Tonight: Justin Townes Earle at the Bluebird

There are too many easy, exterior angles to come at Justin Townes Earle’s work: He’s the son of Steve Earle, he was named after Townes Van Zandt, and he struggled with a serious drug addiction early in his life. There is truth in that history, which has undoubtedly contributed to…

The Solution on the move again from 3014

One of the dopest Friday night hip-hop parties in Denver is once again on the move. The Solution, now in its fourthfifth year and run by DJs Low Key and Lazy Eyez, will be leaving it’s current locale, 3014, where it set up shop last fall…

Titwrench benefit flier bleeds enough heart to win ours

Not very often are we won over by a flier that lacks the essential flier things like typography, solid design and a good color choice — but every once and a while one slips through that’s filled with so much damn heart and soul it’s impossible not to love. That’s…

Meat Beat Manifesto at Summit, 2/15/11

MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO 02.15.11 | Summit Music Hall It would be easy for any electronic artist to be incredibly boring live no matter the quality of the material. With this in mind, Jack Dangers and Benjamin Stokes of Meat Beat Manifesto make up for any possible visual shortcomings with one…

R.I.P. Rick Kulwicki

Apologies in advance for starting your day off on a downer, but we just woke up to some positively awful and heartbreaking news that pains us to pass on. In case you haven’t heard: Sadly, we’ve lost another cherished member of our local music community, as Rick Kulwicki of The…

Spools of Dark Thread making its return

Power metal fans rejoice! Spools of Dark Thread, one of Denver’s favorite on-again, off-again metal bands, led by charismatic frontman Chris Thomas (Random Friend Generator, Omniism), is back in the saddle again. Yessir. Mark your calendars. A date has been set for the act’s triumphant return: Saturday, March 12 at…

Candy Claws in Dreamland: New series to premiere in March

Fort Collins’s Candy Claws has been able to achieve international attention in large part because they have been so adept at finding creative ways to reach potential listeners. The act’s latest venture, a weekly show called Candy Claws in Dreamland that the members will shoot, edit and write the soundtrack…

Tonight: Sarah McLachlan at the Paramount

Now into its third decade, Sarah McLachlan’s career seems to be burning brighter than it has in a long time. The singer-songwriter was instrumental in bringing women to the forefront in the ’90s with her female artist-focused Lilith Fair tour, a festival that flourished at a pivotal time in popular…

Best Coast and Wavves at Fox Theatre, 2/14/11

BEST COAST With Waaves and No Joy 02.14.11 | Fox Theatre Opening the show with “Ghost Blonde,” No Joy provided the perfect blend of noisy garage rock and dream pop. The title track to the group’s debut full-length is one of its best songs and a strong introduction to the…

Blow your mind at Mind Benders

Salmineo Martin — or Big Sal, as he’s known in the professional wrestling community — built a strong reputation with Juggalo Championship Wrestling and Primo’s Hardcore Wrestling; he even went on tour with the Insane Clown Posse. But while he still spends time in the ring, he’s now grappling with…

Thrifty Astronaut, February 17 at the Meadowlark

If Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds had been born in the ’80s or ’90s, they probably would have written their songs entirely in private and recorded them on their computers before unleashing them on the public. The music of Nick Jones (performing under the Thrifty Astronaut moniker this Thursday, February…

Young the Giant

Young the Giant possesses songwriting wisdom and craft far beyond that of a band whose oldest member is only 22. The California quintet is made up of guys who started playing music at a young age and have already amassed more indie-rock cred and mainstream clout than most players who…

Off With Their Heads

Minnesota’s Off With Their Heads is not exactly redefining punk, but these dudes may be responsible for breathing life back into it — or at least one of the labels that helped shape the genre. In February 2010, the foursome signed with punk stalwart Epitaph Records, which will release the…

Dum Dum Girls

Going by the moniker “Dee Dee” these days, Kristin Gundred once fronted experimental pop band Grand Ole Party. After that band split in 2009, Dee Dee formed Dum Dum Girls and dispensed with the post-punk of her former band in favor of the kind of singing and songwriting that allows…

Deerhoof

Considering its disparate parts — spastic, nearly chaotic song dynamics with angular but wild guitar antics, asymmetrical drumming, a bass that locks in with its eccentric rhythms, and a singer who can’t really carry a tune in any conventional sense — Deerhoof shouldn’t work. And yet the act manages to…

Carmen Sandim Sextet

By the time Brazil native Carmen Sandim was seventeen, she had already won national competitions in both Brazilian jazz and classical piano. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music, she went on to win several awards for the compositional work she did for television and radio. So it’s no…

Total Ghost

Here’s the fake backstory: German pop duo Chön and Biktor have a few favorite things — notably, traveling to space, courting women in extremely ill-advised ways and making ’80s electro jamz. The actual story is that three dudes from Denver — Randy Washington (Chön), Adam Nix (Biktor) and Evan Nix…