The Mile High Music Festival is coming to the Denver area this weekend in the somewhat awkwardly-named but supposedly pleasant Dick’s Sporting Goods Park out in Commerce City (incidentally, the only city in Colorado with a liquor store that sells this nectar of the gods).
I’m going to be covering the fest, and sure Tom Petty and Dave Matthews are headlining. But depending on circumstance and how the day unwinds, I am more looking forward to seeing some folks like:
Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers Bob Schneider Josh Ritter (!!) Andrew Bird Spoon Lupe Fiasco The Whigs The Flobots Grace Potter The Roots The Black Crowes
I still regret missing The Roots at Red Rocks when they were here opening for Wilco, Athens’ The Whigs are supporting their excellent sophomore album Mission Control, and Josh Ritter always absolutely slays me in the best possible way (likethis). Not too shabby for a weekend, close to home for once. Come on out!
Feist was in Denver last night and I missed it, but this recent performance from Sesame Street is clearly a match made in heaven. Kids love the original “1234″ song, even if they tend to be a bit troubled by the way she skips 7 and 8 — this cheerfully makes up for it.
Ms. Leslie Feist joins a fairly formidable pantheon of past performers on one of my favorite kid’s shows since back in the day, when the youth were all so much more fashionable:
R.E.M.
Johnny Cash
Stevie Wonder
There are also some unfortunatemissteps, and this one always always makes me feel sad for undefinable reasons, not having to do with Aaron’s regrettable earring.
If you are a winner, please let me know where to have the good folks at Vagrant send your musical winnings. Thanks for all the amazing entries; what a breathtaking lyrical pool we have to select from.
[one spot of loud audio at the beginning – it gets better!]
Supergrass rocked what felt like a secret show last night at Denver’s tiny Larimer Lounge, after the Foo Fighters cancellation at the larger venue up the road. “Hellooooo Red Rocks!” Gaz Coombes shouted as they took the stage, looking back at his bandmates with a grin. With three of the band members sporting matching fedoras, they launched into a short but intense set of songs drawn largely from their new album Diamond Hoo Ha, which all sounded ferocious –and very, very loud– in the compact club. Three merry Britons next to me seemed elated by their dumb luck of seeing one of Britain’s biggest bands of the Nineties (who regularly play to massive festivals and stadiums) in the well-loved confines of our Larimer.
This was a lovely summer weekend of champion gyro-eating at the Greek Festival (and watching the dancers click their heels about in traditional garb), summery new Japanese-abstract print bedding, and some indoor thrashing of the Rock Band drum pads. Pretty soon I’m clearly going to be an expert; for now it would help if I could follow along with which side of the screen I was supposed to be playing to.
Summer is also bursting with juicy tunes:
Momentary Drowning Young Coyotes “Stomp, clap, point at the map. Nod, shake, we’ll head to the lake. We’ll dive off the floating dock into the green unknown. This Denver threesome might own the copyright on summer this year.” [linesthroughlines blog] Oh, Young Coyotes, you had me at hello. This Denver collective comes to us through the deaths of a few other bands, and consists of people who like “campfires, chanting, oceans, deserts, spontaneity, and lots and lots of drums.” I like all of those things although I haven’t chanted since…Coachella. There is a charming rawness and joy that permeates this music from the opening handclaps. Young Coyotes are currently unsigned and living just up the highway, finishing their debut album. They are totally down to soundtrack my summer.
Boarded Doors The Morning Benders This foursome from Berkeley just announced fall tour dates with Ra Ra Riot, which means an excellent evening wherever that tour lands them. Classically-constructed and sunny, The Morning Benders make spry pop music that tries for nothing more than to be authentic and honest. This particular sampling rises and falls, marches and prowls with that vibrating surf guitar and the best bits of the British invasion. Their debut album Talking Through Tin Cans is out now on +1 Records and they are relentlessly on tour, with We Are Scientists now and Ra Ra Riot come autumn, hitting Monolith and Treasure Island in between. Heck, they can almost see Treasure Island from where they filmed this video.
Black Ghost / Black Girl Starling Electric The Clouded Staircase album definitely looks like something I would find in my parents’ old walnut laminate record cabinet, nestled cozily amidst the Keith Green and The Mamas and the Papas. The halcyon light on the cover and swirling cursive letters give it away. But hey, drop the needle on this album from Ann Arbor’s Starling Electric and you’ll be surprised to hear a variety of decades and moods reflected in lush and heady music that’s absolutely sublime — “a call to arms for anyone still interested in melodies, harmonies, and the power of a good pop song.” Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow (of The Posies/Big Star) fell in love with this band and were early and vocal proponents. I also enjoy the picture on their MySpace of drummer John being wrapped in Robert Pollard’s loving embrace (Pollard invited them on tour with him). Clouded Staircase is out August 19th on Bar/None Records, with a record release party that night at NYC’s Mercury Lounge.
We Are From Venice (La Serenissima mix) The Bloody Beetroots Italy possesses some of the best nightlife in Europe — nay, the world. So it makes me happy inside to see how duo The Bloody Beetroots are rocking those dirty dancefloors with their electronica, while moving to take over the rest of the world. Masked in a potential crosscultural salute to the Mexican luchadore (?) this duo is signed to the Dim Mak label and cranks out headspinningly filthy sounds. I’m not sure what’s going on with the masks, but at least they’re having fun. Be sure to check out the new Bloody Beetroots 8-song mini-mix over on the XLR8R podcast last week, and Los Angelenos can see them (well sort of, with the masks and all) this Saturday with N*E*R*D and labelmates MSTRKRFT & Steve Aoki.
