On the Whiskey Bottles’ 2010 debut, Ain’t No Crime, the act showed that it had enough grit, twang and heartfelt roots to appeal to fans of both Southern-flavored alt-country and Midwestern Americana. There’s a whole lot more of that on Grandville, the band’s twelve-song followup. The group makes a strong…
Whatever size room he’s playing, there’s something about Gregory Alan Isakov’s voice — which feels like not much more than a whisper at times — and his engaging songs that demand attention. He creates an unmistakable intimacy with both. Recorded over the past year and a half on analog gear…
A lot of people in their mid-teens probably cut their teeth playing punk or surf or garage rock. The young guys in the Baltic, though, sound as though they’ve absorbed the expansive spirit and introspective sounds of post-rock bands like Sigur Rós, particularly on “Green Girl.” They don’t fill every…
Although Dustin Morris and Lauren Gale, both polished multi-instrumentalists, make up the core of Brave Song Circle, the band’s new full-length, Unconditional — marked by expansive harmonies, innovative guitar work and some impressive songwriting — sounds grander than the work of two people. Even on the record’s bare-bones acoustic tracks,…
GLOBAL DANCE FESTIVAL @ RED ROCKS | FRI-SUN, 7/19-7/21 Going strong for ten years, Global Dance Festival is the premier summer event for EDM fans. Changing things up in the past few years, Triad Dragons has expanded offerings to include acts like Beats Antique, EOTO, Big Gigantic and Empire of…
Over the past seven years, Achille Lauro has become a band that’s essentially synonymous with the Denver scene. A founding act in the Hot Congress collective, the quartet has been witness to an exciting evolution in the scene, watching fellow acts rise and fall while its own sound has evolved…
MAYHEM FESTIVAL @ FIDDLER’S GREEN | SUN, 7/7/13 Established in part by Kevin Lyman, one of the founders of the Warped Tour, this traveling showcase features a stacked lineup that caters to metal fans, with side activities for your downtime throughout the day. With a roster including acts as diverse…
MAC MILLER @ OGDEN THEATRE | TUES, 7/30/13 Following in the footsteps of fellow Pittsburgh native and Taylor Allderdice graduate Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller is well known for making feel-good music. His breakout mixtape K.I.D.S. (Kickin’ Incredibly Dope Shit), an homage to the notably dark Larry Clark film, and followup…
GLENN TAYLOR ORCHESTRA @ DAZZLE | TUE., 7/23/13 Rarely is the pedal steel used outside of country music, but Glenn Taylor is one of the few who takes the instrument to completely different places, especially when he’s playing with folks like Ron Miles or Matt Skellenger. While Taylor explores jazz,…
After a storied run that saw several lineup changes over the years, including the exit and return of an original member and a name change from Yerkish to Lexigram and then back again, Yerkish has finally reached the end of the road. The outfit is reportedly ending on a good…
SHANNON & THE CLAMS @ LARIMER LOUNGE | 6/30/13 Before the last song of the Shannon and the Clams’ set, a woman up front yelled out for “Troublemaker,” inspiring Cody Blanchard to flash a smile. Turns out, that’s exactly what the band had saved for last, and that’s when Shannon…
THE AVETT BROTHERS @ RED ROCKS | FRI & SAT, 7/5-7/6 The country is awash in Americana fever as scores of rock-radio favorites dabble in the sounds of yore. Though it might be cute, many of the current banjo-picking types fail to elevate their style beyond gimmick. A huge exception…
THE OH HELLOS @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | FRI & SAT, 6/28-6/29 Last fall, the Oh Hellos released their first full-length, Through the Deep, Dark Valley. And while that album’s got some solid tunes like “The Valley” and “I Was Wrong,” it’s “Hello My Old Heart,” a track from their self-titled…
Update, 7:30 a.m. 6/28/13: After the Dreams Benefit Show at Cervantes last week, Tanner Seebaum, the sixteen-year-old boy battling brain cancer, received an invite to play during Electric Daisy Carnival at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino’s Rehab pool party in Las Vegas. And now today, Beatport has tapped the…
BLOND:ISH @ NORAD | FRI, 6/28/13 Blond:ish is proof that you can’t judge a book by its cover. DJs Anstascia and Vivie-Ann might superficially resemble a dozen interchangeable, pretty blonde club spinners who seem more invested in their hairdressers than their record collections, but the hair and funky clothing are…
Jim Norris wanted to have something that could spread the word about 3 Kings Tavern, which he co-owns, that bands could give away when they go on tour. So he and MF Ruckus frontman Aaron Howell sat down, brainstormed and chose thirteen local acts like Il Cattivo, Pitch Invasion and…
After debuting Lipgloss as an indie-rock, ’80s-underground dance night in 2001, co-founders Michael Trundle (aka boyhollow) and Tyler Jacobson slowly built their once-monthly dance night into an award-winning weekly Denver institution, one of the first to embrace the dance-punk craze of the mid-2000s. To celebrate the night’s twelfth anniversary, Trundle…
“As my career was having success and I continued to grow, I wanted to invest that success into a more challenging project,” declares Derek Vincent Smith, the mastermind producer behind Pretty Lights, about his new album, A Color Map of the Sun, due out this Tuesday. “And one day it…
Music-scene veterans Chuck Coffey and Rob Burleson talked about playing together for a long time. Coffey played in a number of local acts, including Eyes & Ears, while Burleson has been in many groups over the years, including the Symptoms and Lion Sized. For SPELLS, their eventual collaboration, Burleson suggested…
The mass proliferation of Sole continues with No Wishing Up No Settling Down. “I’m substance over style,” the MC declares, “but style’s a perk.” And while his style might not be the coolest or the smoothest, it’s aggressively present and distinctive. As for substance, Sole wastes few words: His lyrics…
Ten years ago, Mark Sundermeier started the Acoustic Circus series with some friends while he was at the Soiled Dove, and they put out a two-disc compilation that featured a variety of local acts in various genres, all playing songs in an unplugged format. Now the talent buyer at the…
Vitamins’ latest release, Motions, starts off in a buoyantly psychedelic mode with the song “No Notion of Anything Only Whatever Is What” and its all but motorik beat and urgent melody. What separates this album from the rest of the band’s fine output, though, are the transitional pieces between songs…
