Music

DJ Vajra is surprisingly stoic when I inform him that he has no talent. “I’m not really insulted by that,” the DJ responds. “I try not to get insulted by much of anything that people say.” Vajra, aka Chris Karns, is even less ruffled when I point out that he’s…

For this particular fan, the Pixies’ reunion tour, 2005 edition, was a bit underwhelming. It was nice to see the group receive some long overdue recognition, but the players seemed hemmed in by the restrictions placed upon them by the large, nostalgia-hungry crowd. This impression was reinforced by Honeycomb, in…

After a decade of innovation that electrified urban music, Missy Elliott and Timbaland have mostly gone their separate ways on The Cookbook. Save for a couple of tracks, Missy made this disappointing album on her own. Of course, it’s a letdown only by comparison with her five previous groundbreaking efforts…

There’s a girl sitting across from you in class, chewing on her eraser, chestnut hair draped across carved-soap cheekbones as she fidgets and squints at the math exam on her desk. Smartest kid in the class, and the cutest, but still sweet enough to glance up, catch you staring and…

Jagjaguwar wants to make damn sure this disc is heard by as many people as possible. The imprint released the CD in January but plans to launch it again in August — and the extra effort is more than justified. Black Mountain, Stephen McBean’s idiosyncratic Vancouver-based collective, is dark, heavy…

There are lots of albums you love despite yourself, and plenty that just plain blow. But Vee Device’s sophomore full-length, Autobiography of a Dying Band, is that rare breed of record: one you try hard as hell to like, but can’t. After all, the skeleton of this disc is more…

Cession’s CD has been a long time coming. Partners Exavier “Marte” Russell Swain and Terrence “Smoke” McGinnis, subsequently joined by Joseph “Fuqua” Jones, have been performing and recording together since the first half of the ’90s, but this disc is the group’s first full-length — and it’s a strong effort…

Niyaz, Niyaz (Six Degrees Records). Remember about six years ago when Cheb Mami guested on that godawful Sting vehicle “Desert Rose”? His brief cameo was the only thing that made that Jaguar jingle even remotely tolerable. Well, imagine an entire album filled with similarly blissed-out arias, only sung by a…

No one on the current scene is better at playing the music-buying public than the pasty Mr. Mathers. As evidence, think back to the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, when he was apparently offended by ribbing from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a puppet wielded by comedian Robert Smigel. This…

The Reverend Adam F. Glasseye looks at the Old American West through the glass eyes of shady sailors and traveling salesmen. The Right Reverend — formerly of Slim Cessna’s Auto Club — fills his snake oil Chautauqua with dark visions, bizarre instruments and stories of salvation and damnation. Honored in…

Queen used to put disclaimers in its records proudly stating that “no synthesizers were used on this record.” Of course, that was before the ’80s enslaved the world — Freddie Mercury and crew included — in a Tron-like dystopia of silicon chips and squiggly blips. Delaware’s Mixel Pixel still lives…

Gatsbys American Dream’s last album was based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and its latest, Volcano, is also a concept album. With references to Lord of the Flies and a story told from the point of view of Mount Vesuvius, it might seem more dull than your eighth-grade summer reading…

How do you deal with asshole hecklers? Drew Danburry has his own unique solution. After failing to silence a loudmouth member of the audience during a recent show in Illinois, the Utah-based songwriter led the crowd out of the venue and into the street for an acoustic sing-along of “I…

In Africa, Femi Kuti shoulders expectations on a par with the burdens borne by Sean Lennon and Lisa Marie Presley. His father, Fela Kuti, was an enormous star in his native Nigeria and the African continent as a whole, thanks to his brilliantly spirited and danceable music, popularly known as…

Mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, ice ages and laptops? Though named after a primordial era of Earth’s past, the massive avant-garde act Pleistocene is one of Denver’s most forward-looking and highly evolved ensembles. Drawing inspiration from such experimental entities as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Ros, the ten-piece troupe incorporates guitar,…

London’s James Zabiela (due at the Church this Thursday, July 14) is living out every bedroom-DJ’s fantasy. Once a record-shop clerk and amateur deckmeister who only dreamed of success and stardom, Zabiela is now one of the hottest jocks around, thanks to Musik Magazine’s mix tape contest, which Zabiela entered…

Blood isn’t supposed to be pink. But it was that night as it dripped down, thinned by soapy water, and flowed into a bathtub drain. Aside from a bit of shock, I was okay. After all, the blood wasn’t even mine. It belonged to Zach Brooks, singer/guitarist of Call Sign…

The Shenida Weave No-Lye Mixshow sounds like nothing on mainstream radio. Weave, the over-the-top persona of a “queer Georgia boy” in San Francisco, spins hot dance mixes from Gwen Stefani to Kaskade, and between cuts, he recounts everything from drunken escapades to news from Europe: “The Euro is a very…

When everything’s going well, people often say they’re fat and happy. I’m convinced, however, that this is categorically impossible. Those who are fat are rarely happy, and vice versa. Take me, for example: I’ve had the fat part down since the Carter administration, and although I generally seem content –…

Sure, performers should have ambition; otherwise, mediocrity would reign unchecked. But if this characteristic is blended with rampant egomania, the results can be particularly embarrassing — as they are on the Machines’ latest. In essence, Road is a stopgap EP, designed to capitalize on goodwill generated by the act’s full-length…

Unlike the Secret Machines, the Wallflowers resist the temptation to tackle a Bob Dylan song on their new disc — but they’ll likely do so sooner rather than later. Playing that card may be the only way Jakob Dylan, Zimmy’s son, will be able to attract attention in the future,…