Concerts

THE LUMINEERS at RED ROCKS | 9/15/13 Unsurprisingly, Red Rocks erupted in cheers at the opening strains of “Ho Hey,” the Lumineers breakthrough hit. Even though the song is kind of a delicate love song whose most prominent instruments are mandolin and drums, clearly the tune has struck a massive…

PENTAGRAM at SNOWBOARD ON THE BLOCK | 9/14/13 If Pentagram’s last show in Denver in March 2010 left a bit to be desired, this performance more than made up for it. Coming out of the gates with “Treat Me Right,” Bobby Liebling and his new line-up were in fine form,…

A few years back, Chipotle premiered Back to the Start, a two-and-a-half minute animated short. The evocative clip, which focuses on the practice of factory farming and the necessity of a sustainable farming system, was imbued with an underlying sense of poignancy thanks to Willie Nelson’s stirring version of the…

TUES | THE NATIONAL/LOCAL NATIVES at RED ROCKS | 9/17/13 After finishing their tour in support of 2010’s High Violet, the members of the National didn’t have any immediate plans to record again. But guitarist Aaron Dessner, whose daughter had just been born, ended up with a lot of time…

The Monkey Barrel, a new bar and live music venue being opened by Rock-a-Billies owner Jimmy Nigg, was slated to open last weekend. We’ve just got word that the opening has been pushed back to sometime in October due to construction delays. See also: The Monkey Barrel set to open…

The third annual edition of the Great American Techno Festival is going down this weekend, and it features a slew of top-notch talent, including Lusine, Jeff Mills, Ctrl_Alt_Dlt and Brendon Moeller (check out the full lineup if you haven’t already). We recently spoke with all four of those acts. Keep…

CODY CHESNUTT at HI-DIVE | 9/12/13 Between the chill of an autumn-like evening in Denver, and the soggy state of south Broadway, you couldn’t have picked a better night for Cody ChesnuTT to arrive in the Mile High City and anoint us with his particular brand of soul. ChesnuTT left…

SAT & SUN | THE LUMINEERS at RED ROCKS | 9/14-9/15 Last summer the Lumineers played Red Rocks for the first time, opening for Cake. And that was just a few months after playing the Bluebird Theater for the first time. What a difference a year makes. Thanks to the…

DRUMCELL/GREAT AMERICAN TECHNO FESTIVAL | FRI & SAT, 9/13-9/14 When it comes to hard, dark, pulsing techno, Droid Behavior is one of the best labels out there, and the Great American Techno Festival will fill your need for some gritty underground sounds this weekend. The main festival takes place Friday,…

Miss your chance to snag some tickets for this weekend’s sold-out Lumineers shows at Red Rocks (the first night for Channel 93.3’s Big Gig, or the band’s tour sendoff the second night)? There, there. It’ll be alright. We’ve got some news to make you feel better. What’s that? Oh, no,…

Brendon Moeller was born in South Africa but moved to New York after reading about all the great early wave of electronic music artists that emerged out of the late ’80s industrial, experimental electronic and house music worlds. Moeller’s natural curiosity and drive has lead him to exploring a plethora…

Every band is, to some degree, essentially a mask of theatrics in which you play a character that is not really yourself. But for Denver’s Euro-trash, synth-dance duo, Total Ghost, the act is one hundred percent comedic lies. Chön and Biktor, a pair of rude, vain, indulgent citizens of Berlin…

“‘Razor Blades & Sunshine’ is the name of a song I wrote in 2009,” says Marie Litton about the title track of the new Lil Thunder album. “I was having a really rough time. I felt like it was one of those songs that was like, ‘Fuck my life. I…

After finishing their tour in support of 2010’s High Violet, the members of the National didn’t have any immediate plans to record again. But guitarist Aaron Dessner, whose daughter had just been born, ended up with a lot of time on his hands. He began writing songs in his backyard…

Rob Drabkin has made impressive creative strides in the past few years, and the nine tracks on his new record show just how far he’s come. With earnestness and originality, Drabkin thrives within stylistic excursions that range from driving folk rock to understated experiments with classical musicians. His powerful vocals…

A psychotherapist by day, Boulder-based singer-songwriter Jeremy Dion also knows a few things about penning heartfelt slices of Americana. On Golden Some Day, the followup to his 2008 debut full-length, Finally, he takes a few vocal cues from David Gray, especially on the relaxed title track, the sprawling ballad “Legend…

How do you classify Potcheen’s Take No Prisoners? One minute it’s Irish punk, the next it’s ska, then bluegrass and so on. It’s an experience and an adventure into various musical styles — some executed better than others, but all executed well enough. Certainly the most distinguishing feature of Potcheen’s…

The Gem in I is a short concept project from Mane Rok, InkLine and Ichiban, dedicated to the zodiac sign under which they were all born. Whether or not you buy into astrology, the shared chemistry is clear from the beginning track, “Young Guns,” on which all three put forth…

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE @ OGDEN THEATRE | 9/9/13 There were some “gremlins” last night that plagued the stage for Animal Collective at the Ogden, but it didn’t hamper the performance. If anything, it heightened it. In one moment of perfect synergy during “My Girls,” the power dropped out for one of…

TITWRENCH 2013 at GLOB | 9/6/13 As if embodying a bit of the spirit of the event, Dangerous Nonsense donned costumes that evoked Russian punk band Pussy Riot. And like the latter, the former outfit performs with an intensity that elevates what some might see as pure theatrics. But then…