The Black Angels – Queen City Sounds and Art

Best Shows in Denver and Beyond May 2025

**Deerhoof performs at The Bluebird Theater on 5/2/25**

Thursday | 05.01
What: YHWH Nailgun w/Morgan Garrett
When: 7
Where: Globe Hall
Why: YHWH Nailgun is an experimental rock band from NYC whose deep experimentations with rhythm and texture lends its 2025 album 45 Pounds an industrial intensity and No Wave menace. Mostly percussion and low end frequencies, electronic production and desperate vocals it’s unlike much of anything else going on unless you’re well versed in 2000s left field and industrial post-punk or Orange Milk artists like opener Morgan Garrett who deconstruct rock music to create something daring, strikingly original and whose music stirs the imagination.

Friday | 05.02
What: Deerhoof w/Decollage and Wheelchair Sports Camp
When: 7
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Across its 31 years of existence Deerhoof has proven that you can have some consistency and still largely reinvent yourself as a band as you absorb and process and shed aspects of influence along the way while building your own world of musical imagination. Every one of Deerhoof’s now 20 full length albums and assorted other releases are worth diving deep into and getting lost in the wonderfully psychedelic pop and noise prog and indie jazz funk or whatever Deerhoof is manifesting in any particular song in a style that sounds like genre collage yet entirely their own. The new record Noble and Godlike in Ruin is refreshingly unlike any of its previous albums except that it plays with familiar elements in new ways while incorporating aspects of cinematic composition and ambient classical at times while embracing noisiness and “imperfections” yet perfect for embodying a unique creative vision that is not in line with any prevailing musical trends meaning Deerhoof does what it wants with consistently fascinating results across the album. Decollage is a psychedelic pop band from Denver in the vein of a more synth-drive of Montreal. Wheelchair Sports Camp is the legendary, experimental, free-jazz inflected hip-hop group from Denver who manage to employ humor in addressing serious social and personal issues without downplaying the impacts of social injustice.

Friday | 05.02
What: Jill Sobule – canceled
When: 7
Where: Swallow Hill
Why: Jill Sobule was born in Denver and made her mark in popular music with the release of her 1995 self-titled album and the hit single “I Kissed a Girl” with a prominent appearance in the film Clueless along with the song “Supermodel” from the same album. The undeniable pop hooks and lighthearted flair made the songwriter’s music of that time popular in the waning days of alternative rock. Sobule’s 1997 follow-up Happy Town found the songwriter experimenting much more with sounds and songwriting styles as well as more overt and sharp social commentary on conservative culture, homophobia and medicated conformity to a society in which “normal” is defined by an outward facing cheeriness. The failure of the record to sell as many as her previous release got Sobule dropped from her label but looking back the artist seems to be completely vindicated as it was clearly a creative success and the music holds up far better than most alternative music of the same time, resonating with themes and expressed in a way still very relevant today. Fortunately, Sobule has continued to release records informed by a poignant personal insight and thoughtful cultural examination. The singer-songwriter will be releasing F*ck 7th Grade, the cast recording of her autobiographical musical of the same name later this spring but at this show you’ll likely get to witness some of that music as well as Sobule’s signature wit and poetic insight. Tragically Jill Sobule passed away on 5/1/25.

Saturday | 05.03
What: Cabaret Grey: Plague Garden, Ronnie Stone, Hex Cassette and Healing
When: 7
Where: The Crypt
Why: This is the official Arcane Vampire Ball (Sunday, May 4, at The Church) pre-party. This event will feature live music from Denver post-punk/deathrock band Plague Garden that recently released its latest album Under the Sanguine Moon. With synth-infused atmospherics and robust guitar sounds, Plague Garden is refreshingly different from the cookie cutter modern post-punk bands with spindly guitar tones. Ronnie Stone & the Lonely Riders made a splash among the synthwave/darkwave synthpop world in 2015 with the Møtorcycle Yearbook LP by sounding not just like some restro synth band but one capable of tapping into that decade’s fusion of styles among pop bands with post-punk and R&B often being in the same mix. Then Ronnie Stone basically disappeared from making new music until 2024’s Ride Again with some more underground rave music sounds as an influence that fans of Nuovo Testamento will appreciate. Hex Cassette is the intense and often hyperkinetic one-man synthwave Satanic cult performance art whose beats are irresistible and enveloping. Healing is the synth punk/EBM dance act from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Chella & The Charm in 2022, photo by Tom Murphy

Saturday | 05.03
What: Chella & The Charm w/The Blue Rider and Honey Blazer
When: 8
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Chella & The Charm is releasing its new EP Happy Hour, a celebration of the social connections we take for granted at our usual hangouts and how that camaraderie can help to sustain us in especially rough times. Like now. Like the months and years to come. The situations from which we need a respite even if those times don’t hit us as life changing in the moment. With resonant songwriting and warmly crafted and insightfully observant lyrics, the new EP transcends the Americana realm of music with which the band is most often associated. The Blue Rider is a psychedelic garage rock band in the mold of something from the 1960s but informed by modern, experimental music sensibilities. Honey Blazer taps into 1970s cosmic country and 2010’s psychedelic rock for a sound with a feel like it is coming from hidden oasis of American culture and social infrastructure where people can work minimal jobs and thrive still able to make art and make time for each other aka a place you’d want to visit.

Monday | 05.05
What: LEYA w/Polly Urethane
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: LEYA is a Brooklyn-based duo whose music doesn’t fit in neatly into the realms of modern classical and experimental pop because its tonal choices and moods fit a more archaic form of liturgical music with harps alongside ethereal electronic production and falsetto vocals. Its 2024 album I Forget Everything indulges touches of discordant sounds and unsettling moods. Think something like Philip Glass collaborating with Anohni. Denver’s Polly Urethane is pretty much the only artist in the Mile High City that makes sense for this bill with her own heterodox musical styles weaving together classical and medieval composition, industrial ambient, hypnogogic pop and confrontational performance art paired with strikingly commanding vocals.

Wednesday | 05.07
What: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
When: 7
Where: Mission Ballroom
Why: If you’ve paid attention to modern music for the past four decades plus the name of Nick Cave looms large because of his groundbreaking work with The Birthday Party, Grinderman and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds among other projects. He’s an icon and an enigma whose body of work is consistently rewarding and insightful in the ways the human mind can get caught up in collective mythology and individual obsession, in love and the depths of despair and contemplating the multitude of human experiences. And you’d think this far into his career he might be coasting a little but Cave’s past more than decade of studio albums is among the most creatively realized of his entire career including 2024’s Wild God which unlike his previous three records, deep meditations, seemingly, on despair, loss and rediscovering a will to go on and find meaning and vitality. Some of the latter peeks through in expressions of joy on the new album while never indulging in mere feel good insipidity. Cave is also among the greatest front people to ever do it and worth seeing for that alone.

Wednesday | 05.07
What: LOOLOWNINGEN & The Far East Idiots w/Moon Pussy and Cherry Spit
When: 7:30
Where: Skylark Lounge Bobcat Club
Why: LOOLOWNINGEN & The Far East Idiots are a prog-post-punk-art rock band from Tokyo whose sound is an unlikely combination of something like Happy End, Fishmans and an arty psychedelic garage prog group. Denver noise rock luminaries Moon Pussy and Cherry Spit are opening the show so there will be no down side beginning to end.

Saturday | 05.10
What: Jandek
When: 7
Where: Aztlan Theater
Why: Jandek aka Sterling Smith might be described as lo-fi outsider blues whose cult following may not be gigantic but is in itself influential. It’s hard to compare his music to that of other artists because it’s so enigmatic yet accessible. Like something out of a similar stew that spawned Les Rallizes Denudes, The Fugs and the solo work of Skip Spence and Syd Barret. Minimal, spare, haunted and intimate stuff completely unadorned by the kind of commercial ambition that ruins a lot of music. Jandek put out some 36 albums before any documented evidence of a live performance before 2004 but since then has occasionally played unannounced or shows promoted largely by word of mouth or minimal press including a 2008 performance at Denver at The Bug Theater with local musicians in the experimental scene backing his spidery sketches of guitar work and vocals. This might be that or whatever it is it’ll be worth going to see to catch one of the few underground legends left that doesn’t smear the world with self-promoting ego assertion.

Sunday | 05.11
What: Stereo MC’s w/The Casual Sound DJs and guest
When: 7
Where: The Oriental Theater
Why: Stereo MC’s aren’t from Manchester but coming about in the second half of the 80s and into alternative music prominence in the early 90s its unique brand of hip-hop and DJ/house/techno culture music sounded in that pocket in their own style. The 1992 hit “Connected’ was ubiquitous at the time and yet has aged a lot better than music of the era that got a ton of airplay with its soulful vocals and irresistible beat and it didn’t hurt that the band had a live drummer. Opening/between sets are The Casual Sound DJs including Tyler Jacobson and Jake Ryan who spin Brit-Pop classics, shoegaze, baggy and likely a heaping of Madchester music too.

Sunday | 05.11
What: Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
When: 7
Where: Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom
Why: Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Afrobeat’s biggest star and cultural and political figure Fela Kuti. When Fela passed in 1997 Seun came to lead the band Egypt 80. As a saxophonist, vocalist and activist Kuti has continued his father’s legacy in not only writing uplifting and politically-informed songs he has also been vocal in his support for human rights at home and abroad. This tour is in support of his latest album with the band Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) produced by Lenny Kravitz with a 2025 deluxe edition coming soon. Live Kuti is a commanding figure who masterfully weaves storytelling with dance and a rich tapestry of live music the demonstrates the continued vitality of the Afrobeat sound and how it has absorbed and influenced other styles across decades.

Monday | 05.12
What: Allison Russell w/Kara Jackson
When: 7
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Allison Russell is an acclaimed singer/songwriter, poet and multiinstrumentalist from Montreal who has made a name for herself for her emotionally vibrant vocals and keen ear for evocative musical detail and soulful live performances in her bands Po’ Girl and Birds of Chicago and most recently as a solo artist. Russell’s songs frequently take on cultural and psychological binaries and the oppression and destructiveness that people perpetrate in the world and on themselves. Her recent single “Superlovers” with vocal contributions from Annie Lennox is a tender song of yearning for a power of love to help the world to overcome the will to hate, war and genocide and to cultivate the strength to face tough issues with compassion and fortitude.

Magdalena Bay, photo by Lisyelle Laricchia

Tuesday | 05.13
What: Magdalena Bay w/Sam Austins
When: 7
Where: Ogden Theatre
Why: Magdalena Bay’s 2024 album Imaginal Disk is a leap forward for the synth pop band. Its tones more lush, its science fiction concepts more fully realized as a fusion of a retro technological object with a human being as a vehicle for self actualization but rejected in favor of embracing one’s humanity and inborn consciousness. The live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last year revealed a band that had begun to develop its theatrical stage show for tour behind Mercurial World and is now in the realm of a pop band version of those early 1970s Genesis live shows with costumes and ambitious art rock but in this case pop. But the music speaks for itself and the duo’s entrancing melodies and finely crafted arrangements ensure the stage performance enhances well-crafted songs rather than overshadows them.

