Critic's Choice

Related Content

• Backbeat and Radiohead make it on CNN -- for all the wrong reasons
  December 30, 2011
• Merry Christmas from Radiohead: Lost track potentially called "Putting Ketchup in the Fridge" resurfaces online
  December 22, 2011
• Miss out on Radiohead's presale? The resellers didn't. Luckily, you don't have to get scalped.
  November 10, 2011
• Download John Common and Blinding Flashes of Light's just posted Daytrotter session
  November 7, 2011
• Radiohead at 1STBANK Center March 13, 2012, presale tickets 11/9 before official onsale 11/12
  November 7, 2011

More About

• Walt Shitman
• John Common
• Rainville
• Websites
• Science and Technology

On the website belonging to Denver's Filmstrip Series, leader John Common lists dozens of ludicrous band names that didn't make the cut -- his favorite being Walt Shitman. And while that wise-ass moniker might seem like a non sequitur at first, in a weird kind of way it almost fits. Much like Shitman's literary doppelgänger, Common has trafficked in a wide-skied Americana since his days in the celebrated roots-rock combo Rainville. His new outfit (appearing Thursday, June 9, at Bender's Tavern, with the Ants and Reserved 16) is harder to pin down. Drawing as much from Radiohead and Yo La Tengo as it does from Wilco and the Jayhawks, the group folds elegant melody into brooding experimentalism -- an epic, adventurous sound that will be showcased on an upcoming full-length debut. As names go, Filmstrip Series isn't half bad. It's certainly a hell of a lot more felicitous than Quaffed Monk or Infinite Legume.