Kristina Murray’s honeyed vocals and bright guitar style can be deceiving on Unravelin,’ especially as conduits for angry tirades and tales of all-night benders. But her vocal artistry tempers words that can feel like parodies of old-fashioned country-and-Western lyrics: “You’re a cheater and a bastard, and I can’t tell you…
If the ThreadBarons’ moniker is a play on the word “threadbare,” it fits the weathered Americana made by the Denver quartet. On this self-titled disc, the act takes a well-worn, no-bullshit approach, injecting a mid-tempo country shuffle on tunes like “Window in the Winter” and “West Virginia” — the latter…
On Welcome to the Future, Prime Element is a finely tuned old-school hip-hop machine, equal parts lyricism, musicality and swaggering flair. As the only MC, A.V.I.U.S. may be the assumed face of the group, but Prime Element believes that each member speaks through his medium, and Welcome to the Future…
Starting off with the big beat of “Phase 5,” Blackcell’s In the Key of Black is a hybrid of modern and classic EBM, but there’s a darkness and density of sound here that seem to have eluded most modern purveyors of the genre. “Creatures of Habit” has a subtle and…
Update, 2 p.m., 11/13/13: Wow! Thanks for all the great entries. Wish we could hook all of you up with tickets. Sadly, we only have two pairs. Congrats to @Patches1 and @insanity speaks (check your e-mail for details on how to claim your tickets), and thanks again to everybody else…
Fresh off Phish’s highly talked-about Halloween run, in which the band debuted new songs from Wingsuit, its forthcoming album, Trey Anastasio is getting back on the road with the Trey Anastasio Band. The outfit is due in Denver for a two-night stand on Tuesday, January 28, and Wednesday, January 29…
Genessier will be providing at least some of the inspiration for the music provided at HorrorHouse Fest 2013 (this Saturday, November 16, at 3 Kings Tavern). Genessier is the latest project from Ryan Policky and Eddie Breidenbach, a duo who previously performed together in ambient/soundtrack project Parallel Light. In contrast,…
We’re back with another batch of fresh local hip-hop. This week, Logistixx, of the fusion group Drop Switch, has dropped a video for his single, “Dreams,” off of his New Paradigm LP, Myrical and labelmate Jasmine Love team up for a real easy listen called “Motivated” from his album of…
JESSIE WARE at LARIMER LOUNGE | 11/12/13 Not five minutes into her performance at the Larimer Lounge last night, soul singer Jessie Ware slipped out of her album cut “No to Love” and seamlessly into “I Want You,” by Marvin Gaye. It was a simple trick with a big payoff…
STEVE AOKI at OGDEN THEATRE | 11/12/13 Before Steve Aoki took the stage, as the lights dropped and the crowd chanted the headliner’s name, two human pillars of symmetrical hexagons took the stage on each side, and a digitized voice slowly intoned “A-O-KI.” As soon as the Aoki took his…
Legendary rap label Rap-A-Lot has added local rapper G-Slick to its stable of artists. Not only did they sign him, but they made his home label G.O.D.N. a subsidiary of the imprint, as well. Although the interest G.O.D.N. received initially was by the negative videos the crew was putting out…
We have two videos documenting the day when Sweetie and I tied the knot. It was another lifetime and ten thousand concerts ago. One was graciously shot by my brother, who borrowed a video camera that was about as big as a Buick, and the other was shot by a…
Although the two records that Butch Walker (due this Friday, November 15, at the Larimer Lounge) made with the Black Widows were collaborative efforts, from songwriting to production, Walker opted for a more personal approach on his latest five-song EP, Peachtree Battle. The album is about his father, who passed…
Cults, currently touring in support of Static, its latest release, are making their way back to Denver next week for a show at the Bluebird on Wednesday, November 20, with SACCO and Mood Rings. We’ve got a pair of tickets up for grabs, and would love for you and a…
As reported yesterday, the 2014 edition of Icelantic’s Winter on the Rocks goes on sale this Friday, November 15, at 10 a.m. Tickets are $52.80 to $100. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are at the Gothic Theatre on Monday, March 17; tickets ($27.75) go on sale this Saturday, November 16,…
MAZZY STAR at OGDEN THEATRE | 11/10/13 At about the halfway through Mazzy Star’s show last night at the Ogden Theatre, the stage went dark, and most of the band had left the stage. When the low lights came back on, they illuminated the forms of Hope Sandoval and David…
STIR FRIED at DONKEY O.T. | 11/8/13 Deadhead bars and Denver go hand in hand, and Jay Bianchi’s new bar/venue, the Donkey O.T., near Mile High Stadium in the space of old club Atmosphere, is one of the swankier deadhead bars you’ll step foot in. It’s clean, big and connected…
KREATOR at GOTHIC THEATRE | 11/8/12 One of the most arresting moments of Kreator’s show at the Gothic Theatre came when the band performed “Phobia.” The way the melody seemed to swim inside the aggressive main riff gave the song a layer of atmosphere without compromising how hard the song…
The lineup for the 2014 edition of Icelantic’s Winter on the Rocks has been revealed. Jurassic 5 will be filling the spot at the annual frozen fiesta previously filled by Atmosphere, who headlined the inaugural show, and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who heated things up last year. Tickets for the…
GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV at BOETTCHER CONCERT HALL As he spoke to the massive crowd at Boettcher Concert Hall, you could tell that Gregory Alan Isakov was still getting used to the scope of the venue and the caliber of the musicians he was playing with. “I’ve been very, very nervous…
After more than two decades of living in the United States, synthpop pioneer Thomas Dolby (due at the Bluebird Theater this Thursday, November 14) returned to the coast in Suffolk, England, where he grew up and later built a studio called Nutmeg of Consolation in a 1930s lifeboat, and that’s…
WEDS | NINE INCH NAILS at 1STBANK CENTER | 11/13/13 After what had originally been billed as the band’s retirement in 2009, Nine Inch Nails returned from the dead this year to release a new album, Hesitation Marks. The project received a mixed response from fans and critics: Some bemoaned…
