“Malo Methal” pair’s Morhaf Al Achkar’s percussive oud work with his lively vocals and a touch of flute helping to carry a melody over the top. One hears in Al Achkar’s voice a sense of curiosity, wonder and yearning. The orchestration of the song interweaves the instrumentation while allowing various aspects to shine in moments as rhythms complement each other in a dynamic that feels continuously expansive. The flute accents Al Achkar’s vocals as both counter melody and harmony and in the extended lines mid song there is a sweet spot of emotional resonance that sends the song into quietly transcendent spaces before reeling back into the grounding of oud to the front at song’s end. It’s an example of the beautifully thought-provoking and nuanced compositions to be found on Al Achkar’s album Mabsoota which released on November 4, 2022. Maybe it’s the fact that the musician is a survivor of stage IV lung cancer as of 2016 that gives the music a subtle vitality and intensity in its clear joy and playfulness but the work also speaks for itself in the imagination of its arrangements. Listen to “Malo Methal” on Spotify and follow Al Achkar at the links below.
In the background of Sun Kin’s “nursery talk” you can hear breaths over the dimly luminous tones like distant sunlight beneath the sea. The track comes from Sun Kin’s 2022 release painting whales, part 2, the second in the “Painting Whales” series, and one inspired in part by Ziphindae, the family of beaked whales of which we know very little and who are among the deepest diving of mamals with the Cuvier’s species going down to nearly two miles aka parts of the ocean the human race knows little about. The photo from this installment of the series appears to be one of the whales breaching the waters of the antarctic, a traveler of spaces humans tend to avoid. Sun Kin composer Kabir Kumar expresses the wonder and mystery of these creatures in the music that takes on the form of flowing drones, impressionistic guitar tones and a beatless, informal, intuitive structure that evades the human tendency for seeking organization that has clear lines and separations of self from nature and environment imposing a psychological and cultural meaning that would be alien to a whale. In conveying an approximation of a break from standard pop music forms and even conventions of ambient music, Kumar invites us to try on a way of listening and feeling that may seem otherworldly but which is adopted with ease. Listen to “nursery talk” on Bandcamp and follow Sun Kin at the links provided.
Rain Carnation’s “Liar” is saturated with tone and emotion befitting the subject matter. Airy backgrounds and sweeps of distorted synth drones splash and splay into fadeout over the vocals as pulsing electronic bass recalls at once some late 80s synth pop and the chillwave of the late 2000s and early 2010s and the way that music often took painful heartache and soothed it with gorgeously expansive music that seemed to dilute that pain in the streams of outward melody and taking the time to fall back into the comfortable places of your mind to recover with the words speaking your emotional truth brewing and emerging with a forcefulness that former dissociation can no longer repress. Fans of Neon Indian’s Era Extraña (2011) will appreciate the vibes presented in this song. Listen to “Liar” on Soundcloud and connect with Rain Carnation at the links below.
Shumaila Hemani starts “Displacement” with clips of news about the recent devastating floods in Pakistan from the raw destruction of the floods (June 14, 2002-October, 2022) themselves but also the aftermath in terms of a massive impact on the lives and livelihoods of the people of Pakistan. The samples of news reports give the proper gravity of context for “Displacement” and its mournful yet hopeful tones. The music sounds rooted in a Hindustani classical style with a sustained harmonium drone and some expressive filigree and accents with harmonium, tabla and santur beautifully weaving together (Ojas Joshi on tabla and Mehdi Rezania on Santur). Hemani’s own resonant vocals traces a poetic narrative that even if you don’t understand her chosen language for the song convey a layered, nuanced and powerful expression of loss and perseverance. The song is part of the album Mannat released on October 7, 2022 and proceeds from the digital sales of the single go to benefit those impacted by the aforementioned floods in Pakistan. Listen to “Displacement” on Spotify, find more information on Hemani and her efforts on her website and purchase the song and the album on Bandcamp.
The Night Agent began life when playwright and writer Jacob Hirdwall started releasing music under that moniker in 2020 involving singer and actor Christopher Wollter and guitarist Janne Schaffer (ABBA, Bob Marley, Ted Gärdestad). But in 2022 the trio has assembled with the intention of performing live music. The single “When You Dream” is teeming with bright synth melodies and widely expressive vocals reminiscent in moments of those of Interpol singer Paul Banks. The song is a melancholic yearning for a loved one who is by circumstance far away in distance and time. But the tone is one of mutual reassurance of the inevitable reunion. “When you dream, dream of me,” is the refrain but in a way that is filled with the anticipation of finally connecting again. It’s synth pop sound has resonance with something out of the 80s and with some tasty guitar solo work that enhances the sense of dramatic romance that runs throughout the track. Listen to “When You Dream” on Spotify where you can check out the rest of the debut The Night Agent album Stars Above Us which released on November 18, 2022.
