Although Ambrose Akinmusire’s latest Blue Note effort, the imagined savior is far easier to paint, is primarily an instrumental release (save for a few songs with guest vocalists), the forward-thinking jazz trumpeter sometimes writes backstories for his compositions. It was something that was partly inspired by Syd Field’s book, Screenplay:…
It’s a cherished music-festival tradition: You study the schedule, pick the bands you want to see, plot your day and ultimately throw the whole thing out the window. Still, with more than 140 bands playing this year’s Westword Music Showcase, you’ll have to at least try to make some decisions…
One of the reasons Denver is such a unique place for music is the number (and quality) of live music venues here. In light of the Westword Music Showcase taking place this Saturday, June 21, we asked a number of local artists what their favorite venues are and tracked down…
Editor: The Westword Music Showcase is this weekend. It features over 150 Denver bands as well as a main stage with out-of-town headliners Diplo and 2 Chainz along with Man Man, Cherub and King Khan & the Shrines. Our coverage includes the following brief interview with Khan himself. King Khan…
Your new favorite band is from Denver — you just have to find it! No small task in a city with thousands of artists and hundreds of venues, we know — but you can start this weekend at the Westword Music Showcase. More than 140 of our favorite local artists…
This weekend’s Westword Music Showcase, a one-day festival in the Golden Triangle neighborhood, will feature more than 140 of Denver’s best bands. But they aren’t the only people who make up the music scene here; it takes venue owners, label heads, talent buyers, engineers, fans and so much more to…
Riot Fest will return to Denver this fall with a lineup including the Cure, the National, Weezer, Wu-Tang Clan and more. It will take place over three days, from September 19 to 21, at May Farms in Byers. Just now, the festival has announced each day’s lineup and started selling…
This Saturday, at the twentieth Westword Music Showcase, we’ll celebrate the remarkable depth and talent of the Denver music scene with more than 140 local bands on sixteen stages (in addition to an outdoor stage with some touring artists you can learn about elsewhere in this section). But it takes…
There are a lot of ways to travel the world. Most of them involve being extremely wealthy. However, if you weren’t born with the gift of mommy and daddy’s golden checkbook, you can still find a fairly respectable way to see the world, provided you’re OK with sleeping on a…
Your new favorite band is from Denver — you just have to find it! No small task in a city with thousands of artists and hundreds of venues, we know — but you can start this weekend at the Westword Music Showcase. More than 140 of our favorite local artists…
Once upon a time, 2 Chainz and Diplo were working toward fame in the traditional lanes of the music industry. But that was before they learned the lucrative art of making the Internet laugh. 2 Chainz gave Skip Bayless one of his chains on ESPN2. You can order Diplo-ordained weed…
Your new favorite band is from Denver — you just have to find it! No small task in a city with thousands of artists and hundreds of venues, we know — but you can start this weekend at the Westword Music Showcase. More than 140 of our favorite local artists…
Tonight, June 17, Dear Rabbit is releasing its latest record, In a Desert Without the Book at the Hi-Dive. The album features a collection of existential explorations cast in gypsy folk pop songs. Dear Rabbit delivers them with a combination of passion and delicacy of feeling. The project is often…
Editor: This Saturday’s Westword Music Showcase features over 150 bands on 17 stages. That’s a lot to navigate — you can see the full schedule here. But while the venues aren’t completely divided by genre, there is a certain type of music you can generally expect in some of these…
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, who are set to release Hypnotic Eye in July, visit Red Rocks for a two-night stint on Tuesday, September 30 & Wednesday, October 1. Steve Winwood opens both nights. Tickets ($51.50-$127) go on sale on Friday, June 20 at 10 a.m. Phantogram returns to the…
Update: Winner number one is mini-d. A schedule-maker after our hearts in that he or she will never be able to see all that stuff. We’re giving away a couple more pairs of tickets, so keep your schedules coming in the comments or on social media. The Westword Music Showcase…
Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger are the two Germans behind Booka Shade (which plays Beta on June 21). The group, in its latest iteration (it played briefly in the ’90s as well), has developed a sort of cult following in the American EDM market. Its sound is different from much…
There are successful, vibrant music scenes in every corner of the world. So what makes ours different? We asked several bands playing this year’s Westword Music Showcase to tell us: What is, in your opinions, the best thing about playing music in Colorado? Their set times for this Saturday are…
Here’s the thing: When you let a bunch of people into a field where there are several dozen very high quality beers in limitless supply, and then you close with a ’90s cover band, people will sing every word and hug strangers and generally head out of there with smiles…
There’s plenty to keep you busy this week. James Taylor brings his musical featherbed to Red Rocks for a couple nights, and Nas and Flying Lotus will headline Feed the Rocks right after that. The outdoor activities continue with the kickoff of both Sonic Bloom and Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Note…
Denverites Adrian Garcia (A-Trax), Lennard Daniels (Lennyx Dublyn) and Jeremy Barnes (JT) make up the core of the hip-hop collective Planes! The three have all been rapping since they were young, in the last few years started working together. “It just kind of came together,” Garcia said. “Everybody compliments each…
Summer was underway. It was. But just in case you were waiting to roll down the windows and put away your sweaters, the Ink Monstr pool party series kicks off on Sunday. There are shows for those of us no interested in thigh exposure as well — Reckless Kelly is…
