The Playground Ensemble, Eight Songs For a Mad King, March 8, 2019, Mercury Cafe
The Playground Ensemble is a new music group based in Denver formed in 2006. Composed of professional musicians, composers, educators and members of the local community dedicated to presenting modern chamber music not purely as a vehicle for performing classical music of centuries past. The group cultivates local composers new, up-and-coming and more established as a means of showing how music based in classical modes can be a valid and vibrant mode of expression. Operating in a multi-disciplinary fashion often collaborating with dancers, poets, spoken word artists, visual/multi-media artists The Playground Ensemble has also brought noteworthy artists to town that might not otherwise find an avenue for live performance in Colorado. From the beginning one of the leading figures of the group has been Conrad Kehn who came to more classical composition as a regular thing later in life than some other musicians. From Gehring, Nebraska, Kehn had a bit of a background in classical music but like any young person in the late 80s and early 90s he got into alternative music and by late summer 1992 he had moved to Denver and attended Denver University.
As happens when you have an interest in music you end up meeting people and he moved in with a member of a band called Pieces of Lucy. He and the bass player moved on from the project and formed Skull Flux. The band was too Goth for the metal scene, too hard rock for the Goth scene but anyone listening in retrospect would recognize the band as death rock band ahead of its time. The group played shows with the likes of Twice Wilted, Body of Souls and 40th Day, noteworthy acts in the broad realm of alternative music. Guitarist Greg Stretton would go on to a stint in industrial dream pop downtempo band The Siren Project and bassist Steve Millin in progressive folk group The Reals. Kehn formed the short-lived more industrial group Kallisti before shifting more into avant-garde and modern classical music as an academic, a place he has contributed to greatly locally and connected to globally.
The Playground Ensemble is celebrating its 20 year anniversary with a 20 hour marathon on Saturday, March 21, 2026. In ambitious yet accessible fashion with community outreach and goals in mind the event will include a morning yoga session with music, afternoon and evening concerts feature new music (in the modern classical sense) as well as a later night experimental music event with after hours improv. Sprawling from MSU’s Kalamath Building to Stanley Marketplace to the Holiday Theater and Glob it is an event aimed at highlighting various aspects of The Playground Ensemble’s legacy and ongoing goals.
Full schedule and details below. For more information please visit www.playgroundensemble.org. Listen to our conversation with Conrad Kehn on Bandcamp.
Spontaneous Team Composition Workshop (all ages and levels welcome) Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Kalamath Building 800 Kalamath St, Denver, CO 80204
Join Denver’s The Playground Ensemble as we celebrate our 20th season with a 20-hour MARATHON of new music.
The day opens at 7:00 AM with a yoga session and gong bath, followed by the Sound Bites breakfast meet-and-greet.
After breakfast, participants will be divided into small groups and given 90 minutes to collaboratively create a new work to be shared at the end of the session. Each group will be facilitated by Playground Ensemble teaching artists who will guide participants through the music creation process using hand gesture composition, graphic notation, structured improvisation, digital audio workstations, and musical story-telling to name a few.
Bring your own instrument and we will also provide a variety of electronic and found sound instruments to help ‘orchestrate’ and inspire creativity. The teaching artists will demonstrate how these approaches are adaptable to a wide range of educational contexts and are accessible to learners of all ability levels and musical backgrounds. The session will conclude with a performance of each group’s composition.
Afternoon at The Stanley Marketplace 2501 N. Dallas St. Aurora, Colorado 80010
Join Denver’s The Playground Ensemble as we partner with Friends of Chamber Music to celebrate our 20th season with an afternoon of music creation and community at The Stanley Marketplace. Each session highlights a different part of what makes Playground Ensemble the innovative organization that it is.
Family/Community Music-Making 1-2:30 PM: We invite families (grown-ups too!) to create their own instruments and compositions. Create your own compositions using colors and shapes and hear them played on the spot! Record your own beats at our electronic music station. Make tongue depressor kazoos, and play our collection of strange found sound instruments.
At 2 PM, Sing With Us! Meet us in the Stanley commons for a community singing of Pauline Oliveros’ Tuning Meditation. Using any vowel sound, sing a tone that you hear in your imagination. Listen for someone else’s tone and tune to its pitch as exactly as possible. Introduce new tones at will and tune to as many different voices as are present. Sing warmly.
String Quartet Concert 2:30 PM: In keeping with the spirit of Stanley Marketplace, the Playground String Quartet provides an eclectic sample of works by Latino, Indigenous, and women composers. Including works by Gabriela Ortiz, Raven Chacon, and Caroline Shaw, this program contains the breadth of both Playground’s style and their mission.
Playground at 20! MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater 2644 W 32nd Ave, Denver, CO 80211
Hosted by MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater, this series of concerts is the heart of MARATHON.
The evening starts with Shane Courville (trumpet, electronics, composer) and Nathan Hall (piano, electronics, composer) presenting solo, duo, and improvised works on themes of freedom: freedom of nations and sovereignty, freedom to express our own identities, and the freedom of creative collaboration.
Up next join Leah and Josh for a 30-minute program of (mostly) contemporary art songs that recall childhood and gently remind us never to stop playing, even amidst the gloom and doom of life today. When you look through the kaleidoscope of your childhood, what do you see? Do the bright spots of hope, nature, and laughter stand out, or does darkness prevail?
After these two duo sets we gather for a celebratory toast to all that has been accomplished in the previous two decades while looking forward to the future.
At 8PM is the main event, The Playground @ 20!
This chamber concert features the first work we ever played, a new commission by Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez for bass flute and ‘ghost’ string quartet, and a new work by Playground Director Conrad Kehn for the entire ensemble.
The evening will also feature the Colorado premiere of Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Ithánali, about a Chickasaw woman astronaut who is designated to be the first human to set foot on Mars, aware of the irony of her own action – colonizing Mars – and how it compares/contrasts to the historic colonization of her own tribe.
We will also highlight one of our favorite works commissioned with I’m Waiting for Your Crip Cadence, a collaborative composition by Nathan Hall and performance artist MG Bernard that creates an auditory and visual experience of what it is like to exist in a chronically sick bodymind exploring ideas of the disabled experience of non-linear time, and the doctor-patient relationship through a visceral display of how she is bound to the medical industrial complex, dependent on uncomfortable relationships of care, and indentured to pain.
Late Night GLOB
Close out MARATHON at Denver’s DIY citadel, GLOB.
This underground atmosphere set will intersperse avant DJ sets by former Playground board member DJ i.lind before our Music of The Shining, a show based on music from the Stanley Kubrick (and Stephen King) classic.
At midnight Playground composer and board member Silen Wellington will lead us in Haunting, a ritual performance. This is followed by Loretta Notareschi performing How All’s to One Thing Wrought! an improvisational work for a custom-designed virtual instrument that uses the electronic transformation of a single cello low C to express the spiritual idea of an interdependent web of all existence. Luke Wachter will perform …and we are a collection of memory for solo vibraphone and still photography which juxtaposes the impermanence of improvisation with the immutability of static images, examining how identity is constructed in the mind by collecting and reinterpreting memories and shared experiences. Ryan Fiegl winds us down with an electronic music set with reactive video as his musical alter ego Severed Shadow.
The evening closes with an open invite community-improvised drone session carrying us into the early morning.
Monday | 03.02 What: Nuovo Testamento and Dark Chisme When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Nuovo Testamento is a Los Angeles-based band that has made a reputation for itself as crafters of fine synthpop songs with some dark Italodisco flavor. Charismatic singer Chelsey Crowley’s rich vocals are reminiscent of peak 1980s Madonna. Dark Chisme from Seattle is musically adjacent but its sound more in the vein of darkwave with a touch of house in the production.
Final Gasp, photo by Caleb Gowett
Wednesday | 03.04 What:Final Gasp w/Victim of Fire, Ukko’s Hammer and writheinfear When: 7 Where: Bar 404 Why: Boston’s Final Gasp released its new album New Day Symptoms on Relapse on February 27, 2026. The record continues the development of the band’s sound fusing death rock and metallic hardcore. Live the group comes across as something from another era when subgenres didn’t matter so much in navigating the appeal of the music and sounds like the missing link between Christian Death and American Nightmare. Opening are some of Denver’s great hardoce bands in Victim of Fire, Ukko’s Hammer and writheinfear.
American Culture, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 03.06 What: American Culture w/Candy Apple, Spin Move and Blackberry Crush When: 7/8 Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective Why: American Culture kicks off its latest tour with this show of its own current fusion of shoegaze indie pop with punk attitude. The group’s most recent album, and arguably its best, Hey Brother, It’s Been a While, bears the hallmarks of the influence/impact of 90s Britpop psychedelia and its 2020’s echo in the modern underground/indie scene and electronic production. Opening are local shoegaze acts Spin Move and Blackberry Crush and atmospheric hardcore group Candy Apple.
