Denver Music Blog

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Looks like the Rouge's red letter day is continuing. From kicking off the summer performing at Red Rocks to making its way up to headlining status, the band is now enjoying a healthy buzz generated by the inherent sex appeal of its shirtless, leather vested frontman its passionate live shows and Heat and Light, the outfit's excellent new record, issued this past spring on Morning After Records. And the buzz, it seems, is beginning to pay off: Tonight the act is playing a show at the Marquis (with the Still City, Snake Rattle Rattle Snake and Churchill) for some unnamed label honchos, who are reportedly parachuting in just give the outfit another looksee. And if that weren't enough, the Rouge holds the distinction of being one of the acts chosen to create a song for Timbaland's Beaterator, a new PSP game created by Rockstar Games that allows players to craft their own music from a bank of loops and pre-recorded music. The band submitted a remixed version of its song "Six Shooter." Check it out after the jump, along with a trailer for the game.

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We would hate for you to miss out on all the awesome that happens every weekend in our fair city, so we've decided to run down three of the best shows in one easy-to-swallow post, with video and audio. Tell us -- and the rest of the world -- what we missed in the comments.

Eric Gruneisen

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It seemed like there was a special significance to Ween's show at Red Rocks in September. In addition to the fact that the show marked one of the final spots on the band's fall tour, we noticed a number of cameras during the performance and mused that the show could wind up being released as a DVD or a supplement to an upcoming album. Turns out we weren't far off. The Ween crew have announced on their website that the Red Rocks show is available for download on iClips for about seven bucks. A couple of songs have been omitted due to "technical reasons," but getting more than two hours of live footage for seven dollars ain't bad. Judging from the free sample clips of "Now I'm Freaking Out" and "Did You See Me?," the combined efforts of the Red Rocks camera crew and the iClips folks paid off. The sound and the visual quality are top-notch, and the clips are a gem for any Ween fan who was or wasn't at the show. Indeed, the footage rivals the band's previous DVD release from 2004, Live From Chicago. Don't dawdle too long - the download expires in May.

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Been on Google lately? Notice something different? We noticed it the other day, but didn't think much of it until we came across this item on Billboard.com. Evidently, the search engine provider has broadened its search capabilities to now provide links to songs that are capable of being streamed instantaneously upon demand. According to the Billboard report, the streaming is being handled by MySpace and Lala. Pretty slick if you ask us. For shit's and grins, we just googled Planes Mistaken for Stars, and sure enough, it pulled up four songs and offered up direct links to Rhapsody, Pandora, Imeem and Lala. This technological age we're living in is a trip isn't it? You can hold your phone up to a speaker and it automatically figures out what you're listening to. And now this? Pretty soon, all you're going to have to do is think about a song, and ta-dow! It will instantly appear before you as a hollagram.

Flying the friendly skies with United has given Dave Carroll's burgeoning career an undeniable boost. By now, you've probably familiar with the Caroll or at least his story. Last year after United damaged one of his guitars, he documented his travails in a song called, fittingly, "United Breaks Guitars." Before he posted the video on YouTube, which unsurprisingly went viral almost immediately, most people probably couldn't tell Dave Caroll from Dave Barry. And even now, most still couldn't pick the guy out of a lineup. So while the song was a nice enough ditty, it wasn't the melody line or the delivery that struck a chord. The reason, we presume, that the video got so many hits and generated so much exposure for Caroll was because so many folks could relate to his misfortune. While we've never had any of our gear damaged by the airline -- namely because we fly Southwest whenever possible hoping to board a plane with the rapping flight attendant -- we've heard of plenty of other people who have. One guy we know who had a priceless-to-him sitar damaged springs to mind. So what's your story? Have you had any gear damaged or lost? Feel free to share your misfortune after the jump. And in the meantime, check out the video for Caroll's latest ode "United Breaks Guitar Song 2," inspired by another recent trip in which the carrier inexplicably misplaced his luggage.

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Man, if The Northern Way doesn't break out in a major way within the next year, it's certainly not going to be for a lack of having radio-friendly songs. This morning, the outfit, formerly known as Set Forth, premiered its brand new single, "Starting Line," on MySpace. Matching the undeniable sugary infectiousness of tracks such as "Crazy," which has been in heavy rotation on KTCL for more than a year, the new song should generate even more interest in the band, whose inexplicable knack for crafting perfect pop hooks is beyond impressive. Take a listen to the single after the jump and then pick it up via iTunes on Brother Bear Records, an imprint which has also released music from Young Coyotes and I am the Dot.

