Tom Murphy

Ghost B.C. at Ogden Theatre, 4/18/13

Ghost @ OGDEN THEATRE | 4/18/12 As is customary at this point, before Ghost took the stage, Jocelyn Pook's haunting "Masked Ball" from Eyes Wide Shut came through the P.A. and perfectly set the mood for what was to follow. At first, the Nameless Ghouls took their places and started off with "Per As ... More >>

The Gathering of the Clouds at the Walnut Room, 3/8/13 (review and photos)

GATHERING OF THE CLOUDS @ WALNUT ROOM |3/8/13 Despite Victoria Cecilia's illness, Gliss managed to put in a solid performance at Gathering of the Clouds last night at the Walnut Room. If she indeed needed the cough drop she had half-jokingly solicited from the audience, you couldn't tell from her s ... More >>

Mouse on Mars at Summit Music Hall, 2/23/13

MOUSE ON MARS @ SUMMIT MUSIC HALL |2/23/13 As visuals flashed, streamed, scrolled, blinked, increased in luminosity and otherwise conspired to reflect the jittery, glitchy, sometimes manic and always dynamic flow of sounds being produced by Mouse on Mars, Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner stood behind a ... More >>

The Photo Atlas at the hi-dive, 2/8/13

THE PHOTO ATLAS @ HI-DIVE | 2/8/13 The wide-ranging sounds of "Memory Like a Sinking Ship" was one of the high points of this set from the Photo Atlas. The way the band's usual wiry energy was threaded together with colorful, incandescent moody passages and hanging melodies around confessional, sel ... More >>

dead prez at The Oriental Theatre, 1/18/13

DEAD PREZ @ THE ORIENTAL THEATER |1/18/13 There was a salient theme throughout the night, across the sets of most of the acts, and that was a message of being healthy, both physically and mentally. "Healthy is the new gangsta," said stic.man of dead prez near the middle part of the show, just befor ... More >>

Dirty Few at 3 Kings Tavern, 1/17/12

DIRTY FEW @ 3 KINGS TAVERN |1/17/12 Earlier in the night, you wouldn't have guessed that so many people would have shown up so enthusiastic for a local band, many of them knowing the words to all the songs. But Dirty Few from the beginning hyped people up with its own antics to pump itself up for t ... More >>

A Place to Bury Strangers at Larimer, 11/11/12

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS @ LARIMER LOUNGE |11/11/12 It's never boring when you go see A Place to Bury Strangers play, and last night at the Larimer was no exception. The band overwhelmed the senses for the bulk of the set. A tasteful layer of fog drifted around the stage, sliced through with strea ... More >>

The Faint at the Ogden Theatre, 11/8/12

THE FAINT @ OGDEN THEATRE |11/8/12 Even though this was a tour in support of the reissue of Danse Macabre, late in the set, the Faint treated us to a rare cover of "Mote" by Sonic Youth from that band's 1990 album Goo. The haunted vocal delivery was in the spirit of Lee Ranaldo's own but there were ... More >>

Dan Deacon at Bluebird Theater, 10/31/12

DAN DEACON @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 10/31/12 Before going into "Guilford Avenue Bridge," Dan Deacon told us to gather as much to the west side of the theater as possible to create a pathway on the left side stage ramp to the back of the theater. He then told us to make this a tunnel where two people an ... More >>

Crime and the City Solution at the Oriental Theater, with the Howling Hex, 10/18/12

CRIME AND THE CITY SOLUTION @ ORIENTAL THEATER | 10/18/12 From the beginning of its set, Crime and the City Solution created an intimate, sensory immersive environment with a flood of atmospheric sounds built from what seemed like Persian music. The instruments interacted with each other as though ... More >>

Saint Vitus at Bluebird Theater, 10/03/12

SAINT VITUS @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 10/03/12 When Saint Vitus came on stage, the quartet went right into "Blessed Night," with Dave Chandler letting out a wail or siren sound with wah and distortion from his guitar. From there, guitar and bass rumbled together like a high idling engine, as Mark Vasque ... More >>

Swans at the Gothic Theatre, with Xiu Xiu, 9/24/12

SWANS @ GOTHIC THEATRE | 9/24/12 "I know it's a Monday night, can you tolerate one more?" Michael Gira asked the crowd more than two hours into the show. It wasn't really even a question because Gira already knew the answer. Swans then played its final song: the sprawling, apocalypse-eclipsing "The ... More >>

