Photos by Marco TorresSwag is rampant again at SXSW this year.For every insightful conversation I have heard or had at SXSW over the years, whether it was talking to Matt Pinfield while walking the streets of Austin talking about David Bowie, or telling The Clash’s Mick Jones that he was…
Welp, it’s a wrap. No Morrissey, Denver. That’s the word. Whoever said they were just waiting for the word “postponed” to follow word of the new date to make up for his twice previously postponed Denver dates, you should start buying lottery tickets or something. Well, except that the date…
Get your rest. We officially start celebrating St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. The party kicks off with KTCL’s Keggs & Eggs at LoDos, and it continues after the parade on Saturday at ShamRock & Roll, our massive party at the Viewhouse with Bop Skizzum, Rachel & the Kings, Calder’s Revolvers and…
Typically when a band records and releases a covers album, it’s a sign of creative fatigue. This is not the case with the Congress, who picked up an old Tascam 388 reel-to-reel recorder and decided to record a bunch of covers, for an EP titled The Loft Tapes, which they’ll…
Il Cattivo formed when veterans of the punk and metal scenes in Denver came together to form a band that wasn’t trying to fit distinctly in an already established rock subgenre. The five piece band sounded like it had been influenced by post-punk crossover bands like the Cult but also…
PATRICE BÄUMEL @ BETA | FRI, 3/15/13 These days, when electronic music seems to be all about distorted bass and ear-popping drum lines, artists like Patrice Bäumel (due at UNstructured Sounds’ inaugural Denver Winter Showcase) are hard to find. And that’s a shame, because Bäumel’s minimal productions and sweeping sets…
SHAMROCK & ROLL @ VIEWHOUSE | SAT, 3/16/13 With St. Paddy’s Day happening this weekend, there’s a ton to do. If you’re looking for something holiday-centric, you obviously have plenty of options. But you really can’t do much better than our free show, Shamrock & Roll, at the Viewhouse tomorrow…
SXSW is not a music festival so much as it is an experiment in excess. If Coachella is a glass of water that keeps getting bigger until it more resembles a kiddie pool, then SXSW is a flood with a neglected cup somewhere in the middle. The natural result is…
The nineteenth annual Westword Music Showcase is coming up fast. If you’ve already snagged your tickets, good on you! Obviously you know what’s cracking, which is why we just know you’re going to jump on this like a fat guy on free pizza. Tomorrow through Sunday, you can get GA…
Pop culture incrementally improved the chances that books would outlive CDs when news spread that Lil Wayne had inked a deal to write a memoir about the eight months he spent locked up on gun charges. Titled Gone ‘Til November, the book is scheduled to be released in May. While…
As people who think about, talk about, write about, listen to and make music, it’s not surprising that the most common (and favorite) topic of conversation among us is the same: “What are you listening to right now?” Stick a quarter in us, and, boy, wouldn’t you know it, off…
There’s a Latin proverb that says, “If the wind will not serve, take to the oars,” which essentially means, “If you can’t achieve your goal one way, try another.” For Denver-based band Take to the Oars, which borrows its name from that proverb, the words carry a bit more weight…
Samantha Donen came to Denver from British Columbia several years ago and has played bass for various outfits during her time here. From the alien blues rock of Hexen to the indigo-hued psych-tinged rock of Overcasters to her own performance-art project, Samantha Doom Blows Up the Band, Donen has brought…
Il Cattivo is a band that’s made up of various veterans of the punk and hard-rock scene in Denver. When Matthew Bellinger got back to Denver after a stint in Phoenix spent reassessing his life, he hit up one of his favorite lyricists and frontmen, Brian Hagman of Black Lamb,…
These days, when electronic music seems to be all about distorted bass and ear-popping drum lines, artists like Patrice Bäumel (due at UNstructured Sounds’ inaugural Denver Winter Showcase on Friday, March 15, at Beta) are hard to find. And that’s a shame, because Bäumel’s minimal productions and sweeping sets are…
If you wanted to maximize the commercial and cultural value of the Twilight Sad, you would need a DeLorean with the date January 1, 1980, plugged into its coordinates. The group has managed to soak up the finest of 1980s underground rock, alternately making waves of eardrum-punishing shoegaze, going as…
One of Germany’s best-known DJs, Michael Mayer is also an influential label boss and a respected producer. During the week, Mayer runs the day-to-day operations of the prominent Cologne-based electronic-music imprint Kompakt (with partners Wolfgang Voigt and Jürgen Paape), which oversees distribution for more than fifty smaller labels. On weekends,…
With his old band, the Mint Chicks, Ruban Nielson experienced some degree of success in the underground in Auckland, New Zealand; the group had releases on the respected Flying Nun imprint by the time it moved to Portland. But when the Chicks split up, in 2010, Nielson wasted no time…
Veronica Falls formed in 2009, when Roxanne Clifford and Patrick Doyle moved to London from Glasgow and hooked up with the like-minded James Hoare and mutual friend Marion Herbain. The urgent melodies of the band’s breezy twee sound drew immediate comparisons to C86 acts like the Vaselines and the Pastels,…
With Cloudless Thunder, the members of Tatanka show how much they’ve grown as a band since 2011’s John Dunbar. The intro track, “Border Run,” is a perfect example of how the act has gotten tighter as a unit since the last record, swinging with a dancehall bass line and playful…
“Well, I’m a pretty funny guy, but I’m not hilarious/I don’t make a lot of sense, but I’m not mysterious/And you know, sometimes I just stare at the wall.” Those are the first lines from “Every Time You’re Near Me,” the opening cut on Ben Hanna’s We Were All Like…
Kid Vegas has generated a great buzz locally, but his latest effort doesn’t match it. The release lacks cohesiveness, and the production and lyrics seem scattered, with overused weed references, particularly on songs like “KeishaMolliMary,” which is difficult to digest: Besides the fact that the content is so predictable, when…