Thursday | 12.01 What: Wild Pink w/Trace Mountains and Knuckle Pups When: 7 Where: Globe Hall Why: Wild Pink’s John Ross wrote one of the great story albums of recent years with 2021’s A Billion Little Lights and its themes of coming to terms with adulthood while staying connected with one’s creative life and navigating the temptations to ditch music as the occupation of adolescence. And how through creative work one can explore an evolving sense of meaning that hits you throughout your thirties and the rest of your life. 2022’s ILYSM (an acronym for “I Love You So Much”) takes that perspective to examine the details of life that deepen one”s bond with the people in your life. Knuckle Pups in from Denver released a deeply self-reflective album with 2022’s TV Ready in which the ambitious pop band fuses radical vulnerability with a compassionate honesty that is not nearly common enough in the realm of indie rock or any form of music today. Sometimes earnestness can seem like a pose but with Knuckle Pups it seems inspirational in its lack of pretension.
Cold Cave in 2011, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 12.02 What:Cold Cave w/Voight and Hex Cassette When: 7 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: Wesley Eisold of Cold Cave has been mostly been releasing singles and EPs since the most recent full length album Cherish the Light Years came out in 2011. His most recent Fate in Seven Lessons (2021) is well within the realm of modern darkwave post-punk with his usual gift for teasing grit and darkness out of the songwriting although plenty of the music has a beautifully melodic melancholia reminiscent of New Order. Eisold has also been involved in a bit of writing including his work with the late, great Mark Lanegon on the book of poetry Plague Poems (2020). Opening the show are two Denver acts. Hex Cassette’s confrontational industrial dance music challenges notions of the role of artist and audience and breaking that barrier for a collective experience. Voight seems to be making good on its threat of completely injecting techno into its own searing shoegaze-infused post-punk and emotionally intense music.
Cannibal Corpse, photo by Alex Morgan
Friday | 12.02 What:Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest Denver 2022 Day 1: Cannibal Corpse, Dark Funeral, Immolation, Black Anvil, Onyx and In The Company of Serpents When: 5 Where: Summit Music Hall Why: This unique event includes some pretty extensive beer tasting for those so inclined but the real reason is to get to see some of the great extreme metal acts of today. That includes death metal legends Cannibal Corpse whose over the top gory lyrics have been banned in various countries despite how obviously absurd they are in the vein of the most demented horror movies of the 80s but really just more creative than a lot of those films. And the music itself stands up well in upholding the brutality of the lyrics with a technical proficiency worthy of the name of the band. Get there early to catch the bluesy, cinematic doom band from Denver In the Company of Serpents who don’t play Denver as much as they once did these days.
Wayfarer, photo courtesy the artists
Saturday | 12.03 What:Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest Denver 2022 Day 2: Pig Destroyer, Skinless, Wayfarer, Of Feather and Bone and Wake When: 4 Where: Summit Music Hall Why: Day two of this event includes more noteworthy acts out of the broad world of extreme metal including performances from Denver’s masters of cinematic doom, Wayfarer, the caustic death grind onslaught of Of Feather and Bone, the blackened grind of Calgary’s Wake and grindcore legends Pig Destroyer whose contorted and savagely brutal music is a fitting companion to JR Hayes’ darkly incisive lyrics about human experiences on the edge.
Soccer Mommy, photo by Sophie Hur
Saturday | 12.03 What: Soccer Mommy w/TOPS When: 7 Where: The Ogden Theatre Why: Sophia Allison has been writing music and performing as Soccer Mommy since she was in college before dropping out and moving back to Nashville to pursue her career as a musician full time. It helped that she had a record deal with Fat Possum which released her debut album Clean in 2018 before she turned twenty-one. The album’s emotional openness and unabashed embrace of unconventional melody and song structure while crafting undeniable hooks garnered the record widespread critical acclaim. The most recent Soccer Mommy album Somtimes, Forever (2022) was produced with Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never and the team-up brought to Allison’s particularly confessional lyrics and always imaginative guitar work an experimental edge and sound design element for the songwriter’s most musically adventurous recording of her career thus far. Additionally, the lyrics probably startled listeners that expect artists to be vague in their sentiments in a pop song setting but hasn’t Allison been poetically pointed and vivid in her words all along? Opening the show is Montreal’s indie pop band TOPS whose gentle yet passionate compositions seem like they’d be pretty light and airy live as well but at the show the band seems to exude an unexpected vitality.
