Blending jazz, bluegrass, funk and even a little worldbeat, Matt Flinner — mandolin virtuoso and former Leftover Salmon tour guest — and company take dawg-style music (think David Grisman Quintet) to the next level. The ensemble, which appears at Quixote’s True Blue on Friday, April 4, is composed of Flinner,…
A sexless, suicidal, anti-carnivorous existence is cause for celebration, at least according to Moses Montalvo. A member of the Denver band May Riots, Montalvo has gathered a tribe of morose-music-loving locals to pay homage to the wrist-carving mope rock of the Smiths and Joy Division. The event, dubbed I Wear…
Keller Williams debunks the theory that jam groups have to include multiple-musician lineups. With his live, one-man show, Williams — who appears Saturday, March 29, at the Paramount Theatre — has the unique ability to kindle the same brand of exploratory magic manifested by artists such as Medeski, Martin and…
A co-ed, lo-fi trio with a sound that’s as garage as a dusty croquet set, the Speeks have been all over local stages in recent months. An upcoming gig will punctuate their hectic schedule: On Wednesday, April 2, at the Larimer Lounge, the band opens for Riverside, California’s finest soul-punks,…
John S. Hall, leader of the music/spoken-word project King Missile III, and George W. Bush, president of the United States, have at least one thing in common: their habit of prominently displaying their middle initials. But as demonstrated by “Mr. President,” a willfully absurd cut on The Psychopathology of Everyday…
It’s been five years since Gang Starr released a new album — practically an ice age in hip-hop. Guru and DJ Premier know a lot has changed, but if they’re worried, they’re not letting on: They no longer have to step into the battle arena to earn their rep, because…
Many performers consider the term “bar band” to be pejorative, believing it implies that folks will enjoy a certain outfit’s music only if they’re properly lubricated. Still, it’s a plain fact that the songs of some combos are more effective in a raucous social setting than they are on plastic…
In the tradition of politically and socially conscious artists such as Public Enemy and Dead Prez, the talented group of vocalists, producers and rhyme-sayers (F.I.S.K., WhizM, Taughfeek, Pirahana Jones, Nafia, Shiek and Clymaxx) on this local compilation affiliate themselves with the Seerz Movement. Put together by DJ F.I.S.K. and the…
“The Bible Thump! The Bible Thump! Everybody do the Bible Thump!!!” Along with his dead eye, the good Reverend might just have a couple screws loose. Bibles, hellfire, trains, booze and babes are Reverend DeadEye’s meat and potatoes, and he delivers his lyrics in what could only be called “singing…
Proudly boasting the label of “acoustic prog rock,” Orion’s Room mixes the unlikely combination of Celtic-influenced folk music with various aspects of ’70s-era arena rock. The fact that Herman’s Hideaway serves as the “arena” on this live offering is only part of the problem with The Development. The juxtaposition of…
On his energetic second full-length, guitar-totin’ Mike Serviolo splits the difference between free jazz and ballistic heavy metal, adds a pinch of prog and brings the whole shebang to an aggressive boiling point with the finesse of a saucier. Propelled by the rhythmic thrust of bassist Bob Gumbrecht and drummer…
The crisp young couple sitting next to me on the plane from Austin to Dallas couldn’t stop snickering. Native Austinites on their way to a business convention, the two had recognized a common denominator among the passenger load. “Everyone on this plane is, like, so coooool…,” said the male, who…
With the recent semi-notoriety of Har Mar Superstar and MC Paul Barman, there seems to be a newfound market for self-consciously geeky Jewish dudes making self-consciously fucked-up novelty music. Atom and His Package, though, has them all beat. Atom (playing Thursday, March 20, at Club 156, Boulder, with Sixty Stories,…
Satirical tunesmith Gregory Ego (who files his taxes under the name of Greg Daurer), laments failed love, nicotine withdrawal and the divisive nature of talk radio. But the Vermont native turned Denver resident certainly has good taste in shopping malls from the days of yore: Cinderella City, once the crown…
If Scott Aaron Wexton could turn people into zombies, he wouldn’t bother using them for mindless orgies or fire dances in praise of the High Mambo Priestess. No, siree. As a spooky, one-man lounge act from Silver Lake, California, who calls himself the Voodoo Organist, Wexton has more practical applications…
Two front teeth. That’s what Shanda Kolberg, lead singer/guitarist for local punkers the Swanks, feared she would lose when her band played its first gig in the summer of 1999. She had good cause for concern. For one thing, her fellow Swanks had a serious predilection for losing their own…
He may be on the verge of mid-career, but Ron Miles is still having growth spurts, as any good artist must. The Denver trumpeter’s compelling new collection of seven originals, Laughing Barrel, deploys a full-throated quartet to some vivid new regions of the jazz frontier, and none of the players…
The Muses — daughters of Zeus whom the ancient Greeks credited with inspiring artists of the day — were a contrary bunch, as capable of cruelty as of kindness. So it is with music (and, by association, the music business), which gives and takes with a whimsical disregard that’s perfectly…
At the Grammys last month, Fred Durst did his best to enter the grand fraternity of musicians who use artistic platforms to make political statements. Perhaps inspired by the creative protestations of everyone from Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan to Ian MacKaye, Marvin Gaye — heck, even yappy little Zack…
The secret to writing a perfect pop song? Learn everything — then forget it. Just look at Supergrass. This English group, playing Monday, March 17, at the Bluebird Theater, with the Coral, is almost an encyclopedia on tape of British popular music. Even a brief earful of any one of…
Fans of Breathing Eve’s guitar-driven mood rock were disappointed when the outfit called it quits in 2001, as the move seemed premature for a promising band still finding its sound. Apparently, guitarist Chad Lindberg, bassist Chris Calloway and drummer Katie Aikens agreed: The trio picked up songstress Heather Ballew and…
DJ Vadim takes pride in exporting the revolutionary idea that hip-hop knows no borders. Like a musical Karl Marx, the British turntablist gained his street knowledge from the polyglot culture of London, where a new vanguard of B-boys breakdance and play music in the city’s subterranean Tube system and its…
