Music

Peña w/ Side-Fi Noise, Blue Angels. Wednesday, January 16, 2008, Larimer Lounge Better than: Doing trigonometry at a bus stop. One chord. Yes, one chord. One sweet, loud, savory guitar chord. That’s all it took. And the next thing everyone knew, “Blitzkrieg Bop” took over a nation. So what is…

Why give anything an earnest listen, when you can make snap judgments? Raheem DeVaughn Love Behind the Melody Zomba Records 01:00-01:45 of “Customer” I had to stare at the cover of this record for a few minutes before I realized that it wasn’t called, “Love From Behind.” I’m not sure…

I’m going to double-check the calendar just to be sure, but I think this could be the year of the Swayback. At least, that’s the sense I get from listening to Long Gone Lads, the act’s absolutely killer new platter, which Eric Halborg blessed me with last week. More than…

Most artists don’t consider premature retirement until after they’ve made it big — really big. But Lupe Fiasco isn’t most artists. His first album, 2006’s Food & Liquor, earned excellent reviews, a trio of Grammy nominations and sales that remain just shy of gold status, and his entertainingly scattershot new…

Art Blakey had a knack for finding young jazz talents and grooming them in his Jazz Messengers group. He helped jump-start the careers of Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, who was just 21 years old when Blakey reached out to him. More…

Some things are best in small doses, including synth-laden dance punk. That may be why Professor Murder sticks to EPs rather than full-length albums. Despite the critical acclaim that followed last year’s five-track debut, the New York City quartet has opted to give away Professor Murder on a Desert Island…

Sounds Under Radio was still unsigned when the producers of Spider-Man 3 heard its song “Portrait of a Summer Thief,” from the then-unreleased album Cinematica, and determined that the Austin-based act’s driving, slightly gloomy yet still accessible sound would be a good fit for the soundtrack. Singer/guitarist Lang Freeman says…

While living in New York a few years ago, I started keeping track of what I played on the jukebox in the three bars I frequented. I’m not entirely sure what inspired me to first jot down song names in my notebook, but it got to the point where I…

When Shea Sweeney and Joe Vacarelli were in the neo-alt-rock band Whirlaway a few years ago, they displayed a surprising level of sophistication in their pop songcraft. While the two have taken a step back from the spotlight as members of the Visitors, their knack for tasteful dynamics and buoyant…

House-heads of Denver, prepare yourself for a treat. Belgian-born house maestro Olivier Desmet makes his first Colorado appearance to promote San Francisco Sessions Vol. 6, his latest mix for the fabled Om Records label. Desmet is a champion of the signature Om sound: melodic, sophisticated deep and funky house studded…

Since the Bravery and the Killers are the two American groups most likely to be misidentified as British, their 2005 pissing match was wholly predictable but more entertaining than anticipated. Recall that the Killers’ Brandon Flowers chided the Bravery’s Sam Endicott for having once played in an outfit named Skabba…

Certain folks will love the music of native Australian Xavier Rudd, while others will hate it the way they despise injustice, cruelty toward children and animals, and the smell of hard-boiled eggs left in the sun for two weeks. To decide which category best fits you, consider the following: 1)…

When Split Lip Rayfield played at the Bluebird Theater in September 2006, it was hard to tell that guitarist Kirk Rundstrom had just a few months to live. Despite the fact that the 37-year-old was battling esophageal cancer, he tore through the set with the fervor of a teenager taking…

Over the past few years, DJ Lee Coombs has emerged as one of the innovators and champions of tech-funk, a sound that fuses elements of techno and acid house to the snappy dance-floor kick of breakbeat. An ever-evolving sound, tech-funk is an accessible blend that takes the funky, earthy sensibilities…

Willie Wisely has paid his dues. Hailing from the same 1980s Midwest scene that spawned the Replacements, Hüsker Dü and the Violent Femmes, Wisely has had a career that’s been as storied as it’s been criminally neglected. He got his start as a promoter at the well-known Minneapolis institution First…

Click here for slide show Sea Wolf Larimer Lounge January 15, 2008 Better than: Watching girls dancing with hula hoops Last May, Sea Wolf played to a handful of people at the Larimer Lounge. The band played a fine set, and after the gig I picked up the band’s Get…

Denver music fans of the 1990s knew Nick Pomeroy as Rusty Shears, the energetic, memorably monikered frontman for the Garden Weasels, a ska-punk combo devoted to good humor and good times. But there was a lot more than wacky stage antics to Pomeroy, who died of cardiac arrest at age…

Z-Trip January 15, 2008 Sutra Better Than: Going to bed early on a school night. Without a doubt, Z-Trip is still the unequivocal master of the mash-up, as evidenced by his energetic set last night at Sutra, where he threw down at a private party sponsored by Red Bull. From…

Here’s a selection of the best of last week’s music blogging from around the Village Voice chain: There are good ways to promote your band, and then there are very bad ways, like this sticker, and many more like it…

The Knew, Light Travels Faster, The Get Down January 12, 2008 Lion’s Lair Better Than: Watching the false pageantry of another Patriots win. Popping into the Lion’s Lair on Saturday night, I marveled at how much the bar has changed since I first started making my way in there with…

Eric Bachmann w/ Ian Cooke, Elin and Freida Saturday, January 12 Better than: The hangover the next morning The swell of people at the Hi-Dive Saturday night seemed like a perfect fit for Denver transplant Eric Bachmann. Any one of the many there may have been a random character from…