Review: Twin Shadow at Bluebird Theater, 9/7/12

TWIN SHADOW @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 9/07/12Before ending the set, after a show full of enthusiastic responses from his audience, George Lewis Jr. said, "Denver, you're amazing. Who was here last time we came?" A few people claimed to have been. He complimented the crowd on being honest because he had e ... More >>

Hank 3 at Boulder Theater, 9/4/12

HANK 3 @ BOULDER THEATER | 9/04/12 Hank 3 outlasted most of his audience last night at the Boulder Theater. Exceeding even the expectations he himself set, he played more than the three and a half hours he said he's playing on this tour. By the time he launched into the third and final set of the e ... More >>

SummerGrind at Gothic Theatre, 9/1/12

The final performance on the outdoor stage was moved inside the Gothic Theatre -- presumably due to volume complaints -- which pushed the night's lineup back an hour, but this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm for Leftöver Crack. Early in the set, Stza (aka Scott Sturgeon) dedicated a song in se ... More >>

Joy Subtraction at The Hi-Dive, 8/4/12

JOY SUBTRACTION @ HI-DIVE | 8/4/12 See Also: - Joy Subtraction? Its members just enjoy screwing with Joy Division. "This is the first song on our new album," Joy Subtraction's Abe Brennan announced last at the hi-dive, goofing on Cheap Trick after the first couple of songs of the set. Then the ban ... More >>

Titwrench 2012 at Glob and Mercury Cafe, 7/27/12 and 7/28/12

TITWRENCH 2012 @ GLOB | 7/27/12 It felt like the summer broke just in time for Titwrench 2012, and when things got kicked off a bit after 8 p.m. on Friday night, the climate inside Glob suited the music of opening act, Cardinal Veil. Julie Slater has played violin solo before and used the instrume ... More >>

UMS 2012: Bad Weather California delivers an old-fashioned rock show

See Also: People of UMS 2011 Kicked off the first day of UMS by catching Bad Weather California in a very humid 3 Kings Tavern. People were packed in pretty tight in the middle of the room and mostly on the flanks. BWC played a loose, relaxed set like the guys had a group meeting beforehand and all ... More >>

#WMS 2012 recap: Bar Standard

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. Tom Murphy host ... More >>

Review: Ministry at Ogden Theatre, 6/17/12

Review: The Say So at The Hi-Dive, 6/9/12

THE SAY SO @ HI-DIVE | 6/9/12The Say So ended its release for show for The Romantic last night at the hi-dive with one of the best songs from its previous release, Something Like Wild. "Fools" was replete with the melodic, triumphal tone that is part of the band's overall sound, but also with what s ... More >>

Rubedo at Unit E, with Achille Lauro, CougarPants and Hindershot, 5/4/12

RUBEDO @ UNIT E | 5/4/12 See more photos in Rubedo at Unit E slide show In a show of sustained enthusiasm, Rubedo ended its set with one of its most visceral and dynamic numbers: "Give My Heart a Break." The song began with feedback created by Kyle Gray as he held his small, acoustic guitar to his ... More >>

M83 at Ogden Theatre, 4/30/12

M83 @ OGDEN THEATRE | 4/30/12 See Also: Q&A with Maria Linden of I Break Horses The familiar strains of "Intro" from 2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming probably should have been our clue that the band was coming on. But instead someone dressed up as the creature from the album insert walked on like a ... More >>

Communikey 2012 travelogue

COMMUNIKEY FESTIVAL @ BOULDER, CO | 4/26/12 -4/29/12 See Also: • Laurie Anderson at Boulder Theater, 4/25/12 • Q&A Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw • Q&A with Brian Williams of Lustmord • Q&A with Nick Zammuto • Q&A with Morton Subtonick For the lucky few who got to Communikey HQ in time to ... More >>

Pierced Arrows at Hi-Dive, 4/21/12

PIERCED ARROWS @ HI-DIVE | 4/21/12As the last notes of "The Wait" ended, they blended into the Toody Cole's familiar bass pulse that introduced Pierced Arrows' epic, and much beloved, "Paranoia." Fred Cole tapped the Bigsby on his Guild Polara to modulate the feedback before heading into one of the ... More >>

Review: Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO at Larimer Lounge, 4/8/12

