September 4, 2008

We’d like to welcome photographer/journalist Mike Sherry into the Hidden Track Family to add some much needed coverage of the West Coast. For Mike’s first assignment he headed out to Morrison, Colorado for a wonderful weekend at arguably the world’s most beautiful music venue: Red Rocks.

Red Rocks never fails to amaze the eyes & ears. It’s an iconic music destination, worth planning a visit just to see your favorite act perform, and moreso with a two-day billing of closely-tied bands. This Labor Day weekend I enjoyed two nights of outstanding music and fantastic access to photograph the action. RatDog kicked things off with a subdued Help on the Way, paced too slow for my liking (Bobby stopped Jay Lane’s first tempo) but eventually the energy picked up, thanks bigtime to an infusion of Derek Trucks’ bright slide on Loser & Warren Haynes’ rascally voice on Loose Lucy. Having a guitar sparring parter certainly seemed to fire up Mark Karan, and crowd got more responsive as the evening faded into night. Chants for Not Fade Away echoing between the rocks made the air feel especially nice & warm.

READ ON for more of Mike’s thoughts and stunning photos from Red Rocks…

Traditionally, September has always been a big month for the release of new albums and September 2008 is looking finer than Sarah Palin. For this week’s B List, I’ve put together a list of the nine September releases you’ve gotta hear.

Let’s take a look…

9. Cold War Kids – Loyalty to Loyalty

One of my favorite albums of 2006 was Cowards and Robbers by the unknown at the time Cold War Kids. After seeing them steal the show at MSG last summer, where they opened for Muse, I realized these guys are the real deal: a band that produces amazing albums and bombastic live shows.

The Kids have been touring behind their latest album, Loyalty to Loyalty, and the new songs sound darker and groovier than the previous batch. Loyalty to Loyalty drops on September 23. For a taste of the new album check out the video for Something Is Not Right With Me on the Kids’ homepage.

READ ON for eight more terrific albums coming out this month…

Why are Taddy Porter futures going through the roof? Why was “bunk molly recipe” the third-most Googled term yesterday (behind Lauren Conrad and Kim Kardashian, of course)? And why can’t

The Rolling Stones iconic tongue logo is arguable the famous and recognizable in all of rock and roll. The logo which first appeared on the band’s Sticky Fingers album, and

Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog recently visited the Relix office to tape a Cold Turkey podcast on the roof deck, when the fellas became enchanted with the roof’s electrical room/boiler. Dr. Dog