Anyone who saw Jacob Isaacs playing in the legendary Angels Never Answer probably wouldn’t have guessed he’d do music like this. The earliest incarnations of Dugoutcanoe (due on Saturday, November 28, at Rhinoceropolis) used tape samples and Isaacs’s prodigious skill with drums and guitar, looping both, and as the project…
With a slip of the tongue, the name CunninLynguists can change from a description of one of the most respected hip-hop acts in the game to an act that, if performed without discretion, could get you kicked out of most places. CunninLynguists’ Kno and Deacon the Villain have, with very…
Referencing everyone from Silver Apples to Suicide to Young Marble Giants, Iowa City’s Wet Hair takes the keyboard-smeared, minimalist-art-rock-duo shtick to a new extreme of awesomeness. Granted, the sub-subgenre isn’t broad enough to brook much fakery — and frontman Shaun Reed (along with collaborator Ryan Garbes) carves a singular niche…
Hailing from the state that brought you Mastodon, Georgia’s Baroness is likewise a critically lauded metal outfit that seems to have sprung fully formed with the release of its 2007 debut, Red Album. But where Mastodon traffics in massive conceptual gestures and passages of ping-pong prog, Baroness reins in the…
Embarking on a small tour commemorating its twentieth anniversary as a band, the unrelenting and ominous-sounding Season to Risk, from Kansas City, was part of the early wave of bands to mix electronics and experimental hardcore. Peers of like-minded acts Drive Like Jehu and the VSS, Season to Risk shares…
Alex Ebert first came to public attention as the charismatic singer of indie-rock band Ima Robot. After some drastic life-changing experiences, he came up with the idea for this project, which seems to be part creative epiphany and part artistic therapy. Teaming up with singer/multi-instrumentalist Jade Castrinos and other friends…
The Blackout Pact’s demise was a highly scrutinized one. A fellow touring band’s laptop went missing, and a quick search found it nestled among the Pact’s personal possessions. Blame was placed, and the band fell apart. More than two years after that fateful day in Las Vegas, the Pact is…
From the opening drum clicks, this debut release from the Outfit hooks you into the headlong pace of “Towns,” a song with familiar elements. But rather than trying to mimic the manic and loud-quiet guitar work of recent dance-punk bands, the Outfit presents moments of nuanced introspection that lend a…
The name Faces of Radio is fitting for this band, because it seems like the players are aiming for the airways — or at the very least, enticing people to make their way to the dance floor. With that in mind, the act relies on a somewhat safe and formulaic…
Recalling the frayed pop sounds of New Zealand indie-rock bands of the ’80s and the angular, contorted psychedelia of Pavement, Pacific Pride has always focused more on quality over quantity. Beginning in 2004 after the dissolution of the original lineup of the May Riots, Pacific Pride played few shows and…
Rachael Yamagata released her critically acclaimed debut disc, Happenstance, in 2004, only to be dumped by her record label, RCA, shortly thereafter. Last year the singer-songwriter and pianist finally resurfaced, on Warner Bros., with the wonderfully ambitious double album Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart. Richly textured ballads dominate the first disc,…
From co-writing hit songs for Kylie Minogue to playing the biggest dance-music festivals in the world, Dave Seaman (due on Saturday, November 28 at the Church) has done it all. His mainstay is pumping, progressive house with a healthy tech influence that’s underground but easily accessible and capable of filling…
Even at the height of Bright Channel’s popularity and on-stage volume, leader Jeff Suthers played occasional acoustic shows as a solo artist. When Moonspeed, Bright Channel’s successor, debuted, Suthers seemingly had found a way to indulge both his predilections: vast, untamed soundscapes and whispery songcraft. Flowers of the Moon (whose…
Makeout Point, a newer outfit that formed this past spring, recently finished filming its first video for a song called “Falling In.” We just got a peek at some stills from the shoot and the video looks like it’s going to be positively funtastic on the homemade goodness tip, with…
We’re all familiar with the phrase “so wrong it’s right” but it’s rare that we come across an image that exemplifies that familiar idea as perfectly as this week’s top flier. We feel a little dirty just looking at it — liking it as much as we do surely indicates…
Of Meese and Spin: You know what we love about life? We learn something new every day. Today, for instance, we learned that the members of Meese are literate — well, at least Nathan Meese, anyhow. And we also learned that Spin files the band under up-and-comers. We discovered this…
Being in the music business is tough these days. Ask Randall Frazier, who, as reported yesterday, recently shuttered Massive Music America, a fairly successful independent promotions firm he launched in 2003. “The digital music/iPod world that we are now living in has greatly changed the music industry,” he declares. “Five…
The Big Pink, Crystal Antlers Monday, November 23 Larimer Lounge Better Than: Getting whacked in the face by something warm, fuzzy and pissed off. A cat, maybe. No subtleties here — just two bands probably hyped before their time, leaning on a couple tricks each. Both, but particularly Crystal Antlers,…
This just in: Judy Collins and Neko Case will be headlining Swallow Hill’s fourth annual RootsFest on Saturday, March 6 at Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Local favorites Paper Bird and Trace Bundy are also slated to perform at the fest. Tickets, which are $35 to $140, go on sale Thursday,…
Massive movement: Just received word that Massive Music America, the independent promotions firm launched in 2003 in association with Helmet Room Recordings, which has handled campaigns for an array of artists including the Legendary Pink Dots, Beta-Lactam Ring Records and Edward Ka-Spel, among others, is shutting its doors. The company…
Over the weekend, Dan Aykroyd was in town signing bottles of Crystal Head vodka at Applejack Wine and Spirits. Blues Brothers fans who were undoubtedly thrilled at the prospect of being able to press flesh the one and only Elwood Blues on Saturday afternoon, would’ve positively lost their dang minds…
We’re sure you enjoyed our Q&A with Vaughn Harris of Nitzer Ebb last week. But maybe you were wondering why we didn’t ask him about that one b-side off the band’s second single, or why they never remixed Madonna, or how much practice it took to perfect those pouty/scary looks…
