Concerts

As firefighters continue to tackle the wildfires ravaging large portions of the state, local communities are searching for ways to provide aid, even from hours away. In Denver, a handful of local live music venues and companies have already stepped up to launch shows to benefit fire relief efforts –…

Last March, Matthew Lusk was killed in a car accident, and the funeral was paid for by a loan from his grandmother’s health-care savings until a victim’s compensation fund would repay the costs. But the insurance company has denied the claim for expenses associated with the death of Lusk, who…

Welcome to the weekend! Tonight at Red Rocks, the Avett Brothers kick off a two-night stand with City and Colour opening tonight and DeVotchKa opening tomorrow night. Also tonight, Thurston Moore visits the Larimer Lounge with his new quartet Chelsea Light Moving. Cory Branan at the Lion’s Lair, Eric McFadden…

Talk about some big talent: This weekend, you’ve got options to check out Sasha, Stacey Pullen, Pezzner, Gabriel and Dresden and more…more…more! Have fun figuring out where to put your dance shoes this weekend:…

When local jazz-pop-indie-rock-awesome band Eldren played the Westword Music Showcase last weekend, one member was missing, and the local music community continued to comment on the absence throughout the day. On June 4, violinist-guitarist-vocalist Josh Lee was detained by Immigrations Customs and Enforcement. For more than two weeks, Lee has…

Last summer, DJ and hip-hop producer Peanut Butter Wolf was at City Hall celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of Stones Throw Records, the label he founded…

Over the last year, John Baxter of ZetaKaye House has released three volumes of the This Ain’t No Cowtown series which features Colorado-based artists. The first volume, available for free through Bandcamp, included 22 bands and 10 comedians and poets, while the second and third volumes each included more than…

Stacey Pullen is not merely another DJ from Detroit. He’s one of the movers and shakers in that city, which remains the top spot in the country for innovative techno. Pullen’s association with Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson brought him into the international electronic-music scene early in his…

Seated in front of the soundboard at his home studio in Castle Pines, Mike Paul Hughes reveals telltale signs of his day job as an engineer. There’s his rapid-fire technical talk about the basic elements of sound and recording — details about megahertz and latency issues. But the signals go…

Update: Chella Negro’s take on “Needle In the Hay” added below. While Elliott Smith perhaps didn’t have the profound cultural impact of Kurt Cobain, his tragic, untimely death was every bit as sad and harrowing as the Nirvana frontman’s. As with Cobain, I can vividly remember where I was in…

Oh, sweet baby Jesus! The search has ended. I think I’ve finally found my soulmate. Isn’t she a beauty? Only problem is she’s a little pricey. Anybody have a spare $10K lying around that they can spot this card-carrying member of the KISS Army? C’mon! Can’t you just see the…

MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWS @ WESTWORD MUSIC SHOWCASE | 6.23.12 Macklemore and Ryan Lewis came out to chants of “Macklemore! Macklemore!” at the 2012 Westword Music Showcase from the packed and adoring crowd. Once Lewis stepped onto the DJ platform and took the microphone from the stand, the audience erupted…

Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. A.H…

Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to write up the acts that appear on the individual stages across the Golden Triangle. Stacy Ward and Cory Lamz split their time at The Church stage, which was graciously hosted by David Barber. Page down…

Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Brad…

Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to write up the acts that appear on the individual stages across the Golden Triangle. Jon Solomon was at the Bannock Street Garage stage, which was graciously hosted by Jim Norris. Page down to read his…

This just in: The 2012 Westword Music Showcase was a smashing success. Despite the heat, the crowd brought out some of their flyest dance moves (and “dance moves”). Let yourself be hypnotized by these GIFs, and take some notes for next time, folks. 5. The “Hopping And Toppings” Fringe benefit…

What makes a championship team?” asks trumpeter David Weiss. “It’s not the best player in the world playing his own game. It’s not everybody trying to get 35 points a night. Weiss says a similar concept applies to the Cookers, a group of jazz all-stars he put together five years…

You couldn’t make up Joe Cheves unless you thought you were being clever and writing some film in collaboration with the Coen brothers about a folksinger from the first half of the twentieth century. Cheves, who fronts Sawmill Joe (due at the hi-dive on Saturday, June 30), looks like he…

Thurston Moore has used the electric guitar in more interesting ways than most anyone else you could name in terms of using and abusing and expanding and transcending the traditional limitations of the instrument. As one of the founding members of Sonic Youth, Moore took what he had been learning…

The country is awash in Americana fever as scores of rock-radio favorites dabble in the sounds of yore. It’s part of a search for authenticity when so much pop is heavily synthesized, and partially a need for the warm, fuzzy blanket of an imagined yesteryear. Though it might be cute,…