Charlie Brand, the group’s vocalist and guitarist, talked about the new album and playing live.

Matt Pusatory: Can you tell me about the new album?
Charlie Brand: We recorded it in January and February up at this place Dreamland in upstate New York and then finished it in Manhattan. It’s called Fortress.

MP: Where did you find inspiration for songs on the new album?
CB: Different places. Each song has its own different inspiration, I guess — life experiences and stuff. Probably the same things everyone’s inspired by.

MP: How is this album different from your previous release?
CB: I guess the production’s a little more involved. I feel like the first album was more straightforward pop, whereas this album is pop, but it has a psychedelic element to it.

MP: Fans can download the first single for free. Why did you make it available?
CB: Just to get it out there. The music climate right now, it seems like that’s sort of what people do, just put it out for free. People are gonna get it for free regardless, anyway; there are so many different ways to get free music now.

MP: What’s your live show like?
CB: It’s really kind of changing. We’ve been switching off instruments, like our drummer and guitarist will switch off for certain songs, and [we’ll] switch off instruments to sort of keep it exciting and fresh for us and hope that translates to the audience.

MP: How did you decide to tour with The Spinto Band?
CB: We’re good friends with those guys, and we’ve always wanted to do a tour with them. We started booking our first headlining tour, and we offered to see if they wanted to tour with us, and they wanted to do it.

MP: What’s the best part about playing live?
CB: The best part of playing live is the actual 30 or 45 minutes we spend playing a show. The rest is just a lot of downtime and traveling and stuff. The best part is playing new songs live because they’re fresh and exciting for us to play.

MP: Do you have a favorite new song to play?
CB: The song “Mansion of Misery” I like live a lot. It’s a fun one.

MP: What’s next for the band?
CB: We’re about to do our tour and then pretty much for the rest of the year — just keep touring as much as possible.

Denver’s own Mike Marchant just released the third volume in his Indulgent Space-Folk series titled Binary Beach. The six-track mini album features some great song writing and structure from one of the Mile High City’s most interesting musicians.

Sonically speaking, Binary Beach fits right into Marchant’s invented genre of space-folk. Relying mainly on acoustic guitar and vocals, backed by electronic loops, beats and other samples, the album takes the best from both electro and folk music to create something unique and extremely listenable.

The opener, “Animal Instincts,” is one of the strongest tracks on the album and grabs the listener’s attention right away. It features some great lyrics and vocals from Marchant, as well as just the right amount of electronics to drive the beat. It’s followed up by the ambient title track, and it is clear Binary Beach is going to be an interesting experience.

“Brief Encounters After Hours” is another standout track. It’s a slow reflective track that starts with just an acoustic guitar before a surprisingly deep backbeat comes in and the song builds to a crescendo behind a memorable chorus.

Binary Beach was released through Marchant’s bandcamp page where fans can pay what they want for the album. According to the page, all proceeds from the record will be donated to artistic organizations around the Denver area. So support Denver, and pick this one up for a buck or two.

Carl Sorensen is just a man with a drum kit and the yearning to play. For 14 years he’s been providing the backbone for a plethora of different bands. After two years at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Sorensen came back to Denver to play music full time. This weekend he’ll be backing up a handful of acts at the Underground Music Showcase.

Dominic Graziano: This weekend, for the UMS, what bands will you be playing with?

Carl Sorensen: 200 Million Years, Ellison Park’s solo project entitled The Clouds, Eleanor, Andrea Ball, Ukulele Loki, Megan Burtt, that’s (counting on his fingers) one, two, three, four, five, six, oh and John Common.

Carl Sorensen performs with John Common. Photo courtesy of Carl Sorensen.

DG: That’s seven. Wasn’t it supposed to be eight or nine?

CS: Yeah, I also might be playing with Katey Laurel on Sunday. And this other girl Ayo Awosika is at the same time as Eleanor.

DG: How did you get involved with this many bands at the same time?

CS: Each one has their own story, but I started, to make it short, I started to play with Eleanor and Andrea at first and then having moved out to Denver and trying to do music full time I realized that I could take other gigs. Especially if they paid. I started playing with a bunch of other people. John had me for a couple gigs and Eleanor shared a show with 200 Million Years, which is how I met Zale and Ellison.

DG: It’s just a web of local musicians.

CS: Yeah, you run into one person and everyone needs a drummer, and it just kind of worked out.

DG: A lot of people talk about how hard it is to find a good drummer. Has it ever been hard for you to find a band to play with?

CS: No. I think sometimes, me personally, I can get impatient with certain projects. Ideally I would like to be making music 24/7 with just one band. It’s fun to do a bunch of other things, too. But sometimes it can get in the way for sure, like getting to burnt out or just switching gears all the time stylistically.

DG: You play a couple different styles, especially when you look at the extreme sounds between 200 Million Years and Ukulele Loki. Is that difficult at all?

CS: I think it helps, especially playing with Ukulele Loki, it really helps when the rest of the band has their stuff together because then I can just fit in and keep a groove going. But for the most part I try to categorize similar things in my head. I’ll also use different setups with different bands. With 200 Million Years I use a computer and a sample pad, too, so sonically I can be doing different things. Rhythmically it’s all rhythms and counting and knowing where the groove is and where to accentuate that. Sometimes forms can get a little tricky to keep track of.

