Witches have their familiars. Jolie Holland has whole hosts of critters dwelling within the dipping fleurs-de-lis and Rococo ruffles of her music. Most of them are winged, but as Holland reminds us with the title of her third full-length, Springtime Can Kill You, airborne beasts such as ghosts, mockingbirds and…
If A Tribe Called Quest had jettisoned the bong-jazz flow and picked up where Afrika Bambaataa left off, the group would have created something like the simultaneously amped-up and chilled-out atmosphere of the debut by Baltimore duo Spank Rock. Naeem Juwan doesn’t blaze any trails with his booty-call braggart lyrics,…
So-called alternative bands can’t remain outsiders over the long haul: Either they collapse under the weight of unmet expectations, or they become as mainstream as the acts to which they were once considered alternatives. How, then, can Built to Spill continue to make enjoyable and relevant music after more than…
After taking garage and two-step to unexpected creative heights on Original Pirate Material and dropping a mind-blowing concept album about a slacker everyman, fame, fortune and fuckups, Mike Skinner was driven to record his own Hotel California. Or so it might seem, on an album that begins with a coke-wasted…
There used to be a shed in Greeley where indie bands would play. Yes, a fucking shed. I’m not sure how much the town has changed lately — when’s the last time you were there? — but if Vitamins’ eponymous EP is any indication, the manure and monotony have really…
Instrumental music can be cold and clinical. Fortunately, the Sputter — which thankfully doesn’t live up to its foreboding tag — fans its sound to more combustible ends. On its latest disc, Great Unseen, the outfit ignites a mother lode of grooves with the pleasing sparks of the organ-driven opener,…
The Aggrolites, The Aggrolites (Epitaph). The SoCal-based Aggrolites may specialize in reggae by way of punk, but they ain’t Sublime. The quintet is rootsier than most graduates from the scene, giving unexpected prominence to Roger Rivas’s wonderfully rinky-dink organ. The results are secondhand, but the infectious group vocals and jumpin’…
Thumps, creaks, giggles, clicks — these are the first sounds you hear when listening to a recording by Joseph Childress. The California-born, Colorado-bred songwriter doesn’t make CDs, per se, but rather lo-fi snapshots taken during his many travels across the continent. Perpetually on the move, Childress packs his lush acoustic…
The history books are full of great musical collaborations that have thrived despite bitter personal conflicts: Reed and Cale, McCartney and Lennon, Sonny and Cher. Add to that list teenage Azerbaijani Anar Badalov and his musical life partner, Flora Wolpert-Checknoff, better known as the Baltimore indie-pop duo Metal Hearts. While…
Lovelorn Southwestern ballads permeate Cordero’s endlessly romantic repertoire — little surprise, given that the Brooklyn-based act has embarked on collaborations with Calexico and Giant Sand. But for bilingual frontwoman Ani Cordero and husband/drummer Chris Verene (formerly of Rock-A-Teens), no broken heart goes unexamined, no desert mirage is left to the…
Even though the four members of New York’s all-instrumental Gutbucket are trained jazzbos, they’re just as comfortable bouncing between klezmer, prog or Latin-flavored thrash — often within the space of the same tune. Hard rockers at heart, the free-range ensemble has been a staple of the Big Apple’s avant-garde scene…
British singer-songwriter Imogen Heap frequently sings against a backdrop heavy with electronic accoutrements — a creative tack that’s been known to trigger critical repercussions. Take Beth Orton, whose beautiful early albums didn’t receive the respect they deserved because some reviewers suspected her of hiding something behind the studio touches: subpar…
Naming your band after an animal is an easy way to get instant recognition, even if the band being recognized is another, more popular one with a similar-sounding name. Oh, you’re in Wolf Sphincter? Yeah, I’ve heard of that — or maybe I’m just confusing you with the Wolves, Wolf…
Ska! Say it. Sounds funny, huh? And not just because the genre has become one of the most beloved-turned-maligned styles in history since disco. Ska, at its core, is unpretentious, buoyant and just plain goofy. But it has deep soul and jazz attached to its calypso roots, a fact that…
Tool is returning to the spotlight at the perfect moment. During the ’90s, when Maynard James Keenan’s creation thrust its way onto the national scene, the band’s hard-rock contemporaries were suffering from post-grunge depression or incorporating hip-hop elements to create that most gruesome of aural mutants, rap rock. In contrast,…
When one of Denver’s underground mainstays, the Dinnermints, dissolved a couple years back, bassist Doo Crowder fell in with a ramshackle band of players who wound up dubbing their collective Pee Pee. What began as a pastime, however, has evolved into a shifting ensemble that incorporates everything from acoustic guitar…
Over the past twenty years, one of America’s few truly pioneering musical movements has been Chicago’s house scene. The style virtually redefined dance music and has influenced everyone from New Order to Kylie Minogue. Johnny Fiasco (who spins at Vinyl this Saturday, May 6) is among the vanguard DJs who…
When I’m sitting on airplanes, people will look at me and ask, ‘Are you in a band? And what kind of music do you make?'” notes Robert del Naja, who raps and conceptualizes for Bristol, England’s Massive Attack under the pseudonym 3D. “I say, ‘We’re kind of an experiment, and…
Last Thursday night I caught Kid Rock at the Colorado Convention Center, and all I have to say is, WTF? Talk about a miserable experience. And I’m not referring to Kid’s performance, which was rote but entertaining. Think Coldplay does arena rock by the numbers? You ain’t seen shit. Or,…
Cowboy Curse ain’t full of cowboys, nor does the band curse (very much). The three-piece is made up of two guys — Ben Bergstrand and Tyler Campo, who sing like girls — and Erin Tidwell, a girl who drums like, well, a beat-keeping madwoman. The Curse plays pop like socially…
Allowing your debut album to share its title with a children’s book is a dicey proposition, but it isn’t the only risk As Tall As Lions has taken. That 2004 album, Lafcadio, was a beautifully textured, sonically rich and emotionally dynamic beast that allowed listeners to smell both Hey Mercedes…
Barry Burns, a keyboardist and guitarist for Scotland’s Mogwai, is downright jubilant. “We’ve been in Rotterdam, so people have been bringing me joints all day,” he announces in a brogue thickened by giddiness. When asked if his smoke intake will ensure a good interview, he replies, “Don’t count on it”…
