Marquee Magazine » December, 2009
STS9
STS9 drops new album this month and gets set for first-ever acoustic show
:: STS9 ::
:: June Swaner Concert Hall at DU ::
:: December 29 ::
:: Wells Fargo Theatre :: December 30 & 31 ::
By Timothy Dwenger
Though originally hailing from Georgia, Sound Tribe Sector 9 (aka STS9) has found a second home, both literally and figuratively, right here in Colorado. The band enjoys one of their strongest fan bases here and bass player David Murphy has relatively recently relocated to the area and now calls it home. “We all lived in out Santa Cruz since 2000 and while everybody else is still out there, I moved out here to be with my girlfriend,” Murphy told The Marquee as he got ready to head to a Nuggets game. “I’ve been out here a little while and I’ve been loving it. It is really nice living in Colorado. I guess we just like picking the nice places to live.”
For the last five years STS9 has celebrated New Year’s Eve in Atlanta, but, like Widespread Panic last year, they have decided to shake things up this year by bringing the party to Denver’s Wells Fargo Theatre. “We really like the Wells Fargo. I went in and toured it back in January and really loved the room,” Murphy said. “We’ve been playing the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and that’s our home, but sizewise, and with some of the difficult logistics they have as far as hanging things and other stuff we can do with our production, we are limited. So we really wanted to get out and take our production to a little bigger scale for the New Year’s shows and Colorado seemed like the perfect place to come do that. We are excited about it.”
While Murphy didn’t drop any secrets about what the band may be planning for the landmark shows, he seemed very excited about being on-stage in Denver when the first decade of the Millennium comes to an end. “The first New Year’s we ever did was at The Fox in 2000 going into 2001, so it’s going to be nice to get back out here,” he said. “Colorado is by far our biggest market in the country. I don’t know if that is because half of Colorado used to live in Georgia or what, but there is a great love of music out here. People really go out and support music and it’s been a real blessing for us in our musical career.”
It’s that fan base that has enabled STS9 to sell nearly 50,000 tickets in Colorado over the past four summers. With three soldout shows at Red Rocks in that time, Murphy and his bandmates were itching to play here at a different time of year.
In addition to the two big shows at the Wells Fargo, the band plans to “axe the cables” and perform a very special acoustic concert for the first time ever on December 29 at the June Swaner Gates Concert Hall on the campus of DU. The band, known for the swirling electronic effects that saturate their progressive “post-rock dance music,” will strip things down and feature several songs that fans have probably never heard before. “We are way more excited about the acoustic than anything else we are doing, just for the challenge of it,” said Murphy. “We grew up sitting around living rooms and playing music together on acoustic guitars and drum kits and stuff so it’s going to be really neat to take our show, and some of our pre-existing songs, and translate them into that format.”
“We’ve also written a bunch of down tempo acoustic, piano, acoustic guitar, fretless bass kind of stuff that we’ve never released and haven’t played for anybody, so we’ll be doing some of that also. We are just really jazzed about the opportunity to do something different than just the full blown rock show with all the spinny, twirly lights and the fog machines and dance music. It’s a side of music that we love and it’s a side that is inherent in a lot of our songwriting even though it is translated live into a more revved rock band show. We are looking forward to the chance to break that down for some of our more hardcore fans who will really enjoy seeing us in that intimate space,” said Murphy.
While the music of STS9 has always been about exploring all reaches of the sonic palette, as their foray into the acoustic proves yet again, the story behind their new record Ad Explorata involved some exploring of a different kind. “Allegedly,” during the recording of the album, the band discovered a shortwave radio channel that was broadcasting a female voice who was reciting numbers on what is known as a “numbers station.” Though it isn’t officially acknowledged by the government, numbers stations are widely thought to be a method of communication between government agents and their operatives in the field. The band was so intrigued with what they had found that they sampled the voice and used it for the beginning of the Ad Explorata track “Central.” They even went so far as to have a cryptographer decode the message that was being broadcast. The numbers turned out to be a set of coordinates that corresponded with an exact location in Big Sur, and several members of the band chose to investigate. It wasn’t long before they were face-to-face with an abandoned military bunker, where they found an embroidered patch that is thought to represent a secret unit that first used satellites to gather signal intelligence from other countries during the Cold War. The story is that this team actually gathered signals from another civilization in our galaxy. Their motto was ‘Ad Explorata, Forward into the Unexplored.’
The band was so affected by the experience that when they returned to the studio they decided that Ad Explorata was the perfect name for the record they were working on because they were exploring uncharted territory and combining elements of their sound in a new way. “We are brining back some elements that we definitely haven’t put into a studio record in a while,” said Murphy. “We’ve always been caught in this weird dichotomy between ‘are we this chill somber Radiohead style band or are we a more Nine Inch Nails dance-floor in your face rock band?’ We always jump around and that’s what we enjoy. After being in a band for 12 years we’ve gotten to the point where we just say, ‘Hey, let’s write music that makes us happy.’”
