You’re looking at a custom synthesizer built into the casing of a classic Atari 400 computer. Combining my love of synthesizers, custom-built gear, obsolete computers and 8-bit style sound in one small package, this thing is like my dream instrument. It’s a one-of-a-kind masterpiece from Fridgebuzz Electronics (they also make…
How’s that old Dr. Hook song go? … wanna see my picture on the cover … wanna buy five copies for my mother … wanna see my smilin’ face … on the cover of the Rollin’ Stone… Well, it’s not exactly the cover and their record company most likely paid…
I’ll tell you what — those guys from A Shoreline Dream have sure got their poop in a group. Just had a chance to screen their latest promo video featuring “Hypermode,” a track from their forthcoming album, Recollections of Memory, which is set to drop on Tuesday, February 10. Nicely…
A stunningly accurate visual depiction of Tangible Stereo.It’s been said before, but it certainly bears repeating: Thursday is the new Friday. More and more I’m finding that to be my favorite night of the week to see shows. For one, while there’s still that eager anticipation of the weekend and…
Just because Beatport is already the premier digital download service in the world for DJs and electronic-music enthusiasts doesn’t mean it can’t get better. Just got word that as of next Wednesday, the new and improved Beatport will be available to feed the world the best in dance and electronic…
The Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns square off tonight at the Pepsi Center for a nationally televised broadcast on the TNT cable network. The 3OH!3 crew will be in the house presenting the game ball at the start of the game while the Nuggets team will run out to…
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard something new from SP Double, the dubious head of the Boostwell, whom Westword named Denver’s Best Hip-Hop Crew last year. Turns out SP has been in the lab working hard on some new music, including this recently leaked track with Colorado MC Mr…
Right before Solar Bear headed into the studio to record its new album, there was quite a bit of simmering tension among its members. Between trying to raise money to record and having to replace a player mid-stride, things became increasingly heated until one day they just erupted between frontman…
It would be really strange for a guy to spend a lot of money and time overhauling the 18,000-square-foot club at 2301 Blake Street that was once Polly Esther’s — only to give up a few days before the new club’s grand opening. So it raised a few eyebrows —…
Remember a few months ago, when I wondered whether our scene had peaked or if we were just experiencing a temporary lull? Turns out it was the latter, as evidenced by this fresh crop of new talent. Who: Houses What: Led by Andy Hamilton and featuring Widowers’ Mike Marchant and…
Many people have wedded electronic music with indie pop and emotionally raw yet melodic vocals, but few do it with as much engaging sincerity as Josephine & the Mousepeople (due at the Larimer Lounge on Saturday, January 17). Avi Sherbill is as unlikely a frontman as you’ll find, but his…
Although bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Timothy Kyle and his bandmates in New Hampshire’s Wild Light (who open this bill for Tapes N’ Tapes) have a way with hooks, their melancholic take on power pop initially seems a bit generic. Fortunately, a closer listen to material from Adult Nights, the band’s forthcoming debut for…
What do you get when you combine Talking Heads, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Queen and the country of Jamaica? Why, the Killers’ latest album, Day & Age. Echoes of past influences have always made it easy to evaluate the Las Vegas band’s music based on what it’s not; what…
You’ve got to admire the confidence of the Killers. After all, the band chose M83 to open for its current tour even though the French act’s most recent recording, Saturdays = Youth, does a better job of tackling many of the stylistic challenges that trip up the Las Vegas boys…
Since its inception in 1939, Blue Note has released some of the greatest albums in the history of jazz. Over the past seven decades, that blue and white logo on the sleeve has signaled some serious music etched into vinyl or CD, be it that of McCoy Tyner, Thelonious Monk,…
The new recording by Rhythm Angels Celeste Krenz and Rebecca Folsom — the subject of a Friday, January 16, CD-release party at the Boulder Theater co-starring Jessi Colter — has a Colorado flavor thanks to tunesmithing help from Liz Barnez and John Magnie. Still, the focus remains on the central…
This is the sound of aging hippies who never gave up the fight. It’s possible to admire their steadfast adherence to principles, but overly earnest lyrics and awkward attempts at hip references (ninjas? Really?) combine with leaden arrangements for poor results. Musically, the Poets draw on lots of folk and…
Former Raleigh frontman Bryon Parker displays his keen sense of melancholic melody on this release. Joined by Jesse Nesbitt of the sadly defunct Anti-Glacier Movement, Parker has crafted an intriguing set of seven songs, grounded in both the indie-rock tradition of slightly off-kilter sound dynamics and the aesthetics of folk…
Mirror E.P., Dualistics’ 2006 debut, issued when group frontman Jimmy Stofer served as touring bassist for the Fray, was a professional piece of work but little more, which explains why it received a middling review in these pages. But Dualistics doesn’t need to be graded on the curve; it’s by…
Adam Baumeister, aka Littles Paia, can often be seen as the pedal steel player in Bad Weather California. But those lucky enough to have seen him perform experimental folk-blues-rock know him to be a talented songwriter and sonic innovator in his own right. With a vintage reverb unit and a…
Jonathan Coulton is okay with being a geek. After all, his geekiness is the key to his success as a musician who writes about mad scientists, sad robots and being a code monkey. “I’m lucky in that the things I am interested in and the things that I write about…
If you’ve spent any time at all in the Denver dance scene, you’ve almost certainly caught a set or three from Ivy, a multiple Best of Denver award-winning DJ. From his start on a pair of jury-rigged secondhand turntables in 1996 until today, Ivy has developed his skills and style…
