This past weekend, the Solution crew kicked off #TheSolution7 at the Meadowlark, commemorating the seventh year of the long-running, award-winning hip-hop night. The celebration continues this Friday, February 14, with a special Valentine’s Day edition at the Meadowlark with a playlist of slow jams at the end of the evening,…
Westword will keep it all in the family early next month when Kiernan Maletsky, who got his start here three years ago as a freelancer music writer and intern, takes over as our new music editor. He replaces Dave Herrera, who announced in late January that he is leaving after…
Taking jazzy grooves and elevating them to frenzied funk levels through samples, synths and heavily textured percussion, Lotus played two sets of high energy dance to the younger skewed crowd Saturday night. Though no surprise MCs showed up to perform any songs off the act’s latest hip hop release, Monks,…
In an interview with Australia’s Speaker TV show, Big Gigantic’s Dominic Lalli shared some details regarding the 2014 edition of Rowdytown: The Boulder-based duo will expand the show to two nights. Previous editions of Rowdytown have featured artists like Dillon Francis, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Adventure Club and GRiZ, so…
Chad Aman, like many musicians in Denver, has been playing at El Chapultepec for years. Celebrating its eightieth birthday last August was no small feat for the jazz club that has survived the changing face of its Lower Downtown neighborhood, and now Aman is spearheading an effort to bring the…
TUES | STING & PAUL SIMON at PEPSI CENTER | 2/11/14 Sting and Paul Simon have had a hand in producing some of the most memorable pop and rock songs of the past four decades (five, in Simon’s case). Sting, of course, was the lead singer of the Police, but…
Back with another edition of In the Mix, a feature in which we spotlight new dance tracks and mixes from local producers and DJs. This week, we feature Mantaray’s set from Denver Disco a few weeks ago, Spencer Foreman and DJ Wushu’s latest hip-hop/dance mix-up, Big Gigantic collab with Cherub…
WAKE UP AND LIVE at CERVANTES’ OTHER SIDE | 2/6/14 Despite the negative temperature, people flocked to Cervantes’ Other Side last night to celebrate Bob Marley’s birthday with local tribute band Wake Up and Live and to welcome Portland’s Quick and Easy Boys to Denver. While it didn’t exactly feel…
FRI & SAT | LOTUS at FILLMORE AUDITORIUM | 2/7-2/8 The jazzy electronic quintet Lotus, known for its precisely timed improvisations during live shows, is celebrating its thirteenth year together. This weekend, fresh off the release of its most recent effort, Lotus, the band, which is signed to Boulder’s SCI…
SAT | DIGITALISM at VINYL | 2/8/14 After a stripped-down U.S. tour last May, the Hamburg-based duo Digitalism is coming back across the pond. The electro musicians are a prime example of why two heads can sometimes be better than one when it comes to creating music. The pair, Jens…
For nearly three decades, the City Park Jazz series has been filling the Mile High City with colorful sounds and vibrations. Packing a picnic and spreading out a blanket in front of the pavilion has become a veritable rite of summer. Organizers are once again giving the area’s most talented…
Even though there’s no official dates listed on the band’s website yet, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is getting ready to embark on a series of dates in which the outfit will reportedly perform its acclaimed 2002 album, Source Tags & Codes, in its entirety…
Tomorrow night at the Meadowlark, the Solution crew will celebrate seven years of bringing the best hip-hop to Denver. Seven years! Can you believe it’s been that long already? Heck, it’s already been a year since the multiple Best of Denver award-winning club night returned to a weekly at the…
I made all the wrong moves,” says Stephen Malkmus. “Don’t you think sometimes life is about making all the wrong moves? In the end, it’s making the wrong choices — trying the wrong drugs, dating the wrong girl, taking the wrong class, crashing into the wrong tree when you’re drunk.”…
Seamlessly crossing language barriers mid-flow and writing pointed political lyrics about race and food, 2MX2 carves out an identity that is authentic and compelling on its newest project, GMO (Genetically Modified Oppression). The possible drawback to the album’s uncompromising positivism is that it can feel like being struck repeatedly in…
On “Never Said,” the opening cut on the Media Fires’ latest offering, Lit, Brian Quinn’s vocals are ragged and raging. The lines about never getting it right that follow the tune’s catchy opening riff pop with a kind of desperate energy. The mood is hypnotic, and it suffuses every one…
As a guitarist, Tom Carleno has spent more than two decades performing with various projects in Colorado, including the acoustic jazz ensemble Perpetual Motion (which also features his wife, violinist Josie Quick). Perfect Imperfection is his first solo effort. Throughout the disc, Carleno, who is a brilliant fingerstyle guitarist, displays…
The latest EP from déCollage feels like a collage-pop, Animal Collective-esque, psychedelic version of Stevie Wonder’s 1979 weirdo masterpiece Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants” — except that Reed Fuchs and company probably had none of that in mind when they made it. Rather, the players were…
TUES | MANOWAR at OGDEN THEATRE | 2/18/14 Manowar is powered by lyrics crowned in fantasy-flamed swords, armor, and everything having to do with metal warfare clashing into Norse mythology. Eric Adams’s powerful vocals are steeped in wordy wizardry that really drives home the aggressive themes. “Man o’ War” was…
As the upcoming concert season at Red Rocks continues to take shape, we’ve received word that Bassnectar is making his way back to Red Rocks for a two-night run on Friday, May 30, and Saturday, May 31. Sub Focus and Kill Paris are set to share the bill on night…
FRI | JJ GREY & MOFRO at FILLMORE AUDITORIUM | 2/21/14 Blues lead man JJ Grey headlines an all-star night at the Fillmore, and it’s sure to be a bluesy, rocking showdown. With a Southern-tinged flavor that adds extra authenticity, Grey commands attention with his big voice, singing songs about…
FRI | MICHAL MENERT, WINTER WARMER at FILLMORE | 2/14 Since dropping his debut solo album Dreaming of a Bigger Life, Michal Menert has been steadily touring the country building a grassroots following in the same way Derek Vincent Smith of Pretty Lights did when he first hit the scene…
