Jim Norris wanted to have something that could spread the word about 3 Kings Tavern, which he co-owns, that bands could give away when they go on tour. So he and MF Ruckus frontman Aaron Howell sat down, brainstormed and chose thirteen local acts like Il Cattivo, Pitch Invasion and…
After debuting Lipgloss as an indie-rock, ’80s-underground dance night in 2001, co-founders Michael Trundle (aka boyhollow) and Tyler Jacobson slowly built their once-monthly dance night into an award-winning weekly Denver institution, one of the first to embrace the dance-punk craze of the mid-2000s. To celebrate the night’s twelfth anniversary, Trundle…
The Lordz of Finesse crew has been representing hip-hop culture in Denver for twenty years. Twenty years! That’s more than many marriages last. To commemorate two decades of holding it down, the almighty Fienz and his crew are hosting a twenty year celebration of all four elements (graffitti, breakin’, emceeing…
Nu metal is the non-alcoholic beer of metal. Why waste your time? Altering, developing and tweaking metal is fine (see sludge or progressive metal), but nu metal strips away everything that is good about metal and somehow makes it sound tepid and miserable, with generic words describing the collective dejection…
John Dadzie, the orbital center of Los Angeles’ dubstep galaxy known as SMOG, is the mastermind behind 12th Planet. Transitioning from drum and bass to dubstep seems to be a natural course for producers in the past few years, and Dadzie has been at the forefront of that movement’s progression…
“As my career was having success and I continued to grow, I wanted to invest that success into a more challenging project,” declares Derek Vincent Smith, the mastermind producer behind Pretty Lights, about his new album, A Color Map of the Sun, due out this Tuesday. “And one day it…
Music-scene veterans Chuck Coffey and Rob Burleson talked about playing together for a long time. Coffey played in a number of local acts, including Eyes & Ears, while Burleson has been in many groups over the years, including the Symptoms and Lion Sized. For SPELLS, their eventual collaboration, Burleson suggested…
The mass proliferation of Sole continues with No Wishing Up No Settling Down. “I’m substance over style,” the MC declares, “but style’s a perk.” And while his style might not be the coolest or the smoothest, it’s aggressively present and distinctive. As for substance, Sole wastes few words: His lyrics…
Ten years ago, Mark Sundermeier started the Acoustic Circus series with some friends while he was at the Soiled Dove, and they put out a two-disc compilation that featured a variety of local acts in various genres, all playing songs in an unplugged format. Now the talent buyer at the…
Vitamins’ latest release, Motions, starts off in a buoyantly psychedelic mode with the song “No Notion of Anything Only Whatever Is What” and its all but motorik beat and urgent melody. What separates this album from the rest of the band’s fine output, though, are the transitional pieces between songs…
The main guitar riff on “Get It On,” the opening cut on Hot Apostles’ self-titled eleven-song debut, sounds like a loose take on Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” While frontwoman Eryn Swissdorf has more of a clean delivery than Jett’s smoky rasp, the two women share a similar…
Pulling from the ’60s garage-punk sound of tube amps, organs and sweat-drenched tempos, Colfax Speed Queen is one of the most committed live acts to emerge in Denver over the past few years. The band impressively brings its chaotic sound into focus on its full-length debut, Satisfaction Intended, sustaining a…
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…
Welcome to Ask Willie D, where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! Dear Willie D, I am a single mother with a small child, clocking fifty hours a week at an auto-parts…
These are the phantoms of the metal opera. They are the faceless. Human? Alien? Robot? Beast? Pinky and the Brain? Luke Skywalker’s father? Nobody knows for sure. The only way we could ever find out is if we go back in time to the ’50s to collect a bunch of…
Rusko is making his way back to the Mile High City on the Lift Me Up Tour, which is slated to make a stop at the Fillmore Auditorium on Wednesday, November 27, with Roni Size and Dynamite MC. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday, June 28, at…
Queensryche was formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, by friends who played in various metal bands from the region. Since the band’s debut EP in 1983, Queensryche has consistently set itself apart by incorporating progressive elements into its music with a vivid, almost dystopian, reflection of society in a way…
Blond:ish delights in defying expectations. The duo’s organically created name is well-suited to the act on several levels, and its tight live sets and sought-after produced tracks prove that the pair takes their music seriously (if not themselves so much) — a new Blond:ish remix for Maya Jane Coles just…
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. Tom Murphy hosted at Bar Standard this past Saturday. Keep reading…
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. Noah Hubbell hosted the street level stage at City Hall this…
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. Antonio Valenzuela hosted at Roostercat Coffee House this past Saturday. Keep…
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. Matt Miner hosted on the rooftop at Vinyl this past Saturday…
