Music

So this happened: In case you missed it — God knows we did — 3OH!3 recently had a cameo on Hellcats, in which the Boulder boys performed “My First Kiss,” with a scantily clad Ashley Tisdale serving as a sultry proxy for Ke$ha. Nice! Uh, what the hell is Hellcats,…

Anti-piracy and counterfeiting prevention company Envisional recently released a report detailing the 10,000 most popular files crossing the streams of BitTorrent trackers. Porn has taken the top, uh, seed, followed closely by non-porn film, while music was near the bottom of the list. What happened?…

“I’m just interested in DIY culture and the whole aesthetic and idea behind creating your own existence,” says Trevor Peterson. “Especially in the creative world — not relying on outside corporate interests to fuck things up.” Peterson’s words echo a sentiment that has informed the efforts of acts from Black…

Two joints have joined the jazz scene in Boulder, already supported by Johnny’s Cigar Bar (1801 13th Street), the St Julien Hotel and the Hotel Boulderado. Cuvée opened in December in the former Blending Cellar spot at 946 Pearl Street; owner Ralph Reutimann renovated the space, creating a wine bar…

Anyone who has been around the Denver underground scene for the past decade or so has run into Ezra Darnell cheering on bands with an open, unaffected enthusiasm. Now the guy has put together a band of his own, called Hearts in Space (due at the hi-dive on Wednesday, February…

With the Big 4 tour (Metallica, Megadeath, Anthrax and Slayer) set to roll through massive arenas this spring, die-hard thrash-metal fans will be pleased to know that bands like Canada’s 3 Inches of Blood will still be sweating it out in more intimate settings. Despite having formed in 2002, the…

Never satisfied with trying out just one sound, Sleeping in the Aviary started out as a lo-fi pop band with a quirky live energy like that of Eat Skull before quickly evolving into something a bit more nuanced and delicate. Although the name of the group’s sophomore effort — Expensive…

Lou Barlow is no fool. His sad-man side project, Sebadoh, released some of the first great lo-fi rock albums some twenty years ago, and he’s not about to stand idly by while the I Love the ’90s train rolls through contemporary pop culture. This tour coincides with the re-release of…

Electronic music of any experimental stripe has always been filed under the heading of “techno” and sometimes blurred together with “industrial.” Meat Beat Manifesto was — and still is — considered by many to be part of the wave of industrial music that was affiliated with the Wax Trax imprint…

There is a cinematic feel to every track on this release. “1993” suggests the dream sequences in Brazil in which Jonathan Pryce’s character is a triumphant winged champion in armor, while “Mega Fortress” sounds like what might happen if an old computer tried to emulate the sound of rain falling…

John-Alex Mason doesn’t sound at all like a 35-year-old skinny, blond-haired dude. His deep and booming vocal delivery sounds like it’s coming from someone twice his age and weight. The Manitou Springs-based Mason reaches back into Delta music from the likes of Charlie Patton and Skip James, but puts a…

Locus takes itself out from under the loose, ugly modern-rock umbrella with unexpected instruments — strings and tribal drums, mostly. The band is much better off leaning in that direction. When the players go for straight-up dead lifting with the guitar and testosterone-fueled vocals, as they do on “Vices,” they…

At this point, DeVotchKa (due at the Fillmore this Saturday, February 12) appears incapable of producing music that’s anything less than intoxicating; just listening to the band inspires a sense of romanticism in even the most hardened of hearts. Everything there is to love about DeVotchKa is present on 100…

Bethany Cosentino and Nathan Williams are too good to be true. She makes surf pop as Best Coast; he makes surf punk as Wavves. They used to date when they were younger and stupider; now they’re famous and back together, happily tweeting out a new relationship. It’s like a stoner…

Sounding like the unexpected but inevitable pairing of Phil Spector-produced wall-of-noise pop and the free-spirited sonic experimentation of early shoegaze bands like Telescopes, Medicine and My Bloody Valentine, Montreal’s No Joy came to the attention of fans and critics alike on the strength of its debut seven-inch, “No Summer/No Joy,”…

Denverites should be well acquainted with DJ Fury (aka Steve Blakely) by now. The local drum-and-bass phenomenon has been spinning his addictive blend of jungle with smooth, deep bass and tapping drums for two decades; in an era in which simple, driving beats are the popular choice, it’s refreshing to…

At Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom on Saturday, headliner Michal Menert invited guest DJs onto the decks to share tracks with him. The house exploded when Pretty Lights (Derek Vincent Smith) joined Menert onstage for almost an hour. Photos by Jonathan Shoup. See the full slideshow here: Michal Menert at Cervantes’…

Metallic-emo stalwarts Underoath played on February 7, 2011 at Summit Music Hall with Thursday, who played Full Collapse, its 2001 album, start to finish. Openers were Skylit Drive and Animals as Leaders. Photos by Aaron Thackeray. See the full slideshow here, Underoath, Thursday @ Summit…

Sometimes, a songwriter’s first acknowledged endeavor is just the primer for better work to come. Moving from the more folk and pop-oriented quartet Page France to gospel-inspired melancholy of Cotton Jones — who plays tonight at the Hi-Dive with Jay J Matott and Sunshine House — it seems Michael Nau…

Sasquatch became the second major summer festival to announce its lineup last night. The George, Washington (kills us every time) indie-fest is always heavy on the hipster bait, but this year is egregious. The top of the bill looks like this: Foo Fighters, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Wilco,…