We don’t hear many stories about prominent artists going the extra mile for fans – particularly if it means a hit to their wallet. But Underworld is currently doing so by giving away a copy of its just-released CD, Oblivion With Bells, to each ticket buyer who attended a troubled…
I love hardcore. I love the intensity, directness and simplicity of the music. Although the sound has evolved stylistically over the years, the groups that rule today aren’t that far removed from the bands I loved growing up. While so much of the music industry is influenced by trends and…
I’ve noticed recently that people on the street sometimes look at me strangely,” says Alison Sudol. “You know, kinda stare at me for a while, and then they smile, but then they don’t say anything, and I’m like ‘Okaaaay…?’ It’s these funny looks that I’ve never — ” On the…
Being in an acclaimed indie-pop band might seem very different from being a desk jockey, but for Office, the order and structure of the working world is one of the keys to success. The Chicago band started as a freewheeling solo performance-art and songwriting project for Scott Masson, but its…
Plenty of jazz musicians and aficionados think Kenny G is the Antichrist. Still, there are millions of people who think he’s a godsend. Those same people would hate the Dead Kenny G’s, whose music is a far cry from the sappy drivel dished out by its namesake. Skerik and Mike…
Although Arizona’s Scary Kids Scaring Kids are generally stamped with the emo label, the performer they name-check most frequently is Michael Jackson. Is that because most kids would find him far scarier than any of the allegedly Scary Kids? Not quite. “We like to have dance parties on the bus,”…
Keyshia Cole, Just Like You (Geffen). Judging by the way Cole is marketed, the You in her sophomore CD’s title is Mary J. Blige. But if her vocalizing isn’t always as distinctive as it could be, she’s got a knack for soulful, take-no-crap dramas such as “Shoulda Let You Go”…
Last New Year’s Eve, Charles Trujillo and Paul Piciocchi opened the sleek and sexy Sutra Room at 1109 Lincoln Street, and soon followed it up with Left on Lincoln, which took over the front portion of the building as well as the patio. They were essentially separate clubs under the…
On stage, Weird Turn Prose resembles the average post-slacker-phase indie-rock band. The players look relatively clean-cut, despite their informal style. They also seem to have taken the time to actually learn how to play their instruments — so well, in fact, that there isn’t a poorly executed moment. While it’s…
There’s one thing that all the best DJs have in common, an ineffable quality that’s completely subjective yet somehow universal: good taste. And no one has better taste than DJ Sasha, which has made him one of the world’s premier superstar DJs for almost a decade. Sasha (due at Vinyl…
It’s lucky for Kid Rock that he’s an egomaniacal dipshit, because otherwise his music would be about as memorable as a Molly Hatchet eight-track sans “Flirting With Disaster.” Still, the former Mr. Pamela Anderson’s good-humored salutes to his own cocksmanship, not to mention his skill at Xeroxing classic boogie, can’t…
The genesis of Mac Lethal’s new album reads like a classic struggle between art and commerce. After years of annihilating the competition at Scribble Jam, the Kansas City MC signed to Rhymesayers in 2005. His mother had died the previous year, and he turned in an album full of poignant,…
The Pornstarrs are MC J-Von the JiggaL.O.W. and producer Chili Fantastic, who are both known primarily for their production and remixing skills. D.O.P.E., the duo’s latest, is a collection of pre-Pornstarrs work — or, more specifically, that of Zero Hour, J-Von’s previous outfit, and subsequent projects that came about after…
Gear Fab Records’ Roger Maglio, who recently relocated to Littleton from Orlando, Florida, specializes in reissuing obscurities from the ’60s and ’70s — and the majority of tunes on Psychedelic States, a two-CD set that’s part of a U.S.-spanning series, more than qualify. Even local-music experts are unlikely to know…
What is it about these indie folksters using pseudonyms? Samuel Beam goes by Iron and Wine, and Will Oldham has recorded under Bonnie “Prince” Billy and various Palace monikers. Then there’s Matthew Houck, who’s been recording and performing as Phosphorescent for the past seven years. Fittingly enough, Houck’s latest effort,…
The music of Black Moth Super Rainbow seems custom-fitted for a Sofia Coppola film. It has that daydreamy, otherworldly sound favored by acts like Air and Broadcast, with low-end buoyancy propelling sparkly, soaring waves of sound — sort of like Stereolab without the political agenda and driving, droney guitars. And…
Paolo Nutini’s star has risen so fast in the last year that you almost have to wonder who the kid has on the payroll. Even if Atlantic Records thinks it’s found the Scottish James Blunt, Nutini doesn’t need much more than a piano or an acoustic guitar to turn the…
Back in the mid-’90s, when Earlimart opened for business, the Los Angeles band, which is currently touring with Office, specialized in the usual punk-rock products. Since then, the merchandise has undergone substantial changes: The group’s membership is down to two, Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray, and while the tracks that…
At this year’s Warped Tour, a gaggle of fourteen-year-olds engaged in a passionate debate about Tiger Army that went something like this: One side said, “Tiger Army rocks!” and their opponents countered with, “Tiger Army sucks!” Truth is, both groups have a point. The combo, which shares this bill with…
IO Echo, Kenna, She Wants Revenge October 11, 2007 Gothic Theatre Better than: Wearing out your vinyl copy of Floodland. Upon arriving at the Gothic for last night’s She Wants Revenge show, the first thing that struck me was the diversity of the crowd. There were dolled-up big-hair girls, hippie…
Anders Trentemøller October 10, 2007 Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Better than: Another by-the-numbers DJ set. After a fine, extended set by DJ Ivy that dwelt in deep house territory and skirted the techno and progressive neighborhoods, there was a brief pause, a chance to catch your breath and prepare for the…
Eric Shiveley just took a shot at me. “These look like a couple of music critics,” he said, looking into the camera, holding a Luke Skywalker action figure in one hand and a big, colorful, plastic coffee-mug toy of some sort in the other. “They’re the journalistic equivalent of the…
