When Lorde became widely known following the release of her hit single “Royals,” the term “goth” was quickly attached to her music, and even more to her visual style. Vanity Fair referred her as the Queen of Darkness. Well, the goths didn’t get that memo, and Lorde’s sold-out show over…
Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her –…
Novelty had its moment in hip-hop; vision had its moment; abstraction had its moment. But thanks in no small part to Top Dawg Entertainment and its star, Kendrick Lamar, good old fashioned high-quality rapping is once again the standard of the day. And now, K.Dot’s longtime running mate Schoolboy Q…
At last night’s Science Lounge at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, I asked a grown woman what drew her into a fishbowl full of craft supplies to make her own mini diorama, and this is what she said: “I was like, ooh! There’s glue sticks in there!” Hot…
FRI | MARK FARINA at BAR STANDARD | 3/21/14 Mark Farina plays mushroom jazz, and that’s just the way it is. Seamlessly fusing funk, soul, jazz, and hip-hop into a fluid soundtrack, Farina has grown into a household name at Bar Standard where he regularly plays sets in what could…
Lorde and Robin Thicke are playing the Fillmore this weekend. Oh! Not together. No, it’s a Saturday/Sunday situation. But do you know who would make one exceedingly odd twerking couple? Those two. Elsewhere, the great Tower of Power hits our neighbor to the south, D.R.I. will be yelling at Englewood…
It has happened to me a million times. I walk into a bar with the intention of sitting down for a relaxing beverage, and in between the time that I’ve paid and my first sip of beer, I realize that some 22-year-old is having a birthday party. And that all…
Editor: Kalyn Heffernan is a familiar voice to many regular readers of Backbeat. We’ve written about her band several times over the years. And this week, she’s been sending us commentary on her third trip to Austin for SXSW. Read about why she still thinks it’s worth it to go,…
In March 2013, Spike Network featured Zanzibar Billiards on Larimer Street on its popular reality series Bar Rescue. During the episode, owner Ami Benari and the show’s host, Jon Taffer, nearly got into a full-on brawl. “It was hairy for a few moments, because he made me mad,” Benari says…
Speedy Ortiz (due Saturday, March 22, at Moe’s Original Bar B Que) from Northampton, Massachusetts came out of the solo side-project of singer-guitarist Sadie Dupuis when she was a member of the rock band Quilty. Taking the project’s moniker from a story in the influential underground comic series, Love and…
Gary Caspa, or simply Caspa as he’s known in the music world, has just transplanted himself, along with his wife, in Denver, Colorado. Could it be because Denver is the mecca of dance music and progressive thinking — two things that seem to go hand in hand these days? Or…
The question feels like a no-brainer, especially considering the fact that Brian Nelson is addressing a group of toddlers. “You guys, we have this big, giant drum over here. You think we should play it?” Nelson has just wrapped up a performance of a song about hot pots and silly…
A loose aesthetic unifies the crackling, fuzzy melodies of the songs on American Haiku’s debut EP, called, simply, e.p. Imagine a band like noise-pop phenom Versus writing lo-fi power pop. Or one of those Louisville, Kentucky, bands from the early ’90s, like Squirrelbait — except with the influence of emo…
With its streams of tone possessed of a slippery physicality, “0001 capillary,” the first song on Formant’s Amino, is reminiscent of the recent work of German electronic artist Pole. There’s a spacious and luminous quality to it, like that of a secret subterranean dance club lit only by dim floor…
On her 2012 debut, Snapshot, Katie Glassman, who has won numerous fiddling championships, clearly showed she knew her way around Western swing, vintage jazz and bluegrass. On her eleven-song sophomore release, Dream a Little Dream, Glassman is more refined both musically and vocally, leaning more toward Western swing with her…
Hip-hop in today’s scene is fast and racy. An electronic overload of new-age sounds floods the market as more and more artists race to keep up with commercial trends. Musa’s latest project, How to Survive When You’re Dead, ignores all of that, creating a modern hip-hop Western that transports the…
In the years since it became Lost Lake Lounge, the strip-mall bar sitting on Colfax just west of Colorado Blvd. has maintained a low-key, log-cabin-like atmosphere; beers were sipped at the front room’s small crescent-shaped bar, and bands played in the back room on the floor. The space has a…
Former New Found Glory Guitarist Steve Klein is the latest in a string of recent arrests and accusations that highlight a rare but underrated hazard in underground music: exposure to dangerous people. That’s not to say all artists are as dangerous or deviant as Klein is accused of being. Fans…
Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her –…
While Jonathan Bitz originally planned to have Syntax Physic Opera up and running by last November, construction delays and having to obtain new permits have extended the timeline. He’s now hoping that his music venue, eatery and art bar open by the end of April. After a five-year stint as…
Editor: As she has in years past, Kalyn Heffernan from Wheelchair Sports Camp is documenting the band’s trip to Austin for SXSW. Today, she’s sent us portraits of each of the four outfits she wore at the festival this year. “I packed a good twenty-plus shirts/tanks, too many hats, shoes,…
Trent Reznor and pals will play betwixt the monoliths in Morrison in July with grunge hero Soundgarden. Red Rocks’s summer calendar continues to fill out — Daughtry, Goo Goo Dolls and Blues Traveler also announced shows there this week. The rest of the concert calendar updates follow…
