Concerts

After being rumored for months, it’s now official: The Rouge is the latest member of the Atlantic Records roster. Last night in Los Angeles over a bottle of single barrel Jack Daniels, “which they polished off in the Atlantic office,” reports the act’s manager Adam Lancaster, the guys signed their…

Looks like props are due to Foodchain and Time, whose new releases both registered on the CMJ Hip-Hop chart this month. Time’s Naked Dinner, which entered the charts late last month, peaked at #19, while Foodchain’s Corpses, which features a track with Talib Kweli that’s garnered the attention of a…

Ever wish you could be a fly on the wall when an act signed its record deal? Wonder what the scene is like? Some instances, we imagine, have been more memorable than others. The members of the Fray, for instance, signed their deal with Epic onstage at the Fox Theatre…

I must admit I had zero idea there was a band called Kidz in the Hall, and was highly disappointed when our photographer told me they had played Cervantes last night. My favorite Canadian sketch group added a ‘z’ to their name? How totally un-Canuck-y of them! Turns out it’s…

Luke Schmaltz is standing in the middle of Bender’s Tavern at 2 p.m., a shot of Jägermeister in his fist and his T-shirt hitched up around his armpits. A jagged, eleven-year-old scar snakes across the left side of his back. As Schmaltz moves around to give a better view, the…

The Ballpark neighborhood is in the middle of its annual spring cleaning in anticipation of the Colorado Rockies’ opening day, just two weeks away. But this year, there’s less to clean up, since the infamous Bash closed late last year. Also gone since last season: Lizard’s, Blues on Blake, Club…

What Todd Novosad does is definitely not for everyone. His sound art is completely disconnected from anything resembling conventional songwriting. What he creates is not something you’re likely to put on at a party or at home to relax, because its abrasive assault and sheer volume can’t really be ignored…

Alaska-bred Portugal. The Man may be the weirdest band to spring from last decade’s post-hardcore scene. Formed by singer/guitarist John Gourley and bassist Zack Carothers after the demise of Anatomy of a Ghost, Portugal quickly became the oddest band on the screamo package tours — thanks to Gourley’s slinky vocals…

For the past ten years, the Caffeine Music & Arts Festival has been the spring break destination for lovers of dance music across the state. And this year will prove no exception: Event organizers have booked several of last year’s headliners, including Dave Aude, Jon Bishop and DJ Micro, all…

Merrill Garbus is a bit of a musical polymath. Her songs could never be called strictly R&B, folk, post-punk, lo-fi pop or jazz. Nor does she merely sing, play guitar, execute unconventional percussion and hash together electronic sounds for something like a live sound collage. In that way, her music…

While based in Brooklyn, the duo of Rob Barber and Mary Pearson pioneered a sound and aesthetic that melded experimental electronic music with non-Western influences. As High Places, the outfit plumbed Caribbean and African folk to create “tropical pop,” as the early phase of the band’s songwriting — which also…

Zombie Hate Brigade’s self-titled debut from 2008 wallowed in a massive, sludge-choked groove that owed as much to (surprise, surprise) Rob Zombie as it did to grindcore pioneers like Carcass and current grind champs Pig Destroyer. But the band’s sophomore release, Hideous Beyond Belief With a Craving for Human Flesh,…

“Die Finks” sounds like the Swayback branching out from the core sound it explored so well on 2008’s Long Gone Lads. It’s a departure from the jittery punk rock of the band’s earliest days and a step away from the post-punk that defined its middle period. Eric Halborg’s vocals take…

Formerly the Running Wild Band, the members of Big Motif started out while they were in high school as a trio playing blues and blues rock. During the past five years, they’ve morphed into more of a funk jam band, added saxophonist Sam Crowe and changed their name. While all…

In the nearly fifteen years since the release of its debut album, Telephono, Spoon has grown to become one of the biggest and most respected bands in the indie-rock pantheon. This year’s Transference is arguably the band’s best record yet, a challenging, surprising and thoroughly excellent rock album that incorporates…

What do you get when you cross Rage Against the Machine with a sense of humor? For one thing, you get press photos staged on a golf course with the resulting band wearing pastels and floral patterns. You also get moments of serenity that keep Musuji’s debut EP surprisingly off…

Guitarist Tony Pacello was sixteen years old when he met drummer Jeff Jani and bassist Hunter Roberts, both fourteen at the time, at a contest sponsored by 103.5/The Fox. They had each won spots to perform in a seven-piece sixteen-and-under band. After that group dissolved, the three stuck together and…

A little taste of the New York underground will come to Denver this Saturday, March 27, when Stadenco appears at the Funky Buddha. The DJ has been honing his craft ever since he was a toddler lugging around a portable record player and playing his favorite tunes for anyone who…

Looks like a number of Denver acts caught more than just our attention this past week at South By Southwest. Nathaniel Rateliff, who played an exceptional set at Shakespeare’s Ale House last week, impressed Michael Hogan from Vanity Fair (which also previewed a song from his forthcoming record earlier this…