Denver-based Sailor Records, which is celebrating its first five years this weekend, started as both a labor of love and a tax write-off. When founder Oscar Ross put out the first album by his hard-rock band Lords of Fuzz in 2010, he did it just to have an imprint on…
At least that’s what you’ll hear if you hang around enough Denver music people. Though Denver’s musical reputation outside the state is as a hotbed for all things EDM and jam band, those genres don’t seem to influence what’s called the “Denver Sound.” Press a knowledgeable Denverite for further details,…
Denver has had a healthy underground hip-hop scene going back to the ’80s, including significant acts like Legion of Doom, Apostle, Future Reference, the Strange Us, the Pirate Signal and Ground Zero Movement. Newer artists like Jimmy V are keeping that world vibrant and breaking ground in establishing an audience…
The typical silk-shirted, fedora-topped crowd at Dazzle probably isn’t expecting it. It’s late on a recent Thursday, and on a stage usually occupied by Denver’s best jazz ensembles is a 26-year-old from Colorado Springs named Joseph Lamar. Megaphone in hand, he’s screaming the lyrics to the Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy…
Since winning the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991, saxophonist Joshua Redman has toured the globe, released more than dozen albums under his own name and collaborated with number of jazz luminaries, but Redman says he still feels like a complete beginner. “Every time I learn something, that…
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. The Church will host bands performing at the 2016 Westword Music Showcase on Saturday, June 25. …
Few people had heard of Dylan Montayne before he posted his YouTube video, “Uber driver raps for car full of babes,” on May 24, 2016. The video, which captured Montayne rapping for his Uber passengers, quickly went viral once blogs shared it and has since garnered attention from celebrities like…
It ain’t always sunny in Colorado, and not every octogenarian karaokes to Frank Sinatra. On Tuesday night’s season premiere of TV competition show, “America’s Got Talent,” 82-year-old John Hetlinger proved both of those points with his audition. Hetlinger, of Broomfield, took the stage before the studio audience and the panel…
I’m just going to be real, if you were born after 1996, this article is for you. Not only did you miss out on possibly the peak of modern hip-hop, you missed out on an entire culture. Do you remember when Tupac died? If so, this article might not be for you. I…
Steve Diggle didn’t really intend to be in Buzzcocks, a band that, along with the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Jam and the Damned, formed the nucleus of England’s punk explosion four decades ago. In fact, Diggle might have ended up in a different band altogether. In the summer of…
Chromeo has been at the music thing for about ten years now, pumping out one synthy, upbeat and dancey track after another. You might think it’s effortless for the duo. But according to the group’s lead vocalist Dave “Dave 1” Macklovitch, Chromeo’s aesthetic isn’t effortless at all. He and the…
When the duo GO DARK released its first EP on Halloween 2014, it was speculated that one member was prolific rapper and beat producer Doseone. Eventually it was revealed to be true that the pioneer of alternative hip-hop had teamed up with newcomer Ash, who had never before been part…
Transitioning back to society after ten and a half years in federal lockup was no walk in the park for Ronald Cosby, who’s now one of the most respected and important figures in Aurora’s hip-hop community. Better known by his nickname, “the Hood Father,” Cosby remembers leaving prison in 2008…
John Baizley, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist for Baroness, which is part of the Project Pabst lineup on Saturday, May 21, is among the most fascinating figures in contemporary music: smart, complex, conflicted, inquisitive and piercingly articulate. Just as important, his band’s twist on progressive metal operates within the traditions of…
In late 2005, a group of musicians moved into a house at 2155 Franklin Street, blocks from Five Points. The neighborhood, once called the “Harlem of the West” for its thriving jazz scene, had changed a lot by this time, and there were cheap (if neglected) spaces for the young,…
When you’re in a band, starting at the bottom and perhaps still learning your trade, few things are more rewarding than gaining the respect of your peers. If one of those peers happens to run a record label and wants to sign you, then all the better. That’s pretty much,…
Denver’s Braden Smith, aka Ancient Mith, put together a project called YAWL in late 2014 with German producer Dot. The duo’s debut album, A Pile to Keep, A Pile to Burn comes out on May 5 on Anette Records, the imprint that issued Smith’s previous full-length, 2013’s synth-infused And the…
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 hard to remember how I felt about death before the Internet. Well, maybe how I — we, collectively — processed death prior to social media. Social media gives us a space to prove our love; it is a place to instantly create memorials and collages for those we have…
It’s easy to be a man in rock and roll. The music world has always been more effortlessly navigated by men (straight-presenting, white men, mostly), but Prince never took that easy route. Throughout his storied career, the singer, songwriter, musician and producer took every opportunity to collaborate, mentor and work…
At this writing, news about the death of Prince Rogers Nelson is still being digested by stunned, shattered fans across the globe — including this one. But while I cherish the memory of the one time I caught His Purpleness live (in 1997, at Fiddler’s Green), the memory that sticks with me most…
There was a time when Mikey Smith would show up with his keyboard to the Meadowlark’s Monday-night jazz jam not knowing if he’d have a drummer to play with. Now there are nights when nine or ten different drummers show up, each hoping they’ll have a chance to play more…
