What is Denver hip-hop? What does it sound like and what does it stand for? There is a lot of discussion surrounding these questions, trying to pin labels on the Colorado hip-hop community. While definitive answers are in short supply, talent is not. As an introduction, here are nine hip-hop…
We are pleased to debut the release of the new video for the song “Desert Minded” by Fort Collins-based rock band Slow Caves. The song will be issued on the band’s upcoming EP of the same name on the Grouphug imprint. Slow Caves, nominated for a 2016 Westword Music Award,…
In 1967, when producer Tony Visconti first met a young David Bowie, in the office of David Platz, head of London-based publishing company Essex Music, the first thing Visconti did was stare into Bowie’s eyes, which appeared to be two different colors. “I didn’t know which one to look at,”…
Editor’s Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz’s website to see more of his work…
“I want everything to be a little more laid-back,” says Neil Michael Hagerty, singer/guitarist with the Howling Hex. It’s a sunny April day in Colorado, and, tall and lean, he’s sporting a pastel tank top; his long brown hair is touched with gray at the sideburns. His drummer, Eric Van…
Dead & Company are returning to Colorado this summer with a special performance at Folsom Field in Boulder, but any time is ripe for fans of the Grateful Dead to eat up the band’s music and history. To answer that call is Buzz Poole’s examination of the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. …
Cindy Cervantes, aka Bgirl Emerge, remembers what it used to feel like to participate in breakdancing battles as a woman. Throughout the 2000s, Cervantes would show up to events around Denver where “it was like one B-girl to sixty B-boys,” she says. “So there’s a lot of expectation on you…
When Banned In DC was first published in 1988, it was one of the very few tomes to thoroughly document the world of hardcore punk. It was certainly the first to provide a true snapshot of a time in America’s capital when youth culture and a vibrant underground music had…
Over the course of her career, Mile High City entertainer Lannie Garrett has worn many (flamboyant) hats. In this week’s Westword, we profile the beloved Denver chanteuse before her induction to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame on April 16. Here is a photo gallery of Garrett’s looks and costumes across…
This past week, I visited Nashville and had the pleasure — the pure pleasure — of seeing Loretta Lynn perform live on the Grand Ol’ Opry. As I listened to her still-vibrant voice deliver “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and songs from her fine new album, Full Circle, I marveled anew at…
Over the years, Denver has birthed more than its fair share of DIY labels, including Local Anesthetic Records, Gift Records, Soda Jerk, Suburban Home, Relapse, Best Friends Records, Long Spoon and Elephant 6, which have proven to be important locally and beyond. More recently, Sailor Records, Black Box Tapes, Heart in Box,…
On April 16, singer Lannie Garrett will be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, and the festivities will take place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Garrett will perform songs with her band in tribute to pioneers of twentieth-century music from Colorado,…
Like many significant bands, X never garnered the commercial success that should be commensurate with its influence. X’s mixture of poetry, folk and punk resonated with Americana and rockabilly while not fitting snugly in any sub-genre of music. In that way, X was alternative rock before that became an umbrella…
“The concept is just not there this time.” Travis Stever, lead guitarist for Coheed and Cambria, lets out an exhale over the phone as he begins to provide an answer to the question his band has been faced with over and over again since releasing its newest album, The Color…
Editor’s Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz’s website to see more of his work…
I have been playing music for twenty years, and in that time have accumulated experiences, both good and bad, that I know would have never happened if I weren’t a musician. I have played shows in Europe, Alaska and Mexico, but none of those prepared me for the experience I…
Editor’s Note: Kalyn Heffernan is a familiar voice to many regular readers of Westword Music. We’ve written about her band Wheelchair Sports Camp many times over the years, and she has sent us dispatches from previous trips to SXSW. This year, she shares this recap of the band’s fifth trip to…
Kevin Haskins was still his teens in 1978 when he became a founding member of post-punk band Bauhaus. Along with his brother and bassist David, guitarist Daniel Ash and singer Peter Murphy, Bauhaus brought together ideas from punk, glam rock and the avant-garde and created a brooding yet dynamic and…
The team over at Denver’s RMG Engineering have made a killer infographic with ten reasons explaining why Red Rocks Amphitheatre is one of the most amazing venues in the country. Nay, on the planet. And we could not agree more. But, hey, we’re pretty biased. “We decided to make this infographic…
Another year, another twelve months of outstanding local music videos. We watched more videos than we can remember this year, and there were lots of winners, showing off the Denver music community’s signature innovation and sense of humor. Though it’s impossible to make a comprehensive list, here are the ten…
When David Bowie passed away, anyone with a heart felt it break a little. He influenced fashion, music, culture and philanthropy in profound and important ways, and his passing left a massive hole in the universe that will never quite be filled. Longtime Bowie fan and artist Vincent Comparetto was…
“Denver has yet to solidify a place for hip-hop where these people are passing the mike and ripping the place apart,” says Jeff Campbell. “It will eventually happen, but it’s not happening right now.” Campbell, a longtime Denverite now decamping to Milan, Georgia, to take a job with the Genesis…