HaemoGoblin, photo courtesy the artists
Saturday | 12.03 What: HaemoGoblin and Fast N Loose at L. Lazer art opening When: 9 Where: The Crypt ($10 cash) Why: HaemoGoblin is an electronic duo that will be performing what it calls a ritualistic invocation. Calling the performance “Inauguration” what you will see is a “mini stage play set to music, designed to disorient, disturb and ‘shake awake’ the audience for a half hour or longer.” What will this look like? Well, veteran carnie frontwoman Ortenzia von Deadworry and S.S.G. her “summoned demon” synth player will definitely bring some theater to an often very predictable local music scene. Also on the bill for this art opening featuring the work of L. Lazer is Fast N Loose is a Motorhead tribute band.
The Soft Moon in 2015, photo by Tom Murphy
Sunday | 12.04 What:The Soft Moon w/Nuovo Testamento and Kill You Club DJs When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Luis Vasquez was a little ahead of the curve when he launched The Soft Moon in 2009. Originally a solo project, The Soft Moon evolved to become more of a live band that brought Vasquez’s songs of nervy energy and anxiety-purging urgency to life. His most recent album is 2022’s Exister which in the wake of one of the most challenging periods in recent world history on a wide scale is a catharsis of overcoming the enervating influences that come your way and considering the mere continuation of existence a triumph in itself. The songs seem to have leaned more into the industrial side of Vasquez’s songwriting with some real visceral power driving the moody atmospherics. Los Angeles-based darkwave/synth pop band Nuovo Testamento opens the show.
Hembree, photo by Jonny Marlow
Sunday | 12.04 What:Hembree w/Little Hurt, False Report and Mae Mae When: 7 Where: Larimer Lounge Why: Hembree from Kansas City, Missouri that formed in 2015 and its big break to a national audience was the placement of its single “Holy Water” in an Apple ad during Super Bowl LII. The group’s tight rhythms serve as a foundation for the rest of the songwriting to stretch out whether into focused, unadorned rock songs or expansive, moody pieces and the techno-underpinned indie funk that is at the core of its sound. The group’s new album It’s a Dream! is a record tinged with nostalgic examinations of the roots of current anxieties and insecurities expressed in hazy melodies and resonating tones driven by a hypnotic beat. On the surface it may sound like another current indie rock offering with more than its fair share of more imaginative songwriting but Hembree really charts an internal journey in which one is prepared to exit the gauntlet of lucid dreams trapped in feeling everything until it makes sense and after one is able to move through tangled emotional memories.
The Lemonheads, photo by Barry Brescheisen
Monday | 12.05 What: The Lemonheads w/Bass Drum Of Death and On Being an Angel https://www.bluebirdtheater.net/events/detail/443688 When: 7 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: The Lemonheads are one of few still extant bands to have come to prominence during the alternative rock era that didn’t quite fit in with the more trendy subgenres that made that era one of the most vibrant in the history of popular music. Its own brand of power pop was a vehicle for the songwriting of only constant member, singer and guitarist Evan Dando. The latter seems to have an ability to look into situations and people and extrapolate poetic insights with a compassionate perspective. The title track of the group’s 1992 breakthrough album It’s A Shame About Ray isn’t just about a troubled person who doesn’t fit in with any school and its politics, it’s about feeling like a perpetual outsider and the rest of the songs on the record are vivid stories about people we all know and might even be in a way that didn’t comport with the tales of desperation one heard in a lot of grunge and too “dark” for more faux posi faire of that era to now. Ever since The Lemonheads went on hiatus in 1997 and returned to operations in 2005, the group hasn’t been prolific with original material but Dando’s interpretations of artists that have influenced him on Varshons (2009) Varshons 2 (2019) have been a peek into what Dando’s brain has latched onto for inspiration and perhaps for this performance we’ll get to hear what the veteran songwriter has been up to in recent years. One thing is for certain his own songs have aged far better than those of many of his contemporaries owing in part to the gentle but raw honesty of the songwriting. Also on this bill is Bass Drum of Death originally from Oxford, Mississippi whose blues tinged noisy garage rock has a refreshing level of grit and menace befitting the name of the project.
