Remember the late ’80s, when indistinguishable second-tier acts with names like Hurricane, Steelheart and Southgang walked the earth? Their stock-in-trade was power ballads, and their prettier, more polished brand of metal made the ladies swoon. Fittingly, their sound was reflected in their image: The dudes were pretty but not dolled…
Akufen’s 2002 debut album, My Way, was one of those records that just seemed to stand alone, unique and perfect. The microhouse sound championed on the disc was deep and technical without being over-intellectualized. The use of microsecond snippets of sound, chopped up and shaped into shuffling, swinging house music…
From romance and politics to UFOs and God, songwriters cite all kinds of inspiration for their music. Hunter Dragon, though, brings a far more fundamental influence to bear on his quirky, head-scrambling new album, Weight & Measure. “I was settling down for the first time in a long while,” he…
Julian Casablancas has spent a career trying to catch up with his band’s first album. That band would be the Strokes, and the album would be This Is It. And with the end-of-the-decade lists pouring in from everyone with an opinion, Casablancas just got about a thousand reminders that his…
As far as power trios go, it doesn’t get more mighty than Them Crooked Vultures, made up of Led Zeppelin’s bassist, Nirvana’s drummer and the Queens of the Stone Age’s frontman. It’s every bit as heavy as you’d think. Soon after John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme met…
When Soda Jerk Presents started booking punk and hardcore shows in 1997, its main venue was Club 156, on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, which had a capacity of just 157. The company, which is headed by Mike Barsch, soon started booking shows at the Raven and then…
Okay, so I’m not sure why you, me or anyone else, frankly, would remotely give a crap — or ahem, a Ratt’s ass, if you will — but Ratt evidently has a new album out. It’s called Infestation (of course it is), and for whatever reason (ennui? morbid curiousity?), I’m…
Our top flier this week is the work of the folks at Bocumast, the record label/design house that’s home to Astrophagus, Cougar Legs, Iuengliss and many other fine acts. Its intriguing use of color and collage caught our eye right away, but there are several other subtle things going on…
This year’s Westword Music Showcase lineup is now officially complete with the addition of Tickle Me Pink — well, at least in terms of the main stage acts. In case you’ve missed it — not sure how that’s possible, exactly, as we’ve been talking this bad boy up like no…
Major Lazer, Rusko, MTHDS and Zeno played the Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom last night. Aaron Thackeray was on hand for the festivities. See his photos on the slideshow page…
The television-show-music montage made its debut underneath a radar that no amount of research can seem to muster up. Although the montage’s early use in film is evident, the end-of-a-TV-show montage seems to have slipped into the cultural brainstem without leaving a mark at the beginning…
Denver has plenty of pseudo, wannabe superstars. Now, however, it seems we have an bona fied superstar in our ranks — or so we hear. Superstar DJ Keoki is evidently back in the Mile High City and already at work throwing parties, including one hosted by Rockstar Aaron with DJ…
In case you missed it, Andy Guerrero has put the paddles to Bop Skizzum and brought the funk unit screaming back to life, with a handful of shows at Moe’s this past December, and, most recently, at Bender’s for Guerrero’s birthday last month. The guitarist, known also as Andy Rok,…
Okay, so last week, in the comments section of an item we posted about Battleship Agenda’s search for a new singer, there was talk that Kyle Simmons, who fronts Speakeasy Tiger, had parted ways with the act. This claim seemed to be supported by vague comments on keytar player Pete…
A few months ago, Mike Marchant played a CD release show at the Meadowlark with A.Tom Collins, John Common and Ashley Raines. The show kind of turned out to be a misnomer. An unsaid illness prevented Marchant from finishing the album on time, and so he didn’t actually end up…
The above clip probably offers a better introduction to this article than we ever could: “(Hank Williams) is a feller that writes just as many songs as most anybody in the country, and sings them just as well, when it comes to the country style on singing.” Oh, right, and…
As this summer’s Red Rocks schedule begins to fill in, a few more were added this week, including Rush, who will be performing its epic 1981 album Moving Pictures in its entirety for the first time ever on the Time Machine Tour, which kicks off in June. The band, who…
The Big Pink • A Place to Bury Strangers • lo Echo • Boyhollow 04.11.10 | Bluebird Theater Boyhollow opened the show and set the stage for the rock bands that followed with a selection of songs that included some of the latter day melodic post-punk bands. He looked like…
The most important thing to take away from the second annual Fort Collins Music Experience is that it is wonderful: The year’s best tribute to a rich northern Colorado scene. The Experience’s insanely ambitious scope is only made more impressive when you consider that the thing is put together by…
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…
This just in: In case you haven’t heard, 3OH!3 is having a house party tonight. In their house, apparently. Word has it, they intend to pour booze down their mouth. There’s also talk that they may, perhaps, if the mood strikes them, stay up until the wee hours of the…
King Khan & the Shrines • Fresh & Onlys • Eyes & Ears 04.08.2010 | Bluebird Theater When King Khan and Shrines played the Larimer Lounge about a year and a half ago, it was a tough show to shake. All those cats were sweaty and crammed on that stage,…
