Music

Declaring a moratorium on bands influenced by the post-punk sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s seems like a fine idea. After all, how much more danceable depression can the average music fan take before he pulls on his Ian Curtis T-shirt and hangs himself? And yet this plan…

Releasing a “mature” followup to their acclaimed 2003 debut could have been a total disaster for ex-Unicorns Nick Diamonds and Jaime Tambeu. Considering that the Montreal group’s unpredictable song structures and amateurish, lo-fi charm were what initially earned it so much praise, the decision to disband the Unicorns, start anew…

It’s safe to assume that nobody needs an introduction to the Atomic Dog, aka Dr. Funkenstein, aka Uncle Jam. George Clinton’s influence on pop, rock and hip-hop is far too profound to detail here. But you know that, right? You might also have realized his music is as scathingly political…

After all these years, Gary Holt is still pissed off. As the founder of prototypical Bay Area thrash outfit Exodus, the dexterous guitarist and songwriter has spewed enough bile and venom over the past two decades to provide an alternative fuel. In a world of church-sanctioned pedophilia and corporate-sponsored wars…

When it rains, it pours, and for Portland-based Kind of Like Spitting, it’s been a never-ending drizzle of singer-songwriter wishy-wash. Ben Barnett spat out the first incarnation of Kind of Like Spitting nearly a decade ago and has kept the dream alive with rotating members both on and off the…

To be a musician and hail from New Orleans this year is to have the world’s ear — up to a point. That very same world would probably demand that your group have some kind of universally recognizable blues or R&B packed away in its rowboat and expect that you…

Screamo is so, like, two years ago. Snotty, screeching vocals and wizard-tech guitar has mostly been abandoned by the underground (save for those adorable hangers-on) and cast aside for the unholy depths of slow and heavy musical montages. Doom metal is hot — as in fires-of-hell hot. And that’s where…

Ron D. Core — who’s slated to appear at the Aztlan Theatre this Saturday, May 13 — has been pushing hardcore and gabber sounds out of his home base in Los Angeles for fifteen years now, and is one of the defining names not only in hardcore, but in the…

Art Brut has spent most of its short career being lauded by the British press as too-cool Johnny Rotten types ripe with delicious sarcasm and satire. The act’s first single was the matter-of-factly titled “Formed a Band,” in which lead vocalist Eddie Argos squeals, “Formed a band/Look at us, we…

Sitting in a hotel bar overlooking downtown Denver, Vinnie Paul Abbott is stunned that not a single TV is tuned to the hockey game. His boys, the Dallas Stars, are taking an ass-whuppin’ at the hands of the Avalanche — or so Big Vin tells me — and he’d like…

In February, computer-savvy fans of the Los Angeles hip-hop duo called People Under the Stairs were psyched to discover what appeared to be a leak from Stepfather, a project released in April. But those who downloaded it probably wondered if the group should change its name to People Under the…

Three of the Briefs’ four members — guitarists Steve E. Nix and Daniel J. Travanti, and drummer Chris Brief — recently took a few moments to, um, briefly discuss their new album, Steal Yer Heart, as well as punk rock’s brevity and the truth behind the songs “Genital General” and…

The duo known as Atmosphere — featuring the RZA-esque production of Anthony “Ant” Davis and the self-deprecating lyrics of Sean “Slug” Daley — sits at the center of the Minneapolis-based Rhymesayers’ collective. Proudly shouting out DJ Run, Kool G Rap and KRS-One on 2005’s You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun…

Witches have their familiars. Jolie Holland has whole hosts of critters dwelling within the dipping fleurs-de-lis and Rococo ruffles of her music. Most of them are winged, but as Holland reminds us with the title of her third full-length, Springtime Can Kill You, airborne beasts such as ghosts, mockingbirds and…

If A Tribe Called Quest had jettisoned the bong-jazz flow and picked up where Afrika Bambaataa left off, the group would have created something like the simultaneously amped-up and chilled-out atmosphere of the debut by Baltimore duo Spank Rock. Naeem Juwan doesn’t blaze any trails with his booty-call braggart lyrics,…

So-called alternative bands can’t remain outsiders over the long haul: Either they collapse under the weight of unmet expectations, or they become as mainstream as the acts to which they were once considered alternatives. How, then, can Built to Spill continue to make enjoyable and relevant music after more than…

After taking garage and two-step to unexpected creative heights on Original Pirate Material and dropping a mind-blowing concept album about a slacker everyman, fame, fortune and fuckups, Mike Skinner was driven to record his own Hotel California. Or so it might seem, on an album that begins with a coke-wasted…

There used to be a shed in Greeley where indie bands would play. Yes, a fucking shed. I’m not sure how much the town has changed lately — when’s the last time you were there? — but if Vitamins’ eponymous EP is any indication, the manure and monotony have really…

Instrumental music can be cold and clinical. Fortunately, the Sputter — which thankfully doesn’t live up to its foreboding tag — fans its sound to more combustible ends. On its latest disc, Great Unseen, the outfit ignites a mother lode of grooves with the pleasing sparks of the organ-driven opener,…

The Aggrolites, The Aggrolites (Epitaph). The SoCal-based Aggrolites may specialize in reggae by way of punk, but they ain’t Sublime. The quintet is rootsier than most graduates from the scene, giving unexpected prominence to Roger Rivas’s wonderfully rinky-dink organ. The results are secondhand, but the infectious group vocals and jumpin’…

Thumps, creaks, giggles, clicks — these are the first sounds you hear when listening to a recording by Joseph Childress. The California-born, Colorado-bred songwriter doesn’t make CDs, per se, but rather lo-fi snapshots taken during his many travels across the continent. Perpetually on the move, Childress packs his lush acoustic…