New Music Mondays: Guster- Evermotion

January 12, 2015

Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner, Brian Rosenworsel, Luke Reynolds, and Joe Pisapia make up Guster, a Tufts University-birthed pop outfit, which began when Miller, Gardner, and Rosenworsel met Freshman year. Evermotion is their long awaited 7th studio album, and it’s just the dose of cheer that I needed, full of atmospheric charm, and stellar melodies.

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Malcom’s World: Mac Miller Takes the Reins

January 8, 2015

Talking to Pittsburgh native Mac Miller is just what you’d expect. He’s a smart ass, laughs a lot and appears not to take his career too seriously, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Mac Miller (real name Malcolm James McCormick) is self-made and essentially a workaholic. He knew from an early age he wanted to make music for a living and he made it happen. As a child, there was never any doubt Miller was musically gifted. At the age of six, he taught himself how to play piano, drums, bass and guitar. His older brother was getting into hip-hop in the mid-’90s and soon little Mac was pilfering his albums.

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New Music Monday: Kanye West “Only One”

January 5, 2015

After months of posturing, Kanye West’s ravenous fan base have been chomping at the musical bit for something new. The details up until now have been vague at best, and frustratingly stingy. Sources close to West including funny-man Seth Rogen and musician Theophilus London have generated whispers of secret and smoky listening parties, and a rough cut of the rumored single “All Day” was briefly (as in hours) featured on Instagram. Apart from that, fans only had repeated promises that the album was finished, and waiting for release. Well, folks, it’s 2015, and there’s no new album, but we do have a new single.

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Crítica del álbum: Miranda! Safari

Este verano pasado Miranda! nos presentó con su sexto álbum llevando por nombre Safari. Ahora Alejandro Sergi y Julieta Gattas (ambos vocalistas) se encuentran sin la presencia de Lolo Fuetes, quien fue su guitarrista estrella desde el comienzo de la agrupación en el 2001. El primer sencillo de Safari se lanzó en diciembre del 2013 y lleva por nombre “extraño,” en el nos ofrecen una letra muy magistral y juguetona. La letra sugiere una relación que ya no es lo que había sido y extrañan esa parte, por el otro lado son como dos desconocidos o dos extraños donde no hay marcha atrás. “Extraño” tiene un sonido que caracteriza a Miranda! y sin lugar a duda una buena elección para darnos una probadita del resto del disco.

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Album Review: She & Him Classics

January 4, 2015

Nostalgia. One of the more relevant feelings in the age of “10 Things Only 90’s Kids Will Get” listicles. It’s an itch that might be scratched by watching Even Stevens, The Goonies, or old Warner Brother’s cartoons. Or maybe listening to oldies music. The clean cutting guitar of the Beach Boys, the cajoling croon of Frank Sinatra. There’s something in the sound that evokes a warmth for a better time, or at least a different one. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward make up the duo known as She & Him, a group that has built their music largely on the back catalogs of American music.

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To Vape or Not to Vape: New Smoking Ordinance Threatens Growing Industry

January 2, 2015

It’s not what you’re smoking but where you’re smoking, that seems to be the consensus of Greeley’s city council as they schedule their final reading for banning public use of e-cigarettes for January 6th. The citizen’s initiative to ban e-cigarettes was set for October, but after members of the community encouraged they reevaluate their assumptions that vaporizers be classified and banned like cigarettes, the issue was tabled.

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There’s Something To Be Said Sticking To Your Guns: An Interview With The Juan MacClean

In true DFA fashion, the album bristles with vintage synthesizers and dreamy arpeggios, and the length of the songs allows for the grooves to have a settling effect that fits nicely into their aesthetic. With vocalist Nancy Whang taking more of a lead on the album, the songs exude class and talent. Recently, we had a chance to catch up with The Juan MacClean after his DJ set at Bar Standard in Denver.

BandWagon: Do you ever see yourself as a Top 40 musician at some point? Do you ever see yourself shooting for that 3 to 5 minute pop song that’s accessible to everyone?

The Juan MacClean: Yeah I used to think that kind of thing, that one day, I don’t know if you would even call it “selling out,” but as an experiment see if it is possible to do that kind of thing. But the reality of it is, it’s not really possible. At that level everything is so manufactured. I could sign to a major label and that kind of stuff but it would be burning my career. I would lose all my real fans and it would be too weird for the rest of the world.

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All About the Bass

December 23, 2014

“I’ve seen a lot of personal friends lives be damaged, destroyed or ended through making the wrong decisions with drug use,” Lorin Ashton says. “I’ve also seen some amazing transformations happen from very limited and responsible experimentation. I want to be ultra careful about not condoning anything without expressing how important it is to be safe and aware.”

Ashton, better known by his stage moniker Bassnectar, is often at the helm of massive EDM parties and has undoubtedly seen all sorts of debauchery in the crowd. However, at age 36, he’s learned valuable lessons over the years— not only as a musician, but also simply as a human being.

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