Chris K's Colorado Playlist

Apples in Stereo “Dance Floor” from Travellers in Space and Time (2010)
Matt Morris “Live Forever” from When Everything Breaks Open (2010)
Ash Ganley “Ghost By Your Side” from Universe Acceptable (2010)
Wovenhand “The Threshingfloor” from The Threshingfloor (2010)
NEW – Baily Stauffer and the Katy Janes “Two Weeks From Yesterday” from Bend or Break (2010)
NEW – Jeff Brinkman “Inside This Room” from To the Bones (2010)
John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light “Thinking ’bout God” from Beautiful Empty (2010)
The Czars “Killjoy” from The Ugly People vs. the Beautiful People (2001)
NEW – Mechanical Dan “Mississippi” from Mechanical Dan (2010)
Break Mechanics “Just Like Chocolate” from Break Mechanics (2004)
Heather Marie Philipp “Counting Stars” from Under the Apple (2008)
NEW The Dominant 7 & The Jazz Arts Messengers “Hop On, Buckle Up” from 14 Channels (2010)
Devotchka “Along the Way” from A Mad & Faithful Telling (2008)
Nathaniel Rateliff “Early Spring Till” from In Memory of Loss (2010)
Big Head Todd and the Monsters “Rocksteady” from Rocksteady (2010)
Jeff Finlin “East by West” from The Tao of Motor Oil (2010)
NEW Fuzzy Killing Machine “Forgiven” from Enjoy & Destroy (2010)
Bobby Walker “Pistol Packin’ Mama” from Way Back When (2010)
Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore “Losers” from Saints & Sinners (2010)
Julie & Andy Monley “My Castle’s Rockin’” from And You Could Be The Sun (2008)
NEW Paper Bird “Steady As” from When the River Took Flight (2010)
David Williams & the Wildgrass Band f/ Kristina Murray “Why Do Angels Get Wings” from The Crazy Kind (2010)
NEW Elin Palmer “Ballons” from Postcard (2010)
Soundrabbit “From the World I Have Known” from Tree Trunk Airplanes (2009)
Ninth + Lincoln Orchestra “Your Cent” from Ninth & Lincoln (2008)

Weird that we’re almost in the middle of July.  Hmmmm…. what have I been doing? Busy week for sure … lots of new stuff hitting the desk.  Have fun y’all … 🙂

Big Head Todd & the Monsters – Rocksteady (BIG)Genre/style: rock, funk, adult alternative
Recommended tracks: Rocksteady, Beautiful, Happiness Is…, Smokestack Lightening, Beast of Burden
Notes: ok, so what gives with “Big Head” Todd Park Mohr lately?  Is he like totally schizo or what?  Todd has taken to changing his noticeable influences not just every album, as he’s done for at least the last three now, but now changes mid-stride in the middle of an album.  This past December, keyboardist Jeremy Lawton sends me a dl for the single, Smokestack Lightening (sample #1, track #7).  I’m like shocked … this is BHTM???  This sounds like it crawled out of the belly of the wolf himself.  Then a couple of months ago all of us in radio got the “single” from the new album, Beautiful (sample #2, track #2).  Okay – this is cool.  Not like anything really I’ve heard from the band over the years, and it is a bit “soft,” but it works … folks are diggin’ it … and then I get the album yesterday and come across the title track “Rocksteady” (sample #3, track #1) and “Happiness Is…” (sample #4, track #5), both of which show a funky side to Todd I cannot recall hearing over the past two decades.  Todd’s time in Chi-town has infused him with more than just a bit of that city’s sense of the blues.  There’s a playful soul thing going on here (cool horns btw) that I can’t recall hearing in previous efforts, and is considerably more refined and tasty than a lot of the the classic blues-rock sounding records I do recall.    Oh … and that cover of the Rolling Stones “Beast of Burden” (not sampled) is pretty tasty too 🙂

Jeff Finlin – The Tao of Motor Oil (Bent Wheel)Genre/style: rock, alternative adult contemporary, singer/songwriter
Notes: I have no idea what more can or should be said about Jeff’s work.  He says of the new album, Tao of Motor Oil, that it is a “foray into the mystical experiences of life, itself.”  Jeff’s unique voice and phrasing highlight the journey.  He’s also one hellova producer.

Emily Hurd – Daytime Fireflies (self)Genre/style: alternative adult contemporary
Notes: ok, I’m fessing up that I know very little about Emily other than from her website and the fact that her brother (?) Michael Schenkelberg said she’s moving to Denver (pretty much the same as FoCo gal Lindsey O’Brien, another Chi-town native).  Gotta say, the record has captured my ear.

Jeff Brinkman – To The Bones (Devonshire Records)Genre/style: alternative adult contemporary, singer-songwriter
Notes: Jeff is becoming a popular local out of the Longmont/Lyons area.  If you’re a fan of Dave Matthews and Counting Crows, no doubt you’ll find something here you’ll like also.  A very solid debut record.

Kinetix “Let Me In” from Let Me In (2010)
Apples in Stereo “Energy” from New Magnetic Wonder (2007)
NEW Emily Hurd “Heaven This Way” from Daytime Fireflies (2010)
Megan Burtt “Moves” from It Ain’t Love (2010)
The Epilogues “The Escape” from The Beautiful The Terrifying (2008)
Otis Taylor “Hands On Your Stomach” from Clovis People, Vol. 3 (2010)
Finders & Youngberg “Ball & Chain Blues” from Keep Your Suitcase Packed (2008)
The Informants “Stuck on You” from Stiletto Angel (2008)
The Jurassicasters “I Just Want to Celebrate” from The Jurassicasters (2010)
The Knew “Picnic” from The Knew’s Pulperia (2010)
The Haunted Windchimes “Find the Door” from Honey Moonshine (2010)
Sweet Sunny South “Ghost of Gram” from Carried Off By A Twister (2010)
Fred Hess “Zane” from Crossed Paths (2004)

Chris Daniels “The Spark” from The Spark (2003)
Romano Paoletti “Ragtime Blues” from Story of a Lifetime (2009)
NEW Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore “Keep It Clean” from Saints & Sinners (2010)
Houses “Red Feather” from Fall (2009)
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club “Sour Patch Kids” from Blovdy Tenent Trvth Peace (2004)
Andrea Ball “Letter” from Dial Tone (2010)
NEW Jeff Finlin “Stones Must Roll” from The Tao of Motor Oil (2010)
The Beautiful Loser Society “Talkin’ to the Devil” from Aim Low (2008)
Halden Wofford and the Hi Beams “Hippie In My House” from Midnight Rodeo (2006)
The Gromet “Sink or Sail” from Colorado Captain (2010)
The Hollyfelds “Either Way” from Lo Bueno, Lo Mao, Lo Feo (2010)
Greg Harris Vibe Quintet “Simplexity” from Glass Gold (2010)