Blackwater Holylight, photo by Magalena Wosinska
Friday and Saturday | 03.06 and 03.07 What: Blackwater Holylight w/Som and Dreadnought (03.06) and Cronos Compulsion (03.07) When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Blackwater Holylight released its new a.lbum Not Here Not Gone in January and its blend of doom and ethereal shoegaze this time out seems to chart the group’s relocation from Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles and embracing uncertainty and establishing new connections, roots and creative and personal evolution. Though heavy in a vein that fans of Slow Crush will appreciate there is a sensitive energy to the music that gives it an intimate feel throughout the album even as many of its songs soar into epic, exhilarating passages. Opening the tour is shoegaze-adjacent post-metal band Som and on the Friday show is Denver psychedelic doom group Dreadnought, on Saturday it’s experimental death metal band Cronos Compulsion.
Polly Urethane in 2022, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 03.07 What: The Liberation Series Presents: Polly Urethane, Melodies Never Lie, Entrancer and Luke Leavitt & Eden Figueroa When: 7/8 Where: Squirm Gallery Why: This is a show series where the proceeds go toward benefiting an organization or person currently being persecuted by corrupt American institutions and imperialism. This night you can see performance artist, songwriter and composer Polly Urethane whose shows are all different from one another but always impressive. Also ambient indie pop shoegaze solo act Melodies Never Lie, techno/ambient artist Entrancer and post-jazz/classical duo Luke Leavitt and Eden Figueroa.
Peaches, photo from Bandcamp
Tuesday | 03.10 What: Peaches w/Cortisa Star When: 7 Where: Summit Music Hall Why: Peaches has been releasing provocative music that challenges norms of a sexually repressive and misogynistic societies and cultures since the turn of the century. Her production has been an influence on various artists over that time as well and sure overtly her songs trade in immediate terms that challenge the bases of norms of subject matter and creative use of language. She hadn’t released a record since 2015’s Rub until this year’s issuing of No Lube So Rude. Peaches’ production may have been updated to reflect the evolving nature of electronic music and methods of composition but her wonderfully vibrant and colorful use of words to challenge vested authority and power structures is still just as vital as ever.
Lala Lala, photo by Ariel Fish
Friday | 03.13 What: Lala Lala w/Lots of Hands When: 7/8 Where: Lost Lake Why: Lala Lala aka Lillie West was one of the leading lights of the Chicago indie rock scene in the late 2010s and with her 2021 album I Want the Door to Open she deconstructed her own sound palette and songwriting style to include more electronic aesthetics. Subsequently the musician/songwriter underwent a kind of personal journey to Taos, New Mexico where she more or less lived off the grid and drew inspiration from the pastoral beauty and unique energy of that town. Then she found her way to Iceland and a residency at LunGa school as well as some time in the capital city of Reykjavik. Out of that leg of her journey West crafted what is essentially an ambient/instrumental album including beautifully arranged field recordings called if i were a real man i would be able to break the neck of a suffering bird (as Lillie West). Lala Lala ultimately landed back in the USA in Los Angeles and on February 27, 2026 she released her new record Heaven 2 via Sub Pop. You can hear traces of West’s creative journey and development informing the record’s evocative soundscapes and existential sentiments. The almost sound design approach to the composition of the songs with West like a figure in her own cinematic creation draws the listener directly into the moments she builds as she catalogs life in the current era of being swarmed with distractions that inspire only overstimulation and yearning for nuggets of the authentic.
Tassles, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 03.13 What: Witch Cat Records Anniversary: Tassles, babybaby4ever, Watch Yourself Die, The Tammy Shine and Hotel WiFi When: 7 Where: Squirm Gallery Why: Witch Cat Records is celebrating its five year anniversary with this show including artists both on the label and adjacent to its aesthetic embracing the uniquely creative and finely honed experimental music whether pop or otherwise. Tassles is a band that shows how lo-fi shoegaze can have a maximalist emotional resonance, babybaby4ever is like a rebirth of tonally rich synthpop in an inspired idiosyncratic vein, Watch Yourself Die is a confrontational performance art band, The Tammy Shine is the iconic lead singer of Dressy Bessy doing her own version of spirited punk-edged pop and Hotel WiFi somehow reconciles country, emo and lo-fi indie rock.
Moon Pussy, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 03.13 What: Moon Pussy, Cleaner and Team Nonexistent When: 7 Where: The Crypt Why: Moon Pussy makes the kind of noise rock that makes you wonder why other bands don’t adopt a fully eccentric approach to lyrics and performance because they’re so compelling and unique that it’s difficult to really compare them to anyone else except to clumsily slap a genre term on them. Team Nonexistent started out as more of a Riot Grrrl-esque grunge band but now is more a raw punk thing with stirring hooks and pointed lyrics. Cleaner is a punk band with some threads of fuzzy, psychedelic 2010s garage rock.
Jeff Tweedy and band, photo by Rachel Bartz
Friday | 03.13 What:Jeff Tweedy w/Liam Kazar When: 6:30 Where: The Ogden Theatre Why: Jeff Tweedy released a thirty song opus of an album called Twilight Override in September 2025. The record showcases the songwriter’s typically thoughtful and personally insightful lyrics as well as his knack for writing paradoxically spare songs with orchestral arrangements. The gentle energy of the song reflects the guiding principle, as it were, of the release and that is how creativity is the antithesis of the pervasive destruction and darkness that is part of everyday life in America and so much of the world in this moment and if one is honest for years. The record is an attempt to stay above being overcoming by this tidal wave and show at least a little common human solidarity in songs that sound like an attempt to being drowned by personal anxieties and the ambient terribleness around us daily as they intermingle to reinforce each other in sinking every single one of us. Tweedy addresses all of this with warmth and humor and live he’ll likely have more than a handful of stories to enhance the intention of the album.
Bison Bone, photo courtesy the artists
Saturday | 03.14 What:Bison Bone and Chella Negro When: 8 Where: The Skylark Lounge Why: Courtney Whitehead will be moving out of Denver soon and this is a farewell show for his long-running project Bison Bone. Whitehead’s style of Americana is deeply personal with vivid portraits of life that illuminate universal human experiences of working class life and its often undersung and undercelebrated joys that aren’t often the subject of the myths of the wealth-obsessed end of our culture. Joining Bison Bone for the bill is another of Denver’s Americana greats with folk-inflected, alternative country acts Chella Negro whose own lyrics aren’t short on deeply insightful and affectionate depictions of a life we all known and relate to directly but maybe don’t examine with as much clarity as Chella reveals in her lyrics.
Saturday | 03.14 What: Glueman, Rugburn and Fossil Blood When: 8 Where: Hi=Dive Why: Glueman is going on tour and taking its potent brand of classic hardcore-infused garage rock to various corners of the blighted American landscape. It’s most recent album III is a bit like an amalgam of 90s and 2000s Memphis garage rock and Black Flag. Rugburn is a psychedelic fuzzy punk band from Denver, not to be confused with with the funk band from elsewhere. Fossil Blood sounds like they grew up on all Black Sabbath all the time and then embraced what Ronnie James Dio did before joining that band including his time in Rainbow and his early solo career with the epic riffs and the fantastical imagery.
Max Styler, photo by Clay Westcott
Saturday | 03.14 What: Max Styler w/Discip B2B Roddy Lima, Dan Molinari and GS When: 7 Where: Mission Ballroom Why: Max Styler got a boost up in his career when, at 18 years old, he was signed to Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records. Since then he’s had his music out via Mad Decent, Ultra Music and other prestigious imprints in the EDM universe. His blend of tech house, bass music, trap and dubstep often seems to land in a place of almost pop accessibility in the composition. Currently he is touring ahead of his headlining spot at Coachella on April 10, 2026 and this is a chance to catch him at a mid-sized venue with the best sound in Denver especially for this style of music.
George Cessna, photo by Tom Murphy
Sunday | 03.15 What:Fire in the Mountains Pop-Up: George Cessna, SHADOWROUGHT, PROGMISTRESS and Corpsewhale When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Fire in the Mountains is a festival happening in East Glacier, MT from July 23-26 that includes some of the best bands in the broader heavy music world (an exclusive reunion of the great, cosmic, tribal doom band SubRosa is part of the proceedings) but this edition includes representation of artists out of the spectrum of Gothic Americana including the reunited Sixteen Horsepower, Tarantella, Midwife and El Welk. For this show you can see George Cessna of El Welk perform a solo set as well as PROGMISTRESS of Dreadnought who will perform at the event as well.
