It’s hard to imagine that a live, largely improvised set from a trio with heavy jazz influences and a Rhodes electric-piano player would go over big with the kind of hardcore clubbers who populate the world’s dance-music super clubs, but Cobblestone Jazz pulled it off somehow. “The first time we…
As rock-and-roll reunions go, the New York Dolls’ get-together is as unlikely as they come. For one thing, two members of the original quintet’s early-’70s lineup (guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan) were long dead before the outfit’s 2004 reformation, and a third, bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane, succumbed to…
Scout Niblett, This Fool Can Die Now (Too Pure Records). Even if the rawness of previous Scout Niblett offerings left you wishing you could claw out your eardrums, her latest effort is well worth a listen. Undeniably beautiful songs, several duets with Will Oldham, a couple of covers and plenty…
True story. When I was in college, a girl asked me to kill her. Right after sex. I’d known her for about three hours (we’d met at an open-mike poetry reading). There was none of that post-coital cuddling for this gal. She said, “I just don’t feel anything inside anymore…
Whether by himself or with his Dirty Laboratory cohorts as a member of Optik Fusion Embrace, the Grimies, Teem Geezus and Creature From the Whack Lagoon, Extra Kool offers penetrating insights into the human condition with every line that passes his lips. Even a casual listen to his songs makes…
The history of dance music tells us that Goldie is an important figure. And Lord knows, you can’t argue with history. To his credit, for a brief moment in the mid-’90s, Goldie reached a level of fame few dance artists achieve. People who had no idea what “jungle” was knew…
For more than a decade, Kathryn Ellinger has been writing consistently compelling and richly diverse music. This double album from Sleepers only adds to her renown. Exploring the wide expanses of the human experience and the finer shades of our emotional landscape, Ellinger’s songs here are fogbound and melancholic while…
Founded in 1981 by Wax Trax Records owner Duane Davis, Local Anesthetic Records documented a scene that didn’t make much noise beyond Colorado’s borders but stirred up plenty of racket within them. Today, much of the material sounds blatantly imitative of artists who actually got out of their home state…
The first few bites of Golden Delicious are almost enough to make you throw away the whole apple. But get past the nasty bits — the first four tracks — and the rest of the disc lives up to its title, beginning with a new version of “27 Jennifers” that…
With Hüsker Dü and Sugar, Bob Mould blanketed bleak tales of relationship woes with layers of electric guitar and driving choruses. On later releases, he turned his attention to electronic music. Although remnants of that era linger on District Line, it mainly follows the playbook of his last CD, Body…
Bang Camaro originators Alex Necochea and Bryn Bennett weren’t thinking logistics when they settled on their “more is more” approach to building a better band. The first time this stadium-metal sensation from Boston hit the stage with twenty lead singers — yes, twenty! — the show was an instant hit…
A trio grows in Brooklyn — an aggressive, spacey and challenging trio. As its name suggests, Dub Trio finds its inspiration in the decades-old aesthetics of bass-heavy, reverb-soaked, sinsemilla-sucking Jamaican reggae, but from that cliff, the group leaps off into completely unexpected and brutal territory. Drummer Joe Tomino, bassist Stu…
Black Cobra was birthed from a cross-country collaboration between former Acid King and -16- bassist Rafael Martinez on drums and former Cavity guitarist Jason Landrian on vocals and guitar. Originally from Miami, Martinez and Landrian met while studying music at Miami Dade Community College, where they learned about a range…
Plenty of bands have used shtick to make a name for themselves, but only the good ones last after the novelty wears off — which explains why the Hives are still around six years after they broke out in the States. The players, led by Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (the subject…
There’s nothing like a presidential election to make you lose faith in electoral politics. The corporate candidates begin to blur together, and the prospects for meaningful change get slimmer with each passing debate. Maybe it’s like the Minutemen once said: Perhaps some partying will help. That’s where Mahjongg comes in…
Fischerspooner The Best Revenge EP Kitsune 01:45-02:30 of “The Best Revenge” It appears that Fischerspooner is back on the dance train, trying to gain popularity back by releasing a single that is uninspired and sounds kind of like an electronic Peter Gabriel song. It’s hard to “update” a sound you…
Your taste in music is a cultural bullhorn. In a genre obsessed culture, what you listen to can project your overall aesthetic more than your fashion sense or the car you drive. Accordingly, there’s a part in our brains that organizes types of people based on the music they like…
Having a conversation with the members of Redline Defiance is like trying to keep a bucket of puppies from spilling: They’re young, enthusiastic-like rockets. And they’re hyper-stoked about their upcoming CD-release party. The act has performed on the Warp Tour, had its music snapped up by FSN and ABC is…
INSANE CLOWN POSSE RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE SATURDAY, MAY 17 That’s the headline for a press release that just popped into my e-mail box a bit ago from the fine folks at Live Nation. Oh, man, this should be good! Remember back in the day, when the Phish Heads stirred the…
The Hives are a Swedish import with staying power, and the band’s lead singer, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, knows it, as he makes clear in the following Q&A – a conversation conducted in advance of the outfit’s impending visit to Denver (see the appropriate Now Hear This item for the particulars)…
If David Johansen had earned a dollar for each time a music journalist mentioned him or his band, the New York Dolls, he’d be richer than Croesus by now. Instead, he’s still a working musician, albeit one who has a good perspective on his past, his present and his future,…
Here’s a selection of the best of last week’s music blogging from around the Village Voice chain: If you don’t believe that DJing can be a legitimate artform, this live review — covering DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist together on eight turntables, mashing up the theme to Gilligan’s Island with…
