SUN | GUITAR WOLF at MARQUIS THEATER | 10/6/13 Founded in the Harajuku district of Tokyo in 1987, Guitar Wolf was inspired in part by guitarist Seiji’s encounter with Link Wray’s monumental classic, “Rumble.” Hashing together bits of old time rock and roll with punk, garage rock and noise, Guitar…
PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT @ GOTHIC THEATRE | 9/28/12 Peter Hook’s 33-song set at the Gothic was split into three distinct sections representing three periods of his early career as a musician. The first set was comprised of Joy Division songs and not really everything expected. Beginning with the…
Noveller is the solo project of Sarah Lipstate, who had previously been in an experimental rock band from Austin called One Umbrella before she moved to Brooklyn to pursue music more fully. Upon moving to New York, she ended up joining Parts & Labor and played on that outfit’s critically…
Born Joshua Davis, DJ Shadow made great waves with his first proper album, 1996’s Endtroducing, which has been lauded as the first album made up entirely by samples. By then, he’d already made a name for himself as a producer with some singles and production work out on Mo’ Wax…
“So You Go Along,” the opening track on Varlet’s new album, American Hymns, sounds deceptively like something out of a 1970s musical, only the textures are richer and the lyrics darker. And that’s a perfect image for this album, a project on which Lily Scott indulges her inner jazz-and-blues singer,…
THE REPLACEMENTS at RIOT FEST | 9/21/13 Surely it wasn’t lost on anyone when Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson came on stage wearing pink skirts and orange cowboy hats. The two were clearly nodding to the absence of Stinson’s late brother Bob, who frequently performed in such attire. Clad as…
IGGY & THE STOOGES at RIOT FEST | 9/21/13 The Stooges came out on stage like a burst of fire and wind from another part of the world and got going with “Raw Power.” From there, it was near constant dramatic movement from Iggy Pop, who struck poses as he…
Wax Tailor is the long-running hip-hop/downtempo project of Jean-Christophe Le Saoût. In the ’90s, Le Saoût was involved with the rap band La Formule, and in the latter part of that decade, frustrated with the creative restrictions of a major label, he established the Lab’Oratoire imprint. In 2001, Le Saoût…
“Garuda,” the first song on Rossonian’s self-titled debut, sounds at first as though inter-dimensional aliens have taken over Steely Dan, but less than a minute in, the song shifts into syncopated, hazy pop akin to that of MGMT, only with more of a jazz foundation. “Love Clutch” has a power-pop…
On his latest release, Patrick Dethlefs seems to strip back the songwriting a bit from what we heard on 2012’s accomplished Fall & Rise. From the beginning, one of the virtues of Dethlefs’s songwriting has been a tastefully spare use of elements, and this remains at the core of the…
Black Flag paved the way. It’s no exaggeration to say that the circuit of underground touring in America would not have happened as early as it did — or perhaps at all — without Black Flag opening the routes for so many bands, punk and otherwise, to follow. Along with…
Someday a monograph about punk will give Naked Raygun its proper place of prominence in the genre’s history. Naked Raygun was one of the most important punk bands to emerge in Chicago during the Reagan era. Inspired in part by the diversity of sounds in that initial wave of English…
The Dismemberment Plan formed on New Year’s Day 1993. Although the act hails from the Washington, D.C., area, it wasn’t really affiliated with the legendary DIY punk scene fostered by Dischord Records, but its eccentricity was embraced nonetheless. In its early years, the Dismemberment Plan truly explored a broad range…
MUSE at PEPSI CENTER | 9/17/13 A Muse show is never short on spectacle and stunning visuals, and this Pepsi Center date was no exception. One of the most impressive moments came at the beginning of “Sunburn” when a single turquoise beam came down from the ceiling to a sphere…
Cage the Elephant formed in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2006. And while the group’s 2008 self-titled, debut full-length was met with a great deal of acclaim in this country, it wasn’t until after the band lived in England for a spell that it gained notice. Influenced by alt-rock, the outfit…
THE LUMINEERS at RED ROCKS | 9/15/13 Unsurprisingly, Red Rocks erupted in cheers at the opening strains of “Ho Hey,” the Lumineers breakthrough hit. Even though the song is kind of a delicate love song whose most prominent instruments are mandolin and drums, clearly the tune has struck a massive…
PENTAGRAM at SNOWBOARD ON THE BLOCK | 9/14/13 If Pentagram’s last show in Denver in March 2010 left a bit to be desired, this performance more than made up for it. Coming out of the gates with “Treat Me Right,” Bobby Liebling and his new line-up were in fine form,…
The Orb got its start in the second half of the ’80s, inspired by dub and house music. Cited as an influence of many modern electronic music artists today, the act also had a major impact on ambient artists of the past few decades, including guitar bands like Seefeel and…
Andrew W.K. is best known for his single “Party Hard” from his 2001 album I Get Wet, but really, he’s one of the hardest working people in show business. The guy puts himself fully into all he does, particularly his music, be it the party rocking variety, classically-inflected piano pieces…
Brendon Moeller was born in South Africa but moved to New York after reading about all the great early wave of electronic music artists that emerged out of the late ’80s industrial, experimental electronic and house music worlds. Moeller’s natural curiosity and drive has lead him to exploring a plethora…
“‘Razor Blades & Sunshine’ is the name of a song I wrote in 2009,” says Marie Litton about the title track of the new Lil Thunder album. “I was having a really rough time. I felt like it was one of those songs that was like, ‘Fuck my life. I…
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE @ OGDEN THEATRE | 9/9/13 There were some “gremlins” last night that plagued the stage for Animal Collective at the Ogden, but it didn’t hamper the performance. If anything, it heightened it. In one moment of perfect synergy during “My Girls,” the power dropped out for one of…