Advance Base in 2018, photo by Tom Murphy
Sunday | 03.15 What:Advance Base w/Moontype and Pyramyd When: 7 Where: Glob Why: Owen Ashworth has for decades given us tender, heartfelt, emotionally unvarnished and honest pop songs in the lo-fi indie vein and his now long-running project Advance Base occasionally tours including this performance in Denver where he played in 2025. The authenticity and openness of Ashworth’s songs gives them an immediacy and relatability that is rare in a world that puts a premium on the flashy and overproduced.
Wednesday | 03.18 What:Testament w/Overkill and Destruction When: 6 Where: Summit Music Hall Why: Testament is one of the most influential and enduring of the Bay Area thrash bands from that second wave of the music. From early on the group’s storytelling and often socially aware lyrics set it apart from a lot of heavy metal of the day. While it didn’t become as famous as the likes of Metallica and Megadeth it has reliably put out worthwhile records including 2025’s Para Bellum which is the band’s first in five years. But apparently the members of Testament took it upon themselves to push their own songwriting boundaries as a band as well as that of thrash and metal generally with songs that fuse black metal, death metal, thrash and progressive chops. It’s one of their best records in a career not short on fine material. Also on the bill are thrash legends Overkill from New Jersey and German thrash luminaries Destruction.
Thursday | 03.19 What: An Evening with Bill Frisell When: 7 Where: The Federal Theatre Why: Bill Frisell is an influential guitarist mostly known for his contributions to jazz and new music. A graduate of Denver’s East High School, Frisell made a name for himself in the NYC Downtown Scene and has worked with the likes of John Zorn. Across his career his has contributed to albums by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Earth while living in Seattle. In his long career Frisell has collaborated with artists too numerous to cite here as a band leader, a curator and a creative co-conspirator and his work has been nominated for a Grammy. But his creative approach to technical music is what has set him apart from many of his peers and there is an accessibility to even his headiest music that has garnered him a cult following.
Jesus Christ Taxi Driver, photo by Hailey Jane
Thursday | 03.19 What:Jesus Christ Taxi Driver album release w/The Thing and Honey Blazer When: 7 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: Jesus Christ Taxi Driver has been establishing itself as a kinetic live act from the Front Range of Colorado since founding in 2022. Plenty of acts have done the blues rock with power pop flair and punk energy but JCTD seems to be on a mission with ambitious songwriting to match its outsized stage presence. This year the group releases its new album, a follow up to 2023’s Like My Soul, titled Taxi the Rich. The record will see a vinyl release for this show a month ahead of its release on streaming platforms. If the previous album was an audacious and raucous affair the new record has a more focused clarity without losing the raw energy that has made the band so appealing like they’re channeling a bit of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Ty Segall simultaneously.
2charm, photo courtesy the artists
Thursday | 03.19 What:2charm w/Abrii and Vyblossom When: 7 Where: Larimer Lounge Why: Australian electronic duo 2charm has been on its debut headlining tour of the USA including stops at SXSW in support of its new album star scum city. The record is like a fusion of club style EDM, hyperpop and more mellow glitchcore. In many ways the mood of the music is reminiscent of a more dance music manifestation of chillwave that fans of Charli XCX and Sextile may appreciate for the tonal richness and playfulness of the music.
Sunswept, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 03.20 What: hlao, SixFM, Sun Swept and Polly Urethane When: 7 Where: Pablo’s East Colfax Why: A stacked lineup of local underground ambient and avant-garde electronic music including a more beat-based approach with hlao, progressive folk psychedelia ambient with Sun Swept and performance art/classical art pop/noise collage with Polly Urethane’s often confrontational performances.
The Playground Ensemble in 2019 performing Eight Songs For a Mad King, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 03.21 What:The Playground Ensemble at 20 When: 7am – 3am Where: Various (see program below) Why: The Playground Ensemble is celebrating its 20 years of existence with a series of events this day as outlined below. For more information click here to read our recent piece on the event and our interview with founder Conrad Kehn.
Spontaneous Team Composition Workshop (all ages and levels welcome) Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Kalamath Building 800 Kalamath St, Denver, CO 80204
Join Denver’s The Playground Ensemble as we celebrate our 20th season with a 20-hour MARATHON of new music.
The day opens at 7:00 AM with a yoga session and gong bath, followed by the Sound Bites breakfast meet-and-greet.
After breakfast, participants will be divided into small groups and given 90 minutes to collaboratively create a new work to be shared at the end of the session. Each group will be facilitated by Playground Ensemble teaching artists who will guide participants through the music creation process using hand gesture composition, graphic notation, structured improvisation, digital audio workstations, and musical story-telling to name a few.
Bring your own instrument and we will also provide a variety of electronic and found sound instruments to help ‘orchestrate’ and inspire creativity. The teaching artists will demonstrate how these approaches are adaptable to a wide range of educational contexts and are accessible to learners of all ability levels and musical backgrounds. The session will conclude with a performance of each group’s composition.
Afternoon at The Stanley Marketplace 2501 N. Dallas St. Aurora, Colorado 80010
Join Denver’s The Playground Ensemble as we partner with Friends of Chamber Music to celebrate our 20th season with an afternoon of music creation and community at The Stanley Marketplace. Each session highlights a different part of what makes Playground Ensemble the innovative organization that it is.
Family/Community Music-Making 1-2:30 PM: We invite families (grown-ups too!) to create their own instruments and compositions. Create your own compositions using colors and shapes and hear them played on the spot! Record your own beats at our electronic music station. Make tongue depressor kazoos, and play our collection of strange found sound instruments.
At 2 PM, Sing With Us! Meet us in the Stanley commons for a community singing of Pauline Oliveros’ Tuning Meditation. Using any vowel sound, sing a tone that you hear in your imagination. Listen for someone else’s tone and tune to its pitch as exactly as possible. Introduce new tones at will and tune to as many different voices as are present. Sing warmly.
String Quartet Concert 2:30 PM: In keeping with the spirit of Stanley Marketplace, the Playground String Quartet provides an eclectic sample of works by Latino, Indigenous, and women composers. Including works by Gabriela Ortiz, Raven Chacon, and Caroline Shaw, this program contains the breadth of both Playground’s style and their mission.
Playground at 20! MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater 2644 W 32nd Ave, Denver, CO 80211
Hosted by MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater, this series of concerts is the heart of MARATHON.
The evening starts with Shane Courville (trumpet, electronics, composer) and Nathan Hall (piano, electronics, composer) presenting solo, duo, and improvised works on themes of freedom: freedom of nations and sovereignty, freedom to express our own identities, and the freedom of creative collaboration.
Up next join Leah and Josh for a 30-minute program of (mostly) contemporary art songs that recall childhood and gently remind us never to stop playing, even amidst the gloom and doom of life today. When you look through the kaleidoscope of your childhood, what do you see? Do the bright spots of hope, nature, and laughter stand out, or does darkness prevail?
After these two duo sets we gather for a celebratory toast to all that has been accomplished in the previous two decades while looking forward to the future.
At 8PM is the main event, The Playground @ 20!
This chamber concert features the first work we ever played, a new commission by Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez for bass flute and ‘ghost’ string quartet, and a new work by Playground Director Conrad Kehn for the entire ensemble.
The evening will also feature the Colorado premiere of Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Ithánali, about a Chickasaw woman astronaut who is designated to be the first human to set foot on Mars, aware of the irony of her own action – colonizing Mars – and how it compares/contrasts to the historic colonization of her own tribe.
We will also highlight one of our favorite works commissioned with I’m Waiting for Your Crip Cadence, a collaborative composition by Nathan Hall and performance artist MG Bernard that creates an auditory and visual experience of what it is like to exist in a chronically sick bodymind exploring ideas of the disabled experience of non-linear time, and the doctor-patient relationship through a visceral display of how she is bound to the medical industrial complex, dependent on uncomfortable relationships of care, and indentured to pain.
Late Night GLOB
Close out MARATHON at Denver’s DIY citadel, GLOB.
This underground atmosphere set will intersperse avant DJ sets by former Playground board member DJ i.lind before our Music of The Shining, a show based on music from the Stanley Kubrick (and Stephen King) classic.
