Plume Varia Remembers Prince Before Tribute at Red Rocks

The sold-out tribute to Prince at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Thursday, May 12 will start at 7 p.m. (doors at 6:15 p.m.). The event, in addition to the screening of Purple Rain, will feature a poetry performance, ten bands performing one or two Prince songs each, plus a finale including Heavy…

Tortoise Continues to Defy Classification

Not long after Tortoise wrapped up its tour for 2009’s Beacon of Ancestorship, the post-rock quintet was commissioned by the its hometown of Chicago to write music inspired by the city’s jazz and improvised music communities. In 2010, Tortoise’s twentieth anniversary, the group performed the piece in Chicago’s Millennium Park…

Monday-Night Menagerie Offers a Hangout for Local Artists

Any city worth its salt has an amazing art scene, and any art scene worth taking notice of has a tight-knit artistic community. Taking that logic up another notch, an artistic community that wants to be taken seriously needs a place to meet, to exchange ideas and to bounce off…

Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Progressive Country and Pot

Last weekend, troubadour Chris Stapleton was pandering to the crowd. “We should get some Colorado weed,” he said before the stage was blasted with green light and the band launched into “Might As Well Get Stoned.” He didn’t need to pander, considering that the new country heavyweight more than sold…

Good Vibrations: Denver’s Only Resonance Massage Table

It’s safe to say we all deal with varying levels of distraction in 2016. This is how distracted I was when I walked into my appointment at Infinite Space Bodywork and Resonance Therapy: After the owner/operator let me in the door, I fell down the stairs and skinned my knee…

Eight Jam Bands Playing Red Rocks This Summer

Jam bands. Historically, Coloradan music fans just can’t get enough of them. Whether it’s the groups who approach the genre from the past through the lenses of bluegrass or roots, or the contemporary and experimenting with electronica, there’s a good chance that their skills will find welcoming audiences here. Red…

Best Coast Will Replace Courtney Barnett at Project Pabst

Courtney Barnett has cancelled her scheduled appearance at the Project Pabst music festival, happening  Saturday, May 21, in the RiNo district. The Grammy- and Brit-Award-nominated Australian rock musician was one of the most anticipated acts on the announced lineup for the one-day festival, but Barnett recently received an offer she…

Denver Tool Library Launches Concert Series and Bazaar

Where you see lawnmower storage space, John Baxter sees a stage. The man behind ZetaKaye House and This Ain’t No Cowtown Compilation was in search of a home for his next event somewhere in the Arts District on Santa Fe — unsure at the time what it might become —…

Progressive Rock Legends Jon Anderson and Jean-Luc Ponty Join Forces

AndersonPonty Band is the musical partnership of two giants of progressive rock: Jon Anderson the former singer for Yes and Jean-Luc Ponty, the legendary violinist who played with Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa. The two men met more than thirty years ago and discussed working together for years, but it…

Hip-Hop Artist Ancient Mith Breaks Out of Denver — and Into Europe

Denver’s Braden Smith, aka Ancient Mith, put together a project called YAWL in late 2014 with German producer Dot. The duo’s debut album, A Pile to Keep, A Pile to Burn comes out on May 5 on Anette Records, the imprint that issued Smith’s previous full-length, 2013’s synth-infused And the…

The 1975 Proved Sexy, Wild and Poignant Pop Still Exists

Pop. That’s a word that seems to inadvertently water down the expected quality of music because it implies its entrance into the mainstream. I’m here to say, wild and poignant pop still exists, and the 1975 personifies it. These talented musicians from Wilmslow, Cheshire, England have accrued a cult fanbase…

Sunn O))) Show Was an Altered State of Consciousness and Force of Nature

Seattle doom band Hissing opened last night’s Sunn O))) show at the Gothic Theatre, and the band did its level best to create a menacing, atmospheric set. Montreal-based noise-rock band Big Brave reconciled Robin Wattie’s Björk-like warble with eruptive rhythms and slashing double guitars. And both acts were not short…

How Music Came Back to Boulder’s Folsom Field

Local rock scenes are thriving in Denver and Fort Collins. Earlier this month, the eighth-annual Ft. Collins Music eXperiment festival featured exciting Colorado bands in venues all over town, and Denver, which will soon host UMS and the Westword Music Showcase, has exciting local rock bands playing across the city…