Monday | 12.05 What:W.A.S.P. w/Armored Saint When: 7 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: W.A.S.P. is the kind of band out of the glam metal era in Los Angeles of the 1980s that more than any other group out of that world that courted controversy. Its music was and is a spirited, melodic hard rock with a strong sense of theater even in the songwriting. Sure its cover art for its debut single “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)” with the circular saw codpiece offended people that took it more literally than could even remotely be intended. Certainly former guitarist Chris Holmes looked the buffoon drunk in a pool with his mother sitting by in the 1988 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years seemed to affirm the extreme and self-destructive hedonism associated with the band. But at its best W.A.S.P. were avatars of a music scene that could be cartoonish, bombastic and puerile while offering an alternative to a conformist puritanical culture with its lurid and triumphant storytelling. Perhaps co-headlining though less notorious is Armored Saint who also started in 1982 in Los Angeles and also pre-dated glam metal though often associated with that world of music due to the big hair and knack for solid melodic hooks. But like W.A.S.P. there was something with more edge than most of its glam rock contemporaries. While never quite having any mainstream breakthrough hits, Armored Saint was a staple of 1980s metal that has held up better than much of the music out of the 1980s Los Angeles heavy metal scene has.
Water From Your Eyes, photo by Ana Fangayen
Tuesday | 12.06 What: Palm w/Water From Your Eyes When: 7 Where: Larimer Lounge Why: As Water From Your Eyes, Nate Amos and Rachel Brown have made a career of using an eclectic and ever evolving palette of sounds to explore ideas and concepts through what could be considered dance pop. That is if your frame of reference might be the experimental electronic and punk out of New York and Los Angeles of the last fifteen years. Its 2020 album 33:44 is something you’d expect more out of a band on the Northern Spy label with its beautifully dire, ambient and modern classical soundscapes that are almost an homage to Penderecki’s “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” crossed with Howard Shore’s work for the films of David Cronenberg. But the duo’s most recent album Structure at times sounds like what might have happened if Aphex Twin in writing Selected Ambient Works Volume II had decided to turn those into pop songs. Except that Water From Your Eyes inserts enigmatic spoken word elements that serve as a a meta narrative that re-configures traditional album structure and gives the whole album a non-linear quality made cohesive by reimagining the nature of how creative work is structured. Fitting that this arty yet incredibly accessible group is sharing the stage with Philadelphia’s art rock weirdos Palm touring in support of Nicks and Grazes, an album that sounds like the band challenged its members to go on separate retreats to clear their minds of contemporary influences and to immerse themselves in non-musical art forms and come back to make the kind of psychedelic rock record that comes across like a collage of playful daydreams and arranged in a way that brushes aside conventional structure itself.
OFF! photo by Jeff Forney
Thursday and Friday | 12.08 and 12.09 What: OFF! w/Zulu When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: OFF! is of course the newer hardcore project fronted by legendary vocalist Keith Morris formerly of Black Flag and of Circle Jerks. The current lineup includes founding member Dmitri Coats of Burning Brides on guitar and as of 2021 Autry Fulbright II on bass and Justin Brown on drums. After an eight year hiatus on releases, OFF! released Free LSD in 2022. It’s still the searing hardcore sound you’d expect from the group but there are some clear differences with what sounds like synth and other ambient sounds giving the songs a psychedelic feel that wasn’t so much a part of its earlier sound. A refreshing update for a band that still maintains the intensity and edge without being stuck in a stylistic rut. Opening both dates at the Hi-Dive is anti-racist powerviolence band Zulu which injects its music with R&B samples and eschews the tough guy stance of hardcore.
Pond, photo by Matsu
Friday | 12.09 What:Pond w/Cryogeyser — rescheduled to April 16, 2023 When: 8 Where: Gothic Theatre Why: Pond has shared membership with Tame Impala over the years with lead singer Nick Albrook being involved with both bands for a few years and Kevin Parker serving as drummer in earlier years and as a producer until 2020. The polished psychedelic pop of its first eight albums was helped in no small part due to Parker’s influence in the production department but with the 2021 album 9, Pond has given us its most interesting record to date with more grit in its overall sound, some edge to its funk elements and a willingness to embrace some rawness in its sound as well as take its atmospherics into a realm flirting with space rock. Los Angeles-based jangle fuzz trio Cryogeyser opens the show with its melancholic, lo-fi dream pop.
