At times, singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins admits, anonymity is more appealing to him than personal acclaim. “I didn’t do any singing in the first two bands I was in, and it took me a while before I had the nerve or the material I deemed worthy enough to even step onto…
“How does it feel to almost be forty?” asked the bartender at Kazmos Lounge (1381 Kalamath Street) after looking at my driver’s license. “I’ll be forty in a few months, too.” It took me a few moments to formulate a coherent sentence. “Uh, I try to not to think about…
Emerging from the rubble of experimental-rock terrorists Bangtel, Dinner With Cannibals pursues a similarly twisted musical vision. But with a name that alludes to Looney Tunes composer Raymond Scott, these Cannibals (due at the Larimer Lounge on Friday, May 8) also take a comically playful approach to their creative output…
Just like that Mexican flu took DNA from pigs, birds and people and cooked it up into a wholly new and highly infectious mix, San Francisco’s Lazer Sword has swiped bits and pieces from hip-hop, electro, drum and bass (and pretty much anything else the band could lay its hands…
Naming your band Millions of Dead Cops in the late 1970s was a risky move, but it was one that encompassed well the spirit of frontman Dave Dictor and his band. For thirty years, the outfit has been writing hilariously arch and frantic songs that slice at the hypocrisies and…
Before Napalm Death, the bracing amalgam of extreme metal, brutal hardcore and intense speed called grindcore did not exist. With the groundbreaking albums Scum and From Extinction to Obliteration, Napalm Death set a high-water mark for raw power and mind-shearing tempos. In fact, the band holds a world record for…
The prospect is more than a bit jarring: Seeing one of the founders of Ween play a show without the other seems comparable to catching a Bud Abbot routine minus Lou Costello. But Gene Ween (aka Aaron Freeman) is taking a break in Ween’s demanding live and studio schedules to…
No surprise that the Virgins, appearing with Anya Marina and Lissy Trullie, have become New York City’s latest candidate for musical celebrity. Fashion-wise, leader Donald Cumming and his mates bridge the gap between scruffy and glammy in a manner that’s apt to entrance Drew Barrymore, and while the band’s self-titled…
Anyone whose ears are still ringing from the recent My Bloody Valentine show can attest that it was one of the most mind-numbing outings to hit this city in a long time. When the Glasgow-based post-rock outfit known as Mogwai comes to town, there’s a good chance it will be…
Perhaps best known by his performing moniker, Thanksgiving, Adrian Orange has been gracing living rooms and other DIY stages for the past decade. Orange’s sound is the type of avant-folk that inspires immediate comparisons to Phil Elverum of Microphones fame, who, as it happens, has been known to perform several…
According to Nathan Weaver, guitarist for Washington-based Wolves in the Throne Room (joined on this bill by Gojira and Krallice), his band combines “Cascadian eco-spiritual awareness and the misanthropic Norwegian eruptions of the ’90s” — a description that could hardly be more pretentious. And yet, surprisingly enough, a listen to…
“Hyena Arms,” the opening track on Peña’s latest effort, Best Friends, successfully sets the tone for the entire album, with its loping rhythms and logical but ultimately unpredictable changes. Partly introspective, partly aggressive with a pall of impending menace, the all-instrumental songs found here sparkle with a certain mathiness —…
Perhaps having a short time to live makes you reach for everything you hoped to accomplish in a longer lifetime. That could explain why A Better Place is so crammed full of ideas, influences and styles over the course of its fourteen tracks. Gregory Hill and his cohorts channel the…
Less than a minute into Deadbubbles’ latest offering, Frienemies, frontman Arlo White makes it clear that his band is all about “rock and roll music.” And indeed, the Broomfield act roars off the line with some supercharged rock infused with the swagger of ’70s punk from outfits such as the…
Great recordings? Easy to review: Just use the enthusiasm the music stirs, and the words take care of themselves. Terrible albums? A snap, too, since the unpleasant feelings they produce lead naturally to anger, resentment and nasty adjectives. But the mediocre ones? Those are tough. Jeff Kingery, ClobberJaw’s main man,…
Distrakt is easily one of the top rapper/producers coming out of Colorado, and he’s slowly adding video director to that resume as well. We’ve already seen the creativity he displayed in the video for his song “Fire Escape,” and he’s shown off his video editing skills on his YouTube vlog…
As previously reported, Green Day will play its first gig in these parts in over three years when the band hits the Pepsi Center on Saturday, August 15. Tickets for that show go on sale Saturday, May 9. Some other big ticket shows, meanwhile, were announced this week, including a…
Earlier today, Denver Nuggets spin master, DJ Bedz, announced that he’s engaged in a friendly wager with the Dallas Mavericks’ DJ, Ro Parrish, over which of their respective teams will emerge victorious in the second round of the divisional playoff series. The stakes: The loser is committed to taking pictures…
As a jukebox-45 aficionado, I feel it’s part of my mission to inform the populace about strong seven-inch vinyl singles, especially when they’re available for free — and the latest entry in the Fader/Southern Comfort series qualifies on both counts. The A-side spotlights Wavves, a San Diego combo whose work…
Houses, Elin Palmer, Ian Cooke Friday, May 1, 2009 Hi-Dive Better than: Going to bed at eight because you’re mildly narcoleptic, which is what my date ended up doing (and man, she missed out) At the Hi-Dive on Friday night, someone mentioned that the lineup should have gone in reverse…
Gil Scott-Heron w/Zin Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 Fox Theatre, Boulder Better Than: The actual extended winter in America. When I got to the Fox, Zin played a set of funk and jazz mixed with soulful, hip-hop-inflected R&B. While the act sounded a bit like a jam band, with the requisite…
The Pirate Signal and Jewell Tyme Entertainment are on the other sides of the hip-hop spectrum when it comes to their respective sounds. But that didn’t stop two members from each camp from getting together to throw down on a project. Jewell Tyme’s F.O.E. and the Pirate Signal’s DJ A-What…
