R.E.M.

Here's what we're all listening to right now: What's on your playlist this week?

Music is life. Or at least it is for us. When we're not writing about it, we're thinking about it, talking about it or listening to it. These are the things that were in heavy rotation for us this week. What are you listening to? What should we be listening to? C'mon now. Sharing is caring. Don't ho ... More >>

Are mixtapes even a thing anymore?

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 age of file-sharing and iTunes, does this form of ... More >>

Backbeat's five most listened-to songs and albums, week of September 5, 2012

As people who think about, talk about, write about, listen to and make music, it shouldn't be too surprising to find that the most common (and our mutually favorite) topic of conversation among all of us is the same: "What are you listening to right now?" Stick a quarter in us, and boy, wouldn't you ... More >>

Video: The five best bands that broke up in 2011 -- paired with five of their saddest songs

Bands break up all the time. This is an established fact, and depending upon how many of your favorite band's original members are alive, sane or producing concept albums, it can be a welcome one. The only difference this year is the purely unfair share of fallen rock soldiers that will have ended w ... More >>

Download Marcus Church's Minutiae free

​Marcus Church's newest EP, Minutiae, is up for a free download right now on Bandcamp. The record, recorded sporadically over the last year or so, features a much fuller sound then we're used to from this once-one-man act, and it's fused with perked up pop sounds, the occasional driving riff a ... More >>

True to form, even R.E.M.'s breakup was boring

R.E.M. calls it quits after 31 years and fifteen Colorado shows

​After three decades together, the guys in R.E.M. announced today in a statement on the band's website that they're throwing in the towel.

Gaga's "Judas" isn't controversial! It's been done. Better.

Bruno MedinaDelicous religious cleavage. ​We live for releases of controversial and eye-opening videos that cause a stir. And we're personally offended when one comes out that claims to be groundbreaking but just rips someone else off. We know it's hard for these new popstresses to come up wit ... More >>

Mile Highlights: Shows announced/on-sale this week, local radio playlists and top local sellers

​ Here's what's good in the Mile High City this week. On the concert front: The Flaming Lips have announced a co-headlining date with Primus this August at Red Rocks. Kenny Chesney is also at the Rocks in July, and Panic! at the Disco is due at the Ogden in June. Meanwhile on local radio, Air ... More >>

The Decemberists at the Boulder Theater, 2/9/11

Editor's note: Two of our writers were at the Decemberists show last night in Boulder, and so today we present you with two different accounts of the show from two different perspectives. Two for the price of, uh, none, as it were -- well, unless you count the cost your Internet connection. Adam Pe ... More >>

The National at Fillmore Auditorium, 10/18/10

Jon Solomon​ THE NATIONAL 10.18.10 | Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO In a New York Times piece written on the National last April, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe explained how he took his bandmate Mike Mills to see the group in London. It took half a song for Mills to say it was the most amaz ... More >>

Signal Path, Of Montreal and Emancipator 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 >>

Ten songs proven to make you cry -- if you're British

​Hey, ladies, think your male friends are resilient to emotion? Perhaps you've never seen them tear up, save for that lone teardrop that forms at the end of Rocky IV. Well, if you're looking to evoke a little emotion from a partner, a recent study suggests you can do it with a song. The stu ... More >>

Ghostland Observatory tops a stacked bill at this weekend's Westword Music Showcase

Strange Lights

Light Bright
Self-released

Distance Engine

Songs in Alphabetical Order
Self-released

The Bedsit Infamy

Made of Music
Self-released

In case you missed it: Backbeat's ten most-read blogs of 2008

The Mile High Music fest drew a lot of interest from local music fans in '08. This blog churned out more than 1,400 posts in 2008, about life, death, plastic surgery, and even some music. Here, in case you just joined us or are really taking stock of your year, a quick-clicking guide to the ten mo ... More >>

I love a cover

I love a good cover. Today, I ran across this list of the best and worst covers of all time and it got me thinking about the art of covers. I know people who hate them, regardless of quality and a lot of people just don't seem to get the point. To some degree it goes back to that punk ethos of DIY, ... More >>

Flick Pick

Johnathan Rice

Wednesday, July 2, hi-dive, 720-570-4500.

Last Night...R.E.M., the National and Modest Mouse @ Red Rocks

R.E.M.

Michael Stipe and company’s latest is filled with a renewed sense of vitality.

R.E.M.

Accelerate
Warner Bros.

This Just In: Flobots Hottest Brand Going

Alan Parsons as Living History and Other Assorted Goodies

Q&A With Julian Dorio of the Whigs

Swift Response

Interpol

Our Love to Admire
Capitol

Modest Mouse

We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Epic

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Who will be inducted next? Gaze into our crystal ball.

Singles Going Steady

The best end-to-end albums from a single-driven year.

The Long Winters

Monday, October 9, Larimer Lounge, 303-291-1007.

Turning Tricks

Days in December

Getting dramatic with the Decemberists frontman.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

Worlds Apart (Interscope)

Marrying the Mainstream

White men learned to dance, and the emoting was as thick as the eyeliner on the year's best pop-rock records.

R.E.M.

Around the Sun (Warner Bros.)

Strike Anywhere

Saturday, September 25, Ogden Theatre, 303-830-2525.

Still Scorching

Jason Ringenberg embraces his title as alt country's architect.

Going It Alone

Grant-Lee Phillips returns with a new solo album, ready to Mobilize.

R.E.M.

Reveal (Warner Bros.)

Instrumental Asylum

Swingin' Sting? Bluegrass Bruce? Rhapsodic R.E.M.? CMH Records has given Eighties faves a musical makeover.

The Major and the Minor

A roundup of big-name recordings that live up (or down) to expectations.

The Buck Stops Here

As part of Tuatara, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck heads in new musical directions.

Playlist

Thrills for the week

UP FROM THE UNDERGROUND

WHY THE VELVET UNDERGROUND MATTERS, WHETHER YOU'RE HIP TO IT OR NOT.

LETTERS

PLAYLIST