Holiday Soundtrack #1: 1919-2012

John Cale & Orchestra A Child's Christmas in Wales 

John Coltrane My Favorite Things

Otis Redding Merry Christmas, Baby!

Sufjan Stevens Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance

Julian Casablanca I Wish it Were Christmas Today

Elliot Smith Angel in the Snow

Ben Folds Lonely Christmas Eve

Blues for the Snowbird

Don't let the snow bring you down, catch Matthew E. White at the Hi-Dive December 20 at 9:00pm.
More at: the Lagniappe Sessions

A Mixed Media Extravaganza

Seldom does an artist truly master creating works that engage not only the public eye but also the spirit of an entire country, not to mention a continent. El Anatasui is one of these legendary artists that has integrated the scraps, dilapidation, and hope of a country into his work, which ranges in medium and tone.
His suitcases evoke the angst of migration along with a snippet of playfulness, his ceramics made of scrap fragments inspire resilience, and his simple wooden sculptures embody a troublesome history.

The exhibition is up until January 6 at the Denver Art Museum, catch it while you can and plan to be taken back by the Artist's diverse splendor.

Australian Fire Water

Flume- Sinatra

Flume- Left Alone
Dance to December

Plethora of Winter Live Reviews: In One Sentence

Two Door Cinema Club: lights up the house with energetic, motivational Feel Good Indie Rock.

B.B. King concert: buying an overpriced VH1 Storytellers ticket- but worth it.

Leonard Cohen: still as haunting and beguiling as ever.

Austin based Band of Heathens: debaucherous hootenanny.

Canyon of Clovers and Crayons

Built to Spill 

Mishawaka Amphitheater, Poudre Canyon, CO

The Mishawaka Amphitheater is not so much an amphitheater as it is a stage outside of a tiki bar backed up to the rockface of the Poudre Canyon. Expecting more of a shell shaped venue, I was happily surprised to find that I was about to see Idaho's finest in an intimate, natural setting. Like an 80's guitarist with an angelic voice, Sister Crayon lead singer Terra Lopez's opened up with her hair swooshing around like a willow tree.

Built to Spill brought their experience onto the stage, tossing in new and old goodies but nothing could have prepared the crowd for 'Goin Against Your Mind'- which ignited a friendly moshpit. And if that wasn't enough, they brought Sister Crayon onto the stage to end the show with a tribute like no other- playing Crimson and Clover. I only wished that it would have happened over and over.

Verdict: Don't miss either band or the venue. Bucket List worthy.

Selection for Broom Season

Montreal based band Adam and the Amethysts. For the full effect, enjoy under a full moon. 

fuck the lyrics, they're local

Science Partner, 'Child Stars', CD Release party Friday at Larimer Lounge

C'est bien? C'est bien.

Tinariwen enchanted Swallow Hill members in a VH1: Behind the Music- like performance Tuesday night at the L2 Cultural center. The intimate venue combined with their traditional garb, style, and instrumental methods resulted in an atypical performance (especially for the Denver-area).

Sidenote: Grammy winner

Flight of the Condor

The Staves, a harmonizing acoustic English sister trio, strummed their gueetars and mandolin and whispered of a sandless time glass refilling with the dawn. Their sound fits the following scene: backporch of Smoky Mountain log cabin during misty dawn.  Although it was their last show with Bon Iver, they will be playing other shows.

Feist conquered the stage. Along with various horns, drums, and the crowned females of Mountain Man as her back-up, her performance combined a keenly developed rebelliousness with candor. With her guitar adorned with a pink silhouette of mountain peaks, she stomped the stage into the ground. The best part was hearing how her songs could sound so beautifully different when live.

 

I don't even cry during war movies. Or at the old couple in Titanic going down with the ship. Or goodbyes. Bon Iver made me tear up.  The beautiful melancholy of his voice intertwined with the various instruments projecting out into the red rocks was a transformative experience. Do not miss.

