As music critics — and people who generally think about, talk about, listen to and make music — the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, “What are you listening to right now?” The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy…
R. Kelly’s ninth album, Untitled, released last week on Jive, grabbed the top spot at Independent Records for the week ending December 6. New-Orleans-based rapper Juvenile, meanwhile, came in second with his latest effort, Cocky and Confident, while Birdman’s Priceless took the third slot. 50 Cent’s Before I Self-Destruct and…
Stellastarr* (due at the Larimer Lounge with Transfer and Le Divorce on Wednesday, December 9) emerged onto the national music scene at the turn of this past decade in the musical milieu that gave us fellow New York acts like The Strokes, The Rapture and Interpol. While clearly influenced by…
The Ten Out of Tennessee tour (due at the Bluebird Theater this Thursday, December 10) is the brainchild of songwriter couple Trent and Kristen Dabbs. The idea behind the tour was to find some of Nashville’s best up-and-coming songwriters and bring them together for a tour and have them serve…
The saga continues. Back in September, you might remember, Isaac Slade and Joe King of the Fray filed a lawsuit in U.S. District court against Gregg Alan Corp, a company headed by their former manager, Gregg Latterman, alleging that a portion of their publishing was procured without their knowledge. This…
We just heard about a free compilation from Everyday Joes, a non-profit coffeehouse/music venue in Fort Collins. Never been there, but it sounds like a groovy place — Danielle Ate the Sandwich says it’s her favorite venue, bar none, and that’s got to count for something, right? Anyway, the place…
Zero 7 with Phantogram Monday, December 7, 2009 Ogden Theatre Better than: Listening to a DJ spin trip-hop and ambient pop — they’re kicking it live on stage! A couple of years ago, it was unclear whether trip-hop/electro-pop heavyweights Zero 7 — comprising producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker –…
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…
Apparently there was a bit of a fight between Tom Waits’ Glitter & Doom Live and Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream last week at Twist & Shout, and fortunately, Waits, who turned sixty yesterday, was the victor. Blakroc, the Black Keys’ new hip-hop project, came in third, while Them…
While recording songs for Jim Sampas’ documentary about Jack Kerouac, Son Volt’s Jay Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard realized they both shared an affinity for the famed Beat writer. After recording songs for the film, the pair continued to work on songs using words from Kerouac’s novel…
My experience with poetry slams is almost nonexistent, so someone tell me: Do most poetry slams feature awkward rap battles between goofy white guys named Lando Calrhymian and MC ChewRocka, meditation on Gungan penis, and appearances by a a marching band led by Boba Fett? Because the George Lucas Poetry…
Mane Rok has been one busy cat lately. A few weeks ago, we posted the new video featuring him and Es-Nine for their track “A Game,” slated to appear on their forthcoming EP, En Stereo, which is due out sometime next summer. We mentioned another video in the works from…
Norah Jones latest effort, The Fall, grabbed the top spot at Bart’s CD Cellar for the third week in a row, besting Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed Up a Dream, which is number one on Billboard’s 200 chart. John Mayer’s Battle Studies and the self-titled debut by Blakroc, the Black Keys’…
A few months ago, we were excited to hear that ambient lo-fi electro-pop act George&Caplin had a remix EP forthcoming on Plastic Sound Supply. This weekend, it hit and it’s quite nice. The EP revisits just over half of the group’s last release, He Really Got Through to Advertising, and…
The five hand-painted guitars signed by ten Nobel Peace Prize winners that will be auctioned off on eBay today are truly for the man who has everything — although “that’s not true until they buy one of the guitars!,” points out Ivan Suvanjieff, the founder of PeaceJam, the organization that…
The Don’ts & Be Carefuls, Pep*Squad, Josephine and the Mousepeople, Lungs They Burn, I Sank Molly Brown Friday, December 4, 2009 The Meadowlark Better Than: Butt Shakin’ So it was mostly a big dance party at the Meadowlark, the sort of night where you show your approval with abandon and…
Moonspeed with Widowers Saturday, December 5, 2009 Larimer Lounge Better Than: A CD release show with an overloaded line-up. After an extended break from performance, Widowers played its first show in a few months. The sonic configuration for this show seemed cleaner and more spare than in the past, but…
Leftover Salmon occupies a unique spot in music. The band does not adhere to any one genre, though it borrows liberally from bluegrass, Cajun, rock, swing, jug band and even Latin and Caribbean influences among others. What the band does do is whip up one hell of a good time…
Outlaw country men, The Railbenders, whose frontman, Jim Dalton, is currently moonlighting with Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, are preparing to release a new album on Friday, December 11 at the Bluebird. And since value seems to be the order of the day these days in the world of music,…
Did we mention how much we love that Rod Blackhurst guy and how lucky this town is to have this severely talented cat like him kicking around here? If we didn’t … oh, wait, what? We did? Well, what can we say? We’re big fans of just about everything the…
After five months of tracking at their home studio, the Still City guys recently finished their new full-length, titled We Will Explain Everything. A fine progression from past efforts, the eleven-track album, which was mixed and mastered by Andrew Vastola (Hearts of Palm, the Swayback, Born in the Flood) at…
Today’s piece of sublime strangeness is an artifact from the early ’90s hip-hop scene. It’s a gritty tale of urban blight that features a chorus of demonic children taunting one of their fellows, a super-sweet overalls-and-sweater outfit on the rapper and a woman who plays the part of a crackhead…
