Concerts

While Kentucky-based Ben Sollee is a classically trained cellist, he’s also steeped in the vintage soul of guys like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke. On last year’s excellent Learning to Bend, in fact, Sollee took Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and twisted the lyrics a bit, put…

Like a lot of people, James Pants is mining early R&B-inflected synth pop and hip-hop for sonic inspiration. But for all his heisting of tricks from Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, ESG and Liquid Liquid, Pants takes what some might consider a retro sound and reworks it using modern technology that…

On this three-song EP, the Getdown! — made up of singer/bassist Dustin Lawlor and drummer Tom Nelson — literally wears its influences on its sleeves with two covers by bands that helped inspire the duo’s fuzz-drenched garage sound. Lawlor and Nelson take Thee Milkshakes’ “For She,” strip out the original’s…

This is the eleventh release of the year for Alphabets, aka Colin Ward. With a release corresponding to each month, Ward explored whatever musical ideas came to mind, with varying results. Nov09 is among the strongest of the 2009 releases. Hashing together white noise, abused electronic noisemakers, melodic synth lines…

Take a guitar part that sounds so clean it might as well be a synth. No need for the actual thing, though, because next you dab on some aching piano tinkling, written by someone not just classically trained, but classically inspired. Stick those in the plateaus between walls made of…

More than three years after releasing their self-titled debut, the Trampolines return with Between the Lines, a solid album that finds the band completely reinvigorated. The seamless vocals of Chris Stakes and Mark Sundermeier again take center stage, but this time around, the Tramps inject a little more jangle into…

Shortly after Suzanne Magnuson and Olivia Quintana formed Malas Semillas (“Bad Seeds” in Spanish) three years ago, they brought in Cyrus Greene, a naturally good blues guitarist who used to play in the punk band PBR Street Gang, and Curtis Wallach, who’d played drums in the Taints. When the group…

Starting out as the musical equivalent of an interlude from the Boulder-based noise-rock band Mansfield Ghost, Gangcharger is helmed by its lyricist and primary songwriter, Ethan Ward. Upon first hearing the band, comparisons to Sonic Youth, Mission of Burma and Set and Setting-era Bardo Pond might seem obvious. Even as…

New Orleans-born, L.A.-based DJ/producer Trent Cantrelle is a bit of a chameleon. His work generally leans toward the big, peak-hour style of progressive, as heard on tracks such as his recent release “Siren Says,” but he’s also fully capable of going deep and dirty for a late-night set as well…

The power of suggestion? Nah. We’re no where near deluded enough to think that we wield that kind of power — well, not when we’re sober anyway. Remember last week when we bemoaned the fact that there hasn’t been any new holiday songs of note? Obviously, we spoke a little…

Susan Boyle is the top seller at not one, but two independent record stores this week. Let that sink in for a moment. Susan fucking Boyle. No offense to Ms. Boyle; I’m sure she’s a lovely person. But she’s a middle-aged woman who got famous singing fucking show tunes on…

Strange happenings: We’ve received word that frontman Ryan Malloy has parted ways with Strange Condition, which signed a development deal with Universal Records this past summer. The outfit is keeping the reason for Malloy’s exodus quiet, but has confirmed that his slot is now being filled by Matthew Furlong, who…

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Wheel Variety ShowSaturday, December 12, 2009Bluebird TheaterBetter Than: The V Ultimate Variety show featuring Wally Eastwood. An estimated 48 musicians took part in the third annual Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel variety show on Saturday night. All of them played brilliantly, some of them played for…

Moore, Blindfold the Devil and Born in Winter Friday, December 11, 2009 Gothic Theatre Better Than: A lot of metal shows I’ve seen. Blindfold the Devil, a four-piece with the lead vocalist also playing guitar, kicked off its set with its speed/thrash metal sound, which contains more than a dash…

Hot Congress Comp. 1 Release Party Achille Lauro, The Vitamins, Fissure Mystic, Action Packed Thrill Ride October 12, 2009 The Oriental Theater Better Than: A community garden, or most other team projects you can think of. There is more than music to address here because Hot Congress is more than…

Today marks yet another bittersweet day for the scene, a day when we bring you word that Tommy Nahulu, a tireless champion of Denver music over the years, is picking up stakes and moving back to his native Hawaii. To commemorate the occasion, the Toad Tavern is hosting the second…

When Josh Friedman’s old band, Sleeperhorse, broke up, he figured it was time for a change. So a few months ago, he moved to Prague to teach English, travel and to move his life forward in a positive direction after having a “pretty shitty first half of the year.” Unfortunately,…

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 three of the best shows in one easy-to-swallow post, with video and audio. Tell us — and the rest of the world — what…

From the outside looking in, things still look incredibly grim for the Monolith Festival and its prospects for the future. Organizers set up a Kickstarter account a few weeks ago in response to an overwhelming outcry from fans, who offered to pitch in when word first leaked that the festival…

Thanks to a YouTube user named ProblematicAndroid, who posted this unbelievably awesome video of his seventeen-month old son Caddock singing along with Cephalic Carnage’s “Let Them Hate So Long As They Fear,” we now need a new keyboard and monitor. Just seeing the grimaces on the little dude’s face as…