R.I.P. Dick Clark, 11/30/29 – 4/18/12

See Also: Firefall’s Jock Bartley on American Bandstand and the time Dick Clark called the band “Firefly” When Dick Clark died earlier this week from a massive heart attack at the age of 82, he left a musical legacy that’s far too comprehensive and broad to easily sum up. Clark…

Counting Crows at Paramount Theatre, 4/19/12

COUNTING CROWS @ PARAMOUNT THEATRE | 04.19.12 See Also: (Photos) Counting Crows at Red Rocks 7/09 Let’s start with a piece of information that Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz didn’t share with the audience until the very end of last night’s show at the Paramount: He felt like shit. Seriously. He…

Axwell at the Ogden Theatre, 4/19/12

AXWELL @ OGDEN THEATRE | 4/19/12 Who needs the dry, sun blasted heat of the Coachella valley to have a good time? Not Axwell, the headphone-turned-goggle sporting Swede who happens to make up one third of Swedish House Mafia, one of the headlining acts at this weekend’s Coachella Festival. Last…

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at 1STBANK Center, 4/19/12

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS @ 1STBANK CENTER | 4/19/12 See Also: Sweet Tom Petty shirt, man: The shirts we spotted last night in the parking lot See Also: Michelle Bachmann plays “American Girl” after Tom Petty asks her not to See Also: (Review) Tom Petty at Mile High Music…

Slaughterhouse at Cervantes’, 4/18/12

SLAUGHTERHOUSE @ CERVANTES’ | 4/18/12 Emerging onto the stage one by one — Crooked I first, followed by Joell Ortiz and then Royce da 5’9″ and, finally, Joe Budden — the members of Slaughterhouse came together like a perfect storm and immediately proceeded to murder the game. Royce da 5’9″…

Tyga at the Ogden Theatre, 4/18/12

TYGA @ OGDEN THEATRE | 4.18.12 All right, Tyga was pretty impressive last night at the Ogden Theatre. Okay, more than impressive — he was damn good, and he has way more hits than just “Rack City.” Surprised? We were, too! The line was three blocks long, and the sound…

Dazzle Recordings presents its first artist festival

When Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge owner Donald Rossa started Dazzle Recordings in 2007 with Tyler Gilmore, the club’s music director at the time, it was a kind of pet project centered on music that Rossa liked to listen to. At first, he says, they were just having a little bit…

The New Ben Franklins get electric at the hi-dive on April 20

Chances are you can’t name many active bands that play original material and have been around for twenty years — much less one that has regularly evolved and experimented with its sound without always jumping on some musical bandwagon. That’s been the path of the New Ben Franklins (due this…

Chain and the Gang

Chain and the Gang is the latest incarnation of musical brilliance from D.C. rabble-rouser Ian Svenonius — part Prince, part Iggy, part Chomsky, part Andy Kaufman — who’s previously bestowed upon the world such deliciously caustic, sonically arresting bands as Nation of Ulysses, the Make-Up and Scene Creamers/Weird War. Svenonius…

Civil Twilight

The moody, seductive sound of Civil Twilight is led by Steven McKellar’s willowy tenor, which dips and flutters against moody backdrops, recalling Thom Yorke. But despite the band’s penchant for graceful, slow-moving balladry, it plays with more finesse than Radiohead knockoffs like Snow Patrol or Travis. Civil Twilight builds tension…

Garbage

If you were alive in the mid-’90s and half paid attention to popular music, you’ve probably heard of Garbage. The band’s left-field hit, “Only Happy When It Rains,” from its 1995 debut album, opened the gates to heavy MTV rotation for many more Garbage songs over the next handful of…

Laurie Anderson

New York in the ’70s was home to more than its fair share of cultural and artistic luminaries. Laurie Anderson was a graduate student at Columbia when she immersed herself in the avant-garde world and became a primary contributor to the development of true multimedia performance art. Her 1984 live…

Austin’s unveiling its Willie Nelson statue at 4:20. That’s…Crazy.

Given that the first album I ever purchased with my own money was Collective Soul’s Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, a record since consigned to the garbage heap of history with the sole distinction of having contributed to the birth of the unfortunate genre “bubblegum grunge,” it’s safe to…

Jesse Garland

It must be tough to be a singer related to Judy Garland, much less one who has the same last name and initials. But Jesse Garland, who claims as much on her bio, sounds more Texas than Hollywood, and her slow, deliberate pacing demands soft lighting, not bright lights. On…

Surpass Flavor

Surpass Flavor has an optimistic flow and no problem keeping on the beat. But while his style has an amiable taste, his unidentifiable accent distracts from what he’s trying to say. The rapper definitely pines for the golden age of hip-hop, and like a good purist, he invokes the ’90s…

Past Presents

Josh Moore is a damn fine jazz drummer who lends his talents to acts like the Aakash Mittal Quartet, but Past Presents is a far cry from any of the jazz work he’s done. With this solo project, he delves into indie and chamber rock, and he’s equally adept at…

Rebel Tongue

Rebel Tongue is made up of a conscious lyricist, live instrumentation and enough rhythm to make you rock back and forth for days. On Movin On, the act’s debut, the players come together under the umbrella of funk and a new-age fusion of hip-hop and neo-soul. They do a great…

Choose High on Life at Lumonics on 4/20

If your main objective on 4/20 is to get as blitzed as possible, well, there are plenty of options out there. But if you’re thinking that this year you might want to elevate your consciousness instead of merely getting high, then the Choose High on Life bash at Lumonics should…