Does Denver have a burgeoning urban/top 40 sensation on its hands?

Yes. It appears so. Meet Hunter Brown, an eighteen-year-old artist from Denver, who’s already amassed an impressive pedigree. Over the past three years, Brown has worked Dr. Dre associate Kirv (aka Kevin Irving) and collaborated with fellow Denverite, Frank E of the aptly dubbed Red Hot Beats productions  — yet…

Flier of the Week: Houses at the Meadowlark

The Houses’ approach to music may be “more is more” (aren’t there like forty of them in the band?) but their approach to design is definitely “less is more” and it results in some striking, beautiful design work such as this flier for the group’s Summer EP release at the…

Rachael Pollard: tough on trash

Denver singer-songwriter Rachael Pollard has (thankfully) had more than her allotted fifteen minutes of fame around town over the past few years. But what the heck, here’s another fifteen seconds: In a report that aired yesterday on CBS4 News concerning the city’s proposed trash-collection fee, Pollard — identified by the…

Q&A with Krispy Kream of the Knux

Don’t let the tight jeans and thick-rimmed glasses fool you. The brothers who make up The Knux were raised about as far away from the suburbs as you can get: New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. Still, Krispy Kream and Rah Almillio (aka Kentrell and Alvin Lindsey) found their sound by listening…

MP3 Freeloader: Joy Subtraction

Colorado might not necessarily need another supergroup, but it’s hard to argue with a lineup like that of Joy Subtraction. The new trio comprises singer/guitarist Abe Brennan (formerly of Wretch Like Me and The Things They Carry), bassist Matt Regan (formerly of Matson Jones) and drummer Brian Polk (formerly of…

Q&A with Kyle Evev of Breathe Carolina

It started out as a simple phone interview for a feature commemorating Breathe Carolina’s participation in this year’s Warped Tour, which rolls into Invesco Field at Mile High on Sunday, August 9. But it turned into something considerably more unexpected when, during our conversation with BC’s Kyle Even, his partner…

Epilogues win a slot on Warped Tour this weekend

Congratulations are due to the fine young men of the Epilogues. For the second year in a row, the band is one of the winners of the Ernie Ball battle of the bands, earning them a coveted slot on that stage for this Sunday’s Warped Tour date at Invesco. The…

Roger Daltrey, Steve Martin, Mastodon shows announced

Plans for the Who’s next tour might still be up in the air, but frontman Roger Daltrey has decided to hit the road to keep his pipes in shape on his “Use It or Lose It Tour,” his first solo outing since 1985, which includes a stop at the Paramount…

A first look at Pictureplane’s new video

In case you haven’t noticed, Pitchfork is in the midst of a heated love affair with Pictureplane. We couldn’t be more stoked to see Mr. Pictureplane himself, Travis Egedy, getting his due. With the new album, Dark Rift, dropping yesterday on the Lovepump United imprint, it looks like the crush…

Tip sheet: Meet Shel, our new favorite band

What in the hell are they putting in the water up in Fort Collins? Seriously? Seems like every ten minutes or so our neighbors to the north are churning out another batch of noteworthy artists. Meet Shel, the latest FoCo outfit to cast us under its spell. Comprised of four…

MP3 Freeloader: Behold the majesty of Yawn Tron

In last week’s issue, we weighed in on Open Captioning, the brand new Yawn Tron record and also the latest release from the burgeoning Bocumast imprint. “Had Front Line Assembly emerged now instead of in the ’80s and dispensed with vocals entirely,” wrote Tom Murphy, “it might have come up…

Update: Diamond Boiz crew ready to bust through

Update: Download the Diamond Boiz mixtape after the jump. Get it before it’s gone!Original post 3/06/09: When the Diamond Boiz emerged on the local scene a while back, they were a young, amateurish collective with a raw energy that needed honing. But within the last year, the crew, which consists…

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of August 3, 2009

As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, “What are you listening to?” The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we’ve compiled a…

3OH!3 nominated for VMA for Best New Artist

Props to 3OH!3. Adding to its global ubiquity, the Boulder-based act was nominated as Best New Artist at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. From the looks of it, the hooligans from the People’s Republic have a viable shot of taking home honors, as the competition doesn’t seem to be…

Introducing the Dancin’ In the Streets music festival

Update: Full schedule for all three days posted after the jump.Original Post (07/08/09): All right, just when you think we’ve reached critical mass in terms of summer music festivals comes word of yet another brand new one. This one’s totally worth checking out if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool, unapologetic jam band…

A first look at the Heyday’s new video

The Heyday sure has come a long way from when we first wrote about the outfit more than two years ago. Back then, the guys were greener than an Irish hillside in the summertime, having played less than a dozen shows. Since then, the act has crisscrossed the country countless…

Dialed In: This week’s local music radio playlists

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 long-running Local Shakedown, KTCL’s Locals Only, the Colorado Sound, which originates at KRFC and is re-broadcast all over Colorado, and the Colorado Wave, which is…

Flobots check in from the Blasting Room to hype the Bowling Ball

In case you’ve been wondering where Flobots have been for the past six months or so, we’ve got the drop: Apparently, besides cropping up periodically at various events across town such as the Westword Music Showcase this past summer and attending to the launch of their non-profit Flobots.org, headquartered in…

Over the weekend: Phish at Red Rocks, 8/02/09

Reviews: Night I | Night II | Night III | Night IVPhish’s last night at Red Rocks Amphitheatre was made complete with one very special guest, Bill Kruetzman. The former drummer of the Grateful Dead was not expected and to bring him out for six songs to close out the…

Over the weekend: Phish at Red Rocks, 8/01/09

Reviews: Night I | Night II | Night III | Night IVPhish’s return to the stage after five years on the lamb has them reenergized, focused and most importantly, sober. The effects of these changes have greatly enhanced the Phish experience. Phish 3.0 was on glorious display this past Saturday…

Over the weekend: Phish at Red Rocks, 07/31/09

Reviews: Night I | Night II | Night III | Night IVPhish’s second night in Morrison was a rain soaked affair that offered a stark contrast in music, from the leisurely and drab first set to the energized and voiciferus second set. Despite a strong start with crowd favorites like…

Wilco tops charts at Twist and Shout again

Wilco’s latest effort, Wilco (the album), has been strong seller at Twist & Shout since it was released June 30, and once again it tops the charts for the week ending August 2. Dead Weather’s Horehound, Levon Helm’s Electric Dirt, Mos Def’s Ecstatic and Regina Spektor’s Far ound out the…