June 14, 2008

Golden Triangle (12th and Acoma, Denver)

By Brian. Johnson

One might wonder why I would take the time to attend the annual Denver Westword Music Showcase. I mean, it’s put together by, all about and presented by Westword. Aren’t they supposed to be competition to The Marquee? Well, yeah, maybe. But I don’t really give a crap.

I’ve been to the Showcase for the last three years in a row, and I feel that the event is one of the great things that Denver has going for it. It turns the Golden Triangle neighborhood into a miniature SxSW for an afternoon, gives local bands a chance to get in front of some large crowds and makes us feel - if only for an afternoon - that the entire Denver music community is one big, happy, united family.

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Lawrence, KS

June 5 – 8, 2008

Text and video by Brian F. Johnson

Courtesy of photographer James Allison www.jamesallisondesign.com

DAY I – (but, not really)

Any festival can get hit with a stroke of bad luck or bad weather. The good ones are the ones who know how to rebound, and 2008 was that kind of year for the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival.

Google Maps clocks the drive from Denver to Lawrence, Kan. as 8 hours and 15 minutes, but on a day when 30 tornadoes touched down in the state of Kansas, Google’s time allotment gets thrown out the window.
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Red Rocks Amphiteatre

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Photos by Soren McCarty/www.musicimagery.com

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:: R.E.M. ::

:: Red Rocks Amphitheatre :: June 3 ::

By Chris Castaneda

In 2008, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills are finally on the same page about R.E.M.’s direction.

Since 1997, R.E.M. has been struggling to find a voice for itself, ever since the band’s drummer, Bill Berry, exchanged the spotlight for farm life. The lines of communication between the remaining members, both personal and musical, have been, at best, shaky over the course of three post-Berry albums. Now, Accelerate, the band’s fourteenth album, lays to rest the question of whether or not R.E.M. could figure out how to be a band, again.

At 49, bassist Mike Mills is enjoying R.E.M’s latest chapter. “Accelerate is R.E.M. in 2008,” said Mills in a recent interview with The Marquee. “People have been trying to say, ‘Is it a return?’ or, ‘Are you looking backwards?’ I say, no. We don’t look backwards and wouldn’t know how to if we wanted to. So, this is strictly us in this year, in this moment.”

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:: Jamie Lidell ::

:: Bluebird Theatre :: June 2 ::

By Timothy Dwenger

White singers making a mark on the traditionally black world of funk, R&B and soul is not a new concept, and from Van Morrison to Tower of Power there are many that have done it well. In recent years, however, “blue-eyed soul,” as it’s called, has been a genre that has been frequently ignored or scoffed at by younger music fans because of its connections with smooth jazz and modern Motown.

However, there is a new blue-eyed soul man on the scene and he is making the youth of the world stand up and take notice. Though Jamie Lidell has been creating music for years, his personal musical odyssey had ventured far off into the electronica realm before coming full circle and landing him squarely in the center of the soul genre with his recent Warp Records release, Jim.

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:: Railroad Earth ::

:: Ogden :: Theater :: June 13 and 14 ::

By Dustin Huth

Every place on the face of the planet has its own character. Some are powerful and impressive and people travel from all over to see them and spend time in them and take pictures to show that they’ve been to them. Other places have a character that is more subtle and intimate, but equally beautiful. Places like that don’t get traveled to much. They just go on being there quietly, lending a feeling of home to the few who happen upon them.

In the woods of rural New Jersey along the Appalachian Trail, there is a place with just such a sense of home. It is the 300-year-old colonial farmhouse of Railroad Earth’s Todd Sheaffer, and it is where the band’s fifth album, Amen Corner, was recorded.

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:: Ben Senterfit ::

:: The Oriental Theater :: June 5 ::

:: Swallow Hill :: June 6 ::

:: Mountain Sun :: June 8 ::

By Chibo Acevedo

Long time Denver resident and recent New York transplant, Ben Senterfit is coming home to the Mile High City, and he’s bringing an entourage with him.

Senterfit will be playing several Front Range shows with a host of musicians from his former home town as well as some from his new hometown, and a few others from various locales who will be meeting up with Senterfit in Colorado. In tow are David Petry, Kurt Reber, Jessica Rogalski, JT Nolan, Clay Kirkland, and special guest Zack Freeman, who will be coming up from Albuquerque.

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:: Paid Dues Festival ::

:: feat. De La Soul, Blackalicious, Sage Francis, Murs & 9th Wonder ::

:: Fillmore Auditorium :: June 13 ::

By Lisa Oshlo

Heading into its third wildly successful year, independent hip-hop festival Paid Dues has finally grown from its roots as a single-date event to include additional shows in select cities around the country.

After selling out two consecutive years in Southern California, the promoters (underground MC MURS and marketing company Guerilla Union) have expanded to include dates in New York, Fort Lauderdale, Denver, and San Francisco throughout the month of June.

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My Morning Jacket

Evil Urges

ATO Records

4 out of 5 stars

Evil Urges is a bold step in a new direction for My Morning Jacket and it is not often that a band would make that change as intentionally blatant as this band has. Hardcore fans of MMJ are either going to hate or love this album, but drastic change always fuels some form of backlash.