Fortunately, they have used this philosophy to stay happy as a band and as their legions of fans continue to grow, the band has figured out some very socially responsible ways of harnessing their popularity to give back to the community. As if their non-stop touring schedule and long hours in the studio weren’t enough, the guys in STS9 go out of their way to actively support a number of charity organizations including Boulder’s Conscious Alliance and the New Orleans-based Make It Right Foundation.
“Make It Right are building green, eco-friendly, low income houses back in the Ninth Ward for families who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina,” said Murphy. “After Katrina, we took the first opportunity that we could to go back to New Orleans and play music. We toured the Ninth Ward while there was still complete devastation and, like it would for anybody, that had a lasting impact on us. Those people had everything wiped away in just a few days. In the end, we felt like we needed to do something.”
Consistent with the good message that they spread through their scene and their music, throughout the course of 2009 the band has been donating $1 from every ticket purchased to the foundation. “We decided this year, after going down there and doing some work with a food bank, that we were going to pool all of our resources to try to build a house. Our goal has been to try to raise $150,000 to build one of these houses for a family. We are about halfway there,” Murphy said. “What we tell our fans is that this is their house that they are building for a family, we just happen to be a catalyst for it. We really appreciate the opportunity to do it.”
With yet another fantastic album of otherworldly sounds, a heightened sense of social consciousness and a few tricks up their sleeve for their Denver New Year’s celebration, STS9 promises to continue to break down barriers both musical and otherwise. More than 10 years into a career that shows no signs of slowing, the band continues to prove why they are one of the biggest live draws in Colorado and across the country.
:: STS9 ::
:: June Swaner Concert Hall at DU ::
:: December 29 ::
:: Wells Fargo Theatre :: December 30 & 31::
Recommended if you Like:
• Lotus
• Disco Biscuits
• Particle
No comments
Leftover Salmon
Leftover Salmon turns 20 on New Years: industry insiders share their memories
:: Leftover Salmon ::
:: Eldo (Crested Butte) :: December 28 ::
:: Boulder Theater :: December 30 & 31 ::
:: Ogden Theatre :: Jan 2 ::
By Timothy Dwenger and Brian F. Johnson
This New Year’s Eve in Colorado, when the hands on the clock hit midnight, there will be more than just the flip of a calendar to 2010. As the chimes on the clock ring in the new year, they will also be signaling the 20th birthday of one of Colorado’s most eclectic, talented and unlikely heroes — Leftover Salmon.
It was in 1989 that Left Hand String Band members Mark Vann and Drew Emmitt merged their musical paths with a western Pennsylvania refugee named Vince Herman of the band The Salmonheads, and Leftover Salmon was born. The group hosted its first gig ever on New Year’s Eve at the Eldo in Crested Butte, Colo., coming up with their name on the drive to the gig from Boulder.
Blending raw talent with an unparalleled stage presence and a no-holds barred approach to any style of music, Leftover Salmon turned bluegrass and the ideas of what roots music was on their heads, and did so with enough infectious energy to win over even the staunchest traditionalists.
Together, the band has shared tremendous successes, fought relentless battles, even lost dear members of the family along the way. They have inspired, entertained, given selflessly, and they have provided the soundtrack to countless Colorado days and nights.
The very first issue of The Marquee featured Leftover Salmon on the cover, and since that issue the band has been featured on more covers of The Marquee than any other act. So, to celebrate their birthday, we wanted to get away from the typical interview and story that we normally do. Instead, to celebrate this monumental event, what we’ve done is asked musicians, industry insiders, friends and family to give us insight into how this group of mullet-loving misfits with hearts as big as their talent has shaped the Colorado music scene over the last two decades.
During their 20 year run, the band’s quirky name has come to mean so much to music fans and industry folks. Our contributors told us the first thing that popped into their minds when they heard the words “Leftover Salmon.”
Mark Bliesener (The Band Guru, co-managed Leftover with Chuck Morris at Morris, Bliesener and Assoc): The originators (along with Hot Rize) of ALL that was to follow.
Bela Fleck (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones): A great party atmosphere, and great energy and enthusiasm.
John Cowan (Newgrass Revival): Drew, Vince, & Mark Vann come to my mind very clearly: the Holy Trinity, as it were.
Billy Nershi (String Cheese Incident): My wild life in Telluride, Colorado. Skiing all day, going straight to the Floradora Saloon, cooking ‘till 10 p.m. and going to the One World Cafe to boogie all night to Leftover Salmon.
Anders Beck (Greensky Bluegrass): One word: FUN! It is humanly impossible to be within earshot of that band and not be having the time of your life. It’s infectious!
Col. Bruce Hampton (Aquarium Rescue Unit): Some weird biologically engineered fish experiment in central Oregon … the dry part.
