One of the first things mentioned in James Zabiela’s official bio is his love of all things sci-fi, and boy, does it ever show in his music. Robotic gurgles, deliciously damaged synthesizer tones and freak-out soundscapes decorate and drive his meticulously compiled progressive/tech mixes and his own productions. He’s remixed…
Horse has spent the better part of the past few months holed up in Dave Otero’s Flatline Studio putting the finishing touches on its new album, U.S. Metal, which is due to drop after the first of the year. In anticipation of its release, the outfit, fronted by KPBI’s Uncle…
Metallica Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Pepsi Center To appreciate Metallica 3.0, you have to make peace with a few things: For starters, you have to reconcile the fact that the Cliff Burton-era lasted only three albums and ended over two decades ago. The surviving members moved on, and that’s okay…
As the Killer would say, goodness gracious, great God almighty! Sooner or later, you’d think this 3OH!3 craze would begin to wane, right? Yah. Guess again. It seems the boys have gone supernova. After two (yes, that’s two, folks) back-to-back sold out nights at the Gothic on Halloween weekend, the…
Stephen Malkmus, left, with his band, the Jicks. Former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus is an eccentric fellow, which explains in large part the idiosyncracies of this Q&A, conducted for a Westword profile published in advance of his Thursday, November 6, appearance at the Gothic Theatre. But that’s not the only…
The men of Pavement, back in the day. Our new Q&A with Stephen Malkmus, which accompanies a profile of the former Pavement frontman in advance of his Thursday, November 6, appearance at the Gothic Theatre, starts out with dialogue inspired by “It’s Getting Harder,” a profile of his old band…
In an indie-rock world dominated by males in their twenties and often choked with irony and self-consciousness, Marnie Stern is most assuredly an outlier. A 32-year-old woman with serious guitar chops and songwriting skills that are quickly growing to match them, Stern is unabashedly earnest about playing what she calls…
It’s been a while since we’ve come across a flier that struck us as cool enough to post in Pole Position. That said, we think this one touting the Overcaster’s CD release party this Saturday night at the Falcon more than qualifies. And while we’re on the subject of the…
k.d. lang. Ms. k.d. lang isn’t just a woman with a fondness for lower-case letters. She’s also a gifted vocalist and songwriter whose career has taken some intriguing twists and turns over the years — and she guides readers through many of them in the following Q&A, conducted in advance…
Not quite the next president of the United States. Barack Obama’s election last night stirred memories for me of the 1992 campaign. My son, Nick, was three-years old back then, and each time he saw a commercial touting one of the three major candidates, he delivered a stock response. At…
Umphrey’s McGee returns to Colorado for a three-show run in January. Umphrey’s McGee has played here so many times over the last few years that you’d almost think the guys were from here rather than from Chicago. The band revisits our state right after its new studio album, Mantis ,…
Alright, so it’s a day of reckoning, a day a great many of us have been anticipating for quite a while now — and no, I’m not talking about the election. I’m talking about fucking Metallica at the Pepsi Center, dudes. Tonight we’ll see if the cats still got it…
The 2008 Presidential Election Campaign told as a ’70s Rock Opera…..
Photo: Chad Fahnestock Rock the Vote: The Beastie Boys and Tenacious D November 3, 2008 Fillmore Better than: Any other reason to miss Monday Night Football In case you haven’t heard, there’s an election today. Rock the Vote brought Tenacious D and the Beastie Boys to Denver to remind young…
The press conference preceding Monday’s Rock the Vote show with Tenacious D and the Beastie Boys was a strictly Q-and-A affair, which meant that the musicians hadn’t prepared anything to say, and the success of the event hinged on questions from the handful of journalists in attendance. Thankfully, my intelligent…
Tonight, the Beastie Boys and Tenacious D play the Fillmore Auditorium on behalf of Rock the Vote, an organization dedicated to, well, rocking the vote. But several hours prior to the gig, the five stars of the show — B-Boys Mike Diamond (aka Mike D), Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Adam…
Photo: Bryce Boyer When he penned “How It Ends,” it’s a safe bet that Nick Urata’s artful inclinations far exceeded any commercial aspirations he might have had. All the same, the members of DeVotchKa, whose contributions to the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack earned the act reams of acclaim, have gotten…
Just stumbled across a pair of great interviews with two former Denverites who are pursuing music careers on opposite coasts. The first article features Andy Butler from Hercules and Love Affair, who got his start here as an underground dance DJ, while the other interview focuses on Patrick Park, who…
Photo: Aaron Thackeray TV on the Radio Sunday, November 2 Ogden Theater Better Than: The band’s rushed, abbreviated set at Monolith (which wasn’t really the band’s fault). Detroit riff-rock veterans the Dirtbombs opened last night’s show at the Ogden. I was a bit disappointed to see that their two-drummer setup…
Pete Tong October 31, 2008 Beta Better than: Sitting at home rewatching horror movies I’ve seen a dozen times. Ah, Halloween. It’s a night for the freaks to come out, for normally buttoned-up folk to indulge in wild fantasies, wear too little clothing and get way, way drunker than normal…
Prepare yourself for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Rock Band Here’s a user-friendly guide to all the great content you may have missed this week while you were busy practicing singing along to all your favorite Beatles’ tunes in anticipation of the just-announced Beatles version of the popular Rock Band…
Received a rather alarming tip this afternoon that El Chapultepec, a bona fide Denver institution, was drastically scaling back its jazz programming. The thought of the ‘Pec without jazz is like, well, like Denver without the mountains. So we put in a call to Angela Krantz, whose father, Jerry, still…
