Is Jentry McCombs the Best Street Performer in Denver?

Jentry McCombs has a bone to pick. “Your magazine says I’m the ‘self-proclaimed’ best street musician in Denver, but I don’t like that,” McCombs says, semi-jokingly referring to a five-year-old article about Denver’s street musicians. “I am the best street musician, and I am the king of Denver. Who can…

Alan Wilkis and Big Data Battle the Internet at the Ogden Wednesday

Big Data, the electro-rock band responsible for the 2013 hit “Dangerous,” will perform at the Ogden Theatre on Wednesday, November 18. The Brooklyn-based five-piece band helmed by producer Alan Wilkis fuses electronic music with live instruments and the spirited vocals of Wilkis and Liz Ryan. Together with the rest of…

The Fifteen Best Concerts in Denver This Week

It’s an epic week for music in metro Denver, with shows featuring Glen Hansard, Chance the Rapper, Young the Giant, Chris Young, Minus Bear and Skinny Puppy, among others. See our top fifteen picks below.  MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16 Chance the Rapper $39.50/$45. 6:30 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium  Glen Hansard $35/$38.50, 7:30…

Composer/Inventor Trimpin Crafts a Free Performance at CU Tomorrow

An upended, dismembered piano sits in the middle of the floor at the ATLAS Black Box Experimental Studio, deep below the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Kneeling before it, a slight, older man is wiring the piano pieces to an array of electromechanical devices. He is the mononominate sound artist…

Innamind Take Over in Denver Saturday Night

Sub.mission is taking over the Walnut Room tomorrow for a special, one-off show featuring two of the premier artists from renowned dubstep label Innamind Recordings. In advance of the show, we caught up with Innamind DJ and label boss Kursk, aka Jeremy Pattison, to talk about the visiting DJs, his…

Seven Sins Salon Is Ready to Rock in Lakewood

When an elderly man walked into his familiar barbershop in Lakewood last week, he found Cannibal Corpse blaring and a giant Ouija board instead of a quiet waiting room. His normal barber had been replaced with technicolor-haired and tattooed stylists, who informed him that Seven Sins Salon had taken over…

The Eleven Best Concerts in Denver This Weekend

This weekend’s live music calendar includes some great shows, including Trey Anastasio Band at the Fillmore and the Motet at the Ogden, and both groups play two-night stands. The Roots move into the Ogden on Sunday, Low is at the Larimer Lounge, and JD McPherson is at the Fox on…

Dave Preston on Ambient Music, Justin Timberlake and In These Storms

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Dave Preston recently released his first ambient album in five years. The luminously evocative In These Storms is Preston’s third ambient release, following 2008’s Be and 2010’s Soundtrack for Motion. Rather than the synth or beat-driven sounds often associated with the ambient style, Preston’s music features organic sounds…

Every New Colorado Concert Announcement

The Cure’s first major North American tour since 2008 stops at Fiddler’s Green on Sunday, June 5, with the Twilight Sad opening. The tour will include nearly four decades of Cure material, including hits, rarities and as-yet unreleased tracks in a brand-new stage production. Reserved tickets ($35-$75) and lawn seats…

Branded Bandits Return as BANDITS With a Darker, More Melodic Sound

Lulu and John Demitro got off to an early start in music. Growing up in Boulder, the siblings began playing classical piano before they were five. Through high school John played in bands, including the hard-rock band Bassline; Lulu, who is a year younger than John, played keyboards in that…

Patrick Dethlefs Makes Some History at Tiny Library Concert

The last time I heard music at the History Colorado Center, it was at an October program on state symbols: Denver Gay Men’s Chorus program director James Knapp sang “Where the Columbines Grow,” Colorado’s first official state song, which just marked its hundredth birthday. Knapp has a spectacular voice, but…

Denver’s Dreadnought Is Taking the Doom Scene by Storm

Dreadnought, the local psychedelic, progressive-doom band, defies many stereotypes about what metal is and can be. The act is half-male and half-female, and its members take on non-traditional roles. Kelly Schilling plays guitar and does harsh and clean vocals; Lauren Vieira plays keyboards and does clean vocals; Jordan Clancy plays drums…

Five Great Books About Music – Some Obvious, Some Less So

Music is a tough subject for writers of fiction. Because unless an author has actually lived the life of a musician or someone in the music business, writing with anything approaching legitimacy is nearly impossible. Even people who know the subject inside and out face myriad problems, the first of…

Behind the Scenes of the New Wheelchair Sports Camp Video

Hot off the heels of a music video showing at the Denver Film Festival, which runs through the end of this week, Wheelchair Sports Camp is back at work filming a video for “Hard Out Here For A Gimp.” The song is from WheelGrabbers, a collaboration between the local hip-hop…

Kneebody Trumpeter Shane Endsley on Moving Back to Denver

In the two decades since East High grad Shane Endsley left the University of Colorado to attend the Eastman School of Music, the trumpeter went on to co-found the Grammy-nominated group Kneebody; tour with Ani DiFranco; perform with forward-thinking jazz players like Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane and David Murray; and…