Tuesday | 05.13
What: Mayday Parade w/Microwave, Grayscale, Like Roses
When: 6
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Mayday Parade emerged from Tallahassee, Florida in 2005 when Kid Named Chicago and Defining Moment merged and became one of the era’s most noteworthy acts in the realm of pop punk and emo. Its debut album 2007’s A Lesson in Romantics is not just a favorite of fans but an acclaimed pop punk record with anthemic songs about coming of age and the dramatic frustrations that most people experience while they’re still figuring out who they are. The group released its latest album Sweet on April 18, 2025. Currently Mayday Parade is on the Three Cheers for 20 Years tour and performing not just selections from the new album but tracks beloved by its fans and some deep cuts across its career for good measure.

Wednesday | 05.14
What: Beach House w/Cass McCombs (solo)
When: 7
Where: Mission Ballroom
Why: Beach House is the well-known dream pop and shoegaze band from Baltimore, Maryland that came up in that city’s fertile indie scene of the mid-2000s before releasing its self-titled debut in 2006. Since then the duo has established a cult following for its intimate sound, expansive melodies and immersive live shows. Even early on when the group was playing small clubs it put in the effort to give those who came a sense of something more than just a band on stage playing songs. Victoria Legrand’s expressive and soulful vocals help to center music that invites listeners to drift into a state of reverie and contemplation. Beginning in 2016 James Barone, a drummer, bassist, producer and engineer based in Denver, joined the Beach House fold and added an element of something different to the band including an expanded rhythmic finesse. The group’s most recent album Once Twice Melody was the first written by all three members of the band and its lush, orchestral beauty makes it one of the most fully-realized of the band’s career to date.

Rilo Kiley, photo courtesy Little Record Company

Wednesday | 05.14
What: Rilo Kiley w/Benjamin Gibbbard
When: 6
Where: Red Rocks
Why: Rilo Kiley were darlings of early modern indie rock although they mostly played small clubs on early tours including a few shows in Denver at the venerable, legendary and defunct 15th St. Tavern. The earnest and genuinely clever lyrics on the early Rilo Kiley records were a change from a lot of what was happening in rock music of the time because it felt raw and truthful like an unvarnished emotional truth presented in the kind of song that could both make the messaging seem easier to take without watering down the impact. The group continued to refine its songwriting to great effect but then split in 2013. Jenny Lewis of course might be much more well known than her old band at this point but Rilo Kiley announced its reunion in 2025 with a tour including this date at Red Rocks, a venue it was never big enough to command in its first iteration but that is just a testament to its legacy as one of the best indie rock bands in the development of that music into a recognizable form. Opening act Benjamin Gibbard people may know as the singer for some group called Death Cab For Cutie whose own solo career is not short on worthwhile material.

Peter Bjorn and John, photo by Johan Bergmark

Wednesday | 05.14
What: Peter, Bjorn and John
When: 7
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Peter Bjorn and John are currently touring playing their 2006 landmark album Writer’s Block, the record that basically broke the Swedish trio to an international audience. The songs from the album are about the peaks and valleys of being in a relationship but paired with the kind of noise pop and psychedelic rock that became a core sound of indie rock over the next decade. The hit single “Young Folks” is truly one of the great singles of the 2000s that you’ll still hear in public space playlists and on radio stations that play pop music of the past two decades. Of course the band will perform music from across its fine career but something about Writer’s Block still makes it a standout record of enduring appeal and a testament to the group’s continuing talent.

Thursday | 05.15
What: The Gang of Four w/Colfax Speed Queen
When: 7
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Gang of Four are the legendary post-punk band from Leeds, UK that alchemically blended funk, punk, conceptual art rock and left politics into a potent blend that was ferocious and had some swing to its angular musical constructions. The classic lineup of Jon King, Hugo Burnham, Andy Gill and Dave Allen produced some of the most memorable and incisive post-punk in the history of that music. That lineup split in 1984 but the band has returned to operation now and then over the years with King, Burnham, Gill and Allen touring extensively again in 2005 and showcasing the raw power of the band and its still relevant and enduring music. This tour is purportedly the group’s last. Gill passed away in 2020 just before the pandemic and Allen died in April 2025. But the group has tapped former L7 and Belly bassist Gail Greenwood and Ted Leo on guitar so not the original or even the version with Dave Pajo but likely worth making it out to see.

Thursday | 05.15
What: Sasami w/Mood Killer
When: 7
Where: Larimer Lounge
Why: Sasami’s 2022 album Squeeze was a surprise entry of experimental industrial metal for an artist more known for atmospheric indie rock and dream pop. Her new album Blood on the Silver Screen has a title like an even more extreme manifestation of her songwriting. Instead it’s a collection of indie pop explorations of the way love operates in our loves and how deal with various aspects of romantic relationships and the aftermath when it doesn’t work out or not the way we though it would in the beginning. The album feels like the songwriter was capturing the specific headspace and writing a song that would articulate the emotions that course through you.

Panda Bear, Painting by Hugo Oliveira, photography by Fernanda Pereira

Friday | 05.16
What: Panda Bear and Toro Y Moi w/Kassie Krut
When: 7
Where: The Fillmore Auditorium
Why: Panda Bear released his new album Sinister Grift in February 2025. Likely the album was written and finalized long before it went public but the title sure does capture the moment and sinking sense of doom and civilization being on the precipice that anyone with any sense of reality and moral conscience has felt for some time but perhaps most acutely now. There is plenty of grift in the American government at the highest levels with too many parts of society getting in on the action and it can feel completely hopeless. The record though it’s deeply melodic and feels like an attempt at musical self soothing it does little to hide a shared feeling of doomerism and trying to hold it together and weather this worst of recent timelines. Panda Bear is perhaps best known for his membership in influential art pop group Animal Collective but his body of work under his own name and in collaboration with the likes of Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 fame has consistently been a rewarding listen and for this tour he co-headlines with foundational chillwave artist-turned-art funk pop artist Toro Y Moi. Both excel at incorporating the multi-media element into the live show so this will likely be a feast for the ears and eyes.

The Black Angels, photo courtesy Partisan Records

Friday | 05.16
What: The Black Angels w/Gift
When: 8
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Austin’s The Black Angels were early adopters of the style of psychedelic rock that would go on to become more popular in a tamed form in the 2010s. The Black Angels, though, have consistently put out interesting records across its entire career experimenting with form and content and recording methods and themes always with the kind of aesthetic that resonates with its counterculture influences. The band also initiated the Austin Psych Fest which has turned into Levitation championing psychedelic and left field music internationally with remarkable lineups with each iteration of the event. The live shows are a great example of what psychedelic rock can be when the artists lean into the mind-altering possibilities of music rather than aiming for an established genre.

St. Vincent in 2014, photo by Tom Murphy

St. Vincent | 05.16
What: St. Vincent w/Black Country, New Road
When: 7
Where: Mission Ballroom
Why: St. Vincent is probably considered by many to be an indie rock artist because her early work was a fine example of what that music could be with some imagination and artistic ambition behind it but even an album like 2009’s Actor was virtually a concept album that explored ideas of identity and the influence of mediated images on culture and the collective psyche. In 2024 St. Vincent released All Born Screaming, a record of uncommon vulnerability in which Annie Clark brought to bear her accumulated songwriting and production skills to craft immersive emotional soundscapes in which she invites listeners to share in a likely resonant experience of living with and honoring heartbreaking loss and finding a way to persevere when one’s world threatens to overwhelm our capacity to do so. Black Country, New Road is the UK band that has found a way to fuse Americana-infused psychedelia with art rock ambition and an ear for production and eclectic sound palettes.

Friday | 05.16
What: INTHEWHALE w/Hellgrammites and Musuji
When: 7
Where: The Oriental Theater
Why: This is the final INTHEWHALEshow in Denver. The duo comprised of Nate Valdez and Eric Riley started off in 2010 as a cross between a sludge rock and punk band whose sound anticipated the embrace of 90s grunge and alternative rock in the late 2010s and beyond. The group made a name for itself locally and far afield when they would take short tours every week or every month due to the freedom of their work situations. The raw energy of the band and its knack for writing tuneful rock songs that yes had songs about partying and being young and rocking but also sensitive songs about mental health issues, mortality and the fraught social landscape that is America.

Friday | 05.16
What: Bison Bone EP release w/The Patti Fiasco
When: 8
Where: The Skylark Lounge Bobcat Club
Why: Bison Bone is celebrating the release of its new, 3-song EP Lean with this performance. The new set of songs are about partnerships of various kinds: romantic, friendship and other associations in which commitment enriches the experience for all involved. Courtney Whitehead’s spare yet heartfelt and poetic lyrics are delivered with the essential sentiments emphasized and the style of country rock the band has offered from the beginning is warm, commanding and inviting all at once with performances reflecting and embodying this aesthetic perfectly.

Saturday | 05.17
What: Momma w/Wishy
When: 8
Where: The Marquis Theater
Why: With the release of its fourth album Welcome to My Blue Sky, Momma has, like Wednesday, shown that one can pair raw and resonant tales of everyday life with brashly expansive, deeply atmospheric and transporting melodies. Sparkly and gritty guitar work and introspective but emotionally-charged vocals are at the core of the music but Momma shows a command of processing all of those sounds with creative use of processing and effects with great variety serving perfectly the moment in each song. The video for the title track to the new album was filmed in Yerington, Nevada, a small town that guitarist and vocalist Etta Friedman is from and shows a side of America that many will identify immediately and feel a sense of fond remembrance. Wishy from Indianapolis is a great pairing on the bill with its own shoegaze-adjacent indiepop and touring behind its own new release Planet Popstar.

Saturday | 05.17
What: SPELLLING w/Ramakhandra
When: 7
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: SPELLLING has been creating orchestral, soulful experimental pop across several albums now including 2025’s Portrait of My Heart. The new album sounds like a glorious, long lost art rock and R&B record of the 1980s but made with modern production sensibilities. Maybe it’s the crunchy power pop style guitar at points and the breezy rhythms reminiscent of something you might hear on a Missing Persons album. But at the center is Tia Cabral’s commanding vocals seemingly unfurling vivid synth washes and beautiful sustained guitar melodies. Opening is art prog psych funk band from Denver Ramakhandra returning after too long a hiatus.

The Effigies, photo courtesy effigies.com

Monday | 05.19
What: The Effigies w/Battle Sights and Shitdrugs
When: 7
Where: HQ
Why: The Effigies were one of the earliest of Chicago’s punk bands in a city that was apparently late to adopt that cultural and musical earthquake in the mid-to-late-70s. And from the beginning the band was different. It played with the guitar tones to be more sharp and atmospheric, the rhythms more outside of standard rock ideas and in general despite its aggressive energy was more of a post-punk band in terms of its thoughtful lyrics and sonics. It was more like an American Killing Joke but without the synthesizer. Tragically singer John Kezdy died in a crash while riding his bicycle in 2023 but the group released the final album in 2024 and honoring the legacy with this tour.

