Album Review: The Cairn Project’s Self-Titled Debut Album

September 3, 2015

Local Greeley group who call themselves The Cairn Project created their self-titled debut album “to serve as a marker in their own musical journey.” Started by drummer Brian Claxton and tenor saxophonist/clarinetist/bass clarinetist Joel Harris simply to form a band of friends and make music that was personal to them, The Cairn Project (“Cairn” is a stack of stones hikers make to mark a trail, FYI) consists of six professional jazz musicians – alto saxophonist/flutist Briana Harris, guitarist Ben Parrish, pianist Tom Amend and bassist Patrick Atwater. Each song is composed by a different member, leading to a jazz album of unique instrumental pieces, each of which has it’s own thing going on.

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It’s Going Down: ¡Mayday! Plays The Moxi

Miami-based rap collective ¡Mayday! never imagined a superstar like Lil’ Wayne would gravitate towards their music. But sure enough, while Lil’ Wayne was shooting a video for his rock-inspired album, Rebirth, the director suggested Mayday to appear in a video. Naturally, emcees Bernz and Wreckonize, and band members Gianni Cash, LT Hopkins, Plex Luthor, and NonMS jumped at the opportunity.

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Top Tunes Thursday: Benjamin Clementine— At Least For Now

September 2, 2015

Too often when discussing our musical greats, we forget where they came from. In every world renowned musician, there was once a rookie. I once heard the drummer Questlove recall an old adage from his father; “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.” Some have professors, some after-school tutors, some musical parents, but others have only the drive.

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Top Tunes Thursday: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats — Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

August 27, 2015

In the early summer of 2010, my best friend bought me tickets to see one of my favorite performers at the time, Tallest Man on Earth. In line, before the show, two men stepped out the front doors and both lit up smokes. One, short and petite, who I recognized to be Tallest Man, and the other, only slightly taller, with a bushy handlebar mustache and a round gut held in by denim, who my friend recognized as a performer who knew as Nathaniel Rateliff, the night’s opener. The show that followed that evening lived up to the praise my friend had given him. He sang in long, sad shouts. And when he did, he would kick and shake. He was a livewire jammed into the ears of his audience. While I have enjoyed his particular brand of rock-folk every year since, I have been waiting for the self titled debut from his new band for approaching five years now. Following a standing ovation on The Tonight Show and years of buzz (from people other than myself) the group has finally dropped the record, consequentially making every second of waiting worth it.

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Thuggish Ruggish Krayzie Bone On the Solo Tip… For Now

August 26, 2015

Believe it or not, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s first record contract with late Eazy E’s Ruthless Records resulted from a single phone call. In 1993, original members Lazyie Bone, Krayzie Bone, Bizzie Bone and Wish Bone hopped on a Greyhound in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio headed for California. The self-described “broke millionaires” had no idea how they were going to infiltrate the rap scene, but they knew they just needed the right person to put them on. It just so happened to be Eazy E, former member of the groundbreaking rap collective, N.W.A.

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