Reminder: Today is the last day to get discounted tickets for the 2012 Westword Music Showcase. If you haven’t noticed, this year’s lineup is stacked. Thought Chromeo and Ghostland Observatory brought it before? When Girl Talk closes out the mainstage, we have no doubt he’ll make past years seem like…
THE BLACK KEYS @ 1STBANK CENTER See Also: • Slide show: Black Keys at the 1STBANK Center • Slide show: Black Keys at Fillmore, 6/3/10 • Q&A with Nick O’Malley of Arctic Monkeys • The Black Keys at Fox Theatre, 7/20/09 A clear sign that shit is about to get…
M83 @ OGDEN THEATRE | 4/30/12 See Also: Q&A with Maria Linden of I Break Horses The familiar strains of “Intro,” from 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, probably should have been our clue that the band was coming on. But instead, someone dressed up as the creature from the album…
See Also: • Pete’s Monkey Bar closing tonight • Dulcinea’s to re-open as Pete’s Monkey Bar Pete’s Monkey Bar closed out its final night with a stream of folks, some of whom had never stepped foot in the place, stopping by to pay their final respects. Many memories were made,…
I remember at Tiny Telephone we ordered Chinese and my fortune cookie said, ‘If you don’t do it excellently, then don’t do it at all,'” muses singer Kyle Gray about recording Rubedo’s debut full-length, Massa Confusa, in San Francisco. “And Ikey just started laughing hysterically.” The Ikey in question is…
“Chingaso” could mean a couple of things: a heavy blow that comes from life or from an enemy, or a dismissive insult related to being the embodiment of a big phallus. Whatever the case, the name fits this band, whose image is definitely full of attitude and whose sound fits…
It’s a bit ironic that Shooter Jennings, the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, would make what he calls his “most country record to date” in New York. But that’s essentially what happened. Shortly after moving to New York from Los Angeles, Jennings started writing songs in…
Okay, so you know how they say lightning never strikes in the same place twice? We were positive that the same could be said of the epic re-creation of Pink Floyd’s The Wall by Roger Waters. When we finally got to experience the production in the flesh at the Pepsi…
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is one of those bands that should be a household name, thanks to its incredibly catchy and powerful songs, its compelling backstory and a mythology that’s second to none in the modern era. Some would blame bandleader Anton Newcombe for sabotaging a promising career, but in…
Through a layering of heavy percussion, effected guitars and atmospheric synthesis, Brooklyn’s Suckers have found a perfect balance between nearly inaccessible experimental music and outwardly charming pop. The trio roams soundscapes with simple, singable chants, sometimes in an epic, Arcade Fire-like ride channeled through vocal leader Quinn Walker. But Suckers…
Throughout Grown Alone, its latest effort, Amazing Twin articulates a true fusion of lo-fi pop, garage rock and Elephant 6-era psychedelia. “Gray to Have Eyed” sounds like a reverb-drenched pop song, but just over a minute before the end of the song, the band fuses all of the sounds together…
The album cover is a cloudy sunset scene, every song ends in an intentionally epic fade-out, and the lyrics evoke nothing if not a slightly rugged, overtly ambitious Keane. Tallied correctly, that would normally equal three strikes. But Sakhalin, funded in part by fans on Kickstarter, is the confident, piano-pushing…
Jon Boland did a fine job fronting alt-country act Rosalie, whether he was singing a souped-up rocker about a Chevy Nova or delivering a heartfelt ballad. Boland delves more into the latter on his solo outing, favoring an acoustic guitar instead of the electric he used in Rosalie. Lightning in…
James Ray, who’s one-half of Aires Jackson, does his thing on this solo release, rapping about the ins and outs of the paper chase. He has a clean execution on tracks like “Cheers 2 U” and the UGK-tinged “Crucial,” showing off varied approaches to the beat. The project includes features…
Rosie Thomas is bursting with vitality. Answering the phone from somewhere in Ashland, Oregon, she sounds so full of life on the other end of the line, she’s practically jumping through the phone — and for good reason. After taking time off to recover from a thyroid disorder that caused…
A few years ago, I was so offensive that there was a protest against me. Like, literally. I was an editor at my college paper, and for our (still notorious, at least at my crappy alma mater) April Fool’s Day issue, I switched up my normally commie-leftist political column and…
Colette was one of the reasons that Chicago house garnered such a feverish following in the 1990s — and today she remains one of the reasons that the world at large hasn’t forgotten the Windy City’s contributions to that subgenre of electronic music. She was a pioneer of the live…
Update (5/2/12): Congrats to Adriana Terron, winner of round two! The challenge questions for round three will be up later today! Update (4/25/12): Congrats to Alexis Puttmann, winner of round one! The challenge questions for round two are below! Welcome to round one of this year’s VIP upgrade contest Westword…
See Also: Dulcinea’s to re-open as Pete’s Monkey Bar After a two-and-half year run, Pete Penzastadler is closing Pete’s Monkey Bar with one last blowout. Penzastadler, who says it was “a fucking awesome run,” is closing the spot because he just needed to move on. In October 2009, Penzastadler, who…
COMMUNIKEY FESTIVAL @ BOULDER, CO | 4/26/12 -4/29/12 See Also: • Laurie Anderson at Boulder Theater, 4/25/12 • Q&A Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw • Q&A with Brian Williams of Lustmord • Q&A with Nick Zammuto • Q&A with Morton Subtonick For the lucky few who got to Communikey HQ…
EARTH, WIND & FIRE @ NATIONAL WESTERN EVENTS CENTER | 4.28.12 Earth, Wind & Fire is infallible. The band — which has been playing beautifully crafted, soulful pop for more than four decades — can’t have a bad show. Last night at the National Western Events Center, the group proved…
ALTITUDE MUSIC FESTIVAL @ BALCH FIELD HOUSE | 4.28.12See Also: • Altitude Music Festival slide show • Q&A with Gramatik • Snowball Music Festival 2012, Day One and Day Two • CU WelcomeFest 2011 • Sonic Bloom pre-party slideshow featuring GRiZ CU Program Council and Insomniac Events blew the walls…
