DJ Hipp-E may sound like an oxymoron to some, but anyone involved significantly with either culture should recognize the inherent ideological similarities — namely, community transcendence through music, mind-altering substance experimentation and indiscriminate brotherly love. Granted, these similarities aren’t always apparent in all cases, but Hipp-E is obviously down with…
Halfway through 2005, nothing should set off a music fan’s cred alert quicker than a band whose sound falls almost exactly between those of the White Stripes and the Strokes. Cincinnati’s Heartless Bastards fit that description — and yet such simple comparisons come nowhere close to doing justice to the…
If it’s pioneering, trailblazing, armed audio warfare you’re after, Meat Beat Manifesto is your answer. From 1989’s Storm the Studio — a tour de force of hip-hop, dub, industrial dance noise — to this year’s At the Center, a blend of electronica and jazzy live instrumentation (including a shocking amount…
Lorin Ashton, who’s christened himself Bassnectar, comes at electro-dance music from a different angle than the typical club jockey. Instead of stereotypically accelerating rhythms and pumping up the volume, this Burning Man veteran, who’ll share the Cervantes stage with Friends in Stereo, promotes an unexpectedly heady and complex agenda. His…
Leave it to the Amsterdam underground to come up with a sleazy, hard-chugging duo that combines a bombastic and bellowing drummer with an abusive, psychedelic pump organist. Meet Bjrn Ottenheim and Daan Schinkel, bellower and organ bully, respectively, whose riotous live sets channel the less cornball antics of Jim Morrison…
Despite having been around for years, the Atomic Bitchwax is practically a new band. At the time of its late-’90s launch, the group was a largely instrumental outfit in which moonlighting Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell was viewed as more equal than his partners, bassist Chris Kosnik and drummer Keith…
First you throw it on, blasé, one ear on the stereo and the other on the evening news reporting the dramatic conclusion of the Michael Jackson trial. After all, who expects anything from Elevator, Hot Hot Heat’s second album? The band blew its load with Make Up the Breakdown, a…
An insomniac’s dream come true, the Sleepers drift effortlessly between loosely structured pop and casually aggressive fuzz-core — a fitting tribute to what Bill Shakespeare once referred to as “the honey-heavy dew of slumber.” Gathered from the cast-off ashes of Denver’s Worm Trouble, this drowsy post-rock trio of songwriter/vocalist Kat…
The typical superstar DJ’s career can sometimes span decades. Jocks like Paul Oakenfold, Wink and Bad Boy Bill, who’ve been around forever and show no signs of letting up, can make it tough for an up-and-comer to make a name in the scene. But it’s these new faces who are…
Come again? Climax Lounge (2217 Welton Street) has a new booking agent. Josiah Albertsen took over a few weeks ago and says his goal is to return the focus to local bands, by providing a venue for acts that aren’t established enough to play larger clubs. And that’s not all:…
The process of making music isn’t always idyllic. Just ask Jme White. Blusom, the duo he co-founded with singer/guitarist Mike Behrenhausen, just released The Metapolitan, its sophomore full-length on the eminent Kansas City imprint, Second Nature. And while the group’s mix of sweet, sad indie pop and warped electronica may…
For listeners of a certain bent, the Futureheads present a genuine enigma. The British group’s self-titled 2004 CD is thoroughly enjoyable, yet it’s also extremely reminiscent of memorable new-wave platters from the late ’70s and early ’80s. So is The Futureheads good because it’s good? Or because it sounds like…
Before noon on most days, I’m dead. Dead, but still breathing. And as long as I keep offering up “fresh meat” to Maris the Great, the growling, blood-splattering commander of the Freak Brigade, I’ll continue to inhale and exhale on a regular basis. Besides, Maris, who’s been murdering bands for…
In a span of five years, Chris Martin has gone from being an irritating bloke mewling about yellow stars to his current role as movie-star boinker and fruity-name bestower. Inside the music business, he’s also seen as the man most likely to resuscitate the industry, and X&Y, the latest from…
It’s remarkable that after a half-decade of audacity, eccentricity and pulverizing hype, the White Stripes still manage to sneak up and genuinely surprise us. Get Behind Me Satan begins with the blasé “Dude, we’re rockin’ out, dude” single “Blue Orchid,” but from there it gets infinitely better, not to mention…
Here’s more proof that television eats its young. In the beginning, The Osbournes worked because of the spotlighted family’s near-complete obliviousness to what most of us regard as real life — but as fame intruded, so did the sort of self-consciousness that can ruin a good time faster than a…
It’s sadly appropriate that Oasis named its new record Don’t Believe the Truth. For the last decade, the group has been living in a state of denial: While publicly maintaining the swagger and arrogance of its mid-’90s heyday, the Liams and crew have been dribbling out the meekest music of…
During five years of relative post-millennial silence, Boredoms changed its name to Vooredoms, swapped out its guitarist and bassist for two more drummers and attached itself to sunny psychedelia like a rabid Rottweiler. Celebrating its eighteenth year of experimental surrealism, Lead Bore Yamataka Eye presents a pair of unedited, trance-inducing…
Lucero tries so hard that sometimes it’s difficult to watch. The Memphis group’s last two records, Tennessee and That Much Further West, were rousing exercises in roots rock that nonetheless left listeners wondering when singer/guitarist Ben Nichols and company might finally come into their own. Nobody’s Darlings is damned near…
Dressy Bessy’s debut full-length, 1999’s Pink Hearts Yellow Moons, was the sonic equivalent of a sugar rush — but after two similar followups, singer Tammy Ealom’s perky vivacity began to feel a bit overwhelming, like a laugh track turned up too loud. Fortunately, the combo’s new disc finds a happier…
A complete list of the exotic instruments used on Ido Ziv’s followup to Afro-Melt wouldn’t fit into this space. Integrating Assiya’s international-music sensibilities with congas, djembe, dunduns, woodblocks, wave drums and all assortment of shakers, Ziv, a Boulder-based percussionist who hails from Israel, employs a rotating, world-class lineup of players…
With an emphasis on lyrics and vocal harmony combined with restrained, well-crafted instrumental passages, Moonshine Still doesn’t initially seem to be cut from the typical jam-band cloth. But the group’s swirling keywork and Byzantine guitar figures layered over repetitive reggae-tinged beats verify that at least one of its feet is…
