De La Soul, the iconic Long Island hip-hop trio, performed last Saturday to a capacity crowd at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom. It was “nuts-to-butts crowded,” as my Tennessee friends like to say. Consider now the fact that the group hasn’t released a proper album in five years (2009’s obscure Are You…
A factor in the decline of decent art was recently dragged onto center stage by the New York Times in an article called “Brooklyn Communal Cool: The Brand.” The piece, authored by a person who spells “mic” like “mike,” focuses on a communal-living quarters in Brooklyn called the Clubhouse and…
The SXSW floodgates probably extend as far as Denver, and regardless this week brings an exceptionally strong crop of bands to town. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, subjects of a recent cover story in our sister paper in St. Louis, play the Gothic tonight. There are plenty more below…
Our thirtieth Best of Denver issue will bring a new cow to your newsstand in a little under two weeks. In the issue, you’ll find several hundred of the best ways to spend time in our city, whether you’re looking for fine art or cheap booze, whether you’ve got three…
The 3rd Annual Bringing Back the Arts music competition is this Sunday, March 16, at the Bluebird Theater. Admission is free. The competition is part of First Lady of Denver Mary Louise Lee’s Bringing Back the Arts initiative, designed to bring greater attention to local artists and to encourage the…
FRI | DOCTOR P at BETA | 3/14/14 My dubstep has a first name, and it’s D-O-C-T-O-R-P. Having established himself as one of the originators in bringing dubstep to the masses, Doctor P’s early hits still get regular play in the biggest sets. To boot, his Circus Records imprint is…
The Black Lips are heading to Denver April 2 in support their new album Underneath The Rainbow and also a new documentary featuring their 2012 tour of that took them through Egypt, Cypress, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Watching this rough yet intimate look at what it’s…
M Sage (due Saturday, May 15, at The Sidewinder Tavern) is Matthew Sage, who grew up in Fort Collins and has been involved in music along the front range as both a fan and artist. Whether in indie rock acts like Castles, the gritty freak-folk-esque M. Pyres or his more…
Hooo buddy. There are shows this weekend in Denver. Who needs Austin when you’ve got the legendary New Orleans Suspects, the even more legendary De La Soul and a bunch of dudes with laptops, right here in your hometown? Not us. We’ll be here, seeing what Chris Adolf is up…
Sleeping in the van. 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. She sent her first report, which you see here, Wednesday afternoon, before a drunk driver crashed into a crowd…
For several years, you could see Paul Jansen playing violin and guitar in various bands around Denver. First with the “folk Goth” band The December Question then more prominently with Jen Korte and indie pop outfit (die) Pilot. It was toward the end of his tenure with the latter that…
DJ Chonz (born Mario Rodriguez) is a graduate of the Music Industry program at he University of Colorado at Denver. He recently returned to UCD to pursue a Master’s Degree in Communication. A full time on-air personality on Denver’s KS 107.5 FM and still a force behind the decks in…
Corey Baker, who performs as Kill Paris, is an old soul trapped in a young body. Through a series of sporadic moves that have taken him from his home in Indiana to Nashville then Los Angeles and now Boulder, Baker has found his own corner in a rapidly evolving electronic…
I look at it like I’m leaving a trail of crumbs,” says artist, label founder and Denver transplant Tim Holland about the dense, politically informed content of his lyrics. “I’m referencing books, authors, ideas, concepts and historical moments the same way that Boogie Down Productions, X Clan and Public Enemy…
“All Mom Blues Band,” the second track on I Sank Molly Brown’s The Age of Pretzlcoatl, starts out with a Slint-like bass line but quickly escalates into more dissonant sonic territory as the song progresses. The band also continues to deliver its signature tempo shifts on the just-released album. Caleb…
As the Sky Darkens spent the last year-plus hunkered down in the studio, writing and recording Freedom, its latest full-length. Although the album incorporates every element of metalcore — crunching breakdowns, hellish growls, intricate guitar work and clean vocals — followers of heavier genres should not be discouraged. As the…
“Brightness,” from Cody Yantis’s new album, Resonant Memory, begins with pastoral guitar work and samples of birds and other ambient sounds, giving the track the feeling of a Daniel Lanois song. But by the time “Brightness III” comes through your stereo, the tone has darkened. On “Brightness IV,” the music…
There are only four tracks on King Cardinal’s self-titled debut EP, and all four give a clear idea of what this alt-folk sextet is capable of. Even so, it’s hard to get past the hauntingly beautiful opener, “A Short Trip to Mackinac Island,” because the song demands repeat listens. With…
The best Denver band is playing Red Rocks on July 17, and it will feature songs by and collaborations with Gregory Alan Isakov and DeVotchKa. Tickets are $27.50 to $65 and on sale now. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra announced the show last month, but the addition of Isakov to it…
Update, 3/12: Frank Ocean has now delivered a check for the full $212,500 to Chipotle. But it wasn’t the one posted to his tumblr on Monday, on which he’d written a certain colorful greeting. “Curiously, the memo line was blank,” says Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold. Original post follows… Frank Ocean…
Comparing a traditional Irish music session to a typical jam session is more than misleading; it’s just plain false. A casual jam session could easily consist of an unplanned meeting of friendly musicians who just happen to be carrying around instruments, and it could feature extended riffs on any number…
The MeadowGrass Music Festival’s lineup for 2014 is here. The annual event, which will be held over Memorial Day weekend in Black Forest, will feature over 20 artists in three days at the La Foret Conference and Retreat Center. Topping the line up is Canadian band and Sugar Hill recording…
