BoomBox Brings the Sound of Muscle Shoals to Colorado

January 17, 2014

It was unseasonably cold for an Alabama Winter. The temperatures were record setting; black ice caused by the Tennessee River was developing on the O’Neil Bridge each day. A peculiar something was developing in Muscle Shoals, Alabama that year; something different. This wasn’t the ‘70s when Muscle Shoals was “The Hit Recording Capital of the World.” This was 2005, the last hit song written by anyone in the Shoals area was “I Swear” by Gary Baker and performed by both country music legend John Michael Montgomery and pop- group All 4 One in the ‘90s. The Pussycat Dolls were climbing the Top-40 charts, and the terms EDM and tweet had yet to sink their claws in the English vocabulary. BoomBox had just gotten the master recording of Visions of Backbeat back from their mastering engineer, and I didn’t know I would get lucky enough to be in the room when the box of CDs came in. I didn’t know I would be listening to the record as much as I did when I first put the disk in my car stereo. I didn’t know I would get lucky enough to be so close to the beginning of something bigger than I was.

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Album Review: Pearl Jam – “Lightning Bolt”

November 12, 2013

For a while, Pearl Jam had become a band that is mentioned and everyone nods and acknowledges them. They were in danger of merely existing, while the world either forgot about them or worse: just didn’t care. They’ve barely escaped downfall and obscurity multiple times. But they get another chance, four years after their last album, to jump back into relevancy. The result is “just another Pearl Jam album,” which, after years of the same feel, will feel worn out to all but the most devoted of fans.

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Album Review: The Dig “You & I”

November 11, 2013

Based out of New York City, the members of The Dig are no strangers to the workings of the modern music scene. In a seemingly constant state of “record then tour” since their first album in 2010, their hard work has taken this four piece on the road with acts such as The Walkmen, The Antlers, and Portugal. The Man. Now, the release of their latest EP You & I shows a band locking in on sound ready for a bigger stage.

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