​Ever notice just how much more advanced kids are these days? They just seem so much cooler than we were growing up. We were at a barbecue not too long ago, for instance, and heard the wee son of a friend -- seriously, the kid hadn't even hit puberty yet -- raving about the new Bon Iver record. Yeah, Bon Iver. What's that all about? At that age, we were listening to the sort of craptastic, cringe-worthy things that can't even be explained away as guilty pleasures. So what gives? Cooler parents? Greater access? The internet? Uh-huh, that's what we thought, too, at first. But we've since figured it out.

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Ah, it's refreshing to know that as frenzied as life can sometimes be, some things remain ever constant. In defiance of fair weather trends, Denver is still a hotbed for metal, and Dave Otero still has a hand in producing some of the best music coming out of here. For evidence, look no further than the latest effort from Cryogen, Despara, released yesterday on Dark Millennium Records. In what's steadily becoming a welcome trend locally, the outfit is streaming the entire EP on its MySpace page, allowing fans to sample the goods before forking over their hard earned loot to pick up the disc. And we all know that metal fans are among the remaining contingent that still buy albums, right? Good move.

Impeccably recorded at Otero's Flatline Audio studio, Despara, the follow-up to Psalms of Deceit, of which the outfit sold a thousand copies, is an exercise in sheer brooding brutality. If dual leads and otherwise precision guitar work, machine gun rhythms and scathingly guttural vocals put a smile on your face, Cryogen has just what you're looking for and more, particularly on tracks such as "Mirror Entropy," which bolsters the blistering leads with a anamolous, unexpected classical interlude. Give the record a spin and then catch Cryogen with such like minded acts Immortal Dominion and Walk the Dead at the Cork in Fort Collins on Sunday, November 8, and then again at 12 Volt Tavern on Saturday, November 21, with Conspiracy Assassins and Hate By Example.

​It's that time again. Next Thursday night, the Denver Film Festival kicks off. Although the various films are clearly the main draw, by no means are they the only attraction. As in years past, the real excitement takes place after the screenings. For those who are unable to get their hands on an invite to the nightly VIP afterhours parties in LoDo, where the liquor flows freely and the tunes rage until dawn, here's the word on the other shindigs in town next week. On Thursday, November 19, the Gin Blossoms are slated to perform in the The Love Hope Strength Music Lounge at the Hard Rock Cafe. Tickets for that one are $35, with procedes benefiting the Love Hope Strength Foundation. And those who purchase their tickets in advance will get a pass to the closing night screening of The Young Victoria. Elsewhere, at the Walnut Room, Meadowlark and Forest Room 5, there's a number of local acts such as the Swayback, Jim McTurnan and the Kids Who Killed the Man, Rachael Pollard, Mike Marchant and Achille Lauro, among others, who are slated to perform. Membership, of course, has its privileges: Admission to these events, which, incidently, are open to the public, is free for badge holders. Otherwise, it's $3 for ticket holders and $5 for the general public. Follow the jump for a complete rundown.

​Okay, can we all just agree that Jeff Buckley is a god? Mean, seriously, the man was in a whole other league from all of the other artists of his time. And with the exception of perhaps Jimmy Gnecco from Ours, no one has even come close to displaying the kind of talent he possessed. And he made it all seem so effortless. Just watch all the posthumous footage that's been released. Still kicking ourselves that we never caught him at the Bluebird when we had the chance, when he stopped by as part of the Grace tour. Well, it looks like we're not alone in our admiration. Just caught wind of Your Sweet Return, a Jeff Buckley tribute show slated to take place on Wednesday, November 18 at Boulder's b.side Lounge, in which Jeffrey Hyde Thompson and guitarist Kit Slater, bassist Aaron Stone and drummer Ryan Maskewitz will perform Grace in its entirety. Good luck fellas, that's sort of like trying to replicate the paintings on the Sistine Chapel. Then again, we thought the same thing when we first heard about those fellas who planned on performing OK Computer in its entirety a while back, and that turned out pretty well. So who knows?

​A few weeks ago, the longtime Colorado dance music community unnet.net fractured and came apart under the stress of some considerable internal drama. This was a sad thing, but no surprise. Online communities frequently do that after a decade or so of existence. Very shortly after unnet.net ceased to exist, Sideways5 came into existence to replace it: very similar look, the majority of the community, nearly all of its features. Only the archives were lost. This is a good thing.

Another good thing? The Sideways5 people are throwing themselves a little launch party this Friday, November 6, in the Beatport Lounge. It's cheap or free for for Sideways5 members and you'll get to meet and hear the music of some of the movers and shakers behind the boards. Sign up for Sideways5 (www.sidewaysfive.net) if you haven't already, print out your profile page and get there before 11 p.m. for cheap ($10 for 18+) or free (21+) entry. You can also RSVP on Facebook.. Either way, get it done and go help them launch this thing in style.