Obituary, photo by Tim Hubbard
Friday | 12.09 What:Obituary w/Amon Amarth, Carcass and Cattle Decapitation When: 5:30 Where: The Fillmore Auditorium Why: Obituary is touring ahead of the 2023 release of its new album Dying of Everything. After nearly 40 years as a band exploring the outer edges of the death metal format and pioneering some of that aesthetic it can be challenging to have something new to say with your music and a return to form can be tedious. But Obituary this time decided to stick to writing a strong set of material worthy of its pre-1997 split output. The dire messaging delivered with still convincingly brutal vocals but without cartoonish lyrics. Rounding out the bill are Seattle grindcore outfit Cattle Decapitation who are somehow both keenly aware of the absurdity and cruelty of modern human civilization and the need to ridicule the hubris of our species without making light of the situation in which we and other animals find ourselves due to a tolerance for savage forms of economic and social organization. And yes, grindcore/death metal legends/pioneers Carcass and Swedish, melodic death metal group Amon Amarth and its proclivity for lyrics about the Viking Age and a time before the Christian domination of Nordic culture.
The Smile, from the band’s Facebook page
Saturday and Sunday | 12.10 and 12.11 What: The Smile w/Robert Stillman When: 7 Where: Mission Ballroom Why: The Smile is Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead fame with drummer Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet. The trio made its debut at Glastonbury Festival in 2021 and its music produced during the limitations of association and collaboration during the COVID-19 lockdown emerged as an intimate and spacious, lonely set of melodies and fragile emotional expressions. In 2022 the group released its debut album A Light for Attracting Attention. The record is contemplative as one might expect with the musicians involved but also vulnerable and open in sentiments embracing a massive level of uncertainty and peril that continues to flow seemingly unchecked in a world beyond the ongoing pandemic and perpetuating a sustained anxiety that will have untold impacts for decades to come and written about in history books or their equivalent in some future time should such indulgences be permitted in a post-authoritarian era. The Smile seems to have written a record from the perspective of people keenly attuned to these concerns and not knowing if they’ll live long enough to see better days but not being attached to a sinking spirit of despair.
Bartees Strange, photo by Luke Piotrowski
Wednesday | 12.14 What:Bartees Strange w/Pom Pom Squad and They Hate Change When: 7 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: Bartees Leon Cox Jr. has worn various hats in his career both musical and otherwise. But he is perhaps best known for his music under the moniker Bartees Strange following his stint in in the post-hardcore band Stay Inside. With the release of his 2020 debut Live Forever, Cox has proven himself a master of writing emotionally nuanced and vulnerable pop songs that incorporate elements of indie folk and, synth pop and hip-hop but with a production element that seems to make the music and its complex arrangements hit with a stirring immediacy. Fans of Twin Shadow will hear some similar sonic touchstones and the sophomore album Farm to Table (2022) revealed more of Cox’s gift for genre bending to great effect in delivering songs that are at once deeply personal and politically charged.
Twin Tribes, photo from Bandcamp
Thursday | 12.15 What: Twin Tribes w/Dancing Plague and Plague Garden When: 7 Where: HQ Why: Twin Tribes from Brownsville, TX have garnered no small amount of buzz for its blend of minimal synth and post-punk and a kind of vitality amid melancholic tones. Its most recent studio album Ceremony (2019) sounds like songs written during a flurry of peak emotions and capturing the urgency and desperation of a recent breakup. In most cities of size, Twin Tribes is performing in medium sized clubs but in Denver we’re fortunate to be able to catch the popular band in a small club like HQ. Dancing Plague is a darkwave solo act from Portland, OR whose dusky synth pop is like a darker OMD with some touches of influence from John Maus. In the interest of full transparency, the author of this blurb is in Plague Garden, a noteworthy post-punk/New Wave band from Denver.
ABANDONS, photo by Tom Murphy
Thursday | 12.15 What:ABANDONS w/Old Soul Dies Young, Almanac Man and Fainting Dreams When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: This show is a nice split of experimental noise rock and shoegaze. ABANDONS might at another time be considered a post-rock band but in its mix one hears bits of post-metal, noise rock and ambient and it live shows have a visceral quality with music that one might more expect to be performed in a more meditative spirit. Old Soul Dies Young is the kind of band that happens when guys who were way into post-hardcore and doom drop that sound palette for something more melodic and atmospheric but with the same level of sonic bombast. Almanac Man is like a collision of doom and borderline aggressive, Chicago style noise rock. Fainting Dreams is the kind of dream pop band that comes about when its members maybe came up through hardcore and death metal and are shedding the aggression and mathematical precision and heaviness for radical vulnerability and dreamlike tones.
