“Infectious” is too mild a word for viral tunes like “Hip Hopallula” and “Hello,” which both owe a sizable debt to old-school Grandmaster Flash and Whodini. In fact, odds are good that Junior Senior’s brain trusts, Danes Jeppe Laurson and Jesper Mortensen, are likely be quarantined in the National Jewish…
A Shoreline Dream’s debut full-length, Avoiding the Consequences, showcased a band exploring the breadth of dream pop with an immediately compelling sound. On Coastal, its latest effort, the act builds upon Avoiding’s ideas with noisier backdrops and less floating-in-the-ether-style digital delay. The disc also exhibits a greater sense of urgency…
Few young acts have their own sound from the get-go — and right now, the Platte River Killers are in the imitation stage. Their hard-rocking work is generally effective, but they’ll have to go beyond mimicry if they want to be remembered for themselves and not just for the bands…
Hannah Fury, Through the Gash (MellowTraumatic Recordings). Hannah Fury’s last full-length effort was a musical adaptation of Wicked that was way ahead of the Broadway musical. On this long-awaited followup, her wispy, spooky songs of love, life and loss play like Gothic ghost tales from another time. The lush, dense…
Parents, the members of Tub Ring are poster children for not giving your ADD-addled children their meds. Otherwise, they might never grow up to be endearingly spastic kings of pop like these guys, who can open a tune with pseudo-classical strings before veering effortlessly into bouncy punk interspersed with searing…
When you pull up the home page of Taylor Eigsti’s website, there’s a photo of the 22-year-old pianist wearing a leather jacket with a hoodie underneath. Hate to say it, but the guy looks like more like a Backstreet Boy than a jazz pianist who’s been nominated for two Grammys…
The Tennessee Three backed Johnny Cash. Elvis had the Jordanaires. And the late, great GG Allin had the Murder Junkies, a crew who saw more of his backside, front side and underside than Allin’s seventeen-year-old girlfriend. Allin died in 1993, wearing feces and a mini-skirt, his face in a bag…
How the hell did Placebo wind up on the high-profile Projekt Revolution tour alongside Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, HIM, Madina Lake, Saosin, Styles of Beyond, Taking Back Sunday and the Bled? The answer most likely involves word of mouth from the right boosters at the right time. The British…
Mr. DeLuca, performing with the Last Goodnight and the Midway State, knows plenty about burdens — like, for instance, the one he’s carried since 24 star Kiefer Sutherland adopted his musical career. Having such a powerful patron has paid dividends: Sutherland made DeLuca’s 2006 long-player, I Trust You to Kill…
Frank Schultz is bullish on the Ballpark neighborhood — and no one is more surprised by that than him. In 1997, two years after Coors Field opened, Schultz invested big in the area by opening the Soiled Dove at 1949 Market Street, but by 2005, he realized that with all…
In the hierarchy of fabled Denver bands, Christie Front Drive ranks near the top. During its brief tenure, the act delivered some of the most compelling and influential music to ever come out of this town. Helmed by singer-guitarist Eric Richter, Christie Front Drive anchored the nascent early-’90s emo scene…
Andy C. has been a pioneer of the jungle/drum-and-bass sound since the beginning of its evolution from the early-’90s hardcore techno/breaks scene in his native U.K. As a teenager, he co-founded Ram Records in 1992 with Ant Miles and released a series of influential cuts, including the mega-anthem “Valley of…
Malas Semilla, Light Travels Faster and Dark Meat August 28, 2007 The hi-dive Better than: A psychedelic tent revival Malas Semillas was the sound of an alternate universe where hipster culture spontaneously generated in the Appalachians, complete with irony and punk rock roots intact, but lacking all other indie touchstones…
There’s a lot more to Richard Swift than what’s in our August 30 issue. Swift himself said, “I think primarily people think of me as just some dude behind a piano singing, you know, like sad bastard songs.” Sure, his latest Dressed Up For the Underdog might be heavily steeped…
Jason Roth, Cap’n Fresh & the Stay Fresh Seals, and All Teeth And Knuckles August 27, 2007 Larimer Lounge Better than: Weeping into your Miller Lite over the incisive musings of another brilliant singer-songwriter. Tard-tronica. Electrobotomy. Hip-schlock. Call it what you will and make of it what you will, but…
Inland Knights & Luke Solomon August 24, 2007 Vinyl & Two A.M. Better than: You know what they say about half a loaf… When something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Something like, say, getting two headlining DJs – Inland Knights and Luke Solomon in this case…
Rock the Bells @ Red Rocks Wednesday, August 22 Red Rocks Better than: Ninety percent of the hip-hop you see on television and hear on the radio. This acts on this bill hardly get any radio or video play anymore. It’s been almost ten years since a quality hip-hop festival…
Lez Zeppelin Wednesday, August 22 Bluebird Theater Slide Show Better than: Physical graffiti in the houses of the holy when the levee breaks. All right, first things first. Lez Zeppelin, if you can’t tell by the name, is an all-female band paying tribute to the almighty Led Zeppelin. To get…
Every time one of my boys has a birthday, I make it a point to call or send a text message, to let him know that I’m thinking about him. But it’s really Sweetie who’s doing the thinking. While the pertinent dates of all my kinfolk are stored securely in…
Modern-day troubadour, educator, soul-stirrer, poet and hip folkster: Amos Lee is a man of many hats. Well, that is, when he’s not losing them. “I just really enjoyed those hats,” Lee says, referring to the headgear displayed on his album covers, which has become something of a trademark for him…
Korn isn’t what it used to be. In recent years, guitarist Brian “Head” Welch and drummer David Silveria have left the group, and the remaining members — guitarist Munky, bassist Fieldy and vocalist Jonathan Davis — aren’t in a rush to fill their slots. “It’s hard, because these are members…
After making the Eastern Hemisphere laugh for the past five years, Flight of the Conchords has finally taken off stateside, giving us a reason to hang on to that HBO subscription for a little while longer. Formerly promoting itself as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody act,” the Kiwi…
