The Bluebird Cafe is known as something of a kingmaker in Nashville, having hosted and helped launch such country titans as Garth Brooks and Mary Chapin Carpenter. During performances there, patrons are urged to abide by the Cafe’s strict “Shhhh!” policy/slogan by keeping quiet at all times — a testament…
The Secret Chiefs 3 create the most astonishing soundtracks to epic movies never filmed. The brainchild of Mr. Bungle’s Trey Spruance, SC3 features the guitarist/vocalist and his longtime bandmates Trevor Dunn, Danny Heifitz and Bar McKinnon, along with many other renowned musicians. Spruance plugs the various musicians into a framework…
The Cold War Kids are among the current scene’s buzziest buzz bands, but this status hasn’t prevented them from being jabbed by the tastemaking folks at Pitchfork. For instance, journalist Nitsuh Abebe, describing the Kids’ appearance at the most recent CMJ showcase, dismissed them as “skinny-jeaned Christians” whose lead singer/pianist,…
Lesser bands have crumbled under the weight of critical acclaim and the subsequent expectations that have been heaped upon Montreal’s Arcade Fire since issuing Funeral, its 2004 debut. Heralded as indie-rock saviors, compared to Byrne, Bowie and Botticelli, and thrown into the Colosseum for a to-the-death battle with Broken Social…
Although Williams garnered fewer bad reviews during the past decade than Mother Teresa, early notices bestowed upon West have been decidedly mixed, for obvious reasons. Simply put, her latest CD’s blend of dour sonics and lyrical brutality makes 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road seem like a Spice Girls…
As a member of the Procussions, Mr. J Medeiros already has one excellent album under his belt — last year’s 5 Sparrows for 2 Cents. Apparently, though, Medeiros still had some things to get off his chest. Late last summer, well before dropping his debut solo outing, Of Gods and…
Over the years, Otis Taylor (due at the Oriental Theater on Thursday, March 1, and Nissi’s on Friday, March 2) has racked up accolades for shaking up the blues idiom with lyrically unique and instrumentally inventive interpretations of the rootsy form. On his latest effort, he extends his pensive creative…
Joey DeFrancesco, Live: The Authorized Bootleg (Concord). This set, recorded last year at Yoshi’s in Oakland, was as much George Coleman’s as it was Joey DeFrancesco’s. Coleman’s tenor sax tone is gutsy and full-bodied as ever, while DeFrancesco takes command of his Hammond B-3 and beautifully maneuvers through a handful…
Too $hort is an anomaly in the rap world, where only a handful of artists have experienced any sort of career longevity. He’s one of the rare individuals who have fruitfully navigated the shark-infested waters of the music industry, and he’s done it on his own terms, without getting chewed…
Longtime Wilco fans have occasionally gotten frustrated with leader Jeff Tweedy when he’s pushed the group into avant-garde territory. But by the adventurous standards of Glenn Kotche, who landed in Wilco’s drum chair during the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot period, Tweedy’s a piker. Kotche, who’s joined at the Larimer Lounge by…
I like My Chemical Romance. And not under the façade of ironic hipsterdom or as a means to get into the pants, er, minds of sixteen-year-olds, but in a totally legit go-ahead-and-out-me kind of way. Of course, with that scary-boy makeup and those live theatrics, it’s easy to discount the…
If Billy Corgan had eschewed his whiny angst or chased his muse into fields of dream pop rather than ’70s rock, Smashing Pumpkins might have ended up sounding more like Silversun Pickups. Although the act’s ethereal yet driving guitar lines recall early Ride or Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine, its catchy…
Literally translated, “Bon Savants” is French for “good scientists.” That said, could there be a more fitting moniker for a band fronted by a guy who traded in a gig as an MIT research scientist to become versed in the dynamics of playing indie rock and Brit pop? The answer…
It’s one thing for jazz players to work on scales, modes and chord voicings on their own. To really put all of that theory into practice, though, it helps to have other cats to jam with and a place where you can hone your chops. Fortunately, Denver has a couple…
Andrew Novick is at it again. He’s on a mission to make our fine city a more fun and colorful place with his latest project, Get Your Going. Once upon a time way back in the ’90s, the arch-genius prankster supreme and his cohorts outraged many as the Warlock Pinchers…
Frank Swider Kirk Rundstrom tearing it up at SXSW Just received word that Kirk Rundstrom passed away today. Though Rundstrom was not from Denver, his main band, Split Lip Rayfield, passed through here often enough that, to many, he and his crew felt like locals. Last spring, he was diagnosed…
I feel bad about not liking Rob Drabkin’s music. I really do. He seems like such a quality individual. It would be so much easier if he were a narcissistic asshole or something. But he didn’t come across that way to me. Between sets last Thursday night at Dazzle, the…
Jeff Wood is interested in three things: banging chicks, eating pussy and looking at tits. I know this, because he’s spent the last forty minutes on the phone explaining it to me in graphic detail. And so when he asks me what I look like, I’m not really surprised. “I’m…
Kneebody has had many labels thrown at it, but none seem to fit. That said, the members of the transcontinental quintet (whose new album, Low Electrical Worker, is due next month) haven’t exactly gone out of their way to make it easy for folks to pin down their shapeshifting sound…
You don’t have to have supernatural powers to sense which direction the industry is headed. With that sentiment in mind, we’ve put together a brand-new feature called On the Download. Each month, we’ll sort through the riffraff of the digital universe and provide you with links to the best in…
Aubrey O’Day isn’t terribly convincing when she argues that her combo, Danity Kane, “has struggled and overcome a lot to make it to the top,” and not just because she makes this claim as she and cohort Dawn Richard are being chauffeured around Los Angeles in advance of the Grammy…
The DIY success of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in 2005 instilled garage bands and dudes with nasally voices with a newfound faith in the can-do spirit. Clap’s latest effort finds the band remaining label-less, and record labels breathing a sigh of relief that they didn’t plunk down anything for…
