With the release of Mosey West’s five-song debut EP, Vaca Money, the Fort Collins-based trio established itself as one of the better alt-country acts to come out of the area in the past few years. But while Vaca Money was a strong effort, the band’s seven-song follow-up EP, Merica, outdoes…
Ode to the Marionette’s previous album, 2009’s Uncomfortable Situation, was a kind of dusky pop album with jazz underpinnings. Since then, the band has tightened its arrangements a bit while expanding its atmospheric palette. On “Disappear for a While,” low-end swells hover at the edges, then give way to a…
Iman S. is back with Park Hill Logo 2, an ode to the streets that made him and cultivated his swagger. A long but listenable outing at twenty tracks, the album is drenched in “fly boy” lyrics and “you can’t fuck with me” attitude. On “Taking Over,” Iman shines with…
“Welcome to my jealousy,” croons lead singer Nick Sanders on Regret Night’s latest EP, Dirty Little Things — but it sounds more like hope. Forged in the pop-proficient rock of the late ’90s, the Denver quartet reveals its ambition from the start, strutting through all the usual topics and warping…
Hot Robots, which is preparing to release its new album, All Alone Together, this week, comprises members of a number of well-regarded Denver acts past and present, such as the Christines, the LaDonnas, the Inactivists and Local 33. You can hear the quintet’s collective love of power pop and guitar-driven…
You can call what Julius Papp produces and spins “house” — and it is, beyond the shadow of a doubt — but the sweeping, funky melodies and soulful beats have roots and branches in genres from disco to hip-hop. Papp started collecting vinyl in the 1970s and began playing with…
It was 1984 when the most METAL band of all time (Manowar, obviously) delivered the loudest documented show ever played. Clocking in at a max of 129.5 decibels — the sonic equivalent of a jackhammer — the show’s most brutal moment, as the legend goes, came during the playing of…
Last night Bethany Cosentino and her Best Coast bandmates played at the Fox Theatre in Boulder with Jeff the Brotherhood. Brandon Marshall, one of Backbeat’s resident shutterbug, was on hand for the show and brought us back some great pictures of the show. Page down to see some of the…
JOLIE HOLLAND @ WALNUT ROOM | 5.26.12 After the applause died down following her final song last night, Jolie Holland offered to pay someone in the crowd for gas if they could drive her to her next gig in Colorado Springs. It’s a shame that she was forced to ask,…
Line down the block? Check. Impeccably dressed security guards? Check. Booming music from two floors? Double check. Last night at 24K for the unofficial kick off of YOLO season, damn near everyone you know in Denver, plus some cats you’ve probably forgotten about, were lined up to get into Gold…
SIGNAL PATH @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 5/25/12 If a change of pace, geographic location, home life and hiatus are all a band needs to find itself smack-dab in the middle of its prime, then let Signal Path be the bearer of the torch. Last night, the trio showed Denver what…
MANCUB @ LARIMER LOUNGE | 5/25/12 With a perforated, paneled structure as its backdrop with lights shining through and strung along the top edge, ManCub started things off with a forceful flood of low end, and both Alex Anderson and Ethan Converse seemed to push themselves headlong into the music…
The long weekend is here, and there are more dance related activities and parties over the next few days than you can probably handle. From the Hive’s grand opening tonight to the Solution Showcase#6 tomorrow night, along with the Riddle of the Sphinx party, some funk/soul sessions and dance music…
Ah, yes, welcome to the weekend! Been a long week, and now you’re about to get to enjoy a long weekend. As always, a plethora of enticing options this weekend and it’s another good mix: Tonight, a trio of local release parties featuring Signal Path, ManCub and Rockie kick things…
As you might have heard, Van Halen played the Pepsi Center in Denver last night, dusting off a few hits from its mega-selling album, 1984. Roving photographer Brandon Marshall hit the Pepsi Center parking lot asking fans to share where they were in 1984. Here are some of the people…
VAN HALEN @ PEPSI CENTER | 5/24/12 Evidently, 1982 was a very good year for David Lee Roth. “You’re taking pictures here tonight, hot stuff?” the Van Halen frontman asked a woman in the front row in the middle of “Panama.” “What? Oh, you want to make a sex tape…
Reno Divorce (due tomorrow night at the Marquis Theater) began in the middle ’90s when frontman and guitarist Brent Loveday founded the outfit while still living in Orlando, Florida. Some early, glowing press came the way of the band’s 7-inch. But it wasn’t until Loveday relocated to Denver and discovered…
Hungry for change? Flobots.org have cooked up an idea for a unique pop-up brunch this Saturday, May 26, at the Meadowlark. For the brunch, which is geared toward raising money for Art to Action, a program that works with more than 2,000 DPS middle- and high-schoolers annually to provide oft-neglected…
And it don’t stop. Another batch of great shows announced this week, including Rise Against, who’s due for a pair of back-to-back nights at the Fillmore in September, as well as Peter Gabriel, who will be performing his album So in its entirety a few nights later at Red Rocks…
When Signal Path first started out, over a decade ago, the goal was to bring elements of the jam scene into the realm of electronic music. “We were all living in Missoula at the time,” remembers guitarist Ryan Burnett, “and we all had this vision to create something different, musically.”…
As the versatile and hyper-talented guitarist in Hot White, Kevin John Wesley (due at Rhinoceropolis on Wednesday, May 30) showed how thrilling abrasive and jarring guitar gymnastics could be. But even before that band went on indefinite hiatus, Wesley played solo shows during which he never quite did the same…
There’s no shortage of purists who would argue that, even with David Lee Roth back fronting the band, the current version of Van Halen can’t really be considered classic VH — not with Wolfie on bass in place of Michael Anthony, whose trademark backing vocals are every bit as essential…
