“It started as a total joke,” says Sarah Anderson of Harpoontang (due tomorrow night at the Larimer Lounge), the outfit which also includes the trio of Paper Bird vocalists, Laura Goldhamer and M & the Gems singer Maria Kohler (also known as Kitty Crimes). “But every time we practiced, something…
This Saturday, some of the hottest local talent will be getting busy on fifteen stages throughout the Golden Triangle for the annual Westword Music Showcase. After the Showcase wraps, Q-Tip, hip-hop’s premier rapping, producing and trendsetting superstar will rock a rare DJ set at City Hall Amphitheatre for the official…
Røsenkøpf (due tonight at Rhinoceropolis) is a trio whose membership came out of punk but didn’t bother with trying to shed the ideas or trappings of punk. Even sonically, there is a bit of punk’s edge to the band’s darker moods and atmosphere. But the dark to be found here…
Katy Perry’s teenage dream is finally over. “Wide Awake,” the eighth and final single off Teenage Dream sees Perry sing about completion, realization and “falling from Cloud 9” — and takes a few jabs at her failed marriage to Russell Brand, too. The music video, which was just released, however,…
Girl Talk (due this Saturday, June 23, on the Westword Music Showcase main stage) started when Gregg Gillis was earning his degree in biomedical engineering. Eventually, Girl Talk took up enough of Gillis’s time to become a full-time endeavor. Although influenced in part by early mash-ups, Gillis was more inspired…
Japandroids (due tonight at Larimer Lounge) started out with their own reinterpretation of angular, splintery punk and post-punk. But instead of sounding like another band that just discovered the Stooges or Joy Division, Japandroids plays their songs with a certain conviction you normally hear in blue-collar rock with a hint…
Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when Nirvana came back to town for a show at the Gothic Theatre with Dinosaur Jr., fresh off of recording Nevermind. When the…
Did you know Bob Dylan once spent a summer in Denver as a then-unknown teenager with a fake accent, sleeping on a floors and gigging at the Satire Lounge? He was nineteen at the time. It was just a year after the young Robert Zimmerman adopted his iconic stage moniker…
It was a big week for a certain Canadian this week, as the import’s song finally overtook Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.” And no, we’re not talking about Justin Bieber, but she is his protégé. Carly Rae Jepsen’s inescapable viral and radio hit, “Call Me Maybe,” conquers the…
Milli Vanilli will always be a part of pop-culture history. In February 1990, the duo of Fabrice Morvan (due this Saturday at Denver PrideFest at Civic Center Park) and Rob Pilatus won the Grammy for Best New Artist. Nine months later, the pair’s lives and careers came crashing down when…
See Also: Ministry’s Al Jourgensen on his ties to Colorado: living in Breckenridge, attending Greeley High School and his ill-fated attempt at a rodeo career Ministry (due Sunday, June 17, at the Ogden Theatre) got its start when Al Jourgensen moved from Colorado to Chicago, where the Wax Trax label…
This week, we’ve got a ton of music for you to catch up on. With all the sunshine, parties and pretty girls on the horizon, someone’s got to be out there making the soundtrack for the summer, and those on the scene in Colorado have been very, very busy crafting…
Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when Dean Reed (aka “Red Elvis”) came back to Denver and didn’t receive the warmest of welcomes. Dean Reed was more than a…
Chicago is the city that most music fans probably associate with Ministry (due this Sunday, June 17, at the Ogden Theatre), and for good reason, as that’s where the band got its start. Before moving to the Windy City, where the Wax Trax! label was headquartered, though, Ministry mastermind Al…
Su Charles pulls you in with her voice, charm, and deep personal experiences. After an ill-fated stint on the latest season of American Idol, Charles was inspired and more determined than ever to make her dream of singing come true. Shortening her name to SuCh, the the endearing, Haitian-American songbird…
Perc (due at NORAD Dance Bar tomorrow night) emerged over the last several years as one of the key figures in the global techno scene by championing an aggressive, atonal and industrial-tinged brand of dance-music via his own production work and through his label, Perc Trax. We recently caught up…
Nestled in the hills of Nederland, you’ll find the Magic Beans, an outfit that is growing strong roots in the ever blossoming jam scene in Colorado with a sturdy base of jazz, rock, bluegrass and electronica. With an eye toward creating an ongoing sense of community with fellow members of…
Another strong week for Gotye, who held on to number one with “Somebody That I Used To Know.” If you haven’t kept track, that’s a tally of eight weeks at the top now. However, that could change next week, as strong pushes from both Rihanna and Katy Perry, not to…
Patrick Dethlefs (due Friday, June 8, at Swallow Hill’s Daniels Hall) has been building his name as a songwriter of note for the last few years. His debut album Stays the Same is credited to “Patrick Dethlefs & Friends,” which is a testament to Dethlefs’s unassuming persona and humility, not…
Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when a Ray Charles concert at Red Rocks in 1962 turned into a beer-can-tossing melee. With the passage of time, our heroes become…
The Dandy Warhols (due at the Gothic Theatre and Twist & Shout on Tuesday, June 12) came out of the underground rock world of the 1990s to enduring popularity and fame. Over the course of the band’s career, the Dandys have consistently pushed their sonic boundaries and songwriting. They are…
Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when Grammy winner Marc Cohn got shot in the head in downtown Denver during a car-jacking attempt gone awry. Marc Cohn might be…
