This experimental pop duo’s debut EP begins with the lo-fi indie rock of “Circus.” Frayed but controlled guitar riffing and just-off-melodic harmonies give the song a slightly emotionally ragged feel to match the lyrics. “Haircut” introduces vintage keyboard sounds into the band’s palette; its freewheeling dynamics are reminiscent of Matt…

At Denver Does Denver, some of the most talented and interesting musical projects in town will do an entire cover set of material by another Denver band or songwriter. With at least two dozen bands playing on four stages in two venues half a block apart (Old Curtis St. Bar…

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 The Boulder Theater, Boulder Better Than: Most shows going through Boulder these days. Brooklyn’s Black Dice opened this show in what has lately become their typical fashion. Long gone, I suppose, were the harsh, brutally abrasive textures of old, replaced by something more, well, musical. Nonetheless,…

Since the 1967 release of Songs of Leonard Cohen, this widely admired songwriter has become synonymous with the concept of cool like few others since Miles Davis. More a prolific poet than jazz/folk songwriter, Cohen’s inimitable voice really does sound like it’s coming from someone who understands the rough times…

It doesn’t seem possible that anyone could put a new spin on the Americana thing, but with this latest offering from Adam Adam, that notion can be put to rest. Part folk, part Americana and part experimental lo-fi, these three songs explore new territories in each. Recalling the bleakest, most…

In an era when we’ve all been hit over the head once too often with pop punk, a band like the Fire Drills (due at Bender’s Tavern on Saturday, May 30) can superficially sound like a continuation of that sort of thing. Except with this band, the most cursory of…

Iwrestledabearonce, Human Abstract and Vanna Friday, May 22, 2009 Marquis Theater Better Than: A full-on emocore show. Human Abstract started the show off with a blend of death metal and proggy screamo. Singer Nathan Ells switched between the death metal growl and higher-register distorted screamo vocals seamlessly. For the most…

Although the Omens still show a strong Cynics influence here, there are marked departures from the formula. For one, this is probably the best-sounding work in which singer Michael Daboll has been involved. All of the instrumentation has beautifully orchestrated separation, allowing the songs to breathe more while coming together…

Death Vessel is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based experimental folk artist Joel Thibodeau, the likes of whom we’ve heard from before. With a penchant for hushed electronic atmospherics serving as a backdrop to well-written, largely minimalist guitar melodies and earnest vocals, Thibodeau possesses a soprano singing voice that lends his introspective…

Taking its name from something crazy Gary Busey said during his short-lived television series, I’m With Busey, Iwrestledabearonce doesn’t bother fitting into a specific musical genre. On the surface, the members of this sextet from Shreveport, Louisiana, are heirs to the spastic, experimental grindcore/death-metal hybrid that was the Locust. Singer…

The latest in a long line of noteworthy bands from the unlikely creative breeding ground of Greeley, The Don’ts and Be Carefuls (due at the Meadowlark on Thursday, May 21) have been making their mark on audiences since spring 2008. Putatively a dance-punk band, these guys have gone beyond that…

With a lot of heavy rock leaning toward doomy and psychedelic, it’s refreshing to hear an EP like the Nod’s Twisted Romance, where solid, catchy hooks are favored over sludgy riffs. On the opener, “White City,” the band subverts the stoner-rock template by being putting less emphasis on doom and…

Vancouver, British Columbia, is a rich breeding ground for experimental bands of all stripes, and this act is one of that scene’s shining stars. Listening to Modern Creatures is not unlike watching an especially entrancing but unfamiliar Edgar Allan Poe movie on a TV station with snowy reception: Distorted, grittily…

Though very young, Louise Harman, performing under the moniker Lady Sovereign, has already made a mark for herself and broken unspoken barriers; in the male-dominated world of grime, she’s the genre’s most high-profile female MC, and she was also the first non-American female artist to be signed by Def Jam…

Anyone looking for a more sanitized version of pop music would do well to steer clear of the bands on the Siltbreeze label. In the world of lo-fi indie rock, the dirty, distorted aesthetic of Siltbreeze bands like Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit exert a strong influence. And that’s…

Napalm Death, Coliseum, Toxic Holocaust and KataklysmSaturday, May 9, 2009Marquis Theater, DenverBetter Than: A straightforward metal show.The last time I saw Coliseum, the band had played at a warehouse space with Motheater. For this show, even though it was a more conventional setting, these guys from Kentucky still played an…

“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 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…

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…

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…

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…