Scramble Campbell (Painter): Smiles and Mayor McCheese.
Kirk Peterson (Boulder Theater): Beards, mullets and marijuana.
Leftover Salmon’s unique blend of bluegrass, rock, country, blues, jazz and Cajun/zydeco music may rub some bluegrass purists the wrong way, but they have bridged a gap between these genres. Though they are probably most closely associated with bluegrass, they have served as ambassadors to music lovers everywhere by welcoming them into the fold without pretense. They opened doors most people didn’t know existed and our contributors were able to put into words what Leftover Salmon has meant to the bluegrass community over the years.
Mark Bliesener: To the zealots — little. To those who truly know — rebirth.
Candace Horgan (The Denver Post): Even if they are only peripherally bluegrass, Leftover Salmon has certainly helped popularize bluegrass in Colorado by introducing the music to people who might not have heard it before. The band also paved the way for acts like String Cheese Incident and Yonder Mountain String Band.
Eric Dyce (City of Denver/Red Rocks): Leftover Salmon redefined bluegrass and added two new generations to the genre.
Bela Fleck: They gave the community a different option and brought a new, young audience.
Pete Wernick a.k.a. “Dr. Banjo” (Hot Rize): They are the zany “explorers” out on the edge in rock-land, but still looking back over their shoulder at the bluegrass friendlies, and visiting us sometimes.
John Cowan: I, like Salmon, have lived forever on the periphery of bluegrass. The bluegrass community as a whole usually tries to ignore or pretend these artists don’t exist unless in some way it benefits them (i.e. records, magazine sales, airplay etc.), which is a shame because the reality is that all of these peripheral or New Grass artists bring fans to people like Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, and Del McCoury etc.
Billy Nershi: Leftover Salmon showed people how to take bluegrass music add that X factor and get everybody dancing their ass off.
Anders Beck: They were the first ones that I saw who changed the rules. With them, the stuffy confines of traditional bluegrass were tossed out the window — in flames.
Kirk Peterson: Serious music can be seriously fun.
Though Salmon has been an integral part of the bluegrass music-loving community over the years, it is important to also realize the impact they have made on the lives of individual people. Without the band there would be no fans, but just as critically, without the fans, there would be no band. It is the magical entanglement of band, fan and music that has kept the whole thing going for 20 years and our contributors shared some of their favorite memories of the band.
Mark Bliesener (The Band Guru): FESTIVAL!!!
Candace Horgan: Salmonfest 2000 at Planet Bluegrass with a variety of acts, from Pete Wernick to The Derek Trucks Band and John Bell of Widespread Panic. Salmon led a wild parade through the grounds after dark, complete with Mardi Gras style costumes, before taking the stage for a three hour set. Guests like Bell sat in during the course of the night.
John Cowan: Most of them involve the band with Mark Vann still alive. Mark was a sweet, smart, introspective guy with his own sense of humor and he was a hell of a banjo player. Drew is one of my best friends, and I’m just flat out crazy about Vince and his P.T. Barnum take on music.
Col. Bruce Hampton: They helped me find the treasures of the Galapagos Islands.
Billy Nershi: I sat in with them one night long before String Cheese. They sang that song “Zombie Jamboree.” Vince sang “back to back, belly to belly. I don’t give a damn, ’cause I’m really Billy Nershi.” He has a way of making everyone feel special.
Bela Fleck: When bassist Tye North had his head shaved on stage.
Anders Beck: Seeing them play the Rico Theatre in 1999. They led the entire crowd out of the venue in a conga-line to continue the party in the streets.
Scramble Campbell: Planet Salmonfest 2000. Col. Bruce, John Bell, Baby Gramps, YMSB, LoS all in one day … yummy!
Kirk Peterson: Seeing what looked like Ken Kesey’s deranged farmhands playing Old and In the Way-meets-Metallica for the first time at North Western University’s spring festival on Lake Michigan, circa 1993-94.
Those memories, combined with hundreds and thousands more, went on to influence the lives of everyone who came in contact with their contagious energy over the years. The final question that our contributors responded to was concerning how their lives have been impacted by Vince, Drew, Mark and the other members who have made up Leftover Salmon over the years.
Candace Horgan: Because of Leftover, I discovered things like the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and RockyGrass. I’d also say that because of my experiences at those festivals, I ended up learning to play the fiddle.
Eric Dyce: I am a much mellower dude having known Leftover Salmon.
Pete Wernick: They’ve altered the geography of the progressive end of the bluegrass spectrum, thereby enlarging the big umbrella I’ve been operating under for years. On the negative side, more people are more confused than ever about what the word “bluegrass” means. On the positive, they have spread joy far and wide, and associated it with the kind of music I love.
Col. Bruce Hampton: They inspired me to spell Galapagos correctly.
John Cowan: It has made me a better musician, a better human, and mostly a better entertainer by recognizing through Salmon and their very real example, that the audience isn’t just a part of creation, they are the creation, and the soul reason to do it.
