FRI | ADAM BEYER at NORAD | 3/8/14 It’s entirely appropriate that Adam Beyer’s techno label bears the handle Drumcode, considering that the techno enthusiast was a drummer in his teenage years before turning to electronic music in 1990, when he purchased his first set of turntables. Although the Swedish…
Though Angel Olsen’s music is often dubbed folk or indie rock, it is too diverse to fit neatly into such broad categories. Whatever it’s filed under, her music, especially her latest album, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, is informed by a delicacy of feeling that allows her to channel…
Big Gigantic’s fifth studio album in as many years is a clear sign that saxophonist/producer Dominic Lalli has truly stepped into his own world of music. “Clvdbvrst” opens the album with a plethora of styles; from there, listeners are treated to an explosion of jazzy saxophone foundations framing big beats…
With a name like Dwarf Planets and cover art that depicts the sun and two planets, you might guess that the music inside the sleeve has a prog-rock or even new-age influence. But about twenty seconds into “Ice Rain,” the opening cut on this seven-song disc, it’s evident that Boulder’s…
“Soul” is obviously the key word here, and the Soul Pros have plenty of it. Anchored by A-L, a fantastic producer and DJ with a deep understanding of sound, song progression and how to blend samples, Soul’d Out also features two excellent MCs who make A-L’s beats sound even better…
Rarely have a project and album name fit their music as perfectly as Weed Problem and its self-titled release. “Noddy Drug Kits” flows with a buzzy drone that is never fully resolved but just continues to build while hazy, echoing chants undulate amid syncopated crashing guitar and drums. The sprawling…
THU | SCHOOLBOY Q at OGDEN THEATRE | 3/27 Schoolboy Q just released Oxymoron, his latest album, to general acclaim. He has embraced a style that is dark and creative, using unique but effective beats and a persona that is difficult to put a finger on. He has definitely carved…
The world’s most maligned former Disney princess is strutting down the stage, leading a platoon of dancers dressed in (more) preposterous costumes, the most preposterous of them a pair of seven-foot foam finger outfits where the dancers’ heads stick out of the knuckles. It’s a direct reference to the moment…
American Babies at the 1Up Colfax 3/4/14 In 2007, Philly-based Brothers Past frontman Tom Hamilton went back to his roots and started American Babies, a band that focuses on songcraft and takes influences from everyone from Lou Reed to the Grateful Dead. The Babies’ live shows are high-energy, with surprise…
Sat | Propagandhi at Summit Music Hall | 3/8/14 In an era where many punk bands form and release their first album less than a year after starting, Propagandhi’s development seems remarkably long. Formed in 1986, playing its first live shows in 1989, the band released its early demos a…
THU-SUN | DENVER WINTER SHOWCASE @ BAR STANDARD & NORAD | 3/6 to 3/9 When Andy Roberts moved to Colorado a few years ago, he immediately recognized the scene here as something he wanted to be a part of, which ultimately birthed the idea for the Denver Winter Showcase. Now…
Hall & Oates @ 1STBANK Center | 3/3/14 With no opening act, Daryl Hall and John Oates took the stage with their six backing musicians. Parts of this band have been together for a long time, including sax player Charles DeChant and veteran studio and touring guitarist Paul Pesco. It…
Editor’s note: Hall & Oates are now going as Daryl Hall & John Oates, because apparently that’s the way you add gravitas to a catalogue that will turn your pants pastel and put shoulder pads in whatever shirt you’re wearing if you listen long enough. Here’s the thing: They needn’t…
Pentagram @ Summit Music Hall |2/28/14 Pentagram took the stage with a spooky soundscape coming through the PA, Bobby Liebling looking like a puppet woken up from a nap and blinking. He was all but twitching to life, pulled along by invisible strings. But when Liebling took the mic, an…
FRI | ICHISAN at BAR STANDARD | 2/28/14 It’s not often that artists like Ichisan get a chance to play in this part of the world, so dance lovers in Denver should be stoked that he’s headed here. The Slovenian musician began his musical career on stringed instruments — specifically,…
FRI | PENTAGRAM at SUMMIT MUSIC HALL | 2/28/14 If you’ve seen Last Days Here, you’re familiar with the frustrating tale of Pentagram. Formed in Virginia in the early ’70s, the pioneering psychedelic metal band should have, by all accounts, realized massive worldwide fame. Instead, success evaded the outfit, thanks…
Grassroots California is easily the coolest hat company in the world. With over one-thousand designs, the company that Ryan “Ruga” Connelly started in Venice Beach, selling his hats on the boardwalk, has grown to become the most in-demand lid dealer in the world over the course of the past five…
I feel like simplicity is being strived for in the mainstream,” says Ronnie Weberg, “but we are seeing a progression into more intricate and intelligent music.” Weberg, who makes music under the name Unlimited Gravity, got his start producing hip-hop beats in high school. A shared interest in bass-driven music…
Surprisingly, spoken word is not often successfully combined with rap. On Nightdreams & Daymares, however, Bianca Mikahn does a flawless job of bridging the two. Pulling from deep wells of assonance, consonance and rhyme, Mikahn dances in the ebb and flow of Dile’s dreamy production, her free association finding and…
It’s clear that the members of We’s Us put a lot of care, attention and craft into their self-titled full-length. The evidence lies in the complex melodies, nuanced effects and layered sounds that mark each of the album’s fourteen tracks. A lengthy stretch of effects-laden guitar lines and augmented chords…
It’s fairly evident from “Jackson Town,” the opening cut on the Railsplitters’ twelve-song, self-titled debut, and tunes like “Lonesome Feeling” and “Blue Moon” that the Boulder-based quartet has a respectable handle on traditional bluegrass. But elsewhere on the disc, it’s clear that bluegrass and roots are also something of a…
On his new EP, Man Mantis demonstrates how a year or two of experimentation across a handful of singles has sharpened his creative output. Compared to the material on his last album, Cities Without Houses, the rhythm palette has been expanded, and the sense of space within arrangements has improved…
