Grant Hart’s had a rough go recently. Upon returning home from a tour he describes as disastrous, his house caught fire and burned to the ground, and exactly one month later, his mother died. “It’s been kind of a rough time since then,” Hart admits. “I had gotten home from…
Even though these jokers have taken at least a year off, anyone lucky enough to have seen the band can attest to the fact that the Skivies are not quite like any other band. Yeah, the Butthole Surfers comparison is obvious, especially considering that DJ Von Felt uses a device…
It took almost three years for Dax Riggs to release a proper followup to 2007’s We Sing of Only Blood or Love. Last year’s Say Goodnight to the World is an entirely louder and more menacing affair than Love — if that’s possible — echoing Roy Orbison, the Stooges, Julian…
With movie-star good looks and a knack for alternating hushed and forceful harmonies, it’s no surprise that Joy Williams and John Paul White of the Civil Wars have been playing to sold-out crowds on their cross-country tours (including this date at the Fox Theatre). The act occupies the space between…
The Meat Puppets’ improbable gold album, Too High to Die, has a title both accurate and true. The band’s main men are brothers Cris and Curt Kirkwood, who began playing punk in the ’70s, turned hardcore in the early ’80s and landed a deal with SST Records, which was bankrolled…
Vandelay Industries — a Fort Collins pop-punk quartet awesomely named after George Costanza’s fake business — makes no attempt at dressing up a well-worn genre with Critter. Instead, the band lets synths be pretty while drums, bass and guitar play safely within major-chord reason and Blake Hinson’s voice stays completely…
Exemplary production on Innerstate Ike’s latest release, Moolah Music, immediately bolsters the rapper’s larger-than-life lyrics, which center on the notion of making “moolah” by perfecting the art of your hustle. With a gravelly delivery that is distinctly his own, Ike reflects on the routine of rise, grind and repeat, with…
Listening to We All Know Better, Aaron Hart’s debut EP, it’s not surprising to discover that the singer-songwriter grew up singing along to the Beach Boys. Throughout the record, Hart displays a pronounced affinity for sunny pop, particularly on piano-driven numbers like “A Little Bit Lonely.” A high point on…
One of the most gripping live acts around these parts for the past two decades, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club generally kicks up dust with equal fervor on its studio recordings. With Unentitled, the followup to 2008’s Cipher, the band doesn’t steer too far from its tried-and-true formula of dark country…
When Michael Trundle, Tyler Jacobson and Tim Cook started Lipgloss in the summer of 2001, they had no idea that it would become something of a Denver institution. From humble beginnings as a dance night at the club 60 South (now 3 Kings Tavern) once a month on Mondays, Lipgloss…
On For Better or Worse, his sophomore solo release, A.V.I.U.S., the frontman MC for Prime Element — a trio that also includes Es-Nine and DJ Cysko Rokwel — sounds reflective and thoughtful. Scheduled to come out this week on the Kamikaze Airlines label, home also to Prime Element, the eight-track…
From the mid-’80s to the early ’90s, San Francisco was a Shangri-La of house music. It’s where impresarios like Doc Martin got their start or continued their careers. Martin began spinning records in the summer of 1986, playing legendary eight-hour sets at such clubs as Flammable Liquid and Sunday Love…
The black SUV with the “Ecstasy” vanity plate pulled up to the back-stage entrance of Westword Music Showcase on Saturday, and out stepped the driver, who looked fully dressed to attend an ’80s prom. He was suited appropriately for his passengers: Chromeo, the funk duo that pays homage to the…
As Matt & Kim (playing tonight at the Ogden Theatre with The Thermals and Autobot), Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino didn’t set out to do much more than have fun. Playing its first D.I.Y. show before even arriving at a name, the New York duo has since moved on to…
Hard Rock Cafe’s 40th Anniversary Memorabilia Tour bus will be outside the Denver location at 500 16th Street for one day only on Wednesday, June 29, from noon to 7 p.m. The exhibit includes the top forty most iconic pieces of music memorabilia from Hard Rock’s collection, including Buddy Holly’s…
Elway’s (2500 East First Avenue) just kicked off its seventh annual summer music series, which runs every Wednesday through August 21. The outdoor shows, held in the courtyard behind the restaurant, usually attract some decent-sized crowds. This year, the lineup includes a number of original acts like Bop Skizzum and…
Every year, we enlist our Backbeat writers to host various stages at the Westword Music Showcase, and in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty and write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Click through to read travelogues from Thorin Klosowski, Ru…
Norwegian-born singer Sondre Lerche (playing tonight at the Larimer Lounge with Kishi Bashi and Nightlands) knows how to write a catchy melody, but it’s his deep catalog of complex chord structures, bossanova beat references and Tom Jones-ish crooning that set him apart. This diversity has also allowed the musician and…
Outsider musician Larry “Wild Man” Fischer passed away last week at the age of 66 due to heart failure. He wasn’t exactly the most well-known musician in the world, but his blend of crazed outsider songwriting and a knack for attracting some popular friends — including Rosemary Clooney, Frank Zappa…
The last time I got a contact high was in September, when Sleep played the Gothic Theatre. So it was only appropriate that my next contact high came while talking with J.D. Cronise of the Sword, another great metal band, about fifteen minutes after the Austin-based act finished its set…
BASSNECTAR at RED ROCKS | 06.18.11″The visuals for the night set a new standard: Revolutionary in regards to illusional perspective and thought-provoking in regard to the propaganda images of war and op-art icons seared into the retinas of everyone staring at the stage.”…
All right, now that the festival portion of the Westword Music Showcase is on the books, it’s time to hand out the awards. As far as that goes, we’re tallying the votes right now, and the winners in each individual category will be announced at a special ceremony this Thursday,…
