Things for a lead vocalist to avoid when performing at a high-profile, multi-day music festival: 1) Cigarettes, 2) Booze, 3) Landing on your throat after attempting to do a flip from a low-hanging tree branch into a shallow river. You don’t have to be an otolaryngologist to deduce that it’s…
When music scenes turn moribund, tastemakers desperately flail about for something, anything, to fill the void — and a band that’s anointed as the Chosen One under these circumstances often goes from obscurity to ubiquity with quicksilver speed. Too bad even the strongest among them can drown while undergoing their…
In “Unthinking Majority,” from Elect the Dead, Serj Tankian’s first solo album, the longtime System of a Down lead singer declares, “We don’t need your hypocrisy/Execute real democracy” — and unlike knee-jerk provocateurs for whom sloganeering is an end in itself, he’s actually thought about what he means by this…
Long before Steve Bug became a master of the deep, sleek, techno-infused realms of house music, he was popping, locking and maybe even doing the Robot. “The first time I recognized feeling music as something special,” Bug remembers, “was when the street-style breakdance stuff got big. “But I may have…
In the late ’70s, there was a power forward on the University of Toledo basketball team who was known more for the giant black growth on his shoulder than for his dominating ball-handling skills. That man’s name? Harvey Knuckles. As a kid growing up in Toledo, Ohio, Mike Wing was…
Blood on the Wall, Liferz (The Social Registry). On Liferz, siblings Brad and Courtney Shanks carve solid bricks from late-’80s and early-’90s indie rock to build a comfortable little abode. The architecture here might not be groundbreaking, but the hearth, warmed by “Lightning Song” and “Hibernation,” provides a welcoming haven…
Four years ago, club owner Regas Christou transformed the former Jonas Brothers building at 1037 Broadway into the jungle-themed Serengeti, which then became the Shelter. On Friday, March 28, the space will reopen as Bar Standard, an Art Deco-themed, modern-day speakeasy — think Roaring ’20s and ’30s with a twist…
Nick Houde has made consistently interesting and innovative music since he came to Denver from Montrose a few years ago. Transistor Radio Sound, with its ultra-sincere indie-pop vibe, is the project for which he was most well known. When he put that act to rest, Houde formed the free-jazz outfit…
Jungle aficionados need no introduction to the work of Ed Rush and Optical. Over the past decade, the two have blazed a trail of far-out freak funk as DJs, producers and heads of the seminal jungle label Virus. Their heavy-duty, brutal take on jungle has been hugely influential, giving rise…
Just as his former band (Band of Horses) en-dured countless comparisons to other groups, Mat Brooke’s Grand Archives will undoubtedly be likened to other indie-pop luminaries. On songs such as “Index Moon,” for instance, Brooke’s voice resembles that of the New Pornographers’ A.C. Newman, while “Torn Blue Foam Couch” evokes…
The Snoopster uses his ultra-cool stoner persona to make up for a multitude of sins — and Ego Trippin’ will only enhance his increasingly cuddly image. Thanks to his charming obliviousness, he generally gets away with lyrics and arrangements that range from timeworn to ridiculous. Despite his current reality-show stardom,…
Trends come and trends go, but the power trio remains. Trouble is, the prevalence of this approach means that acts must offer truly unexpected twists to transcend it. But while Something Underground’s name promises such a detour, We Came to Get Down, a mostly live recording that will be unveiled…
Echoing a variety of artists, from Blues Traveler and the Black Crowes to Steve Kimock and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Stanky Pockets nods to its roots-leaning influences while creating a sound of its own. On the band’s debut, vocalist and harmonica player Miles Guzman throws down, exhibiting…
Au Revoir Simone’s synth pop is as gorgeous as the three brunettes that make up the band. The Casio-centric outfit from Brooklyn began in 2003 when Erika Forster (daughter of e-town host Nick Forster) met Annie Hart on a train from Vermont to New York. Delivering lustrous harmonies, Au Revoir…
Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle’s hilarious outgoing voice-mail message, which juxtaposes a segment from Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely” with the declaration “I just want you to know you smelled really good last night,” may not provide a window into his soul, but it offers a glimpse into his appeal. The…
To their credit, the members of Explosions in the Sky didn’t change the band’s name after 9/11. Instead, they kept on making the kind of explosive, pyrotechnic music that inspired it in the first place. Although the moniker might suggest an emo or post-hardcore sound, this Austin-based outfit is closer…
When Dengue Fever first surfaced circa 2003, its Westernized take on Cambodian pop music from the Vietnam War era seemed like a wonderful novelty — one apt to fascinate briefly and then fade away. Instead, the group has managed to evolve from the oddest of cover bands to a supplier…
Over thirty years ago, long before Mick Jones joined the Clash and Tony James teamed up with Billy Idol in Generation X, the pair played together in the short-lived punk band London SS. Five years ago, the two reunited for a new project called Carbon/Silicon. Inspired by their shared love…
Slide Show March 17 at Larimer Lounge was an adventurous night full of rock and roll, fights, the police, drunks getting taken away in an ambulance, and a marriage. This, Denver, is what RAWK looks like…
Update: Click here and here for live blog coverage of the entire event. Tom Petty and Dave Matthews will be bookending AEG’s inaugural Mile High Music and Arts Festival, on Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20, respectively. The rest of the bill will be filled out by top shelf…
Here’s a selection of the best of last week’s music blogging from around the Village Voice chain: You’ve heard of this South by Southwest thing, right? The Village Voice sent some folks who reported on things like the giant pile of crap picture here, a killer set by the Constantines…
Alan Andrews and company deliver a Photo finish. Slide Show If you could see pretty much any band in the world that you wanted to right now or to catch groups that you can see at home any old time, which would you choose? No brainer, right? It was for…
