“My Mother said, ‘I’m a survivor, I pull together Christmas, every year.'” So says Cristina in her 1981 song “Things Fall Apart,” an ironic new wave take on the trials and pressures of the season and life in general. Not all the tunes below are so icy, but they are…
Isaiah “Ikey” Owens was more than merely the genius keyboard player of the Mars Volta. He was more than a key figure in the Long Beach music scene of the ’90s and the 2000s. He was more than a mentor/producer to underground bands like Rubedo, Holophrase and True Aristocrats from…
Psychodelic Zombiez were one of the most popular and beloved bands in Denver in the 1990s. Its blend of funk, punk and Danny Elfman-esque strangeness early on set it apart from many other bands of its day. Its rowdy antics on- and off-stage garnered the band a bit of a…
On a typical weekday, Roy Dockery can be found inside a wide, one-story brick building in a northeast Denver industrial park. The corporate setup appears to be modeled after an advertisement in an office-supply catalogue, with high-walled cubicles forming a maze across the center floor and a few closed-door offices…
This was the year of call-out culture, viral backlash and Facebook activists — but 2015 also saw frequent in-person, organized demonstrations for a variety of causes around the world. Denver’s Flobots make conscious music of and for the current social and political moment, but their new projects are a continuation…
Denver-raised rapper Cisco the Nomad might be the busiest twenty-year-old in the state. In between classes at Colorado College, Cisco, whose birth name is Clay Edwards, finds time to write plays, act and rap. Below you can hear his latest single, “Vinyl,” off of his upcoming LP Future Real Estate,…
What’s your stoned soundtrack of 2015? Yesterday WeedStream.net released its list of the top ten weed-related songs of the year. The list includes tracks from a few usual suspects, including Snoop Dogg and Kottonmouth Kings, but also notes surf-rockers Best Coast (“California Nights”) and British dance-pop duo The Ting Tings…
There’s no doubt that headbangers enjoyed another banner year in 2015. These last 12 months proved to be a successful for many established, and up-and-coming metal bands from various sub genres. Through it all, we’ve been keeping track of our favorites and the bands that surprised us the most.This was…
Psychic TV is making its first Denver appearance since 1990, but the one-of-a-kind music project has long maintained special connections to Denver. Formed in the wake of the 1981 break-up of foundational industrial band Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV continued to foster a community of like-minded individuals aimed not just 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…
It’s no secret on a global scale that ever since recreational cannabis became legalized, people started flooding to Denver, and the city experienced a huge influx of culture, industry and innovation. With this came new musical movements, subcultures and events, and one that has gotten a big boost is metal…
The third and final installment of High Plains Underground Archives’ series on Denver music reunion shows, features Warlock Pinchers. These days it is very easy to find out about local bands if you make even a small amount of effort. But back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, this was…
It was a great summer for independent hip-hop in Denver and beyond, with more venues opening their doors to the genre, and creativity in the rap world reaching new highs. Riding those highs, Kaipran Promotions will present a show celebrating independent performers called “Legends in the Making” on December 5…
The Fluid is the focus of High Plains Underground Archive’s second installment on Denver music reunion shows. To start at the beginning: Matt Bischoff and Ricky Kulwicki had been members of the Aurora, Colorado-based Frantix, a great punk band with irreverent humor and incredible energy, which became known for its classic single in…
Gravy is Thanksgiving culinary staple, a condiment loved for its rich, smooth, flavor. And shouldn’t your holiday soundtrack be as mellow and funky as the gravy on your potatoes? We’ve got you covered. Compiled for your listening pleasure, we present ten soul-jazz morsels that combine soulful blues inflections and a…
If anyone could embody the nickname “Zen Cowboy,” it was country-folk singer-songwriter and master fingerstyle guitarist Chuck Pyle, whose songs have been covered by John Denver, Chris LeDoux, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Suzy Bogguss. Pyle died on November 6, at the age of seventy, in Palmer Lake. “Chuck…
Since the late ’90s, Fuck the Facts has been a force to be reckoned with in the worlds of both grindcore and metal. The French Canadian crossover band have undergone a few lineup changes, hiatuses, and other challenges, but they have returned stronger, making more music and hitting the road…
The current musical era is not short on nostalgia and reunion shows; bands performing classic albums in their entirety have become commonplace for tours and for the Pitchfork Music Festival. In addition to the “classic rock” nostalgia circuit, many bands who had their heyday in the 50s-70s seem to embark…
In this week’s cover story, “Rhymes to Die For,” we gave you the story of Rachel Aboytes, a local rap artist who performed under the stage name La Baby Smiley. In March of this year, Aboytes was murdered in a drive-by shooting in east Denver. Since then, her fame has…
Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Dave Preston recently released his first ambient album in five years. The luminously evocative In These Storms is Preston’s third ambient release, following 2008’s Be and 2010’s Soundtrack for Motion. Rather than the synth or beat-driven sounds often associated with the ambient style, Preston’s music features organic sounds…
On the first weekend of November, 2015, The Globe opened for business in the former home of Sidewinder, a longtime Globeville dive bar that later enjoyed a short run as a cozy little bar and music venue, after it was bought in 2012 and managed by Fernando “Fez” Guzman’s family…
Dreadnought, the local psychedelic, progressive-doom band, defies many stereotypes about what metal is and can be. The act is half-male and half-female, and its members take on non-traditional roles. Kelly Schilling plays guitar and does harsh and clean vocals; Lauren Vieira plays keyboards and does clean vocals; Jordan Clancy plays drums…
