Concerts

From bedroom recordings to Target commercials, Portlandian quartet Starfucker has had an interesting trip up the pop-culture ladder. In a perfect world, the group’s catchy hook-producing capabilities would make it a Top 40 shoo-in. But perhaps there’s something too deliberate in the act’s chosen moniker. A handful of earlier name…

Even for Bob Dylan’s taste, America has always put a little too much faith in Bob Dylan. A generational spokesman? A civil-rights leader? A prophet? Those are some high expectations of fucking Mahatma Gandhi, let alone an old folksinger. So it’s no surprise that people have been freaking out about…

Headed up by singer Heather Larrabee and Flobots producer Kyle Jones, the Love Royale whips up some of the finest electro-soul in these parts. On Love Letters, the first of three long-form EPs, the group lays down a number of tracks that provide an ideal soundtrack for getting to, er,…

Contrary to popular belief, marijuana was not discovered in the 1960s by hippies. Back in the ’20s and ’30s, vipers were getting mellow by smoking jive — and if none of that terminology sounds familiar, you clearly missed BurlyCute’s Reefer Mania show last year. But never fear: Burlesque emcee/madam Cora…

This record hurts. It hurts because just when it seems like the Microdots realize the power in their dub-like rhythmic variations, Orkid turns on itself. Going from the attractive and dirty basement shakiness of “Crazy Maraca” to a tawdry slow drip like “Tangerine” seems unfair — safe, even. The quartet…

It should come as no surprise that this band did a cover of Uriah Heep’s classic “Easy Livin'” from, appropriately enough, 1972’s Demons and Wizards. What is surprising is that Space in Time’s version is superior to W.A.S.P.’s 1986 take on the same song. Sure, this collection of tunes might…

Styles Davis (aka Noah Parman) has been an integral part of the musical and cultural landscapes of this city for several years, so it’s no wonder that his DJ sets get so many asses shaking on the dance floor. Davis began his career behind the decks in the late ’90s,…

Not since the emergence of the Game on the national hip-hop scene has Los Angeles had such a promising new rapper as Nipsey Hussle. The onetime member of the notorious Rolling Sixty Crips from the Crenshaw and Slauson neighborhood of L.A. has steadily gained attention over the past couple of…

Sonic Bloom has had several homes since its inception in 2006. Now, just in time for its sixth-year anniversary, the Cervantes’-sponsored electronic music festival has found a dream location in Georgetown, at a place called Shadows Ranch. We talked with festival organizers Jami Janover and Scott Morrill to get the…

Just one of the many acts birthed in the last half-decade thanks to YouTube, thirteen-year-old Greyson Chance — due at the Gothic Theatre tonight with Cody Simpson and Camryn — could still be considered a bit of an anomaly in his own right. Unlike his pop contemporaries, the ‘tween’s adoration…

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE The Architects • Neon Trees 04.09.11 | Fillmore Auditorium Walking into the Fillmore, I was greeted by a writhing sea of wildly dressed teenagers and hundreds of their parents awkwardly trying to fit in while performing chaperone duty. Seeing scads of girls holding up homemade ‘Happy Birthday”…

METHOD MAN & REDMAN With Dj Cavem and MTHDS City Hall | 4/9/11 City Hall’s amphitheater stood under a cloud of smoke last night for the finale of a three-night stay in Colorado for Method Man and Redman. Openers Dj Cavem and the MTHDS were given the opportunity to prime…

ARCADE FIRE With Local Natives 04.09.11 | 1STBANK Center View Arcade Fire photo slide show The trailer for the 1979 film Over the Edge, which featured a fourteen-year-old Matt Dillon in his film debut, played on the screen behind the stage at 1STBANK Center just before Arcade Fire came on…

BEATS ANTIQUE Inspired Flight • the Tailor 04.08.11 | Boulder Theater Beats Antique sold out of tickets for the Boulder Theater up to the very last minute. Whether everyone showed up for the music or the belly dancing, it’s a safe bet that the venue full of gypsies, scenesters, dancers,…

HELLBOUND GLORY 04.08.11 | Pete’s Monkey Bar There’s a time and place for kick-ass country music, and Pete’s Monkey Bar was the place to hear it last night…

Bring on the dirty for Friday night! And by dirty, we mean dirtybird label’s own Claude Von Stroke and J. Philip getting down at the Gothic tonight night. Get your minimal house & techno fix — also warming up is Denver’s own Bones. ($25 at the door, presales on Ticketmaster,…

Last night, after kicking it at the Red Bull Thre3Style competition at the Boulder Theater, (which DJ Vajra won, by the way) we decided to kill two birds with one Boulder, if you will, and headed down to the Fox Theater where Red Man and Method Man were getting underway…

RED BULL THR3STYLE TOURNAMENT 04.07.11 | Boulder Theater Last night at the Boulder Theater, the Red Bull Thre3Style tournament was live and absolutely direct. Beyond the blazing marquis outside and the multi-Mini Coopers with the gigantic Red Bull attachment, the energy was electric and the competition was stiff. Many came,…

Philadelphia’s Ryat (due tonight at Rhinoceropolis) started as a solo project for multi-instrumentalist avant-garde songwriter Christina Ryat before Tim Conley joined the sonic adventure that is making music in this unit. With both Ryat and Conley benefiting from backgrounds in improvisational and experimental music, their collaboration has produced a richly…

In a music world of blog-hyped bands, Internet sensationalism and an over-commitment to the next big thing, Boldtype flourishes through the idea that there will always be a need for fast, raw and rowdy three-chord rock. Touring with Guttermouth and surviving over a decade together, the local act — due…

Tonight when the clock strikes midnight, you should expect calamity, destruction and famine to sweep the nation, because word on the street says the government is shutting down. Word to Chicken Little: A bunch of awful things are supposed to happen…we think. They don’t pay us the big bucks to…