“Night of Lonely Zombies,” from Locusts of Egypt’s sophomore effort, Fondness, could easily be a long-lost ’70s power-pop song; it also recalls the sound that Elephant 6 became known for in the ’90s. Meanwhile, Jim Angell and Eugenia Appelhaus’s higher-register vocals and the way they sit in the mix call…
Many sludge/doom bands tune their guitars to drop C. Joseph Weller Myer of Whilt goes one step further, playing a bass that evokes the lowest registers of both guitar and bass. “Black Leaves” is a clear reference to marijuana — the kind Satan keeps for himself in a secret stash…
In the Whale has the kind of live show that can literally turn the head of a rock star. No, really — not speaking figuratively here. Ask Slash. The Guns N’ Roses guitar god hand-picked the band to open for him after seeing footage of Eric Riley and Nate Valdez…
Dr. Neptune (due this Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23, at 3 Kings Tavern) became one of the more popular punk bands in the scene before disbanding for good in 2006, after a couple of vans broke down as the band was making waves on the Warped Tour circuit…
Cat Power (due this Saturday, November 23, at the Gothic Theatre) is the sometimes solo, sometimes full-band, project of Chan Marshall. Although born in Atlanta, Marshall made her way to New York City in the early 1990s and became involved in the underground music scene in the Big Apple. In…
Formed in Tampa — the home of death metal — in 1984, Morbid Angel (due Friday, November 22, at the Bluebird Theater) may not have put out the subgenre’s founding document (an honor generally bestowed on Possessed’s 1985 masterpiece, Seven Churches), but it can rightfully be considered one of its…
3OH!3 (due this Saturday, November 16, at Summit Music Hall) formed in 2004 as an irreverent, outrageously humorous dance pop band. Founded by Boulder natives Nathaniel Motte and Sean Foreman, 3OH!3 quickly caught on with audiences locally and then well outside of Colorado with its 2007 debut, 3OH!3. But it…
NINE INCH NAILS at 1STBANK CENTER | 11/13/13 From the very beginning, a Nine Inch Nails show creates a different kind of space, a heightened reality, accompanied by an unsurpassed light show. A pulsing low end preceded the band taking the stage, and the six distinctive lighting rigs above each…
Starting off with the big beat of “Phase 5,” Blackcell’s In the Key of Black is a hybrid of modern and classic EBM, but there’s a darkness and density of sound here that seem to have eluded most modern purveyors of the genre. “Creatures of Habit” has a subtle and…
Genessier will be providing at least some of the inspiration for the music provided at HorrorHouse Fest 2013 (this Saturday, November 16, at 3 Kings Tavern). Genessier is the latest project from Ryan Policky and Eddie Breidenbach, a duo who previously performed together in ambient/soundtrack project Parallel Light. In contrast,…
MAZZY STAR at OGDEN THEATRE | 11/10/13 At about the halfway through Mazzy Star’s show last night at the Ogden Theatre, the stage went dark, and most of the band had left the stage. When the low lights came back on, they illuminated the forms of Hope Sandoval and David…
KREATOR at GOTHIC THEATRE | 11/8/12 One of the most arresting moments of Kreator’s show at the Gothic Theatre came when the band performed “Phobia.” The way the melody seemed to swim inside the aggressive main riff gave the song a layer of atmosphere without compromising how hard the song…
Pop. 1280, which formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2008, is a band whose music is informed by the energy of punk and the eruptive and menacing sounds of the darker end of post-punk and early industrial music. The surrealistic atmospheres are bracing and chilling rather than soothing. Pop. 1280’s…
TORO Y MOI at OGDEN THEATRE | 11/6/13 Toro Y Moi’s earliest shows were sometimes poorly received because they weren’t what people were expecting. It’s safe to say that Chaz Bundick has stepped it up considerably since then, and not just as a songwriter, but as a performer whose former…
The Blue Rider’s self-titled release has a number of touchstones, among them Nuggets-era garage rock, the Stooges and the Cramps, and the resulting music sounds like something out of an early-’60s Louisiana juke joint, especially songs like the ultra-short “Innertube.” The record encompasses a variety of sounds — from psychedelic…
Formed in Essen, Germany, in 1982, Kreator was one of the non-American pioneers of thrash. Like many of its peers, Kreator began as a speed metal band inspired by the new wave of British heavy metal, but the added influence of acts like Venom and Discharge produced an adrenalized thrash…
One of the pioneers of dub and electronic dance music, Mad Professor, was born Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser in Guyana. In the late ’60s, at the age of thirteen, he moved to London, where his father was living. Fraser, who was an electronics whiz kid and had built his own…
DEVOTCHKA at GOTHIC THEATRE | 10/31/12 Nick Urata was quite engaging throughout last night’s show, but one of the most compelling moments came when he introduced a song as one written by one of the band’s heroes. The tune wasn’t immediately recognizable, as the band had expertly reworked the song…
FRI | NEGATIVE APPROACH at MARQUIS THEATER | 11/23/13 In a just world, John Brannon would be as hallowed a punk icon as anyone out of early ’80s and D.C. Hardcore. As the frontman for the Detroit-based Negative Approach, Brannon was involved in making some of the most confrontational and…
SAT | RETOX at 7TH CIRCLE MUSIC COLLECTIVE | 11/2/13 Retox’s Justin Pearson has been in a handful of the most respected punk and experimental bands for more than twenty years. He helped found hardcore band Struggle when he was fifteen. By 1994, that project was through, and Pearson was…
A richly melodic yet hushed set of songs, this self-titled debut by Distant Correspondent is reminiscent of Sarah Records bands like the Field Mice, but with less jangle and darker dream-pop sensibilities. The album also makes some daring sonic choices — more like what you’d expect from an experimental post-punk…
Chris Steele got the nickname “Time” while playing basketball in elementary school. Like time itself, evidently, he fancied himself unstoppable. Steele still plays basketball regularly, but since his school days, he’s also become one of the most eloquent and literate rappers out there. He grew up in northwest Denver and…
