GARAGEY R&B
“Baby.”
The Detroit Cobras
Bloodshot
Bar bands don’t get much better than the Detroit Cobras. Their impeccable taste in covers – mainly obscure ’50s and ’60s R&B – goes great with a tall, cool one.
Take away the barroom, and the playing can sound a tad bombastic, but smoky-voiced frontwoman Rachel Nagy saves the day. The Cobras’ take on “It’s Raining,” for example, won’t make anybody forget Irma Thomas, but Nagy sings with uncommon subtlety, caressing the words in a most soulful way. And she’s quite convincing as a woman scorned on the more typically driving “Ya Ya Ya (Looking for My Baby),” whose opening bars turned up in a Bud Light commercial last year.
– R.K. Beegle
The Detroit Cobras, with Reigning Sound and Call Sign Cobra, 9 p.m. Friday, Bluebird Theater; ticketweb.com.
HIP-HOP
“The Mouse and the Mask”
Danger Doom
Epitaph
Besides Kanye West’s “Late Registration,” this hasn’t been the most interesting year for rap music. Thankfully, mash-up master (and Gorillaz member) Danger Mouse and underground rapper MF Doom teamed up for this smooth listen featuring voices from Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim.” The result, like last year’s MF Doom/Madlib collaboration, is a must-have.
From start to finish, Doom’s nimble delivery is reminiscent of a drunken, verbose Biggie Smalls. But his references – from television to dating to music-industry politics – are more expansive than Biggie’s truncated body of work. Pair that with Danger Mouse’s knack for fusing classic soul and old-school rap, and the consistent jokester vibe of Danger Doom’s cartoon friends, and this album easily outshines pop radio’s current Twista/Mariah Carey assault.
– Elana Ashanti Jefferson
HARD ROCK
“Enter the Chicken”
Buckethead & Friends
Serjical Strike
Experimental electric guitar virtuoso Buckethead is back, with his most digestible record to date. This collaborative project pairs him with vocalists, from Death by Stereo’s Efrem Schultz to System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, who released the CD on his imprint.
It’s best when Buckethead turns away from the righteous, ’80s-inspired fretwork to the subtlety of the female-fronted ballads that take over “Enter the Chicken” at mid-stride. “Running From the Light” leads the way like a metal-tinged trip-hopper with Maura Davis and Eligayeho “Gigi” Shibabaw on vocals. And “Waiting Hare” is a dual-minded masterpiece duet between Tankian and the sexy Shana Halligan.
– Ricardo Baca
Buckethead, 9 p.m. Thursday, Bluebird; 9 p.m. Friday, Fox Theatre in Boulder; 9 p.m. Saturday, Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins; 9 p.m. Nov. 13, Belly Up Tavern in Aspen. Information: bucketheadland.com.
