Monolith Festival: Blog

Featured Artist: TV on the Radio

Matt Fecher — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:49:00 MDT

by Timothy Dwenger

TV On The Radio began life on the local stages of Brooklyn, NY as an experimental two piece where founding members David Steik and Tunde Adebimpe laid the groundwork for what the band would become. Their sparse blend of Electronica and Hip-Hop was soon fleshed out when guitarist and vocalist Kyp Malone joined the fray along with the powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Gerard Smith, and drummer Jaleel Bunton. Together these five men have methodically refined Steik and Adibimpe’s early digital meanderings into a hard hitting, yet melodic, sound that doesn’t resemble anything out there today.

Though they have been on the scene for seven years now, TVOTR exploded into public consciousness with their 2006 release, Return To Cookie Mountain. Their third full length album, the record landed them on the top of many year end lists including the #1 spot in SPIN. While the record did feature an appearance by David Bowie on backing vocals, the strength of the songwriting and musicianship was alone enough to push this album up the charts.

This fall TVOTR will be at the MONOLITH FESTIVAL in support of their new record, Dear Science, due out on September 23rd. Picking up where Return to Cookie Mountain left off, this record blends that albums angular, digitally infused, style with the punctuating horns lines and driving rhythms of funk to create a hybrid that sounds like the future of rock-n-roll.

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Artist of the Week: Pomegranates

Matt Fecher — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:43:00 MDT

by Heather Browne, I am Fuel, You Are Friends

So if you’re looking for flavonoids, drink that darkly-colored POM juice stuff from the grocery store. But if you’re looking for delightfully energetic pop-harmony music, listen to Pomegranates from Cincinnati instead.
Like that weird-looking fruit, these Pomegranates burst open with some serious richness, all purpley red and sweet shimmery. They’ve been getting excellent blog and indie radio notice in the last few months.

My Old Kentucky Blog writes that this is music for fans of Death Cab for Cutie, early Modest Mouse, Rogue Wave and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Pomegranates have recently toured with contemporaries like Islands, Ra Ra Riot and French Kicks. Pomegranates are performing on Sunday, Sept 14th at the MONOLITH Festival.

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MONOLITH Community/Schedule Launched

Matt Fecher — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:30:00 MDT

Thanks to our friends at Gigbot, we have launched your very own Monolith Community and Build-Your-Own Custom Schedule application. We are still working out the kinks, but it’s live for you to check out and start using. All you need is a username and password, which you get by signing up for the Monolith Email list HERE . When prompted, enter in your info, upload your photo and start selecting your shows. You can also comment on each individual artist within the community. You can access the community through the Music Schedule page.

View Schedule Page Now >>

MONOLITH Announces Additional Artists

Matt Fecher — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:05:00 MDT

Snowden

We have just added a slew of new bands to the ever-expanding Monolith Festival Lineup and VIP Gold Pass events including:

Snowden, The Dutchess & the Duke, Passion Pit, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, White Williams, Dressy Bessy, KaiserCartel, The Veils, The Muslims, Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons, Electric Touch, Young Coyotes, Moonspeed, Astra Moveo, Rob Drabkin and Alyse Black

Visit the Music Lineup page to comment on your favorite band, build your own custom schedule and listen to streaming music

View Schedule Page Now >>

Fox 31 "Fox Rocks" Monolith Contest

Matt Fecher — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:40:00 MDT

http://media.myfoxcolorado.com/foxrocks/HTML/index.html
Click Above more more info

Update on Neko Case

Matt Fecher — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:11:00 MDT

Due to a scheduling conflict, Neko Case will not be able to perform at this year’s festivities, and, due to some unrelated touring issues, UK artists The Heavy and The Ting Tings will be unable to perform at Monolith this year as well. While we are as bummed about this as you are, we are adding some exciting new emerging artists to the lineup to join the 70+ amazing artists still performing at this year’s MONOLITH Festival! New artist announcements coming this week!

