateside release later this year. Thus far, advance recordings of the new material haven’t been made available to the…
After being stabbed by an angry chorus girl in Helena, Arkansas, in the mid-1940s, Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins gave up playing slide guitar because the tendons in his left arm were severed during the incident. Thankfully he could still tickle the ivories, and soon he distinguished himself as the Mississippi…
There are a few things in life that are unmistakable: the saccharine sting of cotton candy, the gluey musk of sex and the voice of Calvin Johnson. Since 1983, when he formed Olympia, Washington’s legendary Beat Happening, Johnson has stood markedly apart from the flocks of cutesy, whining indie-pop singers…
San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation has a straightforward view of its fellow humans: We’re scum. Following in the footsteps of gore-core godfathers Carcass and Napalm Death, and capitalizing on a creative relationship with fellow SoCal blasters the Locust, Cattle Decapitation makes a peculiar brand of death metal that is obsessed with…
After seven years together, the Casket Lottery has earned a reputation as one of the hottest live shows going. With skillful songwriting and musicianship, the Kansas City-based outfit produces a potent rock hybrid that flirts with pop-punk and emo without being either. Guitarist Nathan Ellis and bassist Stacy Hilt are…
Mötley Crüe’s tempestuous timekeeper, drummer Tommy Lee, has been through it all. His personal sagas range from a seemingly idyllic marriage to Heather Locklear to smooching with Prince’s ex-wife, Mayte Garcia-Nelson — not to mention his time spent in court, which has kept things interesting. But it’s his torrential tabloid…
Oakhurst describes its own tuneful stock-in-trade in simple terms: “porch music.” But beneath that neo-old-timey mountain sound is yet another jug band shuffling in the wings — a more aggressive one…with amps and everything. Plugged in, the quintet raises its warm camaraderie to the boiling point of a roots-rock outfit…
Born in Southern Italy and raised in London, Ontario, DJ John Acquaviva is seen as a trailblazer not only by other DJs, but by software engineers, of all people. When Stanton Magnetics came up with the idea for Final Scratch, a cutting-edge digital interface that allows DJs to merge analog…
For those hoping to rub shoulders with Russell Simmons at Denver’s upcoming Hip-Hop Festival and Summit, the event may not be as def as expected. Hip-hop fans started anticipating big things last May, when Def Jam co-founder and hip-hop impresario Simmons stood next to then-mayor Wellington Webb, touting his Rush…
I’m watching some fucking commercial on television where there are multiple David Bowies running around,” exclaims singer Bobby Harlow. He and his bandmates in the Go just rolled into Los Angeles; they’re now licking their wounds and counting their losses after a bout with debauchery in Las Vegas the night…
