Tuesday, November 29, 2011
New Nero Music Video
Friday, July 15, 2011
Colossal Collaboration
Monday, May 23, 2011
Widespread Like You've Never Heard
Mo Money Mo Problems
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Give Me Some Lipp
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday Monday Monday
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Fringe, Mustaches, Suits, & Storm Troopers. Just What Your Tuesday Needs.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
I Am Somebody
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Lollapalooza Lineup
Monday, April 25, 2011
To All My Umphreaks
Prelude: I wrote this piece back in September for a website as a series they had for featuring artists and their "essentials." They never posted this so I thought I'd share.
Being from Chicago I’m surely biased but the band Umphrey’s McGee is truly challenging traditional jam band music. Meeting at Notre Dame Brendan Bayliss, Ryan Stasik, Joel Cummins, and Andy Farag started the group then adding Jake Cinninger and Kris Myers to complete the band in 2002 creating the present day Umphrey’s McGee. They gained notoriety and a following through their live shows, especially Bonnaroo in 2002 outselling live recordings of both jam band heavy weights Widespread Panic and Trey Anastasio. Now they have grown from a local jam band to worldwide progressive rock superstars continuing to push music to the edge and back.
It was when Anchor Drops (2004) was released that the Umprhey’s phenomenon picked up steam. Being distributed nation wide for the first time they were gaining fans all across the country. It also helped that at the same time Rolling Stone named them “odds-on favorites in the next-Phish Sweepstakes.” Since then they released two more studio albums, Safety in Numbers (2006) and Mantis (2009). The Bottom Half(2007) was made up of b-side tracks not making their way onto Safety in Numbers and other previously recorded music. They also released two live albums in 2007 Live at the Murat and Jimmy Stewart.
The studio is not where the band is most impressive and able to showcase their true skill. Being exceptionally talented musicians they are able to put together the tightest live concert on tour today. They have always been crowd pleasers by playing fun covers such as “Fat Bottomed Girls” by Queen, “Dr. Feelgood” by Motley Crue, and “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. That combined with their cult classic originals and improved jams known as “Jimmy Stewart” Umphrey’s creates a unique show only they can deliver. Lucky for you they record every live show for purchase through their website www.umlive.net.
This group constantly leaves sold out shows yelling, “We want the UMPH, got to have that UMPH.” If you ever have the chance to see them live take it without hesitation and you’ll be converted. Picking the “essentials” is obviously a difficult task but here is a playlist of the songs that I like and you should too.
It is tough to categorize their songs to “greatest hits” seeing how they are not a band that sees radio airtime or are remotely close to the Billboard top 20 but here are my picks. These are songs that every fan would immediately recognize and will introduce you to Umphrey’s McGee.
1. Front Porch
2. In the Kitchen
3. Women Wine & Song
4. Anchor Drops
5. Nemo
6. 1348
B-Sides:
This collection consists of some of my favorite Umphrey’s jams. These are probably the most fun songs to hear live as well.
7. Mulche’s Odyssey
8. Turn & Run (If you like this check out “Turn & Dub” the dub version)
9. Wife Soup
10. Hajimemashite
11. Cemetery Walk
12. Partyin’ Peeps
13. Hangover
14. Andy’s Last Beer
Covers/Mash-Ups:
As I mentioned before, Umphrey’s throws down covers of well-picked songs. Along with pounding party favorites they have taken covers to the 21st century doing full band mash-ups like this mind blower of “Come Together” by the Beatles and “Closer” by NIN known as “Come Closer.”
15. Come Closer
16. Sweet Sunglasses
17. 1901/Jump Mashup
18. Fuck You – Cee Lo cover
19. Ain’t Nuthin But a G Thang – Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg cover
20. Bonafide Lovin’ – Chromeo cover
Enjoy!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Get Static
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Say My Name
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tasty Tunes This Tuesday
Paper Diamond has been around for a while but only recently as Paper Diamond. He was previously known as Alex B and has really honed in his producing skills as of late. Also he has made the addition of using an iPad to his deck so he is pretty mobile on stage which is way different from a traditional dj. His remixes of "Power" and "Turnin Me On," his album Levitate, and live shows has created a following in the area and he is planning on really bringing it tonight in Boulder. "We are going to treat this like a holiday. We're going to have amazing lights and sound, and build this into something cool."
Monday, April 18, 2011
Renaissance Man
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Colorado, Partying Harder Than You Since 1876
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The Unquestionable Supremacy of STS9
Monday, April 11, 2011
Weekend Update
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Spring Fever
Friday, April 8, 2011
Gay Ninjas: Jean Shorts, No Helments, Back Tats.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Robotic Pirate Monkey
Maybe you’ve noticed but I’ve been putting up some shorter posts recently. My goal is to do one “feature” a week with shorter posts throughout the week. My plan was to do a write up this week featuring the Major Rager show at Cervantes. Major Rager is an alias for Diplo the world renowned DJ. Unfortunately he bailed on the show so that went up in smoke. I was super bummed because not only would Diplo have killed it but Robotic Pirate Monkey was going to open.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I saw them at Beauty Bar 3/26/11 and I had a great time. The crew and I rolled deep to the bar and I was in shock by the talent, the bar definitely lives up to its name. Opening for RPM was Mo:Rockin and he got the dance bumping with some well known bangers like Rusko's "Woo Boost" and Bassnectar's "Bass Head." By the time Robotic Pirate Monkey took the stage everyone was feeling loose and they unleashed on the crowd. Every body in the house was moving to the beats which they brought until the bar closed. RPM has some unusual remixes that may seem strange on paper but is bass porn for your ears. Some personal favorites of mine are "Carousel" (Blink-182), "I Cam as a Rat" (Modest Mouse), "Smile" (Lilly Allen), and "Mr. Brown" (Bob Marley). I also really like their originals "Ligers" and "All In You." You can see them April 21st at the Aggie in Fort Collins but in the mean time you can bump all their music free at www.roboticpiratemonkey.com.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Get the Whomp Out of Here
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Free See-I Show
Saturday, April 2, 2011
And Now For Your Chicago Bulls...
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Civilization
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Back In The Saddle Again
RRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRR, I’m back from hibernation. The days were short and the nights long this winter providing the time to capitalize on gumdrops, lasers, and ragers. I won’t bore you on all the lame things that happened in between my last post and now like Chromeo and A-Trak for Halloween, Savoy’s debut of their awesome new lasers at The Ogden, STS9’s mind blowing NYE light show and new songs, the Winter X Games with Big Boi, Umphrey’s McGee, Ghostland Observatory, Snow Ball Music Festival, or String Cheese Incident’s Winter Carnival, but like I said I won’t bore you with that.
Speaking of SCI, Michael Travis and Jason Hann’s side project EOTO is playing Saturday at The Ogden. They create a unique experience with their live, improvised, dub-jam style that always brings an energy only they produce. I’ve seen them at Rothbury, Three20South, and Wakarusa and at each incident they’ve produced banger jams that are one of a kind. If you go expect to get sweaty because the crowd will be getting hot and heavy just like the bass.
Skrillex is playing a sold out show tomorrow at Beta in Denver. He has been a well known producer who is now is making a name for himself. He has acquired quite the following but for whatever reason I can’t jump on board with his tunes.
Robotic Pirate Monkey is a DJ group from Boulder that has really been gaining momentum. They opened Snow Ball Music Festival with the first show of the Groove tent and are playing in Eagle County again at the Samana Lounge in Vail tonight. I saw them last Saturday at Beauty Bar and they killed it, there will be more to come on here about them shortly. It’s good to be back, keep your peepers out for my next post and stay fresh kids.