One of the great challenges of our time lies in accurately and earnestly expressing one’s emotions without simply regurgitating words that have been received through the music, TV and films of our ubiquitous and intrusive popular culture.
Jimmy Gnecco isn’t a tortured artist. Despite how he’s been portrayed by critics and perceived by fans, the Ours frontman isn’t particularly in love with his pain, nor does he need to feel tormented to write. But considering the turmoil he’s endured over the years — from dealing with paralyzing…
I haven’t had anyone cut my hair since I bought some electric clippers more than a decade ago. Although that $20 investment has saved me hundreds of dollars in the years since, I still miss my last barber. He was from the old school; after finishing a trim, he’d slap…
As the visionary guitar wizard in Moth Eater, Kevin Richards established a unique sound. Grounded in an understanding of jazz guitar filtered through experimental improvisational music and a post-hardcore aesthetic, Richards’s playing seems to recognize no distinct sonic boundary. Temples (due at the Larimer Lounge on Friday, November 28) is…
DJ Colette is not just another pretty face. She’s a pretty face, a sultry, gorgeous voice and some serious DJ skills all wrapped up in one seriously kick-ass package. She’s a Chicago native who draws on her home town’s rich house history, then pushes the electronics to the front and…
From its dada-esque lyrics to its soaring, scintillating rock epics, Wetlands shows a great deal of artistic maturity for a band that has only formally been together since October 2007. Its new album, Babies Teeth, is a marvel of intricate rhythms, sonic textures and expansive moods. Though there is a…
Seattle native Lucas Field — the frontman for Low Vs. Diamond — decided to attend school at the University of Colorado at Boulder for two important reasons. “First of all, it looked like the most beautiful place in the world,” he notes. “Secondly, it seemed like it had a big…
When looking at a disassembled car engine, it may seem improbable that all those tiny pieces of scrap metal could one day be constructed into something powerful. The same can be said looking at the pieces of TaunTaun. With acts such as the Gamits, Rocky Votolato, Sleeper Horse and Uphollow…
This followup to Rabbit Is a Sphere’s fantastic debut, Laps in the Sleep Salon, is a shorter and decidedly more moody offering. “Dispatch” opens the disc with a fragmenting, luminous fog that evolves into an electrifying rocker, bursting the poetic angst of its lyrics with sheer urgency; it ends with…
You probably know Jason Cain as the emotive auteur who stands — or, lately, sits — in front of Astrophagus. On his first solo CD, the singer-songwriter worked with Brian Gerhard at Helmet Room Studios to strip four thematically related songs down to their core of Cain’s minimalist strumming and…
Kurt Ottaway has been earning praise in this publication since fronting Twice Wilted in the ’80s — and why stop now? The debut by Overcasters, his latest project, isn’t a radical departure from TW or the Tarmints, a subsequent group. Rather than self-consciously attempting to seem au courant, Ottaway and…
Four years after U2 released The Joshua Tree, Negativland released an EP titled U2. The EP, which included a parody of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” could easily have been mistaken for another U2 album, since “U2” took up nearly the entire cover of the album and…
In a recent YouTube interview, the members of the Ghost Inside talk about how saturated the metal-core scene is right now, and that’s no exaggeration. Hell, this bill co-stars three other genre practitioners, each of whom try to set themselves apart using different methods. For example, England’s Bring Me the…
Lawrence, Kansas, is an unlikely little pocket of American Bohemia tucked into the heart of the Midwest. So it should come as no surprise that it has its own nascent music scene, which includes the likes of Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk. Oftentimes the most visible bands from out-of-the-way places…
Brujeria, appearing with Cephalic Carnage and Valiomierda, is a supergroup of sorts — and a bizarre one at that. A who’s who from the extreme-metal genre have gone through the lineup since the late ’80s, including past or future members of Fear Factory, Possessed, Faith No More and plenty of…
The day is almost over, which means your Thanksgiving vacation has almost started. All you have to do is get through these last few hours without doing any work and blessed release will have arrived. Don’t worry, I’m here to help with this link to photos of Swedish dance bands…
It’s no secret that DJ Vajra is one of, if not the best turntablists out of Colorado. He recently took a trip to San Francisco and connected with one of the best DJ’s on Earth: DJ Q-Bert. Vajra visited Q-Bert at his house and had a scratch session on Q-Bert’s…
With the holidays officially kicking tomorrow, what better way to start of turkey day with a hangover from a lot of partying tonight. Here are a few Thanksgiving eve suggestions:Rockbar (3015 E. Colfax Avenue) will be dubbed Plymouth Rockbar for its Thanksgiving eve kegger. We’re talking five kegs of beer…
The RaptureTapesK7!…
Lucas Field, the frontman for Low Vs. Diamond (the subject of a profile in Westword’s November 27 edition), is a Seattle native — but he spent his college years at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where he played in a jam band whose music has little in common with the tunes…
How do you know if you have the right drummer? Here’s an example:(Actual transcript from last night’s recording session while we were in the control room, listening/evaluating a take)JOHN: What do you think?CARL: I think I’m hitting my drums too hard… Let’s do it again.JOHN (To himself): Marry me.–John Common…
Earlier this year, rapper Spoke In Wordz was named Best MC in Westword’s annual Best of Denver issue. Since then, he’s joined local hip-hop group Infinite Mindz with KS107.5’s DJ Chonz as the group’s DJ. But even though the rapper is now part of group, it looks like it’s not…
