Bad Luck City at the Walnut Room, 12/17/10

BAD LUCK CITY Kal Cahoone & the Dirty Pretty • Death Rides West 12.17.10 | Walnut Room Bad Luck City, Kal Cahoone and Death Rides West each have an affinity for varying degrees of darkness, which is evident both in all three act’s lyrics and music. So it made for…

Mark Farina at the Gothic Theatre, 12/17/10

MARK FARINA With Octopus Nebula • Falty DL • S.P.E.C.T.R.E. 12.16.10 | Gothic Theatre View Mark Farina at the Gothic slideshow Last night’s show at the Gothic Theatre signified Mark Farina’s third trip to the metro area in 2010, and the first weekend-night set of all three shows. Farina did…

Chad Price at 3 Kings Tavern, 12/17/10

CHAD PRICE With Lenny Lashley • Pete Stein 12.17.10 | 3 Kings Tavern Former punks and present cowpunks splayed open their hearts in the tradition of the great singer-songwriters last night at 3 Kings Tavern. Lenny Lashley, former Darkbuster frontman and current frontman of Lenny and the Piss Poor Boys,…

Here’s a Juggalo Christmas card

Juggalos celebrate just like the rest of us, only Insane Clown Posse Santa Clauses wield meat cleavers, just because, really. Backbeat received this holiday greeting from the folks at Pscyhopathic Records and we’re sharing it with you. This card could be a collector’s item one day. If you would like…

Susan Boyle vs. Ke$ha: Pick your champion

With two weeks left in the year, Billboard has posted it’s 2010 year-end charts. The top single of 2010? Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok.” Wouldn’t necessarily have been our guess, but fair enough — seems like one of a handful of 2010’s defining singles. The album race, however, has more shocking (and…

Photos: 100 best nightlife photos of 2010

It’s Friday and your mind may already be thinking about what to do tonight. To get you in the mood for unworking, you may dig this slideshow — 100 best nightlife photos of 2010 — don’t worry, it’s safe for work. Below are a few highlights…

Behold: Yuletide carols being sung by, uh, Gwar?

Here’s something you don’t see everyday — well, unless you’re one of their neighbors: Just in case your holiday season hasn’t been splattered with enough fake blood and mindless destruction, the members GWAR have arrived to spread their own brand of holiday cheer. Don’t miss Oderus Urungus, Balsac the Jaws…

Prefuse 73 just confirmed for Artopia 2011!

Aww yeah! Artopia 2011 is shaping up to be the party of spring. As if the bill weren’t already dope enough with Hood Internet and Signal Path, we’ve just confirmed another choice act. Fresh off a tour with Glitch Mob and Beats Antique, Prefuse 73 will be in the building…

Skrillex at the Fox Theatre, 12/16/10

SKRILLEX With Pillowfight 12.16.10 | Boulder Theatre Last night at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, Skrillex showed his fans exactly what creatures can lurk in the hard, dark reaches of dance music and broke the rules for a live DJ gig in surprisingly delightful ways…

Selko’s a beatmaker who thrives in the shadows

You may not have heard much about Selko, and there’s a good reason for that. With the exception of some occasional tweets and the placement of his ninja stickers around town, he’s kept a relatively low profile. Tomorrow night at Herman’s Hideaway (with Yo, Flaco!, the Dendrites, Gamerlife and Blazing…

Free mix from DJ Narky Stares of the Real is a Feeling crew

Not a lot of holiday parties circle around events that only happen every 456 years, but tomorrow night at Meadowlark, Real is a Feeling is holding it down as your winter solstice pre-party headquarters. To honor the solstice — which is extra special because it also falls on the lunar…

YTCracker on the virtues of Nerdcore and the finer points of hacking

YTCracker rolls with a crew and movement known as “nerdcore,” the epicenter of all things sophisticated and geeky. The rapper — aka Bryce Case, who pronounces his name as “whitey cracker” — and his contemporaries, guys like MC Lars, MC Frontalot, MC Chris and Dual Core, aren’t your average pocket-protector…

Photos: Creep at Beauty Bar, 12/15/10

Last night the first-ever Creep party at Beauty Bar — you may have read about it here on Backbeat — went down. Nightlife photographer Jonathan Shoup brings back these photos. See the full slideshow here: Creep at Beauty Bar…

Tonight: Girls Walk By at 3 Kings

Yet another great project featuring Suzi Bromfield, Girls Walk By is a guitar-pop band, yes, but in a Pixies kind of way. Three-part harmonies and surf guitar abound, but the darkness saturating the vocals and instrumentation is what gives the quartet an distinction beyond its psychadelic undertones…