Kathleen Hanna formed Bikini Kill, the most visible product of the early-’90s riot-grrrl movement, to disrupt the orthodoxy, juicing go-go garage rock with sarcastic drill-team choruses and enough teen spirit to inspire a nation of fanzine-writing followers. After Bikini Kill ran its course — just as the potency of the…
The Bravery was recently provoked into a well-publicized feud by the leader of its fellow new-wave-cannibalizing nemesis, the Killers. Apparently, Brandon Flowers asserted that the Gotham quartet wouldn’t have a record deal if it wasn’t for his synth-driven Sin City-based combo. Meanwhile, the Bravery’s manicured mouthpiece, Sam Endicott, fired back…
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien’s semi-fictional memoir of Vietnam, is considered one of the greatest war books of all time. Although Fort Collins’s The Things They Carry hasn’t quite reached that level of acclaim, its gritty, relentless post-punk is every bit as visceral. The troupe formed in 2002 from…
Jason Amm, better known to the experimental dance music contingent as Solvent, creates some of the most melodic and beautiful techno-pop music since the heyday of Kraftwerk and New Order. His attention to melody and sweeping synth lines is what distinguishes him from just about every other producer on the…
If you didn’t cry a little back there,” says Lisa Gedgaudas, “there’s something wrong with you.” Gedgaudas’s boyfriend, Born in the Flood frontman Nathaniel Rateliff, has just finished an especially moving set at the Acoma Center. As he steps off the stage, his own tears are nearly indistinguishable from the…
Singer and provocateur Gerard Way considers My Chemical Romance to be the “odd band out” on the Warped Tour bill. “A majority of indie bands, emo bands, hardcore-punk bands, whatever, look the same, act the same and write about the same stuff,” he points out. “As much as people go…
DJ Vajra is surprisingly stoic when I inform him that he has no talent. “I’m not really insulted by that,” the DJ responds. “I try not to get insulted by much of anything that people say.” Vajra, aka Chris Karns, is even less ruffled when I point out that he’s…
For this particular fan, the Pixies’ reunion tour, 2005 edition, was a bit underwhelming. It was nice to see the group receive some long overdue recognition, but the players seemed hemmed in by the restrictions placed upon them by the large, nostalgia-hungry crowd. This impression was reinforced by Honeycomb, in…
After a decade of innovation that electrified urban music, Missy Elliott and Timbaland have mostly gone their separate ways on The Cookbook. Save for a couple of tracks, Missy made this disappointing album on her own. Of course, it’s a letdown only by comparison with her five previous groundbreaking efforts…
There’s a girl sitting across from you in class, chewing on her eraser, chestnut hair draped across carved-soap cheekbones as she fidgets and squints at the math exam on her desk. Smartest kid in the class, and the cutest, but still sweet enough to glance up, catch you staring and…
Jagjaguwar wants to make damn sure this disc is heard by as many people as possible. The imprint released the CD in January but plans to launch it again in August — and the extra effort is more than justified. Black Mountain, Stephen McBean’s idiosyncratic Vancouver-based collective, is dark, heavy…
There are lots of albums you love despite yourself, and plenty that just plain blow. But Vee Device’s sophomore full-length, Autobiography of a Dying Band, is that rare breed of record: one you try hard as hell to like, but can’t. After all, the skeleton of this disc is more…
Cession’s CD has been a long time coming. Partners Exavier “Marte” Russell Swain and Terrence “Smoke” McGinnis, subsequently joined by Joseph “Fuqua” Jones, have been performing and recording together since the first half of the ’90s, but this disc is the group’s first full-length — and it’s a strong effort…
Niyaz, Niyaz (Six Degrees Records). Remember about six years ago when Cheb Mami guested on that godawful Sting vehicle “Desert Rose”? His brief cameo was the only thing that made that Jaguar jingle even remotely tolerable. Well, imagine an entire album filled with similarly blissed-out arias, only sung by a…
No one on the current scene is better at playing the music-buying public than the pasty Mr. Mathers. As evidence, think back to the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, when he was apparently offended by ribbing from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a puppet wielded by comedian Robert Smigel. This…
The Reverend Adam F. Glasseye looks at the Old American West through the glass eyes of shady sailors and traveling salesmen. The Right Reverend — formerly of Slim Cessna’s Auto Club — fills his snake oil Chautauqua with dark visions, bizarre instruments and stories of salvation and damnation. Honored in…
Queen used to put disclaimers in its records proudly stating that “no synthesizers were used on this record.” Of course, that was before the ’80s enslaved the world — Freddie Mercury and crew included — in a Tron-like dystopia of silicon chips and squiggly blips. Delaware’s Mixel Pixel still lives…
Gatsbys American Dream’s last album was based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and its latest, Volcano, is also a concept album. With references to Lord of the Flies and a story told from the point of view of Mount Vesuvius, it might seem more dull than your eighth-grade summer reading…
How do you deal with asshole hecklers? Drew Danburry has his own unique solution. After failing to silence a loudmouth member of the audience during a recent show in Illinois, the Utah-based songwriter led the crowd out of the venue and into the street for an acoustic sing-along of “I…
In Africa, Femi Kuti shoulders expectations on a par with the burdens borne by Sean Lennon and Lisa Marie Presley. His father, Fela Kuti, was an enormous star in his native Nigeria and the African continent as a whole, thanks to his brilliantly spirited and danceable music, popularly known as…
Mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, ice ages and laptops? Though named after a primordial era of Earth’s past, the massive avant-garde act Pleistocene is one of Denver’s most forward-looking and highly evolved ensembles. Drawing inspiration from such experimental entities as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Ros, the ten-piece troupe incorporates guitar,…
London’s James Zabiela (due at the Church this Thursday, July 14) is living out every bedroom-DJ’s fantasy. Once a record-shop clerk and amateur deckmeister who only dreamed of success and stardom, Zabiela is now one of the hottest jocks around, thanks to Musik Magazine’s mix tape contest, which Zabiela entered…
