Architect’s Office is a one-man avant-garde show

Since 1983, filmmaker Joel Haertling has been the sole continuous member of Architect’s Office, a groundbreaking and influential avant-garde project from Boulder. Early in the band’s life, Haertling and his collaborators worked with prominent experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage on soundtracks for Brakhage’s films, sometimes even acting in them; Haertling’s own…

Troy Pierce

Originally out of Indiana — roughly equidistant from the respective house and techno hotbeds of Chicago and Detroit — Troy Pierce has come a long way from his conservative Midwestern beginnings, establishing himself as a highly recognized, world-class DJ and producer, and as a Denver underground favorite. Pierce got his…

Ice Cube

With all of his extracurricular acting endeavors over the years, it’s easy to forget that Ice Cube was a rapper first and foremost. But a single listen to his seminal work with N.W.A or any of the classic albums that followed will remind you how dope the dude is and…

King Tuff

Kyle Thomas got his start making music while living in Brattleboro, Vermont. That’s where he wrote a great deal of his latest album, a self-titled affair released on Sub Pop earlier this summer. His most high-profile projects thus far have been the psych-folk band Feathers and his stoner-rock band, Witch,…

Purity Ring

Megan James and Corin Roddick started off in the Montreal experimental-pop band Born Gold. Around two years ago, while on tour with that outfit, Roddick started further exploring his interest in electronic music and formed Purity Ring. (All the downtime on the road gives you plenty of opportunity to either…

Rhyme Progression

“Fuck your money/Fuck your paycheck/I made negative dollars and still managed to stay fresh,” spits Rhyme Progression over a dusty-soul loop that pulses beneath this EP’s second tune, “Gat Damn Right.” While the MC brags at times, the album is far from a litany of machismo. More often, Rhyme Pro’s…

The Congress

As guitarist Scott Lane points out, the Congress’s 2010 debut EP had a sort of singer-songwriter vibe to it, with arrangements built around acoustic guitar and vocals. Whatever You Want, on the other hand, is a much more rocking effort. From the opening title track, it’s clear the trio is…

Kid Mask

Was this album recorded in a hidden corridor beneath a subway somewhere? Probably not, but that’s the vibe on these songs. Like excerpts from a bootleg of a private crime-jazz/noise show for Mustapha Mond, “Alucard of Seven Suns” sounds like it very well could have come about from a secret…

Morriconez

The vastness, loneliness and stark beauty of the American Southwest provided ample inspiration for Jeffrey Wentworth Stevens (aka Morriconez) in his previous bands, including George & Caplin and Wentworth Kersey. On Cloud of Dust, Cry of Death, he’s refined and crystallized his love affair with the high desert and the…

DJ DB headlines Jungle Alliance 1.0 at City Hall

DB (also known as DJ DB) is a drum-and-bass DJ, as might be expected from his moniker. Also known as DB Burkeman, he moved to New York City from London in 1989, well before the current explosion of electronic music hit the masses. DB was behind the hardcore breaks club…

The twenty prettiest Pretty Lights hats

Over the weekend, Colorado’s favorite flat-billed electronica maestro played a two-night run at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. We came across scores of Pretty Lights fans sporting Smith’s signature style. Continue reading to see the twenty prettiest kids rocking the twenty prettiest lids at Pretty Lights. (All photos by Britt Chester) See…

311 at Red Rocks, with Slightly Stoopid, 8/19/12

311 @ RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE | 8/19/12 When 311 made its long-awaited entrance, frontman Nick Hexum told the crowd, “We’re going to start this off like sex: nice and slow, so it lasts long” — and slow and mellow it was. As undoubtedly devoted as the fans were, the first…

The five best concerts in Colorado this week

There’s some stellar music on tap this week to look forward to no matter your flavor. The week kicks off with an absolute bang this afternoon at the Summit Music Hall with Cannibal Corpse, which headlines the Summer Slaughter tour with Between the Buried & Me, Job for a Cowboy,…

Dead Can Dance at Temple Buell, 8/19/12

DEAD CAN DANCE @ TEMPLE BUELL THEATRE | 8/19/12 See also: Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry on the trance-inducing powers of making music in 6/8 time After a mesmerizing set, Dead Can Dance came back on stage for the first encore of the night to the sounds of an organic-industrial…

Pretty Lights at Red Rocks, 8/17/12

PRETTY LIGHTS @ RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE | 8/17/12 See also: Q&A with Derek Vincent Smith of Pretty Lights Similar to the unprecedented Skrillex show at Red Rocks last week, the Pretty Lights show started with a five-minute countdown and Trentemoller’s “Take Me Into Your Skin” playing over the speakers. A…