When the mothership lands on Earth and the aliens sift through the rubble of the hip-hop canon, their tentacle sensors are likely to pick up on the way in which many of the melanin-deficient MCs stand out for having blurred the line between beat-driven syncopation and the art of spoken…
Years before he was a filmmaker, Vincent Gallo was into music. He joined his first band at age nine, and by sixteen, he’d moved from Buffalo to New York City, where he played in Gray, an art-noise act, with Jean-Michel Basquiat. More than two decades later, he scored his film…
Jim Malec’s December 13 Rough Mixes piece focusing on Suzy Bogguss was based on the following interview in which the CMA Horizon Award winner also discussed everything from jewelry making to her shifting musical styles over the years to her thoughts on why radio programmers haven’t really embraced her music…
Although the Hate Fuck Trio was one of the most popular and enjoyable Denver bands of the ´90s, the combo led by twisted siblings Sam and Jon DeStefano faded from the scene early into the new millennium. Now, the boys are back, sort of, and their explanations for their absence…
Elizabeth Rose, Blue Light December 10, 2007 Larimer Lounge Better than: Fleetwood Mac (according to photographer Brian Carney) Kudos to the Larimer Lounge (and booker John Baxter) for making the commitment to bring live music to the venue seven nights a week. It is exactly that kind of dedication and…
You may not be able to get up to Butte, Montana today for the memorial service of the late, and certainly great, Evel Knievel, but Denver punk band the S.O.B.s is here to help you celebrate the passing of this American legend with their new tune “Evel Knievel Is Dead.”…
Here’s a selection of the best of last week’s music blogging from around the Village Voice chain: The magic of a Melt Banana set is put into these words: “reminded me of the sound FX on that old Atari game Asteroids, hopped up on speed” and “knows how to assault…
Iron & Wine December 8, 2007 Paramount Theatre “Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news,” I say to Maggie as she comes out of the balcony bathroom at the Paramount. “The good news is that, according to this [computer-printed sign taped to the wall], Nick and Tom from DeVotchKa…
I came late to the UGK party. I was out of the country for much of their rise from 1992-1995, and then I lived in Nashville, where their legend had not yet spread, until the end of 1997. Even after moving back to Houston, it took me a few years…
Next summer, you can expect the above scene to be replicated across the country if kids outside our area code take to the tomfoolery of Nathaniel Motte and Sean Foreman like the ones here have. The pair, known in these parts as 3Oh!3 (and due tomorrow night at the Gothic…
The past couple of weeks have certainly been eventful for the members of the Photo Atlas. Late last month, the band parted ways with drummer Devon Shirley in the middle of an East Coast tour. And this past Monday, word came down that Rob Stevenson, the head of Stolen Transmission,…
Ali & Aj Insomniatic Hollywood Records 02:00-02:45 of “Potential Breakup Song” I think I might have stumbled into some strange tween land because I’m a little embarrassed to have this in my hands. Perhaps even more embarrassed that I’m nodding my head and tapping my toe. I mean, they’re right,…
For those of you discontent with the hip-hop scene, Ghostface Killah released an excellent album this week along with this accompanying video. Veteran rapper Pimp C dies in L.A. Rapper Pimp C, of the veteran and legendary Houston rap group UGK (Underground Kingz), was found dead in a Los Angeles…
Scene One: Setting the Stage All right, who wants to make out? No pushing. No shoving. Just take a number, form an orderly line, and let’s do this! Welcome to the first installment of Mile High Makeout, a Westword Backbeat Online exclusive weekly column that lip-locks with anything and everything…
Looks like this may turn out to be a jolly season after all. Late last week, I got word that one of my all-time favorite hometown bands is getting back together. Sure, it’s just for a few nights, but I’ll take whatever I can get. When Drag the River was…
If you’ve even skimmed a music blog over the past year, chances are you’re already familiar with Vampire Weekend. Together for less than two years, the band has generated a substantial blogosphere buzz that has spread to more traditional outlets — NPR, Spin and even the New York Times —…
These days, tons of bands try to be simultaneously sensitive and muscular — not to mention radio-friendly — with stirring guitar crunch, sweetly rendered vocal harmonies and heart-on-sleeve lyrics tackling the personal and the political. But few do it as well, or as genuinely, as Jimmy Eat World, which helped…
If there’s one artist who’s the least likely to release a Christmas album, it’s gotta be Aimee Mann, who’s built an entire career out of penning songs about heroin addiction and miscellaneous other forms of emotional agony. But that’s just what she did last year, and with the Aimee Mann…
“I kind of figured that we’d get bashed on this record some,” says VHS or Beta singer/guitarist Craig Pfunder about the band’s latest album, Bring on the Comets, which has garnered widely varied reviews. “But you’ve got to just go, ‘Fuck it.’ People hear what they want to hear in…
Chris Brown, Exclusive (Jive/Zomba). “Take Me Down” symbolizes Brown’s eagerness to transition from kiddie-soul heartthrob to young-adult megastar; at one point, he sings, “It ain’t my first time/But baby girl, we can pretend.” Luckily, Brown’s got the goods, effectively holding center stage despite noteworthy guests such as Kanye West and…
A few weeks ago, a cousin told me about The Pick-Up Artist, this reality show on VH1 where a dude who calls himself “Mystery” and a few of his buddies teach ordinary guys how to pick up girls. Although it’s hard to take anything seriously when it’s coming from a…
When the Emmas played their final show in June 2006, this town lost one of its longest-running, most entrepreneurial and prolific punk acts. Almost immediately, though, singer-guitarist Lisa Cook and bassist E-N Pumpernickel filled the void by forming Turbo Knife Fight. Building upon the Emmas’ raw, simple, elemental punk, Turbo…
