If you’ve visited the Larimer Lounge website recently, you might have noticed a rather cryptic listing for Tuesday, March 3: The band listed is ESEEM, with the words, “Don’t miss this one.” No price is listed and no further information is available. Well, the cat’s out of the bag now…

It’s time to start getting excited about a fresh EP from the Hollyfelds, the band that Westword readers deemed the best alt-country act in town last year. It’s been just over a year since the thoroughly entertaining, unflinchingly professional and utterly engaging quintet graced us with its debut full-length, Saratoga…

Feeling a little uninspired? Need a midweek pick-me-up? Craving your fix of electro-disco-hip-hop-emo-crunk? Sure, we all are. Luckily for all of us — especially those who live in the Denver area — there’s the Band Formerly Known as Prince…

Never mind that old saw about setting something free if you love it, but in the world of music, it’s amazing how much you can hang on to by just letting go. Yesterday, I was marveling over the Presidents of the United States of America and the killer deal they’re…

Bands in Denver are lucky. Getting gigs and building a fanbase locally are actually pretty easy. There’s no shortage of small and midsized venues where a nascent group can cut its teeth, build the buzz and start to plot its graduation to theaters. But how do you get your music into the hands…

Thanks to the magic of MySpace friendship, I was recently hipped to Rowboat, the beautifully melancholy project from Sam McNitt of Blue Million Miles. I haven’t had the chance to catch the act live yet, but if the tracks currently streaming on the MySpace profile are any indication, very tasty…

I deejayed a Valentine’s Day party at the Horseshoe Lounge on Saturday. The bar had a great vibe, as always, and the ample crowd was in the mood for a good party. It was the first time I ever had to play music for four and a half straight hours,…

Friday night was one of those almost frustratingly bountiful Denver nights, with an overflowing cornucopia of great musical options from which to choose. Tyler Snow was spinning his Disco Nouveau at the Meadowlark. Devotchka wove their Valentinian magic at the Paramount. Gregory Alan Isakov and the Freight warmed up the…

Last night, I threw back some drinks and bounced some ideas around with Mane Rok. In addition to being the MC for Denver’s ManeLine, Mane Rok is also one of the masterminds (and de facto reluctant leader) of L.I.F.E. Crew, a community of like-minded Denver hip-hop heads that includes Ichiban,…

Thanks to a tip from a reliable informant, I managed to catch a sneak preview of John Common’s band last night as they “rehearsed” at a most unlikely venue: the Washington Park Grille. Common has assembled a top-notch ensemble for his latest outing, and it was great to hear the…

On Friday night — due to a surprising twist of circumstances and the possible intervention of supernatural forces — instead of one of the great local bills or other intriguing cultural events that were going on, I ended up at the Marquis Theater for the Yo! Majesty show. Of course,…

I just received a new track from Steve Gray, formerly of Maraca Five-O and Blue-Blooded Girls. The project, which also includes Gray’s Five-O/Blue-Blooded co-conspirator, Mike Behrenhausen, is called Codename: Carter. As far as I can tell, Codename: Carter picks up where Maraca Five-O left off, somewhere between surf rock and…

I recently received a hilarious email from country-folk-punk outfit Herman Gauche. The message simply said, “Make out with me.” Now, normally, I would ignore such a desperate and needy cry for attention. In this case, however, the band had already come highly recommended, so I popped over to MySpace for…

I had the pleasure and delight to DJ last Wednesday at the Larimer Lounge with some absolute luminaries among Denver’s deck wreckers: DJ Ginger, DJ Klaw and the one and only Tyler Snow. The extremely talented Klaw mans the Thursday night Mommy’s Little Monster party at Bender’s Tavern, with El Brian,…

Charles Spearin The Happiness Project Arts & Crafts From Charles Spearin, member of Broken Social Scene and one of the founders of post-rockers Do Make Say Think, comes one of the most exciting and interesting records in recent memory. For The Happiness Project, Spearin interviewed a number of his Toronto neighbors,…

Thanks to the power of online networking, I recently reconnected with someone I worked with in the corporate world, way back in the mid ’90s. In those days, I was drawn to Jahnavi Stenflo because she had an iconoclastic personal style that allowed her to wear her artist’s soul on…

For me, Friday night’s show at the hi-dive embodied everything that I love about Denver’s shimmering live music scene. With three heavy hitters on the bill from three different-yet-complementary genres, I just wanted to camp out forever, right in front of the hi-dive’s humble stage. Any one of the bands…

On Monday night, while I was enjoying the turntable stylings of DJ Hot to Death (aka the Monolith Music Festival’s Matt Fecher) and those of his co-horts for the evening, Heather Powell Browne (writer of the “I Am Fuel, You Are Friends” music blog), and Nathan and Patrick Meese at…

If you get out to see live music in Denver, chances are that you’ve seen James Han perform. The soft-spoken, unassuming keyboardist regularly provides the tinkling shimmer of piano and the haunting murmur of organ for Bela Karoli, the Wheel and Recess, and occasionally appears with other acts as well. His tasteful,…

Distinguishing oneself from being just another guy with a guitar from all the other guys with guitars is difficult. Jesse Manley, however, seems more than up to the task, thanks to earnest lyrics, dreamy melodies and a truly unique voice, all of which make the improbably-monikered musician’s songs truly stand…

Angry, artsy rockers Vices I Admire has been banging around northern Colorado for a few years now, and has a fair amount of local acclaim, based on its live shows, an EP and the song “Monster,” which has appeared on a couple of compilations. On its MySpace page, the band…