Music fans always held out hope that the official end of the pandemic would lead to a tsunami of pent-up demand, particularly for outdoor shows in the summer months. Locally, this has manifested itself in more neighborhood weekly concerts than at any time before the pandemic. Regionally, fan…

Live music is so special because it brings a new dimension and energy to the music. You see how the musician delivers their art and it can make or break the overall experience. Maybe the band you love plays everything perfectly like it sounds on the record — but they’re not moving. Or maybe …

It’s fashionable these days to beat up on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard and Meta’s newly introduced LLaMA, but lesser algorithms are beginning to get their fair share of criticism as well. Specifically, the algorithms that select what music pops up uninvited into your Spotify, Apple and Am…

Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival, Friday-Sunday, March 17–19, various locations spread across Estes Park, schedule and ticket information at frozendeadguydays.com

There’s a strong classic pop sensibility running through the songs on Tchotchke, the self-titled debut album by the New York City trio. The three musicians admit as much. “I grew up on a lot of classic rock,” says guitarist Emily Tooraen. Though the lead vocals of drummer Anastasia Sanchez m…

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Record collecting means more than just getting a new album every now and then. Collectors create community. When you go to record shows, you see familiar faces; when you go to stores, you chat about music and it’s a very cool and important thing. As a record store owner myself, I believe “th…

Tracks from King Princess’ second album, Hold On Baby (Columbia/Zelig) began streaming in late summer, but the first physical copies of the album didn’t ship until early December. Fans can now hold Mikaela Mullaney Straus’ first album as King Princess, Cheap Queen, up to this sophomore effor…

You can always tell when it’s the holiday season because yet another KISS box set is out and ready for gift wrapping. Well, maybe not every holiday season. After all, there’s only so much KISS magic to go around. But that hasn’t stopped the band from releasing 10 box sets’ worth of what long…

‘We all get nostalgic for a time and place 1,000 light years from my mortal innings,” said Nick Allbrook recently. “Now we also live at the BBC, like my nameless-faceless childhood heroes.”

Last week we examined year-end releases from tried and true artists. Among relative newcomers, Weyes Blood leads a holiday gift list that includes Plains, Dawn Richard and The 1975. Natalie Mering has released four previous albums as Weyes Blood, sometimes going overboard on orchestration, b…

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‘Through our bleeding, we are one” shouted a nearly sold out crowd to AFI at Fillmore Auditorium in Denver on Nov. 18. The day started cold with snow covering everything outside, but rest assured, I was going to that show. I’ve loved AFI for a very long time, and although their music has cha…

It’s not unusual to see a flood of pre-holiday releases, but 2022 is doubly blessed to witness a rash of new offerings from older legacy stars, and a similar torrent from relative newcomers. This week, we’ll cover Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Phoenix and Lambchop, following up with newer artists.

Nora O’Connor has sung for the likes of Andrew Bird, Iron & Wine, Neko Case and Kelly Hogan, but she rarely approaches the microphone with her own material. Thankfully, the new My Heart (Pravda Records) is the best of her infrequent works. O’Connor’s already known for a rich and melliflu…

Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg were scarcely out of their teens when their duo, First Aid Kit, launched its first EP in 2009. Despite a growing U.S. audience, they have been invisible for several years, and a recent live-album tribute to Leonard Cohen was criminally ignored. But…

Taylor Swift broke global supply chains recently by releasing 10 physical variants of her new album Midnights (Republic), along with a downloadable extended version called 3am. Pity Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen, known here for “Call Me Maybe,” who released her album The Loneliest Time …

As has been the case among the general population, creatives reacted to the lockdowns and isolation of the pandemic era in a variety of ways. Some found the lack of human contact and disconnection from life’s routines deeply frustrating. For others, the time away from familiar people and act…

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What’s great about Colorado Springs is we get to see all kinds of acts come through here at different stages in their careers. Maroon 5 and Modest Mouse played the former 32 Bleu, 3OH!3 played The Black Sheep, and there are countless more examples. That brings me to Moodie Black, one of the …

With its base in Lincoln, Nebraska, Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal have been close enough for an occasional tour stop in Colorado. The sextet’s powerful sound belongs in the same category as Durand Jones or St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Hoyer’s sixth studio album, Green Light (self-released) …

Lila Downs has an enormous talent, as well as a three-octave range and commanding stage presence to go with it. The operatically trained Mexican singer-songwriter also boasts a career résumé that includes a half-dozen Latin Grammys, including an Album of the Year Award for her aptly titled B…

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Time really does fly sometimes. It seems like only yesterday when Colorado Springs’ new bar/venue Vultures opened. But in fact it was a year ago! This weekend, Vultures will celebrate their first anniversary with a festival-style showcase featuring nearly 20 bands. On Friday, Oct. 21, they’l…

When Toronto trio Alvvays headlined the Denver Underground Music Showcase in 2018, their crisp delivery seemed to belie the “dream-pop” label that had defined the band’s first two releases. The arrival of Blue Rev (Polyvinyl) suggests the band may have been mischaracterized all along. The so…