Review: Bill Callahan at the Oriental, 11/25/13

BILL CALLAHAN at ORIENTAL THEATER | 11/25/12 If you show up to a Bill Callahan show expecting a whiskey-soaked rager, you shall be disappointed. Last night’s gig at the Oriental was proof positive of that. The audience took their seats, and Callahan — standing near the back of the stage,…

Review: Black Joe Lewis at Bluebird, 11/25/13

BLACK JOE LEWIS at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/25/13 Last night’s Black Joe Lewis show at Bluebird showed that the garage heavy sound all over the band’s latest release, Electric Slave, sounds incredible live and has really rejuvenated old hits. Now that the group has dropped “and the Honeybears” from its…

The best concerts to see in Denver this week

TUES | POLICA at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/26/13 Polica, which hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota, features former Roma di Luna vocalist Channy Leaneagh, Ryan Olson of Gayngs fame, a pair of drummers, Ben Ivascu and Drew Christopherson and bassist Chris Bierden. Formed in the summer of 2011, the act came together…

Review: Cat Power at Gothic Theatre, 11/23/13

CAT POWER at GOTHIC THEATRE | 11/23/12 It was somewhere around an hour between the end of opener Nico Turner’s set and the beginning of the Cat Power set. By the time Chan Marshall took the stage, some people seemed to be getting restless. Marshall more than made up for…

Review: Morbid Angel at Bluebird, 11/22/13

MORBID ANGEL at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/22/13 Although this tour was dedicated to Morbid Angel playing its landmark third album Covenant in its entirety, the guys treated us to at least one song from each of its full-length releases. Before the band took stage, the lights went low and the…

Flowchart: Should I go see this old band or not?

It seems like every month one old-ass act or another is rolling through town. On the plus side, they’ve got all those great hits. On the minus side, they’re often past their prime. Having trouble deciding whether or not you should check them out? Lucky you, we’ve cobbled together a…

The best concerts to see in Denver this weekend

SAT | CAT POWER at GOTHIC THEATRE | 11/23/13 Cat Power is the sometimes solo, sometimes full-band, project of Chan Marshall. Although born in Atlanta, Marshall made her way to New York City in the early 1990s and became involved in the underground music scene in the Big Apple. In…

The best EDM in Denver this weekend

SAT | CATZ ‘N DOGZ at NORAD | 11/23/13 Catz ‘N Dogz has had a smashing year so far. In addition to being invited to create a BBC 1 Essential Mix, the powerhouse duo has collaborated with a mother lode of impressive acts, including Eats Everything, with whom it put…

The twelve best moments from Phish’s fall tour

There was a lot of excitement leading up to Phish’s Fall tour, as indoor Phish is a whole different monster from the summer shed extravaganzas that leave you in the sunlight for the first set; these shows get dark and dirty from the get go. The band rehearsed and wrote…

The album isn’t dying, despite what you’ve heard

“The album is dying in front of our very eyes,” Variety columnist and music business know-it-all Bob Lefsetz wrote recently based on weak LP sales, including Katy Perry’s Prism, which sold only about 220,000 copies in its first week. See also: Are mixtapes even a thing anymore? “If your plan…

In the Whale releases new music at the Larimer Lounge

In the Whale has the kind of live show that can literally turn the head of a rock star. No, really — not speaking figuratively here. Ask Slash. The Guns N’ Roses guitar god hand-picked the band to open for him after seeing footage of Eric Riley and Nate Valdez…

Skyfox

An odd duality marks Counter Counter Culture, Skyfox’s latest effort. There’s a common thread of pain that comes through in the lyrics on each of the ten tracks. Whether it’s the agony of a romance gone bad — a theme spelled out in songs like “Drug in Me (Down)” —…

Clay Cabe

For a guy who grew up learning to play Elton John songs on his autoharp while listening to the radio, Clay Cabe has quite an affinity for funk. Although his debut, 2003’s December, was an acoustic-driven folk-rock album, The Underworld is more of an eclectic effort. There are still a…