While conventional wisdom would have Mac Miller parlaying his “brand” to create a line of energy drinks, or headphones, or body spray, Mac Miller doesn’t have any such agenda. There’s no master plan in place to create multiple revenue streams. Instead, his focus is simply on making dope music with…
Australian DJ and producer Anna Lunoe has the eclectic taste you’d expect from a former radio disc jockey; she plays house, indie dance, techno and disco clubs with equal aplomb, packing dance floors with her genre-bending sets. In advance of her show this Friday, August 2, at NORAD with the…
AMERICANARAMA @ FIDDLER’S GREEN | WEDS, 7/31/13 Sometimes when genre-specific festivals are put together, the bill gets padded with — to put it charitably — lesser-known artists. Fortunately, that’s not the case with Americanarama, which features Bob Dylan, Wilco, My Morning Jacket and Ryan Bingham, each heavy hitters in their…
BLKHRTS (MIXTAPE RELEASE) @ MARQUIS | SAT, 7/27/13 BLKHRTS have crafted an utterly riveting hybrid sound that centers on retro-futuristic production that is both unique and progressive. Live, the crew brings an unbridled energy that’s as ferocious as Onyx, as primal as Body Count and as frenzied and unhinged as…
Jack Casey’s Four Mile House, a Glendale fixture since for decades, appears to be closed. The bar, which won Westword’s 2003 Best of Denver award for Best Happy Hour for Absolutely Free Food, started life as a barn, back in the days when what’s now Glendale was filled with dairy…
While having margaritas with his mother in Estes Park, Brandon Hagen looked at the Aerial Tramway and thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you had some solo artist or a duo just sitting there playing a song for the length of that trip up the hill?” That initial thought sparked…
After extensive renovations, Grizzly Rock opened a year ago in the building at 5255 West 6th Avenue that has housed a number of different venue over the years, including Hollywood Legends, Club Arriba and After the Gold Rush. But the 1,200-capacity Grizzly Rock’s stay was a short-lived one as it…
TROPICOOL @ BAR STANDARD | FRI, 7/26/13 David La Melza’s Tropicool project is a beautifully executed brand serving up feel-good, breezy disco-house tunes that also happen to be irresistibly catchy. Everything about the project, from the name to the pop-infused female vocals, is designed to remind you of dancing sweaty…
Denver: This Is The Place. We’ve always believed this, but we’re obviously a little biased. Now, however, this assertion is coming from somebody else’s mouth — and not just anybody, mind you, but those arbiters of cool at MTV via a short segment called…wait for it…This Is The Place: Denver…
Music is life — or at least it is for us. When we’re not writing about it, we’re thinking about it, talking about it or listening to it. These are the things that were in heavy rotation for us this week. What are you listening to? What should we be…
In this week’s Rough Mix with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who is due at Dazzle this Saturday and Sunday, we spoke with him about recruiting younger players and how composing for film has rubbed off on his jazz playing. In this extended Q&A, he talks about new Blue Note effort, Magnetic,…
For the past five years, the folks at Swallow Hill have hosting the annual Denver Ukefest, which includes jams, master classes, workshops and pretty much all things ukulele. This year’s fest, which runs from Thursday, October 10, through Saturday, October 12, features uke-centric acts like James Hill, hailed as one…
ADAM ANT @ THE OGDEN THEATRE | 7/24/13 Adam Ant & the Good, the Mad and the Lovely Posse came on stage with fanfare. Ant was wearing his Blueblack Hussar outfit, and he and his bandmates looked like they’d come out of some indefinable era of punk without an obvious…
Yasiin Bey, formerly Mos Def, is returning to Denver on Friday, November 15, to headline another night at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom, but this time with Justin Bua providing a lecture and some live painting. Returning as a part of the Winter Shredded Beats series, Cervantes’ will open both sides of…
While there are rumors that El Chapultepec was operating as a speakeasy during Prohibition, it legally opened at the end of Prohibition, in 1933. Over the past eight decades, the infamous jazz and blues club has hosted a number of jazz greats, like Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker and Eddie Harris,…
Tony’s P’s, which opened last November in the former J.R.’s space at 777 East 17th Avenue, recently started hosting live music on weekends in its lounge upstairs. The venue will be the new home base for old-school funk/jazz act Buckner Funken Jazz, fronted by trumpeter Rod Buckner. The group will…
Features have a long history in hip-hop, one that’s now frequently used in other musical forms, as well. It can serve several purposes: A well-placed feature can present you to a whole new pocket of possible fans. It can also take advantage of another rapper’s current popularity, or it can…
Because of the relentless, pounding humidity and heat, a different kind of anger boils in the veins of Southern metal cowpokes. Southern metal is at all times heavy, like metal should be, but it’s also lethargic at times, with a sweet tea in hand, sitting on the porch, and sometimes…
The Westword Music Showcase 2013 is now officially a wrap, and in just a few short months we’ll start batting around ideas for next year’s Showcase. (If you have a wish list of acts we should consider booking, feel free to weigh in below.) In the meantime, Gabe Rovick from…
Back in May, the folks at the Great American Techno Festival revealed part of the lineup for the third annual edition of their burgeoning techno extravaganza, slated to take place from Friday, September 13, through Sunday, September 15. We now have the complete lineup. In addition to Lusine and Bruno…
Seriously funny musicians are compelled to seriously not make serious music, finding the absurd around every corner of a melodious jack-in-the-box. Pop goes the weasel, ‘cuz the weasel goes pop! When most musicians give in to an urge to create dramatic music, these comedic musicians can’t help but take the…
Derby girls kick ass — that’s a given. But before they commence to kicking ass, they all have music that gets them pumped to pommel. We caught up with a few skaters from the Slaughterhouse Derby Girls roller derby league , and they told us which tunes get them fired…
