KRS-One (aka Lawrence Parker) was the sole constant member of Boogie Down Productions, whose 1987 album, Criminal Minded, is often cited as the record that introduced gangsta rap to an unsuspecting world. But BDP’s raps were always as literate as they were gritty, and the act quickly evolved beyond its…

It’s too bad the term “women in music” came to be synonymous with relatively safe mainstream artists of the ’90s. Or, more to the point, that it’s even necessary to point out the presence of women in music. Fortunately, the Vixens Ball (Friday, July 9, and Saturday, July 10, at…

I wanted it for a long time, and my friend Sheena did it at a benefit for the Underground Carrot at the Mercury Cafe,” says Brittany Gould of the envelope-shaped tattoo on her hand. “It was mainly so I can remember to send letters and packages.” Performing under the name…

Monotonix July 4th, 2010 Glob Glob was at partial capacity by the time Expiation opened the show with a set of fairly straight-ahead hardcore. You couldn’t fault the musicianship, and the frontman at least seemed as genuinely menacing as he was confrontational: At the end of the set, he threw…

Taking their name from the ancient Iranian philosopher name-checked by Nietzsche (whose own work inspired the Richard Strauss composition that is considered the theme song of 2001: A Space Odyssey), these Atlanta sludge-rockers do plenty of their own outer and inner space exploration on the recently released Matador. Often compared…

Travis Barton and Chris Powell have been making experimental electronic music for around a decade, and the aesthetic for the duo’s first widely available release is succinctly summed up with its title. Reminiscent of ’90s electronica, these songs sound like Future Sound of London’s Lifeforms album mixed with glitchy noise…

The Pseudo Dates, one of the most promising pop bands of recent years, broke up last year without making an announcement or organizing a final show. Luckily, primary songwriters Nathan Brazil and Suzi Allegra finally came to their senses and realized they wrote great, even timeless songs together, and they…

Tim Holland is one of the most respected and influential figures in underground hip-hop. Performing under the name Sole, he was one of the founders of the Anticon Collective in the late ’90s and subsequently worked with (and otherwise helped to bring to the world) acts such as Why?, Slug…

Sara Century has operated on the fringe of the underground music scene in Fort Collins and Denver for the past few years as a member of hardcore bands and, most recently, as one of the primary songwriters in the outsider punk band the Amicable Splits and the far-more-difficult-to-classify Magazine-esque act…

The latest release from Nocturnal Dirt Surfers Alliance is a compilation of live recordings conducted at the Oriental Theater over the course of three days in late January 2010 minus an audience. With no overdubs offered, it may be a bit of a lo-fi effort, but some of these artists…

Chances are, if you’ve been paying attention for the past seventeen years or so, you know who Tool is. You probably also know some really obnoxious idiots who worship this band mostly for its darkness and the brutal precision of its instrumentation — that, and its supposedly misanthropic themes. This…

With so many bands seeking new ways to reinterpret the sound of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin for the modern era — blissfully unaware of similar efforts in the ’80s — Free Energy wisely took a different route. The outfit, which hails from Philadephia (three of its four members played…

Ron Cole may not be a name that immediately comes to mind when you think of the best, most well-known electronic artists coming out of Colorado, but that will probably change a great deal in the next year as his music, released under the name Hollagramz (playing Friday, June 25,…

See more photos at westword.com/slideshow. Erykah Badu • Janelle Monae 06.16.10 | Fillmore Auditorium Before Erykah Badu’s set, a DJ was spinning and doing live mixes of pop hits of yesteryear, stopping or slowing down the music every now and then to let the crowd enthusiastically fill in the blanks…

It pretty much goes without saying at this point that this is going to be the best Showcase yet. Just take a look at this year’s headliners. Your dance card will be full from the time the gates open at 11:30 a.m. until BoomBox leads Saturday into Sunday at City…

It would be easy to dismiss this Fort Collins band as yet another act ransacking the ’80s new-wave graveyard, because it sure is going for that ultra-catchy, synth-pop vibe. Borrowing a few tricks from the Cars, the Nails and Mr. Pacman, Pep*Squad also clearly has its tongue firmly in cheek…

The Brian Jonestown Massacre • Floorian 06.13.10 | Bluebird Theater Floorian, a five-piece from Columbus, Ohio, opened last night’s show and sounded like a shoegaze band of old gone a little darker while cultivating a certain improvisational psychedelic flair. At times, the music reminded me a little of a tripped…