Kevin Johnston

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MusicAlbum Review: Isadora Eden – All NightIsadora Eden’s second EP, the vulnerable ‘All Night,’ opens like a dark, reverberated flower in your headphones. Eden’s young, muted alto offers sad solidarity to those who will listen, while she and bandmates Sumner Erhard and Corey Coffman carry her shy messages on the shoulders of stately guitars, dignified drums and echoey atmosphere.Kevin Johnston · Feb 6, 2021MusicAlbum Review: Jess Parsons – Hear Me CallingStop sifting for obscure ‘70s soft-pop on Spotify playlists like “candle-lit living room slow dance” and buy Jess Parsons’ “Hear Me Calling.” Denver’s Parsons knows well that charm and honesty go a long way.Kevin Johnston · Feb 3, 2021105.5 The Colorado Sound's Featured ArtistsThe Colorado Sound’s My5 – January 2021[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] ((( Don’t forget: each My5 title is a link. Click on, NoCo! ))) 1. Ken Burns Jazz Box Set – I picked up an item from Craigslist and the guy tossed in some CDs, including the 5-CD box set that went with the 10-hour Ken Burns Jazz film from 2000. It’s 94 tracks, fromKevin Johnston · Jan 14, 2021Album Review: Antonio Lopez – Roots and WingsAntonio Lopez’ voice sits delicately perched at the center of his fourth full-length release, Roots & Wings. The fragile purity of his vocal delivery as the record’s focus proves a point: When given a proper chance, an honest voice can rise to previously un-reached heights. As the executive director of the music/empowerment nonprofit Sound Bridge and having funded Roots & Wings via Kickstarter, Lopez knows well that respectful contributions from those who back you is a gift as precious as family and as freeing as flight.Kevin Johnston · Jan 7, 2021105.5 The Colorado Sound's Featured ArtistsThe Colorado Sound’s My5 – December 2020[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] ((( Don’t forget: each My5 title is a link. Click on, NoCo! ))) Simply enough, here are my 5 fav holiday tunes. 1. Bruce Springsteen – “Merry Christmas, Baby” – I’ve seen him sing this and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” live a few times, and this Charles Brown tune really gets someKevin Johnston · Dec 10, 2020MusicSingle & Video Review: The Beeves – Mercy BeOn “Mercy Be” the Beeves leave behind their beloved flailing antics, revealing their influences to be just as loyal to the Flamingos, The Beach Boys and Elvis as they are to The Vines and The Strokes. The accompanying video is a slo-mo-rodeo prom night dream. Its beautifully shot, beautifully sequenced simplicity masks The Beeves in more intrigue; the kind of dark mystique indicative of Princes, Bowies and Mercurys.Kevin Johnston · Nov 23, 2020MusicSingle Review: 30 – “Homesick”A Massachusetts native by the name 30 recently moved to Colorado to make the best of covid reality, releasing genre-non-specific singles in support of his full-length “Introspects Of A Psycho,” out October (yes) 30.Kevin Johnston · Nov 13, 2020MusicSingle Review: Joel Ansett – “Ease”Denver’s Joel Ansett says he finally noticed how much emotional energy he spent on “just trying to be liked.Kevin Johnston · Nov 11, 2020MusicAlbum Review: Kid Astronaut & Psychologic – KenopsiaPervasive feelings of extreme unknown lurk in the consciousness of most citizens on planet earth these days, which is why the similarly intangible music, soundscapes and dark, thrilling emotions on the concept EP Kenopsia hit so hard. A brilliant and concise collaboration between Denver-based R&B hip-hop vocalist Kid Astronaut and producer Psychologic, the record’s pop sensibilities are balanced by an epic, dystopian sense of drama and purpose.Kevin Johnston · Oct 12, 2020MusicAlbum Review: Augustus – Color TV and Tall TalesFounders Colin Kelly and Jim Herlihy of the Boulder-based band Augustus have delivered a technicolor whopper.Kevin Johnston · Oct 5, 2020FeaturesKyle Hollingsworth Band Finally Jams On A Full TankKyle Hollingsworth and his bandmates in The String Cheese Incident had been on tour for a solid decade.Kevin Johnston · Sep 7, 2020MusicAlbum Review: My Dog Ate Chad – KrakatoaMy Dog Ate Chad is exactly what it should be. A conglomeration of 5 flanneled friends from high school throwing their influences at the wall to see what sticks. They’re looking for their true identity on their full-length debut Krakatoa with wide eyes, open ears and loud-ass guitars.Kevin Johnston · Jul 7, 2020MusicDouble Single Review: The Beeves – “Playing Bingo” & Slow Caves “Walk In The Park”With top production, austere turn of phrase and beautifully transparent melodic construction, “Walk In The Park” by Slow Caves sparkles with the slow motion lens-flare of memories you haven’t even made yet. Riff-heavy with the pizzaz and swagger of the White Stripes, The Beeves’ new single “Playing Bingo” highlights the proper rock yelps of vocalist Ian Ehrhart and the grooving instrumental playfulness of bassist/vocalist Margot Sease and drummer Will Ehrhart.Kevin Johnston · Jul 6, 2020MusicSingle Premiere: Corsicana – “Wreath”[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The subtle tug-of-war between the power of youth and the perspective of experience usually comes when young artists break the mold put in place by seasoned veterans from the former generation. It’s how new art is made. But in the case of Corsicana, this cliché plays out in a completely different way. At justKevin Johnston · Jun 8, 2020105.5 The Colorado Sound's Featured ArtistsThe Colorado Sound’s My5 – February 2020Probably the best short read you’ll do all month. Internet overwhelming? We get you. So does the Colorado Sound. Check out their My5 for February and sift through the music and culture mire no longer!Kevin Johnston · Feb 11, 2020MusicAlbum Review: Cold Reading – ZYTPrecision has long been one of the favorite descriptors the world uses when talking about the Swiss, and Lucerne, Switzerland-based indie rock quintet Cold Reading certainly don’t…Kevin Johnston · Feb 3, 2020FeaturesMarco Benevento: The Fourth Voice In A TrioAn instrumental jazz pianist at heart, Marco Benevento has always searched for new sounds, musical tools or ways of composing, though his newest discovery is that of his own voice, and that’s worth a champagne toast. Benevento calls his vocals a direct extension of his composing. “It’s just like another instrument,” he says. “It’s the fourth member of our trio, but it’s still the trio.” The Marco Benevento Trio play The Aggie Theater on Thursday, February 6.Kevin Johnston · Feb 2, 2020MusicAlbum Review: Mike Shamrock – “Not I” Said The Lil’ MouseMike Shamrock is the on-stage moniker for Mike Robertson, a leader in one of Northern Colorado’s most well loved, yet under-celebrated categories: cover bands.Kevin Johnston · Jan 9, 2020PremieresVideo Premiere: The Great Salmon Famine – Ebekeneezer’s TweezersSpace Exploration, goofy rhymes, fantasy cartoons and reggae-nspired funk.Kevin Johnston · Dec 9, 2019MusicAlbum Review: Liam Maye – OverthinkerBorn from a young perfectionist’s downward spiral of indecision, ‘Overthinker’ is a confident, polished and mature debut from Swiss/American pop artist Liam Maye.Kevin Johnston · Nov 28, 2019