On the back cover of Thompson Blues, Dan Allen’s latest album, there’s a photo of Allen holding a stack of Jim Thompson novels. While this might be intriguing for fans of the crime-fiction writer, who wrote some gritty, tough-ass books like The Killer Inside Me, The Getaway and The Grifters,…
At first listen, it’s easy to mistake Glowing House’s debut as a vehicle for Jess Parsons, the outfit’s lead vocalist and pianist/guitarist. But the more the sumptuous and heartfelt songs sink in, the more the whole project feels like a real band. And a good band. Sidestepping the trend of…
Husband and wife Cory Obert and Andrea Lecos marry fiddle and banjo and tell the story of their lives. They are inspired by bike rides, blackbirds, their two dogs and, most significantly, the amber-trapped past. They know words are inadequate and don’t use them very often, relying much more on…
Building on some of the ideas presented on her last album, 2008’s Beat Beat Pound, Andrea Ball once again sidesteps the well-worn singer-songwriter template on Dial Tone, her latest effort, in favor of more plodding, piano-heavy arrangements. Fleshed out by an array of interesting sounds, the dynamic range here swings…
Lots of bands use cello and violin. Strangers Die Every Day, though, rocked those rarefied strings in a way that evoked everything from hardcore punk to the Constellations Records roster. But when the Boulder-born instrumental band moved to Portland in 2007, where it dissolved after releasing the stunning Aperture for…
Christopher Crisci is a man of few words. Well, that’s only partially true. When he’s not performing, the lead singer and guitarist for the Appleseed Cast is a relatively talkative guy. But when he’s making music, Crisci’s words are few — especially on the band’s latest full-length, Sagarmatha. “On this…
Robbie Rivera is one of those incredibly prolific artists who make normal musicians look like slackers. Since releasing his first track (“El Sorullo”) in 1996, he’s produced dozens and dozens of tracks, a seemingly unceasing stream of funky, dirty house music, incorporating everything from progressive to Latin influences. His first…
Just two more days until we get to hear the new Flobots record (they are going to have copies of the new disc, right? It is a CD release party, after all). Suffice to say, we’re eager to hear how much, if any, the outfit has grown since issuing its…
“Parental Advisory. Explicit Content.” Remember that little sticker? The little black and white one that used to rest in the corner of only the most bad-ass of cassette tapes? The first albums I remember seeing with this warning were Danzig’s self titled album, Soundgarden’s Louder than Love and Guns and…
Not everyone’s got mad graphic design skills and access to Adobe’s powerful design and art tools. And not everyone likes what results from fliers created that way, either. Sometimes, all it takes to make a killer flier is a quick sketch and some nice hand-lettered info. Especially if the sketch…
In case the heated debate between music games being viewed as a teaching tool or as a hindrance wasn’t convoluted enough, a new guitar related peripheral is attempting to make its way into the already crowded and slightly confusing market. Meet Seven 45 Studios’ Power Gig: Rise of the Six…
If you’re like us, you’ve been on pins and needles for the past three months or so, anxiously awaiting word on whether the Monolith Festival will be happening again this year or not. While we’re no closer to knowing the fate of Monolith than we were this past November, when…
Between touring, backing up Booker T. on his Grammy-nominated album Potato Hole, releasing a live disc and a collection of b-sides and recording a new album, the Drive-By Truckers have been pretty damn busy. Next week, the band releases its tenth album, its first on ATO Records, The Big To-Do,…
Behold the awesome majesty of the Lego Sequencer MR II. This brilliant instrument is the work of Yoshi Akai, an avant garde artist/musician/audio mad scientist from Japan currently blowing the minds of folks the world over from his base in Sweden. Akai has turned a background in textile art and…
See photos from Babes Around Denver’s anniversary party, plus an Oscar party at MCA, on the slideshow page…
Over the weekend, singer-songwriter Mark Linkous, the mastermind of Sparklehorse (whom we profiled more than a decade ago), reportedly took his own life. He was most famous for his success with his own band, but he most recently worked with Danger Mouse and filmmaker David Lynch on Dark Night of…
200 Million Years • Achille Lauro • The Sunset Curse • Spouses 03.5.10 | Meadowlark It has been a long time since 200 Million Years played a show. The band’s been busy cutting a new EP and folding a hundred copies into little pyramids. Those were in the back of…
Dead Voices On Air • cEvin Key • Orbit Service 03.06.10 | Larimer Lounge A dark ambience enhanced by a nearly subsonic bass drone signaled the start of the first Orbit Service show in over four years. When the foursome began playing, there were no real breaks, just interconnecting pieces…
Matt LaBarge, co-owner of the popular South Broadway spots hi-dive and Sputnik, says he’s all set to open his third spot, The Lost Lake Lounge, at 5 p.m. tonight. He’s turned the former Bulldog Bar space, and Mr. Von’s Almo before that, into something of a cabin-styled lounge since that’s…
We would hate for you to miss out on all the awesome that happens every weekend in our fair city, so we’ve decided to run down five of the best shows in one easy-to-swallow post, with video and audio. Tell us — and the rest of the world — what…
Looking over the Oscar nominations for best scores this year is a bit underwhelming, but with the event just of couple days away we figured now was the best time to really break down the nominations and take a close look. Listening through the nominations we see a pretty good…
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Ever notice that the word “music” doesn’t appear anywhere in there? And yet the Academy takes it upon itself each year to choose the best original song from movie soundtracks. Beside the occasional dark-horse fluke in the form of Elliott Smith or…
