Concerts

Lots of bands try to do exactly what Hot Robots already do extremely well — that is, write solid, hooky, intelligent pop music. On stage, the group may look like an average bar band, with good equipment but perhaps weighed down by pedestrian musical inclinations. As it turns out, though,…

Crystal Antlers, EP (Touch and Go). These Long Beachers locate the art in hardcore. Their music is as wild and thrashy as anything that’s ever come out of a garage, but tracks such as “Until the Sun Dies (Part 2)” and “Vexation” feel epic, unbound, with melodramatic organ and screeching…

Over the past ten years, Equulei has quietly produced some of the most consistently challenging and innovative electronic music to ever come out of Denver. Through its Nobot label, Equulei (due at Herb’s with Les Freres Courvoisier and Mike Robot on Sunday, November 2) has issued records of its own,…

Although Larry Ochs is probably best known for his work with the Rova Saxophone Quartet during the past three decades, in recent years the avant-garde musician has released two outstanding albums — The Neon Truth and last year’s Up From Under — as the Sax & Drumming Core, with seasoned…

Americans of a certain age will likely assume that , the latest album by Mexico City’s Jaguares, is a nod to the age of vinyl singles. But the title digits actually allude to a far grimmer subject: the approximately 45 million Mexicans currently living in poverty. “I saw the news…

Since rising to international fame with the rowdy, inventive Original Pirate Material, British MC the Streets (aka Mike Skinner) has issued increasingly sincere albums. Beginning with 2004’s narrative-heavy masterpiece A Grand Don’t Come for Free, he’s turned his attention to simple, heartfelt odes and largely abandoned the drunken working-class persona…

Transitioning from overhyped buzz generator to perpetual powerhouse ain’t easy, even for figures as charismatic as the Party men, and on their third long-player, the strain shows. “Ares” is the sound of a band trying too hard, albeit with assists from some pretty interesting elements: screaming sirens, kinetic beats and…

Superficially, this album is an exercise in dusky jazz, electro-pop, world music and whatever it is Randy Newman did in the late ’70s. In spite of the various stylistic shifts, it’s unified by Nieto’s soulful vocal delivery as well as by a sense of linguistic and musical play. The opening…

It’s no insult to say that the latest from ManeLine, one of Denver’s true hip-hop mainstays, is old-school. Indeed, the refusal of Mane Rok, InkLine and DeeJay Tense to emulate the trendy production techniques of, say, Just Blaze or Danja is one of the album’s strengths. The arrangements are big…

One of the smarter acts to emerge over the past few years, Ludo is led by singer-guitarist Andrew Volpe, whose humorous, off-beat perspective fuels a dweebish power-pop panache that recalls Weezer and They Might Be Giants. Volpe’s wit guides the St. Louis quintet through pop-culture-addled paeans, from the jangly “Ode…

On their self-titled Jagjaguwar Records debut, Pat and Matt Flegel, Chris Reimer and Mike Wallace — the four men who make up Women — give rock traditionalism a modernistic update. “Black Rice,” for instance, sports a ’60s structure, replete with ethereal singing, chiming guitars and a rousing chorus. Yet the…

Named after a volcanic rock formation purported to be an entrance to the underworld, Norway’s Dimmu Borgir came out of that country’s vital black-metal movement. Starting out as a more melodic outfit, in the mid—’90s the band explored its classical sensibilities and at one point collaborated with the symphonic orchestra…

Death Set partners Johnny Siera and Beau Velasco are pros at getting fans onto the dance floor and keeping them there — not that their songs sound anything like the stuff usually heard on the nightclub scene. Take “Intermission,” from this year’s Worldwide full-length. The tune’s a collection of hammering…

Montell Jordan. Just received word that old school R&B crooner Montell Jordan and Brooklyn rapper Q Da Kid will both be on hand for the Nuggets home opener against the Lakers this Saturday night at the Pepsi Center. Q will perform “On a Mission,” his current single, before the game,…

Photo: Dave Gaslin Speaking of 3OH!3, Kam from the Chain Gang of 1974 is on the road right now with those cats and has filmed a series of vlogs from the road, which we’ve dutifully posted for your viewing pleasure after the jump. Looks like Kam’s having the time. From…

To date, 3OH!3 has reportedly sold 48,254 copies of Want, its Photo Finish Records debut, released this past July. While that may be music to the ears of local boosters, Jason Tate, the esteemed founder of AbsolutePunk.net, penned a thread on his site titled, “And to think of all the…

Photo: Sarah Cass Hot IQs have announced a new date and a revised bill commemorating the release of its forthcoming Rococo Records 7-inch. The act, which was originally slated to issue its new record on Friday, November 7 at the Bluebird, will now drop the needle on Friday, December 19,…

Illustration: Unique Ink After sixteen attempts, Centro-Matic filmed its new video for “Rat Patrol and DJs” in one continuous shot with no edits. While that in itself is beyond noteworthy and impressive, it was equally as rad to spy one of the members sporting a Magic Cyclops shirt in the…

Gonna go out on a limb here and posit that today is perhaps one of the coolest days of Heather Browne’s life. This morning, Browne and her excellent Colorado Springs-based blog, I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, was name dropped by Nick Hornby as part of his Living with Music…

Ray LaMontagne Macky Auditorium Monday, October 27, 2008 Better than: than the last time I saw him. A lot better. Nearly four years ago I saw Ray LaMontagne for the first time at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom. His impressive debut, Trouble, had been gaining a lot of traction and…

Diplo, Abe Vigoda, Telepathe and Boy 8-Bit Monday, October 27, 2008 Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Better Than: You’d expect for a Monday night show. Things were pretty grim when I first got to Cervantes’, but as the night wore on, a sizable crowd eventually showed up. For the first hour and…