Before he was an artist who sensed he was just about to hit — and before many people came to consider him Colorado’s greatest hope of penetrating the national hip-hop scene — there was a time when rapper Don Blas felt the allure of street life, when even a brush…
Most observers regard the onslaught of teenage pop sensations like Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, ‘N SYNC and Christina Aguilera as proof positive of the cyclical nature of rock music. And like the big teen idol boom of the early ’60s, all this smiling and dancing must mean that a…
Mr. Earle had a moment there, back in the ’80s, when he could get the country-music establishment to put out his records and convince commercial country radio to play them. But that was a long time ago, dear hearts. Since then, he’s engaged in more than enough bad behavior (like…
Don’t expect the sons of Kyuss — an underappreciated band that drew comparisons to Nirvana in the early ’90s — to rise up lethargically like Lon Chaney Jr. and embarrass their ancestry. Sure, guitarist Josh Homme packs bowl after bowl of blooze-metal variations from the seedier side — admittedly equal…
Released to counter the popular perception of Woody Guthrie as a blissed-out wastrel whose main contribution to American music was to provide Bruce Springsteen with the acoustic set piece “This Land Is Your Land,” this CD succeeds through both its varied themes and the personal portrait of Guthrie it advances…
British author Jeff Noon would probably take a shine to Denver rapper Mike V. Noon’s novel, Vurt, takes place in a future world populated by all kinds of variations on the human species: human/dog combos, folks whose physiology involves copious amounts of gas and vapors, robotmen and people who live…
The undefinable guitarist Charlie Hunter, Thursday, July 27, at the Gothic Theatre and Friday, July 28, at the Boulder Theater, has become, in the publics mind, inseparable from his instrument. Hunters eight-string Novax guitar, a one-of-a-kind hybrid he designed himself, allows him to play bass and lead lines simultaneously and…
It isnt Farm Aid, but the Denver Rescue Mission Benefit, Thursday, July 27, at the Soiled Dove, aims to raise a lot of dough to buy backpacks and school supplies for kids from low-income families — a cause that even Willie Nelson would probably get behind. The Ryan Tracy Band…
Red Rocks has hosted many memorable concerts, but this summer, the scenic amphitheater is welcoming a different form of entertainment: movies. The Film on the Rocks series is sponsored by the Denver Film Society, Red Rocks and the city of Denver, uniting music and film under a canopy of Colorado…
You have to wonder what caused those early pioneers — bound for the West Coast, motivated by the promise of gold or, more simply, water — to plunk down and set up camp in the Sonoran desert. The Native populations — Navajo, Pima, Apache — who had inhabited the land…
Bradford Lee Folk, guitarist and lead vocalist of local bluegrass group Open Road, has just finished another shift at a dairy farm outside of Fort Collins, where he does the kind of hard work few Coloradans are willing to brave anymore. Now he’s settling in for a different sort of…
Throw a stick and you’re apt to hit someone who thinks the current pop scene is the worst ever! And who, other than nine-year-old white girls, could argue with that logic? Britney Spears and Celine Dion, to name just two, seem more like actors portraying musicians than the real thing…
Anyone who thinks the Confederate flag is better suited for burning than waving (let alone decorating one’s skimpy under-bodice — yeehaw!) had better tiptoe around Nashville Pussy’s latest disc like a Sturgis preacher on Labor Day weekend. But for all of its sinfully contrived bombast, High as Hell shouldn’t prompt…
There’s no shortage of jazz reissues, re-releases or compilations out there, but the majority of them spotlight a relative handful of artists. You can collect practically every note every played by, say, John Coltrane, if you are so inclined, but tracking down the early recordings of Ronald Shannon Jackson may…
The way indie rockers and other terminal hipsters disparage commercial radio and major-label recordings, one would think that nothing popular could possibly be good. So while the indie-rock types trade in obscurities and maudlin guitar introspection, those who have learned to take their pontifications with a grain of salt are…
Let’s Get Free marks a welcome return to the days when rap articulated a political consciousness, as Dead Prez members SticMan and M1 spit a vision “somewhere in between and N.W.A.” Like those groups, the Brooklyn-based duo is on a serious black community empowerment tip. And also like them, the…
Someone recently swore to Backwash that Aurora is the single worst place to live — in Colorado or anywhere. Though the conclusion wasn’t based on the sort of quality-of-life research that informs Forbes and other publications that regularly make such decrees, it seemed an authoritative one: The fella hailed originally…
North Mississippi Allstars, scheduled for three area gigs this week (a free in-store appearance 4 p.m. Thursday, July 20, at Twist & Shout, plus full-sized shows July 20 at the Gothic Theatre and Friday, July 21, at the Fox Theatre), are a different kind of second-generation band; key members Luther…
Abdomen, née Abdomen of Hypnosis, gears up for the 150th time on Friday, July 21, at the 15th Street Tavern, sharing plugs and sockets with the Geds and Jet Black Joy. Abdomen has dropped a couple of words from its name — as well as a musician or two (or…
People dont flock to Colorado because its a fashion mecca filled with eccentric designers and leggy models, but local designer Frog Greishaw is hoping that someday they will. Her five-year-old company, House of Frog, will present an avant-garde fashion show at the Boulder Theater on July 20 at 9 p.m…
One afternoon, Brian Transeau received a phone call that would forever change his life and, without exaggeration, the nature of dance music all over the world. “I was making records out of my bedroom in Maryland, never having heard English club music, and came up with IMA,” he remembers. “Some…
Contrary to popular belief, there are still a handful of jazz musicians with recording contracts who enjoy taking chances. But most of the acts that fit this description, including Other Dimensions in Music, Test, the Matt Wilson Quartet and local hero Hugh Ragin, are indie-imprint signees forced to toil in…
