The Knife (due Monday, April 21, at The Fillmore Auditorium) from Stockholm, Sweden, is an experimental synth pop duo comprised of Karin Dreijer Andersson and her brother Olof Dreijer. Since the project’s founding in 1999, it has explored unusual rhythmic ideas. Its 2003 album Deep Cuts garnered the group an…
OFF! (due Saturday, April 19, at The Marquis Theatre) is a bit of a hardcore supergroup, founded by Keith Morris formerly of Black Flag and Circle Jerks and Dimitri Coats who was best known as a member of heavy rock band Burning Brides. The two became friends not long after…
As the previous infrastructure of the music industry collapses around us, individual artists and small groups are charged with an array of roles they never held before. Every band or artist must also find a way to either be her own manager, publicist, engineer, filmmaker, etc. or find a close…
“Skypin’ with Jesus on the Eagle Hotline. Flyin’ so high, looking for a good time? Dial 8-1-3, EAGLE 69.” The Bald Eagles Hotline is real. If you dial 813-EAGLE-69 and Arthur Jimenez, a.k.a. Pimp Eagle, and Dominic Esparza, a.k.a. Sun-Ray Eagle Boi happen to be in the same room, they…
Laurent Garnier has been producing music longer than most of the electronic music fans have been alive. Growing up in the European scene, Garnier has proven that staying true to yourself as a musician is still one way to ensure career longevity. In advance of his appearances at Beta next…
Colorado Governor John Hicknlooper has long been invested in the culture of the state. As Denver’s Mayor, Hickenlooper was a common sight at things like art gallery openings and concerts, and his roots in the community include co-founding Wynkoop Brewing Company in LoDo. He has spent the past three and…
The members of Residual Kid (due Friday and Saturday, April 4 and 5, at the Hi-Dive) from Austin, Texas are all fifteen-years-old or younger. Despite their youth, it is impossible to ignore their sheer power of the songs — they’re something more than you’d expect out of three guys who…
Gary Numan (due Friday, April 4, at The Gothic Theatre) is most widely remembered for his 1980 hit song “Cars.” That song was merely the most popular in an influential career that had a direct impact on artists as diverse as Prince, Beck, Lady Gaga and, of course, Nine Inch…
There are albums you love and albums that alter the way you listen to music. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead’s 2002 masterpiece, Source Tags & Codes, fits squarely in the latter category. Damn near everyone loved this thing; Source Tags was like a long-lost Led…
BRAD MEHDLAU TRIO @ BOULDER THEATER, SUN, 4/6 Over the last two decades pianists Brad Mehldau has recorded and performed in various formats (his latest effort, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, is a duo recording with drummer Mark Guiliana), but he seems most at home with his trio, which includes long-time…
Carcass (due Wednesday, April 2, at The Summit Music Hall) were pioneers of grindcore alongside their friends in Napalm Death. By the time of its classic 1993 album Heartwork, the band had transitioned had all but fully into its melodic death metal phase. Carcass had already had a lasting impact…
The Black Lips (due Wednesday, April 2nd, at The Bluebird Theater) are the notorious rock and roll band from Atlanta, Georgia who had to flee India for fear of persecution over on stage antics involving band members kissing each other. Their show at the club Heaven in London in September…
AnomalyCon (running March 28 to 30 at the Denver Marriott Tech Center) started as a steam punk and alternate history-themed convention but has since expanded to cover science fiction generally. In its fourth year, the convention is featuring guest speakers, artists, writers and performers that have either direct ties to…
Speedy Ortiz (due Saturday, March 22, at Moe’s Original Bar B Que) from Northampton, Massachusetts came out of the solo side-project of singer-guitarist Sadie Dupuis when she was a member of the rock band Quilty. Taking the project’s moniker from a story in the influential underground comic series, Love and…
The 3rd Annual Bringing Back the Arts music competition is this Sunday, March 16, at the Bluebird Theater. Admission is free. The competition is part of First Lady of Denver Mary Louise Lee’s Bringing Back the Arts initiative, designed to bring greater attention to local artists and to encourage the…
M Sage (due Saturday, May 15, at The Sidewinder Tavern) is Matthew Sage, who grew up in Fort Collins and has been involved in music along the front range as both a fan and artist. Whether in indie rock acts like Castles, the gritty freak-folk-esque M. Pyres or his more…
For several years, you could see Paul Jansen playing violin and guitar in various bands around Denver. First with the “folk Goth” band The December Question then more prominently with Jen Korte and indie pop outfit (die) Pilot. It was toward the end of his tenure with the latter that…
DJ Chonz (born Mario Rodriguez) is a graduate of the Music Industry program at he University of Colorado at Denver. He recently returned to UCD to pursue a Master’s Degree in Communication. A full time on-air personality on Denver’s KS 107.5 FM and still a force behind the decks in…
Corey Baker, who performs as Kill Paris, is an old soul trapped in a young body. Through a series of sporadic moves that have taken him from his home in Indiana to Nashville then Los Angeles and now Boulder, Baker has found his own corner in a rapidly evolving electronic…
Bands like San Francisco-based M Machine are helping American dance music grow and spread its reach into every genre. What started out as three friends working in a parallel field — audio tracking for video games — snowballed into a full-on band, complete with as-it-happens video production and live vocals…
It’s safe to say that no one else has had the kind of musical career that Randy Newman has. He began as a behind-the-scenes songwriter, penning hits for singers such as Jerry Butler and Irma Thomas. Despite unassuming looks, a froggy, drawling delivery and a penchant for featuring reprehensible characters…
When a band doesn’t rely on a set list, musicians often find other ways to communicate on stage during the music. Phish, a band utterly reliant on improvisation, has gotten particularly good at this. In fact, the band has created a whole non-verbal language to let its members know what…
