Philadelphia’s greatest contributors to hip-hop, the Roots, like to begin their CDs with a snatch of dialogue. It’s their way of introducing a new set of themes, of offering a kind of preamble to the state of the union message that’s on the way. But the exchange that launches the…
What a difference a few weeks can make. In mid-December, Jimmy Eat World was one frustrated emo-punk band. The Mesa quartet had completed a masterful, ambitiously produced album for Capitol Records last summer, hoping all along to have it out by October ’98, so the band could squeeze in a…
It’s Saturday afternoon in downtown Tempe. The Coffee Plantation’s patio off Sixth Street and Mill is warmed by a late winter sun that slow roasts the usual blend of slackers, hackers and idle overachievers. A four-piece band is tucked off in a corner of the courtyard. The music, a bouncy,…
Kelly Willis What I Deserve (Rykodisc) It’s been a good decade since Austinites began predicting stardom for Kelly Willis. Even within the context of her late ’80s roots-rock band Radio Ranch, it seemed obvious that anyone with such angelic beauty and honey-soaked pipes was a can’t-miss proposition. Despite many false…
A gunshot blast is as predictable as nightfall now, and twice as evil as anything the night could otherwise offer. That metallic discharge that conquers all sound and grace in these slow, dark nights is the most obvious sign of hate–the ugliest sort of hate–the kind that comes paired with…
Paul Westerberg is almost 40. He’s married, a father and has a bad back. Those aren’t uncommon characteristics for someone his age, but in the case of Westerberg, who released his third solo album, Suicaine Gratifaction this week, growing old has been difficult. For those of us who came of…
When the original members of Kiss re-formed for a take-the-money-and-run tour in 1996, a persistent rumor followed their platform boots from city to city. According to this slice of gossip, guitarist Ace Frehley was occasionally in such fragile (read: drunk) condition that at some shows a look-alike had to fill…
Jason Falkner Can You Still Feel? (Elektra Records) “Take a chance with me.” Those are the first words out of singer-songwriter Jason Falkner’s mouth on his sophomore CD, a message delivered with a touch of vaudeville piano and a disembodied vocal that sounds like it could be coming from a…
Disco dead? Hardly. According to Headbangers Against Disco (or H.A.D.) it’s still alive and sucking. This self-proclaimed “idealistic organization that works to prevent the spread of disco and all it stands for” wants to sell you $24 tee shirts advising you to “burn down your local disco now!!” The headquarters…
As a kid, I went through a very brief infatuation with the clarinet after watching The Benny Goodman Story on TV with my dad. All these years later, it’s as clear to me as the horn-rims on Steve Allen’s ugly mug that this film was a ludicrously romanticized bio-pic typical…
In the liner notes to his new bluegrass album, Steve Earle concedes that his primary motive for engaging in the project in the first place was to achieve immortality. An “ambitious and selfish” desire to be sure, but as Earle puts it, “I wanted to write just one song that…
It’s impossible to talk about Valley music for long without the subject turning to the sad state of local radio. Even natives frequently shake their heads in disgust, unable to comprehend that a market of this size could be stuck with so few credible music options. The most glaring omission…
Irony visited Charles Brown in his final months. The great rhythm-and-blues pianist and vocalist, best known today for having penned “Merry Christmas, Baby,” made it through one last Christmas, but he couldn’t make it to what probably would have been the biggest celebration of his career–his Rock and Roll Hall…
For years Nick Francis dreamed of producing a contemporary instrumental album. For years Cliff Sarde dreamed of having a producer to help him shape his musical ideas. These dreams collided two and a half years ago when Sarde–a veteran Valley musician who’s recorded for MCA and done extensive film and…
Built to Spill Keep It Like a Secret (Warner Bros.) Since the dawn of psychedelic music in 1966-1967, rock auteurs have searched for ways to stretch the pop song into longer and wider shapes. But it’s unlikely that anyone has ever expanded the form with more twisted grace than Doug…
When you tell people you’re writing about Squeeze, you get one of three responses: a) “Are they still together?” b) “They used to be really good.” c) “They’re a little too clever for their own good.” Yes kids, Squeeze did split up back in 1982, but the band reassembled three…
For most people, this space in the ’60s-style condo in downtown Phoenix would serve as a small bedroom, the kind your teenage sister would complain about before she packed up her things and moved into the garage. But to Brian Talenti, guitarist, singer and primary songwriter for the local rock…
Finally. That’s what the members of Sistah Blue considered calling their brand-new debut CD. For three-and-a-half years, the members of this all-female blues quintet have patiently endured the same question from their ultra-avid local fans: When is that CD coming out? Now, finally, the band has a satisfactory response, in…
Blondie No Exit (Beyond) It’s pro forma in the world of rock that whenever a band reforms after a long absence, the band members always claim that working together felt like they’d never been away, that they’ve picked up right where they left off. The good news surrounding No Exit,…
There is a moment during “See You Around,” the final track of Vic Chesnutt’s 1996 album About to Choke, where he sings “I must admit I’m flattered by your consecration/It’s a mind-numbing spine-chilling/But nevertheless heartwarming gesture/As you make your advances so clumsily/I’ll save us both the hassle and leave.” It…
Charlie Levy has something in common with Michael Corleone. No, Levy isn’t a Sicilian mob boss (at least as far as we know), and his dad probably looks nothing like Marlon Brando. But, just like Corleone, every time Levy thinks he’s out, they keep pulling him back in. In Levy’s…
About to leave the Valley on a personal version of FarmAid, Rena Haus pauses, amid the confusion of packing, to page through her scrapbooks. Whenever she points to photos of the performers she’s opened for, like Maria Muldaur at the Rhythm Room, or Pat Benatar at the Celebrity Theatre, she…
