Inspired by late-’70s hip-hop group Cold Crush Brothers, Brian Mathenge recently celebrated the grand opening of his Cold Crush bar/restaurant/art gallery with Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs. He opened the spot at 2700 Larimer, directly across the street from Meadowlark, “as an artist’s haven, a place where artists, poets, musicians and…

Every year at the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages. In addition to their emcee duties, we ask them to pull double duty by submitting a travelogue of their individual stage. Jon Solomon hosted at Dazzle this past Saturday. Keep reading for…

Nearly four years after transforming the Monarck into the Oak Tavern, Lotus Concepts’ Francois Safieddine has closed the venue and his 24K club upstairs last weekend. Paulina Szafranski, president of marketing for Lotus, says that Safieddine, who owns the building at 1416 Market Street, doesn’t have any plans for the…

On the Gristle Gals’ debut, 2010’s On the Lam, the gypsy-folk-tinged songs were mostly percussion-less, fueled primarily by a trio playing acoustic instruments. In contrast, one of the most notable things about the act’s sophomore release, Sweet Pea, is that the outfit is now calling itself a band. On opener…

A few months before the Alarm was to hit America for the first time as the opening act on U2’s War tour in 1983, singer Mike Peters met Big Country frontman Stuart Adamson when they joined U2 for a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” at the Hammersmith…

As a teenage guitarist, Jeff Scroggins fell in love with rock and roll, especially with players like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck — but at nineteen, he picked up a cheap banjo at a garage sale, then ended up trading in his Les Paul for a better banjo…

Considering that its moniker is borrowed from a Native American term meaning “wild with madness,” it’s not surprising that Musuji is a bit unhinged musically — but the band doesn’t stray too far out there. From the get-go on this ten-song album, the quartet shows off its heavy side. On…

THE POSTAL SERVICE @ RED ROCKS | 5/30 “We had to cancel last night because I lost my voice, but I’ve got it back, kinda sorta,” Ben Gibbard told a packed house last night at Red Rocks, referring to scrapping the previous night’s gig in Salt Lake City. “And by…

On Whiskey Tonight, their seventh album, the Indulgers, led by vocalist/multi-instrumentalists Damien McCarron and Mike Nile, step things up a bit, injecting a considerable amount of vigor into many of the fourteen original cuts, particularly the buoyant “It’s You” and “Doin’ Fine,” an instrumental. Drummer Francesco Mannone’s tom-heavy tribal beats…

Selina Albright tried the saxophone once. She got dizzy, though, and that’s pretty much all it took for her to realize that the sax wasn’t for her. “I’m just going to use my lungs for my vocal cords, and that’s it,” says Albright, whose father, Gerald, is renowned in contemporary…

It’s fairly clear from the opening cut of Justin Francoeur’s debut, Moving Through Universes, what an ambitious undertaking the disc was: “Gravity” starts off with a rock groove and gradually works in various worldly elements such as the erhu, a Chinese stringed instrument played here by Brian Mullins. Francoeur clearly…

Durango’s self-proclaimed country-fried indie-rock act Farmington Hill sums up Road to Nowhere as “music suitable for both a raucous Saturday night and the accompanying Sunday hangover.” Sure enough, some of the five-piece’s twangy alt-country tunes — “Oh Yeah,” “Pass Me the Bottle,” “Pass Out” — could be the ideal soundtrack…

Seven months after Tavern 13 relocated a few blocks south from its previous location at 1312 South Broadway to the former Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli spot at 1643 South Broadway, the venue shut its doors the first week in May. When we stopped by to confirm the bar’s closure, a sign…

In 2011, Jammin Joe’s moved from Wheat Ridge to its current location in Arvada, a strip-mall spot that was previously home to the Brickhouse Nightclub and the very short-lived Mind Bender’s. Since relocating, Jammin’ Joe’s has brought in a steady parade of local hard-rock acts, as well as ’80s hair-metal…

Andy Hackbarth was hailed as a classical-guitar virtuoso in his early twenties; in 2006, he left Colorado for Nashville, where he honed his songwriting skills to catch up with his playing. His last effort, 2010’s The Last Love Song, made it clear that Nashville had helped him develop a knack…

After eight years of promoting parties around town, Patrick Young of Young Nightlife, thought it was about time to open his own his venue. In March, Young and his business partner took over the Oasis Bar & Hookah Lounge at 1523 Market Street and have been revamping the space, which…

While there are still a number of big bands out there drawing inspiration from swing groups of the ’30s and ’40s, there are also a number of adventurous composers who put a more modern spin on the big-band concept. Composer and bandleader Adam Bartczak does it on Grass Is Greener,…

Near the end of “According to Me,” the spirited opening track on Raise Your Flag, Sam Lee intones, “Turn it up and sing it like you mean it” — a reasonable demand, given Lee’s performance on the disc. Dude puts his money where his mouth is: He’s got some incredibly…