Music

Hey, Rolling Stone, WTF? Twist & Shout, Wax Trax, Independent, Albums on the Hill, Jerry’s, Angelos, Black and Red — ever heard of ’em? Clearly not, we’re guessing, since you somehow saw fit not to include any of these fine establishments in your supposed list of the 25 Best Record…

File under: Epic bummer. We’ve received confirmation that Astrophagus has been laid to rest. After seven years, countless shows and a revolving door of musicians, the band has simply outgrown itself and its name…

TITUS ANDRONICUS with Free Energy 09.15.10 | Bluebird Theater, Denver Free Energy opened for Titus Andronicus at the Bluebird last night, and while I was skeptical of the band’s hype upon entering the venue, I’m fully on board now. The Philly quintet has received breathless reviews for its power-pop revivalism,…

After doing the M.I.A. album, I was asked if I would be interested in writing some stuff for it,” says Christopher Mercer almost nonchalantly of his recent production work for the upcoming Britney Spears album. “A good rule of thumb is that more tracks won’t make it than will make…

Since its construction in 1883, the building at 1301 Santa Fe Drive has been home to everything from a hardware store to a grocery store to Hoffbrau Tavern & Grill, which lasted more than two decades at that address. But a few years ago, the bar’s then-owner started neglecting the…

Before coming to rest in 2006, Laymen Terms often got lumped in with the pop-punk milieu of its day. But a keen listener could tell that Andy Tanner and company were coming from a different place than their contemporaries, with roots more in ’90s Midwestern indie rock and emo. These…

T-Model Ford ain’t a car. T-Model Ford is a living reminder of the power of Delta blues, and he must be mentioned among greats like Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. Ford was plowing fields by eleven and worked at the local sawmill before drifting in and out of trouble; he…

For a primer on the power of golden-age hip-hop, meet Chicago’s Cool Kids, exhibit A. The signifiers are everywhere you listen. There’s the Detroit Pistons’ “Bad Boys” starter cap, lovingly described in the opening bars of “Black Mags.” There’s a song simply titled “88,” which pays similar homage to Guess…

After a ten-year run fronting Chapel Hill indie luminaries Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann and company stepped away from the limelight at the height of the band’s popularity. Now, having spent just as much time creating music as Crooked Fingers, it would seem that Bachmann is pretty comfortable in his…

Known for a hybrid of alt-country and post-grunge, Athens, Georgia’s Dead Confederate created quite a critical buzz with the release of its 2008 debut full-length, Wrecking Ball, whose bipolar cacophony had many folks comparing the band to both Nirvana and My Morning Jacket. While that’s a lot to live up…

Adam Halferty has toured with 3OH!3 and played drums in a number of very recognizable bands over the years. American Tomahawk, however, Halferty’s solo project, might make folks hope he never returns to the drum throne again. His latest album, Generalities, Contradictions and Future Criminals, which he recorded on his…

Brent Burkhart — better known around Denver (and, indeed, much of the planet) as Reverend Deadeye — has taken a brief respite from his globe-trotting, one-man antics to record the debut EP by his side project, Broken Spirits. It’s titled Ghostrock Spirituals, and it’s hard to imagine a name that…

Referencing François Truffaut’s frequent protagonist in “Antoine Doinel,” Rubedo strikes a somber and wistful chord early on with Kyle Gray’s understated vocals, which recall the slight quaver of Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donohue. “Revelation of the Sun” is a roller coaster of intensity and tranquility, with a hint of Pink Floyd’s…

On the Blue Canyon Boys’ fourth album, Mountain Bound, the bluegrass quartet does some fine covers of older material from Alton Delmore, Reno and Smiley, the Country Gentlemen, the Louvin Brothers and Bill Monroe.  What’s amazing here, though, is how well their version of the INXS song “Don’t Change,” which…

The release of Mines in July capped a long creative process for Menomena. Two years ago, members of the Portland-based trio had hinted that they’d release their fourth full-length album at the beginning of 2009. After a year spent between the studio and on the road, they again hinted at…

Dear Billy,   I refuse to start this letter with an apology or an excuse as to why we aren’t working out. It’s been pretty obvious since around 1996 that I have lost interest in you — The Aeroplane Flies High was the last time I bought in — and…

U.K. producer/DJ Caspa is one of the premier names in dubstep, and a quick spin through his body of work makes it easy to understand why. His Dub Police label has been home to not only a slew of his original productions, but some excellent tracks from artists such as…

Earlier this summer, a group of DJs started getting together for an informal round table of sorts at City O’City. Inspired by a party they admired in West London called “CDR,” a trio of DJs, A-What, Musa and Peter Black, began meeting to play music for one another and talk…