Tag: Denver music

CP S16 EP17 2022

MAY 16, 2022 – I designed the Monday Morning Music Meeting (MMMM) as a way for you to let me know what you think of new music emerging from around the state. Results enter into which cuts stay in rotation, and which cuts make the final “best of” list.

TOP 5 #COMUSIC SPINS

Spin data pulled from the Colorado Playlist, 105.5 The Colorado Sound, Indie 102.3 and eleven stations that use playlist generator Spinitron, designed to benefit non-commercial community/public and college radio stations and offering advanced search functions for artists and agents.

  1. NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHTSWEATS – The Future LP
  2. THE LUMINEERS – Brightside LP
  3. FIA NYXX – Red Umbrella LP (Apr-22)
  4. ANTHONY RUPTAK – Backrooms LP (Apr-22)
  5. ELEKTRIC ANIMALS – Channels EP (May-22)

MONDAY MORNING MUSIC MEETING (MMMM)

HOUR 1

Freddi Henchi Band – Celebration (f. Larry Wilkens) – Freddi Henchi Band (1981)
Zephyr – Don’t Come Back – Heartbeat (1981)
(D) Sarah Christine – The Year: Hang On Mom (2022)

OneRepublic – Rescue Me – Human (2021)
The Lumineers – Life In The City – Gloria Sparks EP (2019)
Wellington Bullings – Flame (2022)
Yonder Mountain String Band – Into the Fire – Get Yourself
Dan Treanor – From African Soul – Mercy (2005)
The Subdudes – Work Clothes – Street Symphony (2007)
(D) Thom LaFond – New Wildfire – The Moon Leans In (2022)

SUCH – You (Icytat Vocal Mix) (2016)
The Still Tide – Keep It – Between Skies (2020)
Keith Oxman – The Splashers – Caught Between the Lion and the Twins (2008)

HOUR 2

Mollie O’Brien – Never Make Your Move Too Soon (Birmingham) – I Never Move Too Soon (1987)
Mary Flower – Jane Jane (f. John Magnie and Steve Amadee) – Blues Jubilee (1994)
(D) Leslie Tom – Tequila After Midnight (2022)

Kind Hearted Strangers – The Egoist – East-West (2021)
DeVotchKa – Exhaustible – 100 Lovers (2011)
Kick and the Hug – Girl You’ve Changed – Ladies & Gentlemen (2022)
Mike Clark & the Sugar Sounds – Warm Me Up – Moon Rock (2022)
Flobots – The Rose And The Thistle – The Circle In The Square (2012)
Tierro Band w Bridget Law – Charity – Allurement (2019)
(D) MaryLynn Gillaspie – Skippy’s Dream (Hypnagogia) – Secret Language (2022)

Mark Oblinger – Little Bird – High Water Line (2019)
Leftover Salmon – Brand New Good Old Days – Brand New Good Old Days (2021)
Garrett Sayers Trio – Diatribe – Thinkbox (2017)

featuring  LiveMusicMegaSearch™

CP S16 EP16 2022

MAY 09, 2022 – Somewhere along the time line over the past two weeks I lost a day. I did manage to see a show Friday night (May 06) and even write about it. The next day (Saturday) while listening to the new LIVE album from Kaitlyn Williams, I wrote about that. That’s more writing than I normally get around to on a weekend.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and the Lumineers swapped places this week (big surprise – LOL). Nic Clark enters this week’s TOP 5. Nic’s debut hits the charts about a year after he moved out of Colorado, but the locally homegrown blues harp player and producer got plenty of spins from 88.9 KRFC Fort Collins the past couple of weeks to earn the slot.

Earth, Wind & Fire sax player Andrew Woolfolk passed away April 24. Lead singer and fellow Denver East HS grad Philip Bailey celebrated a birthday May 07. I paid tribute in this week’s show.

TOP 5 WEEKLY #COMUSIC SPINS

Spin data pulled from the Colorado Playlist, 105.5 The Colorado Sound, Indie 102.3 and eleven stations that use playlist generator Spinitron, designed to benefit non-commercial community/public and college radio stations and offering advanced search functions for artists and agents.

