It’s a safe bet that all ambient instrumental rock after the turn of the century will inevitably be compared to Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Rós. Even compelling acts such as This Will Destroy You will be subjected to such lazy comparisons. In this case, the association isn’t completely…

Folks might remember Aaron Betcher and Chad Peterson from their long-running band O’er the Ramparts, a confounding project that seemed to be going in several directions at once. But as scattershot as the music was, there were moments of artistic clarity, and they’ve resurfaced in the pair’s new project, the…

For more than a decade, Kathryn Ellinger has been writing consistently compelling and richly diverse music. This double album from Sleepers only adds to her renown. Exploring the wide expanses of the human experience and the finer shades of our emotional landscape, Ellinger’s songs here are fogbound and melancholic while…

Whether by himself or with his Dirty Laboratory cohorts as a member of Optik Fusion Embrace, the Grimies, Teem Geezus and Creature From the Whack Lagoon, Extra Kool offers penetrating insights into the human condition with every line that passes his lips. Even a casual listen to his songs makes…

Although its members proclaim themselves purveyors of “voodoobilly,” San Diego’s Deadbolt doesn’t tread quite the same musical waters as psychobilly outfits like Mad Sin, with its overt co-opting of snotty punk-rock poses dressed in retro guise. Instead, the act’s music is closer to its obvious influences: Duane Eddy and Dick…

Apathetic Drive’s name may cause some to scratch their heads or tempt them to come up with a clever and slanderous nickname, but these guys have beat the wags to the punch on that score. If nothing else, the “Drive” portion of the moniker captures the forward trajectory of the…

The relaxed, warm vocal style of Glen Phillips can be deceptive. It allows him to tell stories of human depravity, evoking the darkest depths of human emotion, while still pleasing the ear. His innovative folk-rock songwriting was honed during his tenure as frontman for the critically acclaimed Toad the Wet…

Mixing styles of music is a dubious proposition and often produces uneven results, especially when it comes to mixing hip-hop with any type of rock. Artists who do so run the risk of coming across as wanting to be all things to all people. On Grain of Sand, however, Lynx…

Even though a new wave of shoegaze has been coursing languidly through the musical landscape, with the exception of Radiohead, it has never quite taken hold with the stereotypical mall-crawling, moneyed suburbanite crowd. Roger, Roll comes close to bridging that gap with driftily hypnotic songs and gently lilting cadences that…

When Abracastabya first formed in 2004, guitarist Geoff Brent and vocalist/pianist Willow Welter never intended to perform live. Before long, though, the two realized that their collaboration had evolved, and they enlisted cellist Lauren Langley and drummer David Grimm to round out the lineup. Last year the band entered the…

Haven’t we heard more than enough dusky, moody post-punk? Even efforts to make the sound more relevant by updating it with electronic refinements have ultimately turned out to be bland and embarrassingly derivative. The members of Kansas City’s Roman Numerals have done their utmost to subvert this hackneyed trend by…

As Oblio Duo, guitarist/vocalist Steve Lawson and drummer Will Duncan paint dusky yet vivid soundscapes that evoke feelings of nostalgia without the retro aftertaste. As with Oblio’s previous two releases, Nuclear War captures their warm, lushly eclectic vibe. There is still a warmly melancholic tenor to the music, but this…

Electronic music would not have been the same without the contributions of minimalist pioneers such as John Cage, Steve Reich, Robert Moog and the late Karlheinz Stockhausen. You can hear their influence coursing through the work of artists as diverse as the Velvet Underground right on through to later electro-adventurists…

When beatboxing emerged in the early days of hip-hop, it probably came across to many as a cute novelty. From the Fat Boys to actor Michael Winslow, the notion of vocal percussion seemed more funny than cool. Rahzel grew up going to see his cousin, who just happened to be…

All too often, when bands try to splice together musical styles, they forget to develop their own identity within their songwriting. Or, more important, they forget to write music that anyone with anything beyond a rudimentary level of artistic discernment would ever want to listen to. With that in mind,…

Willie Wisely has paid his dues. Hailing from the same 1980s Midwest scene that spawned the Replacements, Hüsker Dü and the Violent Femmes, Wisely has had a career that’s been as storied as it’s been criminally neglected. He got his start as a promoter at the well-known Minneapolis institution First…

When Shea Sweeney and Joe Vacarelli were in the neo-alt-rock band Whirlaway a few years ago, they displayed a surprising level of sophistication in their pop songcraft. While the two have taken a step back from the spotlight as members of the Visitors, their knack for tasteful dynamics and buoyant…

Richie Havens first rose to prominence in the same Greenwich Village folk scene that produced Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and he’s had a lengthy and distinguished career. The first performer at Woodstock, Havens is immortalized in the documentary of the same name, in which he closes his set with…

When most bands leave their home town to pursue their fortunes, they generally seek out a place that’s more financially and professionally viable. The members of Light Travels Faster, however, who originally hail from Amarillo, Texas, chose to come to Denver — not an especially astute career move on their…

Though birthed in the dysfunctional cradle of the Southern California hardcore scene, Agent Orange never stuck to convention. Although the group’s debut, Living in Darkness, contained the instant punk-rock classic “Bloodstains,” the outfit’s influential sound is equal parts hardcore, power pop and surf rock. At heart, though, as evidenced by…