Music

COLORADO RISING at 1STBANK CENTER | 10/27/13 By the time Dave Matthews took the stage last night during the Colorado Rising flood relief benefit show at 1STBANK Center, it was tough to spot any empty seats. Matthews had the capacity crowd on its feet during his entire set, but even…

TALIB KWELI at CERVANTES’ MASTERPIECE BALLROOM | 10/27/13 Last night, Cervantes’ hosted one of the more interesting pairings in recent memory. The bill featured Talib Kweli, a New York native often lumped in the conscious rap category, and Big K.R.I.T. a Southern Rapper with a huge underground following and more…

TAME IMPALA @ OGDEN THEATRE | 10/25/13 It’s not exactly an original observation at this point to note how the members of Tame Impala are revivalists that evoke the spirit of ’60s and ’70s sound; yet when the band begins its set with songs like “Desire Be, Desire Go,” “Keep…

WALK THE MOON at OGDEN THEATRE | 10/26/13 For a band that played the Hi-Dive two years ago, Walk The Moon has done extremely well for itself, and if this sold out show was any indication, the band will be playing a much larger venue the next time around. The…

THURS | DEVOTCHKA at GOTHIC THEATRE | 10/31/13 It just wouldn’t be October without DeVotchKa’s annual Halloween extravaganza. This year, the beloved Denver act is holding court at the Gothic Theatre on Thursday, October 31, and the Boulder Theater on the following night, Friday, November 1. Shady Elders is slated…

One of the largest looming and most influential icons in the history of rock and roll, Lou Reed died on Sunday at the age of 71. No word has been received regarding the cause of Reed’s death, though the “Walk on the Wild Side” songwriter underwent a liver transplant last…

Katy Perry is brilliant. And, no, that’s not an assessment of her music — although, to wit, the gal does have a knack for injecting just the right amount of passion and pathos into her pop songs that makes them resonate, as evidenced by the impassioned expressions on the faces…

THE HELIO SEQUENCE at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 10/24/13 When Brandon Summers pulled out his harmonica last night at the Bluebird, we all what was coming, “Harmonica Song,” of course. Summers blew into his mouth harp like he was playing some kind of strange blues rock song, and he did so…

The Monkey Barrel, a new bar and live music venue being brought to us courtesy of Rock-a-Billies owner Jimmy Nigg, was slated to open last month, but after some construction delays, the venue, which is housed in the former Salvagetti Bicycles space at 1611 Platte Street, pushed back its debut…

SUNDAY | COLORADO RISING at 1STBANK CENTER | 10/27/13 Colorado Rising is a fitting name for this benefit show. Aside from its obvious meaning, the title could also describe the homegrown acts on the bill, each of which has helped raise the profile of music being made in our state…

FRIDAY | TALE OF US at CLUSTER STUDIOS | 10/25/13 “Epic” is a word that gets thrown around so much it’s practically lost its meaning. Yet in the case of Tale of Us, it’s one of the few descriptors appropriate to what the Italian duo creates on stage. Carmine Conte…

While the individual members have released new music in various configurations in the past few years, it’s been a while since we’ve heard new music from Prime Element. The last release from the act, formerly known as Three the Hard Way, came a few years back when Kamikazi Airlines picked…

Plenty of Discovery Channel viewers cried foul a few months ago when the cable network aired a bogus documentary about a prehistoric shark called the Megalodon. But that little piece of on-air fiction for “Shark Week” proved more inspirational than frustrating for FaceMan’s uni-monikered frontman, Steve. Inspired by the idea…

The lap steel guitar is a tough instrument to learn, but that’s exactly why Will Buck of West Water Outlaws wanted to take a crack at it for his band’s new album. “I’ve been playing guitar for about twenty years at this point,” says Buck, who co-founded the Boulder-based quartet…

It’s hard to make an overarching creative statement in the space of just four songs. Happily, though, the Highland Ramblers keep the message fairly straightforward on Four the Pour. Although the tunes don’t boast a lot of diversity in terms of style, the quintet shows plenty of heart when it…

Armed with just two acoustic guitars, a trap kit and Nate Cook’s zealous singing, the Yawpers have been known to kick up a hell of a racket not only on stage, but also in the studio, as heard on last year’s Capon Crusade. That same musical energy is more than…

If an early-’70s Laurel Canyon band were to get caught up in progressive jazz and some kind of gypsy music and then go on a decade-long tour playing experimental venues, Jellyfish Tuesday might be the result: a chilled-out version of a cabaret carnival, as Renaldo Migaldi once described Chicago’s Maestro…

Omniism, which began life as a side project for Spools of Dark Thread frontman Chris Thomas, is blossoming into an impressive modern-rock powerhouse. A Turn for the Worst, the band’s new four-song EP, finds Omniism (due this Saturday at Herman’s Hideaway, with Lola Black, Horse and No 1 Left Standing)…

Stevie Boiser is an omnipresent figure in Denver metal. He fronts Vale of Pnath and recently stepped down from Enemy Reign to focus on Dissonance in Design, a progressive/death-metal quintet that features brothers Harrison and Zac Patuto on guitar and drums, respectively, as well as Vale of Pnath guitarist Vance…