Best Shows in Denver 01/03/20 – 01/07/20

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Eyebeams It Means Trouble cover. Eyebeams performs at Rhinoceropolis on January 4, 2020

Friday | January 3

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R A R E B Y R D $, photo by Tom Murphy

What: Day of Jubilee: R A R E B Y R D $
When: Friday, 1.3, 6 p.m.
Where: The People’s Building
Why: Day of Jubilee is a First Friday event at The People’s Building in Aurora, Colorado. Tonight’s proceedings include live music at 7 p.m. with R A R E B Y R D $. R A R E B Y R D $ is a hip-hop group from Denver. Its two MCs, Key~Lady and KoKoLa, combine swagger and soul, inspiration and heartbreak into an alchemical musical experience. Their beats bring together gangsta rap’s mastery of bass sculpting, exploratory synth experiments and hazy, hypnotic drones with organic, Afro-Cuban rhythms. R A R E B Y R D $ ranges widely in the subject matter of its lyrics from the playfully earthy to the emotionally deep and transcendent but always with the spirit of inviting you into that private world with a welcoming emotional intimacy rare in a live performance.

What: Joshua Trinidad Trio (Joshua Trinidad, Joe Wirtz and Gordon Koch)
When: Friday, 1.3, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Spangalang Brewery
Why: Joshua Trinidad and his trio typically blast mind-altering free jazz with spirited play and great musical chemistry stirring the emotions to elevated levels.

What: Jacket of Spiders, Terminals, Lux Hearse, Denizens of the Deep
When: Friday, 1.3, 9 p.m.
Where: Tennyson’s Tap

Saturday | January 4

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Church Fire (pictured: Shannon Webber), photo by Tom Murphy

What: Eyebeams album release w/96 Ponies, Vampire Squids From Hell and Slugger
When: Saturday, 1.4, 9 p.m.
Where: Rhinoceropolis
Why: Eyebeams is releasing its second album It Means Trouble. The bright, languid psychedelia of the record ranges far from what we’ve come to expect from that loose genre of the past decade. It’s as though lead vocalist/guitarist Suzi Allegra absorbed all the influences that have manifested in recent music but long before when she was growing up and used it as a launching point into emotional outer space. The songs seem to explore issues of anxiety, fears, existential frustrations, feeling perpetually dreaming and wishing rather than doing and ending on a note of learning to calm the mind as a place from which to figure out what you really feel, what you really want and maybe how to actually get there.

What: Bands Against the Ban: Church Fire, Married a Dead Man, Hate Minor and Rebel Girl Productions
When: Saturday, 1.4, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Oriental Theater
Why: Since members of the Senate are trying to have Roe Vs. Wade revisited with aims of overturning legal abortion in a country not actually founded by the Christian version of the Taliban, it will be necessary for people to voice their desire not to live in Medieval Europe again. And this show featuring some of Denver’s most interesting bands is a benefit in the struggle against the forces of reaction. This event is a benefit for Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado and was organized by Megan Kelley of darkwave band Married a Dead Man and David Pereira of noise rockers Hate Minor. Local experimental dance/darkwave band Church Fire will headline and embody a spirit of resistance with its own music and burlesque troupe Rebel Girl Productions will bring its own performance unique in that realm of expression as well.

What: Redivider album release w/Coastal Wives, Corsicana, False Report
When: Saturday, 1.4, 8:30 p.m.
Where: Larimer Lounge

What: Helleborus w/Amdusias, Belhor and Throne
When: Saturday, 1.4, 7 p.m.
Where: Globe Hall

What: Dovekins reunion w/River Arkansas and Shenandoah Davis
When: Saturday, 1.4, 7 p.m.
Where: Mercury Café

Sunday | January 5

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Sliver, photo by Tom Murphy

What: Caustic Soda, Feeling Old (WA), Broken Lawn Chairs and Sliver
When: Sunday, 1.5, 7 p.m.
Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective
Why: Sliver’s Chris Mercer wanted to revisit his folk punk roots “not shit like Andrew Jackson Jihad, Pat the Bunny or Camper Van Beethoven, the good shit like Days N’ Daze.” Fortunately his bandmates convinced him that playing with Boulder-based noise punk band Caustic Soda, folk-inflected indie rock punks Feeling Old from Seattle and Broken Lawn Chairs, an actual folk punk band, from Castle Rock. Sliver fortunately won’t torture us with Mercer’s idea of what “real” folk punk sounds like and might actually be enjoyable this time too.

Monday | January 6

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Equine, photo by Tom Murphy

What: lovelesslust w/Equine and Gila Teen
When: Monday, 1.6, 7 p.m.
Where: Lion’s Lair
Why: loveless lust is a mix of synth pop and industrial and thus a good fit with two bands from Denver that don’t fit neatly into any musical milieu either. Gila Teen is the hybrid sad boy post-punk/emo band we all need in the world right now.

What: The King Khan & BBQ Show w/Colfax Speed Queen
When: Monday, 1.6, 8 p.m.
Where: Larimer Lounge.

Tuesday | January 7

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King Khan, photo by Miron Zownir

What: The King Khan & BBQ Show w/Colfax Speed Queen
When: Tuesday, 1.7, 8 p.m.
Where: Larimer Lounge
Why: King Khan has been making psychedelic garage rock and evolving the art form since before it became hip again and again in the 2000s from back when he was a member of The Spaceshits in Kukamongas in the late 90s. With The King Khan & BBQ Show he and fellow Spaceshit Mark Sultan blended doo wop and garage punk and were in the same circles of likeminded acts Black Lips. Khan has also been involved in King Khan & The Shrines, but the BBQ show is like some late 60s psychedelic soul revue updated for the modern era. Denver-based Colfax Speed Queen will be a great pairing with its own electrifying live show of noisy psychedelic punk.