Jolie Holland at the Walnut Room, 5/26/12

JOLIE HOLLAND @ WALNUT ROOM | 5.26.12 After the applause died down following her final song last night, Jolie Holland offered to pay someone in the crowd for gas if they could drive her to her next gig in Colorado Springs. It’s a shame that she was forced to ask,…

Signal Path at Bluebird Theater, 5/25/12

SIGNAL PATH @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 5/25/12 If a change of pace, geographic location, home life and hiatus are all a band needs to find itself smack-dab in the middle of its prime, then let Signal Path be the bearer of the torch. Last night, the trio showed Denver what…

ManCub at Larimer Lounge, 5/25/12

MANCUB @ LARIMER LOUNGE | 5/25/12 With a perforated, paneled structure as its backdrop with lights shining through and strung along the top edge, ManCub started things off with a forceful flood of low end, and both Alex Anderson and Ethan Converse seemed to push themselves headlong into the music…

Van Halen fans recall where they were in 1984

As you might have heard, Van Halen played the Pepsi Center in Denver last night, dusting off a few hits from its mega-selling album, 1984. Roving photographer Brandon Marshall hit the Pepsi Center parking lot asking fans to share where they were in 1984. Here are some of the people…

Van Halen at the Pepsi Center, 5/24/12

VAN HALEN @ PEPSI CENTER | 5/24/12 Evidently, 1982 was a very good year for David Lee Roth. “You’re taking pictures here tonight, hot stuff?” the Van Halen frontman asked a woman in the front row in the middle of “Panama.” “What? Oh, you want to make a sex tape…

All signs point to go for Signal Path

When Signal Path first started out, over a decade ago, the goal was to bring elements of the jam scene into the realm of electronic music. “We were all living in Missoula at the time,” remembers guitarist Ryan Burnett, “and we all had this vision to create something different, musically.”…

Kevin John Wesley at Rhinoceropolis, Wednesday, May 30

As the versatile and hyper-talented guitarist in Hot White, Kevin John Wesley (due at Rhinoceropolis on Wednesday, May 30) showed how thrilling abrasive and jarring guitar gymnastics could be. But even before that band went on indefinite hiatus, Wesley played solo shows during which he never quite did the same…

Van Halen

There’s no shortage of purists who would argue that, even with David Lee Roth back fronting the band, the current version of Van Halen can’t really be considered classic VH — not with Wolfie on bass in place of  Michael Anthony, whose trademark backing vocals are every bit as essential…

Jane’s Addiction

Surviving intense drug addiction, poor fashion choices, several breakups and a revolving door of celebrity bassists (Flea, Duff McKagan and TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek), Jane’s Addiction continues on. Like musical cockroaches, the band is immune to the bug spray of age and a changing music industry. As a…

Against Me!

Starting as the punk-rock solo act of Tom Gabel, Against Me! has embodied the best end of every recent punk-rock cliché. Gabel is a vegan who early on played acoustic punk protest music. He lived in a communal house, got by dumpster diving, worked with Food Not Bombs and has…

The Cult

In 1985, Love was the Cult’s breakthrough album, helped along by the single “She Sells Sanctuary” — but the band switched gears, stripped things down and started rocking out a few years later on the Rick Rubin-produced Electric. Since then, the Cult has been through a few lineup changes and…

4H Royalty

Since 4H Royalty’s Zach Boddicker spent time playing in Drag the River, it wasn’t surprising to find a few similarities to the latter’s sound on 4H’s debut, 2010’s Colossalalia. And while there are still hints of the same to be found on the act’s followup, Where UFOs Go to Die…

Kajmir Royale

Kajmir Royale is not just an MC; he’s also a producer. His street mixtape, Heir to the Throne, features damn near every MC you love out of the city, including Rockie, AP and Mr. Midas, to name a few. The project is a mix of anthemic rhythms, hard-body rhymes and…

Bostic Beats

Beat tapes can be some of the most enjoyable releases to vibe out to, especially when you don’t feel like hearing someone’s voice in your ear. Bostic Beats, half of One Eyed Kings, just released his debut instrumental album, Spring Cleaning Sessions: Volume 1. It starts slow, with a couple…

Galaxies

From the beginning of “Across the Ocean,” the opening track of Galaxies’ Letters From Sea, it sounds as though Dillon Groeneman recorded the album while on a ship. And it’s not just the sound samples that make it feel that way, but also the sense of peace and isolation that…

Rockie wants to tell you all about his Gold Dreams

Last winter, Rockie released Censored, a project that gave the MC the chance to say everything that he didn’t get to say out of the gate: He talked about the bitches, the money and being a single father in a city where damn near everyone is a rapper. Amid the…