LOCALS ONLY Spoke In Wordz is one of the best emcees out of Denver and his album Word Play was one of the hottest local releases of the year. But just so you can familiarize yourself with how Spoke gets down, here’s a taste from the album Take a Breather…
The Afters Never Going Back to OK EP INO Records 01:10-01:55 of “Never Going Back to OK” Wow, the chorus is actually “Never Going Back to OK,” I figured it was just going to be one of those titles that didn’t really have any relation to the actual song (there…
The productions and remixes of John Graham, who’s best known as Quivver, have been a staple of the world’s top DJs for more than a decade. His work has been featured in the sets and mixed albums of some of the world’s top progressive DJs, including Sasha, Paul Oakenfold and…
Bear in Heaven, Red Bloom of the Boom (Hometapes). Any one of these songs might’ve worked brilliantly on the soundtrack to the film Morvern Callar, especially between the cuts by Can and Holger Czukay. Drawing from those artists, as well as Brian Eno, Bear in Heaven creates some damn fine…
On a cold Sunday night, five teenagers are hanging out on the sidewalk in front of the club at 1531 Champa Street. Inside, on the stage near the front window, I can see a few guys breaking down their equipment. A dozen or so kids are scattered in front of…
For generations, musicians have moved to Los Angeles because they want to get famous, and they hope that being in close proximity to industry power brokers will expedite the process. But the goals motivating Alex Church, the multi-instrumentalist behind the brainy future-folk ensemble dubbed Sea Wolf, are more modest. Church,…
With every re-lease, Joe Thunder and Selector Sam move further away from simple mixtapes and closer to creating compilation albums featuring original rhymes and beats from homegrown rappers and producers. For their latest project, the two headed to east Denver to connect with F.O.E. and B Blacc and showcase the…
Charly “The City Mouse” Fasano has become an underground icon thanks to So You Think You Can Reab, the self-produced CD zines containing his funny and often bitter verses. But rocket ship to obscurity, his debut full-length, may just be his best work to date. Recorded with the help of…
Though some believe Lupe Fiasco is too smart for mainstream rap, that’s not exactly true. Most of the lyrics on his second release are trite, right down to the CD’s opening monologue: “They thought it was cool to tear down the projects and put up million-dollar condos, gentrification. They think…
Too many movie tie-in collections put profits before cohesion. Tunes by widely disparate performers, most of whom just happen to record for companies affiliated with the film studio, wind up being tossed together willy-nilly in the hope that one of them will stick, thereby inducing fans to purchase all the…
Plenty of people outside the country-music industry think the genre pretty much begins and ends with big stars — the Keiths, the Faiths and so on. But just beneath the glitzy surface, a gaggle of lesser-knowns are slugging it out in hopes of reaching the next level, and only the…
Yeah, yeah, we all know that everyone can’t be an original. Still, understanding this truism doesn’t make blatantly imitative acts like Wilmington, California’s Left Alone any more admirable. The Elvis Cortez-led band, which shares tonight’s bill with the Black Rose Phantoms, has been around since 1996 — long enough to…
Brad Paisley is one of country music’s greatest living guitar players. On his latest album, 5th Gear, the reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year blends his masterful chicken pickin’ with just the right amount of the clever humor that has helped establish him as one of the most entertaining…
Ingrid Michaelson hasn’t been getting much sleep lately. The singer has been caught up in a whirlwind of activity that all started over a year ago, when her song “Breakable” was used on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. The show then placed her endearing tune “The Way I Am,” which…
Here’s a selection of the best of last week’s music blogging from around the Village Voice chain: One girl’s love of Ghostland Observatory overcomes a solid, wailing wall of douchebags, drunks and general idiocy…
Hearts of Palm. That’s the new name being batted around by the members of Nathan & Stephen. Ran into Nathan McGarvey, who was tending bar on Friday night at the hi-dive, and he confirmed the less than ten minute-old rumor I had just heard on my way into the dive…
The Photo Atlas, 3OH!3 Saturday, January 5, 2008 The Gothic Theater Better than: Spending your mom’s money on another studded wristband. Last night’s local bill at the Gothic was an all-ages match made in heaven. Though co-headliners the Photo Atlas and 3OH!3 have a diverse following, both found huge support…
Lupe Fiasco Hypes Hillary You would think that since Lupe Fiasco is from Chicago, raps about the plight of Black men, and is politically to the left, that he would put his support behind his hometown homeboy, Barack Obama. But apparently the Chi-town rapper is putting his money on Hillary,…
Bubba Sparxxx The Lost Tracks FMS 00:00-00:45 of “Never Scared” I never totally understood the point of the “Lost Tracks” albums. These are songs that didn’t make the cut for whatever reason before and I’m entirely unsure what makes them worthwhile now. “Never Scared” is about as bottom of the…
I’ve blathered before about how music is an emotional experience and how, for better or worse, songs have a way of attaching themselves to the pivotal moments in our lives. I’m convinced this is especially true of our formative years, that small window of time when we’re the de facto…
Mike Marchant is trying to get his head straight. About a month ago, the Widowers frontman was mugged while walking to his home near City Park. The assault happened in the middle of the day, but Marchant’s recollection of the incident is as black as night. “Apparently, when you have…
I hate to say it, but most of what I know about wine I learned from Sideways. I saw the film several times a week when it played in theaters a few years ago. I felt like I was Miles, the mildly pathetic, frustrated writer and wine geek played by…
