Suede has managed to revive a bit of interest in themselves amongst the general public by returning with a decent record. Robbie Williams has managed to pique mine by being a blowhard.

Recently, Robbie has taken to his blog to remind us that boy bands are ok. I’m going to say something nice about him now so I can get it out of the way. He’s been known to be charitable, and been known to like his football. What he hasn’t been known for is knocking out work on an indie label budget. He seems to have a much different recollection of the 90′s than I as well.

Rob tries to tell us that somehow Brett Anderson’s quote stating that a lack of money at labels (“the music industry”) created a crisis is erroneous. If I remember correctly, the 1996 Telecommunications Act created a massive consolidatio...

RIP, Barry Fey.

Fey always struck me as a “rock” guy. “Rock” as a general noun where anything that could be rock was a good thing – in the way non-music fans romanticized the word rock without any true context or scrutiny. I abhor that idea of “rock” because it’s akin to walking into a museum with your pants down and getting high-fives from other people who also have their pants down. But Fey was a fan of music. We know this. His fandom led to his rise and fame. His fandom led him to risks that are well beyond most of our comfort zones. The fan experience was clearly a major motivator for Fey and he was not above putting artists in harm’s way to deliver on that promised experience. While he was a rock guy, he also had everything in common with those of us buying tickets...

As a younger gent in the late ’80s through the mid ’90s, I fancied myself one of the dark crowd. I lived in my painted leather biker jacket, eye-liner, white button-down shirt, black jeans & Doc Martens. Lurking by the record bins at Wax Trax, deciding which t-shirt at FashioNation most fit my look while being sure to piss off my religious step-father, and dancing in the corner at the Wreck Room sipping on my Amaretto Sours, I listened to some truly terrible music which I convinced myself at the time was genius: Nosferatu, Rosetta Stone, Valor-era Christian Death, etc.

But there were brilliant bands we wannabe children of the night listened to as well, and many of them were on the seminal British indie label 4AD. Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Dead Can Dance, The Birthday Party and othe...

“Dammit, Stephen, quit playing the fucking machine for one minute so we can take this picture.”

As mentioned last week, the YMIA crew spent a few fun filled days in the nation’s Ed Hardy clad playground, Las Vegas, NV. I don’t think any concert had ever pulled any of us out of state before, but the allure of Johnny Marr opening for New Order in a really swank hotel was apparently too much for any of us to resist. 

New Order began their set with Low-Life‘s side 2 opener, “Elegia”. While a 17 minute version of this song exists, we were treated to an extremely abbreviated rendering lasting only a couple of minutes as the band jumped into “Crystal”, from 2001′s effort, Get Ready.   From there we were treated to a thick career spanning set, which also included a number of Joy Division tracks...

By now most people have seen that Leonard Cohen was awarded Artist of the Year at this year’s Juno Awards, beating out Carly Rae Jepsen, deadmau5, and most importantly, the almighty Justin Bieber.  Of course, immediately following the award came the Twitter explosion of enraged teenybopper Beliebers exclaiming “what the flying fuck? WHO THE FUCK IS THIS LEONARD COHEN GUY!??!?!,” ready to swarm Cohen’s house pelting him with poison tipped Bieber CDs.  Leaving the rest of us shaking our heads in despair at the level of sheer ignorance of today’s youth.

But the bigger issue is not necessarily that a bunch of 12-20 year olds don’t know who Leonard Cohen is (although they could use a good smack upside the head from their mothers for that language...

Ruining your legacy with an ill-conceived comeback record is something that is often discussed here on the podcast. The further away a band gets from their last release, the more dangerous the prospect of tarnishing that former glory.

The Ocean Blue is a band that arrived just in time for the early 90′s with a wonderful eponymous debut album. It introduced David Schelzel as a writer capable of immediate and pleasing hooks. They went one better with 1991′s “Cerulean” creating an album with real sonic depth. Following quickly on its heels was 1992′s “Beneath The Rhythm And Sound“.

All three albums had modern rock chart hits, and made them MTV 120 minutes regulars. However, as the 90′s rolled on, and every label on the planet went in search of the next Nirvana or Pearl Jam, the band jettison...

The sweaty brilliance of A. Tom Collins

A commenter on my recent post  Hey Kids, Grow a Pair: How Music Blogs Neutered Indie Rock asked me to share what’s going on in the Denver music scene people should know about.  So I have composed a small list.  Keep in mind, this list is by no means comprehensive, it’s just a small sampling of the bands I think are doing something interesting right now.  I’ve chosen only to include bands who are currently living and working in Denver and not bands from Denver that no longer live here like Gauntlet Hair or Woodsman (as much as I may like them).

Also worth noting are two band collectives/small labels that have grown in the last couple of years.  Holy Underground a collective and label that started out with primarily electronic acts, but has br...

My sole Record Store Day 2013 acquisition. Pulp “After You” – 12″ single produced by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), feat. Soulwax  mix.

For the low, low price of only your email address, you can download this 14 track sampler from Denver’s Hot Congress Records.

While I can’t champion every band on this compilation, I can guarantee there are more than a couple of gems to be found among these songs. Also, this may be a necessary palette cleansing, given the abominations of music to emerge from Denver onto the international stage in the last year or 5.

Do yourself a favor and click this link to get the compilation right now.

Track listing:
Shady Elders – Schoolmate
Wire Faces – Endless Gala
Hindershot – Into the Inside Out
The Outfit – Washed Out
Colfax Speed Queen – NRA A OK
Fingers of the Sun – Goodnight
Achille Lauro – Hand of Sand
Science Partner – Animal
The Blue Rider – Way Out West
Safe Boating Is No Accident – Her N...

Last week, myself, Jake Ryan, and a few friends (including new YMIA contributors Michael  Trundle and Kitty Vincent) headed off to Las Vegas for a DJ set at Beauty Bar one night and a live performance by Johnny Marr and New Order the next night at The Cosmopolitan. You know Marr - former Smiths, Electronic, The The, Modest Mouse, The Cribs guitarist – not to mention my personal hero.

While we were ticketed concert goers (some of us more ticketed than others as Michael and Kitty were equipped with VIP passes), we chose to watch Johnny Marr from the fortunately placed balcony from Michael and Kitty’s room, which was perched several floors above the stage...