Say what you want about Cricket on the Hill, but Denver’s red-haired stepchild is still surviving in a town where venue promoters are more apt to go for each other’s throats than join hands in a moment of silence. Ah, the Cricket, where any unwashed, unseasoned and unknown local act…
Danny Williamson — or LTJ Bukem, as he’s known in the dance world — is one of the few electronic musicians around who can lay legitimate claim to the distinction of being a true innovator. Having gotten his start in London’s hard-core breakbeat scene at the dawn of the ’90s,…
Stuffed into a pair of oversized booths at Mickey Manor, the members of Ten Cent Redemption could pass as a support group for male pattern baldness. And from the sound of it, this isn’t the first time these follicly challenged musicians — vocalist/guitarist Rhett Lee, guitarist John Waggoner, drummer Bill…
God damn. Mountain air is thin. You already know this, right? Because unlike me — a confirmed city slicker who makes the trek to ski country once every five years, whether I need to or not — most people come to Colorado for the mountains. But this past weekend, I…
Less than two years after the takeoff of Get Born, Jet’s debut album, guitarist/vocalist Cameron Muncey is still flying high, and why not? Consider, for example, the impromptu songwriting session the group staged over New Year’s on the Caribbean island of Barbados. “We were there for a photo shoot for…
Reed expert Marshall Allen took over as bandleader for the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra in 1995. In its current fourteen-piece road act, the Ark still draws inspiration from ancient Egypt and science fiction. By phone from the late Ra’s house in Philadelphia, Allen, 81, discusses his old boss, space travel…
All hail Doctor Demento, who has carried the torch of the novelty song for many years. For we are not some dour Radiohead fan who requires stone-faced “important” music. But novelty can be taken too far, and Universal Records has abused the idea with its new album, Crazy Frog Presents…
Your biggest concern after listening to Get Some is whether your shower ought to be hot or cold. Kicking up a miasma of filthy noise and musky lust, Nashville Pussy’s fourth disc veers precisely zero degrees from its headlong rush into the depths of Dixie-fried porn punk. Still, the disc…
You have to concede a certain amount of praise automatically for the massive imaginative output in Princess Superstar’s My Machine, a dystopic sci-fi hip-hop concept album about a future celebrity who takes over the world with the help of a cloning machine. As in any good epic, apocalyptic replicant war…
For decades, each okay-but-not-great Stones CD has inspired the inevitable Rolling Stone review that declares it to be masterful — hence the mag’s recent four-and-a-half-star rave, in which writer Alan Light said the disc recalled “rough, underrated” albums such as Dirty Work and Emotional Rescue. Both of which were okay…
Seventeen-year-old Teairra Mari’s airy but rock-solid soprano and wanton girl-next-door charm have earned her the title “Princess of the Roc” and landed her a spot in Jay-Z’s Midas whip. And for that she can thank her lyricist dudes: They’ve got teen-anxiety zeitgeist down. Teairra tears through juicy jilted-girl anthems, as…
Highland Mountain Boys Johnny Crow needs to keep his good gal separate from his side gal. See, Sassy is the sort of jealous six-string who gets uppity and slips out of tune any time Johnny’s eye starts a-rovin’, especially in the direction of Classy, that twelve-string, home-wreckin’ hound bitch. But…
Judging by how few of them there are, good rock CDs must be damned hard to create. But Special Racer, whose arrival is being celebrated on Saturday, September 17, at Herman’s Hideaway, makes the process — or at least the results — seem as easy as can be. The badpenny…
Pilotdrift, Water Sphere (Good Records). Combining cinematic orchestration with the twisted grandiloquence of Queen or Bobby Conn, this extraordinary debut from Texarkana’s Pilotdrift is a surprise a second. Lush and melodic odes to weightlessness (“Bubblecraft”) and illicit love affairs between Napoleon, Einstein and Doris Day (“Late Night in a Wax…
From its remote base of operations near Questa, New Mexico, thirty miles north of Taos, Art of Flying specializes in a hazy and beautiful sound that thrives off the grid like a wild desert flower. Comprised of San Francisco transplant Dave Costanza, his wife, Anne, and longtime Portland musician Larry…
The Fray’s story is as compelling as it is unbelievable. Less than two years ago, the band was completely unknown, playing sparsely attended gigs at places like the Little Bear in Evergreen. Since then, the quartet has inked a major-label deal, toured with Weezer and the Pixies, garnered a three-star…
Few soul artists of the ’70s outside of Curtis Mayfield and Donny Hathaway were able to blend funk, protest, heartbreak and harmony like the O’Jays. Formed in Ohio in 1958, the group struggled before hooking up in 1969 with the swiftly rising songsmith team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff…
Quite simply, there is no better living showman than Maceo Parker. Catching one of the alto sax maestro’s marathon three-hour shows is a truly transcendent experience for any fan of funk, jazz, hip-hop, R&B and soul: His performances are never disappointing, always worth the money, and a funky, funky good…
Technically, the Allman Brothers Band hasn’t existed since guitarist Duane Allman died in October 1971. But the group forged on after his death, and, more than three decades later, the pioneering Southern-rock institution is still keeping pace with the packs of protegés it’s spawned while fostering a loyal fan base…
Imaad Wasif has a thing for small letters. Not only did he lead moody post-punk outfit Lowercase in the ’90s, but he insists that the name of his current band, alaska!, be spelled sans capitalization. The group’s sound, though, is anything but understated. Awash in the broad melodic gestures of…
Truth be told, bands are generally most innovative early in their career — unless you’re talking about Green Day, that is. In 1994, several years after establishing themselves on the Bay Area punk scene, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool went national with Dookie, a disc that mashed…
Cartel hasn’t done anything underhanded or illegal, as its name might imply. The Atlanta-based quintet has avoided all misdemeanors by trekking down the decidedly less wanton path of guitar-driven rock with an underlying pop-punk spirit. Singer Will Pugh’s vocal delivery commands a listen and bolsters the band’s precise and well-executed…
