Even if multi-instrumentalist John Hartford found a cure for cancer, the discovery would probably be overshadowed by what the public sees as an even greater achievement–his writing of “Gentle on My Mind,” a hit for Glen Campbell in 1968. But it’s been almost thirty years since Hartford, looking soulful and…
The image that’s long defined Peter Murphy simply does not exist anymore–if it ever did. The former frontman for England’s Bauhaus (the standard-bearer for the early Eighties gothic movement), Murphy has a reputation as a pretentious vampire wannabe preying on legions of ever-younger enthusiasts, but his activities of late belie…
David Yow tried everything. The lead singer for the Jesus Lizard, second on the lineup at the Lollapalooza Festival (which stopped at Fiddler’s Green on July 8), jumped into the crowd and berated several people in his path from a distance of approximately two millimeters. He kneeled at the edge…
Gangsta-rap performers who’ve led lives of crime have a leg up in the street credibility game. Snoop Doggy Dogg (soon to be tried for murder) and Tupac Shakur (in stir for offenses including sexual assault) have ridden their recent fights with the law to sales nirvana, while reportedly reformed bad…
Ask bassist/vocalist Myke Spy of Denver’s Harriet the Spy to elaborate on his band’s music and you won’t get a single reply. Instead, you’ll get a whole series of them. Reply number one: “I like Jean-Luc Godard. I want our music to be like one long version of Breathless. It’s…
Bassist David Sims has no idea where his act, the Jesus Lizard, fits in with the rest of this year’s Lollapalooza main-stagers. “We’re certainly not the headliner,” he notes. “And I don’t know if I could convince you we’re one of the girl bands or one of the rap groups…
A generation of English blues rockers, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Mick Jagger and Jimmy Page, have acknowledged that guitarist/vocalist Otis Rush has provided them with divine musical inspiration. But Rush, who’s 61, is not the type to crow about the influence he’s had on so many stars…
Perez Prado Mondo Mambo! The Best of Perez Prado and His Orchestra (RCA/Rhino) Various Artists Mambo Mania! The Kings & Queens of Mambo (Rhino) At its best, the mambo, a boisterous style of Latin dance music, is absolutely hysterical. Trumpets don’t just sound: They blare in unison–and instead of trailing…
Deborah Henson-Conant, Friday, June 23, at Swallow Hill Music Hall, is a jazz virtuoso and superior improviser with an unlikely specialty–the 47-string grand concert harp. A native Californian now based in New England, she first learned about the harp’s limitless possibilities when she was hired to play a three-hour restaurant…
If you’re wondering why Austin-based vocalist/multi-instrumentalist K. (for Kathy) McCarty has won the hearts of so many music journalists, bend an ear to her list of favorite artists. “Richard Thompson,” she says. “I’ve been listening to him pretty much nonstop since 1985. And Randy Newman is another hero of mine,…
A local high school boy who’s seen “…kiss,” a video that’s been popping up late at night on MTV, has kind words for its singer, Pussy Tourette. She’s pretty cool, he says, and not bad-looking. And, he adds, she “has a nice bod. Real muscular for a chick, ya know?”…
Cassandra Wilson is a big fan of Cassandra Wilson. When asked how she’s able to appeal to both Kenny G listeners and the Ornette Coleman followers who despise Bill Clinton’s favorite saxophonist, Wilson, a woman who’s infused the jazz-vocal tradition with more life than any other young performer to emerge…
If you put a typical CU student at the front of a successful hippie/funk/R&B band and allowed that person to see nothing but an endless road filled with multicolored Volkswagens, to wear nothing but tie-dyed T-shirts and to hear nothing but the Allman Brothers for almost half a decade, he…
The Apples Fun Trick Noisemaker (spinART) Last year, Apples frontman Robert Schneider told Westword he wanted to write “uplifting” songs that had a “transcendent quality” about them. Judging from Fun Trick Noisemaker, the act’s spinART debut, Schneider and the rest of the Apples (drummer Hilarie Sidney, guitarist John Hill and…
“Because I’ve been in King Crimson and Yes and Genesis,” says Bill Bruford, among the planet’s best-known drummers, “I always get the stuff about British progressive rock–which is not a subject dear to my heart. It’s a term that journalists invented, but we musicians don’t really acknowledge those particular categories…
For most music aficionados, the terms “punk” and “folk” exist at opposite ends of the musical spectrum. But for self-described punk folksinger Ani DiFranco, the two genres are practically one and the same. “In my mind, they aren’t all that different,” insists the 24-year-old New Yorker. “I mean, the whole…
Justine Frischmann, the lead vocalist and guitarist for England’s Elastica, has been hearing the comments since her quartet came to public attention in 1993: You sound like this band, you sound like that band. She insists that these gibes don’t bother her a bit. “In one way, it’s kind of…
To simplify labeling, the members of the Denver-based septet known as Groove Kitchen refer to their music as acid jazz–and they definitely don’t believe the term should be interpreted pejoratively. Dogmatists may regard acid jazz as the redheaded stepchild of “real” jazz, but Kitchen guitarist Tom Burke sees it as…
The Magnetic Fields The Charm of the Highway Strip (Merge) The 6ths Wasps’ Nests (London) The man behind both of these projects is Stephin Merritt, whose unique pairings of obvious scenarios and basic instrumentation border on pop genius. But although he claims ABBA and classic Top 40 as his primary…
“You can print this on my tombstone if I’m wrong,” says Jon E., drummer for Spoon Collection. “I’m in the right place at the right time.” Jon’s bandmates, vocalist/guitarist S’aint Willy and bassist/backup vocalist Schneid, share this sunny sentiment. They believe they’re perfect matches for each other and that this…
Judged on the most superficial level possible, KTCL’s Big Adventure, a music festival staged on June 3 at Fiddler’s Green, was a good deal. The show featured fifteen bands, most of whose performances were generous and energetic. Moreover, the ticket price (around $12) was exceedingly modest. If nothing else, it…
Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver, Wednesday, June 7, at the Mercury Cafe, plays the kind of meat-and-potatoes rock and roll that critics tend to love or hate depending upon how much they had to drink the night before. Chick Rock, the Drivers’ sophomore opus (on Headhunter Records) is no exception…
