There are a few things in life that are unmistakable: the saccharine sting of cotton candy, the gluey musk of sex and the voice of Calvin Johnson. Since 1983, when he formed Olympia, Washington’s legendary Beat Happening, Johnson has stood markedly apart from the flocks of cutesy, whining indie-pop singers…
San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation has a straightforward view of its fellow humans: We’re scum. Following in the footsteps of gore-core godfathers Carcass and Napalm Death, and capitalizing on a creative relationship with fellow SoCal blasters the Locust, Cattle Decapitation makes a peculiar brand of death metal that is obsessed with…
After seven years together, the Casket Lottery has earned a reputation as one of the hottest live shows going. With skillful songwriting and musicianship, the Kansas City-based outfit produces a potent rock hybrid that flirts with pop-punk and emo without being either. Guitarist Nathan Ellis and bassist Stacy Hilt are…
Mötley Crüe’s tempestuous timekeeper, drummer Tommy Lee, has been through it all. His personal sagas range from a seemingly idyllic marriage to Heather Locklear to smooching with Prince’s ex-wife, Mayte Garcia-Nelson — not to mention his time spent in court, which has kept things interesting. But it’s his torrential tabloid…
Oakhurst describes its own tuneful stock-in-trade in simple terms: “porch music.” But beneath that neo-old-timey mountain sound is yet another jug band shuffling in the wings — a more aggressive one…with amps and everything. Plugged in, the quintet raises its warm camaraderie to the boiling point of a roots-rock outfit…
Born in Southern Italy and raised in London, Ontario, DJ John Acquaviva is seen as a trailblazer not only by other DJs, but by software engineers, of all people. When Stanton Magnetics came up with the idea for Final Scratch, a cutting-edge digital interface that allows DJs to merge analog…
For those hoping to rub shoulders with Russell Simmons at Denver’s upcoming Hip-Hop Festival and Summit, the event may not be as def as expected. Hip-hop fans started anticipating big things last May, when Def Jam co-founder and hip-hop impresario Simmons stood next to then-mayor Wellington Webb, touting his Rush…
I’m watching some fucking commercial on television where there are multiple David Bowies running around,” exclaims singer Bobby Harlow. He and his bandmates in the Go just rolled into Los Angeles; they’re now licking their wounds and counting their losses after a bout with debauchery in Las Vegas the night…
Even now, especially in Europe, the first question we get is, ‘Well, you’re famous for not doing interviews, so why are you doing an interview?'” says Richard Colburn, drummer for dream-pop flag-bearers Belle & Sebastian. “That still stands today — and we’ve done tons of interviews the past few years…
Rock dudes who make minimalist electronic music on the side ought to be lined up, bent over and savagely molested with a twelve-disc Philip Glass boxed set until they bawl like Michael Jackson’s paperboy. Thankfully, Omaha’s indie-dance outfit the Faint isn’t exactly a rock band, and the group’s bassist, Joel…
When DJ Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) crossbred Jay-Z with the Beatles, he did more than give every anal-retentive lawyer from Roc-A-Fella Plaza to Abbey Road reason to lick their chops. In one conceptually brilliant move, Burton managed to bridge two disparate generations, giving fans of both the former’s Black Album…
Like it or not, Tim Deluxe may soon be despised by many of the people who currently adore him. Why? Because his first full-length offers pleasures that should appeal well beyond the traditional dance-music parameters, making him a prime candidate for crossover success. And nothing pisses off aficionados of a…
Your new girlfriend is grabbing a refill from the backyard keg when she overhears one of your buddies slap you on the back and mutter, “So, you tapped that shit, huh, bud?” You frantically nod your head toward the porch and shout, “Shut the fuck up, dude. I never said…
People in the know realize that Future I.D. was released late last year. The problem is, most folks aren’t in the know, which helps explain why one of the best hip-hop discs ever to come out of Colorado hasn’t made more of a bang. This review is an effort to…
Across two decades of brilliant recordings and rousing live shows, Graham Parker’s music has kept one loafer in his U.K. homeland and the other in his musical inspiration: America. His new release puts both feet on the latter’s soil. Your Country is an All-American, country-flavored collection on the nation’s most…
Nolan Ryan probably had a pretty decent curve. But the thing that earned him a Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown and the respect of every hitter that faced him was his scorching heater. Likewise, an unassuming trio of fellow Texans, originally dubbed Magneto U.S.A., made a name for themselves…
Sandwiched between a Baptist church and a police station in Water Valley, Mississippi, the otherwise nondescript office of Fat Possum Records has endured its share of hard luck over the years: Crippling debts and distribution nightmares once prompted the label to issue an embarrassing remix pairing best-selling artist R.L. Burnside…
These days, indie rock is back in vogue with mainstream critics, who act as if the genre rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the ’90s grunge movement when Julian Casablancas decided that modeling wasn’t for him. The truth, of course, is that the style has been thriving all along in…
2 Live Crew’s 1986 debut, 2 Live Crew Is What We Are, left little doubt as to what this act was. Smack-dab in the middle of the Reagan administration and only a year after the Parents’ Music Resource Center hearings, the Crew assaulted the pop-culture collective with extremely graphic sexual…
The University of Denver does more than churn out lawyers year after year. Every spring, when the budding crocuses rear their fragrant heads, when the back molars of horny coeds grind in collective misery, the keepers of the sheepskin offer relief from cramming for one last Frisbee Golf final. The…
Nothing is more disappointing than when a DJ’s performance fails to meet your expectations. After all, the whole purpose of getting your groove on in the club is to lose it on the dance floor, right? Well rest assured, U.K.-based DJ Danny Howells’s “deep, sexy, futuristic, tech-funk house” will more…
Tacoma is weird. It’s like Seattle’s dirty little brother,” declares Ben Verellen, singer/guitarist of Roy. “Back about a hundred years ago, there was this Tacoma versus Seattle thing, but when Seattle got the railroad terminal, it kind of took over and became this big city while Tacoma took a plunge…
