SUN | MILE HIGH SPIRITS JAZZ FEST at MILE HIGH SPIRITS | 12/8/13 Mile High Spirits and the Gift of Jazz have teamed up to put on this free daylong festival, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. and runs until 10: 30 p.m. Each of the six local acts on…
MON | JAY Z at PEPSI CENTER | 12/2/13 Ever since Reasonable Doubt was released, Jay Z’s esteemed career has continued on a path of lyrical and stylistic mastery that leaves no doubt whatsoever. Well beyond the need for braggadocio, the rapper’s confidence and long-sustained commercial success are self-evident, which…
JOHNETTE NAPOLITANO at THE SOILED DOVE | 11/27/13 After opening with “The Real Thing,” a Concrete Blonde limited edition, single, Johnette Napolitano looked down at a woman sitting in front of her next to the stage and asked if she was okay. The singer, playing her last show of the…
The progression of music will always be weighed down by periods of stagnation. Although new rap acts are presented into the mainstream every year, the actual newness of the music is generally overstated. The prime exception to this rule is the so-called “golden ages,” pockets of time where innovation is…
In July 2012, we put together a list of Denver’s hippest bars, from the mainstays to the emerging hipster havens. The release of that list caused a considerable amount of hubbub — since then, the list has grown and evolved, separating the tried-and-true from the fleeting trend spots and adding…
SAT | MARC HOULE at NORAD | 11/30/13 Marc Houle has attracted attention from some of techno’s finest players, from Richie Hawtin to Miss Kittin to Troy Pierce. Houle’s studio tracks get snatched up and spun by everyone who’s anyone in dance music, spanning genres and lighting up clubs and…
FRI | NATHANIEL RATELIFF at GOTHIC THEATRE | 11/29/13 From his recent stint making music backed by the Night Sweats, to the incredibly moving songs he’s crafted on his own, to his cinematic work with Born in the Flood, Nathaniel Rateliff is a man who requires absolutely no preamble –…
In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. The first time I remember hearing Tom Waits was when his video for “Downtown Train” was played on Teletunes. It was sometime…
In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. In eighth grade, Green Day’s song “Longview” exploded into my little world and got seemingly everyone I knew to start learning a…
In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. The day to day drudge of the drowsy school year is almost unbearable, especially in high school, where the most important skills…
In what’s become an annual tradition for us, we ask a few members of Team Backbeat to reflect on an album they’re thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving. Kyuss isn’t a band to listen to through headphones. Ideally, you blast them on a warm, vintage stereo system, or through your…
It comes down to Alan introducing us to indie rock,” declares Confluence frontman Ian Gassman, speaking of bassist Alan Hubbard and summing up the eventual musical direction of the band. “I was listening to Bob Dylan a bunch, and Jack Johnson…. I’m just saying my want to get better at…
The eight tracks on Crash Landings’ Tragedy tread musical ground that will be instantly familiar to fans of old-school punk and hardcore. Songs like “Burn Your Money” and “Who’s Next” summon the spirit of Jello Biafra and the Buzzcocks, with power chords, simple guitar solos and pounding drum lines that…
The title of Dr. Izzy Band’s debut, Blind & Blues Bound, perfectly encapsulates this group’s sound. Throughout the twelve-song disc, frontwoman Dr. Izzy, who was born in Texas with full vision but began to go blind at the age of nine, clearly has a strong affinity for the blues. On…
Thanks to David Mead’s flute playing, “The Black,” Black Stitch in Eternity’s opener, could be part of the soundtrack to an early-’60s Japanese ghost movie. Elsewhere, “Weight for Dusk” introduces the tenor sax and recalls the hard bop of late-’50s jazz figures, while “Rotting Cage” displays Mead’s deeper roots in…
The spectrum of noise delivered on the self-titled debut from EXKXO reveals the multitude of options available in hip-hop beat creation these days. EXKXO drops sixteen tracks with no real theme, and while the beats themselves lie in the safe zone of musical exploration, the album is still a joy…
You might’ve seen a picture floating around Facebook this morning in which it looks like part of the ceiling caved in at Sancho’s Broken Arrow at Colfax and Clarkson. Turns out, the soffit around the bar indeed slipped. But according to Jay Bianchi, folks worked through the night repairing it,…
In jazz discussions, the saxophonists and the trumpeters generally dominate the conversation, and rightly so. Equally as integral to the music, though, is the rest of the band. While we’ve already listed the top guitarists, pianists and bassists, today we focus on the female vocalists. Although there are a number…
POLICA at BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/26/13 Somewhere in the relentless blur of the first ten minutes of Poliça’s pounding performance at the Bluebird Theater last night, Chris Bierden’s bass strings broke, and Poliça had to do something it has rarely done since hitting the scene a few years ago –…
In his new column, award-winning goofball Shea Serrano, whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book, writes about his life and times. Courtesy of UniversalSheaface The biggest concern in my life recently is that every show on my DVR is the regular definition version, rather than the…
Music is life — or at least it is for us. When we’re not writing about it, we’re thinking about it, talking about it or listening to it. These are the things that were in heavy rotation for us this week. What are you listening to? What should we be…
A few years ago, while she was touring, Megan Burtt came up with her ‘In Good Company’ concept. The idea was pretty straightforward: With so many songwriting friends in various places, Burtt decided she’d get together with each one, write a song in a day, learn one of their songs…
