On Pirate Signal’s 2004 debut, Norma(l) Hugh Manchild’s American Revolution(s), the band placed much of its focus on production and penning impressive lyrics, and not enough time working on its cadence and flow. Subsequently, the album made for a tough listen. On its latest self-titled effort, the crew has simplified…
On 2005’s Knuckle Up, Robert “Black Pegasus” Houston included “Club Killah,” a song that bitch-slapped DJs for turning a deaf ear to his rhymes. With Fuck Yo! Radio, he ups the ante. Not only does his new disc end with a live version of the aforementioned tune (spelled “Club Killa”…
DL Incognito, Organic Music for a Digital World (UrbNet Records). Canadian rapper DL Incognito brings a style reminiscent of mid-’90s New York hip-hop. Songs like “Welcome,” “Newera” and “Keep It Movin'” sound like unreleased material from Big L, AZ and Jay-Z — which isn’t a bad thing. After a while,…
Every time Anton Newcombe sings, the Black Angels get their publicity wings. The Austin-based band got a flock of press at this year’s South by Southwest festival when the infamous Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman joined the band on stage for a stellar thirteen-minute-plus improvised session. It was like the goddamn…
If musicians are creative and talented enough, they don’t need much in the way of equipment to make interesting sounds. A couple of guitars will do, as Ecstatic Sunshine’s Matt Papich and Dustin Wong understand. Freckle Wars, the duo’s debut for Carpark Records, features twelve instrumental duels that feel small…
Since the group’s bratty beginnings in 2002, fans and non-fans alike have debated whether a band as noisy and defiant as the Blood Brothers really jibes with the textbook definition of hardcore — or punk, for that matter. Turns out, the point isn’t really worth arguing. Like all of the…
Taking Pulp’s more orchestral moments and sewing them to the dark, experimental synth pop of Macha, Now It’s Overhead crafts what could be termed “space rock.” That is, if the emphasis of the music were placed on utilizing the space within each song to invoke different textures rather than just…
With Colorado’s just-passed statewide smoking ban prompting threats of legal challenges, Habib Koité — headliner of Putumayo’s Acoustic Africa tour — may inadvertently add fuel to the debate with his signature song “Cigarette a Bana (No More Cigarette).” Of course, even without the ban, smoking at a West African music…
Lucas Macfadden, who goes by Cut Chemist, boasts as impressive a resumé as any turntablist in the history of the art; he’s been a member of both Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli and has pitted his spinning skills against the likes of DJ Shadow and Shortkut, of Invisibl Skratch Piklz fame…
Oftentimes a band waters down its artistic vision by incorporating too many disparate elements into its sound. Although Austin’s Sound Team has absorbed an array of influences — listen closely and you’ll hear splices of Spoon’s frayed edges alongside ABC’s cheesy but earnest pop — it has managed to create…
When Del tha Funkee Homosapien burst onto the scene in 1991 with his debut album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, he was considered a weird, eclectic MC. Since he was Ice Cube’s cousin, however, hip-hop heads gave him the benefit of the doubt. Long before Lupe Fiasco and…
Existing somewhere at the crossroads of complete abandon and tightly controlled psychosis, the music of the Blue Blooded Girls jerks the limbs and contorts the face of frontman Jme White. And he doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he appears to be swept up in the electrifying embrace of a…
Rock Island is not closing. Read that again: Rock Island is not closing. Cut it out and tape it to the fridge, because Rock Island owner David Clamage does not want to have to repeat himself. The sharp-tongued real-estate tycoon lashed out last week after the Scattered Arts Collective (which…
The amenities are sparse backstage at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis. There’s a cold plate of half-eaten Tater Tots, a bottle of whiskey and some plastic bins filled with ice and beer — nothing to get too worked up over. The real excitement tonight is waiting on the…
Dave Solzberg has everyone convinced that I used to play with the Rolling Stones. “A lot of people really don’t know this,” he says, “but the Rolling Stones, all throughout the ’70s, had a ukulele player.” It’s a Saturday afternoon in early October. I’m at Dog House Music in Lafayette,…
“I don’t think we’re anybody’s second-favorite band,” says Chris Carrabba, the emo dreamboat who sits behind the wheel of Dashboard Confessional. “We’re either somebody’s most-favorite or least-favorite band” — and those who fit into the former category can get awfully obsessive. “It’s intense, and there’s an inherently scary nature to…
If you head over to the venerable All Music Guide online database and enter the name “Electric Six,” you’ll find the following “themes” attributed to each of the Detroit sextet’s three albums: “Cool & Cocky,” “Guys Night Out,” “TGIF” and, of course, “Party Time” — all fitting descriptions for a…
Mustangs and Madras are, like, almost a real band now. The past six months have been a whirlwind for the Longmont-based five-piece — recording an album, getting a manager, booking a tour — and the group hasn’t even left the city limits yet. All of this sudden productivity can be…
The Hold Steady kicks it up a couple notches on Boys and Girls in America, the followup to last year’s acclaimed Separation Sunday, with sharper riffs and smarter transitions augmenting Craig Finn’s reliably compelling narratives. Finn revisits the hapless misfits who populated Separation Sunday on songs like “First Night” and…
No one’s more British than Damon Gough, which may explain why he hasn’t broken through in the States. If his brilliant score for the Hugh Grant film About a Boy failed to entrance Yanks in sizable numbers, the Springsteen nod contained in his new CD’s title probably won’t reverse the…
On their self-titled debut, the Scissor Sisters dipped their hands into a multitude of genres, which is what made the songs fun. In contrast, Ta-Dah overflows with nothing but pop and dance ditties. If the Bee Gees entered the studio with Elton John cohort Bernie Taupin and Beatles producer George…
Money Waters is a natural storyteller who takes his sweet time telling a joke or dropping some hard-earned knowledge. You don’t want to stop him, even if you’ve already heard it. The rapper is strongest when he and his homeboys are venting their Everyman tales of frustration about nagging wives,…
