“This ain’t hookah. You hit this shit a few times, you might see the future,” Ab-Soul says of DMT in “Pineal Gland,” his dark, mystic ode to the drug. The same thing can be said of the MC’s rhymes; moments like this one induce chills as Ab-Soul seems to crack…
Allowing each member to pursue solo and side projects has clearly improved the aesthetic of the Paper Bird sound. Employing the Stones-esque organ and ’60s dream-pop guitar from Eye and the Arrow and the dark beauty of Esme Patterson’s solo recording, the band has strengthened its songwriting while retaining the…
On Hazard of the Die, the followup to his 2011 debut, Sometime Around, Andy Palmer shows continued growth as a songwriter. The beginning of “The Monk,” the eight-song disc’s opener, is fairly tame, but strings, arranged here by Kailin Yong, gradually swell, making the song seem damn near epic at…
Early on, P-Nuckle — which frequently shared stages with the likes of Slightly Stoopid and the Expendables when those acts were still making their way up – earned a reputation for being a party band. And while that rep was well deserved then and is still accurate today, especially in…
On Hope, the Twilight Garden’s Todd Loomis makes no bones about the stylistic and sonic debt he owes to the Cure and other acts. Opening track “Falling Rain” has a Disintegration-like lush grandeur; “Falling in Circles” bears a jubilant yet emotionally raw quality akin to the Sound’s Shock of Daylight…
The Metal Alliance Tour featuring Anthrax, Exodus, High on Fire, Municipal Waste and Holy Grail made its way to Denver on Tuesday night. A crushing throng of maniacal metal fans — our resident metalhead Brandon Marshall among them — gathered at Summit Music Hall last night, where, united by their…
Cicely O’Kain is a magnetic singer with incredible vocal chops. Her first album, Ms. Understood, which came out last October, is filled with feelings of infatuation, joy, pleasure and pain. Every note O’Kain sings is delivered with such conviction that she turns what would normally be a standard R&B jam…
West Coast rap is sometimes disparaged by hip-hop purists for it’s perceived lack of lyricism and substance, but what it lacks in lyrical acrobatics and “message,” it more than makes up for in personality. Whether the aesthetic is raw and violent or chill and relaxed, the sentiment comes through just…
For the past six years, Nicole Cacciavillano and her Sub.mission crew have had the dubstep scene in Denver completely on lock. The locally based powerhouse promoter has extended its reach outside of Colorado by launching an outpost in Hawaii; Corey Blecha, an intern-turned-overseer who recently relocated to Maui, will helm…
There are a couple of big Red Rocks shows that were just announced and are about to go on sale this Saturday, April 6, and next Saturday, April 13. On the heels of its highly visually stimulating Great Cycle Spectacles tour, which hit both the Fillmore and Red Rocks last…
Adam Lufkin and Josh Fairman of Kinetix have formed a new group called Laskin & Robinson that sounds nothing like their other band. The songs the outfit has posted thus far showcase a variety of styles, and they’re done pretty well, from synthy, funk-laden hip-pop on tracks like “Ass Work”…
In the heady pre-Tha Carter III days, Lil Wayne understood language so intuitively that he could skip through convention and construction and arrive at an expression that made him seem like the only dude speaking in colors, while everyone else was stuck in black and white. That’s why he was…
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…
Backbeat is continuing to count down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today we take a look back at when an early-’90s DJ Quik show at Mammoth Events Center turned into a bit of a melee. “But still my story ain’t over cause I got one more…
Brace yourself for the return of Fall Out Boy. The dudes are evidently back to save rock and roll. Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson, meanwhile, are teaming up for a co-headlining date at Fiddler’s Green for the Honda Civic Tour, and Warren Haynes is set to collaborate with the Colorado…
On Friday night, I had the chance to chop it up with some of the Denver Nuggets in the locker room before they completely whupped ass on the Brooklyn Nets. With the exception of my two favorite players (who evidently don’t do interviews before a game, as they both tersely…
SUB.MISSION ANNIVESARY @ BOPPO! | SAT, 4/6/13 Sub.mission knows dubstep, and to mark another year of its devotion to the true sound, Nicole Cacciavillano and her crew are hosting a real U.K. underground-style throwdown with V.I.V.E.K., who performed at last year’s party. He’s set to perform alongside the entire roster…
What contributes to a rapper’s underrated status? Is it the unwillingness to compromise? The inability to compromise? An early demise? Bad promotion? Possibly all of these things and more? Whatever the case, with these rappers, it’s certainly not for a lack of talent. We put together a list of the…
BOB SEGER @ PEPSI CENTER | TUES, 4/2/13 While Bob Seger might be immortalized by his long-running Chevy ads that feature “Like a Rock” and the scene in Risky Business where Tom Cruise sings along to “Old Time Rock and Roll,” there’s a lot more to the guy than that…
Earlier this week, Pries released a video for “You Know I Know,” the latest single from The Lonely Kid Show. After seeing the clip, which was filmed in front of a mural at Guerilla Garden, Jolt, who painted the piece that serves as the backdrop, took to Facebook to voice…
Even the most casual music fan has made or received a mixtape at some point. For the kind of people who see music as the soundtrack of their lives, assembling a list of songs for a friend or lover is a compulsion that is difficult to deny. But in the…
More and more, you’ve probably noticed an influx of Internet jukeboxes, the kind that offer a seemingly endless assortment of songs, cropping up in bars. But there are still a handful of spots rocking old school CD jukeboxes that require a bit of taste-making. Here’s the ten best, including this…
