Email Author Tom Murphy

2008 Stories by Tom Murphy

• The Life There Is

  published May 29, 2008

  Many bands who try to mix the aesthetics of rock and electronic music do so more clumsily than not. But The Life There Is seems to have the... More >>

• Pleistocene

  published May 22, 2008

  Pleistocene began as a solo project for guitarist/vocalist Eric Gangloff in 2002. Over the years, it has evolved into a nine-piece ensemble on... More >>

• Scream Club

  published May 22, 2008

  Cindy Wonderful has come a long way since her days as a lo-fi pioneer in the mid-'90s. From her time with Denver rap-punk legends Rainbow Sugar... More >>

• Swervedriver

  published May 22, 2008

  When most people think of the early '90s, they instantly think of grunge. But there was a larger phenomenon of non-mainstream music that often... More >>

• Amphibious Jones

  published May 22, 2008

  Some bands try to throw all of their influences into the mix, and it rarely works. Somehow, Amphibious Jones manages to do it without... More >>

• CPC Gangbangs

  published May 15, 2008

  Like Guitar Wolf before it, Montreal's CPC Gangbangs takes a primal punk-rock formula and distorts it far beyond its original shape. The result is... More >>

• CPC Gangbangs

  published May 15, 2008

  Like Guitar Wolf before it, Montreal's CPC Gangbangs takes a primal punk-rock formula and distorts it far beyond its original shape. The result... More >>

• Valet Park This

  published May 15, 2008

  When you're young, you've had plenty of people telling you what you should be, but you haven't had much time to internalize those... More >>

• Ocean Bed

  published May 15, 2008

  A band's pedigree is no sure sign of the quality of its music, nor is it a sure indication of the type of music it produces today. Nonetheless,... More >>

• Vitamins

  published May 15, 2008

  The members of Vitamins met as students at UNC in Greeley, Colorado. Although none of the four members is a native of that town, the influence... More >>

• Duran Duran

  published May 8, 2008

  With a name adopted from a character out of the movie Barbarella, Duran Duran is often dismissed as a disposable pop band from the '80s... More >>

• The Silver Cord

  published May 1, 2008

  With few bands pursuing a dark muse at the moment, it's paradoxically refreshing to listen to this unapologetically bleak document of inner... More >>

• Dicky Jaguar and the Five Percenters

  published May 1, 2008

  When these hellions take the stage, it's almost as though you're traveling back in time, getting to see the New York Dolls in their heyday,... More >>

• Cex

  published April 24, 2008

  Rjyan Kidwell started up Cex in 1998, when he was just sixteen years old. At seventeen, he launched the influential Tigerbeat6 label with Kid... More >>

• Buffalo Beard

  published April 24, 2008

  These guys aren't exactly breaking new ground. And if you're one of those people who have nothing good to say about the current state of music,... More >>

• David Dondero and the Entire State of Florida

  published April 17, 2008

  The songs on David Dondero's most recent record, Simple Love, sound as polished and hooky as anything you're likely to hear on "modern... More >>

• Pattern Is Movement

  published April 10, 2008

  Although Pattern Is Movement often gets lumped in with the whole math-rock phenomenon, the Philadelphia outfit's sound is much more organic and... More >>

• Good Housekeeping

  published April 10, 2008

  Kind as Summer's opening track, "Hanging in the Hollow," reveals Good Housekeeping's influence almost immediately — specifically,... More >>

• Overcasters

  published April 10, 2008

  If you've been paying attention for the past several years, you know that scores of bands have been cultivating atmospheric pop music with... More >>

• Breezy Porticos

  published April 3, 2008

  Opening with the bouncy, infectious "Ramona, Just the Other Day," These Record Highs finds Breezy Porticos in the familiar mode of slipping... More >>

• Explosions in the Sky

  published March 20, 2008

  To their credit, the members of Explosions in the Sky didn't change the band's name after 9/11. Instead, they kept on making the kind of... More >>

• BDRMPPL

  published March 20, 2008

  Nick Houde has made consistently interesting and innovative music since he came to Denver from Montrose a few years ago. Transistor Radio... More >>

• Eyes Caught Fire

  published March 13, 2008

  Eyes Caught Fire percussionist Joel Brown’s bass drum head reads, “Keep Hope Alive.” For any other band, that might come off as a... More >>

• Patrick Porter

  published March 13, 2008

  The debut release from Kevin Richard's (Motheater) new label, Maybe Waltz EP is a compilation of Patrick Porter's earlier recordings.... More >>

• Eyes Caught Fire

  published March 13, 2008

  Eyes Caught Fire percussionist Joel Brown's bass drum head reads: "Keep Hope Alive." For any other band, that might come off as a cheap... More >>