Mustangs & Madras had a rare ability to write introspective songs filled with nuanced emotional colorings and utterly convincing intensity. “I’ll Never Live Long Enough to Spend All My Money (South Beach Bitch)” bears this out, and the streaming guitar swirls sound like a perfect marriage of post-hardcore urgency and…
It would be a fool’s errand to try to count everyone raiding the coffers of ’60s garage-rock psychedelia and shaking down Roky Erickson’s beleaguered psyche looking for their own two-headed dogs. The Strange Boys have been guilty of their fair share of similar artistic heists. On the surface, they just…
Years ago in Denver, there was a band that probably should have been lumped in with the goth scene but wasn’t really having it. Radio Scarlet definitely looked the part of death-rock fashion victims, and it’s entirely possible that these guys may have borrowed more than a bit from Rozz…
Like most atmospheric bands of the last decade and a half, 200 Million Years (due at the Meadowlark on Friday, March 5) definitely learned a thing or two from Radiohead’s penchant for mixing ambitious pop music with a deep experimental streak. The act also probably gleaned a bit from Sigur…
The Swayback • Dust on the Breakers • Sympathy F • Le Divorce 02.26.10 | Bluebird Theater I missed Le Divorce’s opening set, unfortunately, but was able to catch a set from the classic line-up of Sympathy F. Despite not having playing live very often in the more than ten…
In local circles, Casey James Prestwood might be best known for his stint in the punk-inflected rock band Hot Rod Circuit or for his time as a pedal-steel player in Drag the River. But a few years ago, Casey started working on solo material and released his debut album, The…
The Hollagramz side of this split cassette release (called “Crystal Side”) starts off like some kind of long-lost ’90s house track as envisioned by William Orbit exercising some restraint; that’s followed by a track whose circular waves of sound evolve into something resembling a crypto remix of a Low Life-era…
When newspaper heiress Patty Hearst began robbing banks with the Symbionese Liberation Army, she was said to have been suffering from Stockholm syndrome, a situation in which hostages bond with their captors. More than thirty years later, Dave Schools of Widespread Panic teamed up with the Jackmormons’ Jerry Joseph to…
Cursive was one of the bands that helped put Omaha, Nebraska, and Saddle Creek Records on the map. Starting in 1995, in the post-hardcore milieu that would serve as the roots of modern emo, Cursive always seemed to make music that never really fit in a specific genre outside of…
A few years back, there was a charming dance-pop band called the Hot House, and after the band broke up, its bass player, Bree Davies, moved to Brooklyn for a while. When she returned, she formed Night of Joy with guitarist Valerie Franz, who shared her unique taste in —…
Extra Kool, with Joshie Juronimoe, Damon JeVon and Doctype Saturday, February 20, 2010 Leela’s European Café Despite the nasty weather and biting cold of the evening, a good number of people made it out to Extra Kool CD release show. Leela’s is a little odder place than most venues in…
Huun Huur Tu Friday, February 19th, 2010 Swallow Hill, Denver Physicist Richard Feynman and his friend Ralph Leighton spent a great deal of time trying to visit Tuva, a remote land that inspired some unusual postage stamps and gave us a unique style of vocal performance called xöömei. Unfortunately, Feynman…
The character of Jeff Suthers’s songs has been cinematic in nature going back to his time with Volplane. This, the first of four new Orbiteer releases, has Suthers using sound like a painter uses oils and acrylic, similar to Stan Brakhage’s manipulation of film and the way Kenneth Anger utilized…
Before piano rock became all the rage on pop radio in the last decade, Billy Joel and Elton John had already created the template. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, the music of Joel and John was so pervasive on radio and anywhere else music could be heard that you’d have…
Listening to the music of the Growlers is a bit like listening to oldies radio before that format was taken over by music from the ’80s rather than being dominated by classic pop songs from the late ’50s through the mid-’60s. There’s a touch of rockabilly, a hint of early…
Michelle Caponigro’s backstory reads like something you’d see on Behind the Music. After moving to Denver a decade ago from La Crosse, Wisconsin, Caponigro joined a jam band called Purple Buddha, but found that artistic context a little stifling to her creativity. Adopting the stage name Chella Negro, Caponigro subsequently…
St. Vincent, with Wildbirds & Peacedrums Saturday, February 13, 2010 Bluebird Theater Wildbirds & Peacedrums opened the show. A two-piece from Sweeden made up of Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin, the act has crafted a sound built upon creative use of various percussion instruments — Werliin played a full drum…
Performing as St. Vincent, Annie Clark is a writer of lush, adventurous pop music. As a teenager she was the tour manager for her uncle’s band, Tuck & Patti, where she learned not only a great deal about the music business but also a bit about musicianship and effective performance…
As a member of Los Dos and the New American Ramblers, Michael David Neff provided a startlingly sincere, intelligent and soulful voice that helped to elevate the music beyond genre. This solo effort displays no shortage of that quality. Although clearly influenced by Dylan and Springsteen, Neff very much charts…
Long before the White Stripes became widely popular, the bluesy, rockabilly two-piece Flat Duo Jets pioneered a similar sound and attitude for nearly two decades. Although often associated with the Athens, Georgia, music scene of the ’80s due to a memorable scene in the movie Athens, GA: Inside Out, Flat…
St. Vincent is the stage name of Annie Clark. A talented multi-instrumentalist who performs most of the music on her albums, Clark dropped out of the Berklee School of Music and became a touring member of the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’s band before pursuing a career with her own…
Eric Peterson and Patrick Kelly were part of the promising experimental rock band Roger, Roll. Caught somewhere between minimalist Americana and dream pop, Roger, Roll perfectly captured a wistful sense of wonder unsullied by crass everyday considerations. After an extended absence, Kelly returned and collaborated with Peterson on their next…
