In sixth grade, Tony Furtado made a banjo out of a pie tin for a music-class project. He glued some paper to the pie tin, painted the makeshift instrument with latex paint, and then strung it up with nylon fishing string and tuned it all to one note because he…
It won’t take long for faithful Samples fans to pick up on the nostalgic undercurrent of America. “It seems like it was 70,000 years ago,” sings guitarist, vocalist and sole remaining original member Sean Kelly on “Boulder,” a slow reggae jam that nods to the group’s beginnings over two decades…
With layers of sound over heavy beats and rhythm, like washes of color streaming with eddies of evolving hues hanging prominently as a compositional piece, the songs on Entropic Advance’s Industrial Noise Control recall the darker moments of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II. “Nothing Comes of It,” meanwhile,…
On the inside cover of Dan Allen’s To the Left Will Go West, there’s a still from a scene near the end of Jim Jarmusch’s Down by Law in which Nicoletta Braschi is explaining to Tom Waits and John Lurie how the road forks (“On the right will go east;…
On “Spitfire,” which opens this eponymous effort, Weapönizer sounds like some kind of early thrash band fresh from hearing Venom for the first time — or like Darkthrone, if that band had drawn even more inspiration than it did from the first wave of grindcore. But while on the surface…
While this one probably won’t make Good Morning America , like her last appearance here, the lovely Miss Katy Perry is slated to make her way back to Colorado this fall for a date at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday, September 30, with Tegan and Sara. Pre-sale information will be…
After three years of raging at sea, the Holy Ship cruise from Hard Events has proven to be one of the best nautical adventures you can have. This party boat has the most loyal fans, the edgiest lineups, and the biggest surprise guests. According to our friends at Miami New…
Back with another edition of In the Mix, where we spotlight new dance tracks and mixes from local producers and DJs. This week, OWSLA’s Wuki (pictured above) offers up some fresh sounds from the next page in dance music, Decadon keeps the trap in check on his mini-mix, Option4 drops…
Chromeo and Cut Copy at Red Rocks — that’s one helluva double bill, probably one of the better ones in recent memory this side of LCD System and Arcade Fire at Red Rocks in 2007. If you’ve seen either act — particularly Chromeo, a Westword Music Showcase alum — then…
After more than a decade in the scene, Bop Skizzum is calling it a day. Founder and guitarist Andy Guerrero (aka Andy Rok) broke the news to fans last night on the group’s website. “I’ve been doing this for a long time,” he writes. “For over ten years and counting,…
Alex B is preparing to kick off his latest tour with Paper Diamond this Friday night in Hollywood. The tour, which includes more than thirty dates with support from LoudPvck, Branchez, Gent & Jawns and Manic Focus, is set to crisscross the country before making its way back home to…
FRI-SUN | MURDER BY DEATH at STANLEY HOTEL | 1/17-1/19 When Murder by Death first formed in Bloomington, Indiana, nearly fifteen years ago under the name Little Joe Gould, the outfit was somewhat of an anomaly, as the whole chamber-pop phenomenon hadn’t happened yet — and wouldn’t for another five…
SAT | CEDRIC GERVAIS at BETA | 1/11/14 French-born, Miami-based Cedric Gervais crafts a brand of house that weaves threads of electro and progressive house into a big, shimmery, club-smashing tapestry of late-night abandon. On hits such as “Spirit in My Life,” Gervais displays a talent for slick, vocal-driven progressive…
FRI & SAT | ADVENTURE CLUB at OGDEN THEATRE | 1/10-1/11 The Montreal-based Adventure Club is a duo that started as a pop-punk act. Quickly outgrowing that hybrid, Christian Srigley and Leighton James started making electronic music, their first foray into it being a remix of Brand New’s “Daisy.” Adventure…
This year’s Coachella lineup, which was announced yesterday, has a few marquee names such as Outkast, Arcade Fire and Neutral Milk Hotel that no doubt turned heads. The roster is otherwise dependably made up of a mixture of heritage acts and buzzed upon rock and rap acts, as well as…
The Drive-By Truckers are preparing to hit the road in a few weeks in support of their forthcoming album, English Oceans, slated for release on Tuesday, March 4. Midway through the tour, the Truckers are slated to make a stop in Denver for a date at the Fillmore Auditorium on…
MON | EARL SWEATSHIRT at CERVANTES’ | 1/13/14 After releasing his prodigious self-titled debut at age sixteen, Earl Sweatshirt was exiled to a Samoan disciplinary program by his mother during the most exciting years of Odd Future’s meteoric rise, depriving the act’s rabid fans of his music. As a result,…
The first show that Vinnie Maniscalco put on was busted up by the DEA. “They were taking pictures of all our gear and taking samples of all the beer cans on the floor,” he recalls of the gig, which took place at the now-closed Primer Dome. The 24-year-old Colorado native…
After listening to the first few songs of his self-titled debut, it’s clear that Andy Sydow is no one-trick pony; a multi-instrumentalist, he’s also well versed in a number of genres. Sydow kicks the album off with the Americana-steeped “Soul Searchin’,” which shares a passing resemblance to Billy Bragg &…
It may have taken a few years, but it seems that Pretty Lights Music artist Paul Basic has finally come out of his shell with Transient Horizons, his latest effort. “Dark Dream,” with its dancing, synthesized strings, could easily serve as a standalone single primed for remixes, but Basic brings…
The psychedelia-tinged Americana and expensive spirit of Mosey West’s Bermuda evoke Green on Red’s 1985 opus Gas Food Lodging, except that these songs have an atmospheric quality that contrasts with the earthy honky-tonk vibe of that record. “The King and Queen of L.A.” offers a gritty Memphis-via-California feel without mixing…
“On a Roll,” the first of three songs on Eric, In the Whale’s bombastic new EP, tells a story that could fit seamlessly into a vintage Sam Peckinpah Western: “Forty-five hours to the Mexican border/I got the sheriff’s daughter and he’s breathing down my shoulder,” sings Nate Valdez. Instead of…
