For nearly three years now, Ellie Goulding has steadily been taking over the airwaves. Whether it’s vocal features on the hottest new EDM tracks, dominating on her own with singles from one of her two platinum albums, or appearing on remixed tracks from the world’s biggest producers, the pop starlet…
Since performing at the Westword Music Showcase last summer, Macklemore’s stock has soared. His independently released album, The Heist, topped Billboard sales charts, and the album’s breakthrough single, “Thrift Shop,” surpassed “Somebody That I Used to Know,” Gotye’s virtually inescapable song from a few years ago, in number of streams,…
Hot Water Music formed in 1993, when a group of friends got together after their other bands split up. The chemistry was immediate, and the foursome relocated to Gainesville, Florida, where Hot Water Music became one of the most well-regarded melodic hardcore bands of the ’90s. Eminently tuneful, the quartet…
At barely 21, Halifax, England-born Ed Sheeran has found a solid American teenage fan base for his crooning — a heartthrob positioning that works well for the singer’s coy style. Existing somewhere between the gentle intonation of Damien Rice and the soulful acoustic exploits of James Morrison, Sheeran still has…
Pallbearer came out of the underground metal scene of central Arkansas. The band was formed in 2008 by bassist Joseph D. Rowland and guitarist and vocalist Brett Campbell, who had been playing together in SPORTS, an outfit that perhaps unintentionally upped the ante on Jucifer’s own extensive use of amps…
The title track on Queen of Nothing, the Vicious Women’s latest effort, is a driving, gritty little number that has more in common with Locust Abortion Technician-era Butthole Surfers than with any of the garage rock with which this band is often lumped. But there are no guitars here —…
Peter Henry (aka Int’l Petey) is a Katrina refugee who arrived in Colorado after the devastation of his home state, bringing some New Orleans swagger with him. The rapper’s new project, Love Money Music, assisted by DJ Shadoe, is full of bass-heavy street anthems. From the beginning, Int’l Petey raps…
When a band’s most prized feature is the electric chaos of its live show, finding a studio sound to match can be tricky. Wire Faces’ latest full-length has moments that come close to capturing this vitality, with the first half of the record offering all the ornamental delicacies that are…
On his last effort, 2011’s Misfit, Rob Roper more than proved that he had sharp songwriting skills and a knack for penning some pretty damn witty lyrics. There’s more of that on the new The Other Side of Nowhere, but musically, this release is more of a stripped-down affair with…
Hard to believe it’s already been this long, but a decade ago this month, the D Note opened in Olde Town Arvada. To commemorate this momentous occasion, the venue will host a weekend long celebration featuring Laughing Hands, Opera on Tap, Cabaret Otaku and Lionel Young on Friday, February 15…
Gateway Acts is a new ongoing series on Backbeat in which we examine the music that served as an entry point for our burgeoning musical obsessions, a gateway drug that tuned us in and turned us on. Today, Noah Hubbell gives us the goods on a Rush to judgment that…
Another week, another swell roster of music in the Mile High City. From the bacchanalian throwback debauchery of the Darkness, who will be invading the Summit Music Hall, to the lyrical thriftiness of Macklemore, who is set to headline Icelantic’s second annual edition of Winter on the Rocks, there are…
DISCO BISCUITS @ OGDEN THEATRE | 1/25/13 Although the Disco Biscuits’ show at the Ogden Theatre may have been only the second in the band’s three Colorado stops for their Winter Inferno tour, the Philadephia quartet made it feel distinct, treating the show like its own musical statement. Both segments…
PINBACK @ GOTHIC THEATRE | 01/27/13 So you’re standing there on the floor of the Gothic, stroking your beard or dancing ever-so-subtly, watching Pinback play in equally subdued fashion. All around you and onstage, folks are so chill that you’re wondering where they hid the bong. And then the guitarist…
Welcome to the weekend, friendos! Mere hours away from quitting time, and there’s so much great music to look forward to this weekend. We’ve got some choice grooves on tap from Disco Biscuits, who are closing out their three-night Colorado run tomorrow night at 1STBANK Center, some heavy goodness from…
The sheer amount of talent in the city this weekend is truly dumbfounding. It’s like the promotional powers-that-be are testing the boundaries of our dimension by packing as much dance-driven energy into as little square footage as possible. Needless to say, if you’re looking for somewhere to shake your tailfeathers…
After months and months of outrageous speculation, fake posters and seemingly endless chatter, this year’s Coachella lineup has finally been revealed. If you haven’t seen it yet, we can summarize it for you in one word: underwhelming — well, unless you’re like certain friends of ours who think that bands…
CAT POWER @ THE OGDEN THEATRE | 01/24/13 Cat Power — better known as Chan Marshall and a Revolving Cast of Other Folks — played a bizarrely unbalanced show last night at the Ogden. When it was good, it was transformative. When it was bad, it was hard not to…
Remember earlier this week when we gave you a chance to win tickets to this year’s edition of Icelantic’s Winter on the Rocks concert featuring Macklemore and Ryan Lewis with Major Lazer and Grouch and Eligh, and we made mention of the note on Ticketmaster’s site that some tickets would…
Denver has always been a hotbed for EDM, but that’s even more true these days. With that in mind, Walt White, owner and founder of Global DJ Academy (formerly Colorado DJ Academy), saw an opportunity to engage the eager fans who want to move from spectators to participants and actually…
I really thought I was going to be a songwriter,” says Rachel James, the pianist, vocalist and namesake of Rachel & the Kings. “I was writing for other artists, and I was co-writing with a lot of other songwriters. I mean, a year ago, this is not where I thought…
Anyone who saw Dances With Wolves probably recognizes that tatanka is the Lakota word for “bison.” The like-named Denver-based band adopted that imagery for the cover of its latest release, Cloudless Thunder. You might expect a band that named itself after the largest animal to roam the plains since the…