DG: Which show are you most looking forward to?

CS: It would be this double set with 200 Million Years and Ellison Park at the Skylark.

DG: Is that because that’s what you like to play the most or because it’s the most challenging?

CS: It’s just because we do spend the most time together out of any other project and not just playing but also hanging out, too. I think it really comes out in the music. I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time working out a lot of interesting groove ideas that I wouldn’t have otherwise in any other project. I feel like some stuff that we do showcases each other really well.

Legendary Outkast member Big Boi dropped his latest album, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The son of Chico Dusty, which is a combination of easy listening and hardcore club bangers. Overall, Big Boi understands how to display the old school feel with a new school swag, attracting a balance to the hip-hop arena. The state of hip-hop is evolving, and Big Boi knows the right recipe for success.

Collaborating with the top artists in the industry and moving to new label, this is the rebirth of Big Boi’s raw talent.  Jive Records didn’t meet requirements for Big Boi’s taste, so he moved to Def Jam, which is known as a temple of hip-hop pioneers. The song “Shine Blockas” featuring Gucci Mane is a reflection on Big Boi’s power struggles with Jive Records. His last album, Speakerboxxx, was great, and regardless of labels Big Boi will always rise above to express through his lyrics. If you want to hear some Big Boi tracks from his latest album, tune into the Causeaphekz Mixshow on K-Met, live from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Saturday.

After a year of label negotiations and the tragic loss of Mike Linkous (aka Sparklehorse), the collaborative effort between he and Danger Mouse, Dark Night of the Soul, finally officially sees the light of day. The album, which features a star-studded cast of characters, is, for the most part, worth the wait.

The opening track, “Revenge,” featuring The Flaming Lips kicks off the album in stunning fashion. It’s clear that the collaborative process between Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and The Lips is in perfect harmony. Everything is smooth with just the right touches of electro and folk. The same can be said for the next two tracks, “Just War” and “Jaykob.” This trio of tracks puts the listener in a distinct mood, which would serve the entire album well. But then it takes a distinct right turn into punk rock with appearances by legends Iggy Pop and Black Francis of The Pixies back to back. On these tracks the two producers feel out of their depth and the album loses steam.

The album gets back on track, however, with James Mercer’s appearance on “Insane Lullaby.” Anyone into Broken Bells will dig this track for obvious reasons.

The last proper song on the album is the amazing “Grim Augury” featuring the now-deceased Vic Chesnutt. It’s a powerful track, even in its brevity.

Dark Night can get gloomy at times, but for Linkous and Chesnutt, it is a strong way to cap their all-too-short careers.

After five years away from the Swedish Melodic Death Metal band Soilwork, the band’s beloved guitarist, Peter “Vicious” Wichers, is back. It became clear in the first song of The Panic Broadcast, which was released this month, that they’ve missed him.

Wichers delivers excellent guitar work in “Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter,” and it carries through the entire album. Once you play this album, you will be hooked immediately by Wichers’ song-by-song performance.

Bjorn “Speed” Strid, the band’s vocalist, is better than ever, as he continues to satisfy fans of the genre by singing with passion throughout the album. Strid, who provided the guest vocals for the latest Demon Hunter single, “Collapsing,” on The World is a Thorn, continues to grow as a singer at the age of 31.

Another improvement over their 2007 album, Sworn to a Great Divide, is the drumming. The drumming was rather generic in Sworn to a Great Divide, whereas this album provides a significant change of tempo and all-around quality.

Overall, every aspect of The Panic Broadcast is a drastic improvement over Sworn to a Great Divide. Now that Wichers is back, fans have every reason to show a greater appreciation for the band. This album will satisfy anyone and everyone. Soilwork delivers and will not disappoint metal fans. This is one of the top metal albums of 2010 so far!

By blending ’80s metal with today’s hardcore style, War of Ages continues to use strength through spirit in their music.  Eternal, however, is personal because it elaborates on Leroy and Alex Hamp’s childhood obstacles and how they have managed overcome that pain.

Leroy, the lead vocalist, and Alex, the drummer, dealt with an abundance of physical and emotional pain, growing up with an abusive father. They have since decided to live by the word of Christ. In the band’s eyes, the new album is a type of therapy.

Outside of the message presented in the album, Eternal is an entertaining album that Christians and non-Christians alike would enjoy.  Even though it does not quite measure up to As I Lay Dying’s The Powerless Rise, this Christian metalcore album is still worth listening to.

One advantage this album has over other Christian albums is that its message is something many people can relate to because not everybody always wants to hear Christian musicians preach about their faith.  This album doesn’t seem to preach about the band’s faith much, but it tells a captivating, heart-wrenching story about overcoming adversity.

Scissor Sisters have found a way to keep the disco genre fresh by mixing it with modern beats and about five helpings of true camp. Known for their raunchy lyrics and disco beats, they manage to say it all tongue-in-cheek, or do they?

Jake Shears’ falsetto resonates throughout, yet still manages to channel some Elton John moments, while Baby Daddy keeps the beats rolling with the bass-heavy tracks.  On one of the best tracks, “Any Which Way,” Ana Matronic tells us about finding “that man who’s the right shade of bottled tan. A man that smells like cocoa butter and cash.” The first single “Fire With Fire” serves as a strong radio-friendly anthem amongst their otherwise raunchy lyrics and retro beats.

