Babyshambles, Shotter’s Nation (Astralwerks). Pete Doherty isn’t just an on-again, off-again junkie famed for making scenes with spindly ex-girlfriend Kate Moss. He’s also a musician, and Shotter’s Nation, the second Babyshambles album, demonstrates that he can be an effective one when somebody (probably veteran producer Stephen Street) keeps him on…
Ketch Secor is on a Rocky Mountain high of sorts. As his band’s bus rolls into Sante Fe, New Mexico, all the Old Crow Medicine Show singer wants to talk about at the moment is Denver — John Denver. “The power of his songcraft has a lot more influence and…
The best way to understand Witchcraft is to listen to “Remembered,” one of the seven meaty tracks on the Swedish group’s latest release, The Alchemist. In just over five minutes, the quartet moves from happy-go-lucky hoedown to sludgy metal to Disraeli Gears-era Cream. While Witchcraft is frequently associated with the…
‘N Sync was so popular around the turn of the millennium that even I — jaded, posturing music critic — bought the band’s second album, No Strings Attached. It sold over a million copies the day it was released in March 2000, and I was swallowing a lot of LSD…
In this country, even the most prominent DJs can walk the streets without attracting attention — and most of them like it that way. But in his native France and much of Europe, David Guetta is on another level entirely. There he’s a mainstream celebrity, thanks to hit singles such…
Load Blown, recently released on the Paw Tracks imprint, is accessible by the standards of Eric Copeland, Bjorn Copeland and Aaron Warren, the Brooklynites who form the three sides of Black Dice — but, of course, they’ve never made radio airplay, commercial success or winning Ryan Seacrest’s love and admiration…
Recalling the effervescent lounge of Margo Guryan and the early, breathy songs of Françoise Hardy, Michigan’s Saturday Looks Good to Me has long chased the perfect-pop muse. Spawned in songwriter Fred Thomas’s Ann Arbor basement as a recording project for a label that only released albums by imaginary bands, the…
Remember that two-headed gibberish-speaking muppet? The Lawrence Arms is like that, only they’re intelligible. And instead of a puppeteer with his hand up their furry hinder, Neil Hennessy is in back, pounding away like Animal on the skins. Bassist Brendan Kelly and guitarist Chris McCaughan are so like-minded in their…
Husband-and-wife duo Sean Antanaitis and Katrina Ford have made music together for well over a decade, dabbling in artsy hardcore with Jaks, nearly gothic drama rock in Love Life, and organ-driven Latin lounge in Birdland. In 2005, however, the pair enlisted Love Life drummer David Bergander and emerged as Celebration,…
Like major-league closers, modern-rock musicians tend to specialize in the high hard stuff. Still, that doesn’t mean fans of the genre reject any and all softer sounds — and that’s where Kevin Devine comes in. A generation ago, Devine, who’s opening for Annuals, Manchester Orchestra and New Frontiers, wouldn’t have…
Mighty few American performers are able to communicate with foreign journalists who use a language different from their own – so credit French DJ David Guetta, the subject of a November 15 Westword profile, for speaking English (and doing so intelligently) while discussing his burgeoning career to date in the…
The Swell Season, with Martha Wainwright November 13 Ogden Theatre For fans of the film Once, a population that encompasses pretty much everyone who’s viewed it, the prospect of seeing the movie’s stars, Markéta Irglová and recent Westword profile and Q&A subject Glen Hansard, singing and playing their music live…
The Blood Arm, Art Brut, the Hold Steady November 11, 2007 Fox Theater Better than: Spending yet another Sunday evening learning Art Brut and Hold Steady lyrics from the CD tray to impress people with the stupid things you say. Last night’s show at the Fox Theater in Boulder was…
Here’s a selection of the best of last week’s music blogging from around the Village Voice media empire: Music, context and a dictatorial personality in a diminutive frame: A live review of MIA in San Francisco. What is the sound of one head banging? The http://blogs.clevescene.com/cnotes/2007/11/punkturnedpriest_brad_warner_t.php” target=”_blank”>tale of a punk…
Hip-Hop Live Featuring Brother Ali, Ghostface Killah, and Rakim Thursday, November 8 The Ogden Theatre Better Than: Seeing some hippie group ironically cover “Microphone Fiend” Hip-hop may be known for many things, but musicianship is not one of them. So last night’s “Hip-Hop Live” show – which featured Brother Ali,…
I didn’t know Bob Dooney. But judging from the slew of messages that started flooding my e-mail box last week, the guy somehow knew me. The missives weren’t identical, but they all had one thing in common: Bob Dooney. “Hey, Dave, this is such and such from such and such,”…
Not long ago, Dublin’s Glen Hansard was a little-known quantity in the entertainment industry. His main band, the Frames, has been around since 1990, and during that span, the group has put out numerous first-rate albums, including 2004’s Burn the Maps and this year’s The Cost. But while the collective…
For all capitals, change is very good. Originally salvaged from Broken Down Autos in 2004, the group has since switched bassists and dropped a singer/songwriter/guitarist. From the sound of the group’s latest effort, a self-titled EP, all the personnel changes have yielded some much-needed artistic growth. In the past, the…
The opening song on Sea Wolf’s debut, Leaves in the River, is a tale of a guy who meets a girl on Halloween. He was drunk, she was lost, and it was cold, dark and raining. The song sets the tone for the album. Sound like an ideal soundtrack for…
Rakim is among the most universally revered MCs. Growing up in Long Island, the self-described microphone fiend teamed up with Eric Barrier to form Eric B & Rakim, one of the most formidable duos in hip-hop history. In 1987, the group dropped the timeless Paid in Full, and Rakim’s flow…
Steve Schalk, owner of the Gothic Theatre (3263 South Broadway), had been eyeing the nearby Sport Bowl Lanes & Billiards for a long time before he finally bought it in August. By then, he knew just what he wanted to do with the joint. An ardent Star Wars fan, he’d…
Those more used to the blues-rock buffoonery of Machine Gun Blues and the breezy pop-rock leanings of the Laylights may be taken aback by The Horace Van Vaughn (due at the hi-dive this Thursday, November 8). While this all-instrumental outfit shares membership with both of those bands, there is no…
