Yellow Elephant

If the City of Lost Children was a real place, this group would certainly hail from there. With an aesthetic that recalls Self-Non-Self-era Cranes with elements of early Laurie Anderson, Yellow Elephant’s hypnotic drones and musique concrète/found-sound take on pop is not like much of anything today, but rather artistically…

Metro Station

Even though Metro Station has probably been able to capitalize on the fact that its lineup includes Trace Cyrus (half-brother of Miley Cyrus, star of Hannah Montana), the band’s music stands on its own merit. “Seventeen Forever,” Metro’s breakout hit, established a sound grounded in the melding of ’80s synth-flavored…

Yellow Elephant at Denver Zine Library

If the City of Lost Children was a real place, this group would certainly hail from there. With an aesthetic that recalls Self-Non-Self-era Cranes with elements of early Laurie Anderson, Yellow Elephant’s hypnotic drones and musique concrète/found-sound take on pop is not like much of anything today, but rather artistically…

Overcasters favor exhilarating atmospheres over utter starkness

With incandescent whorls of melodic sound and synapse-tingling dynamics, Overcasters are reinventing a classic sound pioneered by bands in the Paisley Underground and the British post-punk bands that favored shimmery, exhilarating atmospheres over utter starkness. Fronted by Kurt Ottaway, formerly of Tarmints and Twice Wilted, this band aims for uplifting…

Sunburned Hand of the Man

Emerging from the remnants of experimental punk outfit Shit Spangled Banner, Sunburned Hand of the Man shambled into existence in 1997. A lot of bands refuse to be lumped into a specific genre, but this loosely affiliated group of musicians practice what they preach. Many have tried to put them…

Gata Negra at the Lion’s Lair

Many bands mining classic rock for inspiration these days sound like sonic fetishists or kitschy tongue-in-cheekers. There’s plenty of blues in Gata Negra’s rock, but to paraphrase George Carlin, singer/guitarist Whitney Rehr doesn’t just know what notes to play — she knows why they need to be played. The group…

Dimmu Borgir

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…

Yuzo Nieto & the Hand That Rocks the Dreidel

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…

Hot Robots at the hi-dive

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,…

Diplo’s helping lay the groundwork for the new international underground

Hip-hop evangelist, entrepreneurial philanthropist, talented producer and DJ extraordinaire Diplo (aka Wesley Pentz) came to international prominence through his work with M.I.A. As a musical force for good in his own right, Diplo is helping to lay the groundwork for a new international underground movement. We caught up with him…

My Sister Outlaw at the Lion’s Lair

Formed in early 2005, My Sister Outlaw began life as the Sirens but played only one show under that name before switching to its current moniker after former Catatonic Lydia drummer Sophia Throop came on board. The group is one of the few all-female bands in Denver. But rather than…

Matthew Sweet

Early on, Matthew Sweet had the good fortune to team up with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, as well as with his sister Lynda’s band, Oh-OK. But being a sideman wasn’t really Sweet’s destiny. 1991’s Girlfriend, released at the height of the alt-rock era, made a splash with its superb songwriting, which…

Colder Than Fargo

Colder Than Fargo has never released a less than excellent record, and Gentlemen Please! is no exception. Displaying a notable level of maturity, the album is marked by songs with surprising depth and inventive textures. Deftly sidestepping subgenres, Fargo tastefully borrows from its influences — particularly on tracks such as…

No High Fives to Bullshit at Old Curtis Street

On first blush, the music these guys make sounds a whole lot like a poppier version of the melodic hardcore we’ve heard in this town for the past decade and a half-plus. One song into the band’s set, though, it dawns on you that what you’re hearing is not just…

Spontaneity is a big part of Stereolab’s approach to making music

Among the most critically acclaimed and widely known of experimental bands, Stereolab combines thoughtful social commentary with breathtakingly lush atmospheres and catchy yet visionary lounge pop. We caught up with guitarist Tim Gane in Washington, D.C., on the first leg of the band’s national tour. Westword: What ideas, musical and…

Meet two central figures in Denver’s burgeoning underground scene

Travis Egedy, who performs under the name Pictureplane, is becoming one of the more well-known figures in the underground scene, having been name-dropped by HEALTH on Pitchfork this past summer. Together with the artistically like-minded Nick Houde and Ryan Mcryhew of BDRMPPL, Egedy is releasing a split seven-inch of innovative…

Yngwie Malmsteen

As much the butt of jokes as an icon — and deservedly so on both counts — Yngwie Malmsteen burst into the world of international music in 1984 with Rising Force. At the age of seven, Malmsteen says, he saw a documentary about the death of Jimi Hendrix and was…

Requiem in Black

Requiem in Black isn’t breaking new ground with this release, but it’s an artistic breakthrough for the band. A lot of the more recent goth and dark electronic music is completely lacking in anything human, but rather than plunge into the EBM morass, Requiem draws on more vital, older influences,…

Modern Witch at Glob Glob Glob

Mario Zoots and Kristy Fenton, the duo behind Modern Witch, are better known in the world of visual art. Just the same, on their first musical project, the two have successfully translated their artistic talent from one medium to another. In the live setting, the group seems equal parts performance…

The Stnnng

Too artsy to really fit in with the hardcore scene, Minneapolis’s the Stnnng doesn’t even bother to try. The act’s jagged energy, sweeping dynamism and fiery intensity defy easy categorization. Driving bass drones bounce off atonal guitar hysteria. As maniacal drumming kicks up whirlwinds of angular sound, vocalist Chris Besinger…

Gritch

The members of Gritch were definitely on to something titling their debut full-length The World Was Asleep… The music presented here is perfect for an inexplicably early start on an uneventful and unexpected day off, when everything feels hazy, peaceful and comfortingly dreamlike for longer than you have any right…

Amicable Splits at the Skylark

In an era when most punk rock is connect-the-dots, the Amicable Splits stand out with a sound that borrows from the raw and shredded aesthetic of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks or the early songs of the Slits. With rhythms that recall late-’80s Seattle bands and guitar progressions that follow…