Live review: Kristen Schaal, Tig Notaro @ the Oriental Theater

There’s nothing mechanical about this conscious hip-hop group. Photos by Brian Carney.
Reverb contributor Brian Carney checks in with this photo essay of Denver hip-hop act Flobots’ set at the Falcon Bowl last week. The group showed up on Denver Post music writers Ricardo Baca and John Wenzel’s best local CDs of 2007 lists with its roiling new disc, “Fight With Tools.”

Kingdom of Magic cares not for your mortal concerns. Photos by Doug Beam.
Reverb contributor Doug Beam checks in with this photo essay of the all-local Dec. 22 Hi-Dive show featuring the sweet, sweet metal of Kingdom of Magic and the jittery snarl rock of Sleeper Horse…

Cowboy Mouth brought the rawk at its Bluebird Theater show last Thursday.
Just before Cowboy Mouth took the stage last Thursday night the Bluebird Theater’s speakers were playing “Sweet Caroline” and the audience was enjoying a little sing-a-long. As that came to an end Cowboy Mouth appeared to the classic James Bond theme. And began playing “This Little Light of Mine.” I only mention this because these three songs are in no way indicative of the rawk (yes, you need to spell it with the “aw”) [...]

Wu-Tang Clan killed at its Ogden Theatre show last week. Photos by Julio Enriquez.
To witness the Wu-Tang Clan live is to truly experience hip-hop. The group’s stage setup at its Dec. 20 Ogden Theatre show was as barebones as possible to catch the essence of the East Coast flava. Once you heard the distinctive sound of the Wu-Tang sword slicing through the air, a rush of relief filled the Ogden — the Wu is here! “36 Chambers” was dropped and suddenly it felt like 1993 [...]

Live review: Machine Gun Blues @ the Larimer Lounge

It’s hard to not be moved by Black Lamb’s Brian Hagman. Photos/text by Doug Beam.
After spending what felt like the entire fall trying to mend my heart and cleanse my soul in a sea of Denver’s singer/songwriters, I’ve felt a distinct desire of late to tickle my id and move my body in strange, but all-too-familiar ways…

Vincent Gallo’s experimental music project RRIICCEE played the Walnut Room on Monday. (Photo: Getty Images)
Reverb contributor Chris Martucci offers his thoughts after an evening with Vincent Gallo’s band RRIICCEE.
Gershwin has an idea for a new rhapsody. But he’s only got a melody, not a song. So he calls up his friends Tchaikovsky, Bach and Brahms. It’s a veritable composer jam session. Only, Tchaikovsky shows up without shoes on, and Brahms is so stoned he can barely form sentences. What do you get?
You get RRIICCEE, the [...]

Dinosaur Jr. is truly a band fit for the Henge ‘o Stone.
I can easily recall the amount of times I’ve left a show with my ears really ringing, mostly because my high-frequency hearing is so shot that even an unusually loud concert does little to damage the already-scarred ‘drums. Not so with Dinosaur Jr., a band that played one of the louder sets I’d ever heard at an outdoor venue when headlining the Westword Music Fest in June. When I saw that the band was [...]

Gregory Alan Isakov played unexpectedly lively sets on Saturday in Louisville. Photos by Doug Beam.
Reverb contributor Doug Beam checks in with this account of Gregory Alan Isakov’s sets at the Waterloo Ice House in Louisville on Saturday:
It was probably one of the most energetic sets I’ve seen Gregory and The Freight perform. They played two sets, the first one lively to compete with the late dinner crowd conversation, and a second described by Gregory as a “sad bastard” set. However, after starting the second half [...]