DenverThread

Threading The Scene: The Inactivists spread their love straight into the heart of Denver (0)

1/25/10 •

I’ve been introduced to the perfect collection of songs to commemorate the “holiday,” complete with the appropriate level of irony, humor and lovelorn misgivings in The inactivists’ “Love Songs & Other Songs About Love,” released last year. So much more than merely a pile of rosy, soap opera schmaltz, this record, through The Inactivists’ sharp wit and sense of humor, represents probably the most honest revelation of love from the eyes of a constantly unrequited nerd (and let’s face it, all of us have been that, at one time or another), played by a band of Muppets that landed a daily gig in a bar inside David Lynch’s cranium.

The five piece plays an eclectic style of pop that defies any one genre, and deifies many. Sometimes it’s funk from Sly & the Family Stone – albeit often with an overwhelming flavor of Morris Day & The Time – and sometimes it’s arty rock from bands like King Crimson, or sick and flirty forays into psychedelia that rival Butthole Surfers’ wildest.

Music News: Michael Gira announces plans to reactivate Swans in the Fall (0)

1/21/10 •

Michael Gira, founder of Young God Records and vocalist/visionary front for Angels of Light, used to live a somewhat louder existence. An existence replete with just as much musical and lyrical beauty as the Angels’ output of over the past decade, but one that was also terrifyingly violent, brutal, hostile and swathed in a noise that had not been heard before, and has (so far) not been heard again since it was silenced with the death of his first band, Swans.

And Gira has announced what was constantly up to now only seen as an impossibility: he’s decided to reactivate the legendary band, and will release a new collection of songs (tentatively) in the fall of 2010. Plans for touring are also reportedly in the works.

The Reverend Horton Heat @ the Boulder Theater, 01/15/10 – Reverb (0)

1/21/10 •

As far as psychobilly goes, you’re not likely to find a better practitioner than Jim “Reverend Horton” Heath and the rest of his legendary trio, the Reverend Horton Heat. The Texas group graced the Boulder Theater last Friday night in the middle of a multiple night tour in Colorado. Too bad the Boulder crowd didn’t completely wake up for the show!

New CD Reviews – Denver Local Edition! Gangcharger, Ideal Fathers offer new tunes (0)

1/13/10 •

Two local bands make some fantastically furious noise with two new EPs. Denver fans of loud, noise-addled shoegaze rock and wild, frenetic screaming punk will rejoice!

The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band @ the Larimer Lounge, 01/09/10 – Reverb (0)

1/11/10 •

Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band kicked off their tour of the American West last Saturday night at the Larimer Lounge fresh and full of their characteristically furious country blues spirit, and added some punchy humor to the mix, to boot.

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club @ the Bluebird Theater, 12/30/09 – Reverb (0)

1/06/10 •

Leave it to Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, who have put on one of Denver’s best live shows for more than a decade, to be the only band that could outdo their own reputation. That’s what happened last Wednesday at the Bluebird in the first of two New Year’s Eve celebratory shows. The six-piece not only proved their consummate showmanship, often sardonically tongue-in-cheek, but also a grasp of drama, playing as the cast of the classic cartoon Popeye. And they added some new tunes to their set — the first in more than three years.

LiveThread Digest – for the week of 2010-02-04 (0)

2/04/10 •

Man, this place…is…HUGE. And there are probably about 9 people here over 14…. #
Man, this place…is…HUGE. And there are probably about 9 people here over 14…. #SnowShow
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LiveThread Digest – for the week of 2010-01-28 (0)

1/28/10 •

Allright, Eyes & Ears, y'all win, for now. . . And now, Awwwe yeeeah! Git Some, bee-haatch!! #
Oohhh…. loud… louuuuuddd… #
Oh, Jesus, the lizard's gotten the best
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2010-01-21 (0)

1/21/10 •

RT@ moorejohn Here, here! Happy birthday, Kate! #
RT @moorejohn Here, here! Happy birthday, Kate! #
Some days feel more scripted. Glad I'm not an extra in
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2010-01-14 (0)

1/14/10 •

"..quit what isn’t working for you, the negatives that hold you back – create a positive ‘charge’ for more positive experiences." – J Allen #
Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band, playing
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2010-01-08 (0)

1/08/10 •

Can it really be possible that today is my oldest's 21st birthday? How'd that take so long, so quickly? #
RT@moorejohn: Crybaby Cutler lost last 3 of the season and got
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2010-01-01 (0)

1/01/10 •

Coming home with a baby snake, named "Situation,x #
Coming home with a baby snake, named "Ziti," already sucking down a mouse. The boys may be in love… #
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2009-12-25 (0)

12/25/09 •

Forget the resolutions. Instead…search for something to fall in love with…about yourself, your career, your spouse." – Dale Dauten #
RT@AllAmericanBand: party people! tonight – party with your tv on! we're
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2009-12-18 (0)

