Akron/Family at Quixote’s: Turn Knobs to Freedom

Akron/Family • Bad Weather California • Widowers • Candy Claws 05.15.10 | Quixote’s True Blue Obsessive record collectors, potentially-autistic sonic geeks, students of the craft, this one’s for you. It was 1:30 in the morning and we still had a half hour to go. Akron/Family were well into its second…

Wizard Prom sets out to make your night, ahem, magical

If we were to tell you of an event with wizards and music involved, what would your gut reaction be? Pleasure? Glee? Anger? Well, prepare yourself accordingly: Wizard Prom — it’s going down next week. Get your wands in a twist this Monday, May 17 at 7 p.m. at Other…

Newhoma Camping and Music Festival lineup announced

Just when you thought it was safe to lock in your summer plans, the just announced Newhoma Camping and Music Festival might make you pull your calendar back out and reach for your red Sharpie. Georgia jam rockers Outformation, avante garde NYC jazz cats Sex Mob and local jam rock…

Are you ready to explore the D.A.R.C. Side of the Moon?

The Denver Art Rock Collective is embracing their art rock forebears in early June at D.A.R.C Side of the Moon, a tribute to the music of Pink Floyd. To pull it off, they’re making the “Collective” element of their name a reality, performing as in various configurations featuring a rotating…

Electric Daisy Carnival lineup announced

The epic dance music festival Electric Daisy Carnival will see its third year in Colorado on June 12. As big as the past two years have been, it looks like this year could be the biggest yet, pulling in top talent from the house, trance and dubstep genres, including Benny…

Suburban Home Records selling off vinyl test pressings

Want to own a piece of music history? Suburban Home Records is selling off a number of rare — essentially unique, actually — vinyl test pressings they’ve amassed over the years. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, test pressings are basically just what the name says, a limited run…

Fellow Citizens at the Larimer Louge

Colorado has certainly had its fair share of bands with sprawling memberships. Fortunately, most of those groups have brought us some of the better music of the past several years. Boulder’s Fellow Citizens (due at the Larimer Lounge on Friday, May 14) are no exception. Somehow all nine Citizens manage…

Akron/Family

Don’t let the veneer of Americana fool you: Akron/Family is a weird band. Mixing folk with a broad palette of experimental pop and avant-garde improvisation, the act’s songs are reminiscent of the darker, more hushed yet blissed-out moments of Sun City Girls. It’s not that this outfit is overtly inventive;…

Drake

Here’s a plot line no one could have predicted two years ago: Canadian teen drama star turns into singer/rapper whose most famous freestyle involves reading lines off a BlackBerry. Buoyed by his association with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, he attains such massive success that he does a single for…

Look Mexico

If melodic, anthemic pop music is a crime, then these guys are guilty as charged. Hailing from Tallahassee, Florida, Look Mexico signed to Suburban Home Records last spring on the strength of its early releases. Like Sunny Day Real Estate without the dark side, Look Mexico resembles a pop-punk band…

Leatherface

It’s safe to say that legendary punk bands like Jawbreaker and Hot Water Music wouldn’t have existed — at least not in the form we know them — without Leatherface. In fact, it was the band’s 1999 split with Hot Water that introduced many Americans to Leatherface, although the veteran…

Goodbye Timebomb

Often brutally confessional, this latest release from David McGhee features some of the songs he used to perform before he disappeared for a few years. And if they’re any indication, McGhee must have been processing more than his fair share of personal demons, crippling loss, intense confusion and social rejection…

Be the Ant

A little girl starts this two-song EP by saying, “I’m apologizing in advance for what you’re about to hear.” It’s meant to be self-deprecating, obviously, but that only makes sense if you follow it with death metal or something equally badass. Instead, Be the Ant follows it with nine minutes…

Emily Frembgen

Since drifting into Denver from parts east a couple years back, Emily Frembgen has been busy making a humble yet profound mark in town. Besides being a member of the lush indie-rock project the Language of Termites, the singer-songwriter crafts solo material that’s twice as ethereal at half the volume;…

Lion Sized

In five short, slashing songs, Lion Sized has created a classic punk-rock release for people who hate punk rock — or hate what it’s become, anyway. It’s tempting to call it post-punk as a nod to its intelligence, but that’s just because we’ve (mostly) forgotten how fucking smart punk can…