Friday | 05.23
What: Florist w/Allegra Krieger
When: 7
Where: The Perplexiplex at Meow Wolf Convergence Station
Why: Brooklyn-based indie folk band Florist released its latest album Jellywish via Double Double Whammy. This time around the songs have a pastoral and at times elegiac quality. The lyrics explore the deep essences of existential meaning and the significance of our lives in themselves separate from the destructive comparisons that we’re encouraged to make by culture. The instrumentation is delicate and spare, mostly acoustic guitar, piano and almost ambient electronic backgrounds with the gentle texture of field recordings. It’s a quiet music that moves profoundly because it trickles into your psyche in the listening.

Friday | 05.23
What: Elephant Rifle, Gaytheist, Almanac Man and Chew Thru
When: 8
Where: The Skylark Lounge Bobcat Club
Why: Elephant Rifle is a noise rock band from Reno, Nevada that combines angular, aggressive energy with mutated atmospheric edges and wonderfully pointed, socially critical lyrics. Gaytheist is the queercore noise rock juggernaut from Portland, Oregon. Almanac Man from Denver is equal parts DC post-hardcore and post-metal sludge with their own brand of harshing on the excesses of late capitalism. Chew Thru from Denver is post-hardcore thrash that definitely sounds like it draws inspiration from late 80s crossover and The Melvins.

Horse Jumper of Love, photo from Bandcamp

Sunday | 05.25
What: Horse Jumper of Love w/Roseville and Precocious Neophyte
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Boston’s Horse Jumper of Love has created for itself a small cult following for its style of slow-moving-dramatic atmospheric art rock. At times moody and intense but always evolving in the tenor of the song, the music of Horse Jumper of Love has been dubbed slowcore but it’s noisier than most of that realm of music and more given to the jagged break into cathartic transcendence. Its latest album 2024’s Disaster Trick includes contributions from Karly Hartzman of Wednesday fame.

Tuesday | 05.27
What: Napalm Death and Melvins
When: 7
Where: Summit Music Hall
Why: Napalm Death is of course the foundational, always evolving grindcore band from the UK. Since its 1981 inception as more of an anarcho punk band into darker, starker post-punk the group by the mid-90s had developed an extreme form of guitar rock with blast beats that has proven influential and open enough to influences that the band never got stuck doing the same sound and style endlessly across its career. The group throughout the 90s incorporated elements of death metal, shoegaze, progressive rock and later into the 2000s, industrial aesthetics and all the way Napalm Death has had an especially incisive run of commentary on the state of the world as an anti-fascist, anti-authoritarian band. Melvins have exerted an immense influence after launching itself in the early 80s in 1983 but in Montesano, Washington and carving out the foundations of sludge metal and doom while infusing it all with punk attitude and an irreverent attitude toward standard rock conventions. It influenced grunge and a whole host of stoner rock and extreme metal throughout the 90s but also embraced its own version of experimental music. How many “sludge” bands would cover Throbbing Gristle? And much as Napalm Death every Melvis album is worth a listen because the band has tried something different with every record, and every tour for that matter, to keep itself from getting bored with the music. Its 2025 album Thunderball is more melodic and psychedelic than the band has been in awhile, maybe more than it ever has been without sacrificing the sonic intensity that is the reason one checks in on the band.

Stephen McBean aka Pink Mountaintops, photo from pinkmountaintops.com

Friday | 05.30
What: Still Loud! A Celebration of Michael McGrath featuring Pink Mountaintops, Rowboat, Peter, Paul & Gary and Porlolo
When: 6
Where: The Oriental Theater
Why: Michael McGrath is among the best live music photographers ever based out of Denver and one of the most active shooting a broad spectrum of styles and always seeming to capture the choice action shot or dramatic expressiveness of the artists. He captures the essence. With a career spanning at least three decades, McGrath is a constant presence in the photo pit and at clubs and not just as a documentarian but as a fan of the music which is what sets his work apart from other skilled photogs in the field. He was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and under treatment and this show is a fundraiser to help him cover the costs of his treatment and while needing the time off to take care of everything. For this occasion renowned solo psychedelic rock act Pink Mountaintops will perform as well as Denver artists such as experimental folk/psychedelic rock band Rowboat and indie rock phenoms Porlolo.

The Carbon Diablo Ensemble in 2023 including Mark Mosher

Friday and Saturday | 05.30 and 05.31
What: Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival
When: 6:30
Where: Founders Hall of the Center For Musical Arts
Why: The Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival focuses on artists that combine music, multi-media/multi-disciplinary presentation and innovative theoretical practice. This year’s edition includes performances across two nights. On Friday night there is Ian Hatcher, L’Astra Cosmo and Shapes of Emergence.
Saturday will feature once again Ian Hatcher but with Spices Peculiar, Mark Mosher, Jason & Debora Bernagozzi. Mark Mosher is one of the founders of the Rocky Mountain Synth Meet-Up and this year his show is titled “Beautiful Tomorrows: Temporal Odyssey” that blends techno music and this usual dazzling synchornized visuals representing four months of work set in a fictional temporal theme park with journeys inspired by classic science fiction television programs. For more information on the festival and other artists on the bill for both nights, visit the link above.

Saturday | 05.31
What: Ministry (Twitch and With Sympathy) w/My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Die Krupps
When: 6:30
Where: Mission Ballroom
Why: For years Al Jourgensen said he would never perform Ministry music previous to The Land of Rape and Honey but in recent times he’s let up on that restriction and this tour will include live versions of music from the first two albums. But you also get to see bands who were pivotal to the growth and development of industrial music as we know it in the campy-yet-charismatic and colorful My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and German industrial and EBM pioneers Die Krupps.

To Be Continued…

Best Shows in Denver November 2021

Julien Baker performs at Gothic Theatre on Nov 13, photo by Alyssa Gafkjen

Wednesday | 11.03
What: Brandy Clark w/Kelsey Waldon
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: If famous country music stars performing songs you’ve written is a sign of your significance as an artist, Brandy Clark has had a resoundingly successful career. Kenny Rogers, Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban and Darius Rucker have all performed songs penned by Clark. Her critically acclaimed 2020 album Your Life Is a Record garnered her accolades for her own work even from more critical reviewers because her arrangements and thoughtful lyrics were undeniably well crafted and affecting even if you’re not a fan of country music or acoustic pop. Producer Jay Joyce encouraged Clark to expand her musical range with sounds and ideas that brought a quality to the songs that pushed beyond the boundaries of Clark’s previous work for arguably the best record of her career thus far. The 2020 pandemic put plenty of plans for touring and promoting records on hold so this is a chance to see the award winning singer and songwriter at an intimate venue.

Wednesday and Thursday | 11.03 and 11.04
What: Wolf Alice w/The Blossom
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Wolf Alice is hitting its stride with its new album Blue Weekend. Earlier records like 2017’s Visions of a Life and 2015’s My Love is Cool showcased the music of a band learning its powers and creative instincts in often thrilling ways during some years when too many rock bands were trying to cop some of that classic rock or psychedelic garage cachet. Wolf Alice walked a finer line of hard rock and atmospherics fortified by singer Ellie Rowsell’s sometimes gritty vocals yet always emotionally vibrant and nuanced vocals. The new album reveals a band that has not become stuck in what one might expect from previous efforts. Swells in a song don’t inevitably lead to a glorious blowout, rather Wolf Alice takes left field turns in its arrangements perhaps a challenge to foster their growth as a band with consistently compelling results.

Thursday | 11.04
What: Black Dice w/cindygod and H Lite
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Black Dice was an integral part of New York City underground music in the late 90s and 2000s. Its members had come up through punk but took the spirit of open possibilities suggested by that music to do whatever the wanted to. Anything could be an instrument, any rhythmic idea could be made to work. Even ideas about how structure and patterns would emerge through a kind of sound collage cut-up technique that one might compare favorably with the work of Autechre and Aphex Twin. Key to the band’s creative approach and aesthetic was visual art concepts and its various album covers have been designed by members of the band in a style that hits you like graffiti by way of the Situationist International. The band’s methods of composition and expression proved influential to peers like Animal Collective, a band that on the surface makes an updated form of 90s indie pop but like that music truly experiments with the form and musical substance of the songwriting with forays into noise and sampling that enriched the palette of sounds and dynamics available in crafting songs.

In 2012 Black Dice released its then most recent album Mr. Impossible after which its members took time to pursue other projects, Eric Copeland releasing several solo works as well. With the pandemic thus far time seems to have stretched and compressed for most people and what may feel like a handful of years in the living it can stretch to several and in 2021 Black Dice released its latest record Mod Prog Sic. It is classic Black Dice as a free flowing parade of ideas, textures, rhythm and playful tone and signal processing like some futuristic hip-hop/EBM fusion psychedelic beatmaking. We recently had a chance to speak with longtime member Aaron Warren about his early musical days growing up in California and his formative years as an active member of the punk scene in Boulder and Denver in the 90s before ending up in NYC in pursuit of furthering his education and ending up in the city at a time of great creative ferment. Listen to the interview on the Queen City Sounds Podcast.

Thursday | 11.04
What: The Black Angels w/L.A. Witch
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Ogden Theatre
Why: The Black Angels came together and established its individual style of psychedelic rock before that became too trendy in the 2010s and has been able to develop, refine and then evolve its aesthetic across multiple records. Obvious influences drawn from early psychedelic rock, shoegaze, Middle Eastern drones and compound time signatures out of that music and perhaps a touch of African influence along with industrial and the avant-garde has merely made for a musical career that is much more creatively varied than seems obvious with a live show that is consistently entrancing. Opening is the like-minded L.A. Witch and their engaging take on blending 60s psychedelic pop with noir vibes.

Thursday | 11.04
What: Soccer Mommy w/Alexalone
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Probably virtually every musician touring in 2021 has the same story of an album released early in 2020 or slated or release that year only to have all forward momentum in getting the music out there slowed down or stopped due to the pandemic. When Soccer Mommy’s Color Theory was released at the end of February 2020 it garnered some critical acclaim for its winsome, melancholic pop songs in which the songwriter’s arrangements expanded to give her short lyrical lines expansive and often shimmering background textures paired with ethereal string arrangements. There is a pensive and yearning quality to singer/songwriter Sophie Allison’s words and vocal performance that elevates the music beyond much of the sometimes interchangeable indie music offerings you might hear on a playlist in a public space. Allison is not stranger to luminous and introspective songwriting, but right now she is taking her craft into deeper emotional territory than her admittedly excellent 2018 debut album Clean.

Band of Horses, photo by Stevie and Sarah Gee

Thursday | 11.04
What: Band of Horses w/Miya Folick
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Mission Ballroom
Why: Band of Horses is a band that has managed to make uplifting yet incredibly heartbreaking music with undeniable earworm melodies without losing the emotional impact for the last 17 years. The group formed after the respected indie pop band Carissa’s Wierd split in 2004 and quickly established itself as purveyors of thoughtful songs imbued with an upbeat energy and great forward momentum while never dipping into the realm of the hokey or obnoxious positivity. Probably because the lyrics have consistently hit as grounded and insightful even when written in good fun. Expect the new Band of Horses album Things Are Great to drop in January 2022 but for now you can maybe catch a good deal of that new material live until then.