Anders Beck: LoS is a constant reminder of how much fun I should be having as a touring bluegrass musician. WWVinceDo?
Bela Fleck: I appreciate that they were strongly influenced by my generation, so that was a gift to us. Also, Mark’s passing so young. Remember to smell the roses and enjoy the great moments when you are lucky enough to be part of a band of brothers. It doesn’t always last forever.
:: Leftover Salmon ::
:: Eldo (Crested Butte) :: December 28 ::
:: Boulder Theater :: December 30 & 31 ::
:: Ogden Theatre :: Jan 2 ::
Recommended if you Like:
• New Grass Revival
• Hot Rize
• Yonder Mountain String Band
3 comments
Zero 7
Zero 7 returns after side-project hiatus with new lineup and tempo
:: Zero 7 ::
:: Ogden Theatre :: December 7 ::
:: Belly Up?Aspen :: December 8 ::
By Diana Novak
The striking effect that technology has made on music is bravely apparent in the work of electronica experts Zero7.
For ten years, the English duo of Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns has explored the infinite range of sounds made possible when computers are involved in music making. Recognized first for their powerful remixing skills, the two childhood friends soon began making their own music, chilling out the masses with their eternally laid-back sound. Following their Grammy-nominated third album The Garden, Zero7 has had enough of the chill-out corner.
Their fourth album, Yeah Ghost turns up the tempo quite a bit, as the new single “Medicine Man” creates the party, rather than winding it down. Add this new outlook to a collection of new vocal collaborators and you’ll find that in terms of quality, Zero7 hasn’t changed at all. At least, that’s what Binns thinks. “We did rip the lid off everything and ask very big questions about where we were going, but we do have some of this stuff in us — I don’t think it is that much of a departure from our earlier stuff,” he said in a recent interview with The Marquee. “It’s a bit of fun, cheer up everyone!”
With that change in theme, the band has seen some lineup changes in recent years, changes which have bred new life into the band, but have also meant some departures for mainstays.
Losing long time vocal collaborator Sia for this album opened the door for two new vocalists, Eska Mtungwazi and Martha Tilston, each representing a continuing deviation from the downtempo standards of the band.
Nothing in Zero 7’s nature says that the departures are final. In fact, in 2007, even Binns and Hardaker took a break from 7, and created an experimental side project, Ingrid Eto. And, during that “time off” Zero 7 even released an EP under the alias Kling — both projects of which provided work that Binns feels was put to good use on Yeah Ghost.
It was only after the three-year break that Henry and Sam felt the pull of an album — but only in fits in spurts. They had some melodies, but finding a vocalist to help in putting something more concrete together was becoming a real struggle. Such a struggle, in fact, that the recording studio drew out a reprise of one of Binn’s rarest roles within Zero7: singer.
“My vocal on ‘Everything Up (Zizou)’ came at a time of frustration, nothing was shaping up into an album, although it was very empowering that we could make one tune,” Binn said. “We do rely on collaborations, it just depends what comes up. We don’t have grand plans, we just kind of go with what makes you feel good at the time.”
Nothing, he said, was feeling good until Mtungwazi walked into the studio. She wrote lyrics for “Medicine Man” in one day, becoming a crucial player as Zero7 shaped their odds and ends into an album.
“There’s an underlying darkness, but in a good way,” said Binns. “If you are waiting three years, to suddenly hear ‘Medicine Man’ is slightly garish, slightly poppy.”
For their listeners coming to see them perform their old material, Binns promised, they will not disappoint. The combination of new and old make for a great show: “I think it is really sounding quite wonderful. The show should really leave you mildly elated, but for an Englishman to talk himself up is quite dubious,” he said.
Binns did explain that the combination of Tilston’s folk sound and Mtungwazi’s gospel makes their show eclectic in a way it hasn’t been before.
This new life-blood that’s been pumped into the band is also shaping the future of Zero 7, and Binns said that changes in a business realm could be on the horizon as well. “I would like to think that we would have the opportunity to make more records, maybe not on a major label. They only know one way, and it is rather old fashioned,” Binns said.
It’s pretty clear that “old fashioned” won’t work for Zero7.
:: Zero 7 ::
:: Ogden Theatre :: December 7 ::
:: Belly Up?Aspen :: December 8 ::
Recommended if you Like:
• Thievery Corporation
• Sia
• Air
Marquee Tags: Ghost, Herny Binns, Sam Hardaker, The Garden, Yeah!, Zero 7No comments
New Year’s Eve concert rundown
The last day of 2009 falls on a Thursday and a weekend filled with joyful debauchery shall rightfully ensue. Along with procuring reasons for new resolutions and partying like mad, there is not a more appropriate way to celebrate a brand new year than with live music. It’s going to be an innovative new decade ringing in with sounds of funky jazz, bluegrass jams, instrumental electronica, and orchestral roots rock. (For a complete listing of all New Year’s Eve shows, please refer to our calendar on page 33).
