Leonard Cohen

Since the 1967 release of Songs of Leonard Cohen, this widely admired songwriter has become synonymous with the concept of cool like few others since Miles Davis. More a prolific poet than jazz/folk songwriter, Cohen’s inimitable voice really does sound like it’s coming from someone who understands the rough times…

Murs

The gulf between mainstream rap and indie hip-hop can be breached with ease. Indeed, there are plenty of tracks on Murs’ latest recording, 2008’s Murs For President, that would cause the typical T.I. fan to start nodding his head if he gave them a chance, including “Lookin’ Fly,” co-starring will.i.am…

A love letter to the Jim Jims

If you’ve gotten around to reading this week’s issue, you might have seen my gushing review of the incredible new record from the Jim Jims. Now, it isn’t often that I do this (and by isn’t often, I mean I have never done it before and may never do it…

Last Night: Jane’s Addiction and Nine Inch Nails at Fiddler’s Green

Jane’s Addiction & Nine Inch NailsTuesday, May 26, 2009 Fiddler’s Green AmphitheatreBetter Than: Seeing Dave Navarro hanging out with porn stars. Near the end of Nine Inch Nail’s set, frontman Trent Reznor said this current outing with Jane’s Addiction would be NIN’s last tour. It seemed like an odd way…

Single File live at the Gothic

Last month, in advance of its headlining show at the Gothic Theater celebrating the release of its major label debut, Common Struggles, we profiled Single File. We also reviewed the show that night and posted some pictures the following Monday morning. Well leave it to those guys, the quintessential do-it-yourself-even-though-they’re-on-a-major-label-now…

Tori Amos, Blues Traveler, Pretenders shows announced

As previously reported, Tori Amos will stop at the Paramount Theatre on Tuesday, July 21, in support of her new album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, which was released last week. Blues Traveler, who’s made an annual tradition of playing Red Rocks on July 4, returns again this year. Tickets for…

Over the weekend: Moderat at Beta

Moderat May 23, 2009 Beta Better than: Much of clearly unengaged crowd deserved. As if to signify this would not be a typical club set of techno, the three-man operation that is Moderat had set up along the side of the room that’s usually the main-room bar at Beta. This…

Over the weekend: Iwrestledabearonce at the Marquis Theater

Iwrestledabearonce, Human Abstract and Vanna Friday, May 22, 2009 Marquis Theater Better Than: A full-on emocore show. Human Abstract started the show off with a blend of death metal and proggy screamo. Singer Nathan Ells switched between the death metal growl and higher-register distorted screamo vocals seamlessly. For the most…

Over the weekend: Trouble Andrew at the Bluebird

Trouble Andrew, Natural Selection, Boyhollow Monday, May 25, 2009 Bluebird Theater Better than: Celebrating Memorial Day outside in the rain. Talk about having the odds stacked against you. In addition to playing on a holiday, the acts at the Bluebird on Monday night had to compete with the Nuggets playoff…

RockbarBBQ at Rockbar tomorrow night

If you’re looking to get get a jump start on the Memorial Day barbecue action, Rockbar (3015 East Colfax Avenue) is firing up the grill in their parking lot tomorrow night starting at 7 p.m., and the Greatest Hits Band starts playing at 8. The Nuggets game will be on…

Ancient Mith gets live in Paris

Ancient Mith is currently wrapping up a European tour, and tonight — actually, in about ten minutes, which makes it this afternoon here in the Mountain time zone — he’s slated to perform at the Olympic Cafe Motionless CD release party with Buck 65, Erik Truffaz, Abd Al Malik, Demune,…

Oh no he didn’t! DJ AM hates on Birdman

Wow! Thanks to the astute observational skills of our homie Castro at A Walking Disaster, we just came across a tweet from DJ AM, in which he asserts that Chris Andersen “looks like an ed hardy model that listens to smashmouth vs linkin park mash ups.” Really, dude? Well, if…

Thank you for sucking. No, really. Thanks.

Are you in a band? Is your band terrible? If so, I want to say thanks — thanks for sucking. You might think I’m joking but I want to assure you that I am fully serious. In a world filled with mediocrity, being truly terrible is a genuine accomplishment. And…

Last night (well, yesterday): Dr. Know at Wax Trax

So before its show last night with the Freeze and Pitch Invasion at 3 Kings Tavern, Nardcore legends Dr. Know played an especially sweaty, late afternoon, show gratis in the back room of Wax Trax. We stopped by and as you can see from the picture above of Brian Hagman…

For Kevin Devine, the message is the medium

On the 2002 album Circle Meets the Square, Kevin Devine included a song titled “Protest Singer,” and the tag has stuck to him ever since, despite his lyrical confession that “I’m only protesting myself.” But while plenty of his subsequent compositions have grappled with societal injustice and other crimes against…

Wednesday nights are a trip at Owsley’s

When he opened Owsley’s Golden Road (2151 Lawrence Street) last year, Jay Bianchi gave me a whirlwind tour of the spot, showing off the venue’s multiple rooms and its massive patio, the only patio in the Bianchi brothers’ empire, which includes Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom (2637 Welton Street), Quixote’s True Blue…