Carpool to Monolith and Save $$$: Green Ticket Packages Now Available

Matt Fecher — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:35:00 MDT

A limited number of Green Ticket Packages have just been released! Reduce your carbon footprint; carpool to Monolith and save some green. Green Tickets are the same as a 2-day festival ticket but the only catch is you need to arrive to the festival in the same vehicle. Green Ticket Packages are only available in blocks of 4 or 8 tickets. This special package is only offered for a limited time and available at all Ticketmaster locations, Ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 303-820-TIXS.

Buy GREEN TICKET Package Now – $85 (Includes Both Days)

Artist of the Week: CSS

Matt Fecher — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:56:00 MDT

CSS is tired of being sexy

Brazilian band Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS) has one of the best band names ever, for two reasons:
1) it literally means “I got tired of being sexy” (and who hasn’t?)
2) the name’s taken from something Beyonce once said to that effect. I mean, really.

Singing in both Portuguese and English, CSS weaves together shiny, syncopated electro-pop with an edge of irreverent glamour and charming naivete. The Guardian once wrote that “they sound like an unlikely, brilliantly wrong fusion of Tom Tom Club, dance culture and the Fall.”

Although CSS favors topics of pop culture and night hedonism (song titles include “Jager Yoga,” “Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above,” and “Meeting Paris Hilton”), their music is not vapid. The new song below evokes a lot more Karen O than Paris H, even though they sometimes sing about the latter. And I say this with affection because my new job is in this field, but they also look like an innocent group of foreign exchange students. You practically want to help them find the library, bring them to a soccer game, or maybe take them home for Thanksgiving when the dorms close.

Listen to Band / View Videos >>

The new CSS album Donkey (produced in Brazil, mixed in L.A.) is out July 21 on Sub Pop.

Oh, and it’s gonna be a party with these kids out at Red Rocks. CSS is one of the penultimate acts capping off the Monolith Festival this September, playing at 9:45pm Sunday, September 14. Come, dance.

by Heather Browne of Fuel/Friends

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Artist of the Week: PORT O' BRIEN

Matt Fecher — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:59:00 MDT

by Heather Browne of Fuel/Friends

Port O’Brien is a nautically-named collective of five musicians based out of the California port city of Oakland, the neighbor across the bay from San Francisco. Their songs are mostly written by lady baker Cambria Goodwin and her commercial salmon-fisherman boyfriend Van Pierszalowski. Their self-released 2008 album All We Could Do Was Sing contains one of the most vibrant tunes of this year:

I Woke Up Today – Listen in the MONOLITH Festival Player

Check out All We Could Do Was Sing, which was recorded at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone Studios—the same ground where folks like Sun Kil Moon, the Mountain Goats, and Death Cab for Cutie have also done their musical thing. The band describes their album as “lush string arrangements, raw electric guitar, percussive banjo, pots + pans, a tight rhythm section, group chants and screaming . . . with a diverse, but cohesive feel.”

PORT O’BRIEN will be performing at the MONOLITH FESTIVAL on Saturday, Sept 13th, 2008.

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Cloud Cult Announced for VIP Kick-Off Party

Matt Fecher — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:18:00 MDT

Sustainable friends of the MONOLITH Festival, Cloud Cult, return in 2008 to help set the the festival off in style at the official VIP Kick Off Party on Friday, Sept 12th at the Bluebird Theater. This event is exclusively for VIP Badge holders – get yours today. For a preview, check out Cloud Cult tonight (Thurs, June 19th) on their national television debut on the Carson Daily Show!

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Artist of the Week: Chester French

Matt Fecher — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:55:00 MDT

by Heather Browne of Fuel/Friends

So the story goes that a pair of Harvard boys get bored and decide to record an album in their dorm basement. A lot of things happened in my various dorm basements but nothing that sounded this good; I think it was too dark with those half-lit humming fluorescent lights, the broken foosball tables, and slightly dodgy-looking couches that you knew had some sketch tales to tell.

So what did Chester French conjure up there instead? Think robust strings over crisp and sexy beats, some chiming mid ‘60s guitar . . . and they get all Zombies here at the beginning of this track. What’s your name / who’s your daddy?