They released the last track of the album “Invisible Light” on their website for their fans’ first taste of the album. Sir Ian McKellen surprises as a guest in the middle of the track acting as almost a gay version of Vincent Price’s role on Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” telling the dark tales of Babylon. It is a club track waiting to be remixed and ends the album on a high note screaming to start it all over again.

Any fan of dance music will love this from start to finish considering there is no lull; there is no ballad. Though they do have their signature sound and style, they still manage to reinvent themselves with each subsequent album. This is the best Scissor Sisters album yet, so douse yourself in cocoa butter and join the party.

The opening track to their self-titled debut, “Best Friends” was the first song the two wrote together as the Drums. Their dreams took them from Florida to New York City, where they immediately recruited Jonathan’s former band-mate from Elkland, Adam Kessler, to play additional guitars.

They do have a similar sound to their previous band, but the Drums seem to be the next step up. They’ve managed to invade the New York club scene and have become one of the biggest NYC party bands. Their first single, “Let’s Go Surfing,” begins with an addictive whistle that is perfect for driving down the highway with the wind in your hair. It is the quintessential summer album that has all the fun and bounce with no drama. It’s a simple sound that is so light and crisp, and honest, it just screams summer. If there is just one pop album you pick up for summer, let this be the one.

After releasing 2008’s awesome Scream Aim Fire, Welsh metal band Bullet For My Valentine apparently decided they were too metal, so they went back to emo rock with their most recent release, Fever.

This album sounds as if it was written for the radio, as opposed to the much heavier and much better tunes from Scream Aim Fire.

Album opener “Your Betrayal,” offers some nice crunchy guitar work, but other than that, the album doesn’t offer squat.

It seems they’re starting to shift away from their thrashy leanings and back to emo mediocrity. This album lacks the intensity of Scream Aim Fire, as well as the intensity of a true metal album in general. It’ll satisfy their scenester fans, but fans of Scream Aim Fire will have a hard time listening to the whole thing without getting bored.

If Bullet For My Valentine were to only perform songs from Fever during a tour, they would have little success in the grand scheme of things.

This is, without a doubt, the most disappointing metal album of 2010 so far.  This is what happens when four talented musicians go for radio play instead of focusing on the quality of their album content.

Ohio duo Bad Veins’ follow-up EP to their debut finds the band taking a more electronic, less orchestral, turn. The four songs on Outliers feature cyborg-like backing vocals and a lot more synths than their debut. Outliers shows the band refining their already unique sound.

The opener, “Fake Baby,” is probably the best love song about robots since Say Hi To Your Mom’s “Yeah, I’m In Love With An Android.” The song is really catchy and one of the strongest songs of the four. The chorus has the potential to get stuck in your head for days.

The rest of the EP is much slower. The beat on “Devil Hides” might get mistaken for a Postal Service outtake if it weren’t for Ben Davis’ distinct baritone vocals — vocals that are stretched into falsetto range on “Blanket.”

The change in vocals, paired with slide and acoustic guitar, gives the song a truly delicate feel that makes the song another definite standout.

“Good People” closes the EP out in solid fashion. The track builds from a simple piano line and explodes with a heavy guitars and a great chorus.

Overall, even though there are only four songs, it is a great preview of what may be to come on the band’s sophomore full-length. Outliers should give fans something to enjoy while they wait and might snag a few new fans on its own.

New Jersey’s Steel Train has a lot of pride in their home state. On their new self-titled record, the band takes a step back to where they come from and shares their Jersey love with the world.

Lead vocalist Jack Antonoff talked about the new release and the all-female cover album that accompanies it.

MP: How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it before?

From left: Justin Huey, Jon Shiffman, Evan Winiker, Jack Antonoff and Dan Silbert of Steel Train

JA: I think I would call us live music in a way just because there’s a lot of energy there, and it’s sort of unhinged. We’re all friends, so it just sounds like a bunch of friends playing together.

MP: Who are some of your influences?

JA: In general, I really love Tom Waits and Tom Petty. I really like Tegan and Sarah a lot, The Mountain Goats — there’s so much, I’m trying to think. I really like any kind of odd eccentric guitar playing. I like how Jack White plays guitar, and Tom Waits sounds like that too.

MP: Can you tell me a little about the new album?

JA: The new album is completely like a step back to where we come from. We grew up when we were kids playing in punk bands in New Jersey where there was a really exciting scene happening. We sort of got away from that a little bit, but we realized how special where we came from was; a real moment in history in our little world. So we have this torch we want to carry.

This record is a real return to what we grew up playing, how we grew up sounding, why we played music, why it sounded like [it did]. All of those things. The record is also self-titled for that reason.

MP: Is the album cover meant to pay tribute to any band in particular?

JA: There are a lot of bands hidden that you can find in the cover art. There’s a Kid Dynamite record in there, and all the show posters on the wall. You can sort of pick out a million different bands if you look at it.

The biggest goal was to bring attention to where we come from.

MP: Whose idea was the companion album, and who’s going to be on it?

