Colorado's underground electronic music history is one of the best-kept secrets in American dance music culture. DJ Natural Nate®: 27+ years in the Colorado scene, creator of The-Lost-Art.com, tells the complete story of the raves, the DJs, the venues, and the culture that built one of the most committed underground electronic music communities in the country.
Colorado's Underground Electronic Music Roots
Colorado's underground electronic music scene developed in the early 1990s, parallel to but largely independent of the more documented scenes in Chicago, Detroit, and New York. The state's geography, its mix of urban centers and vast open spaces, created unique conditions for underground culture. Denver and Boulder provided the urban infrastructure: the venues, the record stores, the communities of DJs and producers. The mountains and open spaces provided the outdoor venues that became central to Colorado's rave culture. The scene that developed was genuinely underground, built on word of mouth, community relationships, and a shared commitment to the music over commercial success.
The Rave Era in Colorado: The Venues, the Crews, the Culture
The Colorado rave era of the 1990s and early 2000s was defined by its venues: warehouses in Colorado's industrial districts, outdoor locations in the mountains and plains, underground spaces that were discovered and used and then abandoned before the authorities could respond. The crews that organized these events: the promoters, the sound system operators, the DJs, built a culture that was genuinely underground in the original sense: operating outside the mainstream, sustained by community rather than commerce. The events were found through fliers, through word of mouth, through the networks of people who were committed enough to the culture to seek it out.
Colorado raves happened in warehouses, in fields, in mountains, in places that had no business hosting a thousand people dancing to electronic music, and that was exactly the point.
Colorado Springs' Breakbeat and Breaks Scene
Denver developed a specific breakbeat and Breaks scene that was connected to but distinct from the broader Colorado electronic music community. The genre's emphasis on turntablist technique and the physical relationship between DJ and record resonated with a community that valued craft and authenticity. DJ Natural Nate® was central to the development of this scene, his performances, his events, and his relationships with national and international breakbeat artists helped establish Denver as a legitimate breakbeat city within the global Breaks community.
The DJs Who Defined Colorado's Underground
The Colorado underground electronic music scene was built by a community of DJs, producers, and promoters who committed their time, energy, and resources to building something that had no guarantee of success. DJ Natural Nate® is one of the most prominent figures in this history, but he is quick to acknowledge the community that surrounded him: the DJs who played alongside him, the promoters who created the events, the fans who showed up and kept showing up. The scene was a collective achievement, not an individual one.
DJ Natural Nate® and 27+ Years in the Colorado Scene
DJ Natural Nate® has been part of the Colorado electronic music scene since the mid-1990s. His career spans the entire arc of the scene's development, from the early rave era through the breakbeat explosion, the digital transition, and the current revival. His show flier archive: 47 events documented on this site, is a primary historical document of the Colorado underground scene. The United Undivided series, which ran for 10 editions, is the most visible evidence of his contribution to the scene's infrastructure. But the real contribution is the 27+ years of consistent presence, consistent performance, and consistent commitment to the culture.
Twenty-seven years in the same scene is not a career. It is a commitment.
The-Lost-Art.com: Colorado's Contribution to Global DJ Culture
The creation of The-Lost-Art.com in 2009 was Colorado's most significant contribution to global DJ culture. A platform built by a Colorado DJ, operating from Colorado, that became one of the most respected underground DJ communities in the world, this is not a small achievement. The-Lost-Art.com demonstrated that the underground DJ culture that had developed in Colorado over the previous two decades had produced something of genuine global value: a community, a standard, and a philosophy that resonated with DJs and fans worldwide.
The Shows, the Fliers, the Memories
The show fliers in DJ Natural Nate's archive are primary historical documents of the Colorado underground scene. Each flier represents an event: a specific night, a specific venue, a specific community of people who came together around the music. The Sunkissed Afterhours flier from 1999. The United Undivided series. The BRO Electro Bass show with Dynamix II. The Night of Vinyl. These events are the history of the Colorado underground scene, and the fliers are the evidence that they happened.
Colorado's Electronic Music Scene Today
The Colorado electronic music scene of 2026 is different from the scene of 1999 or 2009. The rave era is over. The venues have changed. The community has evolved. But the underground values that defined the scene, authenticity, community, craft, commitment to the music over commercial success, are still present in the people who have stayed. DJ Natural Nate® is one of those people. His continued presence in the scene is not nostalgia, it is evidence that the values that built the Colorado underground are still worth living by.
The Colorado underground scene is not what it was in 1999. It is something different, smaller in some ways, deeper in others, and still very much alive.
