A.H. Goldstein

Zappa Plays Zappa at the Fox, 12/14

ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA @ FOX THEATRE | 12/15/12 "Still, nothing sounds like that," Dweezil Zappa marveled after his band had made its way through "Who Are the Brain Police," the feedback-laden, surreal anthem from the 1966 Mothers of Invention album Freak Out!. Dweezil and the rest of the Zappa Plays Za ... More >>

Aaron Freeman at the Fox Theatre, 11/2/12

AARON FREEMAN @ FOX THEATRE | 11/2/12 Aaron Freeman's set at the Fox Theater felt decidedly familiar. The former Ween frontman may have officially shed the musical alter ego of Gene Ween since his last appearance in Colorado, but a lot about his act has stayed pretty much the same. That much was cl ... More >>

Backbeat's top five spins: This is what we're listening to this week. What's on your playlist?

As people who think about, talk about, write about, listen to and make music, it shouldn't be surprising to find that the most common (and mutually 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 ... More >>

Stone Soup Soldiers have Bollywood dreams

Seated in front of the soundboard at his home studio in Castle Pines, Mike Paul Hughes reveals telltale signs of his day job as an engineer. There's his rapid-fire technical talk about the basic elements of sound and recording -- details about megahertz and latency issues. But the signals go beyond ... More >>

#WMS 2012 recap: Dazzle Jazz

Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. A.H. Goldstein ... More >>

Review: Blues Traveler and Ruthie Foster at Boulder Theater, 2/26/12

BLUES TRAVELER / RUTHIE FOSTER @ BOULDER THEATER | 2.26.12 Apart from the band's annual Fourth of July show at Red Rocks, it's tough to imagine a better local setting for a Blues Traveler show than the eTown radio concert series on the Boulder Theatre stage. The intimate feel of the venue, the conv ... More >>

Artopia through the eyes and ears of a veteran

A.H. GoldsteinO-tone Brass Band at Artopia this past Saturday.​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 south Broadway was a frenetic way to ta ... More >>

Review: Achille Lauro at the hi-dive, 2/10/12

ACHILLE LAURO @ HI-DIVE | 2/10/12 Before Achille Lauro launched into a rousing rendition of "Supernatural Beings" Friday night, frontman Matthew Close spoke to the creative process behind the band's new album, Flight or Flight. The album combines new material with singles released in the past year, ... More >>

Review: FaceMan's Waltz at the Bluebird Theater, 2/3/12

A.H. GoldsteinFaceMan at the Bluebird Theater last night.FACEMAN'S WALTZ @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 2/3/12The sound became expansive and the stage felt crowded fairly early in FaceMan's set at the Bluebird Theater on a snowy Friday night. After a brief introduction from the Flobots' Stephen "Brer Rabbit" ... More >>

Review: Places at the Marquis Theater, 1/7/12

PLACES @ MARQUIS THEATER | 1/7/12 No one seemed more surprised by the turnout at the Marquis Theater on Saturday night than the seven members of Places. The CD-release show for the septet's new album, No More Wasted Days, drew a capacity crowd, and the audience's feverish and energetic response was ... More >>

Denver's best music releases of 2011

Review: Ian Cooke at Curious Theatre, 12/16/11

A.H. GoldsteinIan Cooke and his band at the Curious Theatre for his Fortitude release party.IAN COOKE @ CURIOUS THEATRE | 12.16.11Ian Cooke made a wise choice in choosing the Curious Theatre to debut songs from Fortitude, his new full-length. The release show, which featured supporting performances ... More >>

UMS Travelogue: Fairchildren, Achille Lauro, Bonnie and the Beard, Hollyfelds and more

A.H. GoldsteinAchille Lauro​UMS on S. BROADWAY | 07/23-24/11I started out Saturday with the Yes We Cans' appearance at Moe's Barbecue at 3 p.m., a staid set that seemed to reflect the early hour of the gig. With ballads composed of minor chords and heavily reverbed guitar effects, the Colorado ... More >>

2011 Westword Music Showcase: Backbeat scribes' travelogues

Every year, we enlist our Backbeat writers to host various stages at the Westword Music Showcase, and in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty and write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Click through to read travelogues from Thorin Klosowski, Ru John ... More >>

Last Night: Whirlwind Company, the supergroup of live poetry

A.H. GoldsteinJon Sands exhorts the crowd during the Whirlwind Company poetry performance on Wednesday.​Watching the Whirlwind Company deliver their energetic brand of live verse at the Mercury Café on Wednesday night felt a bit like being in the crowd for a Cream show. Indeed, taking in the ... More >>

Faceman's First Waltz at the Bluebird, 2/4/11

A.H. Goldstein​FACEMAN'S FIRST WALTZ FaceMan Bop Skizzum • The Knew • The Outfit • Chadzilla • Boulder Acoustic Society • The Vitamins • Medicine Man • Bonnie and the Beard • Chris McGarry and the Insomniacs • Panal • Martin Gilmore • The Construct • K Buzz and the Bras ... More >>

