Tonight: Brandon Flowers at the Ogden Theatre

Brandon Flowers has grown up quite a bit in the past eight or so years — vocally speaking. The Killers’ run across the mainstream radar was a mere three-album jaunt (the band is currently on hiatus), but in that short time, Flowers’ has gone from an overstated, showy rock singer…

RRIICCEE at Larimer Lounge, 11/17/10

RRIICCEE 11.17.10 | Larimer Lounge Vincent Gallo: Not an asshole. First of all, assholes, especially assholes who have starred in movies, do not play music at places like the Larimer Lounge. And they definitely don’t express gratitude when 38 people show up to watch them. There was a certain distance…

Roger Waters

Pink Floyd’s The Wall has sold over 19 million copies. In scope, sound and cultural impact, it is practically without peer in the history of American music. Its primary writer, Roger Waters, hasn’t made the cleanest of breaks from his old band: There was a nasty legal battle over the…

Boulder Acoustic Society

Boulder Acoustic Society’s sixth release takes roots music places it might not have gone before. Champion opens with “Shelter,” featuring a slow, plucky banjo and mournful, old-timey harmonies; it’s pure bluegrass until the drum kit enters the mix. “Where Have the Good Ones Gone” introduces soft piano and heavy organ…

Mach-Zehnder

This debut full-length is a collection of fairly straightforward Americana songs — that is, if your idea of straightforward Americana songs involves running into the Devil on the roads of the high plains. “Ballad From Below” embodies the half-acoustic, half-electric sound most of these tunes use as they explore the…

The Oak Creek Band

Poor and in love is a deep vein for singer-songwriter types, and the Oak Creek Band does it particularly well. The opening song on the outfit’s debut EP, “1934,” is touching and sincere, beautifully sung by Arizona natives Jenna Cunningham and Daniel Watters. The two moved to Denver in July…

The Way Low Down

The Way Low Down might employ your typical bluegrass instrumentation — mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and upright bass — and borrow a few things from the old-time music of the Appalachians, but the Denver-based quartet isn’t playing your traditional bluegrass music. The outfit, which has been together nearly a year,…

Instruments take center stage with Lil Sum’n Sum’n

Husband-and-wife team Gilly Gonzales and Lisa Wimberger have their fingers in a lot of pies. The two percussionists most often keep the beat using massive, booming drums, but their collaborative project, Lil Sum’n Sum’n, allows them to break out many of their rarer, more subtle instruments — of which there…

Action Packed Thrill Ride is coming to an end

We’ve lauded the evolution of Action Packed Thrill Ride. Turns out the band’s outgrown itself: Co-frontman Lucas Johannes tells us the record the group is currently working on will be its last. There’s still quite a bit of work to do, he reports, and they won’t release it until sometime…

Churchill needs you — and a little bit of your $$

Earlier this month, we told you about two enterprising local acts — Lonely & the Bear and Katey Laurel — who have chosen to go their own way in mustering up funding for upcoming albums. Now, Denver’s Churchill has set similar sights for the completion of of the band’s first…

Breathe Carolina’s “Mile High Christmas”

Not to be outdone by Best Coast and WAAVES, whose Christmas song for Target (“Got Something for You”) has been all the chatter around the water cooler this week, Breathe Carolina has penned a new Christmas song specifically for those of us in the Mile High City — well, sort…

Tonight: RRIICCEE at the Larimer Lounge

If you haven’t heard the work of Vincent Gallo’s rotating music collective, RRIICCEE, tonight is your night. The band — or should we say the musicians of Gallo’s choosing — has never released any music, doesn’t make videos or records of any kind, and only performs material original to the…

Stars at the Bluebird Theater canceled tonight

So, some good news and some bad news: Stars has canceled its show tonight at the Bluebird, but local support Carbon Choir is still playing — at the Larimer Lounge — and for free, no less. Refunds for the Bluebird show are available at point of sale. Stars’ cancellation is…

Filter at Summit Music Hall, 11/14/10

FILTER With Vices I Admire 11.14.10 | Summit Music Hall Filter — ‘memba them? You know, the “Hey Man Nice Shot” dudes from way back in the ’90s? Yeah, those guys. They’re still together. Evidently, they have a new album they’re touring around, which is what brought them to Summit…

Dawes at the hi-dive, 11/15/10

DAWES With Moondoggies • Romany Rye 11.15.10 | hi-dive Los Angeles’s Romany Rye started the night off and set the tone for this three-band bill. Every band brought a similar sound centered on excellent vocals. The five-piece belted out four-part harmonies about their native California in a ’70s throwback style…

Prime Element gets, ahem, prime exposure

Looks like Prime Element – the outfit formerly known as 3 the Hardway – has been getting some prime exposure since linking up with Kamikazi Airlines last month — or it’s about to, we should say. Since joining the Kamikazi roster, the group has signed a license agreement with Alli…

Tonight: Stars at the Bluebird Theater

Stars is one of those secret gem bands easily glossed over because it is part of something much bigger and seemingly more important — like Broken Social Scene, the collective/super-band Stars is connected to. This may not be the ideal situation for a band, but for fans, it’s nothing but…