FRI | KILL THE NOISE at BETA | 1/17/14 Finding success in signing with Skrillex's OWSLA record label, Kill the Noise has grown into one of the heaviest producers currently touring. Jake Stanczak, the brains behind the operation, has been developing Kill the Noise's sound for years. His powerhouse club bangers melt with melodic pianos and tease the fringes of metal anthems. This burgeoning genre -- this lovely-meets-heavy blend -- blasts from the speakers, leaving you in a state of seizing bliss. Catch Stanczak at Beta, with Fury and MC Dozha. In the Beatport Lounge, Josh Manke and Sergei Loginov host underground techno love.
See also: Destructo's Gary Richards talks about HARD Red Rocks
FRI & SAT | ADVENTURE CLUB at OGDEN THEATRE | 1/10-1/11 Christian Srigley and Leighton James burst onto the scene around 2009 and haven't stopped putting out big tracks since. With a Flight Facilities remix of "Crave You" and a collaborative track with Krewella called "Rise and Fall," Adventure Club has become a household name among the club-goers and major festival fans.
SAT | DESTRUCTO at BETA | 1/25/14 HARD Events founder and twenty-year veteran DJ Gary Richards -- also known as Destructo on festival bills -- has been putting on electronic-music parties under the HARD moniker since 2007. Richards has developed a following by successfully curating programs that cater to a variety of tastes; there's always something for everyone, whether it's the heavy-bass aficionado or the chilled-out groovehound who salivates at the sound of downtempo melodies.
THURS | BT at BETA | 1/9/14 BT (Brian Transeau to his parents, wife and friends) helped push trance to its lushest, most symphonic and bombastic heights; his tracks are among the most recognizable and iconic in the genre. Outside of being possibly the world's top trance producer, he's also produced some pretty well-known pop hits and branched out within the dance world to embrace breakbeats, electro and other styles. In the studio, he's known as a total perfectionist, to the point of developing his own software to get the results he's after. It's not all buttons and knobs, though: BT was classically trained, and his tracks are as musical as they are technical. -- Cory Casciato
SAT | THE CRYSTAL METHOD at BETA NIGHTCLUB | 1/18/14 For the past two decades, Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan have been producing top-notch dance music for both club settings and the radio airwaves. In 2011, the two were featured in the Grammy documentary Re:Generation, in which they created an R&B track alongside Martha Reeves and the Funk Brothers. These days, the act continues to move the masses with the kind of finesse that only comes with years of experience.
SAT | CEDRIC GERVAIS at BETA | 1/11/14 Cedric Gervais crafts a brand of house that weaves threads of electro and progressive house into a big, shimmery, club-smashing tapestry of late-night abandon. On hits such as "Spirit in My Life," Gervais displays a talent for slick, vocal-driven progressive house that would make fellow Frenchman David Guetta jealous. Then he can turn around and produce a bouncy, blippy, silly sample-driven track such as his remix of George Morel's "Let's Take Drugs," which is almost a throwback to the halcyon days of PLUR rave culture. That he can find success and maintain a DJ-culture buzz on both tracks is a testament to his talent as well as his star power. -- Casciato
TUES | BADKLAAT at CERVANTES' MASTERPIECE BALLROOM | 1/7/14 Sub.Mission is celebrating seven years of bringing dubstep to Denver, and hosting Badklaat at Cervantes' proves that the crew still means business. Badklaat offers a taste of what real dubstep is with some dark, grimy and all-around gut-wrenching bass music. Look no further if you want to see where true dubstep came from and where it's going.
FRI | ZILLA at CERVANTES MASTERPIECE BALLROOM | 1/10/14 With String Cheese Incident's Michael Travis on percussion, Aaron Holstein on the decks, and Jamie Janover on a handful of instruments, the sounds Zilla creates are perhaps some of the most original you'll ever hear. Holstein, known in dance circles as VibeSquad, lays an audio foundation by working the guitar and bass, in addition to keeping the pace on his digital controls, while Janover holds down the samples and delivers otherworldly sounds with sitar, hammered dulcimer, and whatever other primal instrument he has recently mastered. Travis then sets the pace on drums with a pulse that can go from adrenaline-fueled dance floor mayhem to melodic grooves that entrances the listener. As Zilla sets are few and far between, this is certainly something you'll want to experience.
SAT | ROBOTIC PIRATE MONKEY at FOX THEATRE | 1/18/14 Robotic Pirate Monkey started as a trio in Boulder and has since built up a national presence as touring duo giving a fresh new face to dance music. Working through the kinks of no longer living in the same town, Andrew Hathaway and Matt Berryhill are preparing for the release of their next effort, the Booty Snatch EP, due out this summer, and is hitting the road with Terravita, including this date at the Fox.
SUN | TIESTO at BELLY UP ASPEN | 1/26/14 On the off chance that you've never actually heard of EDM, you've most definitely heard of Tiesto. Whether or not ravers, dubsteppers, trance fans, drum and bass gurus, or anyone else doesn't think he's much to shake a stick at, he is doing more globally for the scene than most. On a constant tour schedule, Tiesto spans the globe to share the biggest sounds in EDM. In January, he'll be playing at the X-Games and then a Belly-Up set, which will be insane, considering he's used to playing to thousands of people.
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