In case you missed it, last week, Kanye West released a new track,”Only One,” on which he collaborated with Paul McCartney. Like all events in popular culture now, conversation about the song was happening all over Twitter. Some of those tweets (among the millions probably posted about the release) entailed…
If you were at City Hall’s New Years Eve party, you may have noticed a disco ball that was less sphere-shaped and more shaped like a pair of female legs. Well, that wasn’t just the cocktails getting to you. It turns out those long legs were quite real and something…
When Jenny Kaminski, a.k.a. DJ J’Adore, learned she was on the Decadence NYE lineup, she couldn’t contain her excitement. “Even though my name was so tiny at the very bottom, I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It’s my biggest gig to date for sure, hands down.” Still, performing is only…
Artopia, Westword’s annual celebration of art, culture and fashion, returns to City Hall on February 21. Tickets start at $25 for general admission and are on sale now. As always, the event will feature some highlights from Colorado’s music scene as well — this year, electric hip-hop duo the Reminders…
Communikey Festival: 8th Edition has released its initial line-up. Scheduled to run Thursday, April 16th through Sunday, April 19th in Boulder, the Communikey Festival has consistently brought in some of the most innovative international and local experimental music and visual artists throughout its run. The programming of events, workshops, installations…
As the mastermind behind glitch-party-rock outfit Kill Paradise, Nick Cocozzella never played a show sober. “I was drinking every day; I started having seizures and throwing up on myself. I was like, this has got to stop.” Years of partying on stage and off left him wanting more from life…
More than two decades ago, Chicago native John Burr opened Soundstructure Studios, which comprised ten rehearsal spaces and two apartments, at the corner of 30th and Walnut streets. In 2003, Burr built a building next door that housed fifteen more rehearsal studios, then decided he also wanted to incorporate a…
If there are any deals to be had in downhill skiing, they’re clearly in bulk purchasing. John Dickson was still a college student in southern Texas when he saw an ad in the local paper for a ski trip to Colorado: Bring at least sixteen people, the ad promised, and…
Infected Mushroom brings its new Animatronica stage production to the Ogden Theatre on Saturday, April 11. General admission tickets($28) go on sale on Friday, January 9 10 a.m. and there are limited number of early bird tickets available this weekend for $20. Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe returns to the Boulder…
OpenAir is getting a new home on the airwaves at the end of this month, in the FM neighborhood. The station, part of Colorado Public Radio, was founded three years ago and has made a home and an impact over at 1340 AM. As of January 27, the station will…
With all the real injustice on the streets — and in the courtrooms — of America currently, you might consider it trivial to examine ten drummers who deserve more credit and attention than they’ve received. And you’d be right. But music is, if nothing else, a way to make sense…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last Week’s Episode of Rufus Baxter!…
2014 was an excellent year for Colorado music — several excellent new venues opened, our state’s bands released more worthy albums than anyone could keep track of and fans turned out in droves to the hundreds of thousands of shows. 2015 promises more of the same on those fronts, but…
The moment Murder By Death ended its nearly two-hour set at the infamous Stanley Hotel in Estes Park on Friday night, front man Adam Turla stepped off the front of the stage to chat with the audience, many of whom came from far away for the event. I asked Turla…
By Jesse Sendejas Sometimes in life, we normal human beings must shelve our own insecurities and recognize that some among us are simply good at anything they attempt. Like that song from the Annie Oakley play, they can do anything better. Some of us recognize these people with awe and…
Decadence once again proved among the most extravagant options for New Year’s Eve in Denver, with three stages of world-class DJs along with enough decorative insanity to lead our reviewer to compare the scene to a carnival. The fans spent about as much time on their costumes/outfits as the organizers…
In the midst of three DJ stages filling the Denver Convention Center with massive sounds at Decadence over the New Year’s holiday was a blow up white igloo. It was frequently packed with dancing fans and DJs, but there was no sound coming from it. The EDM.com Silent Disco felt…
Itchy-O, by virtue of the sheer numbers of its membership, should devolve into chaos. Its shows can seem chaotic and on the brink of tipping over, especially when the group engages in that hybrid of tribal, traditional and Western marching band percussion and the crowd dances in kind. But it…
In a New Year’s concert filled with country-gothic murder ballads and tent-revival doomsday sermons, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club singer Munly Munly put on the creepiest performance of the night. Duded up in all black, Munly played the slightly unhinged sidekick to Slim Cessna’s country preacher on Wednesday, stalking around the…
The term “Ameripolitan” has been most notably championed by outspoken Texas singer-songwriter Dale Watson. But in recent years, other traditionalists, fed up with mainstream country music and looking for a way to separate themselves from the likes of Luke Bryan and Taylor Swift, have adopted the term as well. Some…
Decadence, a two night electronic music festival at the Colorado Convention Center, has grown into a New Year’s Eve tradition in Denver in recent years. About fifty DJs take one of four stages over the two nights, but the music is only part of the “Decadence experience.” With dancers on…
So active and vibrant are the musicians of Colorado that we could never truly compile a list of the year’s best releases. There were simply too many, from big-label full-lengths by exports like Tennis to obscure demo tapes by nascent punk bands. Taken as a whole, the musical output of…