:: These United States/Paper Bird :: Hi-Dive ::
The members of These United States are four quirky gentlemen that share their love of honest fun, good times, and storytelling through a psychedelic gospel branch of folk music. The quartet recently released their third studio album Everything Touches Everything, which SPIN deemed as an album that “brilliantly captures the overwhelming jolt of simply being alive.” The band boasts that they have played a couple hundred live shows a year since their formation a few years back. Any listener will instantly be drawn into the realm of These United States, with their captivating melodies and simplistically intricate lyrics.
:: Greyboy Allstars :: Ogden Theatre ::
The Greyboy Allstars are a collaborative band that get together to play music simply for the joy of having a good time. Their live performances feature squealing horns, wooden flute, and driving percussion, creating sounds of funky yet soulful jazz with a Twenty-first Century edge. In 2007, the band reunited with DJ Greyboy in the studio for the first time in a decade to compose the successful album, What Happened to Television. The members of GBA consider their collaboration a side project from their usual gigs, but when these allstars get together to make music, a harmonious typhoon occurs which is undeniable performance after performance.
:: Slim Cessna’s Auto Club :: Bluebird Theatre ::
Engaging, riveting, sad and humorous; demanding the audience to participate both live and while listening to their albums: Slim Cessna’s Auto Club has been branded with every musical description possible. This seems fitting, as SCAC describes their music as American, and after a decade of working and living as SCAC, they have created their own genre. The originally Denver-based band has recorded critically acclaimed albums on Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles label. Both SPIN magazine and No Depression have described them as the best live band in America. The songs are each thoughtfully crafted with unique arrangement, executed by superb musicianship, then fully realized through original, insightful and intelligent lyrics. With two of the most charismatic front men around and four accomplished musicians (from Wovenhand, Delta 72 and 16Horsepower), SCAC is the past, present, and future of American music.
:: Mountain Standard Time :: Stage Stop ::
The amiable fellows that call themselves Mountain Standard Time get together to play music with the intention to pass along jolly times and contagious cheer. Since their chance meeting early in 2008, Mountain Standard Time has been imprinting their brand of bluegrass on the minds of their enthusiastic audiences. They call their music “non-linear aquatic gypsy-grass,” but it seems most people don’t care to dabble in semantics, they just want to keep on dancing! These boys are Nederland, Colorado’s finest slamgrass funk ragin’ dance party in-your-face freakshow and provide nothing less when performing live.
:: Triple Cobra :: The Walnut Room ::
Remember when rock and roll kicked ass? Triple Cobra does. No longer do you need to apologize for gaudy solos, karate kicks and stage splits. Audacity is the name of the game, and bravado knows no shame. The glam addicted, oversexed eccentrics from San Francisco send epic melodies soaring over sumptuous riffs, relinquishing the mediocrity of life to the majesty of rock. This triumph of sound is matched with the grandeur of dancers adorned in furs, feathers and fishnets shaking and grinding under a heroic light show overflowing with intrigue and innuendo uniting to create an event erupting with radiant glamour and raw spectacle. Lock your doors and hide your daughters. Triple Cobra is ready to strike.
:: The Meters Experience :: Quioxte’s True Blue ::
On the eve of the New Year, the original music of The Meters is going to be heralded through The Meters’ Experience, featuring Leo Nocentelli, the “funkiest, fast-fingered” guitarist there is, and special guest CR Gruver (Outformation, Polytoxic).
Nocentelli, an original member of The Meters, is the lead guitarist, composer, innovator and the musical originator of the syncopated funk style that won international acclaim for him and the band known as the “Pioneers of Funk,” The Meters — the Grammy’s 2001 Lifetime Achievement award winners. The Meters’ Experience features elements of funk, blues, jazz, and hip-hop to create a unique brand of blazing music that is just plain funky.
:: Pepper :: Fox Theatre ::
Originally from Hawaii, the Southern California-based Pepper mixes laid back surf vibes with throw-down rock, dub and reggae. Prolific in the studio and on the performance circuit, the band released Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations last year on their own label, Law Records. The band has appeared on the Warped Tour and this year’s Jagermeister Music Tour, and the group is savvy enough that they just released their own iPhone app.
:: Yonder Mountain String Band :: Fillmore Auditorium ::
New Years on the East Coast, means a ball dropping. New Years in Colorado means Yonder Mountain String Band. Bending bluegrass, rock and countless other influences that the band cites, Yonder has pioneered a sound all their own, attracting an untraditional ear with a passion for true live talent. With their traditional lineup of instruments, the band may have originally looked like a bluegrass band at first, but long ago they shed that notion and have blending genres and bending strings ever since. The foursome released their fifth studio album The Show (the second with producer Tom Rothrock) in September which received exceptional reviews nationwide.
