Music

Although Roger Sanchez became a house-hold name in 1989 with the release of his breakout track “Luv Dancin’,” he has left his mark on much more than just the club circuit. From producing tracks for Michael and Janet Jackson to writing music for the Blade movies and Cirque du Soleil,…

I’m cleaning my apartment as we speak, if that’s all right with you,” says Chicago’s Edith Frost. “I’ve got to do it sometime.” That Frost, whose singing and songwriting is among the deepest and most emotionally resonant on the current scene, must squeeze tidiness into her schedule represents something of…

It didn’t take long for the vultures to strike. Less than 48 hours after Jesus died in a New York recording studio — 48 hours before his 36th year in the world began — eBay had more than 100 listings for “Rest in Peace” commemorative T-shirts, caps and hoodies being…

Oops!…I did it again. Last Sunday night, while you were watching Desperate Housewives or Sunday Night Football on ESPN, I was at the Avril Lavigne concert at the Pepsi Center. “You took your kid, right?” That’s the response I’ve gotten from most people who hear I was there. And, yeah,…

The triumphant, iTunes-aided arrival of U2’s latest flaunts the band’s rapidly diminishing skills — both the “diminishing” and the “skills.” First, the latter: “Vertigo” — as brash and unhinged and Dude, turn it up, dude a tune as this fat ‘n’ happy pack of rock-god lifers could ever hope for…

Laptop emo? Go ahead and laugh. But while you’re at it, pop in Customer, the third full-length by Collections of Colonies of Bees. An extension of the defunct post-rock group Pele (which originally featured Scott Beschta of the Promise Ring), Collections takes its predecessor’s knack for computer-scrambled melody and tips…

The Snoopster is the hip-hop equivalent of late-period Dean Martin. Having long ago established his commercial credentials, he no longer feels the need to break a creative sweat. Once he hires a gaggle of pros to do the heavy lifting, he can cruise through the recording process, leaving just enough…

Guess Beyonce Knowles is a nicer person than Justin Timberlake. After all, his promises to reunite with his old group, ‘N Sync, went down the pipes once his solo career took off, while Ms. K actually kept her pledge to get together with her homegirls again, even after 2003’s Dangerously…

Despite solid songwriting, burning fretwork, deep grooves and an earnestly dark outlook, Warren Haynes and company can’t seem to achieve liftoff on Voodoo, the group’s first studio release since the loss of bassist Allen Woody. The retooled four-piece, which puts on intriguing live performances, serves up a mostly lackluster collection…

Even though Matador is one of the biggest indie labels on the planet, it’s managed to maintain an aesthetic agenda that’s had everything to do with integrity and diversity, and little to do with cheap attempts at cashing in. But now, flush with the Top 20 success of Interpol, the…

Pianist Joe Bonner has been among the most enigmatic personages on the Denver jazz scene for decades, yet his talent is hardly a mystery. Lights Out, which receives its introduction to the public during a Saturday, November 27, CD-release bash at Dazzle, is another in a long line of consistently…

The world probably doesn’t need another hardworking Bad Religion sound-alike, but Denver just might. You have to admire Dr. Neptune for earning a spot on the 2005 Warped Tour by stalking the 2004 outing with guerrilla sets played to bleary-eyed mall punks as they waited in line. On its second…

Sparta

Growing up in Switzerland, Cosmic Rocker, aka Sasha Crnobmja, never wanted to work; he just wanted to bang on the drum all day. Fortunately, Brainticket’s percussion wizard, Cosimo Lampis, was on hand to teach him how. And with the assistance of his partner in crime, party planner Benno Hotz, Crnobmja…

Doc Martin has been in the public eye since the mid-’80s — long enough to see the footwear his name recalls go in and out of style half a dozen times. He got his start in San Francisco, and thanks to an approach that’s both relentless and engaging, he eventually…

Play the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks next to Poison’s Look What the Cat Dragged In, and you’ll see what a fine line there is between ’70s punk and ’80s glam. The Black Halos, though, have known all along. Since its 1999 debut, this band of Vancouver trash merchants…

“Understated” is an understatement when talking about Tin Hat Trio. Listening to the ensemble is like looking through a keyhole into an roomful of dust-laden memories: Everything from the earthiness of blues and jazz to the austerity of Eastern European folk are spun into a swooning air of melancholy that…

Believe it or not, the Exploited is nearing a quarter-century of cutting a crusty swath of anarchist destruction across the globe. Rest easy, though: With such ditties as “Fuck the System,” “Fuck the U.S.A.” and “You’re a Fucking Bastard” to their credit, one can pretty safely assume the corrosive Scottish…

“Look Out Any Window” and you’re likely to see someone who’s been involved with Bruce Hornsby — musically, of course. Since Bruce Hornsby and the Range first slipped onto the scene with a melodic montage of medleys, the multi-talented musician has often slid past pop culture’s radar. But he’s always…

Led Zeppelin had “The Battle of Evermore.” Rush had “Rivendell.” Since time immemorial, rock bands have made music based on the wizardly works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Now Denver’s Turambar is joining that hall of heroes with its self-titled debut disc (to be released Friday, November 26, at the Larimer Lounge,…

Andy C (slated to appear at the Church on Thursday, November 25) first made his mark on the drum-and-bass world at the age of seventeen, with a track called “Valley of the Shadows” that he produced with partner Ant Miles under the name Origin Unknown. “Valley” went on to become…