JA: It’s something I’ve been talking about in my head for two years. So about four months ago, when we started planning the release of this record, I started talking to the guys and the management and said I really want to try to do this. So we put together a wish list.

The point of the project wasn’t for a press opportunity of people covering our music, it was all for another vision of the record. I really like a lot of female artists; it’s some of my favorite music.

So we just got all these artists that really mean a lot to us and gave them a song and said ‘Do whatever you want; reinvent it.’ Tegan and Sarah [are] on it, Amanda Palmer, Scarlett Johansson, Nellie McKay, Angel Deradoorian’s on it; she’s from The Dirty Projectors. She did a crazy one. It’s really an amazing cast of characters.

MP: What’s your live show like?

JA: We focus just as much on the energy as we do the music. We really believe in a big show. Whenever you see rock concerts and punk bands play, they all have the same vibe — like every show is the most important. It’s really grand and really eccentric, and we try to create that every night.

MP: Is there any song you really enjoy playing live?

JA: The new song “Turnpike Ghost,” that we actually released before the record came out, is a song that’s really exciting to play every night.

MP: What’s next for the band?

JA: We put out the record [April 29], which is — intense. Then we have a headlining tour that starts [April 22].

The Peculiar Pretzelmen defy convention. The unsigned L.A. band has just released their sophomore album, The Innumerable Seeds of Calamity, is junkyard jazz that would make Tom Waits proud. After working with a theater company and cutting through red tape to get the album produced, the group is finally ready to take their show back on the road. Singer Monsieur Incroyable talked about playing live, song writing and recording in a real studio.

MP: What kind of band is The Peculiar Pretzelmen?

Monsieur Incroyable of The Peculiar Pretzelmen

MI: The version going around right now is voodoo death jazz. There are only so many musical descriptive words that are useful anymore.

MP: Where do you draw inspiration for your song writing?

MI: I was raised in a house of pretty serious storytellers. It started from there. It’s really coming off of stories, so I take a little bit more from writers like William S. Burroughs, Faulkner and stuff like that. And then musically it’s all old. We like the old folk sound best.

MP: Do you come up with a story and then try to make it rhyme, or how does it work?

MI: That’s a good question. It’s a little bit mystic to us still. We’re doing our best to pick low-hanging fruit.

MP: How is the new album different from the band’s previous work?

MI: This is the first time we went into an actual studio. The last album we did was really recorded in seven different homes and apartments. We were just moving around and we’re not very high tech so it’s not even like we have a miniature modular recording rig. We’d have to go in, set everything up and play until the neighbors complained.

We recorded the [new] album in about six days. Five of us just played start to finish all the stuff we’ve been playing on the road for a while and then a couple of new things.

It’s way more visceral, definitely capturing all the stuff that we’ve been cultivating over the years of touring.

MP: So how much of the album is stuff you’ve been playing, and how much is brand new?

MI: I think a little less than half of it is stuff we’ve been playing on the road for a couple of years. And then there are a couple of songs that are songs that we’ve played here and there, that we wouldn’t play all the time because we didn’t have means to find what we wanted out of them. So a little less than half is the standards, then a few songs that we’ve been chipping away at, and a couple of songs that we kind of made up when we went into the studio.

MP: What’s the story behind the band name?

MI: Pretzel is a definition that’s confused a lot of people. It comes from a German or Bavarian word. I think at one point we were pretty convinced it meant “knot” and we really liked the idea because we were trying to tie a bunch of different weird musical ideas together. Later we found out it means “fold,” but it stuck, and we got attached to it because people in Los Angeles thought they were coming to see contortionists. We figured that we’re musical contortionists, so we hung on to it.

MP: How would you describe your live show?

MI: We just did our CD release show, which I believe was described as a Biblical-scale disaster party. I feel like that’s kind of appropriate, especially now because touring now it’s just me and the drummer. And when we do that, we basically just have piles of junk on stage and we’re punishing ourselves and the audience at the same time. It’s catharsis.

MP: What’s the best part of playing live?

MI: There’s something kinda religious about it that I’ve always enjoyed, even as a kid going to shows. There’s a room full of people, and at best they’re all kind of tuned into the same frequency — a room full of people vibrating to the same tone. It’s very moving, like you’re sort of making a weird antenna.

Enlighten Listening features unique arrangements of sounds, which reflect positive energy toward artists from all walks of life. Dealz Makes Beats, with the collaboration of DJ Dozen. blend layers and samples which symbolically represent enlightenment.

Title track “Dealz vs. DJ Dozen” displays the unorthodox style, which takes its originality from the local hip-hop scene. Dealz Makes Beats is a Colorado native who thinks outside the box. Enlighten Listening is a food for thought album, giving underground artists a foundation to represent him or herself positively.

Artists such as emcees, bombers, b-boys or b-girls — whoever wants to express self-identity, Enlighten Listening is for you.

Overall, Dealz’s main focus is to convey his positive energy to others in a simplistic form: sound. The track names give an idea of what types of sounds and effects you may experience. The harmonic blends of the most influential tracks that Dealz has hand-picked reflect pure talent and genius. Much like the great J Dilla or Madlib, who put hundreds of samples together to compose masterpieces. If you want to check out this instrumental album then check out www.DJDozen.com. Be sure to catch Dealz live June 30 at The Walnut Room.

