The accompanying Q&A with Chuck D of Public Enemy, keyed to an appearance by the venerable group that’s previewed in the October 25 Westword, provides a perfect excuse to unearth a profile of PE’s Professor Griff. The piece, complete with the very same image seen here, was published in March…
The following Q&A with keyboardist Marco Benevento, who’s at the heart of an October 25 Westword preview of area appearances by the Benevento Russo Duo, was a family affair. The phone conversation began as Benevento was checking on his infant daughter, Ruby, who’d just gone down for a nap. He…
Electric Six, Gore Gore Girls and We Are the Fury October 22, 2007, Larimer Lounge Better than: Trying to remember an album name like I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master “Kill Hollywood Rock” was stenciled on the guitar player’s Marshall cabinet, which alone…
Polyphonic Spree and Rooney The Gothic Theatre October 22, 2007 Better than: Being the sound guy for the Polyphonic Spree, that’s got to be a bitch. Having Rooney open for Polyphonic Spree was like watching a drunk fight a rooster, followed by Zeus battling Poseidon on Mt. Olympus. Not only…
Aesop Rock The Fox Theatre October 19, 2007 Better Than: Whatever CD your roommate currently thinks qualifies as “some real MC shit.” For years, Aesop Rock has been the poster boy for the frustrating gulf between the chart-topping rapper that perpetuates lazy stereotypes and the subterranean MC that consistently defies…
Here’s a sample of the week’s best music blogging from around the Village Voice Media empire: Okay, you can go to your gig, but be home by 9:30, it’s a school night: A fantastic piece on Care Bears on Fire, a pre-pubescent punk trio. Satan, self-mutilation, porn stars, a mind-bogglingly…
Josh Ritter Fox Theatre October 18, 2007 I expected Josh Ritter to be one of those cigarette-smoking, whiskey-drinking troubadour types who is too “real” for this world. His songs channel just about every great American singer/songwriter before him and have that back-roads twang of authenticity. But Ritter has the persona…
Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, the Dead Kenny Gs, and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey October 17, 2007 Fox Theatre Better than: Doing bong hits and listening to Sailing the Seas of Cheese As I entered Boulder’s landmark Fox Theatre for last night’s jazz jam extravaganza, two visibly inebriated sorority sisters stumbled…
Vonnegut, The Frequent Sea and Stars of Track and Field October 17, 2007 The hi-dive Better than: My usual weeknight plan of quietly drinking myself into oblivion – but only barely. Kurt Vonnegut, the writer, was incisive, witty, brilliant and unique. So I expect a lot – a lot—from a…
We don’t hear many stories about prominent artists going the extra mile for fans – particularly if it means a hit to their wallet. But Underworld is currently doing so by giving away a copy of its just-released CD, Oblivion With Bells, to each ticket buyer who attended a troubled…
I love hardcore. I love the intensity, directness and simplicity of the music. Although the sound has evolved stylistically over the years, the groups that rule today aren’t that far removed from the bands I loved growing up. While so much of the music industry is influenced by trends and…
I’ve noticed recently that people on the street sometimes look at me strangely,” says Alison Sudol. “You know, kinda stare at me for a while, and then they smile, but then they don’t say anything, and I’m like ‘Okaaaay…?’ It’s these funny looks that I’ve never — ” On the…
Being in an acclaimed indie-pop band might seem very different from being a desk jockey, but for Office, the order and structure of the working world is one of the keys to success. The Chicago band started as a freewheeling solo performance-art and songwriting project for Scott Masson, but its…
Plenty of jazz musicians and aficionados think Kenny G is the Antichrist. Still, there are millions of people who think he’s a godsend. Those same people would hate the Dead Kenny G’s, whose music is a far cry from the sappy drivel dished out by its namesake. Skerik and Mike…
Although Arizona’s Scary Kids Scaring Kids are generally stamped with the emo label, the performer they name-check most frequently is Michael Jackson. Is that because most kids would find him far scarier than any of the allegedly Scary Kids? Not quite. “We like to have dance parties on the bus,”…
Keyshia Cole, Just Like You (Geffen). Judging by the way Cole is marketed, the You in her sophomore CD’s title is Mary J. Blige. But if her vocalizing isn’t always as distinctive as it could be, she’s got a knack for soulful, take-no-crap dramas such as “Shoulda Let You Go”…
Last New Year’s Eve, Charles Trujillo and Paul Piciocchi opened the sleek and sexy Sutra Room at 1109 Lincoln Street, and soon followed it up with Left on Lincoln, which took over the front portion of the building as well as the patio. They were essentially separate clubs under the…
On stage, Weird Turn Prose resembles the average post-slacker-phase indie-rock band. The players look relatively clean-cut, despite their informal style. They also seem to have taken the time to actually learn how to play their instruments — so well, in fact, that there isn’t a poorly executed moment. While it’s…
There’s one thing that all the best DJs have in common, an ineffable quality that’s completely subjective yet somehow universal: good taste. And no one has better taste than DJ Sasha, which has made him one of the world’s premier superstar DJs for almost a decade. Sasha (due at Vinyl…
It’s lucky for Kid Rock that he’s an egomaniacal dipshit, because otherwise his music would be about as memorable as a Molly Hatchet eight-track sans “Flirting With Disaster.” Still, the former Mr. Pamela Anderson’s good-humored salutes to his own cocksmanship, not to mention his skill at Xeroxing classic boogie, can’t…
The genesis of Mac Lethal’s new album reads like a classic struggle between art and commerce. After years of annihilating the competition at Scribble Jam, the Kansas City MC signed to Rhymesayers in 2005. His mother had died the previous year, and he turned in an album full of poignant,…
The Pornstarrs are MC J-Von the JiggaL.O.W. and producer Chili Fantastic, who are both known primarily for their production and remixing skills. D.O.P.E., the duo’s latest, is a collection of pre-Pornstarrs work — or, more specifically, that of Zero Hour, J-Von’s previous outfit, and subsequent projects that came about after…