:: Hot Buttered Rum & Motet :: Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom ::
Hot Buttered Rum and The Motet are sharing a headlining slot for this New Years. The Motet has an astonishingly talented cast of musicians who have refined their sound and their vision into a dynamic and expressive improvisational force. With roots in jazz, afrobeat, funk, salsa and samba, The Motet keeps their audiences in a dancing frenzy by layering house and techno rhythms into a style that is uniquely their own.
Initially formed as an acoustic string band, seven years of constant touring has transformed Hot Buttered Rum into a plugged-in, percussive powerhouse. Their left-coast rock reveals an access to jazz, country, and world music that few groups can match.
Marquee Tags: Greyboy Allstars, Hot Buttered Rum, Mountain Standard Time, Pepper, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, The Meter's Experience, These United States, Triple Cobra, Yonder Mountain String BandNo comments
From the Barstool of the Publisher – December 2009
Back in the mid-Nineties, when I was still a relatively young reporter, my dream was to write for High Times magazine, and after a whole bunch of rejections from them I was finally given the chance in early 1996. As part of the Highwitness News Team, I was on the front lines of the medical marijuana movement. It got to the point where, in between freelancing for HT, I used a week’s worth of vacation time from my corporate newspapering job to volunteer with NORML. Yes, I felt so strongly about it, I gave up vacation time. Now here we are more than a dozen years later and I find myself again near the front lines of that same movement.
Since things caught us so off guard, we weren’t really able to prepare the magazine for the change in advertising and we hope to, within the next few months, find a way to balance what we’ve always done — bringing you stories on Colorado’s live music scene — with some information about this movement that is happening before our eyes.
As with any new industry, people are going to want reviews and for us to hand out kudos to their shops, and we will be doing that from time to time. But as we venture into this, we will make this vow to our loyal readers — any praise will be handled with the same care that we provide for our musical coverage. What that means is that you’re not going to have to search through negative reviews to find the good establishments. Those who read us each month will notice that we never run CD reviews of less than two stars. While it could be argued that we give everyone good reviews, it can also be argued that we don’t waste our time or yours telling you why something sucked — instead we just want to tell you what’s good.
So keep an eye out for those changes that are heading your way and by all means voice your opinions about them. If you don’t mind the magazine looking elsewhere for content, tell us, and if you do mind, tell us that as well. Without your feedback we’re blind, so let us have it.
For those of you who don’t care for the movement, we hope not to alienate you. We’re not going to completely change our voice. It’s our opinion that the only reason we’re still here after nearly eight years, is because of our hard line “nothing but music” attitude. But we also think that changing things up from time to time and adding fresh life is a worthwhile venture.
See you at the shows.
Marquee Tags: High Times Magazine, Medical Marijuana, NORMLNo comments
John Mayer
John Mayer
Battle Studies
Columbia
2 out of 5 stars
I am not one of those people that like to rip on John Mayer because it seems like the cool thing to do. [Editor’s note: This is most likely a direct dig at the editor of The Marquee, who immediately picked on Keller for even suggesting this review in the first place.]
In the past I have given Mayer favorable coverage when deserving — an example being his 2008 live album Where the Light Is, which I gave 3.5 stars. But, his recent fourth studio effort, Battle Studies, is a major step backward for Mayer as an artist. If a pop star is all Mayer wants to be remembered as, Battle Studies is going to further pigeonhole him into the teen heartthrob image he has seemingly tried to break away from over the past few years.
There is no doubting Mayer’s commercial success. He is easily one of the most successful solo artists of the last decade with four Platinum albums and seven Grammy awards. However, after the huge pop successes of 2002’s “Your Body is a Wonderland” and 2004’s “Daughters,” Mayer quickly shied away from the teen heartthrob image those singles helped create.
In an attempt to return to his blues-rock roots, Mayer formed The John Mayer Trio in 2005 with bassist Pino Palladino (The Who, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck) and drummer/producer Steve Jordan (The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton). Palladino and Jordan gave Mayer immediate street-cred and the power trio toured, released a critically successful live album and many who weren’t paying attention started realizing that Mayer was actually a very gifted blues guitarist. The trio allowed Mayer to form friendships with B.B. King, Eric Clapton and a slew of the other blues-master elite. Mayer was finally being recognized as a musician and his fan base was spanning generations.
Battle Studies is almost a slap in the face to all those who gave Mayer the benefit of the doubt. It is full of slick, uninspired, horribly written pop songs that go nowhere. I am not blasting this album because it is pop. I am blasting this because Battle Studies is simply the worst album Mayer has made — it doesn’t hold a candle to Heavier Things or Continuum, which I greatly enjoyed.