Visit Fuel/Friends to Download MP3s

Go traipse on over to their MySpace now and listen to “People” . . . then try and tell me that doesn’t make your day significantly better. So pleasing that I’ve already used it on a mix. Chester French’s debut album Love the Future is forthcoming in 2008 on Pharrell Williams’ Star Trak label.

CHESTER FRENCH will be performing at the MONOLITH FESTIVAL on Sunday, Sept 14th, 2008.

—Heather Browne, Leave a comment about this story on Heather’s Blog, I am Fuel, You are Friends.

KaiserCartel the Paste Video of the Week

Matt Fecher — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:38:00 MDT

Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel, the Brooklyn duo better known as KaiserCartel will be performing on the singer-songwriter stage at the 2008 MONOLITH FESTIVAL on Saturday, Sept 13th. Check out their video for “Okay”, which was just featured as the Paste Magazine Video of the week last week:

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Band of Horses Announces World Tour Today

Matt Fecher — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:42:00 MDT

Band of Horses/Oya Festival/Oslo/Norway

From their home state of South Carolina to the storied stages of Europe to the Land Down Under to the Land of the Rising Sun and back again, Band of Horses have lined up bona fide globe-spanning summer vacation for themselves. The kicks-flaunting band will flex those formidable chops of theirs all over the place for the next three months, with dates stretching all the way to the MONOLITH FESTIVAL this September.

Buy MONOLITH Festival Tickets Now >>
Click above to get your tickets.

Hercules and Love Affair is the iTunes Single of the Week

Matt Fecher — Sat, 31 May 2008 11:27:00 MDT

Super-Buzz band, HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR is currently the iTunes Free Single of the Week, so go over and grab a copy now to blast in anticipation of their highly anticipated debut at the MONOLITH Festival this year.

Plus, here’s their video for “Blind”, which has already received over half a million views:

The Ting Tings Hit #1 in the UK

Matt Fecher — Sun, 25 May 2008 12:07:00 MDT

A huge congratulations to 2008 MONOLITH Festival performers The Ting Tings, who had the #1 single last week on the UK Top 40 Radio Singles Chart with “That’s Not My Name”. They’ll be performing on Sunday, Sept 14th, 2008 along with Justice, TV on the Radio, Band of Horses, CSS, and many more…

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Conan O' Brien Vs Monolith!

Matt Fecher — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:28:00 MDT

If you are a frequent viewer of Late Night with Conan O’ Brien, you might start to notice some familiar Monolith Festival featured artists. Last night DEVOTCHKA put on a memorizing performance of “The Clockwise Witness”. You can view the performance over on our Festival Blog

Tonight’s (Weds, May 21) featured musical guest is none other than Minneapolis, MN’s silver-tongue prodigy, ATMOSPHERE.

Atmosphere, Hercules and Love Affair, Foals and more added to Monolith

Matt Fecher — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:28:00 MDT

Today The Monolith Music Festival officially announced the addition of 22 more bands to their already impressive lineup.

The additions include: Atmosphere, Hercules and Love Affair, Foals, Does it Offend You, Yeah?, Port O’Brien, Pomegranates, Colour Revolt, KaiserCartel, Candy Coated Killahz, Jukebox the Ghost, American Bang, The Chain Gang of 1974, Joshua Novak, Erin Ivey, The Wheel, Paper Bird, Noah Harris, Lynsey Smith, Scratch Track, David Moore, LoveLikeFire, and Dave Beegle.

View Full Updated Schedule >>

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Monolith 2008, What People Are Saying?!

Matt Fecher — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:47:00 MDT

The 2008 MONOLITH Festival is getting Mountains of Amazing Press already …

“Officials have unveiled the bill for the second annual Monolith Festival… and it’s a Heavy Hitter-Packed Whopper”—SPIN

“And, as befits a fest named after a really big thing that rocks, well, check out this bill”—Pitchfork

“This is only the second year for the ever-improving Monolith Music Festival at Red Rock Amphitheatre in Colorado and I think the lineup has taken a big step forward from last year’s.”—My Old Kentucky Blog

“Summer festivals, take note, Monolith is doing it right”—Someone to Love More than Music

Plus, features in Billboard, Pollstar, NME, Paste, Filter and many, many more …

Get Your MONOLITH Festival Tickets Now >>

Tickets Are On Sale Now!

