Some more sad news to report for a music community that’s still grappling with the losses of some other dearly departed friends: If you haven’t heard, Joe Cahill, Leftover Salmon’s lighting designer, passed away last week in New Orleans. According to an item filed by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Cahill,…
Yngwie Malmsteen is a guitar god known for his supremely technical fretwork. The virtuosic guitarist burst into the world of international music in 1984 with Rising Force. At the age of seven, Malmsteen says, he saw a documentary about the death of Jimi Hendrix and was so taken by Hendrix’s…
Drug culture isn’t relegated exclusively to rock, obviously. For its part, the rap game is equally loaded with drug references of all kinds, from Promethazine and DMT to LSD and PCP, and likewise addled with its own cautionary tales and fatalities. While there’s nothing as concrete to suggest that drugs…
Do drugs fuel creativity? Is an addled mind essential to making great music? Does sobriety cause creative impotence? What if Jimi Hendrix had suddenly decided to enter a twelve-step program? Would Are You Experienced? have sucked? To answer these nagging questions, you have to take a look at rock’s red-eyed…
Megadeth’s Gigantour, which features HellYeah, Newstead, Black Label Society and is making a stop at 1STBANK Center in August, goes on sale this Friday, May 10, while tickets for Tricky at the Gothic and Wiz Khalifa and A$AP Rocky at Fiddler’s go on sale on Saturday, May 11. Keep reading…
Welcome back to another edition of That’s a Rap. This week, we’ve got another a fresh batch of homegrown hip-hop for you. Whether you’re looking for a rugged, classic sound or a laid-back joint, we’ve got you covered with new cuts from Atak One, Planes!, Foodchain and Zome of Diamond…
In case you’re the type who likes to plan ahead — I mean waaaaay ahead — Justin Timberlake is making his way to the Mile High City for a show at the Pepsi Center…uh, next year. January 22, 2014, to be specific. So why mention it now? So you can…
DEVENDRA BANHART @ GOTHIC THEATRE | 5/5/13 Devendra Banhart marches to the funkiest army ever, a fact that was prominently in evidence during his abbreviated set at the Gothic Theatre last night. The man does not know how to keep still. By turns joking and serious, Banhart showcased an array…
The parking lot is a perfect place to mingle and get your pre-game on before a show, particularly at Red Rocks. But Brandon Chavez is taking tailgaiting to another level. At select EDM shows, you can find Chavez, aka DJ Rufio, and his crew of party people gathered around a…
SHABAZZ PALACES @ LARIMER LOUNGE | MON, 5/6/13 In the first half of the ’90s, Ishmael Butler went by the moniker “Butterfly” as part of the rap trio Digable Planets. After the outfit’s 1995 split, the group performed one-off shows here and there, but since 2009, Butler has released music…
If last Friday night’s party is any indication, the Denver Disco dudes have put together one helluva party. And tonight, the crew will continue to crush it. If you already checked out our rundown of the best EDM in Denver this weekend, you probably noticed that we have Mike Deez,…
Seris is a mathy metal band with a footing in technical death metal that has found a way to blend all of that into something far more accessible than either would suggest. There is a groove and fluidity underlying the band’s sound that gives the heaviness a paradoxical kind of…
CRYSTAL CASTLES @ GOTHIC THEATRE | 5/2/13 Last night’s Crystal Castles show at the Gothic was not one for epileptics, with all the rapid flashing, seizure-inducing colored lights. The vivid visualizations kept pace with the accelerating tempos and deftly matched the dynamism and mood of the music itself. The blossoming…
FLOBOTS @ AGGIE THEATRE | FRI, 5/3/13 Half a decade after releasing the platinum single “Handlebars,” which made rounds on radios across the country, the Flobots have grown significantly, both as a musical group and as a philanthropic force within the Denver community. Since parting ways with Universal Records after…
HANEYSTOCK @ GOTHIC THEATRE | FRI, 5/3/13 Although the lineup for this show would otherwise be considered pretty great, with Havok, Speedwolf, the Limbs and Lola Black, the reason everybody will be heading down to the Gothic Theatre tonight is to celebrate the life of Chris Haney, a dearly departed…
VIBESQUAD @ THE UNIFIED FIELD/CERVANTES’ | FRI, 5/3/13 Playing under the VibeSquaD moniker, Aaron Holstein creates music that straddles several genres, blurring the lines between breakbeats and bass without straying far from his hip-hop roots. Live, a VibeSquaD show can quickly go from Holstein setting the groove with a nice…
Oh, man, this week just isn’t getting any easier. As we’re still grappling with the two recent deaths that rattled our community this week, comes word of another significant loss. If you haven’t heard yet, Jeff Hanneman has passed away at the age of 49. The Slayer guitarist reportedly died…
Stay Tuned, the outfit formerly known as MainLine, is preparing to hit the road in the next few weeks, taking advantage of the $3000 Western States Arts Federation Independent Music on Tour grant Mane Rok was awarded last year. What makes this jaunt particularly noteworthy, beside the fact that local…
Alert your darling niece, the one whose mom just insists she’s the next Christina Aguilera, that stardom awaits. X Factor auditions are being held at the Denver Coliseum; wristbands will be issued on Sunday, May 12, at 8 a.m. and auditions are slated for Tuesday, May 14. Unlike the first…
SERIS @ HERMAN’S HIDEAWAY | SAT, 5/4/13 Seris plays technical metal without trying to splice in another genre of music willy nilly. Melati Olivia is the kind of singer that isn’t just strong but versatile. The rhythm section of Robert Jepsen and Cody Goodman pound out rhythms in precise sequence,…
By Gil Asakawa I first visited the offices of Feyline, Barry Fey’s concert promotions company, in the early 1980s when I was music editor for Westword. I had become friends with Feyline’s publicist, Mark Bliesener, and I would go over to the office to get the skinny on upcoming shows…
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 listening…