Friday | 11.05
What: Eventually It Will Kill You 4 Year Anniversary Pre-Show: Wisteria w/Candy Apple, Deadluv and Vitrina
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Brian Castillo has been involved in DJ nights over the years and releasing a few records here and there. But he may have found his niche when he launched Eventually It Will Kill You four years ago releasing mostly experimental music and darkwave like the 2018 reissue of the 1983 death rock classic by Denver band Your Funeral and their single “I Want To Be You” b/w “April Fool’s Day” and releases from Many Blessings, the noise side project of Primitive Man’s Ethan McCarthy, chicago darkwave band Funeral Door and dark minimal synth group Child of Night from Columbus, OH. For the occasion of the anniversary “El Brian” put together two shows including this Pre-Show which includes performances by Pittsburgh based post-punk band Wisteria and jagged, jangly Denver post-punkers by way of hardcore Candy Apple.

Plack Blague in October 2018, photo by Tom Murphy

Saturday | 11.06
What: Eventually It Will Kill You 4 Year Anniversary: Kontravoid, Plack Blague, Many Blessings and Closed Tear
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: For the second night of the 4 year anniversary of Eventually It Will Kill You you can catch some of the stars of underground darkwave and noise with EBM techno artist Kontravoid, industrial disco legend Plack Blague (listen to our new interview with Raws Scheslinger of Plack Blague from our podcast on Bandcamp), the ambient noise stylings of Many Blessings and the gloomy, post-punky dream pop of Closed Tear.

Saturday | 11.06
What: Dan Deacon w/Alex Silva and Patrick McMinn
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Dan Deacon’s 2020 album Mystic Familiar was praised as a solid synth pop album but it sounds more like Deacon has really honed his songwriting after a career of pushing musical ideas ever forward. The instrumental performances have a nuance and energy with a granular level of musical detail that can be enjoyed for simply the sheer joy and dynamic expressiveness Deacon seems to bring to his music. But one has to marvel at the way Deacon orchestrates complex passages and textures to into majestic pop songs that uplift the spirit and living up to the name of the album. His live shows are often a collaborative affair and even with his music surely Deacon will encourage those that show up to become involved in spontaneous and creative ways that don’t happen at other shows.

Saturday | 11.06
What: Gus Dapperton w/spill tab at The Gothic
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Forget the hair style, the jewelry, the eyeliner and Gus Dapperton’s stylish sartorial proclivities, the songwriter’s 2020 album Orca is brimming with touching and delicate songs with real insight into the vulnerabilities and haunting thoughts that come to you in your lowest moments. His spare musical arrangements give the vocalization of the lyrics space to issue forth and sit in the air like lingering melodies. It’s an unexpectedly interesting effect from a songwriter who can come across to anyone that hasn’t sat down with the music as saccharine pop but the guy’s music is anything but that.

Monday | 11.08
What: Uniform, Portrayal of Guilt and Body Void
When: 7 p.m.
Where: HQ
Why: Uniform is an industrial hardcore band from New York that came out of the city’s punk and extreme music scene. Its fiery and abrasive electronic onslaught articulates issues of existential confusion and frustration with the destructive forces of society and within our own minds and clawing a path to catharsis. The group’s 2020 album Shame (Sacred Bones Records) is perhaps its most accessible but also its most deeply personal and raw. Also, listen to our podcast episode with an interview with vocalist Michael Berdan on Bandcamp. Opening the show is the great experimental hardcore group Portrayal of Guilt. With music sitting somewhere betwixt black metal, grindcore, hardcore and noise, Portrayal of Guilt consistently delivers scorching songs of poetic yet abrasive beauty. Its new album Christfucker is due out November 5, 2021 on Run For Cover Records. Body Void’s scathing, outraged doom just seems like the perfect complement to the whole show and its 2021 album Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth out on Prosthetic Records is not short on tortured crushers.

Tuesday | 11.09
What: Slow Pulp w/Mamalarky
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Globe Hall
Why: When many bands in the 2010s were evoking a bit of 1990s fuzz rock and grunge, Slow Pulp took a hint of that but went in more a direction of atmospheric pop and experimental soundscapes as a structure for its more hushed and introspective songs. Tourmates Mamalarky from Atlanta is on a similar wavelength with songs of unconventional structure, rhythmic strategy and tonal palette. Like maybe its members came up listening to early Liz Phair demos, Broadcast, Virginia Wing, Deerhoof and Electrelane. The group’s outstanding 2020 self-titled album never gives you a chance to get too settled into a sound but draws you along for a ride into a colorfully dreamlike realm of lush pop adventures.

Wednesday | 11.10
What: Nothing w/Frankie Rose and Enumclaw
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Marquis Theater
Why: Nothing has been on a great trajectory of developing into and beyond punk-influenced shoegaze reaching a high state of creativity on its 2020 album The Great Dismal. Whorling sheets of guitar drone bursting up and receding like waves punctuated by electronic crackles and an aesthetic as much informed by electronic music as by rock at this point. Frankie Rose has spent time in such bands as Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and Beverly but her solo albums is where she has perhaps been most free to utilize her imaginative guitar work, production and songwriting. Though these days she’s also in a band with Matthew Hord of Pop. 1280 called Fine Place which is more in the realm of dub-influenced darkwave pop. So it may be awhile before you get a chance to see a solo Frankie Rose performance for a bit. Enumclaw is one of the few modern bands that sounds like it was heavily influenced by Dinosaur Jr without ripping the band off and injecting a good deal of fuzzy dream pop like they listened to The Smiths but found a way to mix Morrissey out of the proceedings.

Wednesday | 11.10
What: Armand Hammer w/Trayce Chapman and Time (from Calm.)
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: The psychedelic sounds in the beats to Haram, the 2021 album by Armand Hammer with The Alchemist, is reminiscent of the ways cLOUDDEAD tapped into subconscious spaces to evoke a mood that complements the surreal vibe of the lyrics. Fans of Gonjasufi and early Sole records will appreciate the way this pairing of artists collage tone and texture to create great depth of sound and expression. Plus opening is Time whose existential and deeply philosophical and playful lyrics are an antidote to the programmed ignorance of the American education system and the current state of the culture.

Thursday and Friday | 11.11 and 11.12
What: Silverstein w/The Plot In You and Can’t Swim
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater and Gothic Theatre
Why: Silverstein is one of the few bands that walked the line between pop punk and screamo without sounding a parody of itself and where the distorted, screaming vocals really did sound like a primal expression of an intense peak of feeling in the context of the songs. What has kept the band worth a listen is the songwriting and how, as is the case with the better pop punk, the most critical examination in the lyrics is aimed at one’s own shortcomings and finding a way to get through those moments of feelings of failure and intense self-judgment rather than lash out at someone else like a challenge to oneself to truly feel these things you don’t want to in an attempt to be a better person even if you fall short because life and self-betterment is often a process of reworking habits and not some perfect formula to follow.

Friday | 11.12
What: Glacial Tomb, Noctambulist, Necrosophik Abyss — CANCELED
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Glacial Tomb and Noctambulist are two of the best and most brutal and imaginative technical death metal bands out of Denver at the moment and if that’s your thing they’re both on the same bill.

Friday | 11.12
What: Phony Ppl w/Kent Washington
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Marquis Theater
Why: Brooklyn’s Phony Ppl have done some music with Megan Thee Stallion but their own music is a richly expressive sort of art soul music and jazz-inflected hip-hop without making boundaries between any of those styles. There is a gentleness to the music that makes it instantly accessible even though the specific content is very musically sophisticated and challenging. These five guys take heady musical elements and ideas and bring to it a loose and playful spirit that sounds like it should be music for the kind of arty dramas that have yet to be made about the poignant periods in the lives of regular people.

Saturday | 11.13
What: Julien Baker w/Dehd
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Little Oblivions is not the album a lot of people were expecting from Julien Baker. Her first two records of hushed and introspective folk rock had an undeniable emotional power in part because of Baker’s own stirringly emotional vocals. For this record Baker expanded the palette of sounds including more electronic elements and more expansive, brash soundscapes that seem perfectly suited to what really feels like a burst of expressing emotions kept under wraps for too long yearning to be let out. There is an intensity to the record that almost makes Baker’s previous albums seem safe by comparison if they too weren’t informed by a strong emotional honesty themselves. Easily one of the top albums of the year in the realm of rock. Opening is psychedelic surf pop band Dehd from Chicago. Don’t let that short descriptor throw you off because Dehd performs with an often unsettling intensity as well for a band whose moody music is not short on nervy energy too.

Saturday | 11.13
What: Nitzer Ebb w/DJ Eli
Where: Oriental Theater
Why: EBM/industrial legends Nitzer Ebb don’t tour much these days and no matter which of their music you’ve heard the live band is more scrappy, more visceral and more powerful than you could really expect. Their 1987 album That Total Age remains a stone classic of 1980s electronic industrial music.

Saturday | 11.13
What: Big Dopes album release w/Bellhoss
When: 9 p.m.
Where: Roxy on Broadway
Why: Big Dopes is one of the best Denver bands not enough people know about yet. Its new EP Destination Wedding picks up where its outstanding 2019 album Crimes Against Gratitude left off with affecting lyrics and exquisitely crafted melodies. Fans of C86 era pop, Magnetic Fields and Carissa’s Wierd will likely appreciate the band’s attention to sonic detail and knack for a poetic and thoughtful turn of phrase. Also on the bill is the utterly idiosyncratic pop group Bellhoss. Although many have compared Bellhoss and singer Becky Hostetler, at least according to the project’s website, to artists like Waxahatchee and Soccer Mommy, Bellhoss is weirder and more interesting than those comparisons would suggest (though both artists are obviously notable in their own right) and often comes off like some kind of weirdo indie pop thing with intricate and eccentrically shoegaze-y guitar. Really a show with two of the most compelling bands in the Denver scene post-2017 when the music scene in the Mile High City started to severely fragment even as it expanded.

Monday | 11/15
What: Surfbort — CANCELED
When: 8 p.m.
Where: The Coast (Fort Collins)
Why: Surfbort is a weirdo punk band that’s probably a little too rough around the edges and real for a lot of people who call themselves fans of punk but it’s also one of the most interesting and powerful bands in the world of punk today. They don’t have a lot of releases but its new single “FML” has a strange music video that includes Fred Armisen of Portlandia fame whose own background in punk and his own unusual sense of humor vibed with that of this New York band.

Monday | 11.15
What: Exhumed w/Creeping Death, Bewitcher and Victim ov Fire
Where: Oriental Theater
Why: Indeed, it’s influential deathgrind band Exhumed from San Jose, California. Though the music can be brutal and forbidding in a way that might be reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse it nevertheless performs the music with great energy informed by a sense of irony and humor with lyrics often aimed at the corrupt American political and economic system that has metastasized into an oligarchy with a wide gulf between the ultra rich and the poorest members of society.