Organ, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 12.16 What: Sounds for Charity: Avarice, Organ, No More Cheering, Gabriel Albelo When: 7 Where: Glob Why: Proceeds from this show go to Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. Warm weather gear and hand warmers also accepted. For your donation you can catch the glitch industrial dance stylings of Organ, Gabriel Albelo’s solo performance of his heavy psychedelic rock, Avarice’s dark, menacing industrial techno and the prepared noise environment soundscapes of No More Cheering.
Meet the Giant in 2022, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 12.17 What:Love Stallion w/Shanghai Metro Temple and Meet the Giant When: 8 Where: Lost Lake Why: Love Stallion is basically an 80s style glam metal band and if that’s your thing they’re definitely on the better end of the modern version of that with of course stage antics and style and the level of musicianship you’d expect. Shanghai Metro Temple is a fairly straight ahead indie rock band that sounds like it is heavily influenced by late 90s alternative and hard rock. Meet the Giant fuse downtempo electronic pop with post-punk, heavy shoegaze and imaginative soundscapes on the production end.
Wave Decay in 2022, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 12.17 What:Bluebook w/Wave Decay and Mon Cher When: 8 Where: Globe Hall Why: Bluebook these days isn’t the experimental indie folk jazz band of its early days. Instead there is a darkness and not so buttoned downed, controlled intensity to the performances. Seems like Julie Davis is letting her flaws, anxieties and dreams hang more loosely with this version of the band and that has just meant its music has blossomed more and its sound palette greatly expanded with the inclusion of formery Monofog and Snake Rattle Rattle Snake singer Hayley Helmericks on drums and backing vocals, Jess Parsons on keys and other instrumentation and maybe even Anna Morsett on guitar. Wave Decay is the kind of band that sounds like it took the door through psych garage into more shoegaze sounds and all the better for it. Mon Cher’s music is a particularly transporting and lies somewhere between dream pop and downtempo jazz.
Milk Blossoms in 2021, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 12.17 What:Milk Blossoms w/Meek and Knuckle Pups When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Knuckle Pups write radically vulnerable and thoughtful indie pop in the classic mold and its 2022 album TV Ready is both heartbreaking and uplifting. Milk Blossoms play a rare show with Michelle Rocquet now that she spends much of her time in New York City for professional and academic pursuits. So with this configuration of the band you’ll get the full dual vocal effect of powerfully rendered, tender pop songs that are irresistibly twee and cathartic.
Master Ferocious in 2021, photo by Tom Murphy
Sunday | 12.18 What:Never Kenezzard w/Zingaro, Sea of Flame and Master Ferocious When: 3 Where: Globe Hall Why: Never Kenezzard don’t really fit in with the metal scene so much though its blend of progressive rock sensibilities, doom and psychedelia finds it in a particularly more interesting corner of that realm of music. Sea of Flame are a sludge rock/doom band whose epic arrangements are not the rote edition of what doom has become. Master Ferocious somehow mix classic power metal with glam rock without seeming corny because the musicianship is so strong and the performance bordering on theatrical.
Alaska Thunderfuck, photo by Albert Sanchez
Sunday | 12.18 What:Alaska Thunderfuck Presents: The Red 4 Filth Tour When: 7 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: Alaska Thunderfuck is perhaps best known for her competing in RuPaul’s Drag Race but over the last several years she has cultivated a pop music career. Steeped in modern electronic pop and a showcase for her outsize stage persona. Her latest album Red 4 Filth leaves behind some of the camp and humor of previous releases with a more obviously sincere set of pop songs that bring together sounds from hip-hop and classic modern pop including a cover of “All That She Wants” by Ace of Base.
