Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are an unlikely success story. Two white boys from Seattle, making hip-hop music, without an ounce of true swag between the two of them. Macklemore’s lyrics come across as ridiculous (when he’s trying to be funny) and “high school poet” melodramatic when he is trying to be real. Ryan Lewis...
Read More »
Every time I walk into a hip-hop show, I do my best to leave my expectations at the door. Despite my best intentions, I usually walk out disappointed by the complete lack of respect the artists have for the people who paid money to see them perform. I know I’ve said this many times...
Read More »
October turned out to be a HUGE month for new music. The return of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a double album of original material from Neil Young & Crazy Horse, the debut from Kendrick Lamar…Death Grips bypassing their label with the graphic NO LOVE DEEP WEB, hardcore shit from Pig Destroyer, Enslaved and Converge…the return...
Read More »
The scene on Colfax last night reminded me of another rapper from California, one who wrote a song called “Just Like Compton”. As the ambulance sirens blared, the police lights created a kaleidoscope of color from the Ogden to the 7-11 — the bass reverberating from the venue as the cops carried belligerent kids out of...
Read More »
September more than made up for August’s lack of color. Maybe there wasn’t anything as dense and mindblowing as The Seer, but I seriously doubt I could’ve handled another one of those anyway. What follows is a fitting goodnight to the long days of summer. And as much as I hate grouping these albums...
Read More »
Most of July was spent in transit, so my tastes might be skewed towards albums that sound good turned up loud while flying down the freeway, but that’s not to say there wasn’t variety in my roadtrip soundtrack. The past month might have been heavy on metal, but it also saw exciting releases in...
Read More »
It was 997°F in the Baker neighborhood of Denver yesterday, which coincidentally made it just a few degrees cooler than it was in the Golden Triangle for the Westword Music Showcase a few weeks ago. You would have thought we’d have missed the worst of the heat by waiting until 5:00pm to show up,...
Read More »
The first half of June was spent working on the mid-year review, so there wasn’t quite as much time for new music. That being said, there are still quite a few recommendations from this month — a month dominated by metal and female vocalists, including one incredible metal album with a female vocalist. And...
Read More »
May was almost overwhelming in its presentation of new music. Not only were there countless new releases, I also took the time to catch up on some of the metal I had been missing out on, making this a heavy month in recommendations. And as much as I hate grouping these into posts like...
Read More »
1964 – 2012 Adam Yauch has died. He was 47 years old. The man known as MCA was diagnosed with cancer back in 2009 and today he succumbed to the disease. Yauch was one third of the Beastie Boys — the group who started out punk before enraging parents in suburbs all over the...
Read More »
April was a good month for music, but it did provide a lull in what has been an incredible start to the new year. That being said, there are still quite a few albums worth checking out, and as much as I hate grouping recommendations into posts like this, other aspects of life are...
Read More »
