The economy may be sluggish, but electronic music is a hot commodity in Colorado.

That's why Wednesday night's MSTRKRFT show at the Fox Theatre is sold out.

The Toronto-based electro/house duo was unable to play its summer set at the Monolith Music Festival because DJ Alex Puodziukas (Al-P) was ill. MSTRKRFT is now making up for lost time, and the DJs are ready to pump up the Fox with their fusion of electro, punk and rap sounds.

IF YOU GO

Who: MSTRKRFT, with DJ Rootz and DJ B-Times

When: 9 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder

Cost: $25

foxtheatre.com

"Alex and I originally wanted to open up a studio and be recording nerds," DJ Jesse Keeler said. "We produced rock records for other bands and we just supplied the demand."

The music partners started re-mixing song by acts such as Justice and Wolfmother, and created their own DJ dance blends.

"MSTRKRFT is all about dance and ambience," Keeler said. "It all depends on the environment and how we're feeling. We're mostly concerned with the energy level in the room we're playing and how it's feeling.

"The object of a DJ is to make a good party. A DJ has to take in all the immediacy of a room and make people happy. Every day is different and that's why it's fun for me."

MSTRKRFT will be bringing its DJ'ing talents to the Fox and

MSTRKRFT
showing off material from its 2009 release, Fist Of God.

"We always do something different on our records, but we wanted Fist Of God to be timeless," Keeler said. "We didn't want to make a record of now -- neither of us listen to 'cool' music. We wanted to make a throwback album, where we play the songs without terribly modern arrangements.

"We tried to make 'festival weapons' with these songs, so when we played them it's like throwing a million hatchets into the audience."

Keeler said MSTRKRFT will be going back to the basics for the Fox show.

"DJ'ing should be fun, simple and stripped down," Keeler said. "It should be simple for the fans."

Air Dubai

Denver band Air Dubai is becoming a pro at the Battle of the Bands game.

The live post-punk, psychedelic and hip-hop outfit won first place at the University of Colorado's Battle of the Bands last week. The group must've gotten a taste of victory, because Air Dubai's now ready to duke it out in the Nov. 4 PacTour Battle of the Bands at the Marquis Theater in Denver.

Plus, Air Dubai's campus win scored the band a Dec. 5 show at Club 156 in the University Memorial Center.