In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. The first time I remember hearing Tom Waits was when his video for “Downtown Train” was played on Teletunes. It was sometime…
In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. In eighth grade, Green Day’s song “Longview” exploded into my little world and got seemingly everyone I knew to start learning a…
In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. The day to day drudge of the drowsy school year is almost unbearable, especially in high school, where the most important skills…
In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. Kyuss isn’t a band to listen to through headphones. Ideally, you blast them on a warm, vintage stereo system, or through your…
It comes down to Alan introducing us to indie rock,” declares Confluence frontman Ian Gassman, speaking of bassist Alan Hubbard and summing up the eventual musical direction of the band. “I was listening to Bob Dylan a bunch, and Jack Johnson…. I’m just saying my want to get better at…
The eight tracks on Crash Landings’ Tragedy tread musical ground that will be instantly familiar to fans of old-school punk and hardcore. Songs like “Burn Your Money” and “Who’s Next” summon the spirit of Jello Biafra and the Buzzcocks, with power chords, simple guitar solos and pounding drum lines that…
The title of Dr. Izzy Band’s debut, Blind & Blues Bound, perfectly encapsulates this group’s sound. Throughout the twelve-song disc, frontwoman Dr. Izzy, who was born in Texas with full vision but began to go blind at the age of nine, clearly has a strong affinity for the blues. On…
Thanks to David Mead’s flute playing, “The Black,” Black Stitch in Eternity’s opener, could be part of the soundtrack to an early-’60s Japanese ghost movie. Elsewhere, “Weight for Dusk” introduces the tenor sax and recalls the hard bop of late-’50s jazz figures, while “Rotting Cage” displays Mead’s deeper roots in…
The spectrum of noise delivered on the self-titled debut from EXKXO reveals the multitude of options available in hip-hop beat creation these days. EXKXO drops sixteen tracks with no real theme, and while the beats themselves lie in the safe zone of musical exploration, the album is still a joy…
You might’ve seen a picture floating around Facebook this morning in which it looks like part of the ceiling caved in at Sancho’s Broken Arrow at Colfax and Clarkson. Turns out, the soffit around the bar indeed slipped. But according to Jay Bianchi, folks worked through the night repairing it,…
In jazz discussions, the saxophonists and the trumpeters generally dominate the conversation, and rightly so. Equally as integral to the music, though, is the rest of the band. While we’ve already listed the top guitarists, pianists and bassists, today we focus on the female vocalists. Although there are a number…
POLICA at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/26/13 Somewhere in the relentless blur of the first ten minutes of Poliça’s pounding performance at the Bluebird Theater last night, Chris Bierden’s bass strings broke, and Poliça had to do something it has rarely done since hitting the scene a few years ago –…
In his new column, award-winning goofball Shea Serrano, whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book, writes about his life and times. Courtesy of UniversalSheaface The biggest concern in my life recently is that every show on my DVR is the regular definition version, rather than the…
Music is life — or at least it is for us. When we’re not writing about it, we’re thinking about it, talking about it or listening to it. These are the things that were in heavy rotation for us this week. What are you listening to? What should we be…
A few years ago, while she was touring, Megan Burtt came up with her ‘In Good Company’ concept. The idea was pretty straightforward: With so many songwriting friends in various places, Burtt decided she’d get together with each one, write a song in a day, learn one of their songs…
BILL CALLAHAN at ORIENTAL THEATER | 11/25/12 If you show up to a Bill Callahan show expecting a whiskey-soaked rager, you shall be disappointed. Last night’s gig at the Oriental was proof positive of that. The audience took their seats, and Callahan — standing near the back of the stage,…
BLACK JOE LEWIS at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/25/13 Last night’s Black Joe Lewis show at Bluebird showed that the garage heavy sound all over the band’s latest release, Electric Slave, sounds incredible live and has really rejuvenated old hits. Now that the group has dropped “and the Honeybears” from its…
Exactly a month ago today, the Mouth House was closed, and two of its tenants are due in court today facing charges of distribution of alcohol without a license. On Saturday, October 26, just as the first band was starting its set at the DIY house venue, two undercover cops…
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Kings Of Metal, Manowar will perform the album in its entirety as well as a “best of” set at Ogden Theatre on Tuesday, February 18. Tickets ($75) go on sale this Saturday, November 29, at 10 a.m. Keep reading to see what other…
TUES | POLICA at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/26/13 Polica, which hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota, features former Roma di Luna vocalist Channy Leaneagh, Ryan Olson of Gayngs fame, a pair of drummers, Ben Ivascu and Drew Christopherson and bassist Chris Bierden. Formed in the summer of 2011, the act came together…
CAT POWER at GOTHIC THEATRE | 11/23/12 It was somewhere around an hour between the end of opener Nico Turner’s set and the beginning of the Cat Power set. By the time Chan Marshall took the stage, some people seemed to be getting restless. Marshall more than made up for…
MORBID ANGEL at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/22/13 Although this tour was dedicated to Morbid Angel playing its landmark third album Covenant in its entirety, the guys treated us to at least one song from each of its full-length releases. Before the band took stage, the lights went low and the…