My take: MMJ has made their mainstream masterpiece and in the process has grown musically and shown they are mastering the art of making great studio albums.

Evil Urges is MMJ’s fifth studio effort and it is very much in line with the band’s general musical progression from 2003’s It Still Moves to 2005’s Z. In the same way Z was the band’s most polished album to date when it was released, Evil Urges follows the same path, further showcasing MMJ’s growing studio talent for crisp production and sonic experimentation.

With this album, MMJ has decided to be as up front as possible. They have intentionally placed their three strangest, most experimental songs as the album’s opening three tracks and even named the album after one of them. The opening track on the album, “Evil Urges” is a Prince-influenced rock single, featuring a heavy metal guitar and drum breakdown sandwiched with falsetto verses by lead singer Jim James. It might sound strange, but it works, even if it’s a bit jarring at first listen.

The second track, “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream,” sounds like it could be a collaboration with the French band Air, featuring soaring electronic keyboard interludes and a drum track that almost sounds triggered. Track three, “Highly Suspicious,” sounds very much like techno gone wrong, with a grunting robotic background vocal and more falsetto from James. Things get back to normal with track four, “I’m Amazed,” which brings the album back to familiarity and finds MMJ hitting their signature stride with duel electric guitars and James’ reverberated voice.

The remaining tracks on the album should please all fans of the band as they are what most would have probably expected the album to sound like. Standouts include the acoustic ballad “Librarian,” “Smokin’ From Shootin’,” and “Thank You Too.”

Having gained a reputation over the years as one of the premiere touring bands with their energetic and enthusiastic live shows, MMJ can only expect to further establish its fan base with Evil Urges.

This album is going to open a new door to new fans and do very much what A Rush of Blood to the Head did for Coldplay by the summer of 2003, take MMJ from clubs to arenas and make them a household name in popular rock music.

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The Bellrays

Hard Sweet and Sticky

Anodyne Records

4 out of 5 Stars

I got a speeding ticket listening to this album! Seriously. $182 for going 67 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone.

I tried to tell the cop that it wasn’t my fault, that I was listening to this album for work and it just got the best of me. He didn’t buy it.

Hard Sweet and Sticky is just that damn good!

The opening notes of the album kick off with a “Sparks”-like The Who riff before quickly fading into the band’s top-notch rock and soul sound.

Lead singer Lisa Kekaulav has always had vocals as big and as loud as her giant ’fro and there’s hardly a note on the album that fails to keep pace.

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Crooked Still 

Still Crooked

Signature Sounds

4 out of 5 stars

Release Date: June 24, 2008

The self-styled, alternative bluegrass group Crooked Still has pretty much made a perfect album; no frills, no fancy studio production, no gimmicks, just great songs and stellar performances that have been recorded with unparalleled intimacy and taste.

Recorded in a single day in a large room, Still Crooked harks back to a time when albums honestly portrayed the way a band sounded in all their glory and shame. Still Crooked is a document of a group that is on top of its game.

After five years and two albums together, the departure of cellist Rushad Eggleston in late-2007 forced Crooked Still to amend their ensemble. Moving from a quartet to a quintet, two new members joined the group in early 2008; Brittany Haas on five-string fiddle (alum of Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings) and Tristan Clarridge on cello and second fiddle (a four-time Grand National Fiddle Champion). Drawing on the new blood as inspiration Crooked Still bunkered down in Shokan, New York in January, 2008 for three days of rehearsal. On the fourth day, with producer Eric Merrill there to commit sound to tape, they recorded Still Crooked live, playing together as a group.

Crooked Still sounds more powerful than ever and the constant play between cellist Clarridge and fiddler Hass is addictive. It is obvious that Crooked Still is a stronger band with the new additions and these new additions are carrying the band on this release. Lead singer Aoife O’Donovan’s voice still has a striking resemblance to Alison Krauss, but her delivery has more passion and feeling than Krauss could muster up on a good night. Banjoist Gregory Haas and bassist Corey Dimario hold their own as well.

Standouts on the album include “Tell Her to Come Back Home,” “Undone in Sorrow,” “Poor Ellen Smith,” and “Florence.”

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Atmosphere

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

Rhymesayers

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Besides having one of the best album titles in recent memory, the Minneapolis hip-hop duo Atmosphere are back with their sixth studio album and first in over three years.

The album delivers; however, it is more on the mellow side and never kicks into high gear as their albums of the past have. Perhaps that is the point.

Ant’s synthesizer-based production and beats are excellent and rapper Slug’s rhymes are further solidifying him as an MC at the top of his game. Atmosphere is growing musically and creatively and that is clearly evident in the flow of the album. They are not sticking to the same old formula and that shows in the album’s down tempo mood, which sets the stage for Slug’s more serious lyrical content. The beats Ant has provided allows Slug to take on the role as storyteller, and he shines.

Standout tracks include “The Waitress,” “You,” and “Yesterday.”

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