Reviews

Boulder County favorites Mountain Standard Time and their annual front range Mardi Grass celebration at the Fox Theatre has become something of a right of passage, and a pilgrimage for Ned Heads, Denverites, and their fan base grown from classmates and neighbors. With Boulder’s favorite venue filled with Mardi Gras beads, and a line forming down the block spotted with costumes, it was evident that word had spread. Whispers of a sell out were in the works. Crowds started forming at the bars.

Let's get it out of the way -- yes, we're talking about Gregg Allman's son. And there it is, think what you will.

Not that (Devon) Allman wants to make his career as his father’s lad. In the liner notes for his debut album, Turquoise, the artist’s folks are clearing trying to distance the kid (relatively speaking) from his old man: (Devon) grew up… surrounded by a humble life away from the rock and roll circus that was his father’s band. We get the point.

I have to say I was extremely impressed with the opening 3 tracks "Take Them There”, “Radio Man” and the title track. They made quite the first impression with me. Each one possessed my full unadulterated attention. To be honest: I expected cheesy Singer Songwriter Pop cut from the same cloth as say a Jason Mraz or Rob Thomas. Not that there’s anything wrong with Jason Mraz or Rob Thomas, I just want to hear something new and different and something that will shake the tree a bit. Really I’m up for anything at this point. What I discovered blew me out of my chair.

Like many genres of electronic music these days, trap music is a slurry of contemporary genres. Grime, dirrty south, dubstep, and a healthy dose of frenetic hi-hats have made trap music the music play in clubs. Go to any sleazy late-night bar, and interspersed with the Top 40 hits, you’ll find a healthy dose of trap music to amp up the people on the dance floor.And here we have a promo mix of trap music artists, fittingly called All Trap Music.

With the winter doldrums in full swing it’s easy to contract some severe cabin fever. We are getting ever closer to spring but the temperatures seem to say otherwise. Thankfully the Aggie Theatre was serving up a warm dose of John Brown’s Body and Euforquestra to ease our winter suffering.

Everyone was excited about this show in the big arena. It was the pinnacle of the Inferno. I was most excited about the space that the 1st Bank Center provides for the fans. Most require a lot of dancing room at Disco Biscuit shows. This would allow us to dance, see the lights at a wider scope, and also mingle with everyone including those who were not able to attend the other shows.

Chicago based Dr. Wippit just released his latest release: An Anthology of Sorts in 2012.  An Anthology of Sorts” is one release that certainly doesn’t disappoint. This is one artist that brings to the table effective songwriting via a highly passionate musical delivery. This meshed with a one in a million Alternative Urban Rock sound and songwriting make for an effective combination. Dr. Wippit even touches on Jam Band, and Melodic Indie Pop-Rock. All songs are wonderfully simple but masterful in their overall arrangements.

Saturday night’s Mardi Gras Celebration in Denver featured a supergroup that epitomizes New Orleans style southern rock and roll. The Royal Southern Brotherhood, featuring Devon Allman (guit/vox), Cyril Neville (percussion/vox), Mike Zito (guit/vox), Charlie Wooten (bass) and Yonrico Scott (drums) were the perfect band to headline such an event.

On a brisk February night in Denver, Nederland jamgrass band Mountain Standard Time (with some help from some special guests) brought the heat to the Bluebird Theater for part of their annual Mardi Gras celebration.

For a music critic, four months after an album release isn’t a third of a year, it’s an epoch. The rule has always been to review the album as soon as it’s released, or at least in the first week or two after release if you cannot acquire a prerelease copy. Anything after that is a nostalgic trip down memory lane. But here we are. Tame Impala’s Lonerism was released on October 9th, 2012. This review is going up in February. But the album is too good to ignore.

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