Tuesday | 11.16
What: Tonstartssbandht, Paul Jacobs and Wally
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Between its gentle lo-fi psychedelia and almost found sound collage aesthetic, Tonstartssbandht from Orlando, Florida is a different animal in the realm of modern psychedelic pop. Andy and Edwin White draw on a broad spectrum of influences from more traditional music to classical music, classic rock and they have a High Rise tribute band called High Rise II. So even though their relatively pastoral 2021 album Petunia can come off just shy of too weird and gritty for yacht rock there are plenty of bizarro nuggets in the mix to keep it interesting. Paul Jacobs’ 2021 album Pink Dogs on the Green Grass gave us a solid batch of wefting and warping psych pop that somehow both hits the ears reminiscent of both Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Clarke and the Himselfs and Odessey & Oracle period The Zombies. The textural quality of his guitar sound keeps us grounded as vocals and wind sounds and even the percussion carries us away into ethereal realms of daydream wonder. In the case of both artists it seems odd to consider how they might pull this stuff off live and yet they do.

Black Marble in May 2017, photo by Tom Murphy

Tuesday | 11.16
What: Black Marble w/Voight
When: 7 p.m.
Where: HQ
Why: Black Marble has spent some years perfecting a sonic equivalent of Polaroid photos cast in the colors of lo-fi, New Wave-y post-punk. The 2021 album Fast Idol finds Black Marble less in the realm of entrancing gloom pop and more in some upbeat mood with a sound that makes one think about what forbidden music might have sounded like if it was the USA rather than the USSR that cracked down on the immoral popular music of a decadent other empire. Live the music hits with full fidelity resulting in two different experiences of the music. Denver’s Voight really wants to be a dark techno band playing in dark rooms in the neo-urban decay but is still stuck in industrial shoegaze mode. And yet remains one of the best bands in the Mile High City because the music isn’t rote, predictable, safe pabulum and ferocious live.

Tuesday | 11.16
What: Nick Lowe’s Quality Rock & Roll Revue w/Los Straightjackets
Where: Oriental Theater
Why: Nick Lowe is one of the pioneers of power pop. He would have sealed that reputation had he remained in Rockpile with one of the other greats of that form of music Dave Edmunds. But Lowe’s solo career speaks for itself with soulful pop rock classics like “Cruel to Be Kind” and “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass.” This run of music is a nod to the sounds that influenced Lowe from rockabilly to soul and beyond.

Wednesday | 11.17
What: Caribou w/Jessy Lanza
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Boulder Theater
Why: Dan Snaith has written some of the most inventive yet accessible electronic music for nearly 20 years as Caribou. Employing traditionally acoustic instrumentation alongside synths/electronic instruments and programming, Snaith taps into some of the same emotional pools of yearning, introspective pondering and nostalgia as the later chillwave and bedroom pop composers he influenced directly or indirectly. His most recent album Suddenly (2020) seemed more somber than other releases but still flowing with hazy yet bright melodies. Even in the most down moments, Snaith incorporates a playful creativity in the mix to convey the nuances and complexity of existence and how we experience life.

Wednesday | 11/24
What: Kraak & Smaak w/Capyac
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Marquis Theater
Why: Dutch musical production trio Kraak & Smaak are masters of blending a tropical beat with layers of synth melody modified in real time to give a sense of fluid movement giving the music the aural equivalent of 3D visuals. The effect being an enveloping music with a cinematic sensibility like a somehow benevolent spy movie funk without any violence or skullduggery involved, just adventure and relaxing moods. It’s most recent EP, Scirocco, is like an unlikely but satisfying blend of Ennio Morricone, Boards of Canada and Simple Minds. If the band’s recent live streams are any indication, this current tour will be like seeing some long lost electro funk great of the past playing music that seems familiar yet fresh.

The Velveteers, photo by David Mermilliod

Friday | 11.26
What: The Velveteers w/Dreadnought and Dry Ice
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: The Velveteers were a promising band from early on in their career in Denver and Boulder playing house shows, small clubs and DIY spaces. While many bands were trying for that classic rock sound, The Velveteers were rapidly outgrowing those early influences into their own sound with fuzzed out riffs and surging song dynamics that made the band sound like it was taking off in multiple directions lending its performances a fiery energy. Through developing the group, creating their own music videos and a little bit of touring, The Velveteers came to the attention of Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys who offered to produce the trio’s new album Nightmare Daydream. Sure it has expert production and clearly the band got some polish in Auerbach’s studio but this set of songs also sound so focused yet as thrillingly effusive as it ever has.

Friday | 11.26
What: Baroness
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Globe Hall
Why: Savannah, Georgia’s Baroness never got to tour behind its 2019 album Gold & Grey for the reasons most bands didn’t do a lot of touring in 2020 and a good chunk of 2021. But now the group with new guitarist Gina Gleason will get a chance to perform older favorites as well as material from the aforementioned album showcasing a seemingly different approach to songwriting different from the brash, bombastic and playful style of previous records. John Baizley’s vocals still soar with great expressive control but the music seems more tied in with the rhythms and beautiful minor chord progressions so that when the songs engage into expansive choruses they always seem to resolve in ways that feel like the group decided to push themselves to say something different and worthwhile with each song. It’s frankly their best album and it would be simply lazy and clumsy to merely refer to this era of Baroness as sludge metal.

Primitive Man in April 2015, photo by Tom Murphy

Saturday | 11.27
What: Primitive Man w/Spectral Voice and Oryx
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Denver is fortunate to have an exceptional extreme metal scene with many bands worth a deep listen. This show, though, showcases three of the best. Spectral Voice and the angular brutality of its dark death metal has evolved from an earlier sort of a blackened deathgrind sound into more refined sonic brutality without losing its raw edge. Oryx has never been short on an inventive evocation of musical heaviness and commentary on the hubris of human civilization. It’s 2021 album Lamenting a Dead World perhaps says it all with the title but the vocals sound especially feral and the parallel rhythms and guitar leads flow with a primordial energy that embodies an inevitable path to doom for the planet if things don’t take a different turn amongst us humans. And of course Primitive Man brings the most crushing and emotionally harrowing death grind you’re likely to experience anywhere. The Denver trio did not tour or play much if anything in the way of live shows in 2020 or much of 2021 so its caustic 2020 album Immersion and its nightmare vision of what seem like end times didn’t get to unleash what is hopefully a catharsis of the eschatological mood that has cloaked the planet since the onset of the pandemic until recently. That these great works of music from Oryx and Primitive Man are still so relevant does speak to the excellence of their conception and execution but also to how far we have to go as a species to prove ourselves worthy of continued existence.

Short Takes #1: April 2018

This is the debut of our record reviews column. It has that name because each review here will generally be a brief set of impressions on each album. Because that might be more useful to most readers than an extended analysis. It may include releases that came out earlier in the year and each column will be updated as we add reviews. The featured album will usually get more attention and for April 2018 it is the new Black Moth Super Rainbow record Panic Blooms, out May 4 through the band’s own Rad Cult imprint.

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Panic Blooms – Rad Cult
Why is the new BMSR album the featured album? Because Tobacco and company are making some of the most idiosyncratic pop music today and the world needs more art that isn’t so easily nicked and dumbed down for people who can’t meet the art on its own terms, enjoy it thusly and perhaps be changed by it in some way.

It’s tempting to call Black Moth Super Rainbow the American Boards of Canada for its masterful recycling and repurposing old electronic music sounds into interesting new shapes that are as retrofuturistically alien as they are comforting. Panic Blooms makes more obvious BMSR’s use of hip-hop production styles in the mixing and beatmaking. But rather than some as-yet-to-exist abstract trap IDM record, this album comes off like the band is trying to reconnect with the musical spirit that first inspired it to make music. Like a search for a reason to keep doing this stuff. There’s always been an element of self-effacing humor in the band’s song titles and lyrics so “Bad Fuckin Times” makes sense. But “Rip On Through,” “One More Ear,” “We Might Be Back,” “New Breeze” and “Bottomless Face” hint at an artistic existential crisis. And yet, this set of songs has a coherence that wasn’t quite there on the 2016 Seefu Lilac EP. Panic Blooms, the title, suggests coming to the realization that maybe one is out of ideas and that very fear that shakes you to the core of your being, cutting you to the psychic quick, can either sink you or blast out yet another vital wave of creativity. The latter seems to be the case here and track to track, it’s a Black Moth Super Rainbow classic on par with 2007’s masterpiece, Dandelion Gum.

Breakdancing Ronald Reagan – Harsh Noise – Self Sabotage Records
Johnathan Cash, aka Breakdancing Ronald Reagan, is too much of an irreverent performance artist to take his sound mashups and collages at face value. Processed and pitch shifted vocals and cut-up short stories amid blasts of echoing white noise make “Playing Windchimes With My Feet” a bit humorous as it is disturbing. Rather than take himself too seriously, Cash has a song called “You Can Tell A Noise Act Sucks If All Their Tracks Have Really Long and Stupid Titles,” which he performs live, in which he describes what makes so many noise acts boring while embodying the same. Meta. The whole Breakdancing Ronald Reagan thing is meta. Equally ironically, Cash’s pieces on this album embrace the shittiness he mocks and pushes the concepts to their ridiculous logical conclusions while having made something worth listening to. Unironically, or so deeply ironic it isn’t, is that there actually is a lot of harsh noise on this tape including negative real or faked audience reactions.

Drinks – Hippo Lite – Drag City
Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley cut out most of the civilized world’s multifold distractions to write the follow up to 2015’s excellent DRINKS album Hermits on Holiday. Not getting poisoned by the incessant inundation of mediocre ideas resulted in one of the most fascinatingly eccentric pop albums in recent years. “Real Outside” has the kind of borderline atonal, unconventional percussion driven, non-standard rhythm that made Young Marble Giants, Liliput and, well, certain songs by Crass so listenable. Many musicians would sequester themselves and come up with the same old stuff they always do, Le Bon and Presley came up with a freak folk pop world or labyrinthine textures and warping tones and melodies to get lost in.

MIEN – MIEN – Rocket Shop
Opening track “Earth Moon” hints that you’re in for a record that was obviously informed by Screamadelica-period Primal Scream, the more gently psychedelic Brian Jonestown Massacre songs and pre-A Northern Soul era Verve. But the kosmische vibe of “Black Habit” breaks that impression. The driving/droning bass and tom heavy drumming and synth swells take the songs right out of what you’d immediately expect of musicians who are also in The Black Angels, The Horrors, Earlies and Elephant Stone. And from there album dives right into different realms of sound in terms of music and production. If “psych” is to continue to have any real meaning it’s going to be more like this in which the musicians clearly want to place themselves into alternate states of consciousness through the music they make rather than imitating someone else’s style completely. Sure there are familiar, comfortable elements if you’re familiar with the band members’ other work but they can’t help but be who they are and that also includes being seekers of experiences that expand the mind and stretch one’s creative capabilities. The album isn’t aimed for a mainstream audience, it’s aimed at the heads that crave something as different as maybe the first time they heard The Black Angels at a time when psychedelic rock just wasn’t in the general zeitgeist. But here there are more overt electronics in the mix and an electronic aesthetic to give a new dimension to what we already expect from the people in this band.

