Best Radio Host 2017 | Arturo Gómez | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Radio Host

Arturo Gómez

From the moment he opens his show with the gleeful announcement that it is "lunchtime at the Oasis!" it's clear: Arturo Gómez is the best — and happiest — voice on Colorado's airwaves. Each weekday afternoon from 12 to 1 p.m., the disc jockey lays down classic-, modern- and Latin-jazz cuts, peppered with his own deep knowledge of musicians' backstories and the history behind each track. The award-winning music director's influence and experience can be heard all over KUVO's many genre-bending shows. But it's his genuine on-air enthusiasm for the music and his insightful, informative commentary between songs that captures what the nonprofit radio station is all about: jazz. This colorful state is home to one of the few remaining all-jazz stations in the country — with a unique emphasis on local jazz artists, too — and Gómez is an integral part of what keeps KUVO fresh, relevant and enjoyable to listen to.

Best Latin Band That's Blowing Up Borders

Debajo del Agua

Debajo del Agua's members hail from all over Latin America, and the dance-inspiring music the group makes is as diverse as it is fun. Mixing hip-hop with Andean folk music, salsa, reggae, samba and reggaetón, the outfit is known for its energetic live shows and its political messages, delivered in multiple languages. The band has plans to release an album this year; watch for the single "Mundo Al Revés" to drop soon.

debajodelagua.org

Best Chamber Orchestra

Grande Orquesta Navarre

Grande Orquesta Navarre — pianist Sara Parkinson, double-bassist Susan Cahill, bandoneon and cello player Evan Orman, and Tom Hagerman of DeVotchka on accordion and violin — mostly performs classical pieces. But the group manages to find fascinating selections that fit its lively and versatile performance style. When it played Baur's Listening Lounge last December, the Orquesta's unamplified performance enhanced the intimacy of the show. Grande Orquesta Navarre takes relatively obscure classical music, infuses it with tango and delivers it in a cabaret-style presentation, making it exciting again. In an era when everyone has seen and heard everything, this foursome feels fresh.

gonavarre.org

Best Avant-Garde Jazz/Psych Band

GoStar

Led by avant-trumpet player extraordinaire Joshua Trinidad, GoStar explores the boundaries of jazz improvisation and soundscaping. Far from being purists, Trinidad and the rest of GoStar's extraordinary players turn out improvisations that take listeners on an imaginative ride. The music even dips into the visionary psychedelic rock of Jimi Hendrix at his best. The force and energy of a GoStar performance sustains levels of excitement you won't find at most avant-garde jazz shows.

joshuatrinidad.com

Best Band Made Up of Comedians

Big City Drugs

Bobby Crane, Cory Helie, Kevin O'Brien and Sam Tallent are local comedy veterans who have toured together and helped build Denver's comedy scene into something respected beyond our city's limits. They are also big music fans who shared a love for unconventional punk and punk-influenced bands like Dead Boys, Gun Club and Reatards. Big City Drugs could have been yet another example of an ill-advised endeavor ventured upon by artists in a different realm of creativity. But the group was undeniably good from the beginning, and its 2016 debut EP, Human Cargo, proved that BCD has much to offer beyond its frantic, riveting live shows.

bigcitydrugs.bandcamp.com

Best Classic-Denver-Band Reinvention

Slim Cessna's Auto Club

Nearly 25 years into its existence, Slim Cessna's Auto Club could have rested on its laurels while recording its latest album, The Commandments According to SCAC. Considered an institution of the local music scene and all but appointed a torchbearer of the so-called Denver sound, the group probably felt a lot of pressure to deliver the familiar — or something completely different. But rather than burst free from who it is entirely, SCAC wrote an album that capitalizes on what it does best while imbuing each song with a spirit and luminosity that sounds like a new chapter. If earlier albums established the Auto Club's reputation as an important Denver band, The Commandments will hopefully carry the group into much wider circles.

scacunincorporated.com

Best New Band

Product Lust

Product Lust started in 2016 and has already earned some national acclaim. The band revives the post-punk spirit and injects hardcore with unconventional rhythms and a disruptive energy. Product Lust's stage shows are impossible to ignore: The act manages to make its music seem dangerous — even scary — with the sheer disorienting intensity of its performances. It's a refreshing reminder that music still has the power to inspire — and alienate.

productlust.bandcamp.com

Readers' Choice: The Bucktones

Best DJ/Fan Combo

Paul Italiano

Paul Italiano isn't just an expert in '80s alternative, punk and new-wave music; he's actually met many of the artists whose music he plays as DJ Paul on occasion at Milk Bar. That's because Italiano is also the owner of South Broadway rock-clothing boutique FashioNation with his wife, Pam — and many of those '80s alt-bands visit the shop when they're in town. Over the years, Italiano has hung out with members of the Cure, Joy Division, R.E.M., the Pixies, the Ramones, Tears for Fears and the Go-Go's, just to name a few. FashioNation even has a wall of framed pictures of its famous visitors.

Best Sports Team DJ

DJ Bedz

A Nuggets game without the foot-stomping "We Will Rock You" or the revved-up excitement of "All I Do Is Win" wouldn't feel like a basketball game at all. Thanks to DJ Bedz: The White Shadow, no Nuggs match-up goes down without the proper soundtrack. Spinning the right records at the right time is Bedz's specialty; he's been keeping the crowd jumping and the players pumped for the past fourteen years. Along with being the sole music man for the Nuggets, he's also a part-time DJ for the Denver Broncos and plays hot tracks for the CU Buffs. Thanks to DJ Bedz, Colorado's biggest sports teams get to sound as good as they play.

djbedz.co

Best Denver Pep Squad

Fed Rez

With all the transplants moving to town, there's a growing desire to preserve what it means to be from the metro area. Fed Rez is a rowdy hip-hop act that grew up in Bear Valley and pridefully reps the Northside, where the crew's decades-old family-owned print shop is still thriving amid encroaching development. Proud to be from this once-unknown cowtown, the Feddy promised that "It's all good, 'cuz our hood has got your back" in its 2016 Mile High City anthem "Danver." Fed Rez will always be there for fellow Queen City OGs, repping Denver's once uncool and unassuming corners and 'hoods, from Athmar Park to Green Valley Ranch.

fedrez.com

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