12/18/09 •

RT @PopHiss: Coachella 2010 will be April 16-18 http://bit.ly/56R3Nf #
RT @RVRB: WHOA! 13 original Denver-music posts in the last 24 hours? Follow @RVRB for Denver music
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2009-12-11 (0)

12/11/09 •

Slippin' & slidin' into @Meadowlark for DBCs' EP release party… it's damned cold out here… #
Nice to see @Meadowlark packed, and warm. Josephine & the Mousepeople
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Melt Banana @ the Bluebird Theater – 12/07/09 – Reverb (1)

12/10/09 •

For the first 25 minutes of their set at the Bluebird Theater Monday night,Melt Banana blasted the crowd with a melange of noise and darkness — pierced only by the members’ head-mounted lights — that felt like my imagination of shock therapy, without the benefit of that thick piece of rubber they shove in your mouth to keep you from biting through your tongue. Never have I been so impressed by the venue’s sound system, nor have I ever felt the need to don earplugs so badly. And yet I, along with the smallish, half-capacity (at best) crowd, loved every ear drum piercing minute of it. So much so that when the four piece settled into more accessible, 30- to 90-second pieces with recognizable rhythms and chords for the remainder of their set, we all seemed to miss the cacophony.

The Don’ts and Be Carefuls, Josephine & the Mousepeople @ the Meadowlark – Reverb (0)

12/09/09 •

It’s no shock that DBCs are gaining a following, and quickly. As Banker said in a recent interview: “We want to play music that is crazy fun, but also has some substance to it. We want people to have so much fun they shake where they stand.”

LiveThread Digest – week of 2009-12-04 (0)

12/04/09 •

Heading to the Bluebird for Blind Pilot, and heard Baca's back, too! #
Waiting as Blind Pilot sets up. Man, Bluebird is friggin' packed…. #
"I wanna do right
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Threading the Scene: An Interview with The Dont’s and Be Carefuls (1)

12/03/09 •

Officially a band for just under two years (and a significant part of that time was spent finishing school up in Greeley), Denver’s The Don’ts and Be Carefuls are quickly racking up a live history that many local bands would die for. In that short time, they’ve shared the stage with bands like Hot IQs, Tapes ‘N Tapes, Mumiy Troll and HEALTH, to name a few, and they’re already throwing an EP Release party Friday night, December 4, at Meadowlark.

Not to say they sound alike – well, maybe a little (I wouldn’t be surprised to find that their sheet music shared similar coffee stains) – but Hot IQs corpse has barely quit steaming, and with The DBCs, Denver’s already faced with a suitor more than capable of helping us to move out of mourning, and back on to the dance floor. This band’s catchy thrash-while-you-stomp-and-giggle style is bound to prick up more than a few dozen ears after Friday night, and should be well on its way into the local scene’s psyche by the time the weekend’s over.

LiveThread Digest – week of 2009-11-27 (0)

11/27/09 •

RT @LarimerLounge: JAPANDROIDS!!! TONIGHT!! Sunday Nov 22nd w/ Surfer Blood and Eyes and Ears. Doors at 8 PM!http://bit.ly/07mOJwH #
Walking in on Surfer Blood, waiting for Japandroids @LarimerLounge
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LiveThread Digest – week of 2009-11-20 (0)

11/20/09 •

@CocoDavies @nicholio Looking forward to Pixies redeeming their last Denver show… woop! #
RT @DenverWestword: All hail the return of the Ski Train: http://bit.ly/4tG4Kr Woohoo!!!!
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Pixies @ the Fillmore Auditorium (Day 1) – Reverb (0)

11/17/09 •

If you were a young adult anywhere near the “alternative” music scene in 1989 when the Pixies’ “Doolittle” album was originally released, you remember its buzz. This was no “ordinary” record, and it came from a decidedly un-“ordinary” band, at least for their time. Its significance has more than survived the test of time, which is exactly why the band was at the Fillmore Auditorium on Monday night to perform the whole damn thing — along with some subsequently released B-sides from around the same time.

Mason Jennings, Nathaniel Rateliffe & the Wheel @ the Bluebird Theater – Reverb (0)

11/15/09 •

You might think that Mason Jennings’ decision to become a member of Jack Johnson’s Brushfire label family would be an iffy move for the fiercely independent singer-songwriter that he is, and whether the association would soften his style. I did, until I saw him play at the Bluebird last Friday night. I was certain I would be subject to a too-clean, pop-folky string of bouncy, happy tunes, the ilk of which build up the majority of Johnson’s oeuvre. Not so. Jennings remains a strong, almost surly and unabashedly political songwriter, with more in common with Paul Westerberg or Elliott Smith than the lighthearted crooner.