A household name among hard-core folkies, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott provides the musical conduit between Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Born Elliot Charles Adnopoz in 1931 to a Jewish physician in Brooklyn, the unlikely saddle tramp reinvented himself as a rodeo rider and cowboy singer — one whose worldly exploits have…

A quiet, half-baked side project for Coachwhips veteran John Dwyer, OCS avoids chaotic garage-stomping in favor of stripped-down, acoustic folk tunes infused with electronic-noise collages from co-conspirator Patrick Mullins. Touring in support of its latest double disc, 3&4: Songs About Death and Dying and Get Stoved, both on the Narnack…

The saving grace of any good cover band is to not go for the all-too-obvious hit. Credit Motor City’s turbo-sleaze outfit the Detroit Cobras for limiting their self-penned material with the full understanding that they’ll never write songs as soulful or enduring as the ones by Otis Redding, Bobby Womack…

Not to be confused with the Riverside, California-based satirical punk outfit that shares the same name, Sentimental Hitmen hails from Boulder and specializes in a hard-edged brand of alternative soul. Created by singer/saxophonist Will Baumgartner and guitarist Tyler Burba, the jazzy five-piece shilly-shallies between funk, psychedelia and Latin roots without…

A long-winded Southern degenerate who can’t catch a commercial break, John William Davis should be a household name in Colorado by now. Instead, after years of toiling as an underground folk phenom and releasing the critically acclaimed Dreams of the Lost Tribe, Davis has decided to return to his native…

After meeting in a Tokyo-based language school, where they were studying everything from Thai to Italian, the four members of Melt-Banana discovered one idiom that they all spoke fluently in addition to their native tongue: loud, spastic noise. With tiny, ferocious frontwoman YaSuko Onuki leading the sonic stampede, Melt-Banana offers…

Even though it’s been 47 years since “Rumble” was banned from the radio out of fear that it would promote teenage gang warfare, the landmark instrumental’s creator, Link Wray, is still strutting across stages worldwide like some evil, black-leather-clad rooster — liver spots and all. And why not? Credited with…

In Lubbock, Texas, there’s an expression: “Anywhere is walking distance if you have time.” Given the never-ending flatness and unblocked sky that dominates the western stretch of the Lone Star State, it seems better to forgo walking altogether and just drive — double-clutching like a bat out of hell. Then…

I’m made out of metal now,” says 31-year-old hillbilly bluesman Scott H. Biram. “I got metal rods and plates and screws all in me. I always go through the rigmarole at the airport. I tell ’em I’m bionic. In fact, a paper in Lafayette called me ‘the bionic redneck.'” Headed…

It’s ironic that Kan’Nal, a band of local worldbeaters steeped in Mayan mysticism, would preach a philosophy of peace, love and understanding. Lest we forget, the ancient Aztecs sacrificed prisoners of war on a colossal scale, removing and burning their still-beating hearts before tossing their bodies down the steps of…

“How many sparrows are inside a cat?/How many cats in a man?/How long can you keep your eyes shut on the interstate?” Boston’s adventurous art-punk outfit Ho-Ag asks plenty of screwball questions on its latest EP, Pray for the Worms, but offers little in the way of easy answers (not…

While Cincinnati is better known for five-alarm chili and a bungling football franchise, it’s also the unlikely home to Thee Shams, a garage-blues outfit less inspired by the banks of the Ohio River than by the muddy shores of the Mississippi Delta. As much in debt to maximum R&B’s founding…

We’ve been able to survive on, basically, what a dishwasher’s wage would be, which is more than enough for us,” says drummer Zach Hill of the experimental freak-rock duo Hella. “As long as we tour and stay creative and work and progress.” Hill is referring to himself and longtime collaborator…

Like a troupe of wayward minstrels lost in the woods en route to Canterbury, circa 1369, Faun Fables spins a fairy-tale romance that combines pagan imagery with wildly costumed musical theater. As if that wasn’t weird enough, Dawn “the Faun” McCarthy delivers her unsettling allegories about magical mice and bloodthirsty…

I have a rare disorder called offstage fright,” Scot Livingston confesses. “It’s much easier talking about stuff in front of strangers than it is one-on-one. If I were to admit to a capital crime or murder, it would probably be on stage, in front of a bunch of people I…

For any old coot who survived the days of coke spoons and feathered hair, disco’s crowning achievement boils down to either Donna Summers’s Love to Love You Baby or the Bee Gee’s Saturday Night Fever. Even though both records make for fine camping soundtracks, you’ve got to give the nod…

After dropping out of Juilliard’s renowned art school, actor Dimitri Coats and dancer Melanie Campbell moved to Philadelphia, sharpened their skills on guitar and bass, respectively, and formed Burning Brides with drummer Mike Ambs. A melodically sludgy affair, the power trio earned post-grunge plaudits for 2000’s Fall of the Plastic…

Despite the glaring lack of an evil, fire-snorting frontman, instrumental thrash trio GasHead avoids the kind of cliches that plague most aggressive-metal acts — everything from overemphasizing Satan to celebrating global annihilation. Instead, the Fort Collins-based outfit injects its headbanging with humor and occasional Latin-flavored inflections. “Benediction,” the album’s opener,…

It’s pretty apparent that Ambulance LTD has a thing for the Beatles, since every third song on LP, the act’s debut, sounds like an experimental reworking of “Dear Prudence.” But despite any derivative tendencies, the Brooklyn-based four-piece transcends its schoolgirl crush on the “White Album” to embrace every ornately sophisticated…

If soul is the teacher and punk is the preacher, the BellRays are working a double shift. Combining Detroit’s twin musical heritages, Motown and garage rock, the Riverside, California, foursome specializes in a unique brand of primal, big-lunged gospel fury — one that showcases the woefully underrated and formidable pipes…

Still refusing to limit himself to Western music’s twelve-tone scale, string-bender Neil Haverstick further explores unconventional tuning systems with a fresh batch of instrumental compositions for custom-built 19- and 34-tone guitars. Accompanied by longtime collaborator Ernie Crews on drums and percussion, Haverstick keeps his fifth release playful and unpredictable, referencing…

One of the funniest Los Lobos stories dates back to the mid-’70s, when the band had a regular gig at a Mexican restaurant in Pasadena called the Red Onion. The owner strongly recommended that the band get off the tiny, makeshift stage and partake in the demoralizing mariachi tradition of…