Concerts

The Black Angels are a trip to see in concert. The last time they played the Bluebird, they opened with “Manipulation” — a twisted love song from their 2006 cult hit Passover — in the cover of almost total darkness, with lead singer Alex Maas stalking the stage like a…

The origin of the Legendary Pink Dots reads like some mythical tale: Three people staying in separate tents at Stonehenge get up at the same time in the middle of night and walk through a mist, where they see a band playing. The mysterious musicians are so completely enthralled by…

Dressy Bessy circa 1999, the year after their initial Westword profile. The latest Westword profile of Dressy Bessy, which arrives in advance of an October 18 CD-release party at the Bluebird Theater, comes ten years after the first article about the band — a fact singer-songwriter Tammy Ealom talks about…

Conspiracy Assassin, who’s currently in the midst of putting the finishing touches on a new EP, has announced plans for its CD release/farewell show. That’s right: The band is planning to call it a day after its show on Saturday, November 15 at Arvada’s 12 Volt Tavern, which means its…

If any of your out of state friends ever ask you again why you choose to live in a place like Colorado instead of, say, New York or LA or, hell, I don’t know, Dubuque, Iowa, save the effort of trying to come up with some compelling diatribe about the…

Hello Kavita, profiled here this past April, has partnered with Grant Blakemen’s burgeoning Backstage site to give away three tunes from the band’s latest effort, the fantastic And Then We Turned Sideways. If you don’t already have a copy, get on it. (In fact, what are you still doing reading…

Brace yourselves for yet another batch of pristinely crafted, radio-friendly pop served up from Ft. Collins. From the sounds of it, Roe — who’s previewing new songs from its forthcoming full-length, Letters and Light, every week until the record drops on November 13 — is inline to be the next…

Photo borrowed from djcoffman.com Last night after appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Flobots’ guitarist Andy Guerrero apparently gave Conan the shirt right off his back…

Photo: Aaron Thackeray Unearth, Protest the Hero, Acacia Strain, Whitechapel, Gwen Stacy Friday, October 10, 2008 Gothic Theatre Better than: Taking in a metal show within the cramped, uncomfortable confines of a dive bar. Early on in the Acacia Strain’s Friday night set, frontman Vincent Bennett staked out the parameters…

Deerhoof, Experimental Dental School, Coconut Saturday, October 11, 2008 Bluebird Theater Better Than: The freezing-ass rain outside. I realize that it can be somewhat fallacious to liken bands to one another simply because they happen to share a bill, but the three bands at the Bluebird Saturday night — San…

The Captain and the Red Hot Flames circa 1986. Once upon a time, indefatigable self-promoter David Booker fronted The Captain and the Red Hot Flames, one of the most popular Colorado acts of the ’80s — and he’s about to go back to the future. The group, also featuring saxophonist…

This week, we present “Byrne After Reading,” our new advice column by musician/artist (and former Talking Heads frontman) David Byrne. Dear David: I am a singer who used to be in a popular and highly influential ’80s band until we broke up because we all hated each other. Since then,…

The best rapper ever? Vibe readers think so. LOCALS ONLY Metropolitan State College of Denver’s radio station, MetRadio, has been around over a decade, and according to Colorado emcee D.O. it has barely featured any hip-hop. He’s looking to change that, by launching a hip-hop show called “Black Hollywood.” (The…

Josephine and the Mousepeople BDRMPPL and Pictureplane w/Josephine and the Mousepeople, Gangi and Rainbow Arabia Thursday, October 9th, 2008 Rhinoceropolis, Globeville Better Than: A show where everyone’s from the same demographic. Pictureplane seems to bring in people from a broad spectrum of society in a way that few other musical…

See the slide show at westword.com/slideshow. Nick Warren October 10, 2008 Beta Better than: A Thursday night without go-go dancers It’s strange that I’ve never seen Nick Warren before. I’ve owned his discs for close to a decade and I’ve written about him. He’s played in places I was, but…

Not to be outdone or outshone by those Animo cats, P-Nuckle has posted a brand new video of its own for the song “A Place Called Home.” The video, which appears to have been filmed entirely on location at [insert name of non-descript, north suburban trailer park here], looks like…

In case you’ve been wondering where we’ve been most of the morning, we’re happy to inform you that we just returned from the ophthalmologist, where, after much consternation and effort, he successfully removed the mechanical pencils we had jammed in our eyeballs after screening Animo’s video for “Left Out,” which…

A Place to Bury Strangers Wednesday, October 8 Larimer Lounge Better Than: Sitting at home crying because My Bloody Valentine won’t come to Denver. After last night’s show, it wasn’t so much that my ears hurt or were ringing; it was more like my head was encased in a sine…

I think a certain kind of person settles down to raise a family in the Northwest, and that breeds a certain kind of kid,” says Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold. “I definitely feel like a product of my environment in that way, and really can’t imagine dying anywhere else. I…

Mario Zoots and Kristy Fenton, the duo behind Modern Witch, are better known in the world of visual art. Just the same, on their first musical project, the two have successfully translated their artistic talent from one medium to another. In the live setting, the group seems equal parts performance…

Although the moniker slapped on “You’re Fired!,” the lead track from Calvin Locklear’s new EP, can’t help but conjure Trumpian expectations, the ditty itself is an improbably buoyant affair, replete with jangly guitars and chooglin’ percussion that build up plenty of pop pleasure. The cuts that follow aren’t quite up…