At midnight Playground composer and board member Silen Wellington will lead us in Haunting, a ritual performance. This is followed by Loretta Notareschi performing How All’s to One Thing Wrought! an improvisational work for a custom-designed virtual instrument that uses the electronic transformation of a single cello low C to express the spiritual idea of an interdependent web of all existence. Luke Wachter will perform …and we are a collection of memory for solo vibraphone and still photography which juxtaposes the impermanence of improvisation with the immutability of static images, examining how identity is constructed in the mind by collecting and reinterpreting memories and shared experiences. Ryan Fiegl winds us down with an electronic music set with reactive video as his musical alter ego Severed Shadow.
The evening closes with an open invite community-improvised drone session carrying us into the early morning.
This program is supported by Denver Arts & Venues through the DENVER CREATES Fund.
Telescreens, photo by Sydney Lemons
Monday | 03.23 What:Quarters w/Porch Light and Telescreens When: 6 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: Telescreens from New York occupies a musical territory balanced between early 2000s post-punk and power pop live energy and modern electronic production. You can hear roots in the music in 90s alternative rock and maybe a touch of Walkmen and The Strokes but Telescreens aren’t going for the image of either. Its new singles “Nothing” and “Preacher” are pure expressions of breaking out of self-imposed repression and the ambient despair that is the normal reaction to modern life. Headlining the show are fellow New York City alternative rock band Quarters whose own sound on its more recent music incorporates an R&B aesthetic into its rhythm and vocals.
mclusky, photo by RC Stills
Tuesday | 03.24 What:mclusky w/Cherry Spit When: 7 Where: The Marquis Theater Why: mclusky established itself as one of the more unhinged post-hardcore acts out of the UK in the 90s and early 2000s with records that were partly surreal humor and partly oblique social commentary often taking the piss out of more obvious sanctimonious approaches to having something to say. The band has album titles like The Difference Between Me and You is That I’m Not on Fire and Mclusky Do Dallas. The group split originally in 2005 and reunited in 2014 for a benefit show. But then did a 20-year anniversary tour for the underrated Mclusky Do Dallas delayed to 2024. Then the band released an EP in 2023 called Unpopular Parts of a Pig followed by a full length in 2025 titled The World Is Still Here and So Are We with a subsequent 2026 EP called I Sure Am Getting Sick of This Bowling Alley. With the dire absurdity of world events mclusky is a welcome presence in modern music. Opening the show is top tier Denver post-hardcore/noise rock quarter Cherry Spit who are a pure fusion of technical death metal, noise rock, post-hardcore and shoegaze.
Gov’t Mule, photo by Emily Butler
Friday | 03.27 What: Gov’t Mule at Mission Ballroom When: 6:30 Where: Mission Ballroom Why: Warren Haynes paid his dues as a musician throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s with stints in David Allen Coe’s band, The Nighthawks and on and off with The Allman Brothers Band which he joined in 1989. But in 1994 he formed Gov’t Mule in 1994 with Allman Brothers bandmate Allen Woody which became their focus when their more well-known project went on hiatus. With the then new band Haynes was able to channel his honed guitar work and insight into songwriting into original material with a masterful command of live improvisation so that the band has never been limited to expectations and sure there is the blues and country foundation but also the psychedelic flourishes that informed Haynes’ early influences with Hendrix and Clapton. The most recent Gov’t Mule record Peace…Like a River continues the band’s fusion of styles and influences into a sound that blurs the line between genres and seems orchestrated like a jazz record with contributions from the likes of Billy Gibbons, Ivan Neville, Ruthie Foster and Billy Bob Thornton.
Banshee Tree, photo by Christian O’Rourke
Friday | 03.27 What: Banshee Tree album release for Bad Luck w/Riley J Band When: 7:30/8 Where: Fox Theatre Why: Boulder-based Banshee Tree will release its sophomore album Bad Luck on April 17, 2026 but playing a hometown show ahead of the release likely featuring live versions of the songs from the forthcoming record. Banshee Tree’s eclectic mix of jazz inflected chamber pop and psychedelic folk pop is an apt vehicle for the eight songs on the record that have a gentle and contemplative quality like songs crafted late nights and honed in sessions around a campfire meant to be shared with friends. Despite this intimate aspect of the music each of the songs has an almost orchestral and expansive arrangement that flow into one another as though thematically Bad Luck is a concept album capturing a mood and state of mind wherein one examines wht to let go and what to hold onto going into a new chapter of life.
Pearly Drops, photo from Bandcamp
Saturday | 03.28 What:Pearly Drops When: 7 Where: Lost Lake Why: Finish dream pop band Pearly Drops released its latest album The Voices Are Coming Back to great acclaim in 2025. The record showcases the group’s gift for freely blending elements of hyperpop, glitch and what might be described as electronic dance shoegaze. Its gauzy and luminous atmospheres and entrancing, processed vocals sound like music from an as yet unrealized, existential indie science fiction film. It is an album that is its own world and one worth getting lost within and one you’ll get to experience a bit of live.
Monday | 02.02 What: Worst Night of the Year Fest II: Clementine Was Right, Caspar Milquetoast, Al Ameda and Small Houses When: 7/7:30 Where: Hi-Dive Why: At least this is in February and not January so the name of the event is by circumstance a bit of a joke this year. And given world and national events it seems unlikely as well. But music, yes, Clementine Was Right is the band that combines vivid and heartfelt poetry with emo-flavored country and atmospheric rock and live the band is truly exuberant. Caspar Milquetoast is a band that sounds like what a lot of bands were trying to do mixing psychedelia and folk rock but opting more for an indie pop sound than Laurel Canyon retro and that has meant more original songwriting.
Hobbyist, photo courtesy the artists
Tuesday | 02.03 What: Hobbyist, Pet Traits and Reposer When: 7:30 Where: The Skylark Lounge Bobcat Room Why: Chicago-based Hobbyist like many bands from the Windy City is coming at music from a different angle. This one is noise rock adjacent in terms of sensibility and yes there is guitar and bass but electronic beats and a fusion of downtempo and punk attitude. At times the band dips into a mutant kind of blues rock but its 2024 album People, Like Used CD’s sounds like edgy art pop. Think post-punk made by former theater kids who are writing music to have an emotional resonance and appeal beyond narrow genre categories. Fans of Two Ton Boa and Mecca Normal will probably find something to like here.
Buñuel, photo from Bandcamp
Thursday | 02.05 What: Buñuel w/Squid Pisser, Spiritual Poison and Almanac Man When: 7/8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Buñuel is the San Francisco-based avant-garde noise rock/No Wave band. Fronted by Eugene S. Robinson formerly of experimental rock legends Oxbow. This newer band has a similarly menacing and intense sound that is part experiments in arrangement and rhythm that sometimes hits the ear as some kind of industrial noise rock like a sister band to Swans, Live Skull or The Jesus Lizard whose Duane Denison contributes guitar to the group’s most recent album Mansuetude. Squid Pisser is glitchy, demented grindcore from Tommy Meehand (GWAR), Michael Armendariz (Duck Duck Goose) and Seth Carolina (Starcrawler). Spiritual Poison is the “ambient” project of Primitive Man’s Ethan McCarthy and some of the best music he is making. Almanac Man are an angular noise rock band whose style of post-hardcore is rooted in both DC and West Coast punk.
Weakened Friends, photo from Bandcamp
Friday | 02.06 What:Weakened Friends w/Team Nonexistent and Queen Frog When: 8/9 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Portland, Maine’s Weakened Friends released its third album Feels Like Hell in October 2025 through Don Giovanni. The trio tapped into that 90s grunge pop sound and the loud-quiet-loud sort of sound structure early on but by now has refined it into something with more nuanced emotional range. The new record seems to be informed by the existential exhaustion, exacerbated by the current social and economic climate, of feeling like maybe your closest relationship has run out of steam yet you’re not ready to let it go while taking an assessment of every aspect of it and realizing in the end that a lot of those feelings are projection and you’re really tired of yourself and how you are and the ways in which you self-sabotage. And how that reflection allows you to grow and be present for the people you care most about but maybe allowed yourself to forget along the way. Team Nonexistent is in a similar lane of music but from Denver and with a little more edge in the presentation.
Judge Roughneck, Hi-Def Photography
Friday | 02.06 What: Judge Roughneck’s 30th Anniversary Party w/Reptiles & Samurai When: 7 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: Judge Roughneck’s history reaches back to 1995 when ska was entering into its ascendance in American mainstream music but instead of being the kind that plagued the airwaves for a time with a watered down version of the music, Judge Roughneck seemed to have some authenticity and musical chops. The band’s fusion of reggae and ska with soul set it apart from many of its peers and thirty years later and with the recent tragic passing of former trombone player/back vocalist David Dinsmore, the group is still fronted by lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Byron Shaw. This show celebrates its legacy of excellence that transcended genre.
