A. Tom Collins, the five-piece band fronted by Aaron Collins, has a sound that’s equal parts ragtime, honky tonk blues and tin pan alley. The outfit, which has smartly left its rough edges intact, is driven by Collins’s piano and impassioned vocals, and while the act may teeter on the…
Backbeat is continuing to count down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today we take a look back at the time when Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson spit on a woman at 7-Eleven because she had the audacity not to recognize him. Two months after getting kicked…
Simon Posford of Shpongle sees the world through a unique creative lens, and he delivers his view with stunning visual imagery soundtracked by ethereal music that speaks to all the senses. This weekend, in honor of Earth Day, he’ll be at Feed the Rocks (with the Disco Biscuits and RJD2)…
Only 23 years old, New York’s Nicolas Jaar is turning heads in the electronic-music world with his cerebral take on left-field house and experimental techno that makes frequent use of live instrumentation performed by Jaar himself. A 2012 graduate of Brown University, Jaar released his debut album, the atmospheric Space…
With prime slots at this year’s Coachella and millions of YouTube views, alt-J is one of the hottest emerging acts in the country right now. Touring in support of its latest effort, The Lateness of the Hour, the U.K.-based folk-rock quartet is due to play a sold-out show at the…
Since 4/20’s this weekend, we would be remiss if we didn’t give you some great new local jams to smoke to. Nothing’s better than hip-hop whilst being blitzed into another realm of consciousness. And we’re representing all styles today: SP Double for the purists (though he gets a little rowdy…
One of electronic music’s fastest-rising young stars, Maya Jane Coles has become a major phenomenon over the past two years. Just 25 years old, the Londoner has been recognized as one of the hottest DJs on the planet by everyone from Rolling Stone to Resident Advisor, and she’s performed at…
Another fresh batch of local hip-hop. This week we’ve got J.Rebelz reflecting on her childhood, the members of Dope City proclaiming that they will never go broke, “The Originator” Jaz-O blessing a track by Morningstar, and Lkeys teaming up with the Squizzy Gang’s Trev Rich. Continue on to hear what’s…
Founded in 2008, Ghost B.C. created a bit of mystique for itself right from the start. The sextet is essentially anonymous in its elaborate costumes, with singer Papa Emeritus II decked out like a satanic pope, and his cardinals, The Ghouls With No Name, performing in uniform brown robes whose…
Johnny Marr is an iconic and influential guitarist best known for his work in the Smiths, which broke up in 1987. His guitar phrases and his genius for crafting textured and tonally rich rhythmic leads has influenced countless rock guitarists of the last quarter-century. Since leaving the Smiths, Marr hasn’t…
This Friday, Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan is teaming up with DJ Premier to celebrate 4/20 at the 420 Extravaganja this Friday, April 19, at HoodLab. This show marks the first time Raekwon and DJ Premier share a bill. We spoke with Raekwon about the prospect of performing with one…
Over the weekend, Suicidal Tendencies played to a packed house at the Summit Music Hall. Before that, we had a chance to chat with the band’s founding frontman, Mike Muir, the sole continuous member of the group, about how he first got into punk, how his group has successfully straddled…
Next week, stoners across the Front Range will converge upon Red Rocks to celebrate 4/20. Two acts will be on hand to help raise a toast roast commemorating the occasion, and you can hardly find a pair of more fitting acts, the hemp-hop icons of Cypress Hill and their SoCal-based…
Founded in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner, Death helped to codify the aesthetic of death metal alongside early pioneers like Possessed. Schuldiner was sixteen when the band formed and twenty by the time the outfit’s debut album, 1987’s Scream Bloody Gore, was released. The sonic brutality of the first two Death…
Fear Factory was a pioneer of the so-called nü-metal genre, before that designation became a bit of an insult. An early proponent of the fusion of industrial and death metal, Fear Factory first realized that sonic alchemy with its influential 1995 album, Demanufacture. Since then, the band has explored a…
Since the early ’90s, Insane Clown Posse has built itself into what is arguably the most successful independent band of all time. The cult of fandom surrounding ICP is unprecedented and notorious (the FBI considers Juggalos to be a gang). Outside its home state of Michigan, the polarizing act has…
When trumpeter Dave Douglas played at Dazzle just over a year ago as part of Greg Garrison’s Improvised Roots series, he was introduced to Crooked Still’s Aoife O’Donovan, who sang during the sets. Douglas went on to recruit O’Donovan — who is also joining Douglas’s two-night stand at Dazzle this…
Soilwork formed in Helsinborg, Sweden, in 1995 and developed out of the Gothenburg melodic death metal mold, incorporating aspects of NWOBHM and other styles of music to forge an angular yet flowing sound of its own. Though clearly rooted in prog, there is enough of punk frayed edges in the…
After playing with Denver-based bands including G-Force and Autobahn in the ’80s, James “Rooster” Olson made a name for himself with his company Trailer Trash Pedalboards. Olson essentially revolutionized the pedalboard industry with his award-winning designs, which have been used by top-notch musicians such as Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Steve Stevens,…
Another week, another fresh batch of Colorado hip-hop. We’ve got a brand new mix from Chris Karns, who is retiring his DJ Vajra moniker. We’ve also got a new single from Pries, along with fresh cuts from Lil Bad and AP and J Dubb. Continue on to see what’s good…
Cicely O’Kain is a magnetic singer with incredible vocal chops. Her first album, Ms. Understood, which came out last October, is filled with feelings of infatuation, joy, pleasure and pain. Every note O’Kain sings is delivered with such conviction that she turns what would normally be a standard R&B jam…
Adam Lufkin and Josh Fairman of Kinetix have formed a new group called Laskin & Robinson that sounds nothing like their other band. The songs the outfit has posted thus far showcase a variety of styles, and they’re done pretty well, from synthy, funk-laden hip-pop on tracks like “Ass Work”…
