Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Luvin'” video, which premiered only hours ago on her YouTube channel, is proof perfect that she is still the Queen of Pop. The song itself isn’t particularly innovative. It’s instantaneous dance-pop infused with elements of a previous era, the 1980s, while still attempting to sound…
Update: The Ryan Adams show originally slated for tonight the Temple Buell has been postponed until tomorrow night. The Dr. Dog show has also been postponed, but a new date has not been announced. What’s a little snow? Blizzard schmizzard. There’s too much great music this weekend to stay at…
Ah, the last of the auditions round of American Idol . With mediocre expectations of the talent going into the Hollywood round, there aren’t more than ten contestants who truly blew us away thus far in the competition. However, in last night’s St. Louis episode, a few contestants managed to…
Weekend’s here! Feel like cutting a rug? As always, we’ve got you covered. This weekend’s Dance Card is brimming: Ana Sia, the glitch-hop/dubby darling of the West Coast, headline Casselman’s on Friday night, and there are a ton of other options, including Icicle, Matt Darey, the return of Hipp-E with…
Happy Black History Month! February has traditionally been the month when the contributions, traditions, and historical facts about African Americans are celebrated the most. This year’s Black History Month started off a little heavy with the passing of Soul Train founder Don Cornelius. All month here at Backbeat, we’ll be…
Achille Lauro’s new full-length release came partly from a sense of smugness. According to Matt Close, the band’s sample master, rhythm guitarist and lead singer, Flight or Fight came as the quartet recorded material for what was originally envisioned as the latest in a series of singles. When the group…
Arguably the biggest DJ ever to come out of Denver, Eric Galaviz aka Hipp-E made his bones promoting and deejaying at some of the earliest raves in Colorado. After leaving his indelible mark on our city, he moved to San Diego in the ’90s, where he became an influential part…
It’s really hard to be a successful corporate retailer. Not only do you have to sell truckloads of stuff to make money, but you have to keep track of whose stuff it is you’re even selling. Sigh. It’s even harder when you appropriate a design by a band that’s really…
El TEN ELEVEN @ FOX THEATRE | 2/1/12 El Ten Eleven lit up the Fox Theatre last night on its second stop in Colorado. Frontman Kristian Dunn had a Wal fretless bass and 1977 Carvin double neck guitar/bass to choose from with an array of guitar pedals at his disposal,…
If you’re going to take on Freddie Mercury’s vocal prowess on “Somebody To Love” and use it as an audition piece for American Idol, you better be able to hit those notes. Unfortunately for the baby-faced Ben Harrison, 28, none of the judges loved his take. The falsetto, on blast,…
Tantric Picasso (due Thursday, February 2 at the Bluebird Theater) started in 2008 among a group of friends who met at school, which is typical enough, but in naming the band, the fivesome created a personal mythology (partly detailed below) that is somewhat embodied in the name with hints of…
Negative Degree, one of the more active hardcore bands in the Denver punk scene for the past year or so, is part of a small wave of new local bands playing hardcore punk music, which first sprang up in basements in the ’80s and has been romanticized and gold-plated in…
Today marks the debut of a new weekly video rant from our resident loudmouthed rabble-rouser Jef Otte, who does his level best each week to break your heart. In the video-version of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, monsieur Otte attempts to make a compelling case for why Nickelback…
On the heels of rounding a list of the 20 Best New Bands of 2011 compiled by Paste Magazine, The Lumineers have announced plans to release their debut full-length on Dualtone Records, the imprint that’s currently home to a half-dozen other artists including Brett Dennen and Guy Clark. While the…
What happens when contemporary electronic musicians, DJs and producers are teamed with old masters of rock, jazz, soul and country? That’s the question posed by the new documentary Re:Generation, which opens for a limited run of screenings around Denver on February 16. The film follows musical collaborations by some unlikely…
On this, the first day of Black History Month 2012, there’s some sad news coming out of Los Angeles: Don Cornelius, a legend who changed television forever, was found dead this morning at his home of an apparent suicide. The 75-year-old Chicago-bred civil rights-inspired journalist was the epitome of soul…
Gamers and Geeks, rejoice! Here’s another reason to leave the house besides MileHiCon and the occasional run to stock up on Mountain Dew and pizza bagels: The local premier of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, a four-part symphony celebrating the storied franchise’s theme music over the years,…
LOS CAMPESINOS! @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 1/31/12 Los Campesinos! is a band weathered by fine lines. By attending one of the Welsh septet’s shows, you are, whether you know it or not, crossing one of your own in the sand. You are saying that you prefer precociousness to pretense, that…
“Man, I used to really love that song until it got played to death!” How many times have you heard somebody say that? It’s a legitimate gripe, especially if you work in place where the radio is played day and night. You inevitably suffer hearing the same goddamn songs hundreds…
This Friday, February 3, at the Bluebird Theater, FaceMan is celebrating the release of its new album, Feeding Time, with a full slate of guests, including members of Achille Lauro, the Knew, Flobots, Boulder Acoustic Society, Hindershot, Wheelchair Sports Camp and more. Feeding Time, the outfit’s second full-length, was recorded…
Hey, all you super-squares, time to dig out that sparkly prom dress with the puffy sleeves and the ill-fitting leisure suit. Run to that dusty box in the closet to bust out the retainer, the horn-rimmed glasses and the D&D magic decoder ring. No room for hipsters here: This party…
Rejoice, metal heads! On Friday, May 11, Meshuggah is slated to hit the Ogden Theatre for a show in support of its forthcoming album, the eagerly anticipated followup to 2008’s Obzen, due out on Nuclear Blast on March 27. The Swedish metal masterminds will be joined at the Ogden by…
