M. Ward

These days, singer-songwriter Matthew Stephen Ward is best known as half of She & Him, a duo that teams him with actress Zoey Deschanel, whose rendition of Nancy Sinatra’s “Sugar Town” in the sparkling (500) Days of Summer guarantees that movie-goers will keep cutting her character slack even as she…

HonorTheFallen

Throughout Pathos, it’s clear the Fallen ones do more with the post-emo formula than most of their contemporaries. What’s tougher to suss out is why and how, especially considering that vocalist Matt Guerin shifts from impassioned bellowing to guttural squalling in the expected manner, and the aural dynamics are in…

Vitamins

The appropriately titled “Intro” begins this latest Vitamins album, sounding like it’s going to be a work of ambient noise. Instead, it ramps up into one of the band’s best songs, the bombastic and rocking “Big Bang.” What is most impressive here is the seamless sequencing between tracks, as though…

Glass Delirium

Four songs into Glass Delirium’s debut, Thanks to a Monster’s Many Heads (which will be released Friday, August 14, at the Bluebird), the band seems like a darkly melodic, progressive metal group in the vein of Lacuna Coil or Evanescence. Then things get weird. Track five, “Glass Delirium,” is a…

Wadirum

Lord, please deliver us from pretentious, ponderous bands aimed at adult contemporary radio and the soundtrack of the next big indie drama/romance. Overly polished, too clever by half and not nearly as deep as they would like to believe, Wadirum displays a self-indulgent and self-satisfied approach to banal, dull coffeehouse…

DJ Sensé at Beta

If Denver had a dance-music Hall of Fame, DJ Sensé would have to be one of its inaugural inductees. Back in the ’90s, Sensé helped forge the dance-music scene that continues to flourish to this day. As a DJ and producer, he brought some of the classic New York house…

Food Chain connects with Boon Doc for new single

Since the release of their self-titled EP on April 20, Colorado hip-hop super-group Food Chain has given away and offered up more than 3,000 EPs and downloads. And there’s no slowing down the crew of emcees and producers. They recently hooked up with Colorado producer-of-the-moment Boon Doc, aka Boonie Mayfield,…

The band retains the name

In the world of heavy metal, lead singers are as indispensible as riffs and distortion–that is, except for when they get used up and thrown away like yesterday’s drumsticks. While frontmen are the face and voice of many bands, they seem particularly prone to quitting, dying or getting fired, leaving…

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of August 10, 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…

Flier of the Week: Tauntaun at hi-dive

This week’s top flier is for what’s sure to be a lovely hi-dive evening with masters of metal Tauntaun, plus Lions and the Bronze, next Tuesday, August 16. No matter ow the show goes, we already have this incredible poster in our (virtual) hands, so we’ve already won. The stark,…

Making music eventful

Most years, I make it up to Red Rocks for just one show. It has to be a real occasion — something to make it worth the drive, the parking, the overpriced beers and the difficulty of escaping once the show is over. Two years ago, I made the journey…

Mile Hi-Fidelity interviews from the archives: Fell

With Indie 101.5 leaving the FM dial and making the move online, Mile Hi-Fidelity has officially gone on hiatus. After eight months of programming, we decided to take a break. In the meantime, until the program resurfaces, we’re in the process of going through the archives and picking out some…

Mile Hi-Fidelity interviews from the archives: Hemi Cuda

With Indie 101.5 leaving the FM dial and making the move online, Mile Hi-Fidelity has officially gone on hiatus. After eight months of programming, we decided to take a break. In the meantime, until the program resurfaces, we’re in the process of going through the archives and picking out some…

Free Ableton Live workshop at Beta Friday

The fine folks at Basslab are offering a free workshop on the popular DJ/production/performance software suite Ableton Live at 6:30 p.m. Friday, August 14 in the Beta VIP lounge. Three twenty-minute sessions dedicated to using Live for the specific tasks of DJing, producing tracks and mixing down will be followed…

3OH!3 releases Live Sessions ep on iTunes

Ever wonder what a languid version of “Don’t Trust Me” would sound like drained of its vitality with completely earnest, singer-songwriter styled vocals? Actually, if you’ve ever wondered what 3OH!3 would sound like hopped up on tranquilizers and stripped of its hyperactive delivery and ever present smirk and recast as…

Yo! Raps names Starting Five as next to blow

Yo! Raps Magazine must really have their ear to the street, or they’re just awfully prescient. This morning the site posted a Q&A with the Starting Five in their Next 2 Blow section. Starting Five? Next 2 Blow? Scratching your head? Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of these…

Tired of pretending you know how to use your recording gear?

You know how they say everybody’s a DJ these days? Based on the number of self-produced recordings we receive each week, the same can be said of recording engineers, too. These days, it seems, everybody also has a recording studio, thanks to the proliferation of cheap recording gear. Problem is,…