One of the joys of truly independent discs is the lack of baggage they carry. Or, to put it another way, you can’t come to an album with preconceptions if you don’t know anything about it. Take Enter the Draco, by the duo of Mima and Naoki Morimoto, aka Draco…
With each subsequent release of the various Wu solo projects, the individual members (perhaps with the exception of Method Man), have all seen diminishing returns in the fickle rap marketplace. Which raises the question: Does the public still crave product from the Wu-Tang dynasty? With this followup to his classic…
Over the telephone, local blues light Nina Storey has a teeny-tiny voice. It’s the soft-spoken, polite kind of voice one might expect of a florist, or a librarian, or a person who spends large amounts of time soothing animals or small children. So when she expounds on the latest wave…
Luscious Jackson, Monday, February 14, at the Fillmore Auditorium, with Smash Mouth and 22 Jacks, takes its smooth swagger on the road in support of Electric Honey, the band’s first album since the departure of keyboardist Vivian Trimble. Now a trio with vocalist/bassist Jill Cunniff, drummer Kate Schellenbach, and guitarist/vocalist…
Acoustic Junction, Thursday, February 17, at the Gothic Theatre, with the Yonder Mountain String Band and Fox Trot Zulu, returns after a hiatus from live performances. But the popular Boulder-based band hasn’t spent its time away from area stages gingerly: After finding itself freed from a recording contract with Capricorn…
Material World, Saturday, February 12, at the Boulder Theater, pays homage to the decade of Dallas, jellies and Reagonomics as part of an ’80s Retro Dance Party. The good people at the Boulder will convert the palatial music and film venue into a nightclub revisiting that dark decade with performances…
Besides immortalizing the pithy catchphrase “squeal like a pig,” the 1972 screen adaptation of writer James Dickey’s Deliverance burned an indelible impression into our collective unconsciousness through its lightning-quick, banjo-fueled soundtrack. Go ahead — try to forget that wonderfully creepy genetic wildcard who out-grins and out-picks actor Ronnie Cox note…
For a public that ordinarily associates politics in music with can’t-miss issues such as world hunger and rocking the vote, j.frede’s theories about cultural hegemony can be as startling as his intense brand of electronic noise. “My whole political standpoint is about the idea of terrorists being victims trying to…
1999 was a good year for the white suburban thuglet: Kid Rock catapulted to stardom as an ace bulldog in a bullshitter’s paradise; the proud, fiery crime spree of Rapestock ’99 boasted no fewer than eight reported sexual assaults — two in the mosh pit, for Chrissakes — and all…
In the eyes of the modern classical press, Stephen Scott can’t compare with Philip Glass and Steve Reich; an ocean’s worth of ink has been spilled over the opuses of the latter pair, while Scott’s work has spelled doom for just a puddle or two. The reason is simple: Unlike…
At least as significant as the advent of grunge or R&B’s takeover of the pop charts in the ’90s was the rise of Southern rap, starting with Arrested Development in 1993. For one thing, although that groundbreaking hip-hop crew fizzled by the time of its second release, Southern rap has…
In the interest of full disclosure, I must take this opportunity to let readers know that Backwash is in the midst of negotiating a merger with America Online, Time Warner and EMI, so that, like the entire catalogues from Frank Sinatra, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, everything printed on…
The klezmer clarinet has recently seen more action than Hugh Hefner, as a revived interest in Jewish traditional music has caused little pockets of klezmer mania to pop up in the most unlikely of places. Take, for instance, the case of the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, who play Friday, February…
Guitarist Saul Rosenthal leads “An Evening of Jewish Music,” Saturday, February 5, at Swallow Hill Music Hall, an event that will also feature Los Lantzmum, a seven-piece worldbeat group led by Denver’s Hal Aqua. Los Lantzmum explores Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Jewish musical traditions, which means you’d better…
Full House, Thursday nights at Luckystar, is a little taste of Vegas for those who don’t fancy a bus ride to casino country but get a thrill from watching the dealer’s cards turn. Blackjack tables run by professional cardsmiths decked in tuxedo ties and cummerbunds are among the Strip-centric features…
Lying in the grass at an expansive outdoor amphitheater recently, John Dolmayan had a unique experience: He watched the world change. “I was sitting way up in the cheap seats,” says the drummer of System of a Down, the latest politically charged outfit hailing from Los Angeles. “The sun was…
It’s not quite spring (not even close, actually), but all of the unwanted or ill-fitting gifts we received for Christmas have stuffed our storage closet beyond capacity. See, the same closet also houses our supply discs from area artists, and it’s time to clear that sucker out. What better time…
In 1966, the Beatles’ Revolver and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds changed the way we looked at sound and melody. We realized that with a little imagination — drug-induced or otherwise — and some unusual instrumentation, pop could indeed be art. Today, though, “pop” refers largely to teenybopper music and…
Many of today’s most successful hip-hoppers share a simple credo: Creativity is for suckers. In their view, success isn’t judged on the basis of good reviews, which, after all, can’t be cashed in at the bank. The Benjamins are what matter, and whoever has more of them at the end…
For much of the twentieth century, no American popular music held tradition more dearly than country. Often this tendency seemed to argue against change, but that was a caricature of the argument: Any genre that includes Hank, Elvis, Patsy, Buck, Waylon, Garth and the Dixie Chicks is clearly not all…
In Reverse is stronger — and tougher — than Sweet’s offering of 1998, Blue Sky on Mars. Yet those who have found reason to regard his past work with reservation won’t be swayed to let down their guard, as many of the elements that render Sweet a borderline annoying performer…
Lindsay’s a guy with an underground rep thanks to his work with the intellectual-noise act DNA and brainiacs such as Brian Eno and John Zorn. But the guitarist/vocalist is also an aficionado of sounds from Brazil, where he grew up circa the height of the Tropicália movement. Prize, licensed to…