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE @ LARIMER LOUNGE | 4/8/12 It would be a tough to pinpoint a specific climax of this show, but a true high point of feeling for the band -- and probably the crowd -- came with the last number of the set when Kawabata Makoto used some kind of white, plastic object that looked lik ... More >>

Review: Gathering of the Clouds at City Hall, 2/24/12

Gathering of the Clouds Day 2 @ City Hall | 2/24/12One of the main reasons for the festival was the release of the new Overcasters album, Curses/Prayers and as usual, Overcasters delivered a solid set of music. Bathed in various shades and hues of shifting light over the course of the show, with hig ... More >>

Review: Tennis at Bluebird Theater, 2/16/12

Tom MurphyTennis at The Bluebird Theater TENNIS @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 2/2/12 For a band whose music is so bright and sunny, the tinge of melancholia that swirled around "Waterbirds" gave this Tennis performance an otherworldly feel. The breakdown section in the middle was one of the most evocative ... More >>

Review: Spatula at Climax Lounge, 2/10/12

SPATULA @ CLIMAX LOUNGE | 2/10/12Almost without warning, King Lexie looked like she was either wheeled or aided on to stage, her bulging belly indicating a ripe pregnancy. Joining her were Summer Snover and Jesse Roadkill as well as Evan Brown and Paul Cousineau. All were dressed in various costumes ... More >>

Review: Tantric Picasso at BluebirdTheater, 2/2/12

Tom MurphyTantric Picasso at The Bluebird Theater TANTRIC PICASSO @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 2/2/12 Sometimes when bands come out on stage and look like they dressed for the show it can seem like a put-on. But when Tantric Picasso came on they looked like a band that had stepped out of a door to the ear ... More >>

Review: Yob at Larimer Lounge, 1/22/12

YOB @ LARIMER LOUNGE | 1/22/12 Mike Scheidt of Yob was replacing a string on his guitar that had just snapped and he told us, "Two more songs and we'll end it brutal." True to his word on behalf of the band, Scheidt and company escalated quickly into the rampaging cyclone of burning sludge that rim ... More >>

Review: Nurses at the hi-dive, 1/15/12

NURSES @ THE HI-DIVE | 1/15/12 This was one of those Sunday shows where a lot of people showed up and everybody seemed to be very into all of the artists on the bill, from the opening set from The Don'ts and Be Carefuls all the way to the end, through Nurses. The headliners took the stage with Aaro ... More >>

Review: The Skeleton Show at Bar Bar, 1/7/12

Tom MurphySara Century with Tana Thornock on tamborine​THE SKELETON SHOW at Carioca Café ("Bar Bar") | 1/ 7/12Halfway through her set, after hitting who knows what chords and wailing about being hatched from a witch's egg and flying high, Sara Century held up the guitar she was playing and a ... More >>

The best national music releases of 2011

Review: Speedwolf at The Marquis Theater, 12/16/11

Tom MurphySpeedwolfSPEEDWOLF at the MARQUIS THEATER | 12/16/11Speedwolf vocalist Reed Bruemmer feigned surprise at the end of the band's set last night and asked the audience if they actually wanted to hear the band cover KISS. Of course everyone did, so the guys closed the record-release show with ... More >>

Review: ohGr at the Bluebird, 12/07/11

Tom MurphyohGr last night at the Bluebird Theater​OHGR AT THE BLUEBIRD | 12/07/11"Don't do coke," Ogre urged the audience at the Bluebird last night. "Because I sure fuckin' did, and it nearly killed me." This unvarnished pronouncement from ohGr's frontman came at the end of a particularly str ... More >>

Review: Plaid at The Bluebird Theater, 11/19/11

PLAID at the BLUEBIRD | 11/19/11 One of the most vividly enduring memories of last night's Plaid show at the Bluebird Theater came at the end of the show, when the band performed "At Last." The video projected on the screen and the group itself made it seem like we had all entered some kind of alte ... More >>

Review: Orbit Service at The Walnut Room, 11/12/11

Tom MurphyOrbit Service​ORBIT SERVICE at the WALNUT ROOM | 12/11/11At the end of the Orbit Service set last night at the Walnut Room, Randall Frazier and his bandmates conferred after repeated requests for an encore, and performed the first song of the set again in order to get a better take o ... More >>

Review: Check Yo Ponytail 2 at Summit, with Spank Rock, Franki Chan and more, 10/25/11

