In February 5th, 2013, Denver MC Marcus “Arrilius” Hayes passed away. He left two-thirds of a trilogy of albums unfinished, and producer David “Fat Trak” Williams has spent the last year and a half putting together the pieces. Part two — The Meditations of Marcus Arrilius — is the first…
Denver’s Bullet Wilson, formerly known as Kevin Pistols, has accomplished a great amount since entering the rap game in 1998, recording songs and videos with the likes of Bun B, Snoop Dogg and E-40. But after a personal epiphany and after visiting some of the biggest record labels in the…
Jason Isbell, playing Tuesday at the Boulder Theater and Wednesday at the Ogden, embodies all the traditions, influences and stories that make up Southern folk and country. He was raised in rural Alabama and immediately took to singing and playing guitar. He toured and wrote with Drive By Truckers. He…
Tommy Metz works as a web developer and is unassuming and friendly. He’s also one of Denver’s more prolific musicians. His voice is unexpectedly powerful and brightly melodic, and it floats over his finely crafted beats. Lately, Metz has separated his work, releasing his darker, more experimental pieces under the…
Lily Fangz bounces on the balls of her feet, looking out on the crowd from the stage at Red Rocks. Her long hair flows past her shoulders. She raises the mic. It’s time to go. Fangz, aka Lileana Krenza, is a rapper and hip-hop artist, and she’s diving into reggae…
In his tongue-in-cheek rock-philosophy book, Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group, Chain and the Gang’s Ian Svenonius argues that band names must appear mystically in a musician’s dream or revelation, and he offers such strategies as eating mold and running from the police until exhausted for helping…
It is known that there are still several hundred bodies somewhere beneath the surface of Cheesman Park, which was a burial ground during the late nineteenth century. Many of the dead were re-interred at Riverside Cemetery, but plenty remain. If there is a haunted place in the heart of Denver,…
The soft colors and fake palm trees of a local Peruvian spot served as ideal backdrop as we caught up with the unique band of personalities in Latin reggae band Mono Verde. For many of the band members, this quiet spot recreates a feeling of home, with its imported South…
CP 208 closed out the night at Roostercat Coffee House for the Westword Music Showcase. Most of the crowd had filed out following Echo Beds’ set. Their loss. The four-piece took to the stage and sprawled out a herky- jerky, noise-jazz, No Wave-esque post-punk. Its sounds are used like a…
Those who know Max Winne from his current folk project the Maykit might be surprised to learn about his first band. As a teenager, Winne played in the hardcore band Call to Arms with Jeremy and Adam Fisher (the latter was a founding member of Fear Before). But as he…
Singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten’s work just keeps getting better and better. On Are We There, her followup to the rapturously reviewed 2012 album Tramp, she digs deeper than ever before, broadening her creative scope and her musical palette in ways that are simultaneously moving and enthralling. In advance of her…
Although Ambrose Akinmusire’s latest Blue Note effort, the imagined savior is far easier to paint, is primarily an instrumental release (save for a few songs with guest vocalists), the forward-thinking jazz trumpeter sometimes writes backstories for his compositions. It was something that was partly inspired by Syd Field’s book, Screenplay:…
Tonight, June 17, Dear Rabbit is releasing its latest record, In a Desert Without the Book at the Hi-Dive. The album features a collection of existential explorations cast in gypsy folk pop songs. Dear Rabbit delivers them with a combination of passion and delicacy of feeling. The project is often…
Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger are the two Germans behind Booka Shade (which plays Beta on June 21). The group, in its latest iteration (it played briefly in the ’90s as well), has developed a sort of cult following in the American EDM market. Its sound is different from much…
Denverites Adrian Garcia (A-Trax), Lennard Daniels (Lennyx Dublyn) and Jeremy Barnes (JT) make up the core of the hip-hop collective Planes! The three have all been rapping since they were young, in the last few years started working together. “It just kind of came together,” Garcia said. “Everybody compliments each…
There are more Denver bands than you could credibly hope to get to know right away. It’s a good problem to have — this city is rich with talent and creativity. Over 140 of the best bands in town will play at next Saturday’s Westword Music Showcase in the Golden…
Hardcore bands are often the sum of their members’ influences. Not so with Culture Shock: The band’s music, lyrics and imagery come almost exclusively from the mind of frontman and founder Geoff Diederich. “The whole point of this band was to try and sound like SSD [Society System Decontrol] if…
To the uninitiated, Devo is just some ’80s band with funny hats who did that “Whip It” song that occasionally gets a nod on Family Guy or something. To the slightly wiser, they were the basis of Weird Al’s mind-bending original “Dare to Be Stupid.” Such a person might start…
Daniel Pujol is a rock-and-roll songwriter from Nashville playing tonight at the Larimer Lounge, and he would like to communicate with you. He’s at several disadvantages there, especially if he sticks to the methods we mostly rely on these days. He could send you a text message, but they are…
Denver’s DJ Cavem Moetevation spends plenty of time focusing on the “green” stuff. But his green stuff is not money or weed. Instead, his focus is on kale and being eco-friendly. Cavem — a former Westword MasterMind award winner — is a husband and father, a teacher, a rapper, a…
Denver is growing so fast that two years here can feel more like ten. So Travis Egedy — better known as Pictureplane — has missed plenty since he packed up and moved to New York in 2012. Still, he’s practically a native. He spent the better part of a decade…
With his virtuosic playing and two-handed approach, Victor Wooten has long been a pacesetter on the electric bass. From his work with Béla Fleck & the Flecktones to a vibrant solo career launched with his outstanding 1996 debut, A Show of Hands, Wooten has proven the broad potential of the…
