Although “soundtracky” isn’t a term recognized by the folks at Webster’s, everyone knows what it means — instrumental music that may work when paired with cinematic imagery but seems empty and uninteresting without it. Detractors of Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, a French twosome collectively known as Air, have used…
Taking cues from the late Argentine tango wizard Astor Piazzolla, the three conservatory-trained East Coast musicians who make up the Tin Hat Trio continue to tinker with “world music” — and boy, do they like to tinker. Recorded almost completely without overdubs, Helium marks the skilled followup to the group’s…
Catatonia’s second effort to see American release combines the Welsh band’s sarcasm, gravelly vocals, smartly overplayed pop and an attitude that reeks of cigarettes, hard liquor and the morning after to give lightheartedness a swift kick in the groin. When lead singer Cerys Matthews sings “Ooh sha la la la…
Join me now in a little creative visualization, won’t you? It’s the not-so-distant future, and that digital dial in your self-cleaning car is pumping in nothing but corporate radio 24-7. Megalithic corporations like Clear Channel and AM/FM have succeeded in acquiring all of the nation’s FM and AM stations. Aided…
The Automaton Adventure Series, with Fast Action Revolver, Friday, May 26, at the 15th Street Tavern, is another Northwestern outfit that makes you wonder if the same daylong misting that cultivates mushrooms, moss and lush scenery in that region also breeds some of todays more compelling bands. Combining the postmodern…
Uversa, with Neil Haversticks Space Music, Thursday, May 25, at the Lions Lair, is the ethereal, guitar-driven project of composer TJ Edwards — who seems as comfortable strumming a classical acoustic guitar as he is generating some crunchy electric noise. Edwardss debut CD, Uversa, is an effervescent, eclectic mix that…
When an overwhelming response to last years Victorias Secret online fashion show caused the companys Web site to crash, one thing was confirmed: Short hemlines attract. Its something the fashion-savvy folks at the A Bar learned with last years White Party — an event theyre bringing back for a second…
In medieval times, a form of recreational torture involved placing a condemned person’s head inside a heavy, cast-metal church bell and ringing it until he or she went insane. Forget about going deaf. We’re talking flipped-out, gone-down-the-road wacko, Nurse Ratched. Such nerve-shattering law and order instilled fear into a nation’s…
If you tell Thes One and Double K of the L.A.-based hip-hop duo The People Under the Stairs that they sound dated or old-school, they take it as the ultimate act of appreciation. “That’s the best compliment ever,” says MC Thes One. “I don’t want to sound new. I want…
Running an independent record label is always a tricky business proposition. You needn’t be a business-school graduate to recognize that music is a big, big industry and that the little guy is often squashed beneath the heavy boot of seemingly omniscient major label giants. The prospect of starting an indie…
Pop tart Gwen Stefani — pretty as she can be, with a midriff for the ages — celebrated a special birthday recently: the dreaded three-oh. And by industry standards — those sad, governing, youth-obsessed, number-crunching principles — such a cosmic reckoning usually means one thing: Keep the salt lick and…
Ween has a perception problem: Non-fans know it best as a somewhat offensive, zany, wacko goofball outfit mainly out to parody and desecrate. But if no one’s taking Ween seriously, we can safely blame the victims here, what with such career moves as openly discussing plans to spray diarrhea onto…
Trumpeter Dave Douglas, jazz magazine cover boy and darling of the European jazz set, is multifaceted, to be sure. The introspective classicist can suddenly turn into a fiery post-bop improviser, and the eclectic composer can re-emerge as the all-out swinger. Soul on Soul marks the third time Douglas has paid…
Cabaret Diosa — the nine-piece extravaganza of guitars, horns, mambo, swing, jazz and, of course, dancing — is a band that exudes more drama than a late-night Springer marathon. It seems fitting, then, that director Erich Toll of Boulder’s Big World Productions enlisted the musical diaspora as soundtrack providers for…
Vic Chesnutt and Kristin Hersh, with the Willard Grant Conspiracy, Tuesday, May 23, at the Fox Theatre, appear on a double bill they’ve dubbed “In Their Own Worlds.” It’s an apt title considering Chesnutt and Hersh are songwriters who seem tapped into a creative dimension invisible to the normal, naked…
Denver Turnverein Choir, Saturday, May 20, at the Denver Turnverein, 1570 Clarkson Street, sports a cultural heritage as rich as Denver itself. The outfit’s namesake building dates back to the early part of the twentieth century and serves as the cultural center for Denver’s German citizens and its Turners, a…
If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, imagine how you could score with Super Diamond, Saturday, May 20, at the Ogden Theatre. The band is lighting up marquees and dazzling audiences these days with its very own Neil Diamond experience. Save your sneers and scorns, ye of the too-cool masses:…
True story: During the mid-’80s, when Lionel Richie, the once and future king of marsh- mellow soul, straddled the pop-music sphere like a colossus, I owned a life-sized cardboard standup of the former Commodore that my malevolent loved ones and I would, um, do stuff to. At first, this Richie…
Ben Stevens has just driven from his home in Lyons, Colorado, to Denver for a taste of his favorite pizza. It’s a considerable effort, considering all the pizza joints he’s passed on the way to Famous Pizza on South Broadway. “You can’t get good pizza in Boulder,” says Stevens, an…
It’s become increasingly easy — and respectable — to create electronic music. Platinum-selling artists like Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers have steadily worn down America’s innate resistance to sampled dance music, and in many ways, the challenge to create engaging new sonic forms of music now falls to the…
Last week, some people had the notion that the world might end. On Friday, May 5, eight major bodies in our solar system aligned, and some apocalypse-watchers were downright positive that none of us would live to tell about it (or learn about it later while pulling bongs and watching…
The triple threat of REO Speedwagon, Styx and Eddie Money, Wednesday, May 17, at Fiddler’s Green, is proof that arena rock never died — it just spent a decade or so touring the state-fair circuit. In terms of both nostalgia and comedic potential, Wednesday’s show is not to be missed,…