Patrick Dethlefs, photo from Bandcamp
Friday | 02.06 What: Patrick Dethlefs and The Still Tide When: 7 Where: Swallow Hill Why: Patrick Dethlefs has been one of the more gifted songwriters out of Colorado for more than a decade and his style of folk Americana is poetic and emotionally vibrant. In 2025 he released his latest record Patty, a collection of songs that told stories of life and made sage observations about the human psyche and society that felt both like something from another, better, era and a commentary about the present times without some kind of didactic statement or grandstanding. All of which is easy and understandable to do but the lack of which lends Dethlef’s record an unspoken elegance of expression. The Still Tide might be described as a dream pop band but one that rocks a little more at times and singer/guitarist Anna Morsett is a bit of a prodigy player with songwriting that doesn’t make that obvious because it is all folded into how captivating the songs so often are.
babybaby4ever, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 02.07 What:babybaby4ever album release for 4ever is a long time w/Pleasure Prince, Xenon Thief and WNGDU DJ When: 7/8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Over the last handful of years discerning fans of synth pop in Denver that have been fortunate enough to witness a babybaby4ever show have an artist worthy of her influences. Lily Conrad grew up in Golden, Colorado and started playing music at a young age getting into playing guitar and then cello by her middle school and teen years. In 2016 in college Conrad started making music and performed her first show as babybaby but in the past couple of years she changed the project name so that it was more findable via internet search engines. Early on playing out in and around Denver Conrad was part of the local DIY scene playing house shows and underground venues like the now defunct Posh House. Around that time she started playing keyboards in the live version of psychedelic garage rock band Rose Variety with her friend Becc Perez. The pandemic era stretched time in weird directions but since the world opened up again Conrad started playing around more often in her solo project at venues that could better represent her developing sound and its highly developed, rich synth tone and production. The show now includes props and aspects of performance art from Conrad making a babybaby4ever show memorable both visually as well as for the finely crafted songs that have the spontaneity and vulnerability of classic indiepop and the robust and enveloping melodic tonality of 80s New Wave. In 2026 babybaby4ever releases the new album 4ever is a long time via Denver-based imprint Witchcat Records. The nine songs are loosely a kind of breakup album as breakthrough. The lyrics and moods honor the heartache and the will to move forward by embracing vital experiences and the roots of who were are and what makes our lives feel vibrant.
Midwife, photo by Alana Wool
Tuesday | 02.10 What: Midwife and Amulets w/Sunswept When: 7:30/8 Where: Chautauqua Community House 900 Baseline Why: Midwife brings her emotionally vibrant, ambient folk soundscapes to a rare appearance in Boulder. Opening is Amulets, the solo project of Randall Taylor who has collaborated with Midwife on both his records and her own and his compositions that combine pastoral drones and tape collage is definitely spiritual kin to Midwife’s own songwriting. Sunswept is a flute and synth-driven ambient project from Denver comprised of local improve and experimental music scene star Sarah Christensen.
Sudan Arhcives, photo by Obidi Nzeribe
Tuesday | 02.10 What: Sudan Archives w/Suhreetah When: 7 Where: Gothic Theatre Why: Sudan Archives came up playing violin and while studying ethnomusicoloy at Pasadena City College she attended the legendary club night Low End Theory and wrote her own music and did some deep diving into violin players across cultures and by 2017 released her self-titled debut EP. Since then, Sudan Archives has made a name for herself a talented composer, songwriter and performer blurring the lines between R&B, classical music, experimental electronic composition and dance music. Her latest album is the sprawling and entrancing The BPM (2025).
Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy, photo by Christy Bush
Wednesday | 02.11 What:Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Friends Play R.E.M. w/Bob Goldthwait When: 7 Where: Summit Music Hall Why: For the past dozen years acclaimed actor Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy (Bob Mould Band, Superchunk, Sunny Day Real Estate) have been working together to play albums live by mutually loved artists like The Modern Lovers, The Smiths ad Neil Young. But the past two years the focus has been performing classic albums by college rock/early alternative rock band R.E.M.. Last year the duo performed Fables of the Reconstruction with four original members of R.E.M. joining them on stage for their two shows in Athens, Georgia, the hometown of the group. For this tour Shannon and Narducy will by joined by Jon Wurster, John Stirrat, Dag Juhlin and Vijay Tellis-Nayak in celebrating the 40th anniversary of the album Life’s Rich Pageant and of course the show will include some choice cuts from across R.E.M.’s catalog.
Palehorse/Palerider in 2017, photo by Tom Murphy
Thursday | 02.12 What: Palehorse/Palerider w/Glass Human and BleakHeart When: 7/8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: This will be a front to back show of heavier Denver bands that don’t fit comfortably in the realm of metal though they might each be considered within that lane of music. Palehorse/Palerider combines desert rock, shoegaze and tribal/pastoral rhythms and soundscapes in its evocation of emotional weight. Glass Human is able to navigate being an art rock band and heavy shoegaze with pop songcraft with surprising mastery. BleakHeart is like if a doom band discarded those trappings in favor of more existential, dark and heavy post-punk.
Plastik Mystik, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 02.13 What:Plastik Mystik album release w/Cherry Spit, Pale Sun and Soneffs When: 7/8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Plastik Mystik is refreshingly difficult to pigeonhole because its sound hits the ears as some kind of amalgam of punk fury, dark post-punk sophistication and mutant garage rock left of center fractured song structures. After a handful of singles the past couple of years the group is finally releasing its debut album. The rest of the bill is filled out with some of Denver’s finest. Cherry Spit is a ferocious noise rock/post-hardcore quintet whose sound fuses angular, caustic sounds and impassioned vocals with a mathematical precision that breaks enough with being more calculated to be interesting. Pale Sun is arguably Denver metro’s greatest shoegaze band with former members of Bright Channel, Pinkku and Space Team Electra. Soneffs make music at the intersection of indie rock songcraft, psychedelia and shoegaze.
Salads & Sunbeams, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 02.14 What: The Cowboy Confessional: Sea of Heartbreak – Real Stories, Fake Cowboys w/Christie Buchule, Erin Christian, Susan Earley, Sarah Chase Fountain and musical guests Salads & Sunbeams When: 2 Where: Mutiny Information Cafe Why: This will be an afternoon of confessional storytelling in the spirit of the subversion of the Valentine’s Day holiday. With musical guests, masterful pop band Salads & Sunbeams and their layering of poetry, 60s psychedelia and 90s indiepop.
Gentleman Deluxe, Way High album cover
Saturday | 02.14 What:Heartbreak Holiday: Gentleman Deluxe, The Schofields, Scooter James, Micah and the Mirrors & Silver West When: 6 Where: The Federal Theatre Why: Gentleman Deluxe is the solo Americana project of Aaron Howell, the charismatic frontman of MF Ruckus, White Fudge and various other bands over the years. This effort showcases Howell’s ability to write stripped down songs without losing the emotional sensitivity he can bring to a song that perhaps isn’t as obvious from his more bombastic bands but the sensibilities of which can be heard in his other songwriting. Also on the bill is former Tin Horn Prayer and Pinhead Circus member Scooter James with his own solo work and cosmic country artist Silver West.
DeVotchKa, photo by Jen Rosenstein
Saturday | 02.14 What:DeVotchKa A Tribute to the Music of Little Miss Sunshine When: 7 Where: The Boulder Theater Why: DeVotchKa was already a bigger band in Denver metro around the turn of the century that worked hard to hone and refine its masterful songwriting and sound that got pigeonholed as “gypsy punk” and Americana. But the affecting lyrics and the sophistication of its songwriting with elements of jazz composition and classic pop songcraft and a little luck landed the group’s music on the soundtrack for the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine which adapted songs from the group’s albums How It Ends (2004) and Una Volta (2003). This is a rare chance to witness a great deal of that music live.
Weval, photo from kompakt.fm
Monday | 02.16 What:Weval – Chlorophobia album tour w/CERVAL When: 8 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: Weval is an electronic duo from Amsterdam that for nearly a decade and a half have produced some of the more sonically rich dance and pop crossover music of recent years. Its fusion of deep house, techno and the kind of low end heavy electronic pop that fans of Big Black Delta, Sextile and Moderat would fully appreciate with songs that seem to fit both the dance club and indie radio formats.
Ron Funches, photo from ronfunches.com
Thursday-Saturday | 2.19-2.21 What: Ron Funches When: Varies by date Where: Comedy Works (downtown) Why: Ron Funches launched his comedy career while working various jobs in Portland, Oregon in 2006. Since then he has been on numerous television shows including a memorable but short bit in Portlandia in 2011. His surreal and sharply observed material exposes aspects of American culture and the collective psyche with great wit and insight. His unique vocal style and renders his inspired storytelling into bypassing expectations and giving a new perspective on what you may think is already familiar. Fans of Mitch Hedberg will definitely be into what Funches has to offer.