Also tune into the Met Radio’s CAUSEAPHEKZ Mix show, live every Saturday 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

One-man-band Reverend Beatman will bring his psycho garage blues sermons to Denver July 16 at Old Curtis Street Bar. His frenzied brand of rock and blues was a highlight last year at the ONE Festival.

Another ONE Fest alumni, Delaney Davidson, from the Netherlands, is sharing the bill. Davidson uses looping and effects to create what is more like a one-man-orchestra than a one-man band.

Both acts’ dark lyricism and unique stage presence should make for a really fun night of music, and an international night that shouldn’t be missed.

Opening the night is Denver’s own blues trio Broken Spirits, which features Reverend Deadeye on guitar and vocals and Alex Hebert, formerly of American Relay, on drums. So get there early for an evening of great underground blues lunacy.

Celebrate the country’s independence with something that makes it great: rock ‘n’ roll. July 4, Israel’s premier rock band, Monotonix, will take the stage at Rhinoceropolis.

“Take the stage,” might be the wrong phrase. The trio has been known to set up in the crowd and in bathrooms among other places. The show should be all energy and as unpredictable as any rock ‘n’ roll show should be. The group embraces their insanity.

Musically, Monotonix is a simple guitar, drum, vocal trio that plays stripped-down, all-out kind of tunes. In a live setting, though, the music is completely secondary to their jaw-dropping antics.

It should be a sweaty, chaotic good time for everyone involved and a great way to celebrate the holiday, even if foreigners provide the grooves.

On Zol!, the group’s first official release since their critically acclaimed debut After Robots, BLK JKS continue in the same vein. The opener “Iietys” is six minutes of a heavy beat with vocals that jump all over the place, from spoken word to falsetto and back at the drop of a hat. Anyone familiar with their previous work shouldn’t be surprised by this track.

“Bogobe” is a slowed-down, spacey track with echoed lyrics that sounds a little bit like filler, but is redeemed by the altogether funkified bass line through out. It’s slow, but it’s building up to the climax of the five tracks.

“Zol!” is the perfect theme for a soccer game. It sounds big, with call and response lyrics and simple beat that lends itself to handclaps. It’s just an all around good time, and it will make you want to sing along with it, even though you don’t speak the language. “Zol!” is the title track and the centerpiece of the EP for a reason.

The closer “Mzabalazo” is another high-energy track with a great chorus, screams and pretty killer guitar part that will put a smile on your face — and probably make you want to crank it up and jump around.

Overall this is an entertaining sampling from one of South Africa’s most interesting rock bands. Check it out.

Perhaps this best sums up the third and possibly final offering from LCD Soundsystem.

This is Happening is a densely layered dance party. Of its nine tracks only one, the party anthem “Drunk Girls,” is a radio-friendly length. The rest are sprawling electro masterpieces that in several cases clock in around the nine-minute mark.

The lead track, “Dance Yrself Clean,” is the perfect example of what This is Happening is all about. It starts off quietly and slowly builds up until exploding into a teeth-rattling beat, while James Murphy mixes clever lyrics with just the right amount of humor.

“All I Want” uses fuzzy guitars and a killer chorus to hook listeners. It features some of Murphy’s best singing and is a standout track from first listen.

It’s clear throughout the album that Murphy is having a good time, and nowhere is this more evident than on “Pow Pow.” The talk-singing and all-around goofiness of this song is reminiscent of Sound of Silver’s “North American Scum” and is just an entertaining listen. The sweet bongos and funky bass give this tack an undeniable groove.

Overall, this album is a bit long-winded and may take some patience to appreciate fully, but once you let it sink in it’s definitely worth the 65-minute runtime.

Word on the street is this is the last album Murphy will release as LCD Soundsystem, and if this is true, This is Happening is a strong conclusion to what has been a great musical trilogy.

Another established producer on this project was Madlib, whose style is similar to the great J Dilla.  If you’re aware of these two producers, then you have been caught slipping on this album.

If you haven’t heard of Guilty Simpson before, then you can hear a few tracks on www.hiphopdx.com. If you have heard other albums by Guilty Simpson in the past, then you won’t regret going out and copping this one. Some hip-hop fans say hip-hop is not the same or it’s dead; check out Stones Throw Records and Guilty Simpson and decide for yourself.

After nearly 10 years as a band, it’s become easy to trace The Black Keys’ influences as a band on their sixth album, Brothers. After working with hip-hoppers from all over the map on last year’s collaborative effort Blakroc and producer-turned-Gnarls Barkley member, Danger Mouse, on Attack and Release, it should come as no surprise The Keys have embraced a fuller, bass-heavy sound.

Recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama, where the likes of Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin have cut records, it should also come as no surprise that Brothers has a much more distinct soulfulness than previous efforts.

From the opener “Everlasting Light,” which features great falsetto vocals from Dan Auerbach and a touch of throwback backing vocals from the lovely Nicole Wray, it’s clear the band has set out to make a different kind of record than the dirty blues rock of old, and they succeed at every turn.

Whether it’s the radio-ready riff of “Tighten Up,” the instrumental “Black Mud” or the slow burner “The Go Getter” there is not a weak track here. The strongest offerings though are the murder ballad “Ten Cent Pistol” and the near-perfect “Sinister Kid.”

