Suggestive advertising is all around us and, according to a recent study by University of Colorado Denver, increasingly forcing its way into popular music. The study, conducted by music business professor Storm Gloor, examined Top 30 Billboard songs from 1960 to 2013 and found that, while always present in some…
The 2015 Best of Denver issue is on newsstands now! In our search for the most interesting places, people and events in Denver, we often struggled to pick just one winner in each category. So we’re presenting a few runners-up here on Westword Music. It’s true. Denver has an obscenely…
Watching Ultra Music Festival’s idyllic official after-movies, you might get the impression that UMF is some kind of utopian music-based society where the young and beautiful run only in slow motion, where everyone is welcome and everything is pleasant. In some ways, this is true. You’re more likely to have…
Editor’s Note: Denver rock band In the Whale is in Austin this week for SXSW. The duo of Nate Valdez (vocals and guitar) and Eric Riley (drums and backing vocals) will be documenting their exploits and observations for Westword Music. For more shenanigans, follow In the Whale on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. For the most shenanigans, head to…
When I was thirteen, I became a man. I’m talking about having my Bar Mitzvah. Raised Jewish and middle class, it was a fairly big deal, and part of that involved planning a huge party. So, my mom dragged me to some random office (meaning some event planner’s tacky living…
Admittedly, we’re a couple of squares. We’re not party dudes, so four days of non-stop drinking isn’t really our thing. Prior to our show Friday afternoon, we kept far away from the chaos of 6th street. On the west side of Austin, we came across the Hope Outdoor Gallery and…
While Sixth Street in Austin was raging with drunken crowds, chaotic bars, and long lines, twenty miles outside of Austin off of a farm to market road, the Music Ranch was mellow with outdoor stages, tents and fire pits. Founded in 2010, The Music Ranch is a camping ground set…
CJ Boyd has basically been on tour since 2008 with some lengthy stays in various cities around the United States including Denver. Despite his nomadic lifestyle he has also been a prolific songwriter and musical collaborator with an impressive discography. But the affable musician recently made a decision about one…
Ben DeSoto became the label manager at Greater Than Collective on February 2. Greater Than Collective is a record label/music organization backed by Illegal Pete’s. DeSoto had originally talked to the operation’s co-founder Virgil Dickerson in 2014 about the label, as one of his bands, Ark Life, signed to the…
Editor’s Note: Denver rock band In the Whale is in Austin this week for SXSW. The duo of Nate Valdez (vocals and guitar) and Eric Riley (drums and backing vocals) will be documenting their exploits and observations for Westword Music. For more shenanigans, follow In the Whale on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. For the most shenanigans, head to…
Tycho $25/$30 9:00 PM, Friday, Ogden Theatre The Blues Hall of Fame Tour $24.50-$35 7:00 PM, Friday, Boulder Theater Snake Rattle Rattle Snake $10 9:30 PM, Friday, hi-dive The Congress $12/$15 8:00 PM, Saturday, Bluebird Theate Sylvan Esso $15 9:00 PM, Saturday, Gothic Theatre Sam Hunt $14.99 8:00 PM, Saturday, Ogden Theatre Hatebreed $20 8:00…
Although the warehouse venue at 2126 Arapahoe Street continued to be called Monkey Mania well into 2006, and fondly continued to be referred to by the name even as it was re-named Kingdom of Doom, the last show when it was run by the Josh Taylor, Amy Fantastic and their…
Judi’s House is a non-profit that provides programs for grief support for children and young adults ages 3 to 25. On March 2nd, the good people in the Denver band SPELLS released “Bustin’ Out” as a single on their Bandcamp page on a pay-what-you-like basis with all proceeds to benefit…
The Colorado Symphony Orchestra, who have built a reputation on being supportive and collaborative with Denver’s contemporary musicians, have further solidified this reputation with the announcement of their newest program, “Turn Over the Keys.” The program, which will take place on May 28th at Boettcher Concert Hall, will feature Denver…
The people behind Communikey Festival just announced that the 8th edition of the experimental music and art festival in Boulder will be its last. Team CMKY asked itself what it can do that goes beyond the traditional festival format and to challenge itself to consider the possibilities of what can…
Editor’s Note: Denver rock band In the Whale is in Austin this week for SXSW. The duo of Nate Valdez (vocals and guitar) and Eric Riley (drums and backing vocals) will be documenting their exploits and observations for Westword Music. For more shenanigans, follow In the Whale on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. For the most shenanigans, head to…
Longtime Larimer Lounge booking manager James Irvine moved to New York City on March 1st to take up his new position as a booker at The Bowery Electric. Irvine grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, a small city that has produced more than its fair share of artists and figures in…
“You can make a beer out of salmon, can’t you?” “Sure, we can just put the salmon in the blender, like a Bass-o-matic.” The members of bluegrass band Leftover Salmon laugh, looking up at the tanks of beer towering above them in the back of Breckenridge Brewery. They’re making their…
Like most DJs and producers, “I have a huge list of artists and labels that I follow, and I try to keep up with all of the new releases that they are putting out,” says Mark Slee (who’ll play Denver this coming Saturday, March 21, at the Sidewinder Tavern; tickets…
History is the best when you can make it up. Rock n’ roll history in particular is even better when it’s fictionalized (a lot of rock history is just bloated tropes about straight dudes and sex and drug use anyway, so there’s a lot to work with.) When Garth Brooks…
There is an expected magic that comes along with seeing a performer like Stevie Wonder live — he’s a seminal pop star, a genre-less marvel. And most of all, he’s a musician’s musician, able to play a multitude of instruments alongside anyone brave enough for the challenge. There were plenty…
We are one of a dozen or so Colorado Artists who were officially accepted to SXSW 2015. What does that mean? I guess it affords us the opportunity to wait in lengthy lines for shows we’ll never get into, go to a trade show and look at stuff we can’t…
