Critic’s Choice: School Knights, May 27 at the Fox Theatre

If you read the act’s self-penned bio, it sounds like School Knights was born out of two guys hijacking an established band. The truth of that story may never be known. But what is known is that drummer Zack Roif and guitarist Michael Stein don’t seem to overthink the music…

Old 97’s

It’s virtually impossible to utter the words “alt-country” without mentioning Old 97’s. It’s hard to say who was first, but Old 97’s were clearly at the forefront of the movement that managed to revive the rock-infused country of the ’60s while imparting it with a DIY aesthetic. Eighteen years later,…

Janelle MonÁe

Although she got her start in her home town of Kansas City, Kansas, Janelle Monáe gained a much wider audience after she relocated to Atlanta. There she met OutKast’s Big Boi and struck up a mutually beneficial creative friendship. In the wake of the release of her inventive 2010 recording,…

Yeasayer

Yeasayer likes to float between the lines of genre convention enough that its music is often mischaracterized as “experimental.” In some respects, it’s true — the group does sound different from other bands — but when it comes down to it, Yeasayer is a pop act making music for people…

Day-Glo Abortions

GG Allin gets most of the cred for being the most offensive punk-rocker of all time. But the scum-rock crown could probably now be claimed, at least lyrically, by British Columbia hardcore crossover act Day-Glo Abortions. In trouble with the law for the lyrical content of their songs as well…

Why does Katy Perry hate carnations so much?

It’s been a tough week for Katy Perry. First off, there’s the upcoming release of her mother’s memoir, which her father told Star magazine last week “has caused quite a bit of tension.” That would be because Katy Perry’s mom is an evangelical Christian who would not let Katy Perry…

CD review: Be the Ant

Remember when you were in high school, and your friends were in that weird funk-rock crossover band? They played, like, every weekend, and even though the band wasn’t really your thing, they were good at what they did, so you went to their shows? Be the Ant could be that…

Lion SoulJahs

One of the state’s top reggae acts, Lion SoulJahs have been spreading their conscious roots reggae and dancehall tunes around these parts for years, opening for legends like the Wailers, Jimmy Cliff and Burning Spear, as well as backing up Ky-Mani Marley and Frankie Paul. Zion Bound is one of…

Eyes & Ears/Snake Mountain

Instead of appropriating an early-punk-rock singles aesthetic, these bands apparently decided to go further back and dispense with the artwork entirely for a visual result akin to an old garage-rock 45. Which is fitting, considering that the nervy power pop of “I Buried My Heart Under Bar Bar (Then Burned…

Amanda Hawkins

Jane Doed is the “pierced, badass bitch” alter ego of Della frontwoman Amanda Hawkins, who makes her presence known — and then some — on her solo debut. Straight away, the disc’s most captivating feature is Hawkins’s voice. Her vocals nearly sear with pitch perfection, and when it comes to…

Big Boi and Rusko join the Disco Biscuits for Bisco Inferno

Kicking off Memorial Day weekend in Colorado for the third year in a row, the Disco Biscuits will once again set the Mile High City on fire with two back-to-back shows at the Ogden, culminating at Red Rocks with their annual Bisco Inferno. Nearly two decades into their career, the…

Disco Biscuits open pop-up store on Broadway

In commemoration of it’s third consecutive year of Denver being the host city for their famed Bisco Inferno kick-off, the Disco Biscuits are opening up pop-up shop on south Broadway. The store will be JAM-packed with Biscuits merch and there’s a meet-and-greet with the band scheduled for tomorrow when the…

Review: The Unsane at the Marquis, 5/23/11

THE UNSANE With Holly 750 and Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire 05.23.11 | Marquis Theater With very little fanfare, The Unsane took stage and immediately played one of its best songs, “Against the Grain,” with that great doleful neck-and-body bend in the beginning that is one of…

Tonight: Orgone at the Fox Theatre

While its members had been playing together long before Orgone (playing tonight at the Fox Theatre with Liebermonster) was born, the Los Angeles funk band officially formed in 1999. Not long after its inception, the band added vocalist Fanny Franklin to augment its ornate instrumentation — the standard guitar, bass…

Tonight: Unsane at the Marquis

Once upon a time, MTV played music videos, and a whole generation was introduced to Unsane (playing the Marquis Theater tonight with Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire) through “Scrape,” the trio’s film tribute to brutal skateboard take downs. Forming in 1988 and taking a short break in…

Here’s how Denver’s using Bandcamp

When Bandcamp launched in 2008, it didn’t take long for the free service to take off. That’s partially because of the fact it offers bands a chance to have a free, minimalist website and store with nearly no setup options, and also because it offers an easy to share audio…