She Does Locksley When Fuel/Friends first mentioned this freshfaced Brooklyn quartet with a ragged retro sound, Locksleywere just preparing to self-release their own album. Don’t Make Me Wait is now seeing re-release with two bonus tracks and a wider distribution through Fontana Records on August 19th. “She Does” is a screamer of a song that possesses some of the eager roughness of very early Beatles material, back when they’d still unleash those screams with a teen-angst edge. Locksley has toured with The Dandy Warhols & The Hives, and are playing now with Rooney, so you get a delightful idea of what you’re in for. Locksley will be at Denver’s Walnut Room July 22.
And sweet goodness, did you see that Sub Pop is resurrecting their epic Singles Club for a limited time? Details here. And since I don’t have to rely on allowance and babysitting income anymore, I might actually JOIN this time around!
Supergrass and I had a hot date tomorrow night at the Foo Fighters show at Red Rocks, but then Dave Grohl went and got sick.
To soothe our wounds until the make-up dates in September, Supergrass is going to play a Denver show anyway tonight at the teensy Larimer Lounge. Should be a rad evening; their new album packs a swaggering punch with a surprising hint of dare I say glam. Los Angeles band Year Long Disaster opens. Diamond Hoo Ha Man – Supergrass
Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) is many things: Pittsburgh native, biomedical engineering school graduate, skinny white guy with piercing blue eyes — but most relevant to you, he is a Master of Mashup with his massive throwdown shows. On Friday night, the Boulder kids (and Denver kids, and Colorado Springs kids) all packed ourselves into the Fox Theatre, pressed sweating up against each other to dance and sing along at a super-sold-out show with Mr. Gillis. He almost rocked all the cheeky unicorn backpacks, shortie tracksuits, and neon sweatbands clear off. Check the video (oh, warning – douchebag content):
I’ve said before that listening to Gillis feels like the way my brain plays music snippets all right on top of one another when I flip through an eclectic jukebox in a bar after drinking a few. It is a little disorienting but so wonderful. He clearly loves what he does, and that enthusiasm vibrates out into the crowd. It was an all-ages show so I begrudgingly kept feeling vaguely old at 28 (!) and the temperature inside on the sweltering July night must have topped the high ninety degree mark. But despite all the sweating (or because of it) this was one of the best evenings I’ve had in a long time.
What floors me about Gillis on his album –and times 10 in a live setting– is the way he mashes such unexpected songs from different eras, and they all fly so damn well. The dirty version of Khia’s “My Neck, My Back” layered in with Yael Naim’s “New Soul”? Surprisingly flawless. A closing moment of communal epiphany with arms interlaced to Journey’s “Faithfully” right in there with “Pop, Lock & Drop It”? Sweeet.
My new friend Ben was commenting on how it was a little odd to be standing facing a stage waiting for a “show” and then an “encore” by a “band” that was just one guy and two laptops wrapped in plastic bags (to protect against dripping sweat?). Seconds after Gillis started his set, the floor started to undulate. One guy ran on stage which started a landslide, and soon the room and stage both were converted into one big writhing mass of people.
You think you’ve experienced the fun of Girl Talk by spinning Night Ripper at your party or Feed The Animals in your dorm room, but I gotta say that you simply have not gotten the full GT experience until you hear him work his craft live, drenched in sweat, with hundreds of your new friends. GO!
GIRL TALK LIVE DATES Jul 24 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC Jul 25 Capitol Hill Block Party – Seattle, WA Jul 26 Roseland Theater – Portland, OR Aug 3 Lollapalooza – Chicago, IL Aug 6 The Øya Festival – Oslo, Norway Aug 7 Way Out West – Stockholm, Sweden Aug 8 All Points West Festival – Jersey City, NJ
And this is still my favorite Girl Talk jam: Bounce That – Girl Talk
M. Ward is also playing a few solo tour dates later this summer, in addition to the She & Him tour. And speaking of She & Him, if you’re totally hanging out in your basement tonight to watch Pete Wentz on MTV, their video for “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” will premiere tonight at 8pm on FNMTV.
From Where The Hell Is Matt?, the site of an Australian guy who does that very-white-guy dance all over the world, and has also never lost a staring contest. Lovely.
The innovative not-for-profit New York record label JDub Records (started in Dec 2002 by two NYU students) is celebrating their fifth anniversary with a party on July 23rd @ Denver’s Walnut Room. The shindig will bring a performance by Tel-Aviv based DJ crew Soulico, joined by special guests including the godfather of Israeli hip-hop Sagol 59 and Ethiopian-Israeli MCs Axum.
7/23 – 9:00 PM / 3101 Walnut Street $8 / Fifty cent PBRs and $2 Wells / 21 + [Tickets]
Although I can’t say I’ve listened to much Israeli hip-hop, this should be an enticingly global & fun evening. As prep we’ve got a 60-minute mixtape from Soulico here to bring you up to speed.
In a fabulously-titled blog post (“Hasidic Juice”) Diplo wrote about the mix: “This is the result of a decade of digging in Tel-Aviv’s record shops & flea markets by the Soulico Crew. An hour full of Hasidic Disco, Spiritual Soul, Yamanite Funk, Turkish Acid Rock, Arabic Jazz & much more, all recorded & released in Israel by local musicians & artists in the ’70s and early ’80s. 31 songs in all, and they passed on the tracklist which would probably mean nothing to anyone that can’t read the crazy script that is their language.” [view tracklist here]
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
The Mile High Music Festival is coming to the Denver area this weekend in the somewhat awkwardly-named but supposedly pleasant Dick’s Sporting Goods Park out in Commerce City (incidentally, the only city in Colorado with a liquor store that sells this nectar of the gods).
Name: Heather Browne
