This past February, the Fray released Scars & Stories, the band’s third full-length release, produced by Brendan O’Brien. “I believe in this record,” Joe King told us. “I believe it’s our best work. I believe that we’re better now and we’ve written better songs than we ever have.” Scars marks…
Electronic music is like any other of genre of music in that the artists who stick around for decades tend to be the most innovative, the ones who constantly experiment and evolve as artists. Patrik Skoog is one such example; he’s created hard techno under his Headroom project, made a…
The American Idol model of pop-star selection is obnoxious for a variety of reasons — the regular televising of Steven Tyler’s grotesque mask/face, for example — but the biggest one is the artifice of it: the implied presumption that some contrived elimination contest can dictate what we like. Even as…
While we’ve been mourning the untimely passing of Adam Yauch (aka MCA) of the Beastie Boys last week and reminiscing about the act’s shows in Denver, we’ve learned that the musician/activist had pretty interesting ties to our city beyond playing here nearly a dozen times over the past two decades…
By all accounts, the Beastie Boys performed in the Denver metro area ten times over the course of two decades, beginning with the act’s first show at the Mammoth Events Center on Friday, February 13, 1987, and culminating with its Rock the Vote double bill at the Fillmore with Tenacious…
ROGER WATERS @ PEPSI CENTER | 5.7.12 See Also: (Review) Roger Waters at the Pepsi Center, 11/23/10 Roger Waters at the Pepsi Center slide show “Thirty years ago, when I first wrote this album, I was rather famously not very good at being in rooms with people liking me a…
Mos Def and Talib Kweli, two whirlwind rhyme-slingers in their own right, first came together as Black Star in 1998. Their first album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, was propelled by Mos Def’s poetic lyrics and Kweli’s poignant delivery, and it instantly had heads clamoring for more…
JunoWhat performed on Friday at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver with Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic, Talking Heads) on keys and Euforquestra, which opened the show. Photos by Nick Callaio for Westword…
Fresh off its appearance at this year’s SnowBall Music Festival and 2010 Westword Music Showcase alumni, BoomBox came back to the Centennial State on Saturday, May 5, 2012 for a show at the Ogden Theatre. Photos by Eric Gruneisen for Westword…
RUBEDO @ UNIT E | 5/4/12 See more photos in Rubedo at Unit E slide show In a show of sustained enthusiasm, Rubedo ended its set with one of its most visceral and dynamic numbers: “Give My Heart a Break.” The song began with feedback created by Kyle Gray as…
We haven’t even really had a chance to absorb and process the news of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch’s death yet — and this? Some people never cease to amaze me. Seriously. While it’s since been amended, just a bit ago we noticed that some insensitive dickhole apparently thought it would…
Adam Yauch (aka MCA of the Beastie Boys) has died. He was 47. Forming the Beastie Boys as a teenager in Brooklyn in the late ’70s, Yauch was part of a pivotal assembly of artists that defined rap music for the radio. Early incarnations of the group shifted genres and…
If you’re looking to get your dance on along with your drink and your partying this weekend, you have lots and lots of options. Tonight, Colette’s taking on Bar Standard with her deep Chicago house sound, and the following night 3Deep kicks off its latest Soiree at the club, while…
Welcome to another outstanding music-filled weekend in the Mile High City! Local music abounds: We’ve got a trio of CD release shows from Rubedo, the Congress and Chingaso, a three day Mini Fest with forty bands at 3 Kings Tavern and the hi-dive. If that weren’t enough, BoomBox is back…
PORTUGAL. THE MAN at OGDEN THEATRE | 5/2/12 Portugal. The Man really, really likes Denver — at least as much as the Portland-by-way-of-Alaska act appreciates band names with unwarranted punctuation and song titles with extra parentheses, it seems. “I know a lot of bands come out and say that every…
Just over a year after opening The 1UP arcade and bar in LoDo, owner Jourdan Adler has taken over the space formerly occupied by Pete’s Monkey Bar (717 East Colfax Avenue), which made its last pour on Monday night, and plans to open the 2UP next month. Adler says the…
And the shows just keep coming. Red Rocks, which is on pace for a record season this year, added a pair of dates from My Morning Jacket, while tickets for the Beach Boys show are finally going on sale. The biggest concert news this week is Nicki Minaj, who is…
See also: Welcome to the new Deadbeat Club. Since the original Deadbeat Club closed in early 2000, the space at 4040 East Evans Avenue has gone through a number of incarnations, especially over the last five years, when it’s operated under various names, including Posh Ultra Lounge, Skin and Club…
*Update (5/2/12): An earlier version of this post listed the 8/19 Sharon Van Etten show as when the Fox would reopen. Shannon Bock sent a note clarifying that the Theatre actually has plans to reopen in the first week of August with a full schedule of shows, which will be…
Reminder: Today is the last day to get discounted tickets for the 2012 Westword Music Showcase. If you haven’t noticed, this year’s lineup is stacked. Thought Chromeo and Ghostland Observatory brought it before? When Girl Talk closes out the mainstage, we have no doubt he’ll make past years seem like…
THE BLACK KEYS @ 1STBANK CENTER See Also: • Slide show: Black Keys at the 1STBANK Center • Slide show: Black Keys at Fillmore, 6/3/10 • Q&A with Nick O’Malley of Arctic Monkeys • The Black Keys at Fox Theatre, 7/20/09 A clear sign that shit is about to get…
M83 @ OGDEN THEATRE | 4/30/12 See Also: Q&A with Maria Linden of I Break Horses The familiar strains of “Intro,” from 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, probably should have been our clue that the band was coming on. But instead, someone dressed up as the creature from the album…
