Tricky Pre-Millennium Tension (Island) In a music scene dominated by the safe, the threadbare and the predictable, Tricky comes on like a sonic anarchist–a ceaselessly creative sort who’s eager to abolish all rules, tear down those power structures that have outlived their usefulness and destroy anything trite that crosses his…
“I made up this little story that kind of describes what I do,” says Miguel Espinosa, the extraordinary flamenco guitarist who makes up half of Boulder’s Curandero. “I imagine a little boy who is walking on this road. So he sees a marble. He puts it in his pocket. Then…
When an independent radio station is swallowed up by a corporate behemoth, things generally change for the worse. But not always. A case in point is KTCL-FM/93.3, a station that’s essentially a property of Jacor, a communications giant based in Cincinnati. The folks at KTCL would likely give me an…
Social Distortion’s Mike Ness is pacing around an East Coast hotel room, his voice loud, his words tumbling out so quickly that he can’t quite keep track of what he’s saying from one minute to the next. It’s hours before showtime, but he’s already running on a toxic cocktail of…
“I think it’s okay to be angry,” says Jesse Malin, the loquacious vocalist and frontman for the New York-based punk band D Generation. “We live in this fairy-tale culture where everything is supposed to have a happy ending. People tell you to buy these clothes, marry this girl, send your…
Joshua Redman Freedom in the Groove (Warner Bros.) Somehow it doesn’t seem fair that previous generations of jazz buffs got an opportunity to experience the inventions of Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman when these artists were in their primes, while today’s jazz lovers are left with…
By most standards, the music industry has treated Todd Rundgren well. His recordings have been put out by major labels since the late Sixties, and while not all of them were hits, the sales of those that could be described as such have sustained him through the inevitable career downturns…
Listeners to KS-104 (aka KQKS-FM/104.3) can be forgiven for wondering if the station has been abandoned. Earlier this year, the entire KS-104 air staff was raided by KJMN-FM/92.1 (Jam’n), the station that rose from the ashes of the late, lamented 92X format. Rather than recruiting new jocks, however, the folks…
Back before long-form videos and CD-ROMs existed, musicians used the concept album to overextend their half-baked ideas. Not content with letting one song do its job, groups charged an entire collection with the mission of delivering a single dunderheaded message. What follows are the worst of a very bad lot…
When Denver’s Painstake was formed three years ago, its members adhered to straight-edge, a movement in which followers eschew drugs, drinks and other indulgences. Since then, however, the combo has gone through changes in lineup and philosophy. While some of today’s Painstakers (drummer Carl Kumpe, guitarists Jason Andrade and Sam…
As alluded to in Backbeat’s lead article (“Our Gangstas,” page 71), gangsta-rap artists who sell albums in the millions have been unable to cash in at arenas across the country. The primary reason remains security fears. Promoters are afraid that given the slightest provocation, gangsta fans will start shooting at…
Wesley Willis Feel the Power (American) If you’re wondering where opportunity ends and exploitation begins, the answer is…here. Willis, for the handful of you who have not yet been subjected to him, is a Chicagoan with a potpourri of mental problems who scribbles songs about whatever pops into his head–and…
At this writing, Rocket, the debut album by Primitive Radio Gods, is no longer among the 200 best-selling albums in the United States according to Billboard magazine. Nor does the publication list the hit tune “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand” among the country’s 100…
Gangsta rap isn’t dying easily. The lion’s share of critics have long since tired of its formulas, most major record companies (cowed by the Charlton Hestons of the world) are doing their best to distance themselves from lyricists deemed irresponsible by everybody from Christian rightists to radical feminists, and inventive…
“I like beer, bikes and my model trains,” declares Beer Can Bob Schuster. He also likes music–hence his role as frontman and bassist for Beer Can Bob and the Stampede–but as he blows the foam off a cold one at his home in Boulder’s San Lazaro Trailer Park (where he…
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Now I Got Worry (Matador) R.L. Burnside A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (Matador) Mr. Spencer doesn’t fit the mold of your run-of-the-mill sonic archivist. His music is derived from the blues, rockabilly and rock and roll, but his approach to these genres couldn’t be further…
But for the quality of their music, the Czars, a band that’s emerged as one of Denver’s most hypnotic live acts, would not exist. And therein lies a tale. Founding Czars John Grant and Chris Pearson met at a local nightclub in the spring of 1994, shortly after Grant had…
During performances of “Crazy Song,” a variation on the Patsy Cline favorite, Boulder’s Lisa Wagner displays an impressive voice–or maybe two. She delivers the ditty’s familiar lines in a heartfelt croon but is continually interrupted by a demonic alter-ego who recalls Linda Blair during the possession scenes from The Exorcist…
Pete Townshend, who recently came through town as part of the Who’s latest reunion tour, is rock’s most prominent sufferer of ear problems; years of exposure to loud noise has left him with tinnitus, a condition that causes a persistent ringing or roaring in his ears. But his ailment is…
Is it possible for a group to be a supergroup if very few people have heard of either the alleged supergroup or any of the other groups whose reputations make the new group so super? Jeff Mueller, singer and guitarist for the bruising, riveting combo called June of 44, doesn’t…
Cuarteto Latinoamericano is the classical world’s only full-time string chamber ensemble made up exclusively of Latin American musicians–but don’t make the mistake of dismissing the group as a novelty. Performances by the foursome (Saul Bitran, older brothers Aron and Alvaro Bitran, and Javier Montiel) have earned glowing notices from reviewers…
John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey Dance Hall at Louse Point (Island) This disc has garnered the worst reviews of Ms. Harvey’s brief career, and that’s understandable. Compared with 1995’s remarkable To Bring You My Love, it’s resolutely minor. Moreover, the work contains several of our gal’s weakest moments on…
