When Big Boi walked out on to the Red Rocks Amphitheater stage in 2010 for a Rock the Bells performance, Andre 3000 was noticeably absent. Nonetheless, he performed many of Outkast’s singles, including “Elevators (Me and You),” “ATLians” and “Rosa Parks.” However, it just wasn’t’ the same. This year, when Big Boi and Andre 3000 perform at Denver’s Mad Decent Block Party on August 22, things will be a little different.
Continue readingCategory: Music
Album Review: Bear In Heaven – Time Is Over One Day Old
Formed in 2003, Bear in Heaven have been releasing contemplative, psychedelic synth music since before (and now quite a while after) such a sound stumbled its way into the zeitgeist. Up to this point the highlight of their career is probably 2009‘s Beast Rest Forth Mouth, a dark, spiraling collection of mind-bending synth-pop. With Time Is Only One Day Old, Bear in Heaven seek to improve their sound while also leading the listener down a stranger, more introspective path, and it’s difficult to listen to this ten-song collection without thinking they have succeeded.
Continue readingWhen Jimi Played Woodstock Sha Na Na Was There
Sha Na Na, the doo-wop band who began their successful career in the 1969 performance of Woodstock, is touring through Northern Colorado for the 1st Annual Rocky Mountain Rock n’ Roll Sing-Along Festival 45 years after their magical beginning.
The band started as an a cappella group at Columbia University. In the summer of ‘69 they decided to give the competitive musical scene of New York a shot. It was only their 8th musical gig when they impressed their peers at a downtown nightclub and landed the biggest live performance of their career.
Continue readingARISE Music Festival Spotlights: A Few of Our Favorites
ARISE Music will be held August 8th-10th at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado. Here are a few bands we are excited to see this year.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Fallen Dean M. Curtis
Dean Curtis, a Fort Collins-based musician and singer, seemingly threw everything into Fallen, his 2014 album. I suspect if he could use a kitchen sink as an instrument, he would’ve done so. It’s an impressive solo debut album for Curtis, who’s the bassist for the reggae band DubSkin and has been producing music for the past ten years.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Fucked Up – Glass Boys
Glass Boys is a follow up to 2011’s David Comes to Life, which saw the band’s first ranking on the billboards and created a big name for them. The album was conceptual and followed a light bulb factory worker that falls in love with an activist, who is killed by a bomb they build to blow up the factory. And while concept albums often feel forced, the band’s raw energy and the musical talent really pulled it into the foreground. This latest release is very similar, despite not being an official concept album though the “getting older” theme threads it together.
Continue readingFuck Being Anything Else But Crazy
Clearly the atypical rapper, he deals in fallen angels and atheism, which alone sets him worlds apart from most other MCs. He has a style that absolutely murders the competition; speedy raps that combine wicked, tricky wordplay with melodic hooks, an on stage presence that involves tribal face paint, a straight jacket and blood red hair, making him one of the most unique figures in the game. With a career spanning over two decades, including fourteen studio albums and over two million independent sales, he’s no slacker either. After becoming increasingly frustrated with major labels, Tech launched his own imprint, Strange Music, Inc. in 1999 with his manager.
Continue readingCeschi’s First Taste of Freedom
Fake Four, Inc., a small independent record label in New Haven, Connecticut, has far surpassed the expectations of its founders, brothers Ceschi and David Ramos. Established in 2008, it was born out of a mutual passion for music and grown by the love and support of its fans. As Fake Four was gathering momentum, putting out album after album and touring the world, Ceschi Ramos found himself in a terrible predicament, one even Hollywood couldn’t make up.
Continue reading