Few would suspect that a band like the Human League — which prided itself on using no rock instruments on its first three albums — was inspired by the first wave of British glam and punk rock. Nonetheless, that’s exactly how the Sheffield-based act came into being: witnessing the evolution…

Inspired by the 1982 cult film Wild Style, DJ Krush became one of Japan’s first turntablists. Equally adept at breakbeats, trip-hop, blissed-out electronic explorations and straightahead hip-hop, Krush has been a pioneering force in the DJ scene since his days with the Krush Posse, a crew hailed as one of…

Although King for a Day (due at the Exchange Tavern on Saturday, September 9) sounds like it could come from Manchester, England, the three-piece actually hails from the unlikely environs of Broomfield, Colorado. Sharing a similar propulsive, upbeat melodicism with the kind that propelled acts like Oasis, Suede and the…

Jon Mikl Thor first came to prominence in the early ’70s as a completely unabashed impersonator of the Norse god Thor. Since then, the Canada native — whose albums are rife with, at best, second-tier epic metal that would make even the most shmaltzy of metal bands blush — has…

Few people can conjure feelings of utter despair and loneliness as authentically as Ross Etherton. His performances are emotional exorcisms of epic proportions; you can’t help but be moved by the anguished expressions on his face and the fiery tears that form in the corners of his eyes. His Red…

Zero 7 constantly gets compared to Air — which is completely understandable, especially when you hear the utterly lovely ambience that the two acts share, all blue-skied daydreams with soft lighting. Really, though, Zero 7 has more in common with the sultry trip-hop of groups such as Portishead, the Sneaker…

Willie Nelson

When Neil Keener and Chuck French of Planes Mistaken for Stars teamed up with former White Dynamite/Sparkles frontman Luke Fairchild and Handsome Bobby to form Git Some, bedlam was expected — and this debut effort doesn’t disappoint. Unlike many records from comparably passionate, dynamic bands, Yes, Have Some deftly captures…

A native of Portland, Oregon, Amy Annelle is currently wandering around the no-man’s-land that surrounds the Stapleton Development in northwest Aurora. Her nomadic tendencies have led her to a part of the city from which few would draw inspiration. There’s a sense of isolation there, though, that fuels the music…

Marching out of Newcastle, England, in the late ’70s, Venom forged a harsh and blistering, highly influential sound that inspired the melodramatic metal bands that followed. Whereas artists like Alice Cooper clearly camped up shows for fun, Venom sounded like a group of devil-worshiping maniacs. Composed of members sporting silly…

Birthed five years ago in Denver but now based in Chicago, the Lavellas are an atmospheric pop band in the best sense. Instead of taking cues from Radiohead and Coldplay, like the bulk of their peers, they draw inspiration from Catherine Wheel, Slowdive and Swervedriver. Boasting a dreamy wall of…

Dameon Merkl is a dangerously funny man with a penchant for inspired self-deprecation and Bukowski-esque aphorisms. Get him behind the mike with his band, however, and he’s as menacing and spooky as a walk through Lafayette Cemetery on a moonless summer night. Led by Merkl, Bad Luck City — made…

Anyone who grew up in the ’80s remembers the original Nintendo video-game system. Equally memorable was some of the unusual and inventive music written by programmers for the different levels in each game. With all things retro coming back into vogue in bizarre ways, it should come as no surprise…

Five years and as many releases into its existence, Supply Boy is still somewhat of an obscurity in the Mile High City, which is unfortunate in light of the act’s startlingly sophisticated musicianship and its penchant for creating smartly crafted pop songs that don’t fit neatly into any specific subgenre…

The art-damaged psychedelia perpetrated by the infamous Butthole Surfers is pretty much impossible to imitate. No one who’s seen the band live has ever been the same after experiencing the maddening sonic onslaught and disturbing projections. The Skivies (due at 15th Street Tavern this Friday, August 4, alongside Action Friend…

Get Him Eat Him is the latest purveyor of the jittery, keyboard-laden pop that will hopefully someday replace emo as the soundtrack for angsty teenagers everywhere. With so much more to say than hackneyed harangues concerning shallow love gone wrong, Get Him Eat Him’s bubbly, buoyant songs employ a refreshing…

Even though Metallica dragged thrashy speed metal into the mainstream with its “Black” album, most of the better, more imaginative practitioners of the style remained relatively obscure. While acts such as Testament, Voivod and Metal Church never became household names, their mixture of aggression, precision and obsession with the dark…

The utter conviction and stark yet fiery edges of Bright Channel’s music contrast sharply with the swirling, drifting, ethereal sound of Volplane, the previous project of Jeff Suthers and Shannon Stein. From 1997 to 1999, prior to forming Bright Channel, the duo wrote atmospheric music on par with the shoegazers…

Few artists have ventured on as varied a path as Carla Bozulich. Emerging from Los Angeles’s post-punk scene during the ’80s, Bozulich was a member of the industrial dance act Ethyl Meatplow and, later, the more famous and rootsy Geraldine Fibbers. When the latter group disbanded in the late ’90s,…

Not so long ago, Paul Fonfara brought his multi-instrumentalist brilliance to the original incarnation of DeVotchKa. In addition to his prowess on the clarinet, which he played in that band, Fonfara also applied his considerable talents to live versions of Woven Hand, Maraca 5-0 and the Denver Gentlemen. He has…

In the late ’80s, before marketing types had invented terse buzzwords such as “alternative” or “college rock” to encompass anything outside the mainstream, Concrete Blonde’s videos were played alongside those of Jane’s Addiction, Living Colour and Faith No More on shows such as MTV’s metal-centric Headbangers Ball. In 1990, the…

The members of Fissure Mystic are as DIY independent as they come, judging from their homemade CD case, which is fashioned from stapled canvas and cotton balls, with cover art glued to both sides. Based on the unique packaging, you’d almost expect the band to be some half-baked indie-pop outfit,…