Mondo Obscura – Focus On Black – Symbolic Insight
Mondo Obscura doesn’t sound dated but its mixture of dub, IDM, ambient, dub and techno might have fit in more with the world of music that existed in the early-to-mid-90s when bands like Meat Beat Manifesto, Underworld, The Orb, Faithless, Rabbit in the Moon and Future Sound of London were blurring the lines between experimental electronic music and the more dance-oriented faire you might have heard at rave or a club catering to that kind of music. Particularly so with Focus On Black. Samples flow in a stream of tones buoyed by progressive beats driven by dubby bass lines. It has the structure of cinema with short chapters, fluid, fast cuts, some long takes like a Danny Boyle film or early Matthew Vaughn. Think progressive trance without the wack, safening elements blended in. Perfect after hours music for the chillout zone.

Night Grinder – Animus – Fourfold Records
An angry, prog-inflected industrial concept album is probably the last thing anyone would expect to be worth listening to in 2018. And yet, this sophomore Night Grinder album is such fascinating take on bringing all those ideas and more to bear on the miasma of social ills plaguing us all at once lately. By channeling that overwhelming feeling and refusing to be blasé about events we would have collectively reacted to with horror and utter outrage rather than resignation, Brad Schumacher (aka Night Grinder) has delivered a non-didactic statement across fourteen tracks regarding, yes, the dual meaning of the title, Animus, which means both “hostility” and “motivation to do something.” Schumacher makes no overt suggestions, but honors the fact that the paralysis of Americans in particular and the world generally in the face of the need to do something practical and productive about the seemingly endless internecine conflict across political and cultural divides is only ensuring more of the same evolves into worse. An updated on the Edmund Burke quote about how “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Evil, as it were, may not be triumphing per se, but the shittiest people sure seem to be prevailing, Schumacher just sees an end, not so difficult if complicated, to that trend and articulates that idea throughout Animus without hitting you over the head with an annoying level of messaging.

Solypsis-Devisor_cover — Solypsis – Solypsis-Devisor cover

Solypsis – Solypsis-Devisor – Component Recordings
Out of James Miller’s prolific and diverse body of work, this one seems closest to synthesizing a bit of his Foetus-esque industrial noise beats with his knack for generating unpredictable melodies. Or maybe it’s just that he ties the melodic structure to borderline chaotic beats. There’s plenty of noisy breakcore composition across the album, as in “Death Threat,” and melancholy industrial dub the likes of which is represented well in “Life In A Hole,” but this Solypsis album shines best when Miller seems to go off his own deep end. “Straight From My Heart” is the sound of a songwriter who has hit bottom and still managed to laugh at the absurdity of heartfelt despair. “We Make Our Own Monsters” is uncommonly insightful as a title but is it a bit of a pun when the track is itself a fuzzy, lumbering, monstrous beat that Miller wrote himself in a life of musical output that isn’t exactly short on menacing work? In ending the album with “Wrong Tube,” Miller lets us know that even in his worst personal moments his humor is never completely gone nor is his ability to use the manipulation of minimalist elements to get under the skin of anyone that takes the time to delve into this album.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Mind-Altering Groove at The Ogden

The presentation of the live show from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard matched the ambition that the group brought to bear in 2017. The latter refers to the band’s having released four noteworthy albums with a fifth which will supposedly drop before 2017 is over. Even if it’s not looking good at the time of this writing that that will happen, any band releasing four albums of worthwhile material that isn’t basically all the same is impressive enough.

The Denver show on October 4, 2017 at the Ogden Theatre happened before the November release of Polygondwanaland and the set list drew on the albums I’m In Your Mind Fuzz (2014), Nonagon Infinity (2016), Flying Microtonal Banana (2017) and Murder the Universe (2017). This suggesting the band hasn’t yet incorporated much of the material from Sketches of Brunswick East (2017) or the aforementioned Polygondwanaland as yet for the live show. Given the rich visuals and theatrical presentation of the music and all the logistics involved in producing and releasing that much music in a single year, King Gizzard has plenty of time to tour on its new albums and to make the kind of concerts that will make the experience of that music with creative integrity.

What we did get to see in Denver, though, was a show from a band whose music has been stamped with various genre designation from garage rock, to metal, to psychedelic rock to progressive rock. All fit. In that way, one has to compare King Gizzard with modern groups like The Black Angels and one of the progenitors of its sort of mélange of styles in Hawkwind. Those two bands draw easiest comparisons because like those, King Gizzard’s vibe is one of manifesting a culture and community and mindset that goes beyond the band. Hawkwind’s links to folk music and the tribal spirit thereof and aiming for something more cosmic and otherworldly in its songwriting is something one finds in King Gizzard’s songs that seem to be about other dimensions and utopian futures and parallel cultures. Who, after all, calls a song “Horology”? Flying Microtonal Banana overtly tapped into non-western music not just tonally but in terms of its compound rhythmic structure which both Hawkwind has long done and which The Black Angels weave into their own music so deftly it can be tricky to figure out how their sometimes simple melodies can be so hypnotic and mind-altering.

The band’s visuals traversed the various musical worlds that King Gizzard traversed throughout the show. The organic, the abstract, the meta-media sense of being on a TV screen writ large on the sort of big screen on which many of us saw films in school—creating a sense of a shared moment of mutual education borne of being put into a mindset outside of everyday life. Maybe that’s a stretch but that’s what psychedelic music, at its best, accomplishes, challenging your existing worldview by inviting you on a journey beyond your known boundaries of experience. In the case of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, though, that journey was not jarring so much as welcoming enticing while not shorting you on heady moments of intense emotions along its iridescent grooves.

Best Shows in Denver 10/26/17 – 11/01/17

Slowdive, performs at the Ogden Theater on Wednesday, November 1. Photo by Ingrid Pop

Thursday: October 26, 2017

Who: The Black Angels w/Ron Gallo
When: Thursday, 10.26, 7 p.m.
Where: The Ogden Theatre
Why: The cover of The Black Angels’ new record, Death Song, itself is a commentary on what’s going on in American culture now and its ripple effect beyond the nation’s borders. Red, white and blue in repeating, circles within larger circles, hypnotic and disorienting, an image suggesting chaos but one that also hints at the possibility of a return to some semblance of coherence and peace. The image, designed by guitarist Christian Bland, is part graphic design style and part minimalist art, much like his work on previous Black Angels albums, but one that suggests movement and confused stasis.

The album’s music bears out those qualities with some of the group’s heaviest and most politically pointed, but never preachy, material to date. The Black Angels were one of the bands that pre-dated the relatively recent wave of psychedelic rock having begun life in 2004 and its own career helped to influence and shape the sound of modern psych with its own music and direct advocacy through Levitation (formerly Austin Psych Fest) and The Reverberation Appreciaion Society. While one of the bigger acts out of psychedelic rock today, The Black Angels and other psych acts make the kind of music that resists full commercial co-optation.

As a live act The Black Angels has always been one that integrates the visual presentation of the music with the sounds so that the experience of the show is one that reflects the experience intended with the creation of the music. This time out the urgency, the heaviness, the fear, anxiety and the catharsis that we all hope comes about on the other end of the current national and international nightmare unfolding as we speak.

Who: Me Me Monster, Gort Vs. Goom and Television Generation
When: Thursday, 10.26, 9 p.m.
Where: Your Mom’s House
Why: Gort Vs. Goom is a bass and drums duo who perform a kind of eccentric punk and jazz hybrid that may remind some listeners of Primus but it’s weirdness has as much to do with one of that band’s influences, The Residents, as with any post-Mr. Bungle art rock band. GvG (for MMO nerds even if not fully intentional on the part of the band) also often perform in costume or some sort of get-up. And Me Me Monster and its commitment to theater and spectacle is a good fit but its own warped hard rock sounds like what might happen if Neil Young got into making psychedelic prog but went through a weirdo jazz phase teaming up with Robin Trower. Television Generation isn’t overtly weird. It’s brand of fuzzy punk, psychedelic garage rock and pop bears some comparison to Love Battery but there is even more of a sardonic sense of humor informing its songwriting and presentation.

Who: Perry Weissman 3, Roger Green and Andy Monley
When: Thursday, 10.26, 9 p.m.
Where: Syntax Physic Opera
Why: Perry Weissman 3 is a long-running avant-garde jazz and rock band that was perhaps most active in the 90s and earl 2000s. Roger Green is the genius guitarist and avant-garde composer who may be best known for his stint in local slowcore band The Czars, which included experimental pop songwriter John Grant. And hey, while we’re talking about former members of The Czars, the band’s other guitarist and vocalist, Andy Monley, is on this bill as well. Monley, however, has plenty of respectable music outside The Czars including his still going tenure with alternative rock band/country punk weirdos, Jux County and his exquisitely written and thoughtful solo material.

Who: Jerkagram, The Uglys, Chromadrift, Sleeping Bears and December Eleventh
When: Thursday, 10.26, 8 p.m.
Where: Bar Bar (Carioca Café)
Why: Jerkagram from Los Angeles is one of those bands that didn’t really fit in a single genre of music so its styles can be all over the place and all at once. But loosely more on the heavier and math-y end of things. In some ways the band is reminiscent of former Denver art rock weirdoes Action Friend who now live and play in L.A.. The Uglys get dubbed this and that and probably haven’t fully decided what they are themselves. How a band can remind you of both Mudhoney, At the Drive-In and Fu Manchu all at once I don’t know but that’s The Uglys for you. Some screamy stoner rock, if you will. Chromadrift? As in Drew Miller? The IDM/ambient artist whose music is so ethereally beautiful it immediately transports you to a better place? Indeed. Filling out the bill are Sleeping Bears and December Eleventh, progressive metal bands from Georgia.

Friday: October 27, 2017

Brotherhood Of Machines, photo by Tom Murphy

Who: Brujeria w/Powerflo and Piñata Protest
When: Friday, 10.27, 8 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Brujeria is almost pure schtick as a North Mexico drug cartel/national liberation group/band. Death metal, grindcore, unabashed takedowns of questionable politicians like Donald Trump (pre/post-presidency) and lots of cartoonishly dark humor. But the music to some extent transcends the joke because the musicians are members of other well-known heavy acts like Napalm Death, Carcass, Cradle of Filth, Criminal and others. Opening act Piñata Protest is a highly entertaining hybrid of ska punk and Norteño.

Who: Chelsea Wolfe and Youth Code
When: Friday, 10.27, 8 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Chelsea Wolfe has spent her career writing in a variety of musical styles but all of it has been a vehicle for her stark rendering of emotional turmoil and channeling that into challenging yet entrancing works of art. Wolfe’s last few records have brought forth in explicable form the subconscious ghosts that have long haunted the songwriter. Her latest, 2017’s Hiss Spun, is the heaviest set of songs Wolfe has yet released. Heavy but also heady and sonically expansive. If some of Wolfe’s previous records could feel and sound claustrophobic as a reflection of an insular creative vision, Hiss Spun is that vision opened up and shared more fully with anyone who might want to share in that experience as someone well-acquainted with personal demons and/or as someone that appreciates an authentic emotional experience so intensely realized.