Matt Fecher — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:14:00 MDT

Tickets for the 2008 Monolith Festival Presented by Esurance ARE ON SALE NOW.

We encourage you to purchase your tickets early. With only 9000 tickets available each day and with the success of last year’s festival, we are confident these tickets won’t be around for long. In addition to the single and two-day tickets, our VIP Gold Passes are back with new benefits for 2008. See you in September!

Buy Tickets Now >>

Click above to learn more

The 2008 Lineup is here!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:27:00 MDT

We are excited to announce the official lineup (and schedule) for the 2008 Monolith Festival Presented By Esurance. This September Red Rocks will be a buzz for what will, once again, be the largest music festival in Red Rocks history. In addition to this year’s diverse lineup, we will be adding more acts in the coming weeks!

View the Lineup Now

Single Day and 2-Day weekend passes will be on sale this Friday, May 2, at 10 AM MST at all Ticketmaster locations.

VIP Gold Passes will be available exclusively through monolithfestival.com beginning this Friday, May 2, at 10 AM MST (Only 500 available!)

We will be updating the website over the course of the next few days with detailed information on hotels. lodging, tickets, afterparties, and more.

Get Ready ... It's Coming!

Matt Fecher — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:41:00 MDT

Stay tuned, over the next few weeks we will be launching a brand new website, loaded full of 2008 festival info. In the meantime, you can browse this version for information on news, festival dates, band submissions, and sponsorship. Drop your name on the mailing list to get all of the 2008 Monolith updates first!

Support Earth Hour today at 8 PM

Josh Baker — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:36:00 MDT

Today, March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour (come on, its only one hour), an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Earth Hour – Pledge Your Commitment – Its free!

Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and right here in DENVER, CO.

Join Monolith, and our partners Esurance, in supporting the fight against climate change. Set your clocks, its starts at 8 PM tonight.

View cities involved around the world
What to do when you turn off your lights

2008 Monolith Pre-Parties!

Matt Fecher — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:30:00 MDT

The Cribs UK

Ra Ra Riot at Monolith 2007

MONOLITH MADNESS with THE CRIBS (UK) and RA RA RIOT
FRIDAY, MARCH 28 @ Larimer Lounge | Denver, CO | Ages: 21 & Up Tickets only $10 Advance or $12 Day of Show!

Don’t miss the return of RA RA RIOT to Denver!

2008 Hotfreaks Schedule

Matt Fecher — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:45:00 MDT

Team Monolith will be out at SXSW in full force this year. So many great bands to see, it’s nearly impossible to stick to your schedule. We are super-stoked to see Del, The Cool Kids, Vampire Weekend, Cadence Weapon, No Age, Cloud Cult, Fleet Foxes, and Justice too name a few. Be sure to stop by the Hotfreaks Day Party, where we will be hanging for the better part of Friday and Saturday. The full schedule is posted below. The shows are free, but you need to RSVP to get in. See you in Austin.

MONOLITH Announces Austin Parties

Matt Fecher — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:00:00 MST

Monolith has partnered with those ultra-cool blog kids, THE HOT FREAKS, for a swanky blowout…Austin, TX style! The 2008 Hot Freaks event will span two days, 3 stages and feature over 30 bands. The show is free, but you have to RSVP to get on the list.

RSVP NOW

Date: March 14 & 15 – 12pm – 6pm each day
Venue: Mohawk & Club DeVille (3 stages)

VIEW THE SCHEDULE

DJ’s Between Sets: DJ Amplive, Kevin Barnes (Of Montreal), The Hood Internet

RSVP HERE

Sponsored by: WOXY.com, GigBot.net, Insound, Zazzle, Sims, 91.7 Koop