Music

The most interesting thing about Turner Jackson’s Star Destroyer is that Jackson appears to be doing everything he can here not to self-destruct. He exhibits a notable level of control in his delivery, in contrast to his typically flamboyant flow; there’s a steady ebb and flow to his usually frenetically…

A cigarette-shop owner by day and MC/producer by night, Status uses his business mind and nicotine habit to leverage his newest solo project, Marlboro Man. All of the beats employed on this album are relics from Status’s collection that until now had not seen the light of day. From a…

Harry Tuft, who was just inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, may be best known for having run the Denver Folklore Center for the better part of its fifty-year existence, but he’s also a fine musician and singer in his own right. Joined by a number of local…

After a sample from Robocop, Roskopp crashes headlong into “Microbial Warfare.” Though running along at a breakneck grindcore pace, the percussion and dynamics take some moments to let passages hang precariously. Taking a break mid-point with a sample from Walk Hard, Roskopp finishes out its side of this split with…

Singer-songwriter Coles Whalen originally planned to release her third full-length, I Wrote This for You, last November, but while the CDs were in production, she listened to a copy of the master and realized that there were four up-tempo rocking country songs that she didn’t want on the album.  “I…

Collaboration is a beautiful thing when it works, and it’s worked beautifully for P.U.N.C.H.I.S. and AAMP with the PM//AM event lineup. The concept features underground DJs in Beta’s Beatport Lounge (presented by P.U.N.C.H.I.S.) followed by an after-hours shindig (presented by AAMP). This go-round, the team is bringing in Martin Buttrich,…

Whether you hate him or love him for it, T-Pain is the man most responsible for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune. Using the pitch-correction software to further melodize his lyrics, the Tallahassee native emerged onto the scene with hits like “I’m Sprung,” “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper),” and later…

Nika Roza Danilova grew up in rural Wisconsin. Without access to the usual distractions available to most children living in a big city, Danilova had to use her imagination and natural curiosity to keep her mind stimulated, which clearly contributed to the timeless, haunting sound of her subsequent musical project,…

Korn has proven impervious to trend: The act instigated nu-metal in the ’90s and, less than ten years later, stuck around to witness the genre’s crushing death. Making records through it all, the Bakersfield, California-based band carved out a previously uncharted radio niche with a heavy but sludge-less 1994 self-titled…

Lemmy Kilmister is a living legend: He was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and an integral member of space-rock pioneers Hawkwind; he got kicked off an airplane for refusing to give up his whiskey at the last minute and has done more drugs than anyone except for maybe Keith Richards…

From a medical standpoint, it wasn’t immediately clear what caused Whitney Houston’s untimely death at the age of 49 in her room at the Beverly Hilton a couple of weeks ago. But who cares about facts, amiright? Lack of a toxicology report notwithstanding, it took the media less than 45…

This past weekend, Show and Tell, our sister blog, hijacked Backbeat’s resident cartoonist/funny man Noah Van Sciver and asked him to sketch out his impressions of Artopia. Unsurprisingly, his impressions turned out to be hilarious, awkward and awesome, the work of staggering genius. Well it made us laugh anyway, particularly…

Talk about sensory overload. Touring the five venues of Artopia over the course of three hours felt overwhelming at times. Skipping from band to band and exhibit to exhibit in the clubs along Broadway was a frenetic way to take in the best of Denver’s visual and musical acts. The…

Looking over the schedule for Artopia, it quickly becomes clear that it is impossible to see everything. Choices must be made and none of them are easy. To wait until the end of the set; or make sure that you catch the beginning of the next act down the street…these…

In addition to other items once owned by Whitney Houston being offered up to the highest bidder, the sprawling mansion where the legendary performer once lived in Mendham, New Jersey, is reportedly being tastelessly touted by a real estate broker from Beverly Hills as “the scene of the activity that…

LESLIE & THE LYS @ HI-DIVE | 2.19.12″Reba McEntire.” With the mere mention of that name, queen crafting bee and cuddly rapping princess Leslie Hall incited riotous applause from her audience last night at the hi-dive. But the shout out to the renowned country singer that came at the end…