If you’ve followed The Black Keys at all, Brothers should feel like a logical next step in their catalog, and even if you haven’t, it should still stand up as one of the best of the year.

The Powerless Rise, As I Lay Dying’s latest album, took the Christian metal band’s fame to new heights when it was released this April.

They’ve always stood out for their contemporary blend of Swedish melodic death metal and East Coast hardcore, but this album is heavier and more musically mature.

The Powerless Rise is, by far, their best album ever, blowing Shadows are Security and An Ocean Between Us out of the water. This album is excellent from start to finish, with the same heaviness fans would expect, but with more emphasis on melody. Virtually all the tracks are strong. This album fits into more of the melodic death metal genre, as opposed to the metalcore genre.

One song that stands out the most, while exemplifying the whole album, is “Anodyne Sea,” which depicts Tim Lambesis, the band’s lead vocalist, standing up for his faith and sending a message, saying it is still important to speak about God to those who believe in Him and that nonbelievers will “walk alone.”

Overall, this album is incredible beyond almost any metal album that has been released. It could arguably be the best metal album of 2010, unless bands such as All That Remains and Disturbed pull off better content when their albums come out later this year. For now, there is nothing but great things about The Powerless Rise, and As I Lay Dying is on the rise because of it.

From left: Tim Arnold, Keith Goodwin and Dan Schwartz are Good Old War

Pennsylvania folk outfit Good Old War is a simple band that creates simple songs. Vocal harmonies and song writing are at the heart of the trio’s self-titled sophomore effort due out June 1. Lead vocalist Keith Goodwin talks about the new, self-recorded release.

MP: How would you describe your sound?

TD: Our sound is — it’s hard to describe I would say rock and blues would be the main idea. I don’t know. Some other influences also.

MP: What influences you specifically?

TD: I was influenced a lot by jazz and blues because my mom listened to a lot of that when I was growing up. Then I got into hip-hop a lot. Then I started listening to Jimi [Hendrix] and Led Zeppelin and [those bands] afterward. That was kind of a transition. I think it works because all of our influences are so much different. My brother, the harp player, likes Bob Dylan a lot. Craig [Morris], the drummer, he likes — I don’t know what Craig likes. He listens to a lot of classic rock and the other two guitarists do as well.

MP: Are you all related?

From left: Tayler Doyle, Joey Morian, Adam Doyle, Riley Lichtenstein and Craig Morris hang out in front of their practice space Photo by Daniel Clements

TD: I’m related to the lead guitarist, he’s my cousin, and my brother plays the harp. The other guys are just friends of ours.

MP: Do you find it harder or easier to play with relations?

TD: Both. It’s easier because we’re family and we can jam like that, but at the same time you know how family can get.

MP: You’re a student, right?

TD: Yes, I’m a music major.

MP: Do you use stuff you’ve learned in classes?

TD: I’m starting to. I’m understanding the theory of it. I’m starting to see things that I’ve written previously where I’m like ‘Oh yeah! That’s how that works.’

MP: Do you find it hard to juggle classes and performing?

TD: So far it hasn’t been so bad. I’m not taking a super packed load this semester, but next semester it’s gonna get a lot harder. I’m going to be here four times a week instead of two.

MP: What kind of reaction have you been getting at shows so far?

TD: I’d like to say it’s been a good reaction. It’s been mostly our friends, but the people who haven’t heard us and then hear us [for the first time] have really liked it.

MP: When I saw you outside the Tivoli, you drew songs out of a hat instead of using a set list, will you continue to do that?

TD: Yes. I believe we will. It depends on the show too. If we only have like a 45 minute slot somewhere or a half an hour slot, we’ll probably pick out a really rockin’ setlist just so we can, you know, punch people in the face. But something like [playing at the Tivoli] just having fun drawing songs from a hat, I like it.

MP: Are you guys making a record?

TD: We have probably a 12-song album. We have six of them pretty much finished, just a little more mastering and then the other six are really close to being finished, so we’re hoping to have it done by this month hopefully.

We also have — I guess it’s sort of my side project apart from the band is releasing mixtape type things because I have a shit-ton of songs and I just want to record them and post them to a mixtape website or just put them up on Facebook for people to download for free.

MP: What’s the story behind your name?

TD: We couldn’t think of a name for the longest time. We hadn’t booked a show because we didn’t have a name, no one wanted to book a band without a name and I was really sick of just playing in the garage.

I was reading a book called “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” at the time, and there was a name similar to Say So Crazies but not quite. So I said ‘We will be [Say So Crazies] for this show just so we can get it’ and then it kinda just stuck.

MP: What’s the best part about playing live?

TD: The rawness of it, that you don’t have to be perfect all the time, just jumping around and being entertaining. I’m trying to get the guys to be more energetic because everyone says I go crazy.

MP: What’s next for the band? Any plans for the summer months?

TD: We’re going to Santa Monica and Hollywood. We have three shows there and then we’re going to Phoenix and then home. We have a show on June 5 called Herman’s Hot 32. I think it’s kind of like a battle of the bands. Those are the main things. And getting the album finished. That’s what I want to do this summer.