Bound

Vacationer - Dreamlike video. Check out their site for personal inspiration for hitting the summer time pavement.

Full Animation

When I close my eyes and think about the Reptar show, the first thing that comes to mind is Lead vocalist Graham's eyes. That is to say, his eyes practically bulging out of his head in combination with his facial expressions. Each lyric is transformed into its own muscular spasm.

This video doesn't do it justice because now he has a shaved head. Imagine every word exemplified. I guess you'll just have to go to the show.












Sidenote: The Morning Clouds played a quite entrancing opening set. Mellow sound with suiting early morning guitar and vocals. Denver-based band plays frequently, so be sure to catch them this summer.
Click here to listen.

Magic Coloratura

Luke Temple (lead vocalist, guitar) runs in dripping in sweat. He says he just had to run down the street to get batteries. And the show begins.

The crowd is filled with skinny teenage-looking flailing happy bodies as Here We Go Magic energetically mocks the heat waves coming from both outside and the crowd.  Jen Turner rips on her fittingly fire red guitar while seductively singing.

Overall: Ranging set list succinctly, passionately delivered.

Opener supernote: Hospitality's lead vocalist Amber expertly spearheaded the set, delivering an introductory blitz of their sound to the room. This quickly emerging band has a powerful sound and stage presence that will soon be headlining on its own.

Everything is Illuminated

The 250 + crowd wrapped around the aisles of Twist and Shout Friday and continues outdoors in the rain to wait for the Lumineer's preview performance before the show at the Bluebird. The three person Denver-based band humbly greeted the crowd (an hour late), but the music proved worth the wait.



On the third song, Wesley (lead vocals) recruited a young child to hold the glockenspiel( ) for Jeremiah and commissioned the crowd to enthusiasticly shout the chorus.  

At the Bluebird...It's nice to unexpectedly hear some actual rock. Joe Pug opened the evening with powerful guitar riffs and set the night off right.  The Lumineers produced a soundtrack fit for countryside revelry despite Friday's gloomy weather. Apparently the space at previous shows, such as at the Meadowlark and like-locales, did not allow for a drumset. Finally, Lumineer's Jeremiah (drummer, tamborine shaker, yelper) got to prove his worth and show his range of skills. 

Don't miss this show if you have a chance to go...tickets will sell out.

If you liked/missed this: 

Checkout shows:

Blitzen Trapper 5/29

The Shins, Head and the Heart 5/29

Avett Brothers 6/29-30


Listen to the Fruit Bats (First vid) and Vetiver (bottom vid):

...then eat, dance, mingle, drink at the Mercury Cafe 

Whale Scales

Man, man. A trio of musical melodies ensued at the Hi-Dive Wednesday night. Young Man started the night off with a set list featuring new tunes from their upcoming album Ideas of Distance as well as from their 2010 album Boy.

Denver-based band The Raven and the Writing Desk took over the stage next blending Fiona Apple vocals with chaotic instrumentals/tempo similar to Man Man. The crowd was bewitched by the violinist and the vocalist's movements and hypnotizing sounds just to be jolted back to reality by the rest of the group.

Afterwards, Suckers closed the show with a a bang, playing several hits off the Wild Smile Album. Just tune into this video and you'll realize why there's no need to explain how great the show was:

If you enjoyed: check out:
Blitzen Trapper 5/29
Dandy Warhols @ Gothic 6/12

Clyfford Still Museum + STILL Documentary Screening

Clyfford Still Museum: Architectural Exuberance  

A documentary that makes you pause from drinking free wine and eating a free dinner is hard to come by- not to mention an incredible find once discovered. Wednesday night's DYP event at the Clyfford Still Museum offered an array of eye-opening surprises. The architecture - which houses the largest collection of a single artist- is worth an entire page of writing alone.

The museum:
The museum encompasses a retrospective of the Artist's works, from sketches and cartoons to his distinctive oil paintings. The museum's bare, minimalist concrete infrastructure combined with an eyelet ceiling illuminates the raw texture of the paint with the Colorado sunlight.

