No Hands Brass Band brings an upbeat New Orleans sound with considerable chops to Colorado, with their debut EP “Off The Curb.” It features an instrumental mixture of pop, jazz, funk, and traditional Dixieland swing through their original compositions and arrangements, and it shreds.
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Album Review: Covenhoven – IV
For Coloradans, the name Covenhoven has become synonymous with intimate and heartfelt yet cinematic and powerful folk music. Over the course of three previous full length albums, Joel Van Horne, the stalwart man behind the timidly convicted voice around which the music of Covenhoven swirls, has unflappably delivered expertly crafted, immersive music which seems to speak directly from his heart into our ears.
Continue readingAlbum Review: The Crooked Rugs – THAT!
There is a cultural, dad-inherited fondness for flipping through AM radio channels while driving late at night. The Crooked Rugs’ new LP, THAT! is what you’ve been searching for on that AM dial all of these years – something that manages to sound otherworldly and familiar at the same time, drawing from every era of psychedelic rock.
Continue readingAlbum Review: We Are William – We Are William
Listening to Fort Collins-based We Are William gives a refreshing perspective on just how difficult it is to play progressive metal, and the band deserves props. Though they may not have reached the peak of “metal Everest” on their self-titled, first full-length album, the effort is admirable and the band shows a lot of potential, and flashes of greatness can be heard.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Diez De León – Death of a Martyr, Birth of a Phoenix
What’s impressive about Death of a Martyr, Birth of a Phoenix from Diez De León is that the album occupies two worlds simultaneously. It’s thoughtful, introspective and authentic, and effortlessly pairs it with the best qualities of modern hip-hop: catchy hooks, head-nodding grooves, and addressing the all-important question, “but does it slap?”
Formerly known as B.B.T.U.C. of Colorado rap trio Soul Brothers, Diez De León showcases a high level of artistic maturity on his debut album. Death of a Martyr, Birth of a Phoenix displays a degree of lyrical finesse that’s refreshing in today’s musical landscape.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Jackson Maloney – Dharma Farm
Jackson Maloney: singer, songwriter, folk musician, and Colorado transplant via Northern California. The coarse-voiced busker has found himself a home in unincorporated Boulder County, at a place called Dharma Farm – a small hippie commune near Hygiene, CO. The location, in fact, where Maloney recorded his latest EP – a six track EP that encapsulates the simplicity of a working farm, which, after having been recorded in a ruined grain silo, ‘checks out.’ It’s a bare-boned, extended play that is completely comfortable with skimping on the pleasantries.
Continue readingAlbum Review: The Cuddies – Fix It Myself
Greeley’s jazz-leaning (Hannah &) The Cuddies put on a rock show, but shine in moments of intimacy on their full-length debut Fix It Myself, a gloss-rock review via theatrical means. The band flexes their arrangement chops with big horns and fast guitars, offering tricky rhythms in the vocal. Akin to female-fronted bands like Letters to Cleo or the Cardigans, the Cuddies cleverly twist the unexpected into four-on-the-floor fun.
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