Paper Bird at the Oriental, 12/31/10

A.H. Goldstein​ PAPER BIRD Dovekins • Pee Pee 12.31.10 | Oriental Theatre The New Year's Eve traditions on display at the Oriental Theater went beyond the noisemakers and the balloons. For the second year in a row, Paper Bird shared the bill with the Dovekins to ring in the New Year. The y ... More >>

Minor Disturbance poets get back to their roots at Yellow Feather

A.H. Goldstein​Denver's Minor Disturbance youth Slam Team made history for the local poetry scene earlier this year when they appeared in Brave New Voices, the HBO special that followed the 2010 National Slam Team championships held in L.A. Denver's team won fourth place in the global competit ... More >>

Pretty Lights, Ween and Jay-Z filled our playlists this week

​As people who think about, talk about, listen to and make music, the most common question we encounter is, "What are you listening to right now?" Whether you're looking for recommendations, trying to get a feel for our individual sensibilities, or are just curious, we've compiled a list of al ... More >>

Ween at 1STBANK Center, 10/31/10

A.H. Goldstein​ WEEN 10.31.10 | 1STBANK Center The scene captured the sheer surrealism of Ween's Halloween show at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield: Toward the end of the band's three-hour performance, Mickey Melchiondo -- aka Dean Ween -- belted out "The Blarney Stone" with gusto, his vocal ... More >>

The National, Bassnectar, Sleigh Bells, the Slits filled our playlists this past week

​As people who think about, talk about, listen to and make music, the most common question we encounter is, "What are you listening to right now?" Whether you're looking for recommendations, trying to get a feel for our individual sensibilities, or are just curious, we've compiled a list of al ... More >>

Nathaniel Rateliff at Lost Lake Lounge, 10/21/10

A.H. Goldstein​ NATHANIEL RATELIFF 10.21.10 | Lost Lake Lounge Nathaniel Rateliff struck a delicate musical balance in his tribute to Leonard Cohen Thursday at the Lost Lake Lounge. His two-part solo performance spanned several albums and eras from Cohen's storied musical career. Armed simpl ... More >>

Tonight: Nathaniel Rateliff plays Leonard Cohen songs at Lost Lake Lounge on East Colfax

A.H. Goldstein​Hankering for something exceedingly cool to do tonight? Yeah? Write this down: Lost Lake Lounge (3602 E. Colfax). That's the place to be for what should be just a stellar evening of live music. Hot on the heels of his show at the Gothic a few weeks ago, Nathaniel Rateliff is i ... More >>

Nathaniel Rateliff, Gregory Alan Isakov, Danielle Ate the Sandwich at the Gothic Theatre, 10/8/10

A.H. GoldsteinNathaniel Rateliff last night at the Gothic Theatre.​ Nathaniel Rateliff, Gregory Alan Isakov, Danielle Ate the Sandwich 10.8.10 | Gothic Theatre The capacity crowd that filled the Gothic Theatre to busting on Friday night had no problem staying calm for three hours, for the co- ... More >>

UMS Night Four Travelogue: Snake Rattle Rattle Snake at 3 Kings, Treeverb at the hi-dive and more

A.H. Goldstein​ UMS Travelogue, Night Four 7.24.10 | Baker District/South Broadway I have never seen so many neon Wayfarer sunglasses in my life. Ever. It was like I walked into 1982 the second I walked onto Broadway -- the hot sun blistered people's skin but their eyes were blocked by their ... More >>

UMS Night Four Travelogue: The Photo Atlas, A Tom Collins and Nathaniel Rateliff on Goodwill Stage and more

A.H. GoldsteinNathaniel Rateliff brought a hushed intensity to his performance on Sunday​ UMS Travelogue, Night Four 7.24.10 | Baker District/South Broadway The heat was stifling when I showed up to watch Photo Atlas play the main stage in the Goodwill parking lot, and the crowd seemed too s ... More >>

UMS Night Four Travelogue: The Polkanauts at Club 404, Alan Alda at 3 Kings and more

A.H. GoldsteinThe Polkanauts at Club 404​ UMS Travelogue, Night Four 7.25.10, Baker District/South Broadway The mood was more understated from the beginning. As the fourth and final day of the UMS got underway on a stifling Sunday afternoon, the sense of weariness felt almost palpable. After ... More >>

UMS Night Three Travelogue: The Heyday, Hideous Men at Indy Ink and more

A.H. GoldsteinThe Heyday​ UMS Travelogue, Night Thee 7.24.10 | Baker District/South Broadway It's said that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. I can't say if that's true in all cases, but it certainly sums up my feelings about music festivals. All the things I love about them are ... More >>

UMS Day Three Travelogue: Jim McTurnan at the hi-dive, Mercuria at Fentress Architects and more

A.H. Goldstein​ UMS Travelogue, Day Three 7.24.10, Baker District/South Broadway I decided to change my pattern for my third crawl along Broadway for the UMS. I'd started late on Thursday and Friday nights, checking out the first venues at 10 p.m. at the earliest. I wanted to get a head star ... More >>

UMS Night Two Travelogue: Pink Hawks at the Skylark, Achille Lauro at Club 404 and more