Rowboat, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 02.20 What:Rowboat, Loose Charm and Owosso When: 8 Where: The Skylark Lounge Bobcat Room Why: Rowboat is a band whose music has some roots in folk but Sam McNitt has refined those influences into something more moody and literary with fine sonic textures and an intense delivery that creates a fascinating contrast with the sensitivity and delicacy of the songwriting. Owosso is a band that seems to draw inspirations from angular, DC post-punk, 90s emo and noisy shoegaze. Loose Charm makes music out of another era when alt-country wasn’t watered down into indie Americana, when it had more slivers of punk and early 90s alternative rock in its spine.
Atmosphere, photo by Samantha Martucci
Friday | 02.20 What: Atmosphere w/Sage Francis, R.A. the Rugged Man, Kool Keith and DJ Mr. Dibbs When: 6 Where: Boulder Theater Why: From humble origins as an alternative hip-hop group forming in 1996, Atmosphere has become one of the most popular acts out of that musical milieu. Celebrating its 30 year anniversary for this tour including a club show at Boulder Theater, Slug and Ant bring their hyper verbal, emotionally vibrant and imaginative hip-hop as well as legends of the art form including innovators like Sage Francis and Kool Keith who have both pushed the boundaries of hip-hop with experimentation in sound delivery of subject matter. Mr. Dibbs maybe became more well known in the 2000s but he was honing his skills at turntablism actively as an artist since the early 90s and has worked with Atmosphere and El-P as well as Doseone and numerous other noteworthy artist of hip-hop.
Taraneh, photo from Bandcamp
Friday | 02.20 What:Taraneh w/Tassles and Warper When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: New York’s Taraneh sounds like it draws equally from more avant-metal, post-punk, noise rock and shoegaze to make its own sound that is deeply atmospheric and edgy with soulfully delivered vocals. While sounding nothing like Kylesa and Slow Crush, fans of those bands will find something to appreciate about the way Taraneh combines heaviness, electronic music and psychedelic flourishes. Warper recently put out a new album that showcased its complete absorption of heavy 90s emo and shoegaze and fused it into its own flavor. Tassles started out as sort of a bedroom shoegaze band but as the live project has evolved into more of a band its robust guitar sound backed by live bass and the in person experience expands upon the strong songwriting of the project’s recorded releases with robust sound that doesn’t take away from songs that are like the next evolution or two beyond chillwave with meditations on life and how you have to fantasize about something that engages the mind and otherwise dissociate to get through the nightmare of life under late capitalism and how it manifests in your personal existence.
Dressy Bessy, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 02.21 What:Dressy Bessy & The Tammy Shine Album Release w/Hotel Wifi and Cribbo When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Dressy Bessy doesn’t play live in its hometown in Denver often and it has become a bit of a tradition to play the Hi-Dive in February. The indiepop band includes Apples in Stereo guitarist John Hill and fronted by the charismatic Tammy Ealom who super old school Denver people may know from The 40th Day or Sissy Fuzz. But obviously Dressy Bessy eclipsed all of that with national and international fame of the kind that doesn’t fill stadiums but does allow one to have opportunities most smaller bands can only dream of. This show celebrates the release of Ealom’s debut solo album as Tammy Shine called Ok Shine Ok on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records with a special lathe cut of edition of songs from the album available from local imprint Witchcat Records. Of course the record has the charm and spirited energy that Ealom brings to Dressy Bessy if the songwriting is a little different and more spare but doesn’t spare the energy and attitude that is the singer and songwriter’s signature style. Plus, Ealom produced the album herself and it fully reflects her unique creative vision.
clipping., photo by Daniel Topete
Sunday | 02.22 What: clipping. w/Open Mike Eagle and Cool Prongs When: 7 Where: Gothic Theatre Why: From its inception clipping. was a band that had experimental leanings baked into its beats and aesthetic. But its latest record Dead Channel Sky is the fullest development of its albums as works of science fiction as much as music but not the kind that’s instantly corny and heavy-handed. Sure the title seems like a nod from the opening lines of William Gibson’s 1984 cyberpunk landmark Neuromancer. But the relentless yet sparely executed beats and flow of words is like hearing something like Busdriver working with The Prodigy. But more stark and reflecting the dystopian mood of the world today. At times it feels like it makes statements on the unsustainability of striving culture and and a world seemingly on fast forward driven by the demands of late capitalism but which does nothing but wear out mere humans.
MDC, photo from Bandcamp
Thursday | 02.26 What:MDC w/The Elected Officials, Poison Tribe and Shit Drugs When: 7 Where: The Federal Theatre Why: MDC just had a provocative name with radical left perspectives in its lyrics being against racism, homophobia, the perils of imperialistic capitalism (as if there’s any other kind) and fascism. All that at time when mainstream culture seemed to reflect the insipid “Morning in America” nonsense promoted by the Ronald Reagan administration which also funded death squads in Latin America and interfered with American elections in 1984 in a way that is still buried for fear of general public upset. Fast forward some forty years and things are somehow even worse so MDC (Millions of Dead Cops or Multi Death Corporations or whatever darkly funny and irreverent name the band chooses to adopt at any given time) is more relevant than ever.
Gogol Bordello, photo courtesy the artists
Friday | 02.27 What: Gogol Bordello w/Puzzled Panther and Boris and the Joy When: 7 Where: The Ogden Theatre Why: Gogol Bordello spawned in 1999 in New York City named in part from 19th century Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol. Frontman Eugene Hütz, also from Ukraine, started playing in bands in the country of his birth with an appreciation for strong lyrics and thus another reason for the literary connection. The singer/musician spent a good deal of his youth in various parts of Eastern Europe, Austria and Italy including refugee camps in the wake of the Chernobyl meltdown ultimately landing in Vermont prior to his migrating to New York where he met the future members of his band. Fortuitously, Gogol Bordello came together when NYC was experiencing an upswing in underground rock with bands of disparate styles starting in the late 90s and 2000s. With a sound that has been perhaps self-described as “gypsy punk” perhaps as a way to capitalize on Hütz’s Romani background and incorporation of Romani musical ideas into rock as well as Ukrainian and Russian punk which has its own rich history and unique development. The band’s impassioned performances and unique sound distinct from other bands from New York of the time has since garnered Gogol Bordello a bit of a cult following across the past three decades as it successfully evades easy categorization except its own style. On February 13, 2026 the band released its new album We Mean It, Man!, potentially a reference to the Sex Pistols song “God Save the Queen” as well as a statement of intent. It has all the hallmarks of the band’s infectious energy and fusion of punk, glam rock, Eastern European folk and orchestral flourishes.
Cluxterfux in 2019, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 02.27 What: Clusterfux w/Prescription and Arson Charge When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Clusterfux has been around for more than 30 years as a staple of the local scene with its amalgam of skate punk and crossover. Brothers Josh and Justin Lent have been longtime supporters of local community including with their shop Chain Reaction Records. Their irreverent and intense records hasn’t exactly lost its edge and intent as evidenced by December 2025 single “American Gestapo.” Arson Charge also makes no bones with its own brand of hardcore taking aim at the dark corners of one’s psyche and American culture. Prescription is one of the old school hardcore bands from Denver’s 90s punk scene that came across as being humorous and pointedly political back then and now with its new album Lab Rats.
Hex Cassette in 2021, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 02.28 What: Hex Cassette, “Horse Girl,” Brock “‘”the Brick” Bronson and aithworker When: 8 Where: The Crypt Why: Hex Cassette is Denver’s premiere industrial dance/darkwave performance art act. Zachary Graves is a commanding and hyperkinetic figure whose music is well-crafted and compelling on its own but his stage banter in which he cajoles the audience in hilarious heel fashion is second to none. “Horse Girl” is not the Chicago band. It is the performance troupe/experimental pop band from Denver whose shows are all fairly unique and often involving a concept and musical elements can be drastically different from the previous show but always wortth seeing.
Brotherhood of Machines in 2016, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 02.28 What: 4digit, Virga Delta, Brotherhood of Machines (album release) and Sell Farm When: 8/8:30 Where: DMV Why: Brotherhood of Machines is set to release his new album for this show. The project is a unique layering of ambient methodology, environmental industrial, techno noise and cassette collage music. Virga Delta is industrial ambient glitch. Sell Farm is a ferocious amalgam of industrial rock and noise akin to Nine Inch Nails.
