ManCub’s noisy, distortion-washed dance punk seems like it could have been born of some combination of wide-eyed innocence and reckless abandon. Truth is, it’s a labor of spite. “I had a girlfriend at the time, and she broke up with me and broke my heart,” explains ManCub’s mastermind, Alex Anderson…
Anyone who stuck around for the final act of the second night of 2011’s Titwrench Festival got to see something very different when Tulip Wars took the stage. At times the music felt like straight-ahead pop with a lot more depth; at others the band sounded like mid-’90s alternative-rockers who…
Lupe Fiasco knows just how to incite the masses, whether it be through his politically charged lyrics or the convincing execution of his rhymes: When this man speaks, everyone listens up. Such is the case with his record Lasers, the culmination of a standoff between the MC and Atlantic Records,…
Nashville eats mavericks for breakfast, spitting them out compromised or undigested. Eric Church has never played by Nashville’s rules, yet he appears poised on the brink of country mega-stardom. The clever iconoclast’s edgy debut single, “Two Pink Lines” (off his 2006 debut, Sinners Like Me), waited out a teen pregnancy…
After a handful of years spent experimenting with a broad spectrum of psychedelic music while based in Newark, Delaware, two of this band’s founding members relocated to Los Angeles. There they found like-minded musicians, and for a while, Spindrift included members of Psychic TV, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Warlocks. The…
If the country charts were a battle royal with the only weapons being raw honesty and authenticity, Jamey Johnson would have Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley pretty anxious. The former marine isn’t joking when he claims a home “between Jennings and Jones,” though he spends more time on Waylon’s side…
Comes a time in every man’s life when he must reckon with the fact that he’s become old and crotchety. For me, that day actually came at about age 22 — and while I’ve not been averse to shaking my fist at many a nonsensical aspect of our dumb culture…
The crew from Ugly Azz Ent, which includes Julox, Lil Rip and Double O Purv, among others, has churned out a posse record in every sense of the word with Da Good Da Bad and Ugly. While the rhyme schemes and flows of these MCs aren’t necessarily impeccable, the simple…
There is so much about this album that shouldn’t work. For one thing, Ben Knighten’s voice is the soft, Disney-caliber croon of road-trip montages and your grandmother’s car stereo. For another, his backing instrumentation is sparse, less simple than it is frankly easy — or easy listening. And his lyrics…
Starting things off with two pop-punk anthems, “Where Hope Lives” and “Rooftops,” the Hate strikes a triumphant note on Authors, like a statement of purpose from a group of vital, snarling hellraisers, simultaneously channeling bits of the Sweet and Bad Religion and mixing them with a touch of Hot Rod…
Reinvention has come relatively quickly for the members of Calling Out West. In 2009, the trio of guitarist Max Comer, bassist Cody Vinton and vocalist/drummer Jake Vinton expanded the band then known as the Side Project, adding guitarist Mike Anderson and drummer Zach Armijo. Starting with 2010’s eleven-song release Short…
It might seem that Subb-an has appeared on the scene overnight, but give him some credit: The guy’s 24 years old, and considering that he started mixing tracks at the tender age of fourteen, he got here as fast as he could. He earned a prestigious degree in sound design…
Every week, just when we think we’ve seen the best of the upcoming concert season and that things couldn’t possibly get any more compelling, there’s a whole new batch of new shows to make us flip our lids. This week: Skrillex at Red Rocks in August, preceded a few days…
Plants and Animals (due tonight at the hi-dive) began life as an all-instrumental band in Montreal that made sprawling rock epics informed by an improvisational sensibility. But by the time the band was ready for its 2008 debut full-length, Parc Avenue, it no longer seemed to feel the need to…
Since being transformed into a nightclub from a coffeehouse, the tan building on the corner of 22nd and Champa Street has been known by many names over the years: Club Evolution, the Loft, Club Ra, Gallery 22 and, most recently, 2200. This Saturday, May 19, the club will be rechristened…
Leftover Salmon played Sunday, May 13, 2012 in the middle of 7th and 8th street on Santa Fe. The band’s new album, Aquatic Hitchhikers, drops May 22, but the band couldn’t resist to take over the streets for a little while to show Denver that they still got it. Check…
He was the backbone, part of the nerve center of a great rhythm and blues band that made the music of a bygone era live, breathe and jump again. But Donald “Duck” Dunn’s musical accomplishments went far beyond the scripted praise he earned from John Belushi playing the fictional Jake…
DRAKE @ COMFORT DENTAL AMPHITHEATRE | 05.14.12 Last night at Comfort Dental Amphitheatre, not only did Drake bring along a slew of his homeboys for The Club Paradise tour, he displayed mind-blowing artistry. Erudite and gorgeous, the Toronto MC charmed the entire place with his theatrics and gestures while his…
If you haven’t picked up your tickets to the Westword Music Showcase yet, here’s another reason to get on it: Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe presents a Tribute to the Beastie Boys at this year’s Showcase. This is going to be absolutely sick! Page down to see what you have in…
THE LUMINEERS @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 5/11/12 Wesley Schulz announced that the band was going to perform a Sawmill Joe song and it was obvious much of the crowd knew what was coming, as The Lumineers started the song and brought Joe back on stage. Between pretty much all the…
THE FRAY @ RED ROCKS | 5/11/12 It was cold last night at Red Rocks. Like balls-into-your-body-cavity cold. Seriously. It was also wet and foggy and miserable. Once the lights went up, though, the Fray’s sound cut through the fog and rain and made everyone forget their frostbitten feet. The…
BLACK STAR @ CERVANTES’ | 05.11.12 The first strains of the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” started blaring through the speakers as Yasiin Bey shook himself onto the stage to thunderous screams of applause. Wielding an red old school “drop mike,” the Brooklyn MC fist pumped and enticed the…
