Depending on cultural stigma, a person born with albinism can end up being regarded as a divine messenger or someone who belongs in a circus sideshow exhibit. For Jamaican Winston Foster, this rare pigment deficiency (estimated to occur in one in every 17,000 people) invited hostility and scorn to a…
The lead singer gets all the chicks. The lead guitarist gets all the props. The drummer gets all the mystique. The bass player getsŠwhatever’s left over. Seriously. When’s the last time somebody talked about knighting Bill Wyman? Everyone drools over Mick Jagger or the crypt- keeper formerly known as Keith…
Brothers and sisters, let’s talk about the Lord. Like many of us, perhaps your faith in the higher power(s) is lapsed, questionable, agnostic or even non-existent. My fellow wanderers in the wilderness, welcome to the flock of those who might believe but haven’t found a church or sect that feels…
The rock duo is the new quartet. The White Stripes, the Dresden Dolls, the Black Keys and many more have proven that two people with the right raw mixture of talent, originality and balls can rawk far harder than bands twice their size. North Carolina’s Des Ark is rock’s latest…
The Backstreet Boys! Yeah, we know. You’re supposed to tell the joke before you get to the punchline. In 2005, though, the Backstreet Boys are both. The mere mention of Orlando’s most popular export conjures up images of a pop juggernaut crashing under the weight of its own excess, leaving…
In a recent interview on Today, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams described the decision to bust up Destiny’s Child following their current farewell tour/victory lap as a mutual one — and host Matt Lauer proved his professionalism by not breaking out laughing. Remember that group manager Matthew Knowles,…
The title of Jett Black’s latest disc, To Hell and Back, might as well be a direct reference to frontman Jeff Arnold’s life over the nine months. The last time we heard from Arnold (aka Jett Black) this past January, he had just watched his club, the Velvet Underground, which…
Seb Fontaine insists he never wanted to be a DJ, but it seems he was almost predestined for the profession. His mother was a DJ, and he was conceived in Ibiza, the world’s electronic-music party mecca. Although he grew up in London’s 2-Tone ska scene and still fantasizes about being…
“I try to get to this point on stage where I’m totally out of my head,” says Red Sparowes drummer and former Coloradan David Clifford. “Like I’m not even physically there. What we’re going for is the same as ritual, cathartic music. I hate to use the word ‘tribal.'” Even…
The only child of country legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, Waylon Albright Jennings got the nickname “Shooter” for pissing on a nurse in the hospital delivery room. His ill-mannered ways continued in Hollywood as he chased the ghost of Axl Rose, partying 24/7 and fronting the hard-rock band Stargunn…
Pity Jesse McCartney? Are you kidding? The eighteen-year-old heartthrob looks like a 21st-century update of Mattel’s time-tested Ken doll, and untold thousands of young Barbie wannabes fantasize about becoming his plastic-fantastic lover. Boy-toy status may not be fulfilling in the long run, but plenty of his peers would happily volunteer…
All hail Biggie Smalls, who loved it when we called him Big Poppa. Hail Tupac Shakur, whose thug ways made us forget he was in the Digital Underground. Some may say we are overstepping our bounds with this most serious critical fatwa against the Los Angeles Police Department, but it…
Texas music history swarms with stories of Texans who went to Nashville dreaming of fame and fortune. The most celebrated of these tales hinge on spectacular failure, followed by a return to Texas, some regrouping back on home turf, and eventual triumph. The most famous of them come from the…
“When I first read it, I laughed,” says Scott LaBarbera. “Then I got mad. It was just full of inaccuracies. But I understand that they’re bitter. They put their heart and soul into that theater. I do wish them the best. I think they’re good guys who just reacted out…
Not only have the members of Holopaw named their band after a town they’ve never lived in, but they’ve managed to deliver an impressive sophomore disc while rarely inhabiting the same room. Although the bandmates’ respective addresses may be far afield, Holopaw’s wistful pop is at home in the neighborhood…
Artist-salute discs make plenty of sense from a business standpoint, since they let labels milk material that was paid for long ago. Problem is, they’re almost always lame — and this homage to Freddie Mercury and friends certainly doesn’t buck the trend. There are lots of ways to go wrong…
Babyface knows a thing or two about catching flies with sugar. He almost single-handedly sweetened ’90s pop music with a string of hits that delighted audiences and angered critics. The then-derided, now-ignored and consequently underrated super-songwriter/producer’s seventh album, Grown & Sexy, is a tasty, subtle rebuttal to pop culture’s youth…
Sometimes you have to wonder if artists name their records with the intention of baiting critics. Yes, Resilience is the title of the eighth album in as many years by San Diego’s Miguel Depedro, otherwise known as Kid 606; instead of his typically abrasive mash-ups of pop-culture carrion and splattered…
The Procussions’ Japan-only EP, Up All Night, garnered so much attention that the Colorado-born, Los Angeles-ized trio has added four new songs for an upcoming stateside full-length release. With only two of eleven tracks featuring all three MCs (Stro the 89th Key, Mr. J Medeiros and Resonant), this project is…
Dana Landry, who heads the jazz program at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, isn’t some creaky relic who found refuge in academia after his skills deteriorated. Rather, he’s an engaging pianist whose latest long-player, which is being celebrated during a Friday, August 12, CD-release party at Dazzle, swings…
Jason Mraz, Mr. A-Z (Atlantic). Jason Mraz’s sojourn through the alphabet pauses lengthily on “S” — for “schizophrenic.” Among mountains of spastic lyrics, bizarre operatic bursts, unfortunate free flows and ill-fitting flamenco guitar, the album feels as disjointed as a circus freak. Worse, Mraz sings vainly about avoiding a “sophomore…
Eric Sanko’s avant-garde rap sheet could damn near wallpaper New York’s Knitting Factory: In addition to collaborations with Yoko Ono, John Cale and Basketball Diaries author Jim Carroll, Sanko spent seventeen years in the rhythm section of John Lurie’s acclaimed Lounge Lizards. Still part of the Big Apple’s subterranean scenery,…
