It was just like a Thanksgiving miracle, to be honest,” says Cassie Taylor, recalling the first time she played bass. Her father, famed Boulder-based bluesman Otis Taylor, and then-bandmate Kenny Passarelli were messing around with “Hey Joe” when a teenage Cassie walked in and said, “Well, that’s kind of a…
It’s been roughly two years since the Outfit last put out an album. During that time, the band’s current members — singer/guitarist Eric Johnston, bassist Mike King, drummer RJ Powers and lead guitarist Mikael Kilates — have been developing their sound, going from its earlier, highly promising indie pop to…
Back Seats is a major leap forward for Bad Weather California, in terms of both music and songwriting. Chris Adolf has never sounded more confident or as much in his element as he does here, where the angst and emotional turmoil of the past is not as obvious as it…
No matter how Halden Wofford & the Hi*Beams approach country, they do a damn fine job, as evidenced by Rocky Mountain Honky Tonk, the band’s latest release. While the five-piece clearly excels at up-tempo cuts, such as “Beaver Hat Boogie,” which features some fine steel guitar from Bret Billings, and…
Isaiah “Ikey” Owens has left his mark on more than his fair share of Colorado music in the past few years. The eight tracks on True Aristocrats’ Mary Amygdala bear the hallmarks of his production, including adventurous jazz structures and psychedelically tinged keyboard work. And although the band’s Tyler Lindren…
It’s easy to mistake Maxwell Hughes’s furious output on the acoustic guitar as the work of multiple players. Through percussive taps on wood, dense and dizzying fingerpicking and a two-handed approach to tapping, Hughes coaxes every possible sound out of the instrument. That majestic sound is the most consistently impressive…
Okay, let’s set aside for a moment the fact that the forthcoming release from Plastic Sound Supply is the Denver label’s twentieth release. Or even the fact that the platter itself is absolutely brimming with a fresh batch of tunes from some of the finest and most celebrated electronic acts…
As if there weren’t already enough unnerving and terrifying things in everyday life to worry about, now comes word of even more scary shit you can unwittingly come across as you’re minding your own business — stuff like brain-eating amoebas and flesh-eating bacteria. Ask Chris Young about the latter. He…
MY BLOODY VALENTINE @ OGDEN THEATER | 8/19/13 My Bloody Valentine’s show last night at the Ogden Theatre may not have felt as blisteringly loud as its show at the Fillmore a few years ago, but the band didn’t exactly skimp on the volume either this time out. Between the…
Jody Savin and Randall Miller are preparing to release their latest film CBGB in a few months. If those names ring a bell, they should: These are the same filmmakers who announced plans earlier this year to start work on Caribou Records, a movie about the legendary Caribou Ranch recording…
BLITZEN TRAPPER @ CULTIVATE FESTIVAL | 8/17/13 By the time Blitzen Trapper made it onto the stage at this year’s Cultivate Festival, it was the hottest point of a scorching ninety-plus degree day — a comical contrast to last year’s soggy and cold affair. It was the kind of day…
FIVE IRON FRENZY @ OGDEN THEATRE | 8/17/13 There were several moments during Five Iron’s set that nodded to the hometown crowd, and all of them were dependably absurd thanks to frontman Reese Roper. “The Broncos are losing forty to seven,” Roper informed us. “I’ve never been more proud to…
PRETTY LIGHTS @ RED ROCKS | 8/16/13 Spirits were high as Pretty Lights took the stage on Friday night, the first night of the act’s annual two-night run at Red Rocks, both of which would feature a live band this year, something that Smith had hinted at in our interview…
SUMMER SLAUGHTER @ OGDEN THEATRE | 8/16/13 Kicking the slaughter off early before work hours ended didn’t prevent fans from sneaking out of work a little early to get the mass-murder body-ripping brutal metal started. Those who were previously in docile work environments quickly acclimated to the carnage of metal…
MY BLOODY VALENTINE @ OGDEN THEATRE | MON, 8/19/13 Few bands of the past two decades have had as profound an influence on as wide a spectrum of artists as My Bloody Valentine. Not only did the landmark 1991 album Loveless have a massive impact on the group’s peers at…
How rad is this: Judge Roughneck got Angelo Moore of Fishbone to sing on its new album. The tune? “Mirror in the Bathroom.” Best part? He’s coming to town to sit in with the guys next Saturday at Reggae on the Rocks. After frontman Byron Shaw literally dreamed up the…
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE @ RED ROCKS | 8/15/13 Drawing liberally from a broad range of its catalog, Queens of the Stone Age planned its Red Rocks set out especially well last night. Everything rolled forward with ample momentum, but the band and the crowd both had plenty time…
KURT VILE @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 8/15/13 Kurt Vile strolled into the Bluebird last night carrying a stack of his CDs. He’s a small man, maybe 5′ 3″ and weighing 130, with shaggy brown hair. Looked awkward. Very awkward. Was he about to steal my wife’s heart with his songs,…
PRETTY LIGHTS @ RED ROCKS | FRI & SAT, 8/16-8/17 Returning to the Mile High City for his now-annual two-night run at Red Rocks, Pretty Lights maestro Derek Vincent Smith is bringing an album’s worth of new music and a talented cast of characters to entertain the hometown crowd. On…
FIVE IRON FRENZY @ OGDEN THEATRE | SAT, 8/17/13 Five Iron Frenzy began life in 1995 as the side project of a long-forgotten thrash-metal-and-industrial band called Exhumator. Ahead of the ska revival of the mid-’90s, Exhumator’s members wanted to play music that was inherently fun, positive and uplifting. Two years…
The Arise Music Festival kicks off today at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland and runs through Sunday. Take one look at the schedule, and you’ll quickly see there are an overwhelming number of acts on the bill. We narrowed it down to the half-dozen acts you must see. Keep reading to…
Roots & Rhythm frontman James Speiser and KUVO DJ Erik Troe both know a few things about blues and jazz, so it’s no surprise that the two came up with the concept for Blue Roots Denver, a Denver-produced program that features local blues and jazz musicians. The pilot for the…
