Denver Westword | The Leading Independent News Source in Denver, Colorado

Twelve of Colorado's Greatest Synthesizer Artists

By Tom Murphy

May 9, 2017

Colorado has a bevy of great synthesizer artists, and not all of them are producing electronic dance music. We searched far and wide to create a list of synth masters, with a particular focus on people working on the fringes of club culture and pioneering new ways of using their instruments to craft music.

Twelve Earth-Shattering Denver Experimental Bands of 2016

By Tom Murphy

Dec 22, 2016

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.

Ten Great, Vanished Denver Music Venues — 2016 Edition

By Tom Murphy

May 30, 2016

Denver has been home to many music venues that have had major impact on the local scene and, to some extent, the national music scene. A list of those noteworthy concert venues that are now gone could easily be five times as long. Below are ten clubs, studios and spaces...

High Plains Underground Archive: The Indie-Pop Ethos of Still Soft

By Tom Murphy

Apr 6, 2016

Over the years, Denver has birthed more than its fair share of DIY labels, including Local Anesthetic Records, Gift Records, Soda Jerk, Suburban Home, Relapse, Best Friends Records, Long Spoon and Elephant 6, which have proven to be important locally and beyond. More recently, Sailor Records, Black Box Tapes, Heart in Box,...

High Plains Underground Archive: The Kevin Costner Suicide Pact, Denver Ambient Masters

By Tom Murphy

Jan 7, 2016

Before the Kevin Costner Suicide Pact, there was Fellow Citizens. Fellow Citizens was far better than your average indie rock band in the early 2000s. Initially based in Boulder, it somehow combined Americana, shoegaze and pop into consistently compelling songs. But its members graduating and otherwise moving on with other...

High Plains Underground Archive: Rubedo Tour with Isaiah "Ikey" Owens

By Tom Murphy

Dec 23, 2015

Isaiah “Ikey” Owens was more than merely the genius keyboard player of the Mars Volta. He was more than a key figure in the Long Beach music scene of the '90s and the 2000s. He was more than a mentor/producer to underground bands like Rubedo, Holophrase and True Aristocrats from...

Denver Reunion Shows, Part 3: Warlock Pinchers

By Tom Murphy

Dec 2, 2015

The third and final installment of High Plains Underground Archives' series on Denver music reunion shows, features Warlock Pinchers. These days it is very easy to find out about local bands if you make even a small amount of effort. But back in the late '80s and early '90s, this was...

Denver Reunion Shows, Part 2: The Fluid

By Tom Murphy

Nov 27, 2015

The Fluid is the focus of High Plains Underground Archive's second installment on Denver music reunion shows. To start at the beginning: Matt Bischoff and Ricky Kulwicki had been members of the Aurora, Colorado-based Frantix, a great punk band with irreverent humor and incredible energy, which became known for its classic single in...

High Plains Underground Archive: Denver Reunion Shows Part 1

By Tom Murphy

Nov 18, 2015

The current musical era is not short on nostalgia and reunion shows; bands performing classic albums in their entirety have become commonplace for tours and for the Pitchfork Music Festival. In addition to the "classic rock" nostalgia circuit, many bands who had their heyday in the 50s-70s seem to embark...

For a Few Great Years, Sidewinder Hosted Denver's Most Adventurous Music in a Bar

By Tom Murphy

Nov 12, 2015

On the first weekend of November, 2015, The Globe opened for business in the former home of Sidewinder, a longtime Globeville dive bar that later enjoyed a short run as a cozy little bar and music venue, after it was bought in 2012 and managed by Fernando “Fez” Guzman's family...

The Brief and Glorious Life of CP-208

By Tom Murphy

Nov 4, 2015

Noise rock/no wave band CP-208 split last month. While that development may not be big news to anyone who didn't like the band (or didn't even know about it), the dissolution quietly marked the end of a certain era of underground music in Denver — because the band's membership and...

High Plains Underground: 21st Century Colorado Shoegaze and Dream Pop

By Tom Murphy

Oct 30, 2015

One of the sounds that has long been part of the Colorado music scene is lush, atmospheric rock. Even though Colorado boasts more than 300 days of sunshine each year, many significant Colorado artists have an indisputable attraction to music that, if not exactly dark, suggests an inward expansiveness and...

33 Great Album Covers From Denver in the '90s

By Tom Murphy

Oct 29, 2015

The '90s in Denver, as in much of the rest of the world, was a time of great creativity in music — and if not for the lack of a spotlight directed at the Mile High City, some of the local talent probably would have enjoyed national as well as...

The Wide-Ranging Power of Denver's Lust-Cats of the Gutters

By Tom Murphy

Oct 23, 2015

With the 7th edition of Titwrench in the rearview, now is a good time to consider the legacy of one of festival's mainstays: Lust-Cats of the Gutters, which is no longer an active project. The duo featured former Westword contributor Robin Edwards on guitar and vocals and Alex Edgeworth on...

Titwrench 2015 Lineup: Look Back With Scenes From 2011 to 2013

By Tom Murphy

Sep 29, 2015

The seventh edition of the Titwrench festival is happening this Saturday, October 3, at Dryer Plug Studios (3050 E. 43rd Ave.). Starting at 10:30 a.m. with Showga (music and yoga), conducted by the inimitable long-time host of Titwrench, Piper Rose. From noon to 2 p.m. there will be a clothing...

Goldrush Music Festival Returns This Weekend: Photo Highlights From the Past

By Tom Murphy

Sep 15, 2015

Goldrush Festival recently announced the full schedule (below) for the 2015 festival. Following suit with the model of the 2013 and 2014 festivals, Goldrush 2015 features a headlining act of some significance to the underground experimental music scene. In 2013 Noveller graced the Sidewinder stage on Friday, September 27th and...

Highlights From the Early Years of Goldrush Music Festival

By Tom Murphy

Sep 10, 2015

Goldrush Festival recently the line-up for its 2015 festival and tickets for the two day musical extravaganza are now available. The independently funded and organized festival is part of a long tradition in Denver of music fans putting together worthwhile events like Titwrench, Denver Fest, Girl Wreck Fest, Synesthesia, Denver...

A Look Back at the First Two Years of Titwrench Fest

By Tom Murphy

Aug 18, 2015

The sixth edition of Titwrench Fest will be held at Dryer Plug Studios on October 3 and 4 of this year. 2014 found Titwrench overseas in Sweden rather than Denver, taking the inclusive spirit of the event not just out of Colorado but out of the USA entirely. The festival...

Meet a Few of the Denver Bands We Couldn't Write About

By Tom Murphy

Aug 11, 2015

An inevitable phenomenon in any music community where there are newspapers, weekly magazines and 'zines with coverage of local music is that of the the writer and musician. Naturally, due to reasons of a conflict of interest, if you do happen to fall into both categories, there's a great chance...

Elephant 6's Importance to '90s Indie Pop, the Denver Scene and Beyond

By Tom Murphy

Jul 28, 2015

In certain circles, conventional wisdom holds that there is a “Denver sound" — the Gothic Americana embodied by the likes of 16 Horsepower, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, The Denver Gentlemen and whatever project of Jaysun Munly's you'd care to name. Absurdly enough, some people even try to place all kinds...

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