Over the course of its existence, Black Mask has been a full band and had numerous MCs from across the nation pass through its ranks. The prolific hip-hop outfit has played shows on the Warped Tour and put out nearly two dozen releases — all for free. After seeing many…
Kung Fu Vampire brings its blood-curdling hip-hop to the Mile High City just in time for Halloween. Formed over a decade ago, the San Jose-based act is lead by the group’s namesake, who’s ferocious, rapid-fire rhymes drive the outfit’s hard-hitting hip-hop, which is delivered with live drums of Chris Paxton…
While the Afghan Whigs are probably not the first band people think of when they think of the ’90s, album for album, the band consistently put out quality material. The outfit’s soul-inflected rock, which could just as easily be called power pop even though it packed a lot more punch…
Dark Dark Dark from Minneapolis makes music that draws from folk, jazz, modern classical and pop without showing favor to any of those elements in particular. Although the band’s earlier material was largely written by singer/pianist Nona Marie Invie and fellow singer/clarinetist/banjo player Marshall LaCount, Dark Dark Dark is a…
Ron Carter has played on over 2,500 albums and secured a spot in jazz history as one of the world’s finest bassists. Doing much more than merely helping anchor the rhythm, Carter is quite the melodic master. In his five-decade-long career, he’s played with countless jazz legends, including a five-year…
When Chad Aman was a little kid, his parents, both professional musicians, ran a music school out of the family’s basement. At three years old, he started learning piano, eager to emulate some of the sounds he heard wafting up through the house at all hours of the day and…
“My voice is a bit twangy,” says Marie Litton. “It works with dark, quiet music — but bands don’t like to play quiet. The band I have now is perfect for my voice, but it took me a long time to find them.” After fronting the locally-renowned Ghost Buffalo for…
As the latest solo project to come out of the Americana collective Paper Bird, Esme Patterson’s All Princes, I is probably the most radical departure from her band’s bluegrass/Dixieland sound. Pulling from influences as varied as Van Morrison, CBGB-era punk and Motown, the record is an authentic and infectious gift…
Flying Lotus is one of the most innovative electronic producers out right now. Born Steven Ellison but better known these days by his stage handle, the L.A.-based artist began making beats at the age of fourteen, and with his omnivorous taste in music, he’s gone on to create lush, detailed…
Crime and the City Solution started out in the late ’70s in Sydney, Australia, but its members went on an extended adventure in relocation, following its creative opportunities where they lay. First they went to Melbourne, where the group befriended the Boys Next Door, who, in part, went on to…
HEALTH came out of the circuit of underground bands that played DIY spaces in southern California like Ché Café, Il Corral and the Smell. It was that last place with which the band has become most closely associated. Combining avant-garde electronic music with noise and a frantic post-punk fury, HEALTH…
The xx is an electronic pop group from London, England, whose music is informed by soul and post-punk as well as hip-hop and modern electronica. The act’s critically acclaimed, self-titled debut album from 2009 garnered the outfit widespread popularity. And while a lot of bands would have stopped developing there…
Neil Halstead was one of the guitarists and singers in pioneering shoegaze and ambient band Slowdive in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Taking guitar sounds and often blurring the sonic signature with synths through creative use of delay pedals and loops, Slowdive was more of a dream-pop band through…
Dinosaur Jr was the product of three guys from Massachusetts who had played in the hardcore bands Deep Wound and All White Jury. But when J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph got together, the music they produced sounded like it had all but shed that background in favor of melody,…
Sic Alps is the long-running project of Mike Donovan and whatever group of people become part of the band at any given time. It would be a bit of a reduction to call his songwriting “garage rock.” This is more than just people with a lot of energy playing stripped…
Lords of Fuzz thundered into being from a tough time in Oscar Ross’ life. He’d recently gotten divorced and moved to Denver from Texas and decided to pursue music as an outlet. After numerous line-up changes, and three albums, Lords of Fuzz are releasing their most fully-realized record to date,…
It’s been a big year for Guy Gerber. The Israeli native, who recently relocated to L.A., has created a Fabric album that’s been garnering a lot of attention for all the best reasons; he’s also been collaborating with P.Diddy on a project and just released a new track, “Steady,” on…
No one knows how to push buttons quite like Peaches. Whether she’s writing and directing her own autobiographical musical or organizing a Free Pussy Riot campaign, this electro-punk (aka Merrill Nisker) is always a few steps ahead of even the most radical of sex-positive visionaries. In advance of her DJ…
One of the more exciting pianists in jazz today, Vijay Iyer has won a slew of awards over the past few years, including five different nods in the DownBeat International Critics’ Poll. Awards notwithstanding, if you need proof of what amazing chops this Grammy-nominated composer-pianist has, look no further than…
Laetitia Sadier was the charismatic singer of the influential and experimental Stereolab, a band she started with guitarist Tim Gane after a short stint in the political post-punk band McCarthy in the late ’80s. Combining krautrock drones and hypnotic rhythms with a lounge-jazz sensibility and a willingness to make the…
Three decades into her career, Aimee Mann remains as consistently fresh and challenging a singer/songwriter as in her days fronting the mid ’80s new wave band, ‘Til Tuesday. Since then, Mann has had a strong solo career, delivering one of the greatest film soundtracks in recent memory with P.T. Anderson’s…
Poor Moon is a side project of Christian Wargo of Fleet Foxes fame, who before joining that outfit toured with both Danielson Famile and Pedro the Lion. Through his time playing guitar in David Bazan’s band, Wargo became friends with the guys from Fleet Foxes and ultimately ended up joining…
