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…
The concert business in Denver just got a hell of a lot more interesting. Last week, Brent Fedrizzi and Don Strasburg, two of the region’s most well-regarded talent buyers, resigned their Live Nation posts. And soon after, Strasburg was named vice president and senior talent buyer for Anschutz Entertainment Group…
“I always wanted to make a concept record,” Rosanne Cash says of her latest CD, Black Cadillac. “I just didn’t know it would be on this theme.” Nor would Cash have wished to be inspired in quite the way she was. After all, the disc’s dark hue can be traced…
Possessing one of the most recognizable voices in rock, Richard Butler has delivered his stylish rasp for nearly three decades. With the Psychedelic Furs, Butler helped bridge the gap between punk and art, between the Sex Pistols and Roxy Music. His sexy mix of power and fashion continued in Love…
Lamb of God is undoubtedly the most legitimate heir to the eviscerating legacy of Pantera. On Sacrament, the Richmond, Virginia-based quintet pushes its blistering brand of foot-to-the-throat metal into new territory while staying true to the chokehold intensity that earned it a rabid and devoted following early on. Hurtling forward…
Oh, to be Dave Navarro. Shortly after announcing his split from the famously pneumatic Carmen Electra, he was reportedly keeping company with porn icon Jenna Jameson. This guy needs to write a guide to hooking up immediately. If only the Panic Channel’s debut were that intriguing. Navarro’s new group seems…
Monsieur Leroc’s third album is a hodgepodge of styles with a little of his signature twisting thrown in. Leroc’s production, which is often compared to DJ Shadow’s and Money Mark’s, spans underground/indie hip-hop (“Me So Hungry,” featuring Radioinactive), jazz (“Freewheelin’ Frankie,” featuring Courtney Mace) and funk (“Baby,” featuring Bargain Josh)…
Ween fans already know what to expect with Shinola, Volume 1 as Gene and Dean Ween scrape another layer off music’s fat underbelly. This time out, the Weeners take on at least fifteen genres with equal aplomb, from jazz and R&B to Brit pop and house. The two manage to…
