The ten best concerts of the week: Nov. 19-23

Another weekend in the books, another week ahead. But oh what a kickass week this one will be. For starters, not only will it be abbreviated for most of us, thanks to the annual Tryptophan-filled holiday devoted to overeating and football, but next to perhaps New Year’s Eve, but this…

Japandroids at Bluebird Theater, 11/18/12

JAPANDROIDS @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/18/12 Brian King said that while he and David Prowse had had a blast at the Larimer Lounge this past June, they were going to do even better tonight he declared. As promised, the pair proceeded to do just that with every single one of…

Gramatik at the Fillmore Auditorium, 11/17/12

GRAMATIK @ FILLMORE AUDITORIUM | 11/17/12 Perched atop a primitively painted motherboard graphic, flanked by several columns, Gramatik and guitarist F.A.Q. towered over the Fillmore in the midst of “The Coil,” as Gramatik’s colossal new setup has been appropriately dubbed. Framed by three tesla-coil looking structures that were triggered to…

Woven Hand at The Oriental Theater, 11/16/12

WOVEN HAND @ ORIENTAL THEATER | 11/16/12 Shrouded in a moderate haze of fog colored by lights, Woven Hand took the stage as a trio, sounding a bit edgier than in times past. Delay and reverb on Chuck French’s bass formed whirlpools of low end around David Eugene Edwards, who…

Nas & Lauryn Hill at the Fillmore, 11/16/12

NAS & LAURYN HILL @ FILLMORE AUDITORIUM | 11/17/12 Bright white spotlights behind the band are pointed back out at the crowd illuminating a field of hands raised in the air, the video screen is covered with footage of glittering, metallic confetti, and Nas is ripping through a triumphant version…

The ten best concerts this weekend: Nov. 16-18

Aw yeah! It’s Friday! TGIF and all that. Ready to rock and pop the top of a few colds ones? Too early to start thinking about cold ones? You just barely finished your coffee? Pffth! In the words of Mr. Jackson, it’s five o’clock somewhere. Anyhow, yeah, the weekend. Brace…

Your 2012 Denver #WebAwards music winners

We came. We saw. We tweeted. Last night, Westword hosted the third annual Denver Web Awards, our celebration of Denver’s greatest digital minds. In September, we put out a call for you, dear readers, to nominate your favorite online projects, and a team at Westword spent more than a month…

Swallow Hill set to open new campus at Lowry

Swallow Hill Music is expanding. This spring, the esteemed non-profit music association, a veritable Denver institution after a more than three decade-long existence, is planning to open up a new campus in Lowry. According to a release from Swallow Hill Project & Publicity Manager Lindsay Taylor, the new 3,600 square…

Jackson Browne at the Paramount, 11/15/12

JACKSON BROWNE @ PARAMOUNT THEATRE | 11/15/12 Very early into his set at the Paramount last night, Jackson Browne thanked the capacity crowd for putting up with the video cameras stationed in the balcony, at the exits and on the stage. A live concert special for AXS TV was being…

Asher Roth at Cervantes’, 11/14/12

ASHER ROTH @ CERVANTES’ OTHER SIDE | 11/14/12 The key word for the Asher Roth show was “community.” In fact, it’s almost like it wasn’t the Asher Roth show at all. When he wasn’t off the stage, deep into the frenzied crowd, the crowd was up on the stage with…

Roniit brings her moody electro-pop to the hi-dive

If melodramatic anime movies featuring star-crossed lovers had good soundtracks for a change, they would probably sound a lot like what Roniit Alkayam has been doing for the past couple of years. Performing as Roniit (due this Friday, November 16, at the hi-dive) with the assistance of Eric Brown on…

Earth

Founded in 1989 by Dylan Carlson, Earth took its name from the original moniker of Black Sabbath. And that’s entirely appropriate, seeing as how Earth is one of the pioneers of droning doom metal. Saint Vitus and Sleep were a direct influence on stoner rock, but Earth was a primary…

Nas and Lauryn Hill

Nas and Lauryn Hill on tour together has to be the hip-hop equivalent of the sentiment expressed by the first person to ever combine chocolate and peanut butter: How did this not already exist? Each a legend in his/her own right — Nas’s Illmatic and Ms. Hill’s The Miseducation of…

Titus Andronicus

More than three decades ago, rock and roll stood on the cusp of two possible futures: Would it follow the path set out by punk, with its abrasive roar and cut-to-the-bone simplicity, or would it follow the path of Springsteen and his ilk, embracing nuanced singer-songwriter rock that appealed to…

Dethklok

Avid viewers of Cartoon Network’s late-night Adult Swim programming probably know all about Metalocalypse. The show first aired in 2006 as a showcase for the absurdist antics of the band Dethklok, a death-metal band of mythic proportions whose revenues make it the seventh-largest economy on Earth. The music resides somewhere…

The Hollyfelds

For an album that sounds endearing from the start, the songs here are steeped in feisty dissatisfaction and heartache. Without harking back to a specific era of country music — a very welcome break from the current era, which tends to draw too much on the past — the Hollyfelds…

Beats Noir

With last year’s 13 Tracks From the Dark Side of the Beat, Beats Noir deftly proved it could use hip-hop as a framework to build on while adding in jazz elements to augment the groove. Started by the classically trained Paul Mullikin, who serves as the group’s MC and also…

Men in Burka

Fear is on the menu on the new Men in Burka album, War/Magic. But while themes of anxiety and trepidation are familiar territory in instrumental music, there is something inherently authentic about this release. Traditional Middle Eastern aesthetics are filtered through modern beats and compounded with samples of machine guns…