According to Matthew Miller, aka Matisyahu, listening entails more than simply owning a pair of fully functioning ears. “The concept of listening is the concept of giving yourself over to something,” declares the planet’s only Orthodox Jewish reggae star. “You could think you’re listening, but if you’re not nullifying yourself,…
In the ’80s, proto-teen idol Tiffany Darwish broke ground for wads of bubblegum-poppers. In 2002, the ginger-locked songstress also fulfilled many a John Hughes-era fantasy in Hugh Hefner’s periodical. Tiffany has grown up and changed direction in an effort to prove once and for all that unlike her many progeny,…
We are arbiters of music, not ideals. So all hail Crass, who made great music in spite of its goofball politics. From the silly socialism of Rage Against the Machine to the street capitalism of 50 Cent, the music is the message. So we do not deliver a fatwa against…
Producer Rick Rubin’s attempt to revitalize Diamond’s critical reputation à la his Johnny Cash collaborations isn’t a fool’s errand. Before he became a baby-boomer fave, Diamond was a first-rate songwriter capable of fusing woody pop with baritonal introspection. Too bad Rubin focuses so relentlessly on the latter and gives short…
Die-hard Fatlip fans have waited years for the ex-Pharcyde MC to drop a solo album. Literally. Years. In the meantime, he’s blown money on cocaine and skanky hos, been jilted by his former bandmates, and (finally) crafted The Loneliest Punk, the most lyrically interesting hip-hop album to drop in a…
Making a bid for the old/new South, Memphis’s Three 6 Mafia shockingly tones down its shout-heavy choruses and plays everything else the Southern sound was and will be: bounce beats, fresh-to-def stutter drums, lilting and jazzy (pha) soul hooks, string-driven MIDI presets and — best of all — hopscotch nursery-rhyme…
Thursday’s Geoff Rickly is no Lorenzo de’Medici — but then again, the Blackout Pact is hardly Michelangelo. Still, Rickly’s patronage of the Denver quintet (he produced and released its debut, Hello Sailor, on his own vanity label) has yielded a minor punk masterpiece. While rooted in Thursday’s trademark epic melancholy,…
The miles between Denver, where Liz Clark first made her name as a performer, and New York, her home for the past couple of years, roughly correspond to the improvement in her work. As witnessed by the quality of Hand on the Stove, she’s come a long way, and her…
Grace Gale might go down as the least original band Denver has ever seen. Everything about the group’s new full-length, A Few Easy Steps to Secure Heli-Camel Safety, screams, well, screamo. Of course, that term is pretty played out — but then again, so are the sounds on this CD…
Early Man, Closing In (Matador). The new face of Paleolithic rock is milder than the Cro-Mags and more respectable than Iced Earth and Mastodon. After an early flirtation with Iron Maiden, Early Man remembers to keep Black Sabbath unholy. Speed-chugging and intermittent twin guitar lines replace flashy Iommisms. Closing In…
California’s Brian Carroll has spent virtually all of his time in the public eye with his face behind a mask and his head in a bucket — which is an extremely effective way of letting the world know he’d rather play his guitar semi-anonymously than seek personal aggrandizement. Nevertheless, his…
South Jamaica, Queens, native Pharoahe Monch displayed limitless potential as a thought-provoking MC following his split with Prince Po, the more boisterous half of the angst-ridden underground duo Organized Konfusion. But topping 1999’s club-thumping anthem “Simon Says” has proved difficult for the Egyptian-themed rhyme-slinger. After his Rawkus solo debut Internal…
The reason Don Williams is called the Gentle Giant is that “Barry White” was already taken. Williams’s lullaby voice dips in deep, then pulls up dripping with humble sentiment and Southern comfort. In terms of wooing countrified ladies, his unassuming croon is a potent Anglodisiac. With few exceptions, matters of…
The latest in a bumper crop of rootsy, genre-straddling bands (such as Moonshine Still, Soul Live, New Monsoon, Town Hall and Animal Liberation Orchestra) to garner a national buzz, New Jersey’s Steel Train is steadily expanding its fan base by notching lauded performances at a wide array of fests, including…
Post-hardcore can be split into two eras: pre-At the Drive-In and post-At the Drive-In. Oklahoma’s Traindodge sticks out by sounding as if ATDI never existed. Forgoing the sexy, sassy acrobatics that have come to define the genre, the trio peddles a brand of cerebrally accelerated aggression that requires a bit…
More Jeff Foxworthy than Victor Borge, R&B standup comic Reverend Billy C. Wirtz lampoons the double-wide culture while honoring the gospel and barrelhouse styles of our piano-banging forefathers: Big Maceo, Otis Spann, and especially Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Goateed, tattooed and with a flowing red mullet, Wirtz seems an unlikely spiritual…
Bassist Jason Noble is well known in indie-rock circles for his membership in the late, lamented Rodan, a Louisville noise band of much repute, and Shipping News, an excellent successor capable of getting nearly as loud. Nevertheless, he’s hardly addicted to racket, as his work in Rachel’s proves. On 2003’s…
There are differences between sludge metal and doom metal. There are also subtle distinctions between stoner metal and stoner rock. And then there’s Big Business, a band that fine-lines these subgenres of subgenres. Drummer Coady Willis (ex-Murder City Devils) and bassist Jared Warren (ex-Karp) don’t try to outdo what’s already…
There’s nothing wrong with a little pseudo-sisterly rivalry. Not that Orenda Fink and her Azure Ray comrade, Maria Taylor, were necessarily competing by debuting solo albums within months of each other this year. Nonetheless, it’s impossible to avoid comparing the two. But even if this were a cutthroat showdown, Fink…
Sometimes a musical duo defies genrefication. Elliot Sharp and Janet Feder, who perform Saturday, November 12, at St. Cajetan’s on the Auraria campus, explore avant-garde, free jazz, folk, world music, noise and classically informed territories — all while maintaining the laid-back aura of a casual conversation. Neat trick. Although this…
Timo Maas’s latest effort, Pictures, sounds less like a dance record than it does an extremely well-executed mishmash of rock, hip-hop and the Hamburg native’s signature dance grooves. Several of Pictures’ choicest cuts, bolstered by the vocals of Placebo’s Brian Molko, Neneh Cherry and Kellis, have successfully landed in rock…
Kal Cahoone has always hated spiders. It’s a chilly Thursday evening in luthier John Rumley’s studio/workshop, and the smell of lacquer probably hasn’t driven away any creepy crawlers — spinning webs in the shadows, possibly nesting in that old player piano in the corner. Even so, the members of Tarantella…
