The neo-power-pop movement is like pretty much every other musical revival (ska, swing, salsa and so on): In the end, it’s motivated by nostalgia for an era that’s gone but not entirely forgotten — which isn’t exactly a recipe for new, fresh or surprising sounds, is it? But also like…
A list of the individual injustices perpetuated against heavy metal could stretch longer than the blond hair on Vince Neil’s head. Amid the distraction of spandex pants, groupie Olympics and songs about nookie, hard rock’s really had a tough time over the past fifteen years or so. Though there’s no…
Richard Buckner’s new album, The Hill, is as instantly recognizable as his music: It’s bleak, poignant and packs an understated emotional wallop that seems to reveal new depth and meaning with each spin. Which is slightly odd, since the lyrics aren’t his, but those of turn-of-the-century American poet Edgar Lee…
When the Denver-based Modern Drunkard magazine ceased publication in 1998 — after a two-and-a-half-year run that yielded eleven issues focusing on alcohol and local music — it might have been safe to assume that editor Frank Rich had simply tired of hanging out in the dark, dusty taverns where he…
Tristeza, Friday, November 3, at the Raven, with Dressy Bessy, Plus Ones and the Oranges, is in love with the finer points of instrumentation. The quintet, which operates unapologetically without a vocalist, straddles both emo and rock styles while transcending the usual constraints of rock-and-roll songwriting. Hardly an art project,…
Local guitar auteur Neil Haverstock (pictured) is among the new leaders of the microtonal movement, a compositional philosophy that eschews the traditional 12-tones-per-octave scale. Rather, Haverstock and the six players who will perform as part of the sixth annual Microstock Festival, Friday November 3 at St. Pauls Methodist Church, prefer…
Need proof that theres more to fashion in Boulder than sandals and earth tones? You might just be tranceformed at Fast Forward Fashion Wednesdays, happening each week at Boulders newly remodeled Barrel House. For only three bucks ($8 if youre between 18 and 21) you can groove to regular and…
Sometimes, even if you are an up-and-coming artist with a major-label deal and steady album sales, it can take a near-tragedy for the hip-hop powers that be to take notice. Consider the Los Angles-based The Jurassic 5: Despite the fact that the group sold an entire pressing of its independently…
The reliability of jazz bassist Dave Holland’s recorded art is remarkable by any measure. He’s been heard on albums since the ’60s, and by now his resumé includes seventeen long-players as a leader, plus a towering pile of additional discs as a sideman or collaborator with the likes of Miles…
It’s convenient to know that our apparently unassuming and placid northern neighbors are so easily irritated. When cornered — ask them if they keep polar bears as pets or why that stupid-sounding “eh” pops up, Tourette’s-like, in conversation, for instance — Canadians are unapologetically quick to set you straight on…
These days, John Common is pretty happy. During the past year or so, his band, Rainville, has become widely regarded as one of the more thrilling additions to the Denver scene. Along the way, he’s kept refining his approach to a wholly American songwriting style that echoes the best aspects…
These days, the bohemian types who live on the Lower East Side of New York are more likely to be addicted to hypertext than to heroin. Savvy bands understand bandwidth, and a “live performance” might mean a real-time broadcast uploaded from a Bowery bunker. At this year’s CMJ Music Marathon…
For all the differences that seem to exist between their audiences, jam bands and dance artists have more than a few things in common: Both create roving, spacey sounds that give virtue to aimlessness and repetition, and both draw audiences who use the music to channel a certain feeling –…
How about a Halloween show featuring local black-metal bands, a homophobic priest and…penises? Thats the plan for Bite My Halloweenie 2000, Tuesday, October 31, at the Gothic Theatre, with Father Cire Bentley and Powder Munki, Burn Circuit, Serberus (pictured), Filth Industry, Throat Culture and Maris the Great and the Faggots…
Sex or art, art or sex? Choose both at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts heavenly Exotica Erotica Ball. Earthly pleasures and erotic fantasies come together at the museums biggest and most Dionysian fundraiser, happening Friday, October 27. The historic, art-deco Boulder Theater sets the tone for the event, which…
An air of hushed tranquility cloaks the Boulder Junior Academy, an unpretentious cinder-block school in a residential section of the town whose name it sports, on this early October Sunday. A smattering of cars occupies spaces in its parking lot, and a handful of casually clad families — some carrying…
During a long-forgotten episode of American Bandstand in the late ’70s, Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth told Dick Clark, “We want to change the face of music” — something even Clark’s plastic surgeons might have considered a stretch. It was a bold declaration for anyone to make on national television,…
Consider, for a moment, the three long and distasteful years that have befallen the musical universe since the release of Radiohead’s succinct document of postmodern dystopia, the Grammy-winning OK Computer. Radio in 2000 is like Thom Yorke’s worst nightmare come true: A world up to its ankles in NutraSweet teen-pop…
On the surface, these recordings share nothing beyond a common label (Weed, an indie out of Berkeley, California). But a closer listen reveals at least one other similarity, not counting their quality: The performers who made the discs understand that instrumental music offers them a vast canvas on which to…
With all of the upheavals in the Denver radio market these days, the climate of competitiveness seems to have everyone ready to launch a defensive strike — even if it’s at the wrong target. On Thursday, October 5, in addition to representatives from the House of Blues and RCA Records,…
Bob Tyler, Friday, October 20, at the Bug Theatre, is a hands-down winner for best supporting musician in a local music scene. Over the past few years, Tyler has served as songwriter, backup musician and/or producer for numerous area heavies, from John Magnie and 3Twins to Marie Beer and newcomers…
It seems you cant be a member of Zeüt, Saturday, October 21, at Hermans Hideaway, with Mind Go Flip and the Choir Boys, if you dont play at least two instruments. This requirement might help explain the bands tendency toward busy, harmonic nature-core music. Its a sunny stew thats well…
