“We don’t have good record stores in Denver. I’ll be the first to admit.” – Alaina Moore, Tennis Ah, the quote heard ’round the world (or at least around the Denver scene, anyway). In case you missed it, that little off handed remark was taken from an interview that Tennis…
There are a ton of songs out there that inspire us to throw down. For some it’s the awesome “Margaritaville,” and for others it’s the dive-bar proud “Friends in Low Places.” But even these songs are lighthearted. They might be about alcohol, but they don’t really inspire you to get…
This morning, while most of us in the working world were sound asleep, the dudes from Big Head Todd and the Monsters were at Mission Control in Houston serenading the astronauts aboard the Shuttle Discovery on their last day in space with Big Head’s song “Blue Sky.”…
Psst. What do you have planned for Saturday, April 23? Too far ahead? We know what we’re doing. We just circled that date on our calendar in bright-red ink. From what we hear, that’s the day the lovely and talented Ms. Lauryn Hill will finally make her way back to…
Zach Tipton’s output over the last couple of years as I Am the Dot has been both prolific and awesome. The project has been confined to half a dozen EPs up to this point, but 2011 brings with it bigger things. Last month, Tipton released A Collection of Songs, compiling…
Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band may hail from the East Coast, but the act’s sound is certainly at home in Colorado: Rubbery bass lines combined with an explosive horn section creates a dance-friendly atmosphere that jam fans have very much embraced. Just in time for a Fat Tuesday celebration,…
It’s no secret that smartphones have changed the way we experience music, but most of the apps we’ve seen thus far have been spotty, poorly realized cash grabs that have little or nothing to do with the artists in question…
DeVotchKa’s excellent 100 Lovers, released last week on Anti, debuted at number one at both Albums on the Hill and Twist & Shout and rounded out the top five at Wax Trax. Two Rick Kulwicki-related releases, meanwhile, The Frantix’s My Dad’s a Fuckin’ Alcoholic and the Fluid’s Purplemetalflakemusic, took the…
As reported last week, the Avett Brothers will be at Red Rocks in July, while Warren Haynes and Cake are due at the Ogden in May and June respectively. Also, Arctic Monkeys, who have been working on their fourth album, make their way back to the Ogden again on Monday,…
THE BODY With MjolniirDXP 03.07.11 | Blast-O-Mat “That seemed quiet to me. I dunno, was that loud?” Body guitarist Chip King asked us this earnestly after his band’s set last night, worried that one of his bookcase-sized amps wasn’t quite pulling its weight, perhaps due to the cold temperature of…
Jim McTurnan does not seem like someone who would put out an album called Joie de Vivre. McTurnan is just not the type you usually find espousing the joy of living. Cat-A-Tac, his previous band, was a consciously dour affair, and McTurnan spent some formative years living in England, where…
Leigh Jones already owned Jonesy’s EatBar, the Horseshoe Lounge next door and Bar Car, which opened just last June in the former home of the Recovery Room, so she thought it might be too soon to open a fourth place. But after Steve Gelman closed the Boston Fish Shack (which…
In the crowded realm of bands purveying sunny garage-pop, it’s a little difficult to stand out, because the stuff seems to be coming out of the woodwork far and wide. Sauna (due at the hi-dive on Monday, March 14) has a youthful exuberance that most of those bands do not…
Both tremendously innovative bassists, Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten have pushed the boundaries of bass playing since beginning their careers in their early twenties. Clarke got his start in the ’70s backing up jazz heavies like Horace Silver, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and Chick Corea’s legendary fusion group Return to…
A cursory glance at a list of the bands involved in the Elephant 6 collective is basically a who’s who of the most interesting, influential underground pop bands of the 1990s and beyond. Founded by future members of the Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel, Elephant…
One of the world’s most loved and respected DJs, Lee Burridge has stayed credible and relevant, despite the notoriously fickle nature of dance-music trends, over the course of a career that is now entering its fourth decade. From his early days playing in the nightclubs of Hong Kong and at…
It might be a bit of an exaggeration to call Jeff Angell the Jeffrey Lee Pierce of Seattle, but a quick listen to Diamonds in a Dead Sky, the Missionary Position’s latest full-length, reveals rich, sonically diverse songwriting coupled with emotionally raw performances in all the right places. Although a…
“Glowing Eyes” finds Flashlights in a mood of deep, late-night contemplation. And that’s fitting, because “New Hampshire” sounds like waking up just after dawn on a cloudy day before the fog has lifted. Along with the contemplative “Canoes,” Flashlights display a real talent here for making sublimely surreal, hazy, pleasantly…
Before releasing an EP last year, New Ben Franklins frontman Dave DeVoe said his ultimate goal was to sound like the Catherine Wheel playing Johnny Cash songs. He admitted it was impossible to do, but it was a great goal to have. While somehow fusing shoegaze and country is a…
Although the title of Myrical Child’s effort More Than a Mixtape implies otherwise, a concentrated listen to the DJ Dozen mixed effort reveals that the youngest Jewell Tyme affiliate and “Box Boy” has ironically churned out just that — a typical mixtape. If these tracks indicate what’s in store from…
Newcomers Traitors to the Queen take their synths on a ride through Pro Tools en route to something like the odd love child of Death Cab for Cutie and Radiohead. Seems, crazy, yes, but remember: Both bands are sad — make that all three. But life is working out just…
We really wanted to ignore the fact that indie-rock femme guitar virtuoso Marnie Stern is kind of a babe. We think her face-melting matters more than her heart-melting attributes, and worry that mentioning her half-smiling, half-winking glow might undermine years of tireless struggle. Her looks are beside the point, right?…
