Indigenous Robot

Indigenous Robot didn’t waste much time in producing a followup to Fireball, the quartet’s three-song EP from earlier this year. Castles plays like a natural complement to that release, with its unpredictable time signatures, surreal imagery and bizarre sound cues. But where Fireball largely stayed true to the band’s self-described…

…And the Black Feathers

While the ellipsis in front of …And the Black Feathers might immediately draw comparisons to, well, a certain other band that has three dots before its name, that’s essentially where the similarities end. That much is clear from the slow strum of the reverb-drenched guitar on “Evol (Part 1),” the…

Kanye West Pepsi Center show canceled

Update, 12:15 p.m. 11/6/13: Bad news, y’all. Yeezus is no longer coming to Denver. The Kanye West show at the Pepsi Center, originally slated for November 3, and subsequently postponed, has now officially been canceled. The tour is set to resume next Thursday in Philadelphia, but the new routing means…

The twenty best versions of Phish classics

Phish just finished a stunning run of shows on the East Coast last week in which the band debuted new material. While the new tunes will no doubt inspire much debate, the band’s already sprawling archive of performances provides endless fodder for discussions of which versions are the best. Admittedly,…

The Colorado Music Hall of Fame’s class of 2013

This Friday, November 8, at the Paramount Theatre, the Colorado Music Hall of Fame’s current inductees, which include John Denver, Barry Fey, Harry Tuft, Red Rocks, Flash Cadillac, Sugarloaf, the Astronauts and KIMN radio, will be joined by a brand-new class that includes a peer group of folksingers, including Judy…

Why Katy Perry’s “Roar” sucks

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. Katy Perry was born in 1984, except back then people called her “Katy Hudson” because, well, that’s her real name. In 2001, she was like,…

What we’re all listening to right now

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…

Win tickets to see Mazzy Star at the Ogden

Update, 11/8/13: Congrats @kmartinico. You and a guest will be our guest at the show this Sunday. Check your email for details on how to claim your tickets. Thanks to everybody else for the entries — and for reading Backbeat! After nearly two decades, Mazzy Star is back with a…

The best rap shows in Denver in November

FRI | DELTRON 3030 at 1STBANK CENTER | 11/15/13 Deltron 3030 isn’t so much a group or an album as it is a mode of thought, and there are few hip-hop albums (or albums of any genre, for that matter) with the cinematic quality of this group’s self-titled debut. Dan the…

The best concerts to see in Denver this week

WEDS | TORO Y MOI at OGDEN THEATRE | 11/6/13 With the recent release of the latest Toro Y Moi album, Anything in Return, Chaz Bundick should be able to transcend the chillwave label that’s been assigned to him by countless critics. Like his friend and mutual mentor Ernest Greene…

Eminem zings the Denver Broncos on MMLP2

Eminem’s new album, MMLP2, comes out next week. It’s fire, from what we’ve heard so far. Anyhow, you’ll be especially interested in the opening track, “Bad Guy,” in which an associate of an old friend, a fella you might remember by the name of Stan, makes an appearance, and towards…