Denver Music Blog

​Here what the area's local-centric specialty radio shows were spinning this week. We're currently tracking the playlists a number of different shows including, Radio 1190's Local Shakedown, KTCL's Locals Only, the Colorado Sound, which originates at KRFC and is re-broadcast all over Colorado, 99.5 the Mountain's Homegrown Show*, KBCO's Local Edition*, and the Colorado Wave, which is syndicated on a number of stations across the country. See the full playlists posted after the jump.

*These playlists haven't been made available yet, but will be added as soon as they are.

Vampire Weekend's Contra claimed the top spot at Twist & Shout last week.

​Although Spoon has dominated the local charts over the past few weeks, there were no clear winners across the board for the week ending February 7. New releases from Album Leaf and Lil Wayne -- his ill advised rock album -- who begins serving his one year jail sentence today and Vampire Weekend's Contra topped last week's charts, while Midlake's Courage of Others and Rob Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe 2 debuted in the top ten. See the full breakdown after the jump.

​As if playing in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters wasn't enough for Dave Grohl, he teamed up with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Queen of the Stone Age's Joshua Homme to form Them Crooked Vultures in 2009. The Vultures, who released their self-titled debut this past November, descend upon the Fillmore Monday, April 19. General admission tickets are $49.50 in advance and $55 day of show go on sale Saturday, February 13 at 10 a.m.

American Idol winner turned country star Carrie Underwood brings her Play On tour to 1stBank Center (formerly Odeum Colorado) on Thursday, June 3. Reserved tickets, which run $35 to $55, go on sale Saturday, February 13 at 10 a.m.

After a three-year break from performing, save for a headlining slot a Rothbury last summer, String Cheese Incident returns for a three-day stint at Red Rocks Friday, July 23 through Sunday, July 25. Reserved and general admission tickets $47.50 and go on sale today on the act's website and then on Saturday, February 13 at 10 a.m through TicketMaster.

Finally, Sigor Rós frontman Jónsi, who is releasing his debut solo album April 5, stops by the Paramount Theatre on Wednesday, April 21. Reserved tickets for this one, which run $27.50 to $35, go on sale Friday, February 12 at 10 a.m. Follow the jump to see the other shows that have already been announced and are currently on sale

Carrie Underwood was evidently flat in several spots yesterday when she sang the national anthem. We hardly noticed, to be honest. But that could just be because we tend to be more forgiving when it comes to people actually singing versus, well, not singing. Nonetheless, it got us to thinking about the most memorable moments in national anthem history.

After the jump, we've assembled a list of the ones that made the hair on the back of our neck stand up -- both in a good way and bad -- made us ask WTF?! and some that made us proud to be Americans. See which ones made the cut after the jump.

In front of what may turn out to be the largest audience in Super Bowl history, Queen Latifah ripped off her earpiece, Carrie Underwood wore hooker platforms and Pete Townshend exposed his belly-button. Scandalous!

The Who in 1975 with 50% more band and 97% more rock and roll than they had last night.

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There was also some (awesome) football played, but as far as Poptimystic is concerned, the only live television event that matters anymore is all about the tunes. Wondering why "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire is suddenly the theme song of the NFL? Feeling gooey about children's choirs? You've come to the right place.

In video games, we're used to running, jumping, collecting and shooting (especially shooting). What we don't see a lot of is record scratching. And what we see even less of is record scratching to solve puzzles, like those little ball-in-maze puzzles or, uh, safe-cracking.

Yes, it's just about as weird as it looks

Until now, that is. We discovered this little gem from the Bell Brothers called Record Tripping late Friday afternoon and we've been tinkering with it on and off ever since. It's a weird little game/diversion that fuses pop music, Alice in Wonderland, record-scratching and puzzle solving into one odd package.

Intriguing word out of the George & Caplin camp: Secluded Malls & Scenic Byways, the outfit's next release, will reportedly be issued as a two-CD set. Any G&C release is cause for excitement, but this one especially so. As we understand it, the second disc is going to comprise a set of tracks that form an infinite loop.

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Color us excited about this one. We're not entirely certain what the second CD will entail exactly, but the idea of a set of tracks forming an infinite loop is making our brains ache with thoughts of Eno on repeat. The news comes on the heals of word that the duo were recording a few months ago utilizing a Borroughsian manifesto that included the likes of space suits and cowboy boots. The pair also recently said, "Keyboards are kin to banjos and slide guitars are genetically the same as samplers," if that helps give you any idea which direction the act is headed.

On Friday night, P.O.S. played a sold-out show at the Marquis with Grieves with Budo, Dessa (of Doomtree) and The Pirate Signal, and then on Saturday night, Drag the River played with Cheap Girls at 3 Kings Tavern.

Aaron Thackeray

Our boy Aaron Thackeray was there and took a grip of snaps. Take a gander at those and all our other recent nightlife pix. Think of it as your own private peep show, sans the nudity -- well, unless you're astute enough to find the NSFW shots, that is.

Tjutjuna, Orbiteer, Woodsman and Fissure Mystic
Friday, February 5, 2010
Meadowlark

Tom Murphy

Fissure Mystic

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Jeff Suthers opened this show with the debut of his solo project, Orbiteer. Streaming layers of hazy guitar overlayed sketches of faintly discernible melodies in the distance. Whorls of shimmering, controlled feedback were manipulated into broad vistas of panoramic atmospherics that brought to mind images of the "Clouds" segment of Koyaanisqatsi, as if the director placed a camera inside a rocket headed toward escape velocity. The song that followed sounded western-esque with circling riffs cascading in slow motion into a gentle flow of sound, while the next track recalled lonely, enigmatic grandeur of Windy & Carl's Songs for the Broken Hearted.

Still looking for a rooting interest and/or drinking game for Sunday's national holiday? We combed through the roster and coaching staffs of the Colts and Saints to find Colorado connections. Because you should always root for Colorado, regardless of the circumstances. Including when two teams from Indiana and Louisiana play each other in Miami.

There are three players/coaches from the Colts with a line from Colorado on their resume, and, conveniently, three from the Saints. You know Mike Bell is on the list, but you might be surprised who else is on there.

Because the connections are split evenly, we've taken the liberty of assigning a point value between one and ten to each one to bring your rooting interest numerical certainty. We've also invented a drinking game, because, well, this is Westword, and any reason we can find to drink is cause to celebrate (yeah, like we ever need a reason).