You don’t have the career longevity of DJ Micro in a style of music as fickle as electronic without being willing to change it up. During his thirteen years in the business, Micro has progressed from yesterday’s acid-flavored breakbeats to today’s bouncy, techno-tinged trance. He’s a tireless performer, playing at…
The music industry may be melting down, but plenty of great new albums are slated for release this summer. Spanning folk to electronic to rock to hip-hop — with some drawing from multiple genres — here are eight worth a listen. Neil Young, Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 (Reprise):…
While Christian Scott is hailed as one of the hottest young trumpeters on the jazz scene, the Grammy-nominated musician doesn’t listen to much jazz these days. Lately he’s been lending his ears to more indie rock and hip-hop (he’s performed with Mos Def). Scott says he doesn’t expose himself to…
The latest project by Lazyface vets Aaron Rocha and Andy Anderson doesn’t qualify as an enormous departure. Planted, the subject of a Friday, June 5, CD-release party at the Gothic Theatre co-starring the Alan Baird Project, Quillon and the Side Project, embraces the mainstream via classically structured pop songs replete…
Falling somewhere between Tom Waits and the Misfits (with a generous helping of classic seafaring work-song influence), the debut album from Boulder zombie folk-punkers the Widow’s Bane is arresting and addictive. These pitiless lads got their start performing in storefronts on Pearl Street, and their self-titled CD was recorded partly…
Power pop, by its nature, is a regressive genre, and Hot Robots is no different. The only thing that’s in doubt is exactly which decade the band has so gleefully embraced. Built to Tilt, the Robots’ full-length debut, re-creates every hook ever beaten to death by Cheap Trick, the Plimsouls…
This experimental pop duo’s debut EP begins with the lo-fi indie rock of “Circus.” Frayed but controlled guitar riffing and just-off-melodic harmonies give the song a slightly emotionally ragged feel to match the lyrics. “Haircut” introduces vintage keyboard sounds into the band’s palette; its freewheeling dynamics are reminiscent of Matt…
Like many electronic acts at the moment, Baltimore’s Ear PWR is clearly drawing inspiration from analog synth-pop bands of the ’80s as well as the bizarre disco/ambient/experimental pop hybrid made famous by Giorgio Moroder. There’s also a hint of that surrealistic Teletubbies air (minus the borderline creepiness) to the band’s…
Last year’s Cadillac Records didn’t catch on with cinema lovers as did recent biopics of Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, etc., in part because of its split focus. Viewers got a mere taste of assorted Chess Records performers who deserved more screen time than they got — particularly Etta James, portrayed…
Few, if any, bands can claim the level of notoriety enjoyed by Norway’s black-metal legends Mayhem. From lurid but true stories of suicide to intra-band murder and connections with the burnings of numerous churches to purge the Viking homeland of the taint of Christianity, the music of Mayhem is almost…
Mutating faster than a flu virus, Seattle’s the Dead Science has grown from a mildly arty indie-rock combo into a full-on deconstruction crew since the release of its rich and challenging 2003 debut, Submariner. Lest you miss the title’s reference to one of Marvel Comics’ B-list superheroes, frontman Sam Mickens…
Loretta Lynn’s hipster quotient shot up considerably after the country legend invited White Stripes frontman Jack White to produce her most recent release, 2004’s Van Lear Rose. While it might seem like an odd pairing, White and the coal miner’s daughter made a diamond of an album (named after the…
Okay you rock snobs, listen up. It’s time to stop hating on electronic music. For years now, electronic in all its incarnations has been the go-to format for haters to dump on safely (remember eight to ten years ago when it was country and/or rap?) and frankly, it’s bullshit. These…
It may not be so much of a secret now, but the rapper Aceyalone and the Slippers will be at the Meadowlark (2701 Larimer Street) Friday, June 5. Chances to see high profile cats like Aceyalone, who was one of the founders of the Freestyle Fellowship, up close at a…
DJs Boyhollow and Max Klaw are kicking off a monthly all-disco party tonight at the Walnut Room, but before you break out that white jumpsuit and faux-Saturday Night Fever shuffle, you need to know this is not about the irony. “We think this music deserves a real forum for expression…
The shoegaze narcopop of Fell will be appearing on the soundtrack for The Deepest Blue, an upcoming movie from first-time writer/director Dustin Lane, slated to release in 2010. Fell member Bryan Romero reports that Lane found the band on MySpace, looking for some appropriately “sad music for a sad movie”…
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 The Boulder Theater, Boulder Better Than: Most shows going through Boulder these days. Brooklyn’s Black Dice opened this show in what has lately become their typical fashion. Long gone, I suppose, were the harsh, brutally abrasive textures of old, replaced by something more, well, musical. Nonetheless,…
As previously reported, the recently reunited Blink-182 is hitting the road again for the first time in five years and is making a stop at Fiddler’s Green on Sunday, September 6 with Weezer, Taking Back Sunday and Chester French. While reserved tickets, which go on sale Saturday, June 6 at…
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 (except for this week: Due to unforeseen technical difficulties, Alf ended up assembling a flashback show on the fly),…
As you’ve no doubt gathered from the weekly This Just In posts that have been accumulating over the past month or so, the summer concert season is almost upon us and is so far stacking up to be a memorable one, particularly at Red Rocks thanks to a rare night…
Many thanks, for your patience and indulgence as I continue to wrestle with family health drama. Almost two weeks ago, I started to tell you about my experience at LIFEspot, and then left you hanging on the cliff. It’s high time we picked up where we left off — which…
Camera Obscura, Agent RibbonsBluebird TheaterMonday, June 1, 2009Better Than: A vintage-clothes show without live music. Okay, so that’s a bit mean. But Camera Obscura did bring along fellow thrift-store doyennes Agent Ribbons as an opening act. The bands’ shared love for ’50s dresses is where the comparisons end; Sacramento-based Agent…
