I think I just offended Gerald Albright. The saxophonist is behind the wheel of his truck, talking on his cell phone about the artists who influenced him when he was growing up in South Central Los Angeles. He mentions both Maceo Parker and Cannonball Adderley as early touchstones in shaping…
In a critique of the current American Idol tour, Miami Herald reviewer Howard Cohen had fairly nice things to say about Boulder’s own Ace Young, who finished seventh in the competition. Still, Cohen couldn’t resist noting that “there’s too much crushed testicle” in Young’s “lightweight vocals.” So, dude — are…
Most casual music fans have that one person in their life whom they turn to before they buy new music — a guru who keeps up with the trends, reads the mags, goes to the shows, surfs the ‘net and has taste that aligns with theirs. It could be a…
“Are you Asian?” Chan Marshall asks me over the phone. “Yes,” I reply. “I am.” “You are!” Marshall exclaims. “You sound Asian.” “I don’t know what that means. How can you tell?” “I don’t know,” she says with a squeal. “I guess I’m psychic.” Or maybe she picked up on…
The 2004 Nelly collaboration “Tilt Ya Head Back” seemed sure to be the first, last and only decent song in Queen Christina’s catalogue. But, shockingly, there’s more where that came from. Although Basics isn’t a consistent pleasure — there’s plenty of cheese on these two platters — the set’s got…
Nashville doesn’t make musicians; Nashville makes music. The city crafts songs, lyrics, notes and chords — but not one person can lay claim to any of it. This is the bitter truth of the music mecca, and there’s not a better band than Lambchop to wholly embody the Nashville way…
Remember how the indie-rock masses wept with joy when the Postal Service’s Give Up spontaneously combusted onto their iPods? Classics, the second album by Brooklyn duo Ratatat, should have a similar effect, only ditch Ben Gibbard’s completely un-ironic cheeseball vocals and insert spacious arena-rock guitars spread over angular beats and…
If Chris Carrabba became obsessed with Casios and Coldplay, his next album might sound a lot like Illuminare. Largely the brainchild of singer-songwriter Scott Windsor — who has previously recorded under the Lyndsay Diaries moniker — Umbrellas is the squeaky-clean soundtrack to every indie kid’s imaginary alterna-prom. Hearts are worn…
When Neil Keener and Chuck French of Planes Mistaken for Stars teamed up with former White Dynamite/Sparkles frontman Luke Fairchild and Handsome Bobby to form Git Some, bedlam was expected — and this debut effort doesn’t disappoint. Unlike many records from comparably passionate, dynamic bands, Yes, Have Some deftly captures…
Frontside Five Thank God for punk rock. Simple and cheaply executed, it’s a musical haven that is mutually exclusive for disgruntled adolescents and jaded, aging rockers. Punk, an ode to thee: How you make anger palatable and cynicism worthwhile! When you die, your many offspring will remember you as the…
Kelly Joe Phelps, Tunesmith Retrofit (Rounder). Those who dig fast-paced, up-tempo music should steer clear of Kelly Joe Phelps’s Tunesmith Retrofit. The seventh album from the Portland singer-songwriter is more ambience than flash. Tunesmith finds Phelps producing lyrical poetry set to acoustic folk melodies that are substantive, if not always…
Beginning in 1994 as an Allman Brothers offshoot, hard-edged power trio Gov’t Mule carved its name in rock history by putting on incendiary live shows and touring steadily between Allman obligations. Despite the death of original bassist Alan Woody in 2000, guitarist Warren Haynes and drummer Matt Abts soldiered on,…
Is the Polyphonic Spree a serious endeavor? Leader Tim DeLaughter’s last name contains a hard-to-miss clue — yet the silliness at the combo’s core is its saving grace. Created by DeLaughter following the demise of his previous group, Tripping Daisy, the Spree is less a band than a super-sized choir…
Willie Nelson
Sludge this, sludge that. Who isn’t in a sludge band these days? The word is carelessly thrown around to describe any two-bit act that can fuzz its guitars enough. But it’s not just a sound; it’s a tone of voice. Sludge is what happens when you take a crop of…
Away from the stage, Legendary Shack*Shakers frontman Col. J.D. Wilkes looks like a simple mechanic. Very skinny, well short of six feet tall and bespectacled in horn-rims, Wilkes carries himself with an unassuming intensity. But all that goes out the window the second he and his bandmates kick into their…
Erase Errata presently comprises a group of ladies from the Bay Area who take late-’70s punk and amplify it through distorted minimalist effects pedals. The girls push the weird envelope with the occasional lavish on-stage costume and an improv eclecticism that’s like a noise-rock disembodiment of Blondie three decades later…
There’s always plenty of drama swirling around Matthew Pryor of the New Amsterdams. The singer/guitarist first came to the fore as one of the most prominent members of the Get Up Kids, an act that did the emo thang for all it was worth. The band apparently didn’t offer Pryor…
Zero 7 constantly gets compared to Air — which is completely understandable, especially when you hear the utterly lovely ambience that the two acts share, all blue-skied daydreams with soft lighting. Really, though, Zero 7 has more in common with the sultry trip-hop of groups such as Portishead, the Sneaker…
Few people can conjure feelings of utter despair and loneliness as authentically as Ross Etherton. His performances are emotional exorcisms of epic proportions; you can’t help but be moved by the anguished expressions on his face and the fiery tears that form in the corners of his eyes. His Red…
Dudes like boobs. Dudes also take pleasure in knocking back a few while looking at boobs. And dudes especially enjoy folding dollar bills lengthwise and offering them up for a bit of shake-boobs-in-face time. A business model working off these facts is nearly foolproof; the boobs don’t even have to…
We’re living in a time where if you believe what you read in certain places, then right now is supposed to be the flowering of something called ‘indie rock,'” muses Efrim Menuck, one of the seven members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-la-la Band. “I don’t even…