Andrew Novick is known for many things in Denver such as being a crazy collector, an artist, and, of course, Warlock Pinchers. The infamous Denver band that brought you “Morrissey Rides A Cockhorse,” is treating their fans to a one time show in August. With all the original members, they also have a new addition. They have replaced their drum machine, named Bill Ward, with human drummer, Dale Crover of the Melvins. Before the live show, they are releasing an 18-track CD of rarities and unreleased songs this month, called Bomb the Franklin Mint. The CD release/ listening party acts as a pre-party for a show with Murder Ranks in August. Andrew took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with The Met.

JM: What made you guys decide to get together and do a reunion?

AN: We always said that we would never play together again. But lately, it seems that there is a lot Denver retrospective going on. People are talking about Celebrity Sports Center, Casa Bonita, Teletunes and Warlock Pinchers. It seemed to fit. Younger people who were way too young to ever see us live want to see us for the first time. We kept selling albums to this day, none of them have ever been out of print. Last fall, Daniel [Wanush] (King Scratchie), has this band Murder Ranks and he asked me if I wanted to do a secret show where we would do Warlock Pinchers songs together. I hadn’t really talked to him much in the last 16 years so it was kind of a surprise. So we planned this secret show and people were talking about how something cool might happen if you go. We played five songs and people went nuts. There were 300 people there on a rumor that it might happen and it was really cool. It felt the same as it did 20 years ago.

JM: Do you plan on making any new music together?

Andrew Novick aka KC Kasum and DDROK

AN: We’ve talked briefly about it. We haven’t really gotten together to even practice yet so it remains to be seen. Stylistically, the songs that we are doing will probably sound different because we did so much impromptu stuff in the past. We always add in different songs so I think that they will morph that way. When I’ve seen bands in the past at reunion shows, they play new songs they wrote and you know that no one wants to hear that. The fans want to hear the songs they know so that is what we are going to do.

JM: What is the reasoning for bringing on a real drummer this time?

AN: We never intended to play again, so we erased our drum machine. Everyone kept asking us to play these special events and we kept telling them, ‘seriously, we can’t play. We don’t have a drum machine.’ We knew the Melvins well because we were on the same label. Their drummer, Dale Crover, said that he would play for us if we ever played again. So I called him up and asked him to play! It is somewhat new in that aspect but when we played last fall, as Murder Pinchers, the initial drum tracks were turned into real drum tracks by their drummer. We always hated the idea of having a drummer because they took up too much space in the van with their stuff.

JM: Are you planning a tour or are you just keeping it local?

AN: It was designed as a one off thing. Everyone got on board keeping in mind that we were just going to do it once. I guess if someone offered us a lot of money we might consider it but at this point it’s just the one time thing.

JM: What should people expect from the new CD?

AN: I would call it a fans only thing. You know how some people just want absolutely everything from someone? This is for that person. People who just kind of know our stuff or who have just heard of us should just get our CDs that are produced well and sound good. There are a lot of studio outtakes and demos. It goes in chronological order. The first song is from our first cassette in ’87 when there were nine people in the band at Heritage High School. It was recorded with a crummy drum machine on a 4 track. The band was actually called Warlock Pinchers Or-kee-stra then.

JM: Do you feel like this takes away from your current endeavors or adds to them?

AN: It adds to the other stuff I’m doing. I never really edit. I don’t have time to do all of these things. Orchestrating this whole thing has been very time consuming. I’m excited to do the marketing and stuff on it though. We used to put flyers on cars and we even had a mailing list where we mailed actual postcards to people when we were having a local show. It’s like the old band in a whole new way. A whole new way of conveying things. It’s really exciting.

Taking a minimalist, do-it-yourself approach to being an active and independent band can make for an interesting blessing or a tiring curse. However, if done properly, no artist should struggle with his or her self-recorded catalogue.

This summer, Light Travels Faster will be completing their entirely self-recorded and personally produced full-length, The Ghost Album. Bassist Todd Spriggs could not be happier about this self-induced progression, noting the record is comprised of mostly new material, although it includes three reworked classics. Each track features an assortment of new production elements that will hopefully spark interest in the trio’s new ideas.

Light Travels Faster

“We kind of used a totally new technique,” said Spriggs. “I bought an electronic kit, so we actually used a ‘hybrid.’ Part electronic, part of the regular [acoustic] kit. When you start with the base of a way better drum sound, you can just build on that and everything can come up.”

Beyond this, every bit of sound is sleek and doesn’t depend on the “lo-fi” textures that comprised Light Travels Faster’s past work. Guitarist Christopher Rigel does some part-time work at an electronics retailer, allowing him to borrow certain pieces of equipment to make the recordings sound professional, while focusing the band’s budget on record distribution.

To complement the new album, the trio has completed a music video for the single track “The Experiment.” Drummer Kyle Fuller and his friend, Anna Marie Vigoda, contacted each other about doing the video and as Spriggs explained.

“It should be done pretty quick with post-production. I still haven’t heard confirmation on when exactly. We still haven’t seen footage of it besides the playback at the shoot.” But even without a lot of knowledge or input into Vigoda’s direction, the band is embracing the video with an open mind. “[Vigoda] took us on and offered this project to us, so we kind of gave her the green light. I think it will be more of a really cool visual of us playing.”

