Chatham County Line won last year’s Rockygrass band contest in part due to singer/guitarist Dave Wilson’s ability to change a guitar string mid-song without missing a lyric. The ovation after that song made the judge’s job easy. None of us that they were already signed to the excellent indie label Yep Roc Records. […]
Okay, before I go any further, head over to Matson Jones’ website and download “A Little Bit of Arson Never Hurt Anyone.”
Last Saturday we hit the 2005 Westword Music Showcase. Six stages at different venues around the Golden Triangle area of Denver - including a festival-style outdoor stage - 60+ bands, $5. Easily […]
Denver is lucky to claim avante/jazz/Americana guitarist Bill Frisell as a native. While he makes his current residence in Seattle, he usually returns to the Denver area several times a year to play shows. Last winter he played the tiny Old Main on the CU campus with a quintet including local hero Ron […]
It’s a fact that many indie rock shows are boring. The songs are overly scripted with little room for improvisation, the bands often lack energy after driving themselves through the night in a cramped van, and they aspire to recreate the sonic details of their recordings. Fair enough. So it’s always a […]
It’s difficult to discuss And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead without discussing the centerpiece of their live shows: the destruction. They play harder, tighter, and louder than nearly any major-label band. The enormous 6-piece live band effortlessly shifts time signatures and tempos. Their twin-drummer assault is frequently breathtaking, […]
For a band usually described with the usual set of lazy pop adjectives (”60’s”, “dreamy”, “California”, “sunny”) The Shins inhabit their own world. When the band is on - which the remarkably consistent quartet almost always is - they take the standard indie pop formula of guitar/bass/drums and solo lead vocals and turn them […]
Caught the Fiery Furnaces at the Fox Theater in Boulder on 4/22/05. I’m a huge fan of this eclectic brother-sister duo - even naming last year’s masterful Blueberry Boat my #2 album of the year. They play eclectic bluesy rock/pop with nonsensical lyrics and complex song and narrative structures. It sounds complex, […]