When listening to Battle Studies it is hard not to picture a desperate guy trying his best to write songs that will get him laid. With song titles like “Heartbreak Warfare,” “Half of My Heart,” and “Friend, Lovers or Nothing,” one can’t help but wonder if Mayer can write anything other than a sappy love song. Lyrically, the album is his shallowest yet. In “All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye” he sings, “Just when I had you off my head / your voice comes thrashing wildly through my quiet bed,” and in the chorus of “Heartbreak Warfare” Mayer boringly repeats the line, “If you want more love, why don’t you say so?” It is pretty damn mind-numbing.
The only decent songs on the album are the two Mayer didn’t write: Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” which is in the style of Cream’s version with an added electronic feel, and Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” which was only available through the iTunes pre-order.
John Mayer is a talented artist; however, he is quickly showing that being a great songwriter is not one of his strengths. That said, I am sure teenage America is going to eat Battle Studies up.
— Jonathan Keller
Marquee Tags: "Daughters", "Your Body Is A Wonderland", Battle Studies, John Mayer, Steve Jordan, Where The Light IsNo comments
Light: On the South Side
Light: On the South Side
Chicago 1975-1977 (multi-media)
Numero Group
5 out of 5 stars
This is truly one of the most stunning projects I’ve seen this decade — a flawless and decadent collection of music and photographs which effortlessly transports listeners/readers back to mid-late ’70s Chicago in both sight and sound.
A 132-page hardcover book of photographs by Michael Abramson taken on the South Side of Chicago between 1975 and 1977, Light chronicles the elaborate, audacious and sometimes sleezy lifestyle of the jazz and funk clubs’ patrons. Abramson was unenthused with the artists on the stages of the joints he was hitting. He found the real action to be in the crowd and the photos turn Abramson’s bright flash in their direction.
But what makes this project so overwhelmingly special are the two old school vinyl LPs that come with it, titled Pepper’s Jukebox. Housed in a gorgeous slipcase with the 12X12 book, Pepper’s Jukebox is a 17 track compilation packaged in a sharp gatefold jacket with two inner sleeves crammed to the gills with label scans and stories.
The vinyl does, in an audio format, what the photos do in a visual format —?offer a snapshot of that time and those places with a revealing transparency that has never been done before. While it’s all funk, the funkiness of the funk in this collection is hard to grasp and even harder to explain. With tracks by Arlean Brown, Bobby Rush, Ricky Allen and Lady Margo, to name a few, your woofers will get a bass workout for sure, and the fact that the music is presented on vinyl only adds to the authenticity and charm of the package.
Taking photos and music in together, along with the essay by Nick Hornby, is equivalent to taking a college level course on Chicago between 1975 and 1977, and the volumes of dialog expressed in Abramson’s black and white prints could fill a set of encyclopedias.
This is a must-have for any funk fan, pretty much for any Chicago native, and an absolute trample-people-at-the-store kind of gift for anyone who, in the last twenty years, has longed for the liner notes and artwork of the vinyl era to return. I?can imagine audiophiles by the hundreds lying belly down on their living room floors, not far from their turntables, carefully examining each photo and each track simultaneously in analog bliss. I’d kill to see more releases like this, focusing on different eras and genres. It’s phenomenal!
— Brian F. Johnson
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The Swell Seasons
The Swell Season
Strict Joy
Anti- Records
3.5 out of 5 stars
The Swell Season might be the breakout folk success story of the last decade. Riding on the heels of the moving and well-received 2007 feature film Once and its accompanying soundtrack, Irish duo Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have finally released a batch of new songs collectively called Strict Joy. It should please fans of the movie and soundtrack but will likely not eclipse their success of the past.
Shot for only $160,000, Once was one of the major indie breakout films of 2007, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song and grossing over $20 million at the box office.
Written and directed by John Carney, the Irish folk musical drama made stars of Hansard and Irglová, immediately catapulting their musical careers into the mainstream. It was the career break of all career breaks and the duo has ridden that success for the better part of two years with extensive touring and promotional appearances.
The Swell Season has delivered a solid follow-up album with Strict Joy. However, much of the intimacy, heartbreak and acoustic subtlety found on the Once Soundtrack is missing. Simply put, the Once Soundtrack had better songs as a whole. Strict Joy sounds like an album that was meant to be played live and the duo brought in a slew of musicians to accompany their folk songs; drums are all over this one.
The album starts strong with the R&B flavored “Low Rising” and my favorite track, “Feeling the Pull.” The latter features a quick descending chord structure, upright bass, piano, mandolin, whizzing organ, Dylan-esq harmonica and rolling jazz drums. It literally sounds like something Van Morrison could have recorded on Astral Weeks and is a defining song for the duo. I wish they had used this track as the overall feel for how the entire album should have sounded.
The album quickly moves into more intimate, acoustic songs, including their first single, “In These Arms,” which works well once they get to the chorus.” The back half of the album features the best ballad, “I Have Loved You Wrong,” which features a lead vocal by Irglová over a rumbling bass groove and spacey piano and guitar voicing. To date, it is the best song Irglová has contributed and is hopefully a sign of more interesting things to come from the 21-year-old.