Matt Fecher isn't letting the grass grow under his feet. Although his hands are clearly already full with helping curate the Monolith Festival, Fecher, who DJs under the name Hot to Death, is constantly moving in a number of different creative directions at once it seems, from launching and hosting the sporadic yet increasingly popular New Music Mondays at the Larimer Lounge, to embarking on various collaborations, such as Animals At Risk, the name finally given to the electro-clash project featuring Fecher and the Pirate Signal's Yonnas Abraham. Although the duo has yet to release a wholly original piece of music, the remixes they've presented thus far have been interesting enough that we'll be keeping an eye on the pair, who have already shared the stage with the likes of Cut Copy, among others. The clip above, centered on a Kasabian video and featuring new music from Animals At Risk, injects a sense of utter bleakness into an already brooding Swayback vocal, taking it to new levels of unforeseen darkness. Catch Animals At Risk on Tuesday, November 10, at the Larimer Lounge, when the outfit plays a DJ set in front of Neon Indian, and again on Saturday, November 21, at the Bluebird Theater as it warms up for Savoy and makes its live debut.

There's no denying that Denver's cachet as a top music city is quickly becoming recognized across the country, but in case any lingering doubts remain, we just received word that the Harmony Sweepstakes, one of the world's top a cappella music competitions, has once again chosen Denver for it's 2010 regional competition. The annual international competition routinely draws hundreds of the top vocal groups from around the world, who compete in musical styles ranging from pop and rock to gospel and barbershop.

Singing without instrumental accompaniment has been around for centuries and has definitely grown from the simplistic gregorian chants of renaissance times to the complex precision replication by today's top vocal groups, who perform entire rock songs using only the human voice. If your the type of person who spends your free time beat boxing and singing guitar parts and are interested the Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes is especially for you. To get a taste of what exactly modern a cappella music is all about, check out the mind-blowingly amazing clip above of the 2009 Rocky Mountain regional winners Mouth Beats.

​For a project that initially began as a home recording project, Fell, led by Josh Wambeke, has sure turned a lot of heads, from Camera Obscura label head Tony Daley, who stepped up to release the act's music virtually sight unseen, to the producers of the indie film The Purest Blue, who utilize the band's music in their movie, to his latest admirers, Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth and noted music journo Byron Coley. The last two had some nice things to say about Incoherent Lullabies, Fell's latest album, on the ArthurMag.com blog, describing the outfit as a cross between Obscured By Clouds-era Floyd and L.A. Woman-era Doors. Not bad company to be in.

The view out my front door

​Ah, snow. I hate it. I am not a skier, not a 'boarder and I sure as fuck don't snowshoe. And it's not because I am some pansy-ass, warm-weather transplant from SoCal or something. I grew up in Wyoming and I've been in Colorado for almost thirteen years, so I am certainly accustomed to the stuff. The only thing -- and I mean only thing -- I find interesting about it is the way it affects my mood -- especially my musical mood.

​This Friday, the Epilogues will be returning home from tour with the Photo Atlas and both bands are celebrating with a dual CD release show at the Marquis. But if this impending event has you jumping up and down with anticipation, relax -- you don't have to wait to hear at least some of the new tunes. Just point your browser over to the Epilogues MySpace page and you can hear "Hunting Season" and "FutureBox" right now. Old fans needn't worry -- there's no radical departure for the band here, just a natural progression of their polished take on the modern pop/rock sound. Both tracks seem a little more confident and perhaps a bit more streamlined than the group's previous work. "FutureBox" is the better of the two, with its propulsive drive and nice guitar interplay. Neither track is going to change haters' minds, but that's okay, too -- the Epilogues clearly know what they're after and they continue to get better at getting it done.

​We're suckers for a good cause, especially if all we have to do to do good is go to a bar, have a few beers and hear some kick-ass tunes. That being the case, next Wednesday offers up a fine opportunity to do exactly that, and get in the proper mood for Halloween with the music of Devil Doll. Her bio calls her the "punk rock torch singer your father warned you about, weaving tales of sex and sorrow, pleasure and pain," and she dabbles in the kind of horror rock that makes the Cramps such a seasonal favorite in our playlists.

The cause here is a benefit for one Dick Dime, an Ironman athlete who got into a little bike/car altercation that left him with a head injury, several fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a fractured vertebra, according to his website. Ouch. It's only $10, it's a good cause, and hey, Devil Doll is hot, too, if that helps. Get more info and tickets at Bender's website.

