Category: More Music News

Listings of new releases, tours, shakeups, controversies, justice, and anything else we at the ‘Thread find newsworthy.

Murder Ranks plays a fantastic fun brand of dancehall and hard dub, welcomes the highly anticipated return of Denver’s beloved Warlock Pinchers
May 25, 2010 Off

Murder Ranks plays a fantastic fun brand of dancehall and hard dub, welcomes the highly anticipated return of Denver’s beloved Warlock Pinchers

By Billy Thieme

Legendary front range provocateurs and pranksters Warlock Pinchers are getting back together for a show in August, and they’re determined to cash in on the nationwide – worldwide – “remake trend.” Of course, unlike much (most? all?) of the other remake grout that’s been piling up in our entertainment culture for lack of bricks, these guys promise to offer premium, relevant and fun entertainment, chock full of their characteristic DIY, punk rock/hip hop/scramble-wave hybrid mayhem.

Odds are they’ll be among the few projects that will deliver – and deliver over and above. And there will be plenty of merchandise to boot.

The show, scheduled for August 6th at the Gothic Theatre, promises to hold numerous surprises – from airborne meat (likely as not raw) to go-go dancers to cellophane-wrapped band members, in the vein of past extravaganzas. Those legendary shows featured shenanigans like all of the above, as well as various liquids and solids being dumped, sprayed or otherwise unleashed upon their audiences – all in front of pre-recorded (on cassette!) drums and live bass, guitars, screeching, rapping and scratching. In a word, unpredictable. In another word, unmatched – maybe unmatchable. This time, though, all instruments will be live, as the band has taken on Melvins drummer Dale Crover up on a decades-old offer to play with them.

Live DenverThread Review: Ideal Fathers with Solar Bear, St. Elias at Hi-Dive, 04/29/10
May 3, 2010 Off

Live DenverThread Review: Ideal Fathers with Solar Bear, St. Elias at Hi-Dive, 04/29/10

By Billy Thieme

This part of the Denver scene continues to grow in both band members and fans, and the Hi-Dive hosted an all-local, all noisy and all fun lineup that showcased some of them last Thursday night. Including Solar Bear, Ideal Fathers, St Elias and Colors, it attracted a more than modest crowd, and kept the fans fascinated – often dancing to some metal-dipped prog-rock and post punk.
Solar Bear and St. Elias bookended Ideal Fathers’ set with a somewhat similar vibe based in different sub genres of prog, which actually made the latter band’s style stand out. Not that the two are clones – to the contrary.

Thoughts on Malcolm, with a resounding R.I.P. . . . .
April 9, 2010 Off

Thoughts on Malcolm, with a resounding R.I.P. . . . .

By Billy Thieme

Malcom McLaren died this week, and judging by many comments on Facebook, there seem to be many folks that are much less than mournful. In fact, some seem jaded to a level at which they feel the need to express their dis-ease with being the least bit affected by this monumental swindler’s passing, in very cavalier – even snide – ways. This is funny to me – strange, and strangely typical – that “jadesters” would be so judgmental, so quickly, and with such bravado in large measure.

I have to call bullshit on their attitudes – or at least their cavalier comments – and cite the place McLaren occupies in rock history in his defense.

DenverThread New Music Reviews – The Lumineers, Salesman
April 3, 2010 Off

DenverThread New Music Reviews – The Lumineers, Salesman

By Billy Thieme

Two new bands, both associated with Colorado, unleash some damned good EPs on the scene. The Lumineers just moved here from the insanely creative hotbed of Brooklyn, NY about 5 months ago, and we’re ecstatic to have them. After all, the flow of musicians and great music has seemed to be going in the opposite direction of late. Musically, their seven-song, self-titled EP often approaches Radiohead’s signature quiet, tied-up desperation, then moves towards the Avett Brothers’ brilliance in composition and lyricism, and channels that through rhythms that often recall civil war marches.
Salesman brings a huge, flailing guitar sound, strong vocals and soft, driven rhythms, based in Austin-by-way-of Cañon City. This four-piece answers the question: “What would’ve happened if Jeffrey Lee Pierce hadn’t died, and instead invested in a little voice coaching?” Or – maybe a lot of voice coaching.

The “Denver Sound,” long dead, makes room for lighter, noisier, funner genres in the scene
March 3, 2010 Off

The “Denver Sound,” long dead, makes room for lighter, noisier, funner genres in the scene

By Billy Thieme

The world-famous “Denver Sound” has petered out.

Which is not to say that the beautiful, often over-the-top and heavy handed gothic alt-country sound isn’t significant anymore – not at all. That sound helped put Denver back on the musical globe in the ’80s and ‘90s, and still attracts its fair share of fans. It’s still appreciated world-wide, and many remain ravenous for it – especially in Europe.

But it exists currently in a type of atrophy in Denver – it’s taken a back seat that has allowed an insurgence of more than a few different genres to begin to flourish, or re-flourish, as the case may be. Denver has a strong music scene – perhaps the strongest in the US (at the moment) – and part of its strength comes from its wide variety. So if the sometimes overbearing popularity of the “Denver Sound” – indeed the often overweighted nature of the sound itself – is waning, it can only be good news for the lighter, the more pop-y, the innovative and indie, or the more aggressive and punkier genres.

And that’s exactly what’s happening in the bar, dive, club, backyard and warehouse scene right now.

Music News: Michael Gira announces plans to reactivate Swans in the Fall
January 21, 2010 Off

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

By Billy Thieme

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.

Threading the Scene: Denver’s Deadbubbles’ unbeatable live show comes easy, but packs plenty of raw power
November 14, 2009 Off

Threading the Scene: Denver’s Deadbubbles’ unbeatable live show comes easy, but packs plenty of raw power

By Billy Thieme

Arlo White has always wanted to be in a band. “Ever since I was a kid,” he told me during a recent discussion, “I’ve always been focused on the idea of being in a rock band . . . .” After years of trying repeatedly to pull friends, friends of friends, people he’d meet at shows – and just about anyone else – into his dream, he’s finally met it with Denver’s Deadbubbles. This band is one that Jack Black’s character in “School of Rock,” die-hard rock ‘n roll fan Dewey Finn, would be proud of – one that mixes passion and simplicity with solid knowledge and respect for the classics.