FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3
PAPER DIAMOND AT THE OGDEN Paper Diamond's Alex B is no stranger to the electronic scene. The producer has been making music since he was nineteen. A member of Pnuma Trio and the co-owner of Elm and Oak Records, he first started making music on his own as Paper Diamond, a project in which he's gone from playing the Bluebird to headlining the Ogden in less than a year. To give you an idea of the level of the act's soaring popularity, earlier this year, Paper Diamond put out a remix and within the first three weeks, it had already garnered 90,000 plays. Tickets for this show, which is 16 and over and also includes Minnesota and Sorry For Partying, and Raw Russ, are $20. Doors are at 8 p.m. Show is at 9 p.m. -- BC
LIZZIE HUFFMAN AT THE HI-DIVE Although these days Lizzie Huffman plays what she calls "country folk pop," the 22-year-old singer-songwriter says she was more into hip-hop and R&B artists like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill early on. But just as she was becoming a teenager, she discovered classic country singers like Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells and Loretta Lynn, and that's when she began writing her own songs. Inspired by her mother, who loved jazz and studied opera, and her brother Kirk, who plays in Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, she started developing the soulful, expressive croon she boasts today, which at times recalls Adele. Tonight, Huffman, who moved to Denver from Seattle about six months ago, is celebrating the release of her second Suburban Home Records release, Pretty Old Soul. Tickets for this show, which is 18+ and also features Bonnie and the Beard, Arliss Nancy and the Whicker and the Pine, are $7. Doors are at 8 p.m. Show is at 9 p.m. -- JS
RICH ROBINSON AT SOILED DOVE UNDERGROUND
As guitarist for the Black Crowes, Rich Robinson has played his share of big venues, but on tour in support of his brand new solo album, Through a Crooked Sun, he's playing more intimate venues, like the Soiled Dove Underground. Robinson recorded his latest album, the follow-up to 2004's Paper, in Woodstock at the same place the Black Crowes recorded Warpaint and Cabin Fever, and on his own, fronting his own project, he's been free to explore his own varied influences, from J.J. Cale to Pink Floyd. Tickets for this show, which is 21+ and also features Dylan LeBlanc, are $15. Doors are at 7 p.m. Show is at 8 p.m. -- JS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4
JUDAS PRIEST AT 1STBANK CENTER It's easy to forget that Judas Priest existed at the dawn of heavy metal, because the band's most well-known releases are rightly affiliated with the new wave of British heavy metal. Starting out in 1969 in Birmingham, England (the home of Black Sabbath), the group solidified its classic lineup in 1974, in time to record its debut, Rocka Rolla. Since then, Priest has become one of the world's most successful and influential rock bands -- metal or otherwise. Rob Halford's ability to sing with a gritty conviction and unleash a soaring, melodic scream is often imitated but never quite matched. The dual lead-and-rhythm-guitar attack that Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing created can be heard in the music of numerous acts that followed in Priest's wake. This is one band that doesn't disappoint live. Tickets for this show, which is all ages and also features Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society, are $45-$65. Doors are at 5:30 p.m. Show is at 6:30 p.m. -- TM
SBTRKT AT THE BLUEBIRD Very little is known about Britain's SBTRKT. On his self-titled 2011 debut, the Afro-Caribbean producer, born Aaron Jerome, drops a narcotic concoction of moody electronic pop and dubstep. It's the type of thing Sizzla Kalonji might record if he lived in an East London council estate and did a lot of ketamine. The album has earned unfailingly positive reviews, but Jerome's reclusive, largely unreadable personality -- he seldom grants interviews or is photographed without his signature tribal mask -- tends to baffle audiences. No matter. Considering the success of artists like Washed Out, James Blake, Balam Acab, and Jamie Woon, elusive dub-soul is totally in right now. Tickets for this show, which is 16 and over and also features Peter Black and Mikey Thunder, are $18-$20. Doors are at 8:00 p.m. Show is at 9 p.m. - MR
INFECTED MUSHROOM AT OGDEN THEATRE Israel's Infected Mushroom specializes in completely over-the-top psychedelic trance. A breakout act in their homeland's substantial psy-trance scene, the duo takes an unusually eclectic approach to the genre, which has led to some odd crossover attention -- being tracked on JamBase.com, for example, a website dedicated to the jam scene. That's not entirely surprising, since the music is mind-bendingly dense and crammed full of weird ideas and sounds -- just the thing to appeal to listeners with a head full of illicit chemicals. Mixing in everything from metal guitars to gamelan sounds and layering the whole acid-damaged mess over typical hard trance beats and squiggling synth lines, the music may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it will get you off your head if you're so inclined. Tune in, turn on and trip the fuck out. Tickets for this show, which is 16 and over and also features Jantsen, are $30-$32. Doors are at 8:30. Show is at 9 p.m. -- CC
Contributors: Britt Chester, Jon Solomon, Tom Murphy, M.T. Richards and Cory Casciato
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