  1. NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHTSWEATS – The Future LP
  2. THE LUMINEERS – Brightside LP
  3. ANTHONY RUPTAK – Backrooms LP (Apr-22)
  4. NIC CLARK – Love Your Life: Songs for the Whole Family LP (Jun-21)
  5. FIA NYXX – Red Umbrella LP (Apr-22)

MONDAY MORNING MUSIC MEETING (MMMM)

HOUR 1

Earth Wind & Fire – Africano – That’s The Way of the World (1975)
(D) Dafna – The Man In My Dreams – When I Was With You! (2022)

Andy Frasco – Love is a Gun – Keep On Keepin On (2020)
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – My Last Black Scarf – Unentitled (2011)
King Cardinal – Runaway (2022)
N3ptune, Rusty Steve – Black Horse – Renaissance (2022)
Zuba – Imagine Freedom – The New Cruelty (1996)
Sherri Jackson – Time & Time – Sherri Jackson (1997)
(D) Trevor Hall f. Marieme – 2 Oceans (2022)

Cassie Taylor – No Ring Blues – Out of My Mind (2013)
Hugh Phillips – Steel Drivers Lament – It’s Been A Long Time (2021)
Kim Stone Band – Bob Goes to the Store – Earthschool + (1988)

HOUR 2

Earth Wind & Fire – Devotion – Open Our Eyes (1974)
Earth Wind & Fire – Shining Star – That’s the Way of the World (1975)
(D) Elektric Animals – Come Clean (2022)

Liptruce – You Think You’re Hollywood – Liptruce (2020)
Dragondeer – When I See You – If You Got The Blues (2018)
Wendy Woo – Good Old Days (2022)
Maddy and Kev – Train Wreck – Take A Ride (2022)
The Apples In Stereo – About Your Fame – Tone Soul Evolution (1997)
Acoustic Junction – Oh Me Oh My – Strange Days (2000)
Flobots – Me & You (Happy 2gether) (2021)
(D) Kaitlyn Williams – Don’t Blink – Under These Lights (2022)

OneRepublic – Wanted – Wanted (2019)
Kind Hearted Strangers – Red & Blue – East-West (2021)
Brian Claxton – The Yard – The Yard (2020)

THIS WEEK ON YOUTUBE

featuring  LiveMusicMegaSearch™

REVIEW – KAITLYN WILLIAMS SURPRISES WITH UNDER THESE LIGHTS

As a talent buyer, I yearn for a solid live representation of an artist or band. As a record “collector” and radio show producer, I LOVE and typically much prefer studio albums.

NOTE to musicians: Most people I chat with also prefer a solid live representation before deciding whether to spend money to see an unknown artist or band live.

Studio albums have detail and nuances not ordinarily evident in live records. Live albums are hard to produce, and often disastrous; without studio overdubs they often show every minute flaw in individual performances. Most live music video performances are often worse, for lack of proper professional video production among other things.

Kaitlyn Williams showed up on Denver’s open mic circuit about 2016. It wasn’t long before Denver’s Wes Watkins “discovered” her and invited her to be a part of his band, The Other Black. Seemingly, that’s all it took for the burgeoning pop/neo-soul songstress to gain the confidence she needed to go it alone with her own band.

Kaitlyn released her debut, Sunset, not long after in 2019. Songs like Rain and the title track Sunset revealed a songwriter and singer many years more polished and mature than the mediocrity that too often flows through my studio monitors.

Enter “Under These Lights,” the new LIVE album from Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn walks a fine line between youthful pop and more sophisticated adult oriented neo-soul. She scores on both counts. Recorded live at the Lodge at Woods Boss Brewing in Denver, the intimate small room was the perfect space for the enthusiastic Kaitlyn and her fans (evidence fully displayed in the title track, the first full song in the show).

It takes some pretty major emotional fortitude to release a live album, especially one with music and performances as sophisticated and intimate as displayed Under These Lights. It may have felt great on stage, but what would the recording sound like? After all it was a live recording, which are often known for glaring deficiencies.

In this case Kaitlyn must have felt exuberant upon hearing it, because Under These Lights is a major league homerun among Colorado releases in 2022.

In a market crowed with potential pop/R&B/soul star power, Kaitlyn has more than earned her place with easily the best live album to come out of Denver in the past sixteen years of the Colorado Playlist.

NOTABLE TRACKS: #6 The Truth, #8 Don’t Blink