A Pictureplane associate last night at the Summit​CHECK YO PONYTAIL 2 at THE SUMMIT | 10/25/11The highlight of the evening last night came in Big Freedia's set when she showed the audience that she wasn't one to just tell people how to bump, but that she knew how to do it herself, and as she p ... More >>

Review: Wolves in the Throne Room at Rhinoceropolis, 9/30/11

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM at RHINO After Skully Mammoth's set, some of us waited patiently, cracking jokes as various people brought in items needed to set up the room for the Wolves in the Throne Room performance, which was held next door at Glob as it's a bigger room than the one in Rhino. When w ... More >>

Review: Come As You Are, a covers show for Nirvana's Nevermind, at Hi-Dive, 9/24/11

Tom MurphyThe Swayback and friends covering "Smells Like Teen Spirit"One of the obvious highlights of last night's exceptional Nirvana covers celebration in honor Nevermind's 20th anniversary was when Eric Halborg of The Swayback told us we knew the words to the third song the band played and invite ... More >>

Review: Dwarves and Nashville Pussy at the Bluebird, 9/23/11

Tom MurphyBlag Dahlia of Dwarves crowd surfing to the back of the BluebirdThere were no costumes on stage until near the end when some silly fan got up with a shirt over his head like some low-rent imitation of HeWhoCannotBeNamed and sang into the mic. And yet somehow The Dwarves created a spectacle ... More >>

Review: Goldrush Festival Day 2 at Delite and the Hi-Dive, September 17, 2011

Tom MurphyHappy New Year​Day two of Goldrush Festival also felt like you had stepped into an alternate universe where a good friend with good taste in music was introducing you to his or her favorite bands of the moment were gathered together in one place instead of being handed some kind of m ... More >>

Review: Night 1 of the Gold Rush Festival on South Broadway

Tom MurphyR E A L M A G I C with dancers​With no real low points at the first night of the Gold Rush festival, one performance that stood out was that of Drew Englander during his set as R E A L M A G I C. He was like the Pied Piper of dance and he got the crowd both inside and outside of Deli ... More >>

Review: The Don'ts and Be Carefuls at Hi-Dive, 9/9/11

Tom MurphyThe Don'ts and Be Carefuls​THE DON'TS AND BE CAREULS at the HI-DIVE | 9/9/11 The Don'ts and Be Carefuls did something at this "Triple EP Release" show that you just knew the band had in it but you might not expect to see: they fused the exuberance and innocence of its original sound ... More >>

Review: BLKHRTS at Old Curtis St. Bar, 8/6/11

Eric GruneisenBLKHRTS: FOE, Karma and Yonnas Abraham​BLKHRTS at OLD CURTIS ST. BAR | 8/6/11In advance of this show, BLKHRTS spread the word that there would be a sacrificial ceremony to kick off its tour. Considering the names of the opening acts and the lyrical content of the band's music, th ... More >>

Titwrench 2011 travelogue: Sin Desires Marie, Christina the Hun, Coathangers and much more

Tom MurphyBast at Titwrench 2011 doing some belly dancing​TITWRENCH FESTIVAL | 7/29-7/31/11Friday, July 29 - Glob Every year it seems as though someone involved with Titwrench (likely Piper Rose) comes up with some kind of ritual to start off the festivities. This year, a woman calling herse ... More >>

UMS Travelogue: Mercuria and the Gem Stars, Zebroids, Bad Luck City, Piña Chulada and more

Tom MurphyMercuria and the Gem Stars​UMS on S. BROADWAY | 07/23-24/11An especially hot summer day made navigating various venues an enervating experience, not to mention the humid heat indoors at times. Nevertheless, it didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits in performing the music, even in th ... More >>

Review: ManCub at the Hi-Dive, 7/9/11

ManCub last night at the hi-dive.​Nothing you've heard about ManCub can probably prepare you for ManCub. It would be easy to compare the duo to Daft Punk because both make groove-heavy electronic music and have an arresting visual element to their shows, but ManCub seems more tied-in with a ... More >>

Review: The Skivies at The Meadowlark, 6/25/11

"Toshi Fest," featured the Skivies, with Action Friend and OsyluthTHE SKIVIES at THE MEADOWLARK | 06.25.11This show almost didn't happen. A little after 9:15 or so, the power went out in the neighborhoods north of Broadway. About that time, you could hear Danimal from Osyluth playing his drum kit fr ... More >>