TRIBUTE TO CHET BAKER @ DAZZLE | WED, 6/5 Last month marked the 25th anniversary of legendary trumpeter Chet Baker’s death after falling out of a hotel room window in Amsterdam. So in honor of Baker’s life, local trumpeter Justin Peterson is presenting a new concert series, “I Miss You,…
It took decades, but Joan Baez has finally overcome her stage fright. The legendary folk singer and activist, who initially found fame during the folk renaissance of the 1960s, partnering with Bob Dylan on stage and fighting for a wide range of causes into the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, says…
THE POSTAL SERVICE @ RED ROCKS | 5/30 “We had to cancel last night because I lost my voice, but I’ve got it back, kinda sorta,” Ben Gibbard told a packed house last night at Red Rocks, referring to scrapping the previous night’s gig in Salt Lake City. “And by…
ALABAMA SHAKES @ RED ROCKS | SUN, 6/2/13 Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes has a powerful and mesmerizing voice and she sings with an impassioned believability that sounds like she has experienced a fuller life than her young years could hope to contain. Her earthy vocals and the band’s solid,…
BASSNECTAR @ RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE | FRI & SAT 5/31-6/1 “When I first got going,” recalls Lorin Ashton, “I was into fuckin’ brutal, satanic death metal.” Even with all of his hair, it’s hard to imagine that Ashton, better known as Bassnectar, was once enthralled with extreme metal. After all,…
Clear your calendar on Saturday, August 17. Whatever you’ve got going that day, cancel it. You don’t want to miss this show; I’m telling you. The one-man soul revival known as Charles Bradley is coming to Denver, and he’s going to play an intimate set at the Larimer Lounge. Be…
Let’s be real: Most songwriting amounts to a bunch of vague amateur poetry with pretensions of profundity. In the midst of all the babble, though, periodically a lyricist will emerge who has the courage to write about things that are real, raw and personal. That kind of truly honest songwriting…
Since first opening its doors in 2008, Beta Nightclub has been at the top of numerous “best of” lists, and it currently holds the top spot for clubs in North America. In commemoration of the club’s fifth anniversary, being celebrated this week, we caught up with the folks behind Beta…
John Digweed is a twenty-year veteran of the international DJ scene. As such, his story is punctuated by numerous high points. Among them: pioneering the art of the mix album with longtime DJ partner Sasha on Renaissance: The Mix Collection; refining it with the classic Northern Exposure chill-out trilogy; and…
Geeks love metal more than the computers on which they listen to it. They yearn for heavy metal that was forged by Orcs in the mountains of Mordor, smuggled halfway across the universe on Serenity and then discovered by Silver Surfer while scouting for delicious planets. These bands aren’t necessarily…
Selina Albright tried the saxophone once. She got dizzy, though, and that’s pretty much all it took for her to realize that the sax wasn’t for her. “I’m just going to use my lungs for my vocal cords, and that’s it,” says Albright, whose father, Gerald, is renowned in contemporary…
During the 1980s, Denver and Boulder both had thriving experimental-music scenes, with acts like Architects Office, Walls of Genius, Human Head Transplant and the Bruce Odland Big Band, which included Ron Miles and Mark McCoin. But the longest-lasting and most prolific of these is Thinking Plague. Rather than being grounded…
On Whiskey Tonight, their seventh album, the Indulgers, led by vocalist/multi-instrumentalists Damien McCarron and Mike Nile, step things up a bit, injecting a considerable amount of vigor into many of the fourteen original cuts, particularly the buoyant “It’s You” and “Doin’ Fine,” an instrumental. Drummer Francesco Mannone’s tom-heavy tribal beats…
On the Dizzo Drizz Dotta EP, Benjamin Banks deserves credit not only for his selection of musical ingredients, which are as diverse and unconventional as hymnal chants and telephone rings, but also for his contextualization of those ingredients into consumable entrees. Banks has broken out of the box of traditional…
On Million Dollar Mixtape, MDZ affects a king-from-the-gutter persona. In rap and beyond, it’s a classic, always viable story. The challenge is telling the story in a way that’s fresh and new. While the opening track, “STRONG,” includes some personal moments that help explain MDZ’s character, most of the tape…
It’s rare to find a free CD in the front of an independent record store that’s worth more than a casual listen. Greasy Demos, by Pizza Time, was crudely recorded, it sounds blown out, and the music is raw, primitive stuff. There are no track titles on the cover or…
Rockmount Ranch Wear has a slew of regular and returning customers. Among the latest: the Arctic Monkeys! In town this week for a show last night at the Ogden Theatre, the band stopped by Rockmount. Again. Last time the guys were in town a year ago warming up for the…
Yuzo Nieto is best known for his stint as the gifted sax player in Pee Pee and the ringleader of avant-garde jazz and Afro-Cuban outfit Pink Hawks, the latter of which is still a going concern. Nieto has been a music teacher at SOAR Charter School in Green Valley Ranch…
SOUNDGARDEN @ 1STBANK CENTER | 5/28/13 Five songs into its set last night at 1STBANK Center, with the stage bathed in emerald light and Chris Cornell appearing sans guitar for the first time in the set, Soundgarden performed “Outshined,” one of its first radio hits. Cornell put his mic toward…
ARCTIC MONKEYS @ THE OGDEN THEATRE, 5/28/13 During the decade Arctic Monkeys have been together and the seven years of space since their debut album, the guys have exchanged their polos for panache. While their lyrics continue to question their lives and loves, the stage is reserved for charm. They…
JUICY J @ CERVANTES’ MASTERPIECE BALLROOM | 5/28/13 Juicy J is like the frying pan that you don’t wash. You’d never show your guests you’re cooking with him, but he is just so damned flavorful. With the crowd at Cervantes’ already in his hand, and the energy fading somewhat, Juicy…
While you’ve already got well over a hundred compelling reasons to pick up your tickets for the nineteenth annual Westword Music Showcase, here’s one more: Last night, in the basement of Boettcher Concert Hall, I got a sneak peek at the highly anticipated and ground-breaking collaboration between the Colorado Symphony…