Turning Jewels Into Water is a project with composer/percussionist/turntablist Val Jeanty and percussionist/composer/electronic musician Ravish Momin. Formed around 2017 when the two met at a jam session at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York. Recognizing a shared affinity for crafting unique rhythms and soundscapes and compatible methods of working the two artists have since worked together to explore the ways in which new technologies can be used to blend electronic and acoustic instruments in creating music that reflects the diverse cultural heritages and musical interests in common. The name of the project is a commentary on access to natural resources and howthat has been politicized in human struggles for power especially in the capitalist era increasingly so with the rise in climate change impacts. A casual listen to any of the duo’s three albums reveals a mastery of rhythmic arrangements and patterned tones for a sound that is ambient adjacent but more akin to the kind of early industrial beat-making and culture jamming sounds heard in a band like Cabaret Voltaire but steeped in modern sensibilities and production methods.
Over the last handful of years discerning fans of synth pop in Denver that have been fortunate enough to witness a babybaby4ever show have an artist worthy of her influences. Lily Conrad grew up in Golden, Colorado and started playing music at a young age getting into playing guitar and then cello by her middle school and teen years. In 2016 in college Conrad started making music and performed her first show as babybaby but in the past couple of years she changed the project name so that it was more findable via internet search engines. Early on playing out in and around Denver Conrad was part of the local DIY scene playing house shows and underground venues like the now defunct Posh House. Around that time she started playing keyboards in the live version of psychedelic garage rock band Rose Variety with her friend Becc Perez. The pandemic era stretched time in weird directions but since the world opened up again Conrad started playing around more often in her solo project at venues that could better represent her developing sound and its highly developed, rich synth tone and production. The show now includes props and aspects of performance art from Conrad making a babybaby4ever show memorable both visually as well as for the finely crafted songs that have the spontaneity and vulnerability of classic indiepop and the robust and enveloping melodic tonality of 80s New Wave. In 2026 babybaby4ever releases the new album 4ever is a long time via Denver-based imprint Witchcat Records. The nine songs are loosely a kind of breakup album as breakthrough. The lyrics and moods honor the heartache and the will to move forward by embracing vital experiences and the roots of who were are and what makes our lives feel vibrant.
Friday | 01.02 What:Angel Band w/Ryan Wong, Fishlegs, Elaine and Nimona When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Angel Band is an indie pop band that seems to have taken inspiration from jangle pop groups of the late 80s and early 90s. Like C86-affiliated groups and acts on the Sarah Records and early Slumberland imprints. There is an enthusiasm with which the music is performed but without losing a sense of delicacy and gentleness. Fishlegs is like-minded in its embrace of the kind of charming twee pop that made 90s underground music worth seeking out. Ryan Wong is of course the songwriter and producer behind his band Supreme Joy but his solo performances can wax into his equally worthy country songwriting.
Victim of Fire, photo by Tom Murphy
Thursday | 01.08 What: Victim of Fire, Cronos Compulsion, Aleister Cowboy, Pedestal for Leviathan When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Victim of Fire is a Denver-based hardcore/black metal band that has been at the forefront of that music out of the Mile High City. Its 2025 album The Old Lie is a sharp and ferocious dissection of economic elitist lies told to working class people to get them to give up their best interests in pursuit of enriching the wealthy at the expense of everyone. Cronos Compulsion is a death-sludge metal band also from Denver whose 2025 album Lawgiver is a bracing listen and a solid example of the caustic and brutal sonic power of the art form. Fort Collins’ Aleister Cowboy released an EP of what might be described as cosmic death metal called Neolithic Blood Rites in 2025. Pedestal for Leviathan’s flavor of black metal is the more symphonic variety but don’t worry, it’s plenty brutal as well once the songs get into gear.
Black Flag in 2019, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 01.09 What:An Evening With Black Flag When: 7 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: Ever since replacing the most recent lineups of Black Flag with young musicians, Greg Ginn seems to want to bring some new blood into his venerable and influential punk band Black Flag. Did it work? You’ll have to go to find out but Ginn’s guitar work remains impressive and unique in the canon of punk and hardcore.
Precocious Neophyte, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 01.09 What: Warper, Precocious Neophyte and Blackberry Crush When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Warper released its new album Something, Sometime in October 2025 showcasing its further development from moody, atmospheric emo band into a heavier shoegaze band. The new record also showcased the band’s development as songwriters since its 2021 Lateness EP. Sure, you can hear a touch of possible influences like Hum and Sunny Day Real Estate but also newer groups like Cloakroom. Warper doesn’t shy away from demonstrating musical chops in the songs as well with evocative solos. Precocious Neophyte seems to come from similar roots but its musical instincts seem to have some noise rock and metal influences along with obvious touchstones like My Bloody Valentine with a knack for fragile melodies alongside searing guitar work and crushing heaviness. Blackberry Crush has evolved into more of a shoegaze band in the past couple of years but without sacrificing a knack for writing compelling pop hooks with some clear inspiration from 90s grunge.
Watch Yourself Die, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 01.10 What:The Pretty Shabbies, The Futons and Watch Yourself Die When: 7 Where: The Skylark Lounge Bobcat Room Why: The Pretty Shabbies sound like its music is comprised of bits of 1970s jazz and funk. There’s a chance the members listened to a lot of Zappa, a bit of Jethro Tull, modern jam bands and someone in the mix probably has every Traffic record. And yet the organic free flow of the music is not without a certain appeal because it’s not like many other local bands. The Futons are sort of a psychedelic garage punk band. But Watch Yourself Die is seemingly different every time with a strong and confrontational, transgressive performance art component which is going to make it completely divergent from everything else on this bill in the best way.
Saturday | 01.10 What:Night Fishing, Nativity in Black, Tainted Blade, Halo of Lightning When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Night Fishing is a collision of fusion, psychedelic prog, surf rock and post-rock but heavy and it includes members of other much heavier and more brutal bands. This is not gentler so much as not aggressive in its sound. Nativity in Black is a Black Sabbath cover band fronted by Chella Negro. Don’t expect the poetic Americana of her other band Chella and the Charm. It’ll be legit Black Sabbath evocation. Tainted Blade is a blackened death doom band from Denver. Halo of Lightning is a “stoner-doom metal” band from Colorado.
Circling Girl, photo by Tom Murphy
Thursday | 01.15 What: Summer Bedhead, Circling Girl and Majona When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Summer Bedhead’s eclectic indie rock reflects the changing musical landscape of the past decade. In the band’s story songs you hear strands of the throwback to 90s rock, garage rock, dream pop and more. But it’s all channeled into the group’s own style of confessional pop songs with some bite and more than a little vulnerability. Circling Girl is a Denver-based dream pop band whose sound has some bright shimmer in the guitar melodies with vocal harmonies that are reminiscent of The Sundays, Lush in its more pop mode and a touch of Cocteau Twins. Its 2025 album Only My Veins Know is one of the better releases in the broad spectrum of shoegaze and dream pop of the past five years with its intricate and entrancing songwriting. Majona is the style of atmospheric pop that is adjacent to shoegaze but more in the realm of Mazzy Star-esque slowcore.
The Green Typewriters, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 01.16 What:Green Typewriters, Salads and Sunbeams and Teacup Gorilla When: 8 Where: The Skylark Lounge Bobcat Room Why: The Green Typewriters are the kind of psychedelic pop band that makes use of conceptual framing and aesthetics to deliver a unique style of music that blurs the line between Elephant6 indiepop including the experimental streak of that music, art rock and mystical psychedelia. Salads and Sunbeams engages in modern pop storytelling through the sonic lens of 60s and 70s psychedelic rock with poetic observations on modern life and the ways our current civilization works to erode our humanity and offering ways to reclaim it through imagination and honest feeling. Teacup Gorilla is a high concept art pop band that challenges conventional views of gender and identity in its songs and in its presentation of the music.
Kayo Dot, photo from Bandcamp
Sunday | 01.18 What: Kayo Dot and Abandons When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: New York-based avant-garde metal and Kayo Dot makes a rare appearance in Denver following the release of one of its most challenging and visionary records to date in 2025’s Every Rock, Every Half-Truth under Reason. The album was written against the idea of the creative act and creativity as a result of predictive modeling and its dystopian offspring, AI music and art. The songs are not in the vein of traditional metal or really something easily or at all identifiable as metal. It’s often like an organic, mutant and sprawling set of songs that at most has something in common with something like Mamaleek. But even more abstract. Abandons is not as avant in its songwriting but it is in the way the band writes music in a more improvisational mode and without seeming to try to fit in with a neat genre. Sure if you want to call them post-rock or post-metal they fit that but also noise rock and art rock and in moments with songs written with more abstract electronic ideas in mind.