Youth Code while a different animal musically, is a great fit for this tour because Sarah Taylor’s own unrelenting emotional intensity on stage is something to witness. The band’s dark, industrial bursts of tones and rhythm have evolved considerably since its earliest recordings and 2016’s Commitment to Complications revealed a band that is more than a thrilling jackhammer of aggressive music. There is a moody underbelly and a catharsis of internalized melancholy alongside the desperation you’d expect.

Who: Church Fire and Motion Trap
When: Friday, 10.27, 9 p.m.
Where: Black Shirt Brewery
Why: It could be argued that both of the bands on the bill are electronic dance bands of the highest order because they are. Motion Trap, though, is tends toward bright tones and more keyed into the kind of aesthetic for dance clubs because it is very upbeat. But its music is way too steeped in strong pop songwriting to fully fit in that world. One of the few bands it does seem to fit in with is Church Fire whose dark undertones, politically-charged, noisy synth pop is one of the most exciting bands in Denver or anywhere right now. It’s own unabashed embrace of hip-hop beat production and industrial and dance music isn’t necessarily obvious. This will be an outdoor show starting at 8 p.m. so bring warm clothing.

Who: Mux Mool, atruc, RUMTUM and Brotherhood of Machines
When: Friday, 10.27, 8 p.m.
Where: Fort Greene
Why: Kind of a more leftfield live dance music/hip-hop night with progressive beat maker Mux Mool, alternative hip-hop duo Curta playing as atruc, electro-guitar-based ambient solo act RUMTUM and Brotherhood of Machines. The latter’s combination of ambient, IDM and dubtechno-flavored beats is always very different from many of the acts in whose company he finds himself. The 2016 album III Pillars was a triptych of hypnotic noise and textured atmospheres that established a sense of place. Except that place wasn’t in normal reality.

Who: Rot Congress Night 1: Loanword, Boat Drinks, Jobless, The Far Stairs, Fake Awake
When: Friday, 10.27, 9 p.m.
Where: The Skylark Lounge
Why: Hot Congress, the long-running indie rock collective, has been hosting this Halloween-themed event for years with some of the best bands out of that corner of the Denver music scene. This first night includes ambient project Loanword is on tap as is lo-fi band Jobless and former Hindershot keyboardist Jesse Livingston’s experimental synth pop band The Far Stairs.

Saturday: October 28, 2017

Who: Cults w/Cullen Omori and Hideout
When: Saturday, 10.28, 8 p.m.
Where: Globe Hall
Why: Cults made a bit of a splash with its debut EP and “Go Outside” single in 2010. Its evocation of upbeat, breezy 60s pop mixed with a sense of the otherworldly. Like an alternative history science fiction story born out of heartbreak, personal trauma or simply plain wanting to recast a drab and depressing present with something more romantic and meaningful without the cheese factor that often accompanies such impulses and creative work that comes out of them. Cults latest record, 2017’s Offering, finds the band maintaining that Julee Cruise-esque, dreamlike, nostalgic tone but this time with a broader palette of sounds and rhythms. Where some of the earlier music sounded like it was tapping into some of Phil Spector’s Gold Star Studios years’ vibe, Offering sounds more present and immediate. Opener Cullen Omori was once a member of up-and-coming pop/rock band Smith Westerns. When that band split in 2014, Omori continued writing and performing under his own name. The music wasn’t radically different but the tone seemed to shift. Smith Westerns was very rooted in 70s rock. Omori’s solo output is more reminiscent of a modern version of a New Wave band with a gently psychedelic overtone. More synth, more lush sounds overall. His 2016 album, New Misery, sounded like an artist who wasn’t creatively cutting all ties with his old band so much as reinventing it and, um, culling the elements that didn’t work for him the first time around.

Who: TR/ST
When: Saturday, 10.28, 8 p.m.
Where: Bar Standard
Why: Robert Alfons doesn’t yet have a new record out but TR/ST released a new single, “Bicep,” over the summer. The new track sounds like Alfons is wending more in the direction of EBM than the synth/dance pop of his first two records. TR/ST was one of the few bands that Goth DJs in Denver would play out of the wave of dark electro music that has been very much part of the indie underground since the second half of the 2000s. No, it didn’t sound like Depeche Mode or even Erasure but Alfons’ songs were as dark and moody as anything the former has ever released and as celebratory yet thoughtful as the latter’s best material. When TR/ST recently played Denver it was a well-attended show at The Bluebird so here’s a chance to see the project at a much smaller venue.

Who: Rot Congress Night 2: Kissing Party, Bleak Plaza, Quantum Creep, Voight (as The Cure), Wrinkle (as Guided By Voices), Last of the Easy Riders and Wild Flowers (Fleetwood Mac)
When: Saturday, 10.28, 9 p.m.
Where: The Skylark Lounge
Why: See above re: Hot Congress’ annual Halloween show. Excellent indie pop bands Kissing Party, Bleak Plaza and Quantum Creep will perform. Industrial post-punkers Voight will perform a set of songs by The Cure for the first and last time. Lo-fi emo greats Wrinkle will do a Guided By Voices set.

Who: Mehvana (as Nirvana), Denver Meatpacking Company (as Hüsker Dü) and Lawsuit Models (as Jimmy Eat World)
When: Saturday, 10.28, 9 p.m.
Where: 3 Kings Tavern
Why: Bands performing covers sets for Halloween isn’t the most original thing in the world but all the bands on the bill for this show are at least trying out something different with grunge-esque band Denver Meatpacking Company doing a set of Hüsker Dü songs probably focusing on the middle era. It’s not a huge leap for pop punk band Lawsuit Models to a Jimmy Eat World set but putting yourself in someone else’s creative head space even if you’re influenced by their work takes some effort when you’re not some session musician or someone that generally plays in cover bands.

Who: Sharone & The Wind (“Night of Terror”) w/Black July, 21 Taras and Married a Dead Man
When: Saturday, 10.28, 8 p.m.
Where: Moe’s Original Bar B Que
Why: It’s a Halloween show that Sharone & The Wind is advertizing as their “Night of Terror” so expect some theatrical shenanigans from the Denver hard rock band. In recent months the band has reinvented itself in a direction more like a cross between a proto-death rock band and a blues-inflected emo group. Sounds like it shouldn’t work but it does. Married a Dead Man is a Goth/death rock band that came out of people who played in the punk and hardcore scene beforehand. Sonically, sort of reminiscent of Sunshine Blind but rougher around the edges at the moment—you know, that ethereal synth with some metallic guitar with a female vocalist who sounds like she is no stranger to belting it a little.

Who: Bob Log III w/Colfax Speed Queen
When: Saturday, 10.28, 8 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: Bob Log III used to freak people out as the confrontational frontman of Doo Rag. The Crash Worship crowds for whom the duo played probably got it but the Lollapalooza crowd probably wasn’t used to seeing weirdo blues quite that raw and primal. As a solo artist, Bob Log III has only pushed the theatrical side of his act further with strange costumes like a carnie, blues punk Dex Romweber. Denver’s Colfax Speed Queen won’t be quite as stripped down but it’s own psychedelic garage rock is surprisingly forceful and disorienting in its own way.

Who: Lee “Scratch” Perry + Subatomic Sound System w/Gracie Bassie, TNERTLE (solo)
When: Saturday, 10.28, 8 p.m.
Where: Cervantes’ Other Side
Why: Lee “Scratch” Perry is one of the architects of modern music as we know it. As the producer at the now defunct Black Ark in Jamaica, Perry was one of the pioneers of dub, which is a radical remixing and reproduction of existing music and represents one of the earliest forms of electronic music and a creative use of an early version of sampling. Directly or indirectly, as an engineer, producer or musician, Perry shaped the sound of much of reggae music and through that of punk, hip-hop and electronic music from the 70s forward. In recent years, Perry has collaborated with house/experimental electronic band The Orb on original material. His live show is a masterful delivery of his imaginative soundscaping and hypnotic rhythms.

Sunday: October 29, 2017

Who: Ministry w/Death Grips
When: Sunday, 10.29, 8 p.m.
Where: The Fillmore Auditorium
Why: Ministry somehow made the crossover from synth pop (With Sympathy) to EBM (Twitch and to some extent The Land of Rape and Honey) to industrial rock (by the time of The Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Taste) in the course of seven years. It’s a remarkable transformation and at each stage Ministry was one of the very best bands in those respective genres. Since then Ministry’s newer material has been on the heavier end of music though arguably more difficult to neatly classify. The current touring incarnation of Ministry is focusing on material post-1988. If you’ve been switched off for 30 years and are expecting tracks from the EBM era and would be disappointed not to see it live, don’t go. But if you appreciate Al Jourgensen’s mutant heavy music from The Mind forward, it’ll be a worthy selection of material. Death Grips is an industrial hip-hop band with a charismatic frontman in MC Ride and one of modern popular music’s greatest drummers in Zach Hill. Even if you’re not into hip-hop for some reason Death Grips is really more of an experimental band that doesn’t really bother with splitting hairs between the aesthetics of hip-hop, noise, industrial music or whatever its own style might be that comes out of that.

Who: Haunted Sound Laboratory, Unbridled Sonic Anarchy, Chris Sessions, Jonathan Cash
When: Sunday, 10.29, 7 p.m.
Where: Mutiny Information Café
Why: Textures is an ambient showcase that happens at Mutiny the final Sunday of every month. This time, host Wesley Davis’ own Unbridled Sonic Anarchy will be performing alongside Jonathan Cash who some may know more for his noise project Break Dancing Ronald Reagan.

Who: Vanilla Milkshakes, Denver Meatpacking Company and Uncle Bad Touch
When: Sunday, 10.29, 8 p.m.
Where: Lion’s Lair
Why: This is another Halloween-themed show and apparently grunge/punk band Vanilla Milkshakes will treat those in attendance with its take on The Ramones and DMC will reprise its Hüsker Dü cover set from the night before.

Who: 2Mex, Onry Ozzborn, Early Adopted and Curta
When: Sunday, 10.29, 8 p.m.
Where: Larimer Lounge
Why: 2Mex may not be a household name but in the alternative hip-hop scene of the 1990s (and now for that matter) he has long been a star. His witty and imaginative wordplay was honed at the open mic nights at Good Life Café in South Central Los Angeles and he has been willing to couch it in beats that reflect popular music of the time. More importantly his raps criticize his own music culture, American culture in general and himself with humorously poetic sensibility. Onry Ozzborn is a respected alternative hip-hop artist in his own right whose music seems to favor darker tones and downtempo beats. As a member of Grayskul and Dark Time Sunshine Ozzborn’s gritty stories were reminiscent of Aesop Rock’s literary output, and of course the two rappers have collaborated. Opening act, Denver’s Curta, incorporates a more industrial and psychedelic/experimental electronic flavor into its beats. Apparently this will be the last show with founding keyboardist/guitarist Brent Larsen, aka 4Digit who is moving out of town.

