Music

With a name that translates roughly to “stranglehold” in Norwegian, this sextet has spent the last six years cultivating a sound that feels like a mixture of black metal and the Stooges, Cave In and Converge. Fittingly, the frontman of that last act, Kurt Ballou, produced Kvelertak’s latest album, 2013’s…

Perhaps taking a cue from his pal Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, who’s written and produced songs for an array of top-shelf pop acts, Fray guitarist Joe King has been steadily making a name for himself as a burgeoning songwriter in his own right. Prior to working on his own solo…

Radkey is a band of brothers. No, really — that’s not a figure of speech: They’re blood relations. They’re also completely badass. Once you listen to the siblings — Dee, the oldest at nineteen, sings and plays guitar; Isaiah, seventeen, sings and plays bass; and Solomon, fifteen, plays drums —…

Thief River is essentially a reconfigured version of Rexway with longtime King Rat guitarist Mike Makkay and bassist Geoff Orwiler. In fact, Thief River essentially picks up where that band left off before parting ways a number of years back, seamlessly fusing the most anthemic moments of late-’80s pop metal…

As frontman for the Demon Funkies, Ryan Chrys has demonstrated that he knows his way around the groove, but on 2011’s The Ambivalent Justice Of…, he showed that he’s also well versed in a number of other genres. And from the first few cuts of his latest release, A Lick…

With more than 45 years of playing under his belt, Dan Treanor is a master of the blues. His Afrosippi band recently came in third out of 220 bands at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, but his Code Blue band, which features a different lineup, is just as impressive…

“In the Waves,” the opening track on the new Shady Elders EP, has a lonely, almost wistful breeziness, with crystalline guitar tones cutting a simple figure while another guitar sound flutters and swells around them. “Schoolmate,” meanwhile, features ethereal guitar work with notes that ring out and melodies that recall…

At one time, the Jet Entertainment Group ran a number of spots in town, including Wicked Garden, two Purple Martini locations (one of which was later dubbed Jet South) and the Jet Lounge, located on the main floor of the Jet Hotel, which opened in 2006 at 1612 Wazee Street…

Last summer, the High Park fire raged through the Poudre Canyon in northern Colorado. Although it’s been nearly a year since the fire was contained, it’s still very fresh in the minds of the community, especially the folks at Mishawaka Amphitheatre. Despite the fact that the fire ravaged much of…

Another closure to let you know about: The Firehouse Tavern has closed. The Thornton bar, which opened in 2009, went dark recently after a three-and-a-half-year run. A two-story suburban outpost housed in the former Holly North space at 10369 Quivas Street, the Firehouse was a choice destination up north for…

LP Hastings The Visual Stimulations for People Who Were High Coachella’s art installations — the ones designed to impress you while you’re high (aka all of them) — were particularly impressive this year. There was the Tesla coil, the crane that was formerly a flower but now a praying mantis,…

Timothy Norris Native American Headdresses These have still not gone away. In fact, one particularly irritating woman (not pictured) wore a towering feather mohawk weave, a sartorial statement that combined racism with rave gaudiness. On Friday, she pushed her way in front of us, obstructing our and everyone else’s view…

In its short life span, HOT 107.1 managed to build a decent following with its EDM format — decent, but not quite big enough, as the station ended up flipping formats. At first the frequency was unveiled as Pot 107.1, which turned out to be a stunt (what a brilliant…

Battles of the bands are typically a chance for unknown acts to get in front of larger crowds. That description hardly fits Bop Skizzum. The band has been around for long enough to amass a sizable fan base, and they’re not exactly at the level where picking up a handful…

When Phil Villotti and Ray Rodriguez took over the Atrium Bar & Grill space at 554 S. Broadway, they gave the place a much needed overhaul and reopened as The Bar in September, 2011. But after a year and a half run, the pair have closed the spot, which offered…

Blame the Best of Denver curse: After less than year, the Grizzly Rock, which just earned a nod as the Best New Venue in our Best of Denver issue last month, closed over the weekend. News of the closing came via Facebook: “Sorry everyone we have closed the Grizzly Rock,”…