​It's been a little while since we've heard from local lo-fi ambient popsters George&Caplin (in part, presumably, because Jeffrey Wentworth Stevens was busy recording a pair of killer EPs with Joe Sampson as Wentworth Kersey) but we've just received word that the duo have new material incoming. The first release we'll see, near the end of the year, is a remix album from Plastic Sound Supply of select tracks from the duo's last release, the excellent He Really Got Through to Advertising. Artists such as CacheFlowe, Equulei, Scaffolding and Colortone Library will provide a variety of takes on Advertising material in styles including experimental, dubstep, glitch hop, techno and shoegaze -- maybe even all at once. Then, sometime next year, G&C will release a proper follow up, which they've been working on for some time. We can't wait.

Photo by Hayley Spain

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If you make it out to Moe's next Thursday, October 29, you can catch a bill of Light Travels Faster, Night Owl and Portamento. If you like Light Travels faster (and you probably will; our A.H. Goldstein said the band has a "dense, textured and harmonically rich sound [that] melds an ear for compositional continuity with a sense for poetic pacing" in a feature profile earlier this year), you can catch up with the group's back catalog for the low, low price of whatever the hell you want to pay.

The band has compiled their two EPs, After the Black of Baca County and ...with friends like these and some older material into a single disc and is making it available on a donation basis. So, $5, $2, a handful of bottle caps and a shot of Jack Daniels ... whatever you can afford, they'll presumably hook you up. And even if you're already well versed in the LTF sound, you might want to grab it anyway, since some of the early material on the disc is previously unreleased. Sounds like a steal. Get more details at Light Travels Faster's MySpace page.

His date delivers a knee to the groin

​Feeling funny today? Well, here's your chance to win a fabulous prize -- supposing you consider a personal voicemail message from the dudes of 3Oh!3 to be a "fabulous prize." All you have to do is head over to the band's website and leave a comment suggesting a funny caption for the photo you see above, a still from the new "Starstrukk" video. The band will pick their favorite and you'll be the envy of starstruck 3Oh!3 fans everywhere. And based on the level of the competition we saw in a quick glance at the comments thus far, "sorta funny" could be good enough to take the prize. Good luck!

SoKabs (via Flickr)

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Did you see this yet? We just caught a link to this on Twitter (thanks, MyBodySings), a list of artists whose music was used "during the detention and interrogation of" to torture "prisoners at Guantanamo and other US facilities"? The list, published by the National Security Archive and reportedly culled from recently declassified documents, contains an range of music, from the Barney Theme Song and Meow Mix Jingle to Limp Bizkit and Matchbox Twenty. We see where they're going with the last two, but that Barney Theme Song was pretty catchy. See the full list and feel free to weigh in on what other artists you think should've made the cut. Our vote: Hinder, Lady Gaga and anything else praised, promoted or otherwise namechecked by that over important windbag Perez Hilton.

Todd Roeth

Hey Guys,

So, your last show is this Saturday, October 24 at the Bluebird. I understand that circumstance dictates it, but it makes me sad. You guys have been one of my favorite bands over the past three years since I first saw you live at the Donnybrook Bastille Day party and you played a Neutral Milk Hotel cover. I already liked you then, but that really kicked things into high gear for me.

Since then, you've seen me through some pretty hard times and plenty of good ones, too. You seem to have written songs for just about every one of my moods, from soaring, bombastic exuberance to heartbroken melancholy. The feature I wrote about you is one of my favorite pieces and doing the interview was, hands down, the best time I ever had interviewing a band.

More than that, you've helped me achieve something special -- looking cool in front of my teenage daughter. As you guys know, my daughter is a big fan. She thought it was pretty awesome when I interviewed you, especially since it meant she got a sneak peek at the new album. I was glad to be able to take her along to see you guys play at our Showcase and she loved it so much it made her cry -- which makes me cry a little bit just thinking about it. But when I gave her the record you all signed for her for her sixteenth birthday and she told me, "This is pretty much the best birthday I could have asked for," well, that was something really special. And I couldn't have done it without you guys.

Thanks for everything. We'll see you Saturday.

Cory

​Updated: The farewell performance is Saturday, October 24, not Friday.

DJ Miss Audry, one of the best-known female DJs in the city, is retiring after more than a decade behind the decks. "It's been a long and amazing DJ ride for me, but after thirteen years, I have decided to hang up my headphones. About a year ago, my mom and I took over a Greek cafe, Melita's, which is taking up most of my time," she explains. "I finally decided it's time to focus my energy on helping my family make the business a success." She'll also be spending some time putting her degree in journalism to use as a writer.

