Lusine (aka Jeff McIlwains) eschews the same old beats and standard sampling with creations that are as scattered as his releases. Tracks and styles jump around the aural stratosphere as frequently as his recordings have bounced from label to label (Ghostly International, U- Cover and Mental Industries, to name a…
I’ve had a pretty hectic day,” says Arrington de Dionyso from Olympia, Washington, the state’s tiny capital and the headquarters of K Records, the venerable indie label that de Dionyso’s band, Old Time Relijun, calls home. “A bag that contains a passport and all of my jaw harps was stolen…
Touring with the Godfather of Soul can get a little heady. One minute you’re at the Apollo in New York, and the next you’re performing in such far-flung locales as Turkey, Greece or the Caribbean. Yet for Damon Wood, who plays guitar in James Brown’s band and fronts his own…
Bop Skizzum Waiting For (Angry Burro Records) It’s an age-old conundrum: How can a band that’s built for the stage manage to sound great on disc? With its latest disc, Bop Skizzum, which has been dishing out soul-and-jazz-influenced dance music in these parts since 1999, makes a bold attempt to…
Considering that John Vanderslice’s jagged pop and conceptual story-songs have stranded him everywhere from the loneliest tips of Antarctica to Mommy’s cluttered basement, it’s hardly surprising that his fourth album explores brooding territory. But surpassing previous efforts in terms of sonic design, craft and coherence, Cellar Door (the two words…
The cover of Van Hunt’s self-titled debut has a picture of our man’s face framed by psychedelic squiggles and a comic-book speech balloon announcing his name. Kinda funny when you think about, seeing as how the hyped neo-soul movement of the past few years has graced us with a lot…
It’s been a long time coming, but Twista has finally been given the resources to generate an album worthy of his underrated talent. Off the momentum of the insanely popular Kanye West-produced “Slow Jamz,” Twista delivers no less than a classic presentation of mid-’90s Southern-esque hip-hop on Kamikaze, giving credence…
Long before Doc Atkins convinced us to 86 whitey and the boys from the pyramid, beef was a rap staple. Feuds between rival MCs like LL Cool J and Kool Moe Dee, KRS-One and MC Shan have clogged many an artery: Pac taunting Biggie about knocking boots with Big Poppa’s…
It’s been nearly five decades since Bo Diddley wrote “Who Do You Love?,” a rock-and-roll classic that perhaps best sums up youth’s reckless disregard for mortality: “Tombstone hand and a graveyard mind/Just 22 and I don’t mind dying.” Diddley recently celebrated his 75th birthday; needless to say, Papa Bo may…
At its best, rock and roll is a noncompetitive, egalitarian art form, in which like-minded musicians come together to create, communicate and share their souls as equals instead of constructing bloody ladders to superstardom out of the corpses of the weak. Of course, that’s total crap, and for proof, check…
The beat is murder when The Smiths stop by South Park this week. Join Kenny, Kyle, Stan and Eric as…oh, wait, not that South Park. Rather, former Smiths members bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce will join resident DJs Michael Trundle and Tyler Jacobson for Lipgloss this Friday, March…
When a band has a name like Wicked Grin, you expect to see burned-out relics from the Revlon era rockin’ the spandex and skullets, churning out half-baked versions of everyone’s favorite cock-rock anthems. The material this act has chosen to replicate hails from a later decade but is no less…
Hip-hop clubs get a bad rap: Controversy and police scrutiny seem to cling to them. But Soul has a different destination in mind. Dropping into Sanctuary/Butterfly’s old digs at 2040 Larimer Street, Soul has revamped its belly into two distinctive rooms, with swanky VIP quarters wedged in between. One side…
Until February 20 of last year, Jack Russell was best known for one song — a cover of Mott the Hoople’s “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” performed with a big-haired bravado that made his band, Great White, a momentary star of the ’80s hard-rock firmament. What a difference a year makes…
I don’t think there’s any reason why someone should become a Decemberists fan unless they’re fully prepared,” says vocalist/tunesmith Colin Meloy. “Frankly, I’d rather see a smaller audience, but an audience that is more attuned to the music, than a huge audience made up of moderately interested people.” The Decemberists’…
Hot damn! Another concept album. With recent releases like the Mars Volta’s De-Loused in the Comatorium, Cursive’s The Ugly Organ and Racebannon’s Satan’s Kickin’ Yr Dick In, the gears on this idea are starting to get stripped — as if they weren’t already eroded enough in the ’70s. What saves…
The Autumn Defense’s sophomore disc was just released. It’s brand-new. Really. You can check the date on the back. But if you listen to the record blindly, you’d swear that Circles — with its Burt Bacharach-esque string and horn arrangements, undulating bass lines and delicate vocals — was recorded around…
The long list of worthy artists who have never won Grammys includes the Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. Norah Jones, on the other hand, took home five in one night, most for the 2002 song “Don’t Know Why” — a title that pretty much sums up her sweep…
The Church may get lumped in with other one-hit wonders from the ’80s — its only stateside hit was “Under the Milky Way” from 1988’s Starfish — but the outfit actually has a recording history that spans over twenty years, as well as faithful fans around the world, particularly in…
The last time Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons was in town, back in May 2003, he announced that he’d be bringing one of his famed hip-hop summits to Denver later that year. But 2003 ended without a repeat appearance by Simmons — much less a Mootown summit. This past Thursday,…
Railbenders Segundo (Big Bender Records) For the most part, Colorado’s country-music scene is divided between artists aligned with contemporary Nashville values and acts that pay homage to the twangier, more authentic sounds of yesteryear. The Railbenders (due Friday, March 12, at Herman’s Hideaway) are part of the latter classification, but…
In the iconography of childhood, hearts and stars are crayon-scrawled hieroglyphs symbolizing love, hope and wonder. Fittingly, Heart is the title of the newest album by Canadian outfit Stars, which will appear on Monday, March 15, at the Climax Lounge, with the Dears and George & Caplin. The band’s throwback…
