There is no shortage of super-earnest bands with a dozen members and twice that many instruments in Colorado. Paean, probably the flagship band of Fort Collins label Act So Big Forest, is one of the better entrants in the category (real number of members: six). Live, the act is consuming…
In one of the best scenes in the spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars, Clint Eastwood tells the old undertaker to “get three coffins ready,” then blows away a few of the Baxter clan for laughing at his mule. While this band might have borrowed its name from that film,…
On her debut album, Dare to Be…, Boulder-based singer Lisa Bell put modern spins on jazz standards, and there was still a fair amount of jazz on her second album, It’s All About Love. On her third and latest effort, Dancing on the Moon, Bell holds on to her jazz…
Forget trying to decide whether or not this music is just grind or a combination of crust and grind. What this record does from beginning to end is comment on the horrors of the modern world by embodying them in feral, distorted vocals and slashing yet pummeling guitar riffs. Where…
The idea of “noise” as a form of audio art can be traced to the early-twentieth-century avant-garde. In the larger realm of music, the aesthetic of noise and its sound can be heard in the work of bands like Sonic Youth and newer acts like HEALTH. In Denver, noise is…
First known as Oblio Duo and then Oblio Duo + the Archers, the newly christened Oblio’s Arrow makes music as mercurial as its name. Over the past few years, the ever-shifting outfit — which revolves around singer-songwriters William Duncan and Steven Lee Lawson — has crafted a body of work…
Trance DJ, producer and radio host Matt Darey is probably best known for his 2007 hit “Beautiful Day,” but he’s been a force in the dance-music world for close to fifteen years: He was releasing tracks like “From Russia With Love” and remixing such trance classics as Binary Finary’s “1998”…
Ever been pelted in the face with anything before? Doesn’t matter what it is — snow, water, spitballs — it smarts a little, doesn’t it? So why would someone to allow himself to be blasted in the face with a paint cannon over and over and over and over again?…
Guess who recently resurfaced after having unceremoniously dropped off the radar for the better part of the last year? If you said David McGhee — wait, what? How’d you know? Oh, he’s already been in touch? Yeah, he’s good like that. Good dude. A little quirky, but a good dude,…
In case you just joined us, Flobots are notorious when it comes to fighting injustice and standing up for the rights of all human beings. So it comes as no surprise, really, to discover that the act’s outspoken frontman Jonny 5 has taken it upon himself to update Public Enemy’s…
It’s becoming increasing more popular for celebrities and pseudo-celebrities alike to think the public still gives a rats-ass what they have to say. And it’s no secret that Twitter is a giant bathroom stall waiting for the sharpie attack of a bored ex-rocker, but every once and a while it…
This week’s flier of the week is not one flier but three fliers, one for each of the members of Lion Sized. This first randomly selected (we’re not aware of any particular order) flier effectively sets the tone for the rest of what you’re getting — a splattery, exploded portrait…
This past February, when we started putting together the 2010 Westword Music Showcase, we posted an item asking you how we could improve our annual music festival, this year set for Saturday, June 19, in the Golden Triangle (if you haven’t already purchased your tickets, you can still buy discounted…
Noise lovers, rejoice! This weekend, Old Curtis Street (2100 Curtis Street) will be transformed into a celebration of all things noisy, experimental, grating and possibly hearing-damaging, courtesy of Denver Noise Fest (look for an interview with the festival’s curators Todd Novosad and John Gross in this week’s paper). Almost forty…
This year’s Red Rocks line-up has been filling in rather nicely, and there’s been a few more additions this week, including a second Sting date that’s been added, Blues Traveler’s annual Fourth of July show, the Barenaked Ladies, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Reggae on the Rocks, Celtic Woman and Tom…
I had the fortune of attending the Rockies game on Sunday, and couldn’t help but notice something that I found odd: When Troy Tulowitzki, the Rockies’ studly shortstop, strolled to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, he did it to the poppy sounds of Miley Cirus’s “Party…
Yeasayer | Sleigh Bells 04.24.10 | The Bluebird Theatre If anyone is getting tired of Brooklyn, it didn’t show Saturday — a pair of the hippest bands from the hippest borough in the world packed the hell out of the Bluebird. We’re talking sweaty backs leaving wet prints on strangers’…
We would hate for you to miss out on all the awesome that happens every weekend in our fair city, so we’ve decided to run down five of the best shows in one easy-to-swallow post, with video and audio. Tell us — and the rest of the world — what…
Ani DiFranco|Buddy Wakefield 04.22.10|Ogden Theatre It’s appropriate that Ani DiFranco stopped at the Ogden on Earth Day; she revealed during the show that she has a friend in this locale who showed her some springtime joy. When she tours, she said, normally she walks from “bus to basement to stage…
Reminder in case you missed it when we posted last week: The Swayback is pointing the wayback machine toward the place where it all began. Tonight the outfit is slated to play a show at the Lion’s Lair, where it played its very first show way back in the day…
The biggest expense touring bands face is lodging. Motel rooms, even shitty ones, aren’t cheap. Sometime you can sleep in the van, but let’s face it — that sucks for a multitude of reasons, even though it’s cheap. What is cheap and doesn’t usually suck is crashing on the floor,…
Jónsi • Death Vessel Paramount Theatre | 04.22.10 There was a moment during Jónsi set at the Paramount while he was playing the (excellent) single “Go Do,” in which 85 percent of the crowd had risen from their seats. That probably makes sense because Jónsi, whose real name involves a…