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Okay, so how many times have you went to a show, watched a band and thought to yourself, I can out sing that dude in my sleep!? If this sounds like you, here's your chance. If you've secretly harbored the desire to get up onstage and showcase your pipes but don't have the time nor the wherewithal to actually, you know, form a band, write songs, book gigs and all that, tonight is your night. Adding a cool twist to an already unique approach of having a live band (Guitar Villans) lay down backing tracks for karaoke, tonight Herman's has tapped a few local frontman of acts such as Spools of Dark Thread, the Threatened and No 1 Left Standing to throw down alongside the rank and file. Sounds like a kick. You in? We hear you do a pretty kick ass Bon Jovi.

RunColorado.com

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This Sunday morning, early risers who make it out to the Denver Marathon will be treated to a diverse array of local talent along the race route. Perhaps taking a cue from the Bolder Boulder, marathon organizers fielded a number of suggestions from the runners before settling on a half-dozen acts, ranging from surf-inflected sounds of the Beloved Invaders to the jump blues of the Delta Sonics to the rustic alt country of the Hollyfelds, to play music during the race. Follow the jump for a full list of acts and where they'll be stationed.

​On Naima's Grass Pajamas, Paul Riola's Bottesini Project has assembled something of a dream lineup, including guitar legend Nels Cline of Wilco, bassist Keenan Wayne, CacheFlowe, Janet Feder and Glenn Taylor. The musicians recorded a day's worth of improvisations, then Riola and Colin Bricker spent many additional hours in the studio assembling the final product. "We collaged a lot of the sessions together, so we could form what we thought was a coherent narrative of the improvisations," Riola explains. "The album is not a stamped-out document of the improvisations. We really took a musique concrete approach to it."

​Orbit Service, the experimental/psychedelic pop outfit of Randall Frazier, will be appearing on the upcoming compilation MOM. The disc is a benefit for Beta-lactam Rings Records owner Chris McBeth's mother, who has cancer. "[McBeth and I] have become very close friends over the past few years. His mother was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer, and so he asked a few of his label's artists to contribute tracks for the benefit of his mother," Frazier explains. "I was honored that he asked me to be a part alongside some of my biggest influences, including the Legendary Pink Dots, Nurse With Wound and Nadja."

​If you're in need of some new music to freshen up the ol' iPod, yet find yourself as bereft of disposable income as ever, here's some good news: more than three dozen free albums from Rope Swing Cities, all in one place for easy perusal. The local IDM/ambient electronic netlabel is just about ready to restart releasing music again after a moderate hiatus, and to celebrate, they made one, easy to access location for their entire back catalog. The artists represented include nearly a dozen local acts, plus musicians from Canada, France and Japan. So what are you waiting for? Visit the Rope Swing Cities catalog page, grab a few releases and enjoy.

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All right, break's over, kids. Time for the big takeover. Looks like the Flobots are getting back to work -- and it's about damn time, for chrissakes. While the rest of us slept in intervals as a result of our efforts to diligently invest our time in such noble and productive pursuits as drinking our faces off at as many shows as possible and eating our body weight in barbecue this past summer, those cats were off busying themselves with such frivolous activities as building a community center for the, uh, community and stuff, and arranging charity bowling tournaments with their fellow famous buddies, when they weren't conducting online auctions to raise money for more, you know, do-gooder type stuff. Oh, and during all that downtime, they also somehow found time to record a new album with Beastie Boys knob turner Mario Caldato Jr. at the Blasting Room. Slackers. Well, now it's back to the grind. On November 12, the outfit will head to Vegas to kick off two dozen dates that will culminate in a trio of shows in Fort Collins and Boulder in December. Check out the full itinerary after the jump.

​Moments ago, KBPI announced the finalist for its annual Best Band in Denver competition. According to Matt Need, who just revealed the contenders on the air, 17,000 people weighed in, with the top nominee receiving more than 2,000 votes. The top fifteen contenders, which are slated to face off each week for the next five weeks at Eck's Saloon, include Born in Winter, Bridges Left Burning, Dead Sea Armada, Devil Got Five, Forth Yeer (formerly Forth Yeer Freshman), Nemesys, No 1 Left Standing, Ploy for Extinction, Sins of Babylon, Spare the Legion, the Bitter Forgiven, the Threatened, Thic, To the Last Bullet and Vanadium. As a twist, last year's winner, 20XIII, automatically advances to the semi-finals and will compete against the first five week's winners. The Best Band in Denver competition kicks off this Saturday night at Eck's, when Born in Winter is pitted against Forth Yeer and Spare the Legion.