Amanda Palmer recently set the record for crowd-sourced fundraising among music-related projects — a record once held by Five Iron Frenzy — after the Kickstarter campaign to fund her new record raised $735,000 in about two weeks. The former Dresden Dolls frontwoman served up tickets, copies of the album and…
Meet Kajmir Royale. He lives in Colorado Springs, but his view is global, his perspective dynamic and charismatic. Taking a Kanye West approach to the game with a goal of making “popular music,” Royale is an MC/producer who’s hitting his stride and knows exactly where he’s going. Originally from New…
This Thursday, May 24, Kool & the Gang is due at the Pepsi Center with Van Halen. While this might seem like an unlikely pairing, the legendary funk/R&B act opening for the equally iconic rock band, Robert “Kool” Bell, Kool & the Gang’s founding member, tells us it’s working out…
When Signal Path first started out, over a decade ago, the goal was to bring elements of the jam scene into the realm of electronic music. “We were all living in Missoula at the time,” remembers guitarist Ryan Burnett, “and we all had this vision to create something different, musically.”…
As the versatile and hyper-talented guitarist in Hot White, Kevin John Wesley (due at Rhinoceropolis on Wednesday, May 30) showed how thrilling abrasive and jarring guitar gymnastics could be. But even before that band went on indefinite hiatus, Wesley played solo shows during which he never quite did the same…
There’s no shortage of purists who would argue that, even with David Lee Roth back fronting the band, the current version of Van Halen can’t really be considered classic VH — not with Wolfie on bass in place of Michael Anthony, whose trademark backing vocals are every bit as essential…
Surviving intense drug addiction, poor fashion choices, several breakups and a revolving door of celebrity bassists (Flea, Duff McKagan and TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek), Jane’s Addiction continues on. Like musical cockroaches, the band is immune to the bug spray of age and a changing music industry. As a…
Starting as the punk-rock solo act of Tom Gabel, Against Me! has embodied the best end of every recent punk-rock cliché. Gabel is a vegan who early on played acoustic punk protest music. He lived in a communal house, got by dumpster diving, worked with Food Not Bombs and has…
In 1985, Love was the Cult’s breakthrough album, helped along by the single “She Sells Sanctuary” — but the band switched gears, stripped things down and started rocking out a few years later on the Rick Rubin-produced Electric. Since then, the Cult has been through a few lineup changes and…
Since 4H Royalty’s Zach Boddicker spent time playing in Drag the River, it wasn’t surprising to find a few similarities to the latter’s sound on 4H’s debut, 2010’s Colossalalia. And while there are still hints of the same to be found on the act’s followup, Where UFOs Go to Die…
Kajmir Royale is not just an MC; he’s also a producer. His street mixtape, Heir to the Throne, features damn near every MC you love out of the city, including Rockie, AP and Mr. Midas, to name a few. The project is a mix of anthemic rhythms, hard-body rhymes and…
Beat tapes can be some of the most enjoyable releases to vibe out to, especially when you don’t feel like hearing someone’s voice in your ear. Bostic Beats, half of One Eyed Kings, just released his debut instrumental album, Spring Cleaning Sessions: Volume 1. It starts slow, with a couple…
From the beginning of “Across the Ocean,” the opening track of Galaxies’ Letters From Sea, it sounds as though Dillon Groeneman recorded the album while on a ship. And it’s not just the sound samples that make it feel that way, but also the sense of peace and isolation that…
Last winter, Rockie released Censored, a project that gave the MC the chance to say everything that he didn’t get to say out of the gate: He talked about the bitches, the money and being a single father in a city where damn near everyone is a rapper. Amid the…
Darin Epsilon has long been on the cutting edge of the progressive and tech-house genres, possessing both the selective taste of a premier club DJ and an elite producer’s talent for creating hypnotic tracks. He was a winner of John Digweed’s DJ competition in 2011, he hosts a radio show…
It was close to seven on a warm July evening in Greenwood Village, time for the suburb’s more sedentary citizens to fire up their grills and televisions. But at the Comfort Dental Amphitheatre, the headbanging was just getting started. On the main stage, Five Finger Death Punch was winding down…
This past Saturday, Hawaiian ukulele player Aldrine Guerrero was at the fifth annual Denver Ukefest at the L2 Arts and Culture Center. In between signing ukuleles and performing, he took time out to play us an original tune he wrote about seeing snowflakes in Denver. Chris Morgan took some pictures…
Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. The series kicks off today with a look back at the Beatles’ legendary trip to the Mile High City in August 1964, and the pandemonium it created. The…
This past Saturday, the annual Five Points Jazz Festival returned to its namesake historic district with performances from a slew of acts like Carmen Sandiem and Aakash Mittal, among others, spread out across six stages all along Welton Street. Our own Nick Callaio was on hand for the fest and…
The space at 1630 Federal Boulevard, just behind Sports Authority Field, has changed hands a few times since its former life once upon a time as an outpost for the Fraternal Order of Eagles, including stints as the Endzone and Angel’s Sports Bar. While the property has been vacant for…
Robin Gibb’s musical genius stood out in a crowded field of competitors. It was about taking existing musical ingredients and creating a sound that was entirely new. Gibb, the Bee Gees co-founder who lost his long battle with cancer on Sunday at the age of 62, had a key role…
While America needs another festival like Denver needs another dispensary, this Triple-A-centric fest should be a big draw. The Ride Festival, which is being presented by Telluride’s KOTO radio and headliner Big Head Todd & the Monsters, takes place in Telluride Town Park on Friday, August 25, and Saturday, August…
