On her current single, “So Small,” from her latest effort, Carnival Ride — out this week on the Arista imprint — Carrie Underwood sings the lines: “Go ahead and let the light shine through/I know it’s hard on a rainy day/You wanna shut the world out and just be left…
More than a decade ago, Michael Roberts wrote a piece on the intricacies of the Colorado Rockies’ in-game entertainment, including how the music was selected at Coors Field. While it sometimes seems like there’s no rhyme or reason to what’s being played — seriously, Huey freaking Lewis?! — turns out…
I should get the dictionary out,” says Nathaniel Rateliff, “and look up the word I’m trying to say.” It’s rare for a prolific songwriter like Rateliff to be at a loss for words. But right now he is. Sitting in the living room of his home in the Baker neighborhood,…
If Marco Benevento hadn’t needed to take a leak so badly, the fascinating instrumental combo known as the Benevento Russo Duo might never have existed. Benevento, who specializes in the Hammond B-3 and other keyboards, and Joe Russo, a wonderfully colorful drummer, grew up in the same New Jersey town…
The members of Architecture in Helsinki wrote their latest effort, Places Like This, via instant messages. Late last year, Cameron Bird, the band’s singer and founder, moved to Brooklyn, while his bandmates, who are now scattered across the globe, stayed behind in Melbourne, Australia. The six sent demos back and…
In 2002, Maroon 5 released Songs About Jane, which went on to sell something like a bajillion copies around the world. Consequently, the band hit the road for so many years that it didn’t have time to record anything other than live albums until this year’s It Won’t Be Soon…
Debbie Davies, Blues Blast (Telarc). Having honed her chops behind stalwarts Albert Collins and John Mayall, Debbie Davies knows how to come out swinging. On Blues Blast, she scores a knockout thanks to her icy-cool attack and the help of Tab Benoit, Charlie Musselwhite and Coco Montoya. If you thought the blues were dead, think again…
While watching four middle-aged guys run through Free’s “All Right Now” at Hicc Ups III (1541 Cortez Street), which opened last month, I started thinking about what makes a good cover band. It was a solid version of the song, pretty damn close to the original. Then they went into…
The first recorded reference to the silvery cord that connects the physical world to the world of spirits appears in the twelfth book of Ecclesiastes. This unifying of seemingly incompatible essences is also present in the music of the Silver Cord, one of the few bands to make the aesthetic…
After fifteen-minute phenomenon Death From Above 1979 melted down, bassist Jesse Keeler joined up with producer Al P to make MSTRKRFT his full-time gig. MSTRKRFT takes the anarchic dance-punk chaos of Keeler’s former band and transmutes it into teched-out, disco-fueled electro-house. Raw, growling synthesizer tones chug out big, infectiously catchy…
During the past two decades, producer/engineer Bob Ferbrache has assisted the Fluid, 16 Horsepower and many of Denver’s most interesting acts. Before establishing his mile-high reputation, however, he recorded and played with the gothically in-clined Soul Merchants, and the listenability of this remastered two-CD compilation testifies to his skills. The…
From the opening cut of Wake-Up Time, Iuengliss’s latest effort, the act invokes the feeling of rising on a sunny day in early spring, after the snows have subsided and the burning heat of the summer is still weeks away. Fittingly titled, the disc captivates the imagination while simultaneously refreshing…
On La Cucaracha, Ween continues its tradition of delivering polymorphous albums full of brilliant, warped pop songs graced with lyrics that range from the nonsensical to the silly to the outright offensive. Sliding effortlessly between styles, genres and sounds, the album finds the Brothers Ween making odd juxtapositions and placing…
There’s so much about Coheed and Cambria’s work that cries out for ridicule: the ’70s-art-rock-derived instrumental wankery, the skyscraping, get-your-Geddy-on vocals and more. Somehow, though, the act’s latest release works in spite of itself. No World for Tomorrow represents the final chapter of “The Armory Wars,” the epic tale of…
Public Enemy, which shares this bill with the Flobots, is entering new territory with each passing day. Throughout the twenty years since the release of 1987’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show, the group has remained a going concern — a claim no other major hip-hop collective can make. Of course,…
The Disney Channel has perfected a four-part approach to tween marketing. Step A: Find a telegenic youth. Step B: Build her into a suburban superstar. Step C: Milk her until her udders are dry. Step D: Begin promoting her to a slightly older audience while introducing a similarly telegenic youth…
It’s been a tumultuous year for Phonte and Big Pooh of Little Brother, the Durham, North Carolina, group that became one of underground hip-hop’s brightest stars at the beginning of the decade. 2007 saw them part ways with producer 9th Wonder, who seemed to have his hands full producing for…
When seventeen-year-old Taylor Swift takes the stage at the Grizzly Rose this weekend, fans will have the opportunity to witness a superstar in the making. Swift is one of a rare breed of female solo artists who put their own material front and center, and her self-titled debut showcases songwriting…
John Vanderslice and Flying Saucer Attack proved that home recordings could be just as layered and rich as anything recorded in a “real” studio. The Helio Sequence’s expansive sound comprises engulfing atmospheres, swirling melodies and propulsive rhythms, and the band’s psychedelic flavorings lend the music a deliciously heady quality reminiscent…
As promised in this week’s Beatdown, the following is a breakdown of entrance music for many of your favorite Rockies players. The songs are reportedly chosen by the players themselves, and while some of the selections make total sense (Todd Helton and Josh Fogg’s picks are no-brainers), others are a…
The Born Ruffians and Caribou Larimer Lounge October 23, 2007 Better than: An acid flashback The cold, fall air wafting in through the open doors on either end of the Larimer Lounge had just about numbed my feet and I was beginning to consider either starting a fire in the…
Public Enemy’s Chuck D is among the greatest innovators in hip-hop, and unlike so many of his peers, who’ve either disappeared from the scene or have transitioned into other sectors of the entertainment universe, such as acting or reality TV, he’s still spitting rhymes with something approximating his original fury…
