You’re excused if you’ve never heard of the “Best New Band in the World.” That sobriquet, bequeathed upon the Jamaican reggae/dub/fusion band Dubtonic Kru, comes from the “Global Battle of the Bands” held last year on the opposite side of the globe, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
No doubt it’s a fine prize for the band, coming with $100,000 in cash and development prize money. But if the contest’s previous winners are any indication, don’t expect this alone to launch Dubtonic Kru into international stardom. I’m assuming you haven’t heard of bands like Kopek, Heavy Mojo, or Boys in a Band either – all past winners of the contest. (Ironically, the title itself may be a misnomer in this case: Dubtonic Kru has been around for at least 15 years.) [Read More...]
“We don’t want our music to be remembered,” replied the musician (it wasn’t clear from the interview which of the three — Mikul Wing, Louis Kha, or Graham Cody – was speaking). “If it’s being remembered, then we’re dead.”
There is nothing remotely dead about Midnight Conspiracy’s throbbing, propulsive grooves. In fact, this is precisely of-the-moment music, the kind that will probably sound old-school before most of its fans are out of school, but which seems perfectly tuned to the times right now. [Read More...]
It’s been almost two years since Missoula last had a date with the Clumsy Lovers. Back in the early years of the last decade, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based band was a favored regular in town, swinging through town for frequent gigs at the Ritz on Ryman. In 2008, the band played one of the prime slots at the River City Roots Festival, followed by a set at Downtown ToNight in 2009. Since then, nada.
But fear not, ye lovers of the Lovers: they’re back next Thursday, May 19, for a gig at the Top Hat. [Read More...]
The Gourds, the Austin, Tx.-based band that has become something of a Missoula darling over the years, announced a return engagement…at the Top Hat.
Strange as that may sound for a band that has headlined the River City Roots Festival in front of thousands of people, the shows should offer an intimate experience not recently matched around here. Here’s the announcement I received about it: [Read More...]
The Après-ski is where to be this weekend, with a pair of concerts in Missoula aimed at celebrating all that is gnarly and sick (that’s ‘extreme’ and ‘good’ to the rest of us). [Read More...]
Before Butter was Butter, it was simply two friends churning musical ideas as their clothes spun in the dryer. That was 2007, when Hermina Harold and Lisena Brown, two local musicians who had recently met, began getting together in the private din of a laundry room and softly spinning vocal harmonies and dreamy musical yarns.
“The two of us had both been singing backup before,” said Harold, whose past musical projects included roles in local bands Danny’s Dilemma and Travis Sehorn & the Pebble Light. “We started getting together because we were craving an outlet that was our own.”
“It was magical,” added Brown, herself a familiar face as a keyboardist and singer with bands including Wartime Blues and Pillar Saints. “Sparks flew.” [Read More...]
“Artists in residence” and “Top Hat” are not two phrases one normally expects to hear in the same sentence. Though long a central hub in the Missoula music scene, the Front Street nightclub has typically centered its evening business plan around late-night shows by local rock, blues, and folk acts and a sprinkling of touring bands.
This month, that familiar cocktail comes with a twist, when local chamber-folk quintet Stellarondo sets up shop for a series of early-evening shows on Thursdays at the Top Hat. Billed as a residency, the series is, as much as anything, a polishing shop for the band, which will hit the road early next year in conjunction with the release of its first official album. [Read More...]
I’d heard over the weekend about a schedule screw-up that forced the cancellation of “The Doppelganger,” an original “noir radio play” by Missoula writer Kaet Morris that was scheduled to take place at the Top Hat on Saturday as part of the local celebration of “The Big Read.”
Today, I received a copy of an apology sent to the Missoulian by the Top Hat management; I share it here. [Read More...]
Somewhere along the meandering course of the now-waning jam-band decade, horn-driven funk acts seemed to largely drop out of the regional nightclub circuit. While local bands such as Reverend Slanky and Sweet Low Down filled in the gap for fans of 70s-style get-down music, the number of busload bands blowing through town has dwindled noticeably since the turn of the millennium.
It’s no surprise, really: These days, a keyboardist with a decent rack of gear can fill in the ornamental gaps, while not requiring nearly as much space in the van – or food in the belly — as three honking homeboys. With the price of gas continually on the rise, many large bands have abandoned touring altogether, unless they’re able to fill theatre-sized venues.
And then, of course, there are the shifting tides of taste, which have turned in favor of techno-oriented acts in recent years. Where the Missoula-founded jam-band Signal Path once boasted five members playing mostly traditional rock-band instruments, it has now slimmed to two, who make their music mostly on electronic gadgets. New Orleans-based Galactic – one of the earliest and most successful bands in the jam-band movement – has dropped three members (including its vocalist) over the years, replacing them with looped samples and other electronic effects. Other nationally touring acts have similarly slimmed and techno-fied.
Point being, when a good old-fashioned horn band shows up in town, it’s an occasion in the eyes of old-school fans of the bump-and-grind. And when that band is Lubriphonic, hungry fans of the genre are likely to get what they’re looking for. [Read More...]
I’m almost afraid to say anything negative about Oakland-based band Antioquia. After all, their latest album is called, “My Piano ate the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle.” I’d hate to see what it could do to this defenseless little blog.
Fortunately, there’s little to criticize about these four oddballs, whose well of inspiration seems to be located in a colorfully strange land halfway between Shakedown Street and Sesame Street. [Read More...]
You’re excused if you’ve never heard of the “Best New Band in the World.” That sobriquet, bequeathed upon the Jamaican reggae/dub/fusion band Dubtonic Kru, comes from the “Global Battle of the Bands” held last year on the opposite side of the globe, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In a recent interview with the members of Chicago electronic music trio Midnight Conspiracy, amidst 
The Gourds, the Austin, Tx.-based band that has become something of a Missoula darling over the years, announced a return engagement…at the Top Hat.
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