Pretty Lights

In an age of cheap computers and boosted software, any idiot armed with a laptop and an Ableton might be a moderately entertaining artist — someone fit only for Wednesday happy hour at your local dive but fit to scratch nonetheless. Denver producer Derek Vincent Smith’s sample-based work as Pretty Lights boasts an artful finesse that puts midweek beat scribblers to shame. Smith’s music is indebted to old soul, funk, jazz and folk records (and an old Pink Floyd poster, which is where Smith found his stage name), but the sound stitching is all his. Rather than choking his tracks with samples like the saturated work of Girl Talk, Smith gives his sounds space to breathe and build, contrasting airy vocals, laser bleeps and trembling bass in striking ways. With a reputation for amazing live shows that include — go figure — pretty lights (not to mention a powerhouse drummer), this show promises a dazzling experience.