Guitarist Charlie Hunter may be something of a jazz popularizer, but his creative restlessness makes his music interesting as well as accessible, as is clear from a pair of recent recordings. By far the most straightforward is Mistico, a Fantasy Records release credited to the Charlie Hunter Trio that manages…
On his website, Heaven and Hell bassist Geezer Butler teases the group’s tour with Alice Cooper and Queensrÿche by noting that “it’s time to get the hair dye out” — and in a sprawling Backbeat Online Q&A (http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat), he makes it clear that this comment was meant literally. Indeed, he’s…
Big Business isn’t exactly the Black Keys — or the White Stripes. Sure, the band has a similar drummer/guitar configuration, but it wisely stays away from the bluesy escapades of those acts. Instead, the Los Angeles-by-way-of-Seattle-based sludge-metal duo takes the simplicity of a two-piece to extremes, with Coady Willis (formerly…
Although hefty art-rock outfit Qui (pronounced ‘kwee’) has been around since 2000, the Los Angelenos got a turbo-boost late last year when the legendary David Yow joined them for a few songs. After a few one-off gigs, Yow began to contribute ideas to founding duo Paul Christensen and Matt Cronk,…
Swirl all the swagger of gritty garage rock with the sparkle of Motown’s legendary girl bands, and you still wouldn’t get the pumped-up, full-throttle sound of the Gore Gore Girls — not without those guitars. The opening chords of those black-and-white Gretsch hollow-bodies lets you know that this is rock…
The good news: Slash’s photo appeared on the August 9 cover of Rolling Stone just as his current band, Velvet Revolver, was releasing a new CD, Libertad. The bad news: The image pictured him with Guns N’ Roses, whose most famous album, Appetite for Destruction, hit stores twenty years ago…
Jesse Rose seems to be shooting for the title of hardest-working man in dance music. He runs three labels (Front Room Recordings, Loungin’ and Made to Play), has released a slew of twelve-inches and EPs over the past few years, and has remixed dozens of tracks for artists including Armand…
With haunting synths that recall the first three New Order records and a charming collection of songs that otherwise echo the Smiths’ twee moments as fed through a Wall of Sound, Rediscover Lovers, Kissing Party’s new disc, finds the act imbuing its dependably upbeat and catchy tunes with distinctively neo-romantic…
The epic, soaring sonics on Happiness Ltd., Hot Hot Heat’s latest effort, owe a debt to some tricked-out production that results in a number of satisfying swells. The strongest candidates for airplay are front-loaded for instant gratification, while the rest the album needs time to ferment. Comparisons to the Cure…
Satire Records’ Jack Redell is taking a cue from Prince, who was among the first artists to thank concert attendees by including a free CD with every ticket sold. Redell, though, is one-upping His Purpleness. Those who go to A Moveable Feast, a celebration of area tunesmiths taking place at…
Stephen Brackett’s intuition was unbelievably strong — when it came to Jamie Laurie, anyway. On his first day at Bradley Elementary, the wide-eyed fourth-grader took one look at the fifth-grader across the schoolyard and whispered to his father, “Hey, Dad, that guy’s going to be my friend.” “And then,” Brackett…
Perry Ferrell Satellite Party and Mink September 18, 2007 Apple store at Cherry Creek Mall Better than: Any other show I have seen at a retail store in Cherry Creek. For some strange marketing reason, the Apple store in Cherry Creek Mall hosted acoustic performances by Perry Ferrell Satellite Party…
St. Vincent and The National September 18, 2007 The Ogden Theater Better than: Anything else I’d be doing on a Tuesday – or almost any day, for that matter. Due to a series of unfortunate events, I missed most of St. Vincent’s opening set. What I caught was certainly intriguing…
Arcade Fire, with LCD Soundsystem September 17, 2007 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Better than: Uh, just about anything else in recent memory. Slide Show Epic. Grandiose. Those are fitting descriptors for Monday night’s unreal double bill at the Rocks featuring LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire. Soundsystem got things going a little…
Monolith Festival, Day Two Saturday, September 15 Red Rocks Amphitheater Better than: Sweating to the Oldies Bob Log III walked on stage wearing a motorcycle helmet with a telephone attached to the visor and black Elvis-inspired studded jumpsuit. “I’d like to introduce the band,” he said. “My left foot on…
Monolith festival, Day One Friday, September 14 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Better than: Seeing a band you know nothing about and really digging them By the time I got to the top of Red Rocks, all sweaty and wheezy, I realized that I’d just missed Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, which…
Matt and Kim, The Brian Jonestown Massacre September 15, 2007 Monolith Festival, Red Rocks Taking the stage with huge smiles on their faces, Matt and Kim sat down to their drums and keyboards and started their Monolith set on Saturday with a fuzzy, spacey synth intro that Matt milked for…
Monolith Festival, Day Two September 15, 2007 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Better than: Day one — and my expectations. Before I even arrived for day two I was filled with fear and loathing of the stairs. I still hadn’t recovered from the first day’s exertions, so I celebrated my arrival by…
Monolith festival, Day One September 14, 2007 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Better than: Any other reason to climb roughly sixty thousand stairs. There are a lot of stairs at Red Rocks. Usually, once you make it through the grueling hike into the place, you’re done. You settle into a spot and…
Monolith, Day Two September 15, 2007 Red Rocks Better than: Another boring workout on the Stairmaster with your iPod The first thing everyone has mentioned about Monolith so far is those infernal stairs. I, too, sweated and panted my way up the ramp into the park, then up that interminable…
Just received the following e-mail regarding Tony Krantz’s services, which are being held this evening. As mentioned at the end of this week’s Beatdown, Tony, who passed away early last week, will be remembered by fellow members of the well-regarded Krantz family, whose jazz club El Chapultepec has anchored the…
“And fuck Bush,” Common proclaimed at the end of a sick freestyle at the Fillmore Auditorium on September 13 — and the crowd went nuts. His flow touched on everything from gang-banging to economic standing before he walked the crowd through a melodic hip-hop history in which he covered everyone…
