While Jon Wirtz has lent his piano and keyboard skills to a variety of singer-songwriters, from Matt Morris to Angie Stevens to John Common, he’s also a fine jazz player, as evidenced on his stunning 2010 solo piano debut, Sea Level. There are elements of jazz on Tourist, and Wirtz…
There’s a lot of energy in the first three cuts of the Trubelos’ debut long-player, Boomerang Girl, including the up-tempo countrified rocker “All I Want to Do is You,” the blues shuffle of Little Walter’s “Little By Little,” and the twangy title cut. But while the vigor is there, it…
If there’s one thing Mountain Lion, Pt. 1 succeeds in doing, it’s putting a song in your head and keeping it there, whether you want it or not. While Jahni Denver’s flow is only okay and his subject matter is rarely original, he is a master of the hook, and…
A bit of an odds-and-sods collection, this set of songs covers the entirety of the Bedsit Infamy’s existence, including its first formal demo. Recalling XTC’s 1992 compilation Rag and Bone Buffet in terms of purpose and content, this “leftover” work is anything but inferior. Billy Armijo may be a writer…
Another week, another fresh batch of local hip-hop. We’ve got new joints from the Southern-flavored but fully local Hustle Man, as well as a new cut from Whygee that name-checks one of East High School’s most famous former students, plus a nighttime call to action from Drop Switch and a…
Brace yourself: The Solution, one of the dopest hip-hop parties in Denver for the past half-dozen years, is making its return this Friday night as a weekly. The award-winning night (Best of Denver 2010) has thrived despite a succession of moves over the years, from Milk — where DJs Low…
A bunch of great shows announced this week: Fresh off a string of well-received comeback shows, Fall Out Boy is back with a new record and a tour that will hit Denver in June. Vampire Weekend is due at Red Rocks with Of Monsters and Men, while fun. has announced…
So the album that everybody’s talking about this week (and for good reason) is mbv, the record that fans have been eagerly awaiting for at least two decades, since the release of Loveless, My Bloody Valentine’s 1991 masterpiece. To give you an idea of just how eagerly awaited this follow-up…
As people who think about, talk about, write about, listen to and make music, it’s not surprising that the most common (and favorite) topic of conversation among us is the same: “What are you listening to right now?” Stick a quarter in us, and, boy, wouldn’t you know it, off…
The lineup for this year’s edition of the Gathering of the Clouds has been revealed. The three-day festival, slated to take place at the Walnut Room this year on Thursday, March 7, through Saturday, March 9, is being headlined by the Warlocks, Wovenhand, Gliss and the Black Ryder and features…
Great news for discerning dance-music fans: The Denver Winter Showcase — slated to take place on the weekend of March 14-16 at Beta Nightclub, NORAD and Opal Restaurant and Lounge — has added a third day of music to its schedule. Conceived as an alternative to mainstream EDM festivals, Denver…
Gateway Acts is an ongoing series on Backbeat in which we examine the music that served as an entry point for our burgeoning musical obsessions, a gateway drug that tuned us in and turned us on. Today, A.H. Goldstein reflects on his Frank Zappa fixation. Some of my earliest musical…
Pallbearer has been making waves with its psychedelic doom metal. Rather than relying on excessively repetitive riffs, however, the quartet employs actual melodies into its music, as well as simple yet intricate dynamics and rhythms that give the songs more actual sonic heft than grinding away at a single chord…
February is already off to a good start for hip-hop with a pair of great shows this past weekend, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at Icelantic’s Winter on the Rocks and Brother Ali with Prof, Danny Brown and Evidence at Cervantes’. Even excluding those shows, the rest of the month looks…
The local scene has suffered another tremendous loss this week with the passing of Marcus Hayes (aka Marcus Arrilius), one of the founding members of the emerging Welcome to the D.O.P.E. Game crew. Hayes, an esteemed father, husband, brother, friend, mentor, thinker, MC and visionary, passed away this past Friday…
Welcome back to the work week. How was the weekend? A bunch of great shows, eh? Icelantic’s Winter on the Rocks with Macklemore, Eli Goulding at the Ogden Theatre, Brother Ali and Danny Brown at Cervantes’ and Hot Water Music at Summit Music Hall. What did you catch? Bunch more…
While January had some stellar shows like Joe Lovano Us Five, February is poised to be an utterly fantastic month for jazz in the Mile High City, especially with shows like the Ron Miles Trio featuring Brian Blade and Bill Frisell at Dazzle, plus dates from Fred Hersch Trio, Kurt…
So you like your music hard and heavy, do ya? Good news: You’re in for some serious brutality this month. There’s a ton of shows happening in February, all of which are listed in our concert calendar, but here, we’ve singled out the six best metal shows in Denver (well,…
HOT WATER MUSIC @ SUMMIT MUSIC HALL |2/3/13 Last night’s Hot Water Music show at the Summit was the kind where the crowd pretty much knew all of the songs. But the song that got the strongest reaction, bar none, was “Rooftops,” which came in toward the end of the…
BROTHER ALI @ CERVANTES’ MASTERPIECE BALLROOM | 2/2/13 Brother Ali commands the stage like a political figure, only one who’s less concerned with appearance and more concerned with the impact of his speech. In the nihilistic rap world of uncountable monies, untraceable guns and impregnable bitches, Ali has remained a…
ELLIE GOULDING @ OGDEN THEATRE | 2/1/13 The Halcyon Days Tour that Ellie Goulding’s currently on does not seem to change from night to night. Her set at the Ogden Theatre began with “Don’t Say a Word,” and was followed by “Halcyon,” “Figure 8” and “Salt Skin” — the same…
MACKLEMORE @ RED ROCKS |2/1/13 Toward the last part of his set at Red Rocks, Macklemore got a little confessional. He shared with us how since he was in his early teens he’s had no control over his consumption of drugs and alcohol, and he admitted to having spent many…
