Know for some insanely explosive shows, Israeli rock monsters Mononotix often move their shows into the crowd, creating sweaty pits of madness. On Where Were You When It Happened?, the band’s first full-length, released this week on Drag City, guitarist Yonatan Gat says the band captured some of the energy…
With the recent release of its sophomore EP, This is Character, Denver metalcore group the Skyline Surrender is starting to gain ground in the local scene–although it hasn’t been an easy victory. The original quintet of singer Josh Viles, bassist Jinji Thompson, drummer Ben Scarbro, and guitarists Justin Williams and…
There is a long tradition of ex-punk rockers trading in their power chords and electric guitars for the idyllic green pastures of folk music. Frank Turner of Winchester, England made that very leap a few years ago after the breakup of his progressive hardcore band Million Dead had reached its…
There’s roughly a gazillion bands playing at Monolith over the next two days and there’s no way you can see them all (see, there aren’t a half-gazillion hours in a day), so we’ve come up with this handy list of five can’t-miss acts at Monolith. These are the bands that…
There is very little that needs to be said to put across the basic idea of Van Canto. Three words, in fact, are really all I need: a capella metal (er, is that two words? whatever). Not that I’m going to stop there — there’s no way I can resist…
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down’s latest record, Know Better Learn Faster, carries a wide menu of influences. Like the ensemble’s previous work, the album draws from traditional American folk precedents, as well as snippets of other sounds that range from old Motown to ’60s pop. The blend comes…
To celebrate the label’s 14th anniversary, Suburban Home Records is giving everyone one free, downloadable album, with no obligation and no hoops to jump through. That’s right. Free album — no bullshit. You will have to supply an e-mail, but that’s just so they can mail out the authorization code…
According to Cymbals Eat Guitars 20-year-old frontman Joseph D’Agostino, Lou Reed didn’t want a lot of cymbals on the first three Velvet Underground albums because “cymbals eat guitars,” which explains the copious amounts of floor toms on those early discs. While that might have inspired the band’s moniker, there’s still…
TV theme songs have gotten a little more hip in recent years — from Cake lending “Short Skirt, Long Jacket” to Chuck to Lazlo Bane doing “I’m no Superman” for Scrubs, to any of the seasonal iterations of Tom Waits’ “Way Down in the Hole” on The Wire. But there…
MTV’s ongoing love affair with the dashing young gentlemen of 3OH!3 continues unabated. Just the other day, they delivered this in-depth expose of what the guys pack in their carry-on luggage while flying around the globe living the jet-set lifestyle of electro-crunk superstars on the way to winning (we hope)…
The Thermals new album, Now We Can See, represents more than simply a fresh recording for the Portland-based trio. After an amicable departure from the iconic Seattle label Sub-Pop, the group released their new disc on Kill Rock Stars. According to frontman Hutch Harris, the shift afforded the band the…
The Killers, Nervous Wreckords Red Rocks Amphitheater September 9, 2009 Better than: Seeing an epic, intricately staged arena show in the confines of an indoor arena. The Killers did a fine job of summoning the glitz and glamour of their hometown during their appearance at Red Rocks on Wednesday night…
Often compared to New Wave bands of the early ’80s — especially the Human League –Brooklyn, New York’s Red Wire Black Wire, uses synthesizers as a primary compositional instrument. Described by the New Music Express as having an icy sound, the immediacy and sincerity of Doug Walters’s vocals helps the…
The Glitch Mob started out as a Los Angeles-based DJ collective that pooled its collective talent to make a more collaborative music with expanded sonic possibilities. As individual artists, Ooah, edIT and Boreta have released solo albums of cutting edge electronic music but it is as a team that they…
Danielle Anderson does not like hugs. Despite this, she might as well be Tigger at Disney World every time she plays a show. The sound guy, the promoter, the other bands, the fans — everyone’s got to get a squeeze. It’s an understandable mistake. After all, she’s young and casually…
Playing guitar may not seem like a lot of work, but it’s a real workout. I’ve played my fair share of gigs, and whether the show lasts all night or is just a half-hour set, by the time it ends, I’m usually a big, dripping ball of sweat that wants…
Ever since Jack and Meg White reimagined the raucous, bluesy two-piece of the pioneering Flat Duo Jets, anyone flying that musical configuration gets compared to the White Stripes. Dustin Lawlor and Tom Nelson, who make up The Getdown! (due at the Larimer Lounge on Thursday, September 10), clearly reach beyond…
The state of New Jersey seems to have several unshakable stigmas attached to it: It’s dirty, full of gangsters and is the possible resting place of John Gotti. As off-base as those notions might be, one thing is certain: Jersey is a breeding ground for great working-class music, from Bruce…
Conceptually speaking, Chickenfoot, on tour with Davy Knowles, seems less like a band than an act of revenge — an attempt to outdo the current incarnation of Van Halen by two disgruntled VH vets (wailer Sammy Hagar and vocalist/bassist Michael Anthony), supplemented by a couple of ringers (axman Joe Satriani…
An Anglophile’s tea-infused wet dream, Friday’s Boulder Theater bill brings together two British bands that epitomize their respective eras: the Psychedelic Furs and Happy Mondays. The Furs, of course, are responsible for one of the most enduring new-wave hits of the ’80s: the refreshingly gruff and guitar-centered “Pretty in Pink,”…
It’s not as if Titus Andronicus (joined on this bill by the So So Glos, Raleigh and Accordion Crimes) had dozens of members. The band’s latest album, The Airing of Grievances, features just four regulars: Liam Betson, Ian Graetzer, Eric Harm and Patrick Stickles. Somehow, though, the quartet combines to…
With a sound so basic and raw that Jay Reatard sounds like a rocket scientist by comparison, San Diego’s Wavves achieves the improbable: making a two-piece outfit come off even simpler than the sum of its constituents. It also makes for some drama: Singer/guitarist Nathan Williams had to cancel a…