Faceman in 2013, photo by Tom Murphy
Thursday | 12.22 What:FaceMan Western Jupiter vinyl release, Tivoli Club Brass Band and Anthony Ruptak When: 7 Where: The Skylark Lounge/Bobcat Club Why: Faceman celebrates the release of its latest album on vinyl as well as making available on vinyl for the first time its 2016 album Wild and Hunting. The band fronted by Steve Faceman has long offered finely crafted pop Americana with an experimental edge though its new album Western Jupiter shows an embrace of a more straightforward approach to songcraft. But every release is fulled with songs that have heartfelt and sharply observed lyrics in stories about life that feel like they’re part of your life because Steve has honed in on an aspect of culture and social reality that seems to be in the air in that moment. In years past Faceman has put on theatrical performances with set pieces and costumes that help to illustrate the music in dramatic fashion in collaboration with local visual artists who have helped to make these outfits and elaborate sets and pieces of artwork like the stage Megalodon of several years ago or the huge tornado of paper made for the epic Faceman’s 100 Year Storm event of 2016 at The Oriental Theater in which Faceman invited 100 bands to perform. So there’s a bit of community involvement and creative vision behind what drives the band even if it’s not necessarily abundantly obvious from listening to its excellent songs on their own.
SORROWS, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 12.23 What:Baby Baby, Gila Teen, SORROWS and Ray Diess When: 7 Where: Enigma Bazaar Why: Baby Baby is the indie dream pop project of Lily Conrad. Reminiscent of bedroom pop artists of the late 90s and 2000s and has the aesthetics of lo-fi but with better sound production than much of that stuff often had. Gila Teen is the genre defying emo-shoegaze-post-punk band whose eccentric songs nevertheless always seem to be a direct line into the anxieties and affections coursing through the cosmos at the given moment of the performance. SORROWS is an emotionally charged downtempo band comprised of vibrant vocals, elegantly crafted rhythms and electronic production. Ray Diess is one of the Denver scene’s most compelling darkwave pop artists operating today.
Julian Street Nightmare, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 12.23 What: Fast Eddy, Julian Street Nightmare and Morning Oil When: 8 Where: Globe Hall (free) Why: When garage punk and the more mundane end of psychedelic rock collapsed under the weight of its own hubris and fake excitement some of the people who were on one end of that broader scene with any talent or imagination had to do something different and Fast Eddy came out of that milieu as a solid power pop band. Julian Street Nightmare create music from a thrilling nexus of post-punk, surf rock and art rock. Morning Oil sounds like it took some bit of inspiration from the better part of 80s glam metal and The Dead Boys.
Tuesday | 12.27 What:The Roots and BIG K.R.I.T. When: 7 Where: Mission Ballroom Why: The Roots are the influential, jazz rooted hip-hop band from Philadelphia that many may also know for serving as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Its use of live musical instrumentation has always set The Roots apart from most hip-hop groups whose use of samples is most often used to craft the beat and thus its live performances have a powerful physical presence that is impossible to duplicate otherwise. Big K.R.I.T. is the acclaimed rapper and producer from Mississippi whose eclectic production and socially conscious lyrics seem to hit at a very grassroots level of appeal with an accessible sound and a way of presenting heady ideas in a way that is both creative and personally relatable.
Voight, photo by Tom Murphy
Thursday | 12.29 What: Watch Yourself Die, Voight, Sell Farm https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sell-farm-voight-wyd-at-the-mercury-cafe-tickets-481076160747?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete When: 8 Where: Mercury Café Why: Watch Yourself Die is kind of a post-punk supergroup comprised of members of Hex Cassette, Ray Diess and Julian Street Nightmare. Voight has long blurred the line between shoegaze, post-punk, darkwave and techno and infused it with emotionally intense live performances. Sell Farm might be an indiepop band but one that doesn’t see a reason why heavy dub and industrial music can’t be a part of the overall wheelhouse of sounds going into the project’s eclectic but always interesting songwriting.
Thursday | 12.29 What:Discomfort Creature w/Curious Things, Nightfishing When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Discomfort Creature is a punk band from Denver whose lineup includes current and former members of Gamits and Uphollow and this show signals the vinyl release of its 2021 self-titled debut on Snappy Little Numbers now that Chris Fogal is back in town for the occasion from his current residence in Switzerland. The record is an energetic fusion of pop punk and the more angular, Dischord-esque variety of punk.
Brotherhood of Machines at Deep Club event in 2014, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 12.30 What:FOANS, Brotherhood of Machines (album release) and Luxury Hearse When: 9 Where: Broadway Roxy Why: FOANS is the brainchild of producer Andrew Dahabrah whose melancholic house and techno music has been at the center of Denver’s underground dance music world for several years. Luxury Hearse is the project of Dan Coleman (Blank Human) and Rin Howell (Psychic Secretary) that breaks the barrier between techno, ambient and musique concrète. Brotherhood of Machines is apparently returning with its first new release and album in over six years. The project live has been a mysterious and sonically rich example of where ambient, abstract industrial, techno and noise converge to produce a sound that establishes a deep sense of mood and place.
