Concerts

Fucked Up frontman Damian Abraham loves vinyl. And Denver. When we last spoke with him about a year ago, he sang the praises of bygone Denver punk bands like the Frantix and Bum Kon, an act he also namedropped in a Spin article. “I wish I could just be satisfied…

If the scent of fresh vinyl in the morning turns you on, then chances are you’re already aware that tomorrow is Record Store Day. for the rest of you, consider this a public service announcement. Starting at various times across the state on Saturday, April 17th, independent record shops are…

Pioneers of grindcore in Colorado from 1990 to 1996, Pueblo’s Fanatics inspired a generation of hardcore kids with their fun, impassioned live shows and clever, socially conscious lyrics. The band’s sole full-length album, 1994’s Better Than Fried Baloney, is a classic of Colorado punk rock filled with thoughtful, introspective songs…

Last year, the Bronx created a record that, without a doubt, is the best mariachi album of all time from musicians who also play in a Los Angeles-based hardcore punk band. Under the guise of Mariachi El Bronx, vocalist Matt Caughthran and his cohorts recorded eleven mariachi masterpieces devoid of…

It will be hard to top last summer, when Phoenix unofficially took the mantle of the world’s house band. But Thomas Mars and company are hardly a flash in the pan: After all, the album that catapulted them to unprecedented success was their fourth studio effort. They’ve been doing this…

With the release of 2009’s It’s Frightening, White Rabbits took a darker turn in its musical path, with songs about uncertainty and human frailty. Even though the music was moodier, the frenetic energy of the Rabbits remained firmly in place, as evidenced by their fiery and forceful performances. Sometimes lumped…

With Sigur Rós taking a break while some of its members start families, frontman Jón Thor “Jónsi” Birgisson decided to use the downtime to release an up album. Aptly titled Go, the disc is a delicate, earthy, orchestral marriage of spring-like warmth and Birgisson’s fluttering voice; as such, it’s a…

Opening track “Harvest of the West” has the kind of blue-eyed soul sound favored by English bands of the early ’80s — the kind that is clearly written to be catchy and poppy but with an underlying element of darkness and sharply observed commentary. “The Film Society Is Watching Me”…

Holley 750 has played South by Southwest, toured with the Supersuckers and released a split CD with punk legend Antiseen. So why don’t they get more props in the local scene? For starters, they’re not exactly trying to spoon-feed their music to the masses. The band’s latest full-length, Prison Rules,…

The Lumineers recently transplanted from Brooklyn to Denver, but don’t let that inform your opinions. Wesley and Jeremiah do not sound like the wave-catching hipsters associated with New York’s hippest borough. No, these two sound honest and unadorned. Their self-titled EP is seven songs of what we’re going to call…

Remember the late ’80s, when indistinguishable second-tier acts with names like Hurricane, Steelheart and Southgang walked the earth? Their stock-in-trade was power ballads, and their prettier, more polished brand of metal made the ladies swoon. Fittingly, their sound was reflected in their image: The dudes were pretty but not dolled…

Akufen’s 2002 debut album, My Way, was one of those records that just seemed to stand alone, unique and perfect. The microhouse sound championed on the disc was deep and technical without being over-intellectualized. The use of microsecond snippets of sound, chopped up and shaped into shuffling, swinging house music…

From romance and politics to UFOs and God, songwriters cite all kinds of inspiration for their music. Hunter Dragon, though, brings a far more fundamental influence to bear on his quirky, head-scrambling new album, Weight & Measure. “I was settling down for the first time in a long while,” he…

Julian Casablancas has spent a career trying to catch up with his band’s first album. That band would be the Strokes, and the album would be This Is It. And with the end-of-the-decade lists pouring in from everyone with an opinion, Casablancas just got about a thousand reminders that his…

As far as power trios go, it doesn’t get more mighty than Them Crooked Vultures, made up of Led Zeppelin’s bassist, Nirvana’s drummer and the Queens of the Stone Age’s frontman. It’s every bit as heavy as you’d think. Soon after John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme met…

When Soda Jerk Presents started booking punk and hardcore shows in 1997, its main venue was Club 156, on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, which had a capacity of just 157. The company, which is headed by Mike Barsch, soon started booking shows at the Raven and then…

Okay, so I’m not sure why you, me or anyone else, frankly, would remotely give a crap — or ahem, a Ratt’s ass, if you will — but Ratt evidently has a new album out. It’s called Infestation (of course it is), and for whatever reason (ennui? morbid curiousity?), I’m…

This year’s Westword Music Showcase lineup is now officially complete with the addition of Tickle Me Pink — well, at least in terms of the main stage acts. In case you’ve missed it — not sure how that’s possible, exactly, as we’ve been talking this bad boy up like no…

Major Lazer, Rusko, MTHDS and Zeno played the Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom last night. Aaron Thackeray was on hand for the festivities. See his photos on the slideshow page…

The television-show-music montage made its debut underneath a radar that no amount of research can seem to muster up. Although the montage’s early use in film is evident, the end-of-a-TV-show montage seems to have slipped into the cultural brainstem without leaving a mark at the beginning…