Originality is a tough sell. People tend to like the things they already like, because the idea of new is foreign and scary and seems poised to usher in a depraved era of dogs and cats living together, which would be immoral. “Can’t understand it?” MF Doom once rhetorically asked…
You can’t have a discussion about tribal house without mentioning Dubtribe Sound System — the outfit hailing from San Francisco and comprising Sunshine and Moonbeam Jones — which achieved mainstream crossover success with Bryant Street in 1999. Best known for such tracks as “Do It Now,” “Sunshine’s Theme” and “Mother…
As a rare drummer and frontwoman, Dee Dee Penny (aka Kristin Gundred) was part of experimental pop band Grand Ole Party. Once that band split, Gundred took it upon herself to learn how to write songs on an instrument well outside her comfort zone. When that experiment seemed to work…
While at least one Westword writer opines that Ke$ha is a garish neon pillar of vapid excess, her fans really, really adore her. Whether it was teased hair, torn fishnet, or glitter suffocating their bodies, the Ke$ha Army knew how to dress at the Fillmore Auditorium on Friday night. Britt…
Chicago’s Smith Westerns have no doubt been thrown under the worn-out labels of “beachy” and “reverb-heavy” — but past a surface listen, the band goes deeper than many of its lo-fi contemporaries. Reminiscent of T. Rex and Donovan, the music of Smith Westerns has a charming sexiness in its vocal…
Art, music, food and fashion were mashed together Saturday night for Artopia, our own little five-venue party on Broadway in the “Golden Triangle” neighborhood. Photographers Jonathan Shoup and Aaron Thackeray moved between Vinyl, City Hall, Bar Standard, the Living Room and Mo’s, and bring back these selected photos from the…
PUBLIC ENEMY With Chali 2na 2.19.11 | Ogden Theatre Public Enemy has, for upwards of 26 years, put out rousing music that incites the masses both on recordings and in a live setting. Last night at the Ogden Theatre, though, the crew showed out as if they had something to…
Ke$ha With Beardo 02.19.11 | Fillmore Auditorium Being Ke$ha must be a simultaneously terrifying and awesome thing. The 23-year-old performer has the undivided attention of millions of teenage girls at the moment, and possibly, the ability to change the world with a kind of unadulterated access to young minds. At…
BLACK LAMB With Audio Dream Sister 02.19.11 | Bender’s Tavern It’s anyone’s guess — well, except for those close to the band — when Audio Dream Sister last went on stage. Seems like it’s been at least a few years. As the second to last band of Pit Fest II…
Jersey Shore’s most drama-free character, Pauly D (Paul DelVecchio), attracted a capacity crowd last night at Beta. A crush of people gathered around the DJ both with cell phone cameras to get a photo of DelVecchio, who is also a club DJ in Providence, Rhode Island when the show is…
The fact that John Denver will be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame this April should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with his music. The only surprise is that the organization isn’t named for Denver, who is synonymous with Colorado — and its Rocky…
After an eight-year hiatus, Jason Bills and Brad Roulier of Together Productions have once again joined forces for, fittingly, Together Again, this Saturday night at Beta. Together Again features Sultan and Ned Shepard, who DJ and produce commercial vocal electronica (see their recent single “Call My Name”). Local DJs Bones…
While this year’s line-up for the the 8th Annual Five Points Jazz Festival is still being solidified and won’t be announced until April, we do know legendary trombonist Curtis Fuller will headlines this year’s fest, which is Saturday, May 21 at venues along Welton Street in historic Five Points. Fuller,…
Johnny Wolfhart, aka experimental noise-ist Nervesandgel, is working on a new track, and he’s chosen to collaborate with everybody — well, everybody in his social network anyway. Earlier this week, Wolfhart put out a call to his Facebook friends, asking for thirty-second to two-minute audio clips of anything they desired…
Less Than Jake hasn’t released a new record since 2008’s GNV FLA, but it doesn’t matter — the Florida dudes still tour relentlessly, and their fans still come to see them play. Why? Because, in an era of performers constantly questioning their own cool, LTJ prides itself on being uncool…
Sony’s hoping to pique your qriocity (sorry) with it’s new streaming music service this week, by offering a free thirty day trial, tons of different streaming options and a library of over six million songs from the four major record label and most everyone they distribute. We spent the day…
Artopia, Westword’s annual “biggest, greatest, most poppin’ ass art party of the year,” goes down on Saturday night. A highlight this year as always is the musical talent, so we’ve parsed down the full schedule to just the live music going down at five venues (Vinyl, The Living Room, Mo’s,…
So what is it they say — at the end of every dark night a new day dawns? There’s solace to be found in that maxim. And some bright spots are starting to emerge on an otherwise dreary week which brought shocking news of Rick Kulwicki’s untimely death. Following a…
Let’s face it: Any band with John Dwyer in it will probably rule. His latest — and one of his best projects — Thee Oh Sees, is a grimy four-piece that eats the lo-fi garage rock label and spits it out in the best, trashiest and reverb-heaviest way possible…
Jazz fusion can be a dicey proposition these days if you focus more on the jamming than the songwriting. But Supercollider has avoided all of that, coming up with something more akin to Weather Report or Head Hunters-era Herbie Hancock; throw in a bit of the livelier end of Dave…
Everybody poops. That inescapable fact, says Milan Kundera in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, is the fundamental quandary of human existence: that the consequence of every act of sustenance (eating) is the shame of defecation. (Not ashamed? Then he fucking dares you to stop crapping with the door closed.) To…
Speaking of club nights that take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’, evidently, The Solution isn’t the only night that has proven resilient. Lipgloss, now approaching its tenth year, has endured the exit of two of its founders, Tim Cook and Tyler Jacobson, and has had several noteworthy residents such…
