The Boxer Rebellion

I had the privilege of seeing this English alternative rock band at the Bluebird in Denver last week.  I hadn't really heard of them, but my friend Henry turned me on to their music a few months ago and managed to put together a group of 8 people from church to go to this show.  Their music is very atmospheric, slightly dark rock with a lot of electric guitar.  There are some similarities with Coldplay, although most of the melodies are not as compelling or catchy, and it's overall quite a bit less poppy.  This is my favourite song; it was cool live, too, because they switched up their normal instruments (3 guys on guitar and one drummer) such that the lead singer was on keyboard and everyone else was playing drums.  I like the lead singer's retro-sounding voice.  The show was decent overall, although the balance of the instruments was a bit off; it was pretty hard to hear the vocals, and sometimes the electric guitar was painfully loud.  They just released a new album last month; here is one of the songs from it (more representative of their overall style).

Alice and the Glass Lake

This is sort of ethereal electropop; I wouldn't expect everyone to like it, but give this song a listen and see what you think (the video is a bit trippy).  Apparently it's just the one girl...she began by doing some cool covers on youtube, and now has started this project.  She just released an EP this week, which includes "Higher" and this other sweet song "Luminous".  I like the tone of the music a lot.  The percussion and instrumentation works together really well, and she has an amazing voice.  You can actually listen to the new EP in its entirety on her website.

Tove Lo

This is not for everyone; but if you like some darker pop music I would recommend checking out this Swedish girl Tove Lo.  I first heard this song on Ms Mr's latest "track addict" mix, and thought it was really catchy...it's also fairly intense.  She has a really cool voice, and I like the backing instrumentation a lot; it's simple but it works really well.  Some of her songs work pretty well in an acoustic arrangement, well; check out this one Paradise.  She gets really into it.  I don't think she has released an album or anything yet, but it's probably only a matter of time.

SHEL

I've known of this Fort Collins band for several years but never made an effort to see them perform until last night at Hodi's.  It's a group of four sisters; their style of music is impossible to characterise.  Overall, I guess I would call it bluegrass rock with a strong Celtic feel, although some of their stuff is more freestyle and almost jazzy.  Anyway, I was extremely impressed last night; their technical skill is exceptional.  They play keyboard, mandolin, violin, and drums, and they are all incredibly good.  They opened with this song which blew my mind.  Also check out this cover of a Led Zeppelin song (I have to admit I've never heard the original song, but I like this version).  They also have a few songs that I don't care for; some of their stuff is too playful and ridiculous for my taste.  But the group clearly has some serious talent.

Gungor

Sorry I haven't been updating much; I had a somewhat disastrous trip to Oklahoma all last week and didn't have much free time.  So, a friend of mine put a song by this group on a mix CD she made for me...I had never heard of them before, but I really liked the sound of the song: check it out here.  The group is a collective of Christian musicians from Denver.  Since hearing that song I've listened to some of their other stuff; I think I recognised some of their earlier work from some college campus ministry meetings.  Their most recent album, "Ghosts Upon the Earth", is flipping good...it's very creative musically and really a delight to listen to.  The lyrics are solid too.  I recommend checking it out; you can find it on grooveshark.