Concerts

On 2009’s Twang Shui, Adam Stern showed just how versatile of a guitarist he is, delving into jazz, country and a whole lot more. And while that album proved that Stern has some serious chops, on its followup, High Country Gentlemen, Stern pulls back a bit, saying that the recording…

For Better or Worse, the second release from Prime Element’s A.V.I.U.S., sounds like it marinated in a backpack carried around any variety of East Coast cities, from Boston to Philly. A choice blend of boom-bap-tinged beats were handpicked from various artists by Prime Element producer Es-Nine, who has an ear…

Next month, supreme collaborators Ryan McRyhew and Kristi Schaefer are packing up and heading to Chicago. The two — who make music as Hideous Men and run experimental cassette label Laser Palace — are starting a new life in the Midwest and leaving behind a music- and art-driven community to…

Update: Radio Slave’s show has been postponed until this fall. For more information on the cancellation, makeup date and tickets, see “Radio Slave cancels Spectrum appearance; will reschedule this fall” in Backbeat. The summer series collaboration between Afterhours Anonymous and Mahesh Presents aims to bring top-name DJs to Denver for…

Update: A visitation for Phil is scheduled for Wednesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at Olinger Hampden (8600 East Hampden), followed by a memorial service on Thursday, June 30, at 10 a.m. at Amazing Grace Chapel in Englewood (3325 South Federal Boulevard). Also, a show flier created by Phil…

On Friday night, Lipgloss celebrated its ten-year anniversary at La Rumba. Aaron Thackeray was on hand to capture the momentous occasion, which featured Lipgloss residents Michael Trundle (aka boyhollow), who co-founded the night way back in 2001 with Tyler Jacobson and Tim Cooke, and Option4, along with special guest DJ…

Performing and recording under then moniker Smog for the first half of his career, Bill Callahan (playing tonight at the hi-dive with Neil Morgan) changed over to his given name with the release of 2007’s Woke On A Whaleheart, but his sound and style remained unaffected. The vastly prolific singer-songwriter…

SONIC BLOOM at SHADOWS RANCH | 06.25.11″Taking full advantage of the Funktion-One, Starfire filled the field with towers of sound, and the energy being emitted from the festival’s living, breathing inhabitants was rather intoxicating.”…

Looks like Peter Black, the progressive mind behind Analog Space, is trying his hand at curating a music festival. Dubbed Denver Afterdark, Black’s inaugural soiree is slated to take place at the Meadowlark, the Larimer Lounge and Flobot.Org’s community space on Friday, August 26, with performances by Pictureplane, CacheFlowe, Force…

SONIC BLOOM at SHADOWS RANCH | 06.24.11″With strategically placed subwoofers stashed in a field surrounded by mountains, the heavy bass frequencies sounded like a herd of elephants descending upon us in every direction with bubble-wrapped feet.”…

If you haven’t made plans yet tonight, and you’re looking to get your groove on, tonight at Hai Bar at Sushi Hai (32nd and Lowell), DJ Low Key is celebrating another year on planet with the Solution’s fifth annual Lessondary Birthday Extravaganza hosted by Von Pea of Tanya Morgan. The…

Since the fall of 2003, The Skivies (due Saturday, June 25th at The Meadowlark Bar) has graced stages in Denver with its alchemical brew of bizarro psychedelia and hard-edged, experimental guitar rock warped by unexpected twists and turns born of progressive structures turned on their head. Always seemingly up for…

You can’t experience a Colorado summer without seeing at least one show at Red Rocks and tonight, Widespread Panic throws down the inaugural performance of a full weekend of jammy goodness. These dudes are so popular here, you would think they are from Colorado, but no. It might just be…

Jason Webley (due at the Mercury Cafe, Saturday, June 25) started out playing punk rock as a teenager in Seattle, but it wasn’t until well into his twenties that he shed that musical skin. It would be difficult to pin Webley with a genre, but it could be said that…

After a weekend full of Pride and the greatest Music Showcase we’ve presented, how can you even think about enjoying yourself again? Well, we have a few ideas for you. This weekend is as chock-full of dance grooves as ever. Sonic Bloom up in Georgetown is where the big party…

Miley Cyrus’s opinion aside, is there anything more wholesome than Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers — the Disney Channel success story turned legit boy band — and Quaker Oats? We think not. And now, Nick Jonas has scheduled a trip to Denver to find a childhood superstar for his…

When we talked to Jeffrey Wentworth Stevens in May, he gave us the lowdown on his two upcoming albums, but we didn’t get more than a passing glimpse of two of the tracks. While we don’t generally talk about cover art reveals or preorder deals, this one is simply too…

Well, it’s a wrap. The seventeenth annual Westword Music Showcase Awards are now officially in the books. Although there weren’t as many winners on hand to collect their awards as we would’ve liked, the Bluebird was packed. The most noteworthy award of the night went to The Pirate Signal, which…

Bill Callahan (due Monday, June 27th) started releasing music under the moniker Smog in 1990. He was connected to the then-emerging underground network of music that included the indie label Kill Rock Stars, which included his song “37 Pushups .” Callahan’s emotionally vibrant lyrics serve almost as a counterpoint to…

Here comes another Thursday, and if its anything like last Thursday then it’s going to be wild and fun. Last week, we tore it up all over the city, and now that we’re fully recovered from the Showcase/PrideFest hangover, there’s plenty to do tonight, from the Westword Music Showcase Awards…

We’ve already taken a look at the big three cloud services from Apple, Amazon and Google, but what does any of this mean to local bands and labels? With talk of Apple paying $100 million to the major labels for the rights to store content in the cloud and the…