After several years of being a band, Spriggs knew it was time for a change of pace and hopefully it will be achieved by releasing the new album and its companion video. For now, listeners can quell their anticipation by checking out the trio’s new website, LightTravelsFaster.com, for updates and demo tracks. “We’ve had a lot of fun doing the rock ‘n’ roll trio, but we’ve been wanting to do something different. Once this album is done, we’ve already got a couple of songs started and a couple recorded for the next album,” Spriggs said. “[That album] is just going to be totally different Light Travels Faster. It will be the beginning of where we hit our stride. What we were really meant to do.”

Since leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers last year, John Frusciante has continued to working with The Mars Volta as a studio musician on their albums The Bedlam in Goliath and Octahedron. The Mars Volta’s guitarist/producer/composer/director Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has teamed up with Frusciante once again to release an album of low-key psychedelic rock simply titled Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & John Frusciante. The seven-track album was released for free download on Rodriguez’s website with an option to donate money for the tunes, which would go to the “Keep Music In The Schools” program.

For an album featuring only Frusciante and Rodriguez, two of this generation’s best guitarists, there is a surprising lack of shredding or face-melting solos on the album. Instead, the album features subtle guitar work by both players. For fans of Rodriguez’s extensive catalog, the experimental nature of the album should come as no surprise.

The two most accessible songs on the album, “0” and “0=2” have already been released, but work well amidst the other songs. They both feature a nice combination of electric and acoustic guitar, with a jazzy flair that encompasses the entire album.

Another noticeable difference between this collection of tunes and Rodriguez’s other work is the length of the songs. Rodriguez and Frusciante show great restraint, which is a departure for Rodriguez, who has been known to compose songs well over 10 minutes long. This album clocks in under than 30 minutes.

Overall, the album is a solid release by two already legendary rock ‘n’ roll guitarists. The duo works well together and it’s exciting to see what they will come up next. Hopefully more free music is right around the corner.

Download here: http://omardigital.rodriguezlopezproductions.com/

Mono is finally bringing their swelling arrangements, blistering guitars and unique sonic textures to the Bluebird Theater’s stage Saturday, May 15. This four-piece group from Tokyo, Japan will be touring the U.S. until the middle of June, giving their inclusive base of American fans the chance to see what the epitome of post-rock really is all about

Opening this show is The Twilight Sad and although they are some of the heavier purveyors of avant-garde rock, their supporting role will offer an eclectic vibe to the evening. At a mere $15.50, any audiophile craving a dash of ambience or a helping of anthem-like songwriting will be satisfied.

Fredrick “Toots” Hibbert is one of the most important and influential voices in reggae music. May 9, the musical legend hits Boulder’s Fox Theatre.

Toots & The Maytals along with Bob Marley and The Wailers laid the groundwork for the reggae and ska revolution in the U.K. and U.S.

Toots’ songs have been covered by a myriad of punk and ska bands throughout the years, perhaps most notably by The Clash.

More recently Toots & The Maytals have experienced a period of rediscovery thanks to 2004’s True Love, a star-studded greatest hits album that has gotten Toots on the road again performing for a new generation of fans. Be sure to check him out at what is sure to be a memorable show.

For nearly 10 years everything changed for the group — from its sound, to the flow of the individual rappers and the feel of the album. They released Thug World Order in 2002 with four of the five original members, and the CD saw some success with the hits “Home” and “Bone Bone Bone.” Bizzy Bone then dropped out of the group again (he had previously taken a leave of absence about two years earlier) and the trio was forced to perform live shows and develop a new sound shorthanded.

I saw Bone live several times as a trio and bought each album they produced. I must say it was very disappointing to hear only three of the five voices I had grown to love, and while they were able to team with stars such as Mariah Carey and The Game, the sound just wasn’t there. Something was missing.

The newly released album Uni5: The World’s Enemy reminded me why I am such a huge Bone fan and what was lacking in the previously released singles and albums. The second single released for the album, “Rebirth,” is one of the best Bone songs I have ever heard and despite running more than seven minutes long, it keeps the listener entertained and amazed. Each member of the group is featured for a fairly long time throughout the track, and the voice of Thin C helps tie everything together.

The album featured three other singles — “See Me Shine,” “Meet Me in the Sky” and “Gone” — which also featured each member of the group and a guest performer that sings the hook. Bone doesn’t normally use a guest performer in their songs because the dichotomy of the original members voices and rapping techniques, but it works well for several of the singles. DJ U-Neek returned to produce a majority of the songs on the album, most notably “Universe” and “Facts Don’t Lie.”

Krayzie also produced some tracks on the album, including the single “Meet Me in the Sky,” which was co-produced with L.T. Hutton. Although they are back together and playing with the original members, the sound has evolved since 1990s hits such as “Tha Crossroads” and “Thuggish Ruggish Bone.”

Flesh-N-Bone had a stint in prison, which is why he was absent from the group for nearly 10 years, and the time allowed him the opportunity to advance as a person and artist. A track near the end of the album artistically explains Flesh’s trial and tribulations in prison and before his arrest. Bone fans should be excited for the newest album and the long wait for the original members to join together again was well worth it.

The singles that feature new artists from the Mo Thug family are a great surprise for those who may not have expected the different sounds. With all Bones together again, the Grammy winners are back in action and better than ever.