The STILL Documentary: Interviews were thoughtfully chosen to impart an appreciation for the artist's work ethic and demonstrate the affect he had on others- whether they be confidantes or strangers. The documentary is an excellent ulterior backstory to the artist's career and provides further understanding of how his style developed and matured.

I guarantee you will develop an appreciation for the artist as well as an appreciation for the Abstract Expressionist movement after a visit to the museum. 

Swedish Fish

The guitar prevailed Wednesday night during the Craft Spell's opening set Although lead vocalist (Justin Paul)  visually filled the part, it was the succinct melody of the two guitars that carried the sound. The closing song "You Should've Closed the Door" was a finishing punch to lead into the Drums set.

On the Drums: The scene playing in your head of what it would be like to see Skipping Town live couldn't be further from reality. Songs were a mixture of 50's surfer rock intertwined with dark Euro (Berlin/Scandinavian) post-punk rock. The result is a performance fit for any mindset. Laying in a hammock breathing in the salty-humid morning air? Listen to We Tried. On a rampage through an alleyway in late night Edinburgh? This is because the Drums combine jabbing lyrics with happy-go-lucky melodies in a way that approaches the challenges of youthful desperation. The set list provided a range of the Drum's abilities and sounds. I guarantee if you see this show you will not be disappointed.

"Thanks Denver goodnight....oh yeah, and you can stick around because we're not going to stop playing."

Step Right Back Into Time

Rainy weather trouble tune: Tom Waits Step Right up 1977 in Germany

Driven by big waves of fire

M83 and I Break Horses at the Ogden

The M83 experience was equivalent to a nineties French dance party on Saturn. I Break Horses enchanted the crowd with progressive psychedelic beats - resulting in a spellbound the crowd for about ten minutes.


Keyboardist and vocalist Morgan Kibby kept the show riveting from beginning to end- her hair oscilating around the keyboard. By the last song, Year One, UFO, M83's Anthony Gonzalez looked like he was about to faint himself from conducting the entire act.

I'm convinced this show is still going on late night beach party in Majorca.

Dance til your dead

 

Communikey outdoor day dance party at Civic Plaza featured a blend of regional electronic djs. For five hours, there was a hodgepodge of hippies, drag queens, St. Bernards, dreads, granolies, kids armed with water balloons, disco divas, KGB want-to-bes, conical Asian hats, Birkenstocks (and Timberlands!),and French mustaccios dancing in harmony. The vibes emitting from the space were so blissful that the after-party at BMOCA was like transcending time.

Close your eyes and tune out to Peaking Lights and just pretend like you were there.

OBERHOFER Musik

So you want to jam the fuck out but you want to do it an a happy-go-lucky way? Well, do I have a show for you. Chicago based band [read: not German] Oberhofer combines youthful undertones with heavy instrumentals to audaciously crafted lyrics that just begs for extreme head bobbing. Brad Oberhofer's youthfulness allows him to whistle and use jejune melodies in a way that comes off devious. Catch this band if you have a chance while they're still rocking out at small venues.

Hi-Dive in Denver

Bombs over Bristol

David J, from the Bauhaus school, spun tantalizing vibes intertwined with shocks of the electric guitar in the MCA's basement last night. If you're still feeling charged, you can uninhibitedly caper to the beats tonight at his DJ set at the Church at 9:00.

If you liked/missed the show:
The MCA is doing Artist Interview/Lecture series for the upcoming summer months.
Rock out at Oberhofer April 25 at the Hi-Dive.

Defibrillator.

Late night dance party. Catch your breath.

The crowd at Wednesday's Naked and Famous show at the Bluebird  was an exploding force of energizer bunnies singing as though to recover their long lost youth. It worked, if only temporary.

If you liked/ missed this show prepare for:
refreshment:  Washed Out April 26 Bluebird Theatre Denver
round two: M83/ I Break Horses April 30 Ogden Theatre Denver