Music

Wilco and Okkervil River Friday, July 3, 2009 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Better than: Wilco’s show at the Pikes Peak Center last year. Just as Wilco took the stage, the theme from the Price is Right played and two people cloaked in a camel suit pranced across the stage. Sure, it…

We stumbled across this enlightening graphical breakdown yesterday as we made our way across the Twitterverse. Somebody named Ethan Hein, a cat who evidently has a great deal of time on his hands, took the time and painstaking effort to deconstruct and then chart Michael Jackson’s influence on the hip-hop…

Jonathan RichmanWednesday, July 1, 2009Lion’s LairBetter than: Seeing an energetic and earnest singer/songwriter play at the Bluebird or the Fillmore. It seemed perfectly appropriate that Jonathan Richman opted to perform in the cramped confines of the Lion’s Lair. The bar’s small scope and understated feel served as a perfect complement…

During a two-day photo shoot for Wilco’s new album, guitarist Nels Cline, a reluctant rock star of sorts, had a rock-star moment. “I felt like I was in the Beatles or something,” he explains, “doing this photo shoot in Milwaukee, standing outside drawing traffic with a camel with a party…

I’ve been fascinated by bikers since I first saw Gimme Shelter, which documents what happened when the Rolling Stones supposedly asked the Hells Angels to act as security for a concert at Altamont Speedway in December 1969. After that, I read two of the books by Hells Angels founder Ralph…

Taking its name from a heroin dealer in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Savage Henry has paid its dues for the past several years, juggling regular gigs and a tour schedule that extends well beyond the efforts of most of its peers. More impressive, the band has managed to…

Ah, Claude VonStroke. The name screams Eurodouche, and for good reason: It’s the nom de beats of Barclay Crenshaw, who came up with it while making up ridiculous European DJ names with friends. But it’s a name that’s come to mean incredible dance music, whether he’s producing, remixing or deejaying…

Daniel LeDisko and Jo’B, the twosome currently causing LA Riots, are the remixers of the moment — definitely a short-term position given the trendiness of the international club scene, but one that can occasionally lead to greater things. The duo, who’ll share the console with Felix Cartel, have only been…

This time last year, Michael Dean Damron, former frontman for I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House, was planning a trip to Denver with his current combo, Thee Loyal Bastards. But he ultimately canceled the gig, and the rest of his tour, due to high gas prices. “Michael was…

Los Angeles’s War Tapes evokes the most insidiously catchy synth-pop bands of the ’80s mixed with the darkness of that era’s death rock. Imagine Sisters of Mercy with a dynamic rhythm section and without the humorless demeanor. The songwriting, however, isn’t exactly on a retro-nostalgia kick, despite clearly being inspired…

With quirky pop hooks and song dynamics that are just shy of anthemic, Cleveland’s Other Girls writes songs with a surprising level of sophistication and polish while maintaining a certain urgency and exuberance that makes each performance count. With atmospheric flourishes reminiscent of Band of Horses and a nervous energy…

Jay Farrar has never been all that interested in experimentation. Hell, his desire to plow ahead, nose to the grindstone, was one of the contributing factors to the dissolution of Uncle Tupelo all those years ago. But his musical trajectory since is proof that he wouldn’t have it any other…

Although the music on this four-song EP doesn’t skimp on commercial elements, it’s actually quite an odd hybrid. For the most part, lead singer Nasir Malik’s vocals sound as if they’ve been fueled by ramen — but the music he makes, along with guitarists Samuel Pritchett and Joshua Lee and…

Upon first listen to Paper and Roses, Born in Winter’s latest, inevitable comparisons to Evanescence and Annette Olzon-era Nightwish are bound to crop up, particularly since these eight songs are similarly rooted in melodic, progressive metal and driven by female vocals. However, the material here doesn’t come off saccharine, like…

Is White Leather for you? Find out by answering “true” or “false” to the following three statements: 1) My record collection is full of ’90s pop punk and ’80s glam metal, and I always wished someone would combine the most egregious clichés from both. 2) As far as vocalists go,…

Scrappy, dark, comedic synth-punk isn’t exactly a formula for surefire success. And on They Clean Up Nice, Take the Mickey isn’t able to pull those elements into something compelling — or even mildly enjoyable. Then again, the EP’s creation was plagued by misfortune: A hard-drive crash prior to a CD-release…

Though the band seemed to rocket out of nowhere with its 2007 debut, Both Before I’m Gone, San Antonio trio Girl in a Coma has been plugging away for nine years — since then-thirteen-year-old Nina Diaz played one of her songs for her older sister Phanie and their friend Jenn…