Alternate Soundtrack to the 2008 Campaign

This has been a groundbreaking and altogether interesting election process, but the music, as per usual, is bland – do presidential candidates listen to music? Do we really want to elect someone without knowing their tastes? You could all win my vote if you switched some things up…

Last Night… Flobots and RJD2 @ DU’s May Day Music Fest

Flobots and RJD2 Monday, May 22, 2008 May Day Music Festival, DU, Driscoll Lawn When RJD2 moved a few steps away from his electronics-laden tables to address the crowd after a ten-minute or so “warm-up” last night, his normally blank, at most half-smiling face broke into an unabashed smirk. “Aren’t…

Alternate Soundtrack to the 2008 Campaign

This has been a groundbreaking and altogether interesting election process, but the music, as per usual, is bland – do presidential candidates listen to music? Do we really want to elect someone without knowing their tastes? You could all win my vote if you switched some things up…

Mile High Makeout: Fighting with Tools

By the end of the 20th century, our capitalist economy had grown to revolve around three key roles. Most importantly, there was the Customer. This entity defined the needs of the marketplace and received goods and services, usually in exchange for cash. Next in importance was the Supplier. This behemoth…

Denver Music’s Media Onslaught

All right, cancel the Amber Alert. I’m back. For the past few weeks, I’ve been busier than a one-fingered typist attempting to take dictation for Twista. Between curating the Westword Music Showcase — which is shaping up to be a doozy this year (yes, I know, I say that every…

Q&A with Kelley Deal of the Breeders

Because one feature is never enough when it comes to a band like the Breeders, in addition to this week’s profile by Rob Trucks, we bring you the following extended Q&A with Kelley Deal by Andrew Fersch…

Flobots Indeed Kill It on Carson Daly

Damn you, Carson Daly and your subversive ways. After an excruciatingly long day at the office (yesterday was press day, you know, and I pinch hit for Grandpa Shikes, our managing editor, who plied me with a delicious pizza from Benny Blancos, allegedly made by one of the dudes from…

DeVotchKa Kills It On Conan O’Brien

As expected, Nick Urata and company absolutely murdered it on Conan. Makes us proud to be from Denver, and even more so to be able to claim them as our own. “If I had seen them back when I was playing violin in eighth grade,” says Patty Calhoun, “I would’ve…

Boss 302 Back For More

Whatever Happened to Fun? That’s a great question there, sport. Glad you asked. Basically, in the spring of 1999, it got tired of everybody’s shit and took its ball and went home. Well, not home, exactly, more like it went on to play in other bands like the Agency, but…

Vonnegut Down a Bassist

Photo: Derek Gibbs Vonnegut, nominated in the Modern Rock category of this year’s Music Showcase, is down a bassist. Brian Farnsworth, who previously held down the low-end for the act, is vacating his post and heading for the Windy City, for personal and professional reasons, as he puts it in…

Nathaniel Rateliff in Billboard Later This Week

Fancy us: We caught a few songs from one of the best unsigned singer-songwriters in the country (that’s a designation bestowed by Billboard, in an issue that hits stands later this week, BTW — not that we disagree) at the Meadowlark this past Friday night. Sucking down a few cold…

Nick Urata Performance

Just came across this link to a video performance taped at opbmusic.org’s studios of Nick Urata playing stripped down versions of DeVotchKa songs, a pair from A Mad & Faithful Telling, the act’s latest, and one from 2003’s Una Volta. (There’s also photos of the sessions and nine audio tracks…

Monolith Announces 22 More Acts

Photo by Aaron Thackeray Just received word that Monolith, the two-day music festival slated to take place at Red Rocks on September 13-14, has added 22 more acts, including Atmosphere (pictured above from the second show of a two-night stand last night at the Ogden Theatre), Hercules and Love Affair,…

Over the Weekend…Cloud Cult @ Larimer Lounge

Cloud Cult Sunday, May 18, 2008 Larimer Lounge Better Than: Taking your medicine. On Cloud Cult’s website, singer and guitarist Craig Minowa states he’s had 36 different occupations in his life so far, everything from a paper boy, janitor and plasma seller to a lawn weed assessor, environmental scientist and…

Over the Weekend…Carmina Burana @ Boettcher Concert Hall

Carmina Burana Sunday May 18, 2008 Boettcher Concert Hall Better than: Sitting in a room full of wannabe thugs. Jay Z may be well known by millions worldwide, and Carl Orff may just sound like the name of the German exchange student who went to your college, but they are…

Over the Weekend…Mars Volta @ the Fillmore

Photo by Aaron Thackeray The Mars Volta Sunday, May 18, 2008 Fillmore Auditorium “How are you supposed to review what we just saw?” my wife asked as we filed out of The Fillmore last night, following another Denver visit by the best hyphenated-name duo (well, plus seven other guys) on…

Over the Weekend…Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s

Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s Friday, May 16, 2008 Larimer Lounge Better than: Getting food poisoning anytime. Going to see a band you love when its touring in support of a brand new record — or, in this case, in advance of one — that you’ve yet to…