Seth and China Kent are the married couple behind Alright Alright, each of whom have very different musical backgrounds, explaining AA’s unique, diverse sound. China is a classically trained pianist from Vanderbilt University; Seth a former guitar tech for The Fray (“How to Save a Life”). Alright Alright stand out from the masses with a gentle sense of depth and even gravitas on their new album, Nearby.
Continue readingAuthor: Jay Wallace
Paul Noffsinger – Most Magic Sucks
“Most ‘magic’ sucks,” Paul Noffsinger says. In our interview with the magician and member of The Mystery Collection, this stuck out like a joker in a stack of spades. Noffsinger returns to The Moxi Theater on August 23 to perform a show called “Unreal.” It’s a showcase of unexpected, bigger, more involved routines that he can’t do in the smaller venues and private house shows which are his bread-and-butter.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Heavy Beauty – Self-Titled EP
The Golden-based “Desert Grass” quartet Heavy Beauty has a clean but unfiltered sound to their work. The three songs on the EP – “Dreams,” “Butterflies” and “Stars” – are simple but elegant. They possess a slow, even flow to their singing that never stutters or overpowers certain elements. Dobro player Mike Testagrossa, bassist Angel Edgemon and Willie Thomas on the mandolin provide vocals, with Dax Hunter Jordan on drums.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Chain Station – Where I Want To Be
This proud bluegrass band – consisting of Jarett Mason on the mandolin, Jon Pickett on bass, Alex Thoele on guitar, and James Weatherly on Banjo – is held together by the harmonizing voices of Mason, Pickett, and Thoele and the fast-paced picking of all four members. Where I Want To Be, released in 2016, is probably the most pure bluegrass album we’ve heard in some time.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Chris Daniels and The Kings with Freddi Gowdy – Blues with Horns Vol. 1
He was inducted in the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2013. He’s an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado’s Denver campus. He beat back Leukemia after being diagnosed in 2010. He’s been featured in commercials for Ford and McDonalds, made music for television, and acted as a record producer. (He helped put together Andy Sidow’s Reasons for Departure, which we reviewed recently.) And since 1984, he’s been fronting the blues outfit Chris Daniels and The Kings, putting out album number 15 in September of last year. That album, now featuring Freddi-Henchi frontman Freddi Gowdy, is Blues with Horns Vol. 1.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Andy Sydow – Reasons For Departure
At age 26, Andy Sydow has already put out four albums since 2013, Reason for Departure being his newest. BandWagon Magazine hasn’t heard much of his stuff, but his new album, a relaxing rock album rife with blues touches – possibly thanks to album producer and guitarist Chris Daniels of Chris Daniels & The Kings – is not a bad introduction to the Denver-based singer-songwriter.
Continue readingHelp Greeley Folk Band Igaus Davis Complete Their Next Album
Since 2016, orchestral folk band Igaus Davis has been playing up and down the Front Range to great acclaim, even winning the first round of BandWagon Magazine’ 2018 Battle of the Bands on February 1. …
Continue readingAlbum Review: Vektroid – Seed & Synthetic Earth
Vaporwave is probably one of the most niche music genres in existence, as well as the only one that the Internet could claim as its own. Mostly found on Bandcamp, Vaporwave is a nostalgia-tinged, remix-heavy genre of ambient electronic music that sets out to recreate mall music/elevator music of the 1980s and 1990s. Its name is a take-off of Vaporware, a tech industry term for hardware that never really existed outside of tech demo and trade shows. And the most prominent artist of Vaporwave is Vektroid.
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