Death Angel was formed in 1982 by four cousins who were inspired by the new wave of British heavy metal. After releasing a demo called Heavy Metal Insanity, the band enlisted its roadie, another cousin, Mark Osegueda, to be its singer — just in time to open for the then-up-and-coming…
Gov’t Mule formed in 1994 as a side project of Warren Haynes and Allen Woody, who were then members of the Allman Brothers Band. While both men continued to play with the Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule became quite a viable entity on its own, rooted in a similar blend of…
WALK THE MOON at OGDEN THEATRE | 10/26/13 For a band that played the Hi-Dive two years ago, Walk The Moon has done extremely well for itself, and if this sold out show was any indication, the band will be playing a much larger venue the next time around. The…
THE HELIO SEQUENCE at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 10/24/13 When Brandon Summers pulled out his harmonica last night at the Bluebird, we all what was coming, “Harmonica Song,” of course. Summers blew into his mouth harp like he was playing some kind of strange blues rock song, and he did so…
If an early-’70s Laurel Canyon band were to get caught up in progressive jazz and some kind of gypsy music and then go on a decade-long tour playing experimental venues, Jellyfish Tuesday might be the result: a chilled-out version of a cabaret carnival, as Renaldo Migaldi once described Chicago’s Maestro…
Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel formed the Helio Sequence in Beaverton, Oregon, in 1999. On their first few releases, the duo created vividly realized, playfully psychedelic songs that made a languid, rockist format seem expansive and upbeat, particularly 2001’s Young Effectuals, which was like a day-glo-hued daydream of an album…
TODD SNIDER at BLUEBIRD THEATER |10/19/13 Todd Snider didn’t skimp on stories at his show at the Bluebird Theater. Before “Ballad of Devil’s Backbone Tavern,” he told us how his nephew is getting into singing and songwriting. Apparently he had told Snider that he didn’t sing a lot of his…
The Naked and Famous was founded in Auckland, New Zealand in 2008 by Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith when the two were students at the Music and Audio Institute. Taking its name from Tricky’s “Tricky Kid,” the Naked and Famous isn’t exactly what you’d call trip-hop. Rooted in alt rock,…
On Genessier’s new album, Graces the Bone, a wash of noise and a dark, abstract melody in the music rush side by side and are often punctuated by menacing electronic beats. “Emlyn,” the album’s opening track, resembles late-’80s EBM with its panning low end, samples and distorted vocals. Think Twitch-period…
The Fabulous Boogienauts came together in 1996, when founder Rocky Ramjett was finally able to realize his dream of creating a disco band. Rather than the Red Hot Chili Peppers brand of funk rock that was in vogue in certain circles at the time, Ramjett, who’d been relieved of his…
The Fabulous Boogienauts came together in 1996, when founder Rocky Ramjett was finally able to realize his dream of creating a disco band. Rather than the Chili Peppers brand of funk rock that was in vogue in certain circles at the time, Ramjett, who’d been relieved of his bass-playing duties…
FIONA APPLE @ BOETTCHER CONCERT HALL | 10/11/13 With no opening act, Fiona Apple came on stage stomping as part of the percussion. It was like she wasn’t even thinking about playing in front of a big crowd. And indeed, joined by Blake Mills, drummer Barbara Gruska and upright bassist…
Essentially Crash’s swan song, Live — recorded at Herman’s Hideaway on St. Patrick’s Day 2013 — captures the raw, crunchy power of the band better than any studio album ever could. And that undoubtedly has to do with the fact that Crash was always best when allowed to follow its…
This band with costumes would be GWAR,” says Victoria Lundy, who plays theremin for the Inactivists, offering one of the most astute assessments that’s been uttered yet regarding Denver’s strangest and most eclectic underground rock band. For a decade now, the Inactivists have amused, confounded, offended and even inspired other…
Inspired by early art-rock bands like Genesis and King Crimson, Goblin started out in 1972 as Cherry Five. But when the Italian group was recruited to help score the 1975 Dario Argento film Profondo Russo, the act changed its name to Goblin before releasing an album of the music it…
GUITAR WOLF @ MARQUIS THEATER | 10/06/13 After Bass Wolf more or less stumbled into place and Drum Wolf sat down behind the kit, Guitar Wolf himself strode on stage and smashed down any unnecessary walls between punk, garage rock, noise rock, R&B, the blues, soul and rockabilly song after…
Founded in the Harajuku district of Tokyo in 1987, Guitar Wolf puts on one of the most wild shows around. Inspired in part by guitarist Seiji’s encounter with “Rumble,” the Link Wray classic, the band crafted a sound that combines bits of old time rock and roll with punk, garage…
Sister Crayon got its start in Sacramento, California, in 2010 when Terra Lopez and Dani Fernandez met and bonded over ’90s-era hip-hop. The pair teamed up with various bandmates in the past few years and produced music that sounded like the perfect fusion of soul and trip hop — a…
There’s a bit of stylistic time travel happening on Rock and Roll, Space in Time’s newest release. The keyboards and guitar, for instance, play off one another in a clear nod to the likes of Captain Beyond and Uriah Heep. But instead of merely mining the usual classic-hard-rock territory, these…
DUSTIN WONG & TAKAO MINEKAWA at RHINOCEROPOLIS | 10/23/13 Dustin Wong first gained notice as a member of Baltimore’s passionately exuberant post-punk band Ponytail. In that outfit, Wong’s guitar work gave the band a wiry sonic detail that made its songs even more exciting. When Ponytail split in 2011, Wong…
The members of the Coathangers — an act that emerged from the same Atlanta underground scene in 2007 that had previously produced bands like Black Lips, Deerhunter and King Khan and the Shrines — started playing out before really even learning to play their instruments. In true punk-rock style, the…
A few years after being formed by Rozz Williams in 1979, Christian Death released Only Theater of Pain, an album that’s considered to be a classic of both death rock and post-punk. With its dark lyrics and themes, the group embodies the aesthetic and sound of gothic rock better than…
