This weekend two of the greatest rock bands of the ’80s are performing together at Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. Typically, bands whose greatest commercial popularity happened more than twenty years ago find themselves playing a nostalgia circuit of state fairs and the like, but the Church and…
Yoni Wolf and David Cohn have helped to shape and influence the sound of underground hip-hop as we know it. Under their respective creative monikers of Why? and Serengeti, the two artists have collaborated with several other artists on numerous projects. Yoni & Geti is their current joint effort with…
In 2016 the Minneapolis-based rock band Poliça released its latest album United Crushers. Recorded as with musicians and songwriters working together more closely and in real time than on the group’s previous records, United Crushers has a more organic feel. The songwriting also suggests a willingness to take greater risks both…
The 2016 Underground Music Showcase kicks off this Wednesday, July 27 at 3 Kings Tavern, with a performance from indie-rock band Whitney. The Chicago outfit began as a duo consisting of drummer/singer Julian Ehrlich and guitarist Max Kakacek. Ehrlich was an early member of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, having known UMO bassist Jake…
With the release of its debut full-length album Remain in 2015 on Dais Records, Them Are Us Too became an underground sensation for its darkly lush melodies and soaring vocals that recalled the likes of Cocteau Twins and Switchblade Symphony. The band formed in 2013, when Kennedy Ashlyn and Cash…
A blizzard nixed the original date of this They Might Be Giants show on March 23, 2016 at the Gothic Theatre. But John Flansburgh and John Linnell seemed pleased, even excited, about the change in venue to the Ogden Theatre. At least that was one of many jokes that the…
Classic-rock band Kiss may be playing “secondary markets” on its current tour, but the iconic showmen made last night’s concert in Colorado Springs a memorable one with an excess of spectacle and gratitude. Growing up in the 1970s, Kiss was the one band whose marketing schemes also infiltrated the lives…
Denver has been home to many musical acts that perform in costume or under an alias, personas that inform the aesthetic of the songwriting and performance. Sometimes the disguises are meant to take the emphasis off of a specific identity. Sometimes they’re used to create a sense of something special…
Korn’s new album — its twelfth full-length in a 23-year career — is recorded and mixed and set for release later in 2016. While no details are available ahead of the release it’s certain that the record will be informed by the band’s diverse musical roots and the thoughtful sensibilities…
In spring 2015, the career of Denver-based hard rock band Space in Time nearly came to a screeching halt. Long-time singer Mike Atencio had stepped down and the rest of Space in Time didn’t know if they could continue without him. Yet all along, one of the band’s early fans…
You may have heard of Fantasia, the multi-media presentation wherein Rhinoceropolis is converted for a night into an immersive art show and musical event, which is being scheduled for the fall. This weekend, on Saturday, July 9, you can participate in Cave Rave, a dance-music event coupled with installation art, and…
Marissa Nadler’s latest record, 2016’s Strangers, is a dusky-toned, haunting meditation on obsession and modern existence. Using a language of personal mythology, Nadler seeks to impact a potential listener on a deep, personal level. “This might be my most adult record because on early records I still held that notion…
While not formally associated with Wham City, the well-known Baltimore art collective, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack have long been friends and associates of that crew and the Baltimore music scene generally. Ben O’Brien and Alan Resnick of Wham City made a video for “The Tower,” a track…
David Liebe Hart is perhaps best known these days for his contributions to Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule. With his songwriting, puppetry and his wide array of unusual voices, Hart carved a real niche for himself on those already surreal…
When Scream was released in December 1996, just in time for Christmas, it revitalized genre-horror cinema and the career of director Wes Craven as well as launched its cast to stardom. For its Film on the Rocks screening at Red Rocks this Thursday, July 7, the organizers of the program…
Ryan Chrys has long been a fixture of Denver’s music scene. His past bands include Spiv and Demon Funkies. But with his new gig, Ryan Chrys & The Rough Cuts, he’s returning to his country roots. Sort of. “My mom plays guitar and sings,” Chrys offers. “Growing up, she’d sing…
Today, Colorado-based prank-call artist Longmont Potion Castle releases a career-spanning box set of his recordings. Before the Jerky Boys began their long career as high-profile prank callers, there was Longmont Potion Castle. LPC’s debut release was a 1987 cassette called Butcher the Paleontologist under the moniker Implement of Prognosis, and…
After the final open-mic comedy night at the Squire Lounge this past Tuesday, June 28, Big City Drugs hit the stage and played frayed punk rock with a shambolic energy worthy of The Exploding Hearts. Add to that a mutant rock hybrid sound suggests influences like Reatards, Dead Boys and…
Though Swedish pop group Peter, Björn and John took a five-year hiatus from making music, only to return with the new Breakin’ Point, they were still hard at work during their break. In those five years they created a collective art space called INGRID, formerly home to a studio where one…
Denver-based Sailor Records, which is celebrating its first five years this weekend, started as both a labor of love and a tax write-off. When founder Oscar Ross put out the first album by his hard-rock band Lords of Fuzz in 2010, he did it just to have an imprint on…
Lita Ford first came to prominence in 1975 as the guitarist for the Runaways. Ford was born in England but grew up in Long Beach, California where she was exposed to late ’60s and early ’70s rock and roll, inspiring her to learn to play electric guitar. Though Ford was…
With close to a hundred local bands performing at the Westword Music Showcase this weekend, it’s easy to sample a broad base of the music happening in Denver today. Perhaps you’ll see a band for the first time and that performance will inspire you to vote for that band in…
