Lorde and Robin Thicke are playing the Fillmore this weekend. Oh! Not together. No, it’s a Saturday/Sunday situation. But do you know who would make one exceedingly odd twerking couple? Those two. Elsewhere, the great Tower of Power hits our neighbor to the south, D.R.I. will be yelling at Englewood…
It has happened to me a million times. I walk into a bar with the intention of sitting down for a relaxing beverage, and in between the time that I’ve paid and my first sip of beer, I realize that some 22-year-old is having a birthday party. And that all…
Editor: Kalyn Heffernan is a familiar voice to many regular readers of Backbeat. We’ve written about her band several times over the years. And this week, she’s been sending us commentary on her third trip to Austin for SXSW. Read about why she still thinks it’s worth it to go,…
In March 2013, Spike Network featured Zanzibar Billiards on Larimer Street on its popular reality series Bar Rescue. During the episode, owner Ami Benari and the show’s host, Jon Taffer, nearly got into a full-on brawl. “It was hairy for a few moments, because he made me mad,” Benari says…
Speedy Ortiz (due Saturday, March 22, at Moe’s Original Bar B Que) from Northampton, Massachusetts came out of the solo side-project of singer-guitarist Sadie Dupuis when she was a member of the rock band Quilty. Taking the project’s moniker from a story in the influential underground comic series, Love and…
Gary Caspa, or simply Caspa as he’s known in the music world, has just transplanted himself, along with his wife, in Denver, Colorado. Could it be because Denver is the mecca of dance music and progressive thinking — two things that seem to go hand in hand these days? Or…
The question feels like a no-brainer, especially considering the fact that Brian Nelson is addressing a group of toddlers. “You guys, we have this big, giant drum over here. You think we should play it?” Nelson has just wrapped up a performance of a song about hot pots and silly…
A loose aesthetic unifies the crackling, fuzzy melodies of the songs on American Haiku’s debut EP, called, simply, e.p. Imagine a band like noise-pop phenom Versus writing lo-fi power pop. Or one of those Louisville, Kentucky, bands from the early ’90s, like Squirrelbait — except with the influence of emo…
With its streams of tone possessed of a slippery physicality, “0001 capillary,” the first song on Formant’s Amino, is reminiscent of the recent work of German electronic artist Pole. There’s a spacious and luminous quality to it, like that of a secret subterranean dance club lit only by dim floor…
On her 2012 debut, Snapshot, Katie Glassman, who has won numerous fiddling championships, clearly showed she knew her way around Western swing, vintage jazz and bluegrass. On her eleven-song sophomore release, Dream a Little Dream, Glassman is more refined both musically and vocally, leaning more toward Western swing with her…
Hip-hop in today’s scene is fast and racy. An electronic overload of new-age sounds floods the market as more and more artists race to keep up with commercial trends. Musa’s latest project, How to Survive When You’re Dead, ignores all of that, creating a modern hip-hop Western that transports the…
In the years since it became Lost Lake Lounge, the strip-mall bar sitting on Colfax just west of Colorado Blvd. has maintained a low-key, log-cabin-like atmosphere; beers were sipped at the front room’s small crescent-shaped bar, and bands played in the back room on the floor. The space has a…
Former New Found Glory Guitarist Steve Klein is the latest in a string of recent arrests and accusations that highlight a rare but underrated hazard in underground music: exposure to dangerous people. That’s not to say all artists are as dangerous or deviant as Klein is accused of being. Fans…
Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her –…
While Jonathan Bitz originally planned to have Syntax Physic Opera up and running by last November, construction delays and having to obtain new permits have extended the timeline. He’s now hoping that his music venue, eatery and art bar open by the end of April. After a five-year stint as…
Editor: As she has in years past, Kalyn Heffernan from Wheelchair Sports Camp is documenting the band’s trip to Austin for SXSW. Today, she’s sent us portraits of each of the four outfits she wore at the festival this year. “I packed a good twenty-plus shirts/tanks, too many hats, shoes,…
Trent Reznor and pals will play betwixt the monoliths in Morrison in July with grunge hero Soundgarden. Red Rocks’s summer calendar continues to fill out — Daughtry, Goo Goo Dolls and Blues Traveler also announced shows there this week. The rest of the concert calendar updates follow…
Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver asks a Colorado band or musician four questions and then draws their conversation. We call the resulting comic “4 Questions: Comic Strip Interview” because we have no use for obscurity. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work and even buy it…
It’s not so tough to spot the link between the Arvada Center’s 2014 recently announced concert series and Swallow Hill Music, who partnered with them to construct the lineup. The series owes a lot to the music school’s deep roots in folk music — performances by Don McLean and Judy…
The War on Drugs released its new album Lost in the Dream today. The band also plays the Bluebird on March 26. Here’s what’s going to happen now: I’m going to listen to the new War on Drugs album with my cat, Kitten and we’re going to review it track-by-track…
Editor’s note: As she has in years past, Kalyn Heffernan from Wheelchair Sports Camp will be sending us dispatches from the band’s trip to Austin for SXSW. An Austin blog asked me to, “describe SXSW in 15 seconds.” I did it with only two words: shit show. But that’s not…
At this show at Seventh Circle Music Collective, Tim Holland (a.k.a. Sole) commanded a crowd that stretched well beyond his (storied) hip-hop roots. In addition to those fans, there were supporters of the punk bands that played on either side of his own set, there were people involved in the…
