Improvisational wizard Bill Frisell is known worldwide for his ethereal, thinking-man’s work on the guitar, which he transforms into a stringed soulmate to wind instruments. The breathy, electrified tone that he produces with the help of volume pedals and other technological tools is simply splendid, as is his unplugged playing…
Liz Phair Whip-Smart (Matador) Rock-critic types have treated the release of Whip-Smart with reverence suggestive of the second coming, which in some ways is appropriate–like Exile in Guyville, Phair’s slobbered-over debut, this sophomore offering doesn’t skimp on the orgasms. Unfortunately, I suspect that this songwriter’s focus on the various uses…
Oasis, Tuesday, October 4, at the Mercury Cafe, arrives in Colorado intent on substantiating the beliefs of those who feel the band is the next big thing to come out of Manchester, England. The Epic release Definitely Maybe features “Shakermaker,” a sardonic twisting of the old Coke jingle “I’d Like…
A few years back (forever, in pop-culture time), tribute discs were mainly devoid of irony. Collections in which various vocalists or groups presented versions of songs associated with a particular singer or songwriter were produced to make money, of course, but also to laud worthy peers or raise funds for…
Musician/publisher/writer/mother-to-be Lisa Crystal Carver is tired of Generation X and its dysfunctional rantings. In fact, this Denver immigrant would like nothing better than to see the twenty-something crowd exposed for what it really is–a pack of lazy whiners. ” are a bunch of spoiled people who are used to having…
Ted Hawkins, age 57, has lived one hell of a life–and he’s not finished yet. If Robert Johnson hadn’t cashed in his chips at so young an age, his tale might have sounded a lot like this one. It’s a story that, understandably, Hawkins doesn’t much like telling. After decades…
Eric Clapton From the Cradle (Reprise) This blues tribute disc was a good idea for three reasons: Much of Clapton’s best work has been in the idiom; following up the incredibly successful (and massively overrated) Unplugged with an album of covers automatically lowers expectations; and the format ensures that nothing…
Let’s face it: Most rock-and-roll musicians aren’t exactly nuclear physicists. So on those rare occasions when a band of savvy rock musicians emerges, reporters usually pounce on them like a mob of doting grandmothers. For proof, look no further than the indie-rock prodigies in Pavement. The group’s members (currently Steve…
Shatta Mejia is a teacher–in every sense of the word. A high-school-level instructor for the past three years, he works in an alternative program under the umbrella of the Boulder Valley school system with “at-risk” students. “About 90 percent of them have really serious issues–they have criminal records, or they’ve…
When saxophonist/composer David Murray attended his twenty-year high school reunion last year, he won an award for having the most unique profession–or, as Murray puts it, “the strangest career.” Given Murray’s past, it couldn’t have been much of a contest. After all, very few people have achieved the significance in…
Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (Atlantic) It seems a little unfair to rag on the Pilots. I mean, there are ripoff artists in every style of music, and many of these performers wind up being more successful than the true innovators of the form. Which isn’t their fault, really:…
Love Jones, Tuesday, September 20, at the Mercury Cafe, is a collection of performers who like their martinis almost as dry as their wit. Along with Chicago’s Coctails and Boston’s Combustible Edison, the band is part of the burgeoning movement known as “Coctail Nation”; its latest album, Here’s to the…
“At this point, there’s a time concern,” says Chuck Snow, leader of the AUTONO, Colorado Springs’ best, and best-known, rock band. “I have to ask myself, `Am I going to wind up washing dishes at Wendy’s when I’m forty?'” Snow, 32, finds himself trapped in a classic musician’s dilemma. He…
The standard promotional line on singer-songwriter Keb’ Mo’ goes something like this: One of the first artists to be signed to Epic’s newly revived blues label (Okeh), Keb’ Mo’ is an unknown Los Angeles-based guitarist who’s being heralded as the latest wunderkind of acoustic, Delta-derived blues. His self-titled album showcases…
“When most people think of psychedelic, they think of the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix,” says Steve Perry, the singer-songwriter for Eugene, Oregon’s Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. “But to me, that’s not psychedelic at all. To me, that’s real run-of-the-mill. Psychedelic is much subtler. Like, I see Sammy Davis Jr. as being…
As the summer of the supergroup reunion tours draws to a close, veteran rockers are counting up their winnings. Not everyone got richer quick: For example, the restoration of Traffic (actually, it was just Steve Winwood getting together with some guy who plays drums) produced about as much excitement as…
Coolio It Takes a Thief (Tommy Boy) The old school strikes back. Coolio’s bio sounds plenty contemporary–he’s reportedly a former SoCal crack addict–but the occasional hardcore trappings heard on his debut disc are concessions to the marketplace, not its raison d’etre. “Fantastic Voyage,” the single you’ve heard booming from every…
When asked to characterize his work, alto saxophonist/flutist Carlos Ward laughs. It’s a broad laugh, but also a mysterious one: There’s no way of knowing if he’s being congenial or expressing wordlessly the impossibility of defining his work and motivations. “Well, I hope people can understand it and accept it,”…
According to drummer Mark White, Denver’s Gladhand is giving locals a reason to smile. “People have come up to me and said, `I’ve had a shitty three weeks, and after you guys played I became really happy,'” he says. “I mean, these people leave grinning ear to ear.” That analysis…
Singer/guitarist Junior Brown doesn’t like to be pigeonholed, musically or otherwise. “Whenever think they’ve got me pegged, I pull something out that’s a little different,” explains Austin’s latest musical discovery. “I like to keep it interesting.” “Interesting” hardly begins to describe Brown’s spicy, Texas-tinged country masterpieces. On a good night,…
Greg Ginn–the founder and creative force behind the pioneering Los Angeles punk band Black Flag and now an accomplished solo artist–has never backed away from a good fight. And he’s not about to start now. “If somebody takes money from me in an agreement, I’m not supposed to do anything…
Neil Young and Crazy Horse Sleeps With Angels (Reprise) Why Young remains a vibrant, intriguing, forward-looking artist at a time when most of his contemporaries have long since ceased to matter to anyone beyond their immediate families is a matter of some mystery. After all, he’s not doing anything that…
