Carrie Underwood debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart this week with her fourth album, Blown Away, selling 267,000 copies. Underwood’s latest trails only Madonna’s MDNA, which sold 358,000, as the biggest-selling debut of 2012. Another noteworthy feat for Underwood this week: She follows in the footsteps…
It’s not easy throwing parties, promoting them, getting people out and then getting them to come back, but LuLu Clair takes it on headstrong. With a slew of shows already under her belt this year, Clair and her Souls in Action Entertainment crew have partnered with ThisSongIsSick to present this…
“One of my favorite things to do is look at the line of the people going into the show. It’s totally diverse. And even back in the day, in the early days, I didn’t want to play just for punk rockers. I felt that we had something more to offer. Maybe we didn’t have quite the global message that the Clash had, but the Clash wanted to reach the world. And that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to just play…that would be as narrow-minded as the people who said that punks suck.”
Flashbulb Fires (due this Saturday, May 12, at the hi-dive, with Princess Music and Shirley) has endured some changes and been rather active in the past year. Now a trio — the act parted ways with its bassist last summer and opted not to replace him — the act split…
The Brian Jonestown Massacre (due tonight at the Bluebird Theater) has been through a lot of ups and downs since 1990. But singer and primary songwriter Anton Newcombe has steered the band through the release of more great albums per decade than most bands have across their entire career. For…
James Morrison (due tomorrow night at the Fox Theatre) first started performing at open mike nights in England before he hit it big as a singer-songwriter with a crossover appeal between pop, rock and R&B music. Two of his songs, “Broken Strings” and a cover of “Man In The Mirror,”…
It’s a bit ironic that Shooter Jennings (due at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill on Friday, May 4), the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, would make what he calls his “most country record to date” in New York. But that’s essentially what happened…
It’s like Rihanna has to prove something. We know she can do serious, and sexy, and frightening, and strong, and addicted. But now, in one of her less controversial music videos post-Chris Brown, she really wants to remind us that she can dance. And Rihanna can dance if she wants…
In 1992, drummer Patty Schemel joined the now-legendary Hole, a band that was just positioning itself for mainstream success. Less than two years later, bassist Kristen Pfaff had died of an accidental overdose, Kurt Cobain had committed suicide, and Hole had released its platinum-selling Live Through This. On a world…
Music sales were slow last week. Jack White’s debut solo album, Blunderbuss took the top spot with 138,000 copies sold — that’s less than half of what Madonna ‘s new one, MDNA , shifted its first week on the chart this time last month: 359,000 (although sales subsequently plummeted the…
To be a member of the newly changed lineup of Portugal. The Man (due tonight at the Ogden Theatre) is to be spontaneous, aggressively creative and relatively okay with placing a full stop in the middle of your band name. It also means maintaining a breakneck speed of records (one…
Christofer Drew is covered in tattoos. But that’s just the most visible way the freshly minted 21-year-old expresses himself. Since quitting high school to pursue Never Shout Never (due tonight at the Bluebird Theater), the intimate singer has kept personal life as open as his skin, changing his influences and…
See Also: • Nicki Minaj’s “Beez in the Trap” video plays into stereotypes and fails to entertain • Nicki Minaj’s “Stupid Hoe” video takes aim at Gaga and other fellow pop stars • Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, is a Minaj-à-trois of pop, dance and hip-hop After months of waiting, Nicki…
I Break Horses (due tonight with M83 at the Ogden Theatre) started out as the bedroom project of Maria Lindén. Chances are, if she hadn’t been in contact with Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and Bella Union fame (the label that also released a few albums by the Czars from…
This week, we’ve got enough rap to make your head spin and then some. Check for hot new music from the Foodchain, Myke Charles and Spoke In Wordz murdering a dope boom-bap hip-hop beat, Myrical Child and the latest smoker’s anthem to keep in heavy rotation, a peek at the…
See Also: • Studio 54 opened 35 years ago today • Randy Rhoads: Thirty years ago, a tragic accident took the life of a legendary guitarist • Sex Pistols sign with A&M outside Buckingham Palace 35 years ago • Today in History archives Lester Bangs mother was a Jehovah’s Witness…
See Also: • Lulacruza wraps up Communikey on April 29 at BMoCA • Q&A with Brian Williams of Lustmord • Q&A with Nick Zammuto • Q&A with Morton Subtonick • CMKY brings electronic arts and music to Boulder for a fourth year Sun Araw (due tonight at the Boulder Museum…
See Also: Best of Denver 2008: Best Singer-Songwriter Since moving to Denver in 2000, Joe Sampson has been a highly visible member of the scene, but it’s always been either as member of bands like A Dog Paloma or Bad Weather California, or collaborating on projects like Wentworth-Kersey or playing…
The gradual shift in musical sensibility for Arctic Monkeys (due at 1STBANK Center with the Black Keys on Monday and Tuesday) can be traced through the guys’ aesthetic: They wear sunglasses a lot now. They wear them in music videos and on stage, and sometimes when it’s not really sunny…
“Nashville’s most fucked-up country band” is back. The oft-quoted tagline of Lambchop (due at the Fox Theatre tomorrow night) sounds straight out of ringleader Kurt Wagner’s lyric book: It’s at once self-effacing, boastful and mischievous, and is truth-in-advertising on their latest record, Mr. M. Four years have passed since the…
Real Estate (due tonight at the Gothic Theatre) was formed by some friends who grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey. They were guys who graduated from college in the early ’90s just in time for a severe economic downturn, when it became obvious that the prospects as a new college…
We expected a lot from the collaboration between Ke$ha and The Flaming Lips — something rocky, guitar-heavy and feisty, Ke$ha bringing the personality and The Flaming Lips bringing an unmatched quirkiness. What we got, however, was the first decidedly brilliant collaboration Ke$ha has ever done. Even 3Oh!3 must realize this…
