Requiem in Black isn’t breaking new ground with this release, but it’s an artistic breakthrough for the band. A lot of the more recent goth and dark electronic music is completely lacking in anything human, but rather than plunge into the EBM morass, Requiem draws on more vital, older influences,…
The Peanut Butter Wolf born Chris Manak has been in the DJ game since the late ’80s — but while he’s played his share of swanky rooms around the globe since then, he’s no trend-humper. He looks at the genre as an opportunity to explore as well as an excuse…
Along with Mastodon, Kylesa and Harvey Milk, Baroness is part of a mini-wave of terrific metal bands currently roaring out of Savannah, Georgia. The group’s mix of psychedelia, doom and raw ’70s riffage makes it one of the most potent combos in contemporary heavy music. Early EPs showed a fair…
No one can accuse Dallas Green of launching a side project that’s a pale imitation of his main gig. He’s best known for handling rhythm-guitar duties in Alexisonfire, a band that delivers growling/frothing emo on recordings such as 2006’s Crisis. In contrast, City and Colour is an acoustic outfit whose…
As much the butt of jokes as an icon — and deservedly so on both counts — Yngwie Malmsteen 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…
While other MCs have created their own bogeymen to battle — Kanye has his ego, Eminem had Kim, Lil Wayne has those cough-syrup Martians — T.I.’s got real problems: Released from house arrest and in the midst of 1,500 hours of community service, he still has to serve a year…
Caleb Followill and the other members of the Kings family once seemed content with updating ’70s Southern rock for the new millennium — but no more. Only by the Night is a bid for mass popularity and critical acclaim of the sort typically associated with Chris Martin, not Tennessee-bred good…
Travis Egedy, who performs under the name Pictureplane, is becoming one of the more well-known figures in the underground scene, having been name-dropped by HEALTH on Pitchfork this past summer. Together with the artistically like-minded Nick Houde and Ryan Mcryhew of BDRMPPL, Egedy is releasing a split seven-inch of innovative…
Among the most critically acclaimed and widely known of experimental bands, Stereolab combines thoughtful social commentary with breathtakingly lush atmospheres and catchy yet visionary lounge pop. We caught up with guitarist Tim Gane in Washington, D.C., on the first leg of the band’s national tour. Westword: What ideas, musical and…
Vocalist/producer/synthesizer player Rob Swire and the other members of the Aussie-born, British-based group Pendulum first established themselves as dance-savvy drum-and-bass practitioners — so when they infused more rock into the songs on their latest CD, In Silico, Swire expected some push-back from longtime supporters. As it turned out, though, the…
Hailing from Chicago, DJ Heather grew up surrounded by the very roots of house music. She got her first stint as a tastemaker in college, where she manned a low-wattage station and spread her influence over the cafeteria crowd at lunchtime. Later, she picked up gigs in a bar, playing…
Herbie Hancock, Then and Now: The Definitive Herbie Hancock (Verve). With all the songs that Hancock has written over the past five decades, it’s a stretch to say this twelve-track retrospective is “definitive,” but it gives a good sampling of the pianist’s career through his years with Blue Note, Warner…
What began as a boutique hotel with a cool lounge has turned into the start of a nightlife empire. In early September, Jet Entertainment Group — those folks who bought the Luna Hotel at 1612 Wazee Street and turned it into Jet Hotel — acquired the Purple Martini clubs in…
A bit of bad news for the detractors of the Denver Message Board, who have no doubt been doing the dance of joy in its absence, and uplifting news for those who have been experiencing severe withdrawals: The DMB is back. Well, it’s about to be, anyhow. Sometime in the…
Remember the days before digital? Back before seemingly everybody had a ProTools- or Logic- or Cubase-driven rig in their bedroom? When all you had to record on was a beat up old analog four-track and a road worn SM-58? So do we. In fact, last weekend, we came across an…
Photo: Jim Narcy What’s in a name … for Planes Mistaken for Stars, a lot. Alright, so I just started editing next week’s section, and Tom Murphy wrote a preview on a band whose name appears in the list below — you’ll have to pick up next week’s paper to…
Photo: Jason Klauber Not sure if you noticed or not or if you were even paying attention, but the cutesy synth-pop featured in Apple’s newish nano-chromatic commercial is by none other than Chairlift, the Brookyln-by-way-of-Boulder trio. The song, “Bruises,” is the same one the outfit closed its Larimer Lounge set…
Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner wear the red track suits they donned in Broomfield. Weezer, Angels & Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club Sunday, October 5 Broomfield Event Center Since 1994, when Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo first arrived on the national scene (and spoke to Westword in the profile accessible here), the…
Rivers Cuomo thought he and his bandmates looked like “idiots” on the cover of their first album. Westword didn’t wait for Weezer (whose October 5 concert in Broomfield is reviewed here) to get famous before profiling the group. As demonstrated by the August 1994 article below, we were among the…
Catch Lungs LOCALS ONLY On Wednesday, local hip-hop fans made their way to the Fox Theatre in Boulder to see who would represent Colorado at this year’s Scribble Jam Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. The decent-sized crowd was treated to performances from up and coming local artists Catch Lungs, Purpose and…
Photo: Brian Landis Folkins Just came across a short YouTube clip featuring the Flobots being interviewed by Matt Hildreth, from Sojo.net. In the short, four-minute video, Jamie Laurie and Stephen Brackett discuss their faith and convictions and how they relates to their music and progressive politics. Check it out after…
Occasional Backbeat contributor and band manger/consultant with BandGuru, Mark Bliesener, has organized a panel discussion at the Tivoli Center titled Evolution of the Rock Concert. Fittingly, the discussion — which is free and open to the public and slated to take place on Wednesday, November 12, from 1-2:30 p.m. –…