Strict Joy definitely doesn’t have the commercial appeal that the Once Soundtrack had, but it is still a refreshing collection of meaningful folk that will please many.
— Jonathan Keller
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John Denver
John Denver
Live in Japan/Around The World Live
Eagle Vision
4.5 out of 5 stars
John Denver wouldn’t condone the language I’d like to use to explain how much music there is in this collection. Just in time for the holidays, the two DVD releases by Eagle Rock Entertainment offer up enough video footage to satisfy even the most devout Denver follower. Let us not forget that in the 1970s John Denver was the number one recording artist in the country. And there’s a darn good reason for it. Sure, a lot of these tracks are kind of cheesy and kind of hokey by today’s standards, but there is a realness that Denver exudes that can cut right through even the heartiest cheese.
Why Eagle Rock released these separately is beyond me, but whether you opt for the single-disc Live in Japan set or the mammoth five-DVD volume Around the World Live, you’ll find more bad cowboy shirts and high-waist Wranglers than you can shake a 12-string guitar at. As nostalgic retrospectives go, these releases combined take the cake.
— Brian F. Johnson
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Head For The Hills
Head For The Hills
Head For The Hills
Independent
4 out of 5 stars
Head For The Hills is firing so hard on all cylinders these days that there’s no telling how far they can go if they keep it up.
Case in point is their self-titled release, which is just hitting the streets. The band produced the album with Leftover Salmon mandolin master Drew Emmitt and the boys were smart enough to record the project on the Sonoma DSD machine with one of Boulder’s best audiophiles, Gus Skinas. The warmth of the band’s current musical prowess coupled with the depth of Skinas’ recording device, work together to provide an album that’s as comfortable as an old pair of slippers, yet meticulous in its presentation.
Additionally, the band’s connections with Emmitt also lead to “artistic oversight and creative guru” assistance by the other half of the Emmitt-Nershi Band, Bill Nershi, and all of those elements working together result in one of most professional independent releases of the year in this market. In fact, that’s maybe the best way to summarize Head For The Hills. These guys bring a bar-raising attitude of professionalism to everything they do — I mean, hell, their bass player even recently chopped his dreads. They’re not stodgy button-down types. These guys still know how to have fun, they just do it with forethought and it shows in their success.
— Brian F. Johnson
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Carbon Choir
Carbon Choir
High Beams
Independent
4 out of 5 stars
God, I hope a lot of people hear this album.
Carbon?Choir has solidified their sound for their first full-length release, which is undeniably as slick and polished as their mega-artist influences (think Radiohead with more piano), but the fact that they are local makes this release phenomenal by all accounts.
Trust me, if you like Coldplay-esque rock mixed with some Beta Band and Arcade Fire, you’ll be amazed at how well these local boys pull it off and High Beams is Carbon Choir at their best.
— Brian F. Johnson
:: Carbon Choir ::
:: Walnut Room :: CD?Release ::
:: December 4 ::
Marquee Tags: Carbon Choir, High BeamsNo comments
Quick Spins – December 2009
The Rza
The Tao of Wu (Book)
Riverhead Books
5 out of 5 stars
If there was a modern day equivalent to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War this would be it. While most books authored by rap illuminati focus on violence and “bling,” The RZA’s story is a positive narrative about rising above the harsh circumstances of poverty and the pitfalls that accompany it. A stellar follow-up to the excellent, but at times childish, Wu-Tang Manual.
Lita Ford
Wicked Wonderland
JLRG Entertainment
4 out of 5 stars
Considering Lita Ford’s sporadic output since her heyday and the fact that she has basically stated that she holed up with her husband, had sex and made an album, I was a little weary about this release. Truthfully, it is really good, a little personal at times, but I hope Lita Ford makes the most of her comeback.
The Bee Gees
The Ultimate Bee-Gees
Reprise Records
4 out of 5 stars
Forget the myriad of rap/hip-hop songs that have built themselves around samples from the Bee-Gees and forget the profound influence that they had on Rolling Stones albums like Undercover and Black and Blue, the fact is even without those triumphs the “Brothers Gibb” kick ass. This two disc, one DVD set contains every track you could want and the DVD will hook you up if you want to revisit the heyday of disco and beyond.
Fierce Bad Rabbit
“All I Have Is You” (single)
Independent
4 out of 5 stars
The Northern Colorado indie pop super group, which formed in February of 2009, has released its second single this year and will drop their full length in 2010. “All I Have Is You” is a radio friendly highway song that will have you banging on the steering wheel and singing along by your second listen. It’s also a great blend of the musicians who make up the band, frontman Chris Anderson (The Jimi Austin), Dayton Hicks (Arliss Nancy), Alana Rolfe (Stella Luce) and Adam Pitner (Tickle Me Pink).