Thurston Moore has used the electric guitar in more interesting ways than most anyone else you could name in terms of using and abusing and expanding and transcending the traditional limitations of the instrument. As one of the founding members of Sonic Youth, Moore took what he had been learning…
The country is awash in Americana fever as scores of rock-radio favorites dabble in the sounds of yore. It’s part of a search for authenticity when so much pop is heavily synthesized, and partially a need for the warm, fuzzy blanket of an imagined yesteryear. Though it might be cute,…
Crazy the difference a year and a half can make. In the spring of 2011, Foster the People was a little-known quantity making its first trek to Denver for an intimate show at the Walnut Room. The band returned to the Mile High City for a notably larger gig at…
Fitz and the Tantrums appear to have absorbed whatever was in the water during the time Daryl Hall was rubbing shoulders with R&B legends of the late ’60s. In fact, according to an interview with Rolling Stone in 2010, singer Michael Fitzpatrick was told he sounded like Hall by none…
There is no escape from the slow and inscrutable march of time. The passing of the seasons, the withering of these corporeal chains, the replacing of old malls with newer malls: All things must begin and so must end. Or, as Lord Byron put it, “Time! On whose arbitrary wing…
It’s a good thing metalcore isn’t the metal genre no one wants to admit they like anymore. Metalheads are okay with the subgenre because so few popular bands play it anymore; now deathcore is the object of derision. This is good news for Iconocaust, whose new four-song EP has metalcore…
Despite clocking in at a hefty eighteen tracks, The Owner’s Manual, the new joint from Manifest, makes for easy listening. Working with numerous soul samples and dope beats, Manifest does well with the space and time he has, and his voice is pleasing to the ear, especially when he’s spitting…
If Bad Weather California’s Sunkissed is the summer jam of 2012, then bassist Joe Sampson’s solo debut, Kill Our Friends, will be the model soundtrack for this fall, when your summer fling ends and you stay in while all your friends have fun without you. Not that you should wait…
This album marks a complete reinvention of Safe Boating Is No Accident, starting with opening track “Her New Man.” It’s as though these guys ditched the Americana/crypto-avant-garde songwriting of the past in favor of an unrefined sincerity — like their irony and incisive humor have come full circle to a…
The drama of high school, the heady elation of a recording contract with a major label, the premature death of a childhood friend from a drug overdose — all of these elements have figured into the music of Brendan Hill, who’s served as the drummer for Blues Traveler since the…
Westword Music Showcase 2012 was a long, sweaty day of awesome music, people and partying. Endangering the battery life of their cellphones under the hot sun, tons of fans and musicians shared the highs (and lows) of their Showcase experience in the Twitterverse and on Instagram using #WMS. Read on…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Dutch…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Kelsey…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Mark…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Nicole…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Kyle…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Josiah…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Noah…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Due…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Britt…
Every year, for the Westword Music Showcase, we enlist our army of Backbeat wordsmiths to host various stages, and, in addition to their emcee obligations, we ask them to pull double duty (or triple-duty in some cases) and also write up the acts that appear on their individual stages. Tom…
Because I live in the club district, for me, the Westword Music Showcase started around 5 p.m. the day before and went on through the evening. Outside my window, the workers toiled and clanged away throughout the night, building the production. By morning, there was a complete stage, and the…
