Concerts

On their self-titled LP, the Lords deliver a potent, sludgy blend of heavy, super-fuzzy riffs, a thundering rhythm section with just a hint of swing and throaty, passionate vocals that fall somewhere between Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots. It’s a sound that would have been huge fifteen years…

This debut album from Devil Got Five reveals that there’s more to the band’s songwriting than being couched in the realm of metal. The tastefully rapid changes of pace and melodic breakdowns in “This Is Now” sound like a melding of speed metal and a more progressive aesthetic. “Can’t Abide”…

Le Loup’s 2007’s debut, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly, was essentially a Sam Simkoff solo project with some help from Christian Ervin that relied on a fair amount of knob-twiddling and multi-tracking. Over the last two years, Simkoff assembled a band to interpret…

The hurricane that is Beth Ditto and her band, Gossip, just released the fourth full-length of their ten-year career, their first for a major label. The album, Music for Men, produced by Rick Rubin, finds ditto and her mates — guitarist/synth Nathan Howdeshell (Brace Paine) and drummer Hannah Billie —…

All the way from France comes the sexy, deep techno of Les Freres Courvoisier. Okay, it isn’t really French; it’s local artists Jonathan Canupp (aka Ten and Tracer) and Joshua Smith’s (aka Time for Trees) collaboration as the faux-French brothers Jean-Pierre and Stefan Courvoisier. Together they produce “sexy party music…

I dropped by the Rear Inn Lounge (4991 West 80th Avenue in Westminster) on a recent Wednesday and stumbled on a roomful of kickballers. There had to be at least a dozen teams there, the players all wearing their team’s colored T-shirts, drinking pitchers of beer and playing beer pong…

Drag the River has always been about giving fans the biggest bang for their hard-earned buck. If you ever stumbled into a bar that has a Drag record in the jukebox, for instance, you’ve probably noticed that if you select the last track on the album, you’re treated to the…

Sounds like everything’s turning up roses these days for el broski with the froski. For those in the cheap seats, we’re referring to Mr. Rob Drabkin, the proud owner of Denver’s most distinctive do. The singer-songwriter was just tapped to open seventeen dates on Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam’s…

With frontman Duncan Barlow currently residing in Florida, d.biddle doesn’t play very often. And so when it does, needless to say, it’s something of an event, particularly when one of the shows happens to fall on Halloween and rolls into El Día de los Muertos. With Barlow looking like an…

Wonder if the MySpace page belonging to Candy Claws has seen a significant spike in the past two days. We’re guessing that it has. Around this time yesterday, “Catamaran,” a track from the outfit’s latest effort, In the Dream of Sea Life, which has been remastered and is slated to…

On Naima’s Grass Pajamas, Paul Riola’s Bottesini Project has assembled something of a dream lineup, including guitar legend Nels Cline of Wilco, bassist Keenan Wayne, CacheFlowe, Janet Feder and Glenn Taylor. The musicians recorded a day’s worth of improvisations, then Riola and Colin Bricker spent many additional hours in the…

The Used and the Almost played the Fillmore on Sunday. Photographer Aaron Thackeray (we call him the Awesome) was on hand. See his photos on the slideshow page…

Jolie Holland, with Matt Bauer The Walnut Room Saturday, October 10, 2009 Better Than: Walking from Market St. Station to Walnut & 31st in the cold No one shines like Brooklyn-based indie-folk goddess Jolie Holland. Just as Neil Young was the depth and edge of CSNY, Holland was the stand-out…

Yo La Tengo with Cheap Time Saturday, October 9, 1009 The Ogden Theater Better Than: Dreams of flying In concert footage, there are always people near the front, grinning like idiots and swaying back and forth. These people always look like hippies in the worst way. Meaning content to the…

Dethklok, Mastodon, Converge and High on Fire Saturday, October 10, 2009 Fillmore Auditorium Better than: Seeing the Archies, Alvin and the Chipmunks or any other cartoon rock band “There sure are a lot of nerds here for a heavy metal show,” said a friend while overlooking the sea of fist-pumping,…

Butthole Surfers, Psychic Ills, Circle Number DotFriday, October 9, 2009Ogden Theater, DenverBetter Than: The flash freezing going on outside.Circle Number Dot, who opened this show, didn’t sound like they got much more than a mere line check before hitting the stage. It was initially hard to tell if it was…

Orbit Service, the experimental/psychedelic pop outfit of Randall Frazier, will be appearing on the upcoming compilation MOM. The disc is a benefit for Beta-lactam Rings Records owner Chris McBeth’s mother, who has cancer. “[McBeth and I] have become very close friends over the past few years. His mother was recently…

The Pirate Signal, 3 the Hardway, The ReMINDers, Fresh Breath Committee, Masta Ace. Fox Theater Thursday October 8, 2009 Better than: Anything you have to wake up for on Friday that would have stopped you from being there. Approaching the Fox last night for the Fresh Breath Committee’s CD release…

Time, A Clock, Damon JeVon, Agent Strange and Doctype Thursday, October 8, 2009 hi-dive Better Than: That Alex Jones documentary on Bohemian Grove.A Clock from Fort Collins kicked off Thursday’s night show at the hi-dive, with his skilled sidekick, a DJ named Deadbeat, spinning jazz and R&B. Throughout his set,…

If you’re in need of some new music to freshen up the ol’ iPod, yet find yourself as bereft of disposable income as ever, here’s some good news: more than three dozen free albums from Rope Swing Cities, all in one place for easy perusal. The local IDM/ambient electronic netlabel…