“Keep It In Your Mind,” the final track on Totem Pocket’s self-titled album that dropped on September 30, 2022 is a maximalist rock summary of what you’re in for in listening to the band and seeing it live. One hears vocals slightly behind the mix like something you’d hear on a Dinosaur Jr record. But there is an orchestration of tones and a swirling and energetic flow of guitar and percussion that in spite of being fairly spirited comes off as introspective. Like it was born of capturing private moments of joy and discovery and the catharsis that comes from being able to give voice to the kinds of feelings one has alone in creating the music. The touchstones are there with the tone bending toward the end of the song like the trailing ends of Loveless and the psychedelic freakout jam when Built To Spill launches into a confessional sprawl of yearning and reaching for connection with something bigger. Somewhere in the architecture of the music one can detect how maybe the members of the band had discovered playing rock music in some style popular among their collective peers but then got so bored with the conformity of that comfort and the fake rewards of adolescent popularity and decided to tumble headlong into more cosmic sonic territory as a palette for expressing genuine feeling. Listen to “Keep It In Your Mind” Bandcamp and follow Denver-based Totem Pocket at the links below.
Miami-based Cuban rap group 12 Ruinas offer an ominous music video to accompany the sinister-sounds of the song “Como Fue” (“As Was” in English). We see a figure who has driven to a wooded area with a satchel who seems to be looking to find a place to hide or otherwise dispose of the contents. He comes upon a chilling scene of a man who has been bound and gagged. The whole video looks like it was filmed in the early 80s with sepia tones like something a serial killer or the murderer for a gang is using to catalog his misdeeds. And indeed at the end of the video the man with the satchel appears to be finishing off the man who has been left in forest. What was his crime? Perhaps if this writer’s knowledge of Spanish was greater that would be obvious but the dark, industrial synth drone that lurks in the background of the song is undeniably creepy in a way that enhances the rapping that sounds like it’s telling the lurid tale of gangland crime and the dark underbelly of local culture with visuals that are more compelling than most true crime or horror cinema of recent years. Together it creates a deep mood that fans of the recent horror film The Black Phone might appreciate for its grimy tones and unsettling atmosphere. Watch the video for “Como Fue” on YouTube and follow 12 Ruinas at the links below.
Graphinity eases into “Too Long” with some lo-fi moody guitar work that loops throughout the song and helps to maintain a melancholic spirit befitting the vivid tale of heartbreak. The song is one of a modern relationship with references to electronic communication and social media accounts like Tumblr through which we get a glimpse, at best, into the lives of others when we can’t be around them. The level of details feels very real here even if there’s any consolidation of experiences informing the songwriting like how our narrator bonds with the object of his affection over things like being an older sibling and being a flawed person who accepts those flaws in others only to find that the level of understanding and devotion he’s brought to the situation isn’t returned. He feels like he’s given so much of himself but in the end maybe he’s chosen to connect with someone who isn’t interested after all and that the emotional investment they shared didn’t seem to mean as much and he feels hurt and lost in the end. We hear some anger and resentment in the song but mostly it’s just the hurt and the raw vulnerability in being so confessional about where things sit and beyond the bitterness a willingness to accept that hurt as a genuine feeling and one that is better to feel in full rather than bury it in a secret place in the psyche. Listen to “Too Long” on Spotify and follow Graphinity at the links provided.
In a series of repeating hazy swells that never seems repetitive, Purple Decades’ “Geometry” sounds like what it would be like to be able to lay back onto thermal drifts into a warm sunset. As you float leisurely over waters reflecting the waning sun in purples and vibrant orange off the waves of the tide coming into shore your mind eases out of the mundane concerns that dominate your life and you enter into a mode of pure feeling and acceptance of a tranquility that can’t exist if you’re always at the beck and call of the immersive demands of economy as we generally live in modern life. And for several moments you can remember that living doesn’t mean surrendering and subjecting every moment to and thought and feeling to how it can be monetized and that it is possible to let that mentality go and imagine and even make a world where you can not just indulge but encourage unstructured time for everyone at their own pace and have a society where not everything is aimed at commerce and an unending rat race. Listen to “Geometry” on Bandcamp and follow Purple Decades at the links below.
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