Email Author Jason Heller

2004 Stories by Jason Heller

• Critic's Choice

  published December 30, 2004

  Ever had friends try to tell you how much more clear-thinking and able-bodied they are when they're high? Denver's Under the Drone will... More >>

• Critic's Choice

  published December 23, 2004

  If you listen to "Pure," a track from the upcoming full-length by Denver electronica duo Adrenaline Sky, you'd never guess it was born a... More >>

• Rootsy Return

  published December 23, 2004

  WED, 12/29 Of all the rock stars who made their marks in the '70s, Rickie Lee Jones was one of the easiest to imagine someday... More >>

• Mixed Signals

  published December 16, 2004

  For a second, all you could hear was a buzz. It was a packed Saturday night at the Larimer Lounge, and Boulder's Signal to Noise had just erupted... More >>

• Stereotyperider

  published December 16, 2004

  There's really nothing inherently wrong with -- or even new about -- punk's mainstream popularity. After all, wimpy derivatives of it have been... More >>

• Laymen Terms

  published December 16, 2004

  With 3 Weeks In, the EP that Laymen Terms released earlier this year, the Colorado Springs band displayed a bare-assed work in progress, a... More >>

• Loudon Wainwright III

  published December 16, 2004

  Like his contemporary Townes Van Zandt, Loudon Wainwright III comes from a wealthy and blue-blooded family -- but he spit out the upper crust in... More >>

• '89 Cubs

  published December 16, 2004

  It's pretty funny that one of the best Saddle Creek releases in recent memory isn't even on Saddle Creek. The lauded Nebraska label is, of course,... More >>

• Critic's Choice

  published December 16, 2004

  Few local bands explode out of your stereo the first time you slap their discs in -- especially if they're as new as Le Boom. But even... More >>

• Brown's in Town

  published December 16, 2004

  FRI, 12/17 Most people are only familiar with the work of Greg Brown because of the impact it's had on a wide variety of more... More >>

• Ghost-Ridden

  published December 9, 2004

  It's cold, the sky is spitting rain, and I'm driving a dead man's car across Texas to see Chin Up Chin Up. The Chicago quintet is playing tonight... More >>

• Various Artists

  published December 9, 2004

  As a self-described introduction to the music of Junior Kimbrough, this tribute album fails spectacularly: These versions of his songs are so... More >>

• Owen

  published December 9, 2004

  Mike Kinsella must be getting tired. Since he took a detour from Joan of Arc in 1999 to begin recording his own material -- first in the group... More >>

• Hell's Belles

  published December 9, 2004

  It takes balls the size of Tasmania to impersonate AC/DC, Australia's most famed musical export and an undeniable rock-and-roll legend. Uh, that... More >>

• Call Me Lightning

  published December 9, 2004

  The Trouble We're In, by Milwaukee's Call Me Lightning, doesn't open with either a whimper or a bang -- just the crackling hum of a crappy,... More >>

• Critic's Choice

  published December 9, 2004

  Confusion has been a motif of modern music from Igor Stravinsky on down to Sonic Youth. But rarely has Colorado seen as bizarre an avatar of panic... More >>

• Blood Ties

  published December 2, 2004

  It was a couple of years ago, back when his grandfather was still alive. Win Butler and his girlfriend, Régine Chassagne, invited Alvino --... More >>

• Nirvana

  published December 2, 2004

  As everyone now knows, Nirvana started out merely great and wound up, well, godlike. Not that With the Lights Out is meant as some kind of... More >>

• The Rise

  published December 2, 2004

  The Rise has absolutely no idea how to do things the way it's supposed to. The Austin quintet's debut, Signal to Noise, shattered hardcore... More >>

• Porlolo/Roger Green

  published December 2, 2004

  The most obvious connection between Roger Green and Porlolo's Erin Roberts is the Czars: The former is a full-time guitarist for the band, while... More >>

• Darkest Hour

  published December 2, 2004

  Although Ozzfest is usually nothing but a slop bucket of shitty nü-metal, someone in Ozzy's empire was on the ball this year when he tapped... More >>

• Critic's Choice

  published December 2, 2004

  Before '60s garage-rockers got ahold of fuzz pedals, pharmaceuticals and the British Invasion, a different kind of noise was oozing out of... More >>

• Collections of Colonies of Bees

  published November 25, 2004

  Laptop emo? Go ahead and laugh. But while you're at it, pop in Customer, the third full-length by Collections of Colonies of Bees. An... More >>

• Prosaics

  published November 25, 2004

  Even though Matador is one of the biggest indie labels on the planet, it's managed to maintain an aesthetic agenda that's had everything to do... More >>

• The Black Halos

  published November 25, 2004

  Play the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks next to Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In, and you'll see what a fine line there... More >>