Critic's Notebook

In Denver music news, as on the national stage, 2016 has been good, bad — but mostly it’s been ugly. From the deaths of irreplaceable pop icons to the (forced) closures of beloved venues (R.I.P. Quixote’s) and the bizarre antics of artists we can’t seem to escape, this year has kicked our collective asses. Before we run screaming into 2017, here’s a look back at ten of the most shocking or controversial stories in Denver music that rocked our world in 2016.

Heavy Metal is the reason for the season — at least, at Black Sky Brewery.

A brief cartoon history of Red Rocks.

Denver’s experimental music scene has yielded stellar releases in 2016. A complete list of all the bands operating in that realm could be much longer, but here is a primer of ten of the best acts that offered quality recordings anyone with an ear for the adventurous or unusual should check out. The bands are listed in alphabetical order because, as usual, music is not a competition.

Denver rapper Trev Rich’s new album, To Make a Long Story Short, released by the hip-hop powerhouse label Ca$h Money Records hit stereos yesterday.

Admit it: it’s not Christmas yet, and you’ve already become completely and utterly sick of Christmas songs. Which makes sense, because they’re ubiquitous—they’re the soundtrack at every store, in every elevator, on every TV and radio commercial. And god help you if you voluntarily listened to KOSI-101.5’s eternal Christmas Death March, which answers the question: just how much Josh Groban and Mariah Carey can one person take before declaring a moratorium on radio in the car?So yeah, we feel your pain. But fear not: for we bring unto you tidings of great joy, which should be to all people who are tired of hymns and carols and anything that Vince Gueraldi could adapt into a 60s jazz riff and sell to Charles Schulz. It’s not all Rudolph and Angels Up on High, people. Stretch, and enjoy the holiday alternative-style.

The Colorado Symphony veers toward the epic. Whether it’s recycling the familiar repertoire of the three Bs — Bach, Beethoven and Brahms — or collaborating with newer musicians including the Flaming Lips, DeVotchKa, Elephant Revival and Gregory Alan Isakov, audiences can expect sweeping performances in weighty locations. This February, the…

A brief history of the Ogden Theatre.

The bassist is an oft-underappreciated member of a band. But the low end is the soul of the music, and a talented, mindful, imaginative and patient bass player can turn a merely good song into a great one by giving it texture. Denver is especially brimming with talented bassists who…

The all-day metal fest, during which bands dueled, has become one of the best annual live-music shows in a city with a serious heavy-metal pedigree.

Unless your grandparents are punk rockers, it’s good to know which venues Colorado offers for the more seasoned fans among us.

Simulators is the latest project from Bryon Parker and Brian Polk. Parker had a long tenure as the guitarist and frontman of noisy post-punk outfit Accordion Crimes, which fizzled out in summer 2016. Polk still drums in the punk band Joy Subtraction. When putting Simulators together in summer 2016, Parker…

In August, SubRosa released For This We Fought the Battle of Ages, one of the most fascinating rock albums of the year.

When Flux Capacitor opened the first week of December 2014, no one thought it would last more than three months. But the DIY venue has become a staple of the Colorado Springs music scene, with a national reputation for quality, wide-ranging shows and good times. The diversity of musical styles…

“Protest songs in response to military aggression, Protest songs to try and stop the soldier’s gun, But the battle raged on.” Against Me! – “White People for Peace” From the onset of human endeavor, people have been at war. We as a race have done terrible things to each other…

The Fray released its first greatest hits album, Through the Years, on November 4, 2016. Often a greatest hits album signifies a band either in need of a late-career shot in the arm or a way to mark a milestone in the group’s career. For the Fray, it seems more of a celebration of how far the group has come, and the compilation includes three new songs. “Throughout the career at certain points we kind of had our head down in the game focusing on one record or one song or one tour or whatever,” says drummer Ben Wysocki. “This is the first time we’ve been able to step back and look at the whole arc of what we’ve done and what the bands have provided to us, and it’s been really amazing.”

Beloved Denver spot My Brother’s Bar was a hangout for the Beats, including Neal Cassady, who left an outstanding bar tab.

Mannequin Pussy’s latest album, Romantic, was the product of conversations the band was having about the nature of romance — and the parallels between the modern era and the tumultuous Romantic era of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Rüfüs Du Sol has a love affair with Colorado. In the past five months, the band has played three venues and four shows in the Centennial State — including the two-night run last weekend at the Gothic Theatre. Besides frequenting Colorado to perform, the band has been busy this year. Since the release of the group’s second album, Bloom, the band has gained momentum: performances at festivals such as Coachella and Lollapalooza, supporting for Odesza at Red Rocks, and now a North American tour in which “sold out” accompanies nearly every stop listed. It’s surprising that Rüfüs have time to even eat.

An outline of the present state of affairs concerning the Colorado Symphony, including its financial status, labor relations, and plans to move to a new concert hall.

By now, we’ve all said our long goodbyes to summer and festival season. Red Rocks will reopen for a couple of icy shows this winter, but outdoor venues have begun hibernation. Now’s the time to make your indoor entertainment plans for the months ahead. Though its concerts might not make our usual lists of the hottest shows of a given week, we’re spotlighting this season of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, which hosts a variety of events for different ages and tastes, and often upend our ideas of a traditional classical concert. Below are eight reasons to check out Denver’s symphony this year.

They say the personal is political, and the political can be popular music. There’s a long history of mainstream music expressing discontent with government and society. But when we step away from our Facebook soapboxes to join a march, “Fortunate Son” isn’t exactly the most seamless rallying cry for the…