When Mike Patton first brought Fantmas to life in 1998, the term he used to describe the band’s work was “uneasy listening.” That’s a tremendous understatement when applied to its third and latest album, Delirium Cordia — which consists of one continuous 74-minute piece of music called “Surgical Sound Specimens…
People who think the Smiths’ music sounds depressing are dumb. There’s all kinds of stuff in there: humor, anger, lust, joy — even the occasional jolt of raw power. One can only hope that when the Seattle outfit Aveo gets likened to the Smiths (which it does, incessantly), the analogy…
Three years ago, Usher was joyfully walking arm in arm with his girlfriend, TLC’s Chilli, promoting his third release, 8701, and happily dissing Sisqo on BET’s 106 & Park. Now Sisqo is MIA, and Usher is being called a cheater after his public split with Chilli. Hence what seems to…
The members of Depeche Mode spent years defending their work as real music: Their use of electronic instruments was blasphemous to punk and new-wave artists who couldn’t imagine life without guitars. But by leaping ahead of those who sought to preserve the instrumental status quo, Depeche Mode became one of…
The Reals Majestic (Self-released) The Reals feature Matt and Cheyenne Kowal, a brother/sister-fronted roots-and-country act that, along with other family-tied groups like the Roches or Fiery Furnaces, possesses the kind of telepathic harmony normally bequeathed upon blood kin. Specializing in nakedly honest autobiographical songs, the pair drops a heavyhearted anchor…
James Hetfield is a has-been. A washed-up, second-rate Lemmy. You heard me. And Metallica is the metal equivalent of U2, which time has rendered as obsolete as pager technology. If you’re still buying that shit that Hetfield and company are selling, you’ve been Metallipunk’d. Sure, when I was a fresh-eyed…
The Building Press Thursday, April 8, Climax Lounge, 303-292-5483. Nagging itches, deep bruises, a fibula-cracking cramp in your calf muscle that wakes you up screaming in the middle of the night: Such are the metaphors for the music of the Building Press (right). For the past few years, this Seattle-based…
Punk took a nefarious turn for the bland the day that groups like Green Day laid claim to the moniker. The genre has since been about as exciting as a Boulder compost heap. Luckily for anyone old enough to remember when punk’s Pistols were loaded, the new front of proclaimed…
Watching a DJ isn’t very stimulating. Most turntablists are better heard than seen — unless they’re topless, that is, looking out at you with a porn-vixen pout and pinching their nipples, as Portia Surreal is apt to do. An erotic fetishist from New York City, Surreal knows exactly how to…
We’re just walking around looking for a bong hit or something,” says Nicholas Diamonds of the Unicorns. Unicorns. The word brings to mind a myriad of images: cute, cuddly toy horsies for little girls; the noble, doomed creature that didn’t make it onto Noah’s ark; valiant knights and their mystic,…
Although most mainstream rock fans don’t know anything about Dave Kerman, the drummer is a household name in at least a few places. For the passionate international cult that champions Rock in Opposition, a musical movement dedicated to promoting truly progressive sounds, he’s a key figure, thanks to his work…
Three years after releasing its self-titled debut album on Saddle Creek, Now It’s Overhead (with Statistics on Wednesday, April 7, at Rock Island) returns with its stylistically diverse, bleak pop follow-up, Fall Back Open, an ideal companion for a cold, endless winter night or the damp dawn of a summer…
Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, aka the Neptunes, are nothing if not ambitious. Their production techniques rule pop radio, but they hunger for success that not only crosses genre lines, but obliterates them. Hence, N.E.R.D., in which Williams, Hugo and cohort Shae attempt to reach the rock audience without alienating…
New York’s Stellastarr* (slated to appear at Larimer Lounge on Tuesday, April 20) has taken a ton of shit over the last year. Having gigged around Gotham with the pre-fame Strokes, the coed quartet has been accused of riding Casablancas and crew’s coattails — of landing a major-label deal on…
The spoken introduction on Memphis Bleek’s latest effort — “With Jay stepping down,” a GoodFellas-type voice utters, “it was Bleek’s turn to be made” — sets the record up for failure. With such a bold statement, you’re expecting an MC who’s about to step out of the shadows and deliver…
Breezy Porticos Keep It Crisp (Best Friends Records) Judging by the lyric sheet included with their latest CD, Andy Falconetti, Jeff Almond and Eric Van Leuven of Breezy Porticos didn’t cut many classes during their scholastic careers. The title of the first song — “Gee, Your Math Looks Terrific” –…
Fuck the Fags. Yeah, I’ve seen the T-shirts. I know “homophobia is gay.” But the Fags — a band out of Detroit that performed two weeks ago at South by Southwest — still blows. For the uninitiated, SXSW is a mutant hybrid of Mardi Gras and spring break that takes…
Louie Vega Thursday, April 1, the Church, 303-832-3528. New York’s Louie Vega has matured into a man of far-reaching musical talent. Best known in house-music circles as one half of the famed production duo Masters at Work (he and partner Kenny “Dope” Gonzales are also known as Nu Yorican Soul),…
In entertainment, absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder; it makes the mind go blank. Spiv likes to go away just long enough to be forgotten, then hop back into the lives of Denverites like a long-lost lover, hoping you’ll spend the night with the act. Like those in a…
Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs was an ooky exposé that explored the depths of some people’s depravity, with intermingling touches of creepiness and comedy. And anyone who discredits the dynamic duo in the hip-hop act People Under the Stairs has got to be a “fool.” Instead of using…
South Park Tavern, formerly 60 South, has extinguished its once-bright gay-bar flames and converted to a broader sports-bar appeal. The new owners have hacked out a few walls at 60 South Broadway to reveal the pub’s surprisingly vast square footage and have given the once-claustrophobic entrance a much-needed gulp of…
Over the past several years, Regina Carter, who fronts a quintet that headlines the Boulder Theater on Thursday, March 25, has been closely linked to a dead man: nineteenth-century classical master Niccol Paganini. A virtuoso so fiercely gifted that he was rumored to have sold his soul to Satan in…
