New Year’s Eve is just around the corner and we have to say, the slew of excellent posters we saw advertising equally excellent events for the evening (and the next day) bode well for the new year. After some careful consideration we chose this lovely poster for the Motet’s NYE…
After five years of hosting weekly reggae dances at Kazmos Lounge on 13th and Kalamath, DJ BloodPreshah (aka Thomas Behler) is throwing one last bash at the joint starting at 10 p.m. this Saturday, January 2. As you might have heard by now, the club is closing this weekend. BloodPreshah,…
The past year brought the worst economy since the malaise of the 1970s, and like that era, it also saw dance music sweep the nation. Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé and P. Diddy all dabbled in the sound. Even Michael Jackson was said to be working on a…
Jazz pianist Carla Bley grabbed the top spot at Albums on the Hill with Carla’s Christmas Carols, an ECM release that also features bassist Steve Swallow and the Partyka Brass Quintet. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ Up From Below and Gregory Alan Isakov’s This Empty Northern Hemisphere came in…
This year was such a good one for heavy music, we wound up having to cheat when putting this list together. We just couldn’t settle on ten albums that kicked our ass the hardest in 2009; there were dozens of candidates. The best we could do was fourteen, so our…
KKHi’s second volume of The Smooth Sound of Colorado, featuring Walter Beasley, Craig Chaquico, Euge Groove and other smooth jazz artists, grabbed the top top at Twist & Shout for the week ending December 27. Tom Waits’ Glitter and Doom Live remained in the second spot, while Susan Boyle’s I…
In this week’s issue, as we do every year around this time, we published our annual Moovers and Shakers list and talked about how much the scene is thriving. In a testament to just how much the scene is thriving these days, we didn’t have room to print all the…
Welcome to the final Freaky Friday of 2009. And yes, we know it isn’t even close to Friday, but like all of you, we will be far too busy nursing a wicked hangover Friday to come anywhere near a computer. That being the case, we couldn’t resist bringing you this…
Anaheim-based garage rockers Willowz grabbed the top spot at Wax Trax this past week with Everyone, the band’s latest effort on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records. Rocky Mountain Low and 2010: Warp Records Collection compilations came in at second and third, while Lighting Bolt’s Earthly Delights and Jesu’s Opiate rounded…
Yeah, pal, that’s “college rock,” scare quotes very much included. Look, it’s a meaningless term. As are “indie,” “alternative,” “hipster,” etc., etc. Let’s not overthink this: Here we have ten splendid records with an amorphous rock and roll designation, albeit in a perhaps slightly more experimental and thoughtful vein than…
While last week was relatively slow in terms of show announcements, the folks at Soda Jerk Presents recently unveiled quite a few shows at the the Marquis Theater and the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs. Rapper P.O.S. hits the Black Sheep on Thursday, February 4, followed by a date at…
The lowest common denominator having been achieved in 2005 with the release of the Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business, popular musicians have had to work extra hard in recent years to find new and inventive ways to be inane. They found great success in 2009, with artists as varied as…
Young Money, a hip-hop collaboration lead by Lil Wayne, grabbed the top spot at Independent Records for the week ending December 27. The group’s We Are Young Money features Nicki Minaj, Drake, Jae Miltz, Lil Twist, Gucci Mane and more. Eminem’s Relapse checked in at number two, while Mary J…
By now, what, with the Big Night only a few days away, we assume you’ve already decided what you’re doing for New Year’s Eve. Well, just in case you haven’t, we’ve got something up for grabs that will perhaps set your plans in motion, a pair of highly coveted tickets…
As much as we enjoy a good pop tune, rock song, dance track and/or hip-hop joint, occasionally we feel the need for something … weirder — something that puts the “mental” in experimental and helps us scrape our ears clean of all those predetermined expectations about what music is supposed…
Here’s a belated Christmas present for fans of Patrick Porter’s music. Presumably in the spirit of giving and all that, our pal Porter has posted his latest album, Bachelor Pad Blue; Bent Pants & Stray Cats, as well as a number of his out-of-print records — the two-disc This Machine…
Monsters of Folk’s self-titled debut grabbed the top spot at Albums on the Hill, while eponymous releases from Blakroc and Them Crooked Vultures came in second and third for the week. Boulder-based guitarist Trace Bundy, meanwhile, checked in at number four with Adapt, and Michael Franti & Spearhead’s latest effort,…
Here what the area’s local-centric specialty radio shows were spinning this week. We’re currently tracking the playlists a number of different shows, including Radio 1190’s Local Shakedown*, KTCL’s Locals Only, 99.5 the Mountain’s Homegrown Show*, the Colorado Sound, which originates at KRFC and is re-broadcast all over Colorado, and the…
When I was a kid, every summer my dad and I would fly to Chicago. My grandfather would meet us at O’Hare, puffing on a stogie and blowing the smoke out the half-open window of his Buick. The car smelled like cigars, his clothes smelled like cigars, my grandparents’ apartment…
Have you seen that new MTV reality show Jersey Shore, or at least the clips on The Soup? Richard Vission is the perfect musical complement to that show. And it’s not just that he looks like a cast member (though he does); his party-time take on house is the perfect…
As evidenced by the number of quality releases this year from every sector of the scene, local music continues to thrive here as we close out the decade. Reflecting back on our favorite records of 2009, we noticed some welcome trends: More and more acts opted to release EPs over…
Leo Nocentelli is most well known as the innovative guitarist in the pioneering, New Orleans funk band the Meters. His clipped guitar tone and smoothly executed improvisations have been imitated by virtually everyone who has ever tried to play funk. Growing up in New Orleans, Nocentelli had the opportunity to…