Who: Governor Mortimer Leech (Widow’s Bane) undead and unplugged
When: Sunday, 10.29, 6 p.m.
Where: Ophelia’s Electric Soap Box
Why: Widow’s Bane is the undead pirate band from Boulder. They do interviews in character and perform in character. Is it “character”? Anyway, Governor Mortimer Leech will be performing a rare acoustic show early at Ophelia’s and it’s free.

Monday: October 30, 2017

Who: Cobalt, Worry and Fathers
When: Monday, 10.30, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Greeley-based black metal band Cobalt didn’t play much in the first decade or so of its existence and nevertheless garnered a bit of an international following. Founding member Phil McSorley left the project in 2014 but Erik Wunder (who also plays in one of Jarboe’s bands) and Charlie Fell (formerly of Lord Mantis, Nachtmystium and Abigail Williams) have kept the band going and completed its best album to day, 2016’s Slow Forever. The band’s previous records were boundary pushing in what can be an insular musical style and Slow Forever‘s expansive dynamism sacrificing none of the bleakness and brutality was something of a new chapter for the band. Colorado Springs-based deathgrind band Worry and Denver’s heavy band super group (with members of Native Daughters, Cult of the Lost Cause and Lords of Fuzz) round out the bill.

Who: Ghoulfriend, Corner Girls, Page 27, art by Katherine Louise, Jesse Nickell and poetry by Kelsey Carolyn Bowe
When: Monday, 10.30, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Syntax Physic Opera
Why: Ghouloween 2017 will be held in the basement of Syntax for extra spookiness. It’ll be a night of art, music and poetry. Chances are you won’t see the bands on the same bill again any time soon. Ghoulfriend is weirdo guitar project of Trey Tafoya of Ancient Elk and déCollage. Some bands play psychedelic rock, Ghoulfriend takes the concept of using guitar to expand sound palettes to a higher and more original level while still making it accessible. Page 27 is one of Denver’s, and the world’s, longest-running noise bands. Now, P27’s soundscape has included harsh noise and sometimes still does but it’s more like a hypnotic, modulated drone that pulls in sounds that one does not often associate with the genre called drone. Corner Girls is an excellent surf rock/punk band whose lyrics are often enough an irreverent take-down of patriarchal cultural features that should have been weeded out of our collective unconscious decades ago but somehow still linger and affect people’s everyday lives. Addressing it with music is simply a peaceful and creative way to discuss the issues.

Tuesday: October 31, 2017

Who: Alvvays w/Jay Som bluebirdtheater.net/events/detail/337225
When: Tuesday, 10.31, 7 p.m.
Where: The Bluebird Theater
Why: Alvvays’ self-deprecating pop songs could be glum but Molly Rankin and company seem to realize that wallowing in despair rather than finding the humor in life’s downstrokes is more boring than transforming those moments of intense emotions into something creative. The Toronto band’s promising 2014 debut sounded like a band fully formed and tapping a bit into the pop music that came out of the C86 era in its sophisticated simplicity and unabashed embrace of bright and breezy, catchy melodies. The 2017 album, Antisocialites is highlighted with neon-sounding synths like someone in the band has started listening more closely to Missing Persons including the flourishes of tastefully intricate micro guitar solos. The subtle details make it a consistently rewarding listen. Along for this leg of the Alvvays tour is Jay Som whose lo-fi anthems about identity, self-discovery, self-definition and personal liberation seem very relevant in a time when the boorish, hateful and oppressive side of modern American culture has reared its ugly head in a big way. 2017’s Everybody Works is a bracing antidote to all of that even if it may sound like a gentle indie rock record to many.

Who: Itchy-O w/Altas
When: Tuesday, 10.31, 8 p.m.
Where: Summit Music Hall
Why: For the uninitiated, Itchy-O is a roughly 32 member avant-garde music performance troupe that plays its shows entirely in costume like mariachi mystics. The band has a full drum corps and other percussion, a taiko section, bass, guitar, synths, processed vocals and other noises and “dancers” that creep about the crowd during the show. It’s a real spectacle and really unlike other bands in every way. That it can release albums that could be worthy of the live show seems implausible but the band recently released its second full-length album, From the Overflowing, on Alternative Tentacles. The records are no replacement for the experience of the band but fascinating listening nevertheless. Instrumental rock band Altas opens the show with its dynamic, cinematic compositions.

Who: Space In Time, Keef Duster, Colfax Speed Queen and Wild Call
When: Tuesday, 10.31, 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Space in Time is a hard rock band whose sound harkens to a time when early metal and psychedelic rock were not at all far apart. Obvious touchstones for Space in Time would be Deep Purple, Captain Beyond (which included ex-members of Deep Purple and Iron Butterfly) and Uriah Heep with both bands’ gift for writing melodic heavy rock with a fluidly trippy groove. Keef Duster’s music draws on similar inspirations but wends more toward the doom end of the heavy spectrum. Fronted by Kim Phat, who some may know from garage rock punks Dirty Few, Keef Duster is more than a clever name even though it recently released a song called “Hash Hive.” The latter was mixed and produced by Matt Loui of psychedelic garage rock band Colfax Speed Queen, also on the bill.

Who: Captured! By Robots w/908, Bewitcher and Night of the Living Shred
When: Tuesday, 10.31, 9 p.m.
Where: 3 Kings Tavern
Why: Captured! By Robots at this point is a great metal band, bordering on death metal and industrial. Most of the band is comprised of robots constructed by JBOT but a lot of the kitsch factor of the earlier part of the project’s life are gone and the performance is much more focused on doing something that isn’t a complete gimmick. Internationally known deathgrind band 908, from Colorado Springs, shares the bill as does skate thrash band Night of the Living Shred. So basically Bryan Ostrow will be doing throat destroying vocals for two bands this night because he’s the Nivek Ogre of extreme metal.

Who: Bronze, Terminals, Master Ferocious, The Pollution and The Stunning Cuntz
When: Tuesday, 10.31, 9 p.m.
Where: Mutiny Information Café
Why: Three of the handful of good sludge metal bands from Denver at Mutiny? We’ll have to assume some books will fall off shelves at some point. Bronze is named in reference to Mad Max and its heavy music is more tied to bands from the 70s and early 80s with strong songwriting and good vocals rather than the 90s and 2000s stoner rock bands it may sound like. When there seemed to be way too many stoner rock bands in Denver from roughly 2000-2010, Bronze stood out. Members of Master Ferocious came out of some of the better bands of that era too like The Angry Hand of God. Out of the latter, guitarist Mark Pilloud and bassist Brian Kennedy were involved in the founding of Master Ferocious in 2014 and the newer band still seems to write dystopian songs about the present with guitar work that demonstrates an interesting co-influence from, of course, Black Sabbath and late 70s Judas Priest.

Wednesday: November 1, 2017

Who: Slowdive w/Cherry Glazerr
When: Wednesday, 11.01, 7 p.m.
Where: Ogden Theatre
Why: Of all the shoegaze bands of the late 80s and early 90s, Slowdive was an early adopter of an ambient and electronic music aesthetic. When the group started as a kind of indie pop band called Pumpkin Fairies, its songwriting, inspired in part by atmospheric post-punk bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees (the song of whom the fledgling band borrowed its then new name), The Cure and Cocteau Twins. For the 1991 debut full-length, Just For A Day, the ethereal vocals that one now associates with the shoegaze genre was very much in place and so were the expansive, towering guitar drones that the band had developed on its previous EPs.

By the time of the 1993 follow-up, Souvlaki, Slowdive was working with ambient music godfather Brian Eno and had all but abandoned conventional rhythm structure in favor of more organic rhythms giving songs like “Sing” and “Souvlaki Space Station” a quality that melds the tone and the atmosphere into what might later be described as a beat-driven approach to the songwriting. Those musical instincts reached their peak with Slowdive on what might have been its final, and in some ways most daring and interesting album, 1995’s Pygmalion. The latter came out at a time when the alternative music world had long gone down the rockist path with a set of songs based in what seemed like a sonic recreation of pure emotion cast in minimalist textures. It was like a post-rock album seemingly inspired by and synthesizing IDM, abstract dub and ambient house music. The innovative record lost the band their label contract with Creation records and the members of Slowdive went on to other musical concerns over the years including Mojave 3, Monster Movie and The Sight Below.

Perhaps inevitably, Slowdive reunited in 2014 but under its own terms and with the aim of recreating its heart and imagination-stirring music authentically. And its subsequent tours have borne that goal out. Making no promises until the possibility was a bit of a concrete reality, the band didn’t announce new material until Spring 2016. The forthcoming self-titled album, released in May 2017, was not a rehash of the band’s past. It was not an attempt to outdo the sheer experimentalism of Pygmalion. Rather, it was a strong set of songs worthy of all of its earlier music. The music doesn’t feel like nostalgia, it feels like the band knew it had to do something that wouldn’t reject the past but also not be yoked to expectations of any lack of artistic growth on the part of the musicians over the previous twenty-two years. So if you go to the show, and you should if you’re a fan of highly emotionally stimulating music that is an unexpectedly visceral experience, no need to dread any newer, inferior material because the most recent Slowdive songs are far from subpar.

Who: Robot Peanut Butter & The Shooting Stars, Ice Troll, Dear Rabbit and Open to the Hound
When: Wednesday, 11.01, 9 p.m.
Where: 3 Kings Tavern
Why: This might be the deluxe edition of Claudia Woodman’s Weird Wednesday series for the first half of the month. Robot Peanut Butter & The Shooting Stars is “Electronica Glam Rock” that includes contributions from Never Kenezzard’s Ryan Peru. Ice Troll is a sort of doom rock orchestra. Dear Rabbit is lo-fi avant-garde folk. Open to the Hound is what might happen if Lloyd Cole formed a band that took some cues from The The and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. It’s just that weird but grounded in classic songwriting sensibilities.

Who: Chicano Batman w/Khruangbin and The Shacks
When: Wednesday, 11.01, 7 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: To say Chicano Batman is sort of a psychedelic soul band doesn’t quite do it justice because its music comes out of tropicalia, old timey rock and roll and funk without sounding like it’s trying too hard to please everyone. Live, the group presents a unified visual image with matching outfits as one might expect from 60s and 70s Chicano rock bands like Thee Midnighters and Sunny & The Sunglows. Early on championed by the late, great, Ikey Owens, Chicano Batman got a leg up reaching a wider audience through a 2015 tour with Jack White, with whom Owens had been playing before his untimely death in October 2014. The group’s 2017 album, Freedom is Free, is a bracing antidote to the climate of chaos, desperation and despair that many people have been experiencing with the Trump administration by offering an alternative vision for a better America and a world.

Houston’s Khruangbin is a Thai surf-funk-soul band so it and Chicano Batman are a perfect compliment to one another as Kruangbin’s music isn’t grounded in the same influences even if the music it’s music is also not inspired by music from just one place and one time. Inspired initially by Thai funk cassettes from the 60s and 70s, Khruangbin has found fuel for its creativity in the music that influenced those bands and the music that resulted from those roots that manifested in various ways. Dub, Afrobeat, reggae and hip-hop, among others.