A.H. GoldsteinNon from Oklahoma City set up shop on the sidewalk​ UMS Travelogue, Night Two 7.23.10 | Baker District/South Broadway I started my tour of South Broadway relatively late in the evening, heading south from the 404 Lounge at around 9:45 p.m. Turns out I still had plenty of time t ... More >>

Westword Music Showcase 2010: Backbeat scribes' travelogue

​ Here's our massive, multi-page report/travelogue of the Westword Music Showcase from (in order) Tom Murphy, Cory Casciato, A.H. Goldstein, Jef Otte, Jon Solomon and Brain Frederick. Let us know in the comments what you saw and loved, saw and hated, or missed and hated yourself for missing. ... More >>

Presenting the 2010 Westword Music Showcase Ballot

​ This past February, when we started putting together the 2010 Westword Music Showcase, we posted an item asking you how we could improve our annual music festival, this year set for Saturday, June 19, in the Golden Triangle (if you haven't already purchased your tickets, you can still buy d ... More >>

Manchester Orchestra at The Gothic Theatre: Southern fried loud-soft-loud

The Features. Photos by A.H. Goldstein​ Manchester Orchestra • The Features • Biffy Clyro • O'Brother 03.18.10 | The Gothic Theatre A teaming crowd had packed the floor of the The Gothic Theatre by the time Manchester Orchestra took the stage. No one seemed more surprised by this than ... More >>

Over the (long) weekend: Paper Bird, These United States, Dovekins at the hi-dive

A.H. GoldsteinPaper Bird​ Paper Bird, These United States, Dovekins Thursday, December 31, 2009 hi-dive Better than: Going to a New Year's concert that didn't feature kazoos and Jefferson Airplane covers. It was easy to overlook the elements of chaos that marked Paper Bird's New Year's set a ... More >>

Backbeat writers weigh in on the year's best national releases

Moovers and Shakers rounds up our favorite local releases of the year

Over the weekend: Weed Diamond, Green Typerwriters and Pacific Pride at hi-dive

A.H. GoldsteinPacific Pride​Pacific Pride, Weed Diamond, Green Typewriters November 27 hi-dive What it was like: Making the most of a menu of three or four chords. The stark sounds of Pacific Pride's CD release show at the hi-dive on Friday seemed especially fitting this weekend. Following the su ... More >>

Name your price for Light Travels Faster comp

Photo by Hayley Spain​ If you make it out to Moe's next Thursday, October 29, you can catch a bill of Light Travels Faster, Night Owl and Portamento. If you like Light Travels faster (and you probably will; our A.H. Goldstein said the band has a "dense, textured and harmonically rich sound [th ... More >>

Over the weekend: UMS Festival

Julie Davis of Bela Karoli (A.H. Goldstein)​Last night, the four-day UMS festival wrapped, and most of our crew made it out for at least part of the fest. And while we rarely agree on anything, we're all pretty much in agreement that Danielle Ate the Sandwich absolutely stole the show with one of ... More >>

Heavy Rotation, our top five spins for the week of April 20, 2009

As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list of a ... More >>

Heavy Rotation, our top five spins for the week of April 13, 2009

As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list of al ... More >>

You will hate me for this...

Nothing I could possibly say would add to this video in the slightest, so let me just say thanks to fellow Westword scribe A.H. Goldstein for putting this horrible thing on my MySpace page, inspiring me to share it with you all. Push play and bask in the incredible power of Sonseed. -- Cory Casci ... More >>

Westword's favorite national albums of the year

Mile High Makeout: The spirit of Christmas present

As many of you know, I got an early Christmas present on Wednesday night when I had the honor of being a guest on Dave Herrera's amazing new radio show, Mile High Fidelity, on 101.5 FM. Though it had been many years since my passionate college-radio days, I fell immediately back into the groove. And ... More >>

Mile Hi-Fidelity playlist - 12.17.08

Man, what an unbelievably fun show we had last night on 101.5 FM. Eryc Eyl, Tom Murphy and A.H. Goldstein joined me in the studio for the first of a two part Moovers & Shakers special edition of the show. Over the course of two hours, as we discussed and played some of our favorite music from th ... More >>

Moovers & Shakers 2008: Backbeat scribes weigh in on their favorite local releases of the year

Oasis at Broomfield Event Center

Oasis, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Matt Costa Monday, Dec. 8 Broomfield Event Center Better than: Seeing a band that's past its prime play in a high school auditorium. Circa 1997, an Oasis concert would have filled a venue the size of the Pepsi Center, with its official capacity estimated between ... More >>

Rise Against at the Fillmore

Photo: Aaron Thackeray Rise Against's Tim McIlrath Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Thrice, the Gaslight Anthem Thursday, November 13, 2008 Fillmore Auditorium Better than: Taking in a punk show in an arena setting. Finding the optimal spot to take in the sound at the Fillmore Auditorium can be a tr ... More >>

Although Chicago is home to Rise Against, the band has strong ties to Colorado

Live Review: Summit Jazz Weekend at Four Points Sheraton