Tonight: Katy Perry at 1st Bank Center

Katy Perry (performing tonight at 1STBANK Center with Robyn and DJ Skeet Skeet) truly needs no introduction. Whether you’re seven or seventy, you known Perry’s glossy image from somewhere in pop culture — her music is everywhere, and she can be caught on everything from infomercials to MTV. The first…

Critic’s Choice: The Dirty Lookers, July 31 at Wax Trax

With the ebb and flow of bands and styles in any musical community, it’s easy to forget or overlook anyone involved in an area of a scene you don’t know. Pam Puente was one-third of the punk-rock band Double-Barreled Slingshots last decade. Even if you weren’t really into the group,…

Cass McCombs

Cass McCombs is a weird guy. The kind of guy you’d expect to find huddled in the corner at a party, bristling at social interaction. He’s a loner, but a self-inflicted one, choosing to live in a world of his own making rather than the one he finds himself in…

The Coathangers

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the Coathangers didn’t set out to be torchbearers for any movement — unless mixing some sassy attitude with a healthy sense of humor counts. In tried-and-true garage-rock and punk fashion, most of the members of this group were unseasoned when they formed the Coathangers, but after…

Cults

Rarely has a band with such upbeat, accessible music had its identity and origins so shrouded in mystery — initally, anyway. Cults is not, in fact, some witch-house project, or even a black-metal band, as its moniker might suggest. Instead, it’s a New York duo with a knack for post-tropical…

A Perfect Circle

Although each of Maynard James Keenan’s various projects is informed by hard rock, each is most notable for how it subverts the formula. A former art-school student, Keenan has demonstrated particular interest in music’s visual and performance aspects, and he’s been a trailblazer with everything from Tool’s distinctive videos to…

Fair fight: a death match between Tyler the Creator and Bruno Mars

Although the MTV Video Music Awards have consistently failed to represent the “dawning of a new age for America,” as predicted by Russell Brand in 2008, the nominations this year are at least mildly interesting — if, for no other reason, than the inclusion of Odd Future, those ragtag hip-hop…

Dovekins

Considering the kinetic, frenetic and contagious energy that’s a crucial part of any Dovekins concert, it’s a wonder the outfit has waited this long to release a live record. The band’s second full-length release, (A)Live, nicely captures the group’s gleeful and giddy approach to live performance while offering a slate…

The New Olds

Although the music veterans who make up the New Olds spent a fair amount of time rocking out in the ’80s and ’90s in groups like Tremblers, Damn Shambles, Aviators and Rock Advocates, their latest project, the aptly titled New Olds, finds them all cooling their jets a little. Led…

I’m a Boy

Jimmy Nasi carries a hint of Lou Reed’s clipped inflections on ‘Half of the Things’; Nasi, backed by Whitney Rerh’s vocals, gives this song a sonic depth that recalls later Big Star compositions. “For Years” starts off with a delicate but progressive guitar line that deftly shifts gears throughout to…

Human Agency

On its Bandcamp page, Human Agency is listed as playing at Red Rocks on August 13 — in the parking lot. Not sure what that means, exactly, but it’s fitting that the group is planning to be up there on that date, which — in case you’re unaware — just…

Brett Johnson CD release, July 29 at Appaloosa Grill

The underground electronica scene is booming in Denver — if you want proof, look no further than such residencies as Full Flavor Fridays, which is showcasing local talent as well as bringing in DJs like Brett Johnson from Dallas, who will be releasing his latest record (yes, that means free…

Spirit of Hip-Hop is alive and well in Denver

As you can see from the photos below, the spirit of hip-hop is alive and well in the Mile High City. Capping off the big Kingz of the Mountain Weekend, in which folks from various parts of the scene came together as one to produce separate events under the same…

George Clinton show at City Hall rescheduled

A quick heads-up if you’ve already got your tickets for George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic’s show at City Hall: The gig, originally slated for Saturday, August 13, has been rescheduled for Friday, September 16. Tickets for the original date will be honored. If you haven’t picked up your tickets yet,…

Tonight: INXS at the Ogden

INXS (performing tonight at the Ogden Theatre with Monroe Monroe) has had been down a long, triumphant road in its thirty-plus years as a band. The Australian rockers have remained a solid group — weathering the storm of their frontman Michael Hutchence’s passing in the late ’90s — making records…