With charming, carefully constructed songs, Games for May conjures the acid-damaged genius of Syd Barrett, Revolver-era Beatles and pre-1970s Kinks. But this is no nostalgia act simply reanimating the ghosts of Christmases past. Like the Apples in Stereo over a decade ago, Games for May has drawn inspiration from the…

Time and AwareNess have been collaborating for years. Though the two MCs are somewhat obscure in Denver, they’ve earned a dedicated following across the country, even counting members of the Anticon collective as fans. On Anti-Smiles, released under the Calm moniker, the pair explores themes of existential uncertainty. Instead of…

F. Scott Fitzgerald once declared that there are no second acts in American lives. Had the novelist ever met Will Baumgartner, however, he might not have been so quick to make such an assertion. The Action Figure 8 frontman has successfully battled back from a lengthy crack addiction that caused…

In a time when war without end looms on the horizon and impending economic and ecological disaster hangs over us like a Sword of Damocles, it’s easy to forget the little things that sustain us. Luckily, there are groups like the Kissing Party to help keep us centered, with songs…

Few songwriters these days can claim to have such undeniably hip credentials as Maria Taylor. After getting her start in the teenage pop band Little Red Rocket, which drew comparisons to Belly and Elastica, she and longtime friend Orenda Fink became touring members of Bright Eyes. In addition to adding…

In recent years, a spate of would-be synth-pop revivalists have come into the world. Some have mixed in rock instrumentals, while others have stuck to pure electronics. The resulting music — a good portion of it, anyway — has been self-consciously kitschy. Few acts, however, have pushed the art form…

Although long in the shadow of scenemates Hüsker Dü and the Replacements, Soul Asylum ended up being the most commercially successful of the three. Early on, the act was derisively dubbed Hüsker Jr. by certain critics primarily because its early records seemed to imitate Dü’s high-trajectory melodic hardcore. But by…

When May Riots first broke out on the scene five years ago, the band was a likable, if splintery, garage-inflected indie-rock act. Envisioning something more expansive and sonically adventurous, founding member/guitarist/vocalist Moses Montalvo shelved the project for a few years before reassembling it last year and emerging with a heady,…

It’s a good thing the Get Up Kids quit when they did, what with melodic emo’s eventual exile into self-parodying obsolescence. With their legacy firmly in place, the Kids could have vindicated all the uber-indie naysayers and phoned in a series of mediocre latter-day offerings. Instead the act opted to…

On the cover of Hunter Dragon’s second release, Weary of Dostoevsky, two men are depicted leading a pair of youngsters down a river, possibly en route to being baptized. But this is not your ordinary baptism, as evidenced by the rainbow beams shooting out of the eyes of one of…

The ill wind wafting down from Greeley generally serves as a reminder of what it smells like around here when the Stock Show is in full swing. Occasionally, though, the unexpected gusts from the north blow in some great musicians, such as Twice Wilted, Reverend Deadeye and Ian Cooke. The…

For creative people, being lonely can be a boon or a curse; they tend to either dwell on their isolation or channel their feelings into art. Oblio Duo’s latest effort continues down the trail blazed on its debut release. The Flag is filled with the kind of music you imagine…

Andrew Novick is at it again. He’s on a mission to make our fine city a more fun and colorful place with his latest project, Get Your Going. Once upon a time way back in the ’90s, the arch-genius prankster supreme and his cohorts outraged many as the Warlock Pinchers…

If Billy Corgan had eschewed his whiny angst or chased his muse into fields of dream pop rather than ’70s rock, Smashing Pumpkins might have ended up sounding more like Silversun Pickups. Although the act’s ethereal yet driving guitar lines recall early Ride or Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine, its catchy…

Constellations has pushed itself out of the shadow of danceable post-punk, thanks to the addition of experimental noise auteur (and second percussionist) Corey Brown, who’s taken on some of the songwriting duties. Necrogeister begins with the ominous yet lively title track, which initially sounds familiar, then takes a turn into…

Team Awesome! knows what fun is all about. Like grownups attempting to recapture their youthful exuberance, the Awesome! ones approach their celebratory indie pop like an adolescent-minded PBS program. The group’s jaunty, lighthearted songs are all about love, crushes, rocket ships, dogs, board games, robots — the sorts of things…

In the past fifteen years or so, increasing numbers of people have tried their hand at re-creating the sounds of traditional American music, to mostly mixed results. So when someone as talented and proficient as Charlie Parr does Americana so convincingly, you can’t help but stand up and take note…

Alice Cooper would be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams if every corpse-painted, absurdly theatrical band that has walked the earth since 1969 paid him royalties. Even at his most shocking, though, Cooper couldn’t hold a candle to guys like Varg Vikernes, who upped the lurid-extreme ante by murdering Euronymous, the…

If you’re among those who’ve endured your share of would-be funk and ska bands, you might be inclined to roll your eyes upon first hearing Action Figure 8. The act’s chorusy guitars and moderately withdrawn vocals recall the omnipresent, mid-to-late-’90s sound made famous by Sublime and the Red Hot Chili…

When Jon Crosby’s major-label debut, Visual Audio Sensory Theater, was released in 1998, it received a great deal of airplay. Fortunately for Crosby, that was a year when radio stations were scrambling to find something, anything, that might be a hit. The album’s mix of ambience and hard-edged guitar sketches…

Befitting its namesake, Albuquerque’s of God and Science has a somewhat convoluted musical identity. While some of its songs recall the polished garage pop and psychedelia of the retro-leaning Elephant 6 outfits that emerged during the ’90s, others conjure a detached, spacey ambience that owes a debt to OK Computer-era…

Anti-Glacier Movement’s most obvious touchstone is Radiohead. Frontman Jesse Nesbitt evokes Thom Yorke’s signature croon better than most of his counterparts who’ve co-opted the British band’s eclectic, folk-influenced space rock sound. Anti-Glacier, though, goes beyond mere imitation. Instead of residing in the safe, warm environs charted by Yorke and company,…