Tiki bars such as Trader Vic’s and Don the Beachcomber enjoyed a long run in Denver from the ’60s into the ’80s, but except for a few sputters like Tiki Boyd’s in the Ramada Inn on Colfax and the Tiki Torch in Edgewater, this city’s tiki action was largely extinguished…
Founded by David Thomas Bailey of FaceMan, the Colorado Composers Collective includes incredibly accomplished musicians who believe that music born of formal training need not be exclusive to symphony orchestras and the like. This week, the Collective (due at the Walnut Room on Saturday, December 3) will be performing what…
Lee Foss seemingly came out of nowhere to become one of the hottest DJs of the last couple of years. In truth, he came out of Chicago, where a lifelong love of house music — as well as a passion for Detroit techno, ’80s electro and ’90s hip-hop — shaped…
Mike Ness has been the only constant member in Social Distortion’s rotating cast for more than thirty years (with a few breaks in between) — although some fans might argue that Ness essentially is Social Distortion. Ness has aged well. He and the band still tear through material with reckless…
As a vocalist and guitarist in the foundational experimental metal band Neurosis, Scott Kelly’s influence has been deep and far-reaching, even outside the realm of heavy music, and that’s probably because Neurosis wasn’t originally part of a metal scene. The band’s members came up through hardcore and pushed that sound…
These guys didn’t invent melodic hardcore; they spent their early years releasing albums on Fat Wreck Chords. This included 2003’s Revolutions Per Minute, recorded at the Blasting Room in Fort Collins — where the band has recorded most of its subsequent albums, like its 2011 offering, Endgame. The foursome’s anthemic,…
Somewhere around the second or third time you watch “More Cowbell” — possibly the greatest role of Christopher Walken’s career — you will notice it: Jimmy Fallon, filling out a non-role as the drummer in the background, flubbing his one line and spending the whole time trying not to crack…
This is the rare album that bucks expectations from beginning to end. Although “Circles!” employs that normally grating nu-metal screaming vocal break, and “Wageslave” makes extensive use of a Pantera-esque trudging groove, both songs transcend genre limitations, with a curiously moody yet fitting outro in the former and strong guitar…
It’s not surprising that the guys in Truckasaurus looked to the truck/dinosaur in The Simpsons for inspiration when choosing the band’s moniker. There’s enough humor in the lyrics to know that they don’t take themselves too seriously, with lines about doing lots of blow with hookers on the go, feeding…
For a split EP to really work, there usually has to be some kind of musical kinship. Patrick Dethlefs and Eye & the Arrow, who each contribute four songs to the EP, both obviously share an affinity for indie folk, and although they’re on similar wavelengths, Eye & the Arrow…
On Censored, Rockie’s latest release, he’s most impressive on tracks with production from Team Green Productions — cuts like “Return of the King,” a standout joint that finds Rockie spitting chest-beating lyrics and expressing a hometown loyalty. But he’s in top form throughout, transitioning easily from wall-thumping, bass-driven club tracks…
Beats Antique, a trio made up of producer and show-stealing belly dancer Zoe Jakes and a pair of classically trained multi-instrumentalists, David Satori and Tommy Cappel, has crafted a sound that has roots in dubstep, hip-hop, indie rock and even Middle Eastern music. The act’s often primal show includes Jakes…
With a name like Echospace, you know this outfit probably doesn’t play hard house. And in fact, the collaboration between ambient dub-techno producer Rod Modell (aka Deepchord) and Steven Hitchell (aka Soultek) is definitely spaced out and dub-influenced, with trippy washes of melody over steadily throbbing beats. It’s all produced…
Red Rocks, end of January,Atmosphere, Greives, Yelawolf and Z-Trip? That’s what we’re hearing. We know: The prospect of seeing a show at Red Rocks in January seems, well, frosty, about as plausible as, say, seeing an NFL quarterback who cannot throw leading his team to W after W… Wait, what?…
VARLET AT LARIMER LOUNGE | 11/26/11One of the high points of this show was when Lilly Scott said we would be taking a break from the pre-recorded readings from Naked Lunch that opened the show and filled in the silences between songs for a nice older song. And rather than…
NATHANIEL RATELIFF AT THE GOTHIC | 11/25/11There aren’t a whole lot of singers with a magnetism capable of completely hushing a room the size of the Gothic, but Nathaniel Rateliff did just that near the end of his set on Friday night during his annual holiday show. Sure, there were…
HOPSIN at THE BLUEBIRD THEATER | 11/25/11Hopsin is a rowdy young man from Los Angeles who is mad at everyone, from the wife of late rapper Eazy-E to Lupe Fiasco. Some, for good reason, others possibly for shock value. No matter, the crazy-eyed rapper stormed the stage at the Bluebird…
Sad news to share with you this evening, in case you haven’t heard: We just received word that “Michigan” Mike Torpie died yesterday at the age of 43. Originally from Michigan (thus the nickname), Torpe moved to Colorado in December 1992. A vital, highly esteemed and beloved member of the…
While John Rumley has spent many years playing in Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, he’s also spent much of his time building many of the band’s guitars and banjo. Just over a decade ago, he started his own shop, Rumley Western, where he’s been handcrafting stringed instruments. Each one is unique,…
Jay Bianchi and his two brothers opened the original Quixote’s True Blue fifteen years ago at 9150 East Colfax in Aurora as a place where Deadheads and kindred spirits could gather after the passing of Jerry Garcia. He says figured the venue might last five years and worried that his…
Although the Lions Lair opened in 1967, the bar didn’t start hosting live music until Jux County played there in 1991. Since then, the place has brought in a steady stream of local and national acts, including some legends like Graham Parker, John Doe and Jonathan Richman. To celebrate twenty…
Record Store Day was originally started a few years ago as a once-a-year celebration for some 700 independently owned record stores in the U.S., including Twist & Shout and Wax Trax, but the organizers have also included today, Black Friday, as another chance to for music fans to get their…