Cherished, photo from Bandcamp
Thursday | 01.22 What:Cherished album release w/Tassles, Flesh Tape and Headslug When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Ever since switching names to Cherished in 2022 and a shift in sound more toward the shoegaze end of post-punk this Denver quintet has developed a body of work that defies easy categorization. There is some noisy, punk edge underlying the sonics and performance style but the atmospheric melodies and introspective and thought-provoking lyrics set the band apart from any obvious niche aesthetics. Its 2025 self-titled album was recorded and mixed by Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets who is perhaps best known for working on records by Model/Actriz, Lingua Ignota, Battles, Big|Brave and Lightning Bolt. It emphasizes the more gritty side of the band’s sound without sacrificing the deep moods Cherished manifests live. Opening the show is bedroom dream pop band Tassles, noise-rock post-punk group Flesh Tape and Headslug whose sound sits somewhere between grunge pop and shoegaze.
Cthonic Deity, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 01.23 What: Cthonic Deity, Street Tombs and Death Possession When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Cthonic Deity is the doom/death metal/punk band from Denver that includes Paul Riedl of Blood Incantation fame. It’s much more stripped down and brutal in its guitar attack and includes members of Scolex and Ascended Dead as well. Street Tombs from Santa Fe, New Mexico are a collision of d-beat punk and thrash-infused death metal. Death Possession play the kind of death metal that sounds like it was inspired by many sessions of taking in early Slayer, early Possessed and Xasthur in a secret club house.
Dollpile, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 01.23 What: Gion Davis, Dollpile, Your Friend Nirantha When: 8 Where: The Skylark Lounge Bobcat Room Why: Gion Davis is a poet with the indie rock band Clementine Was Right who is releasing a new book Designated Stranger that “spans years, states, genders, and climates as it confronts the concurrent apocalypses of being trans and poor in America.” Seems appropriate for the world today. Also performing is Dollpile fka Isadora Eden, a band whose dream pop is more theatrical and atmospherically dense than the genre is often known for producing. Also Your Friend Nirantha and its endearingly earnest bedroom dream/noise pop.
Turning Jewels Into Water, photo by Ed Marshall
Saturday | 01.24 What: Turning Jewels Into Water When: 6PM doors for Artist Discussion and Q&A, concert 7:30PM Where: Bug Theater Why: Turning Jewels Into Water is a project with composer/percussionist/turntablist Val Jeanty and percussionist/composer/electronic musician Ravish Momin. Formed around 2017 when the two met at a jam session at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York. Recognizing a shared affinity for crafting unique rhythms and soundscapes and compatible methods of working the two artists have since worked together to explore the ways in which new technologies can be used to blend electronic and acoustic instruments in creating music that reflects the diverse cultural heritages and musical interests in common. The name of the project is a commentary on access to natural resources and howthat has been politicized in human struggles for power especially in the capitalist era increasingly so with the rise in climate change impacts. A casual listen to any of the duo’s three albums reveals a mastery of rhythmic arrangements and patterned tones for a sound that is ambient adjacent but more akin to the kind of early industrial beat-making and culture jamming sounds heard in a band like Cabaret Voltaire but steeped in modern sensibilities and production methods. For our interview with Ravish Momin please follow this link.
Cop Killer, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 01.24 What: Vulgarian, 908, Old Skin and Cop Killer When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Denver-based, anti-capitalist, doom/sludge/crust group Vulgarian are releasing their third album Cost of a Bullet at this show. Expect caustic and brutal riffs and plenty of pointed and incisive lyrics about what a demented and corrupt civilization we’re living through right now. 908 is a grindcore/powerviolence band from Colorado Springs that includes current and former members of Aberrant, Catheter, Throcult, Upon a Field’s Whisper, Havok and Tree of Woe. Old Skin sounds like a band that came up playing stoner metal and doom but leaned into the Unsane and Cherubs end of that sound and now is almost more of a noise rock band with some sludgy grooves while still sounding incredibly menacing. Cop Killer is the hardcore band from Denver that thankfully has lyrics that are appropriate to the name of the band and a confrontational performance style worthy of the name as well.
Jim Ward, photo from Bandcamp
Thursday | 01.29 What:William Elliot Whitmore and Jim Ward (Sparta) When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: William Elliot Whitmore is a singer/songwriter from Iowa who earned a reputation as one of the more skilled practitioners of folk Americana since the late 90s. With releases on Southern Records, ANTI- and Bloodshot Records Whitmore’s respectable body of work has garnered him a bit of a following and he has toured with Chris Cornell, Murder By Death, Converge and Esmé Patterson, with whom he has worked, to give a sense of his broad appeal beyond the obvious for his charismatic performances and fine songcraft. Also on this bill is Jim Ward, the frontman and guitarist of Sparta and former member of At the Drive-In performing his solo material that spans genres but all graced with his vulnerable yet passionate vocals.
Call Sign Cobra circa 2006, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 01.30 What: Call Sign Cobra w/Friends of Cesar Romero, El Welk, Total Cult When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Back in the mid-2000s Call Sign Cobra was a bit of a local supergroup that included members of now, minus the punk cognoscenti of the day, forgotten punk bands like Scott Baio Army, The Facet, Mail Order Children and Out on Bail. It’s sound was a kind of loose around the edges garage rock and what later “neo-classic rock” bands aimed for but could never quite nail in trying to sound pro. Imagine a Memphis garage rock band of the 90s, The Dirt Bombs, Teengenerate and a glam rock band mixed together and add a horns section and you have some idea of what you’re in for. It’s raucous, ridiculous and here’s a rare chance to see the band nearly twenty years after it dissolved. Also on hand will be modern garage punk luminaries Friends of Cesar Romero and Total Cult as well as noisy post-Americana group El Welk.
The Crooked Rugs, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 01.31 What: The Crooked Rugs, Rugburn and Chroma Lips When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: The Crooked Rugs from Fort Collins live come off like a countrified psychedelic rock/shoegaze band with a deep appreciation for T. Rex. But one with a knack for memorable and transporting melodic hooks. Rugburn’s own flavor of psychedelia is more steeped in grunge and more distorted sounds in general with a bit of an edge. Denver’s Chroma Lips has more synth in the music and its motorik beats point to some inspiration from Krautrock, possibly a touch of Silver Apples and possible hints of having soaked up bits of the better end of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Black Mountain and the most inspired bits of Tame Impala but with more interesting guitar work.
Corey Ledet is a zydeco musician and composer who was born in Houston, Texas but grew up around Louisiana Creole culture spending summers with relatives in Parks, Louisiana just east of Lafayette. As a kid Ledet started playing drums around age 8 or 9 playing on his grandfather’s old kit, which the latter had played when he was a drummer in Clifton Chenier’s band (Chenier was one of the pioneers of zydeco). From there Ledet was playing shows and eventually switched to playing accordion around age 12 or 13. The musical style fuses elements of blues, rock and roll, soul, R&B and Creole folk songs and its lively energy and uptempo rhythms helped to make it popular well beyond its southwest Louisiana origins. Zydeco artists entered underground and mainstream American music throughout the 80s with the popularity of artists like Rockin’ Dopsie, Terrance Simien and of course Buckwheat Zydeco. Ledet came of age during this time and over the course of three decades has established himself as one of the musical form’s most prominent practitioners twice nominated for a Grammy.
On December 23, 2025 Corey Ledet Zydeco & Black Magic released the album Live In Alaska on CD, download and streaming. It is the sixteenth record led by Ledet and a solid representation of his band’s chemistry as a performing unit. The recordings were culled from three separate performances during the Anchorage Folk Festival. The songs showcase the collective’s ability to take improvisational passages and the album includes a piece created at one of the shows: “Alaska Funk.” It’s a vibrant document of the vitality of the musical style and Ledet’s band in particular.
Listen to our interview with Corey Ledet on Bandcamp and follow the musician and songwriter at the links below.
Captain Buckles is a crew of veteran New Orleans sidemen that released its debut full length album Hurry Up on November 14, 2025 on streaming, digital download and cassette. Steeped in the eclectic blend of styles that have come out of the Crescent City with elements of funk, jazz, blues and psychedelic improvisational rock, Captain Buckles’ new album demonstrates the band has a style of their own. The members of the band have played with each other previous in line-ups touring and backing the likes of Samantha Fish, John “Papa” Gros, Russell Patiste and others. The group is comprised of New Orleans natives Rob Davis and Ezell Smith Jr., Floridian Alex Mallet, Los Angeles born Smitti Supab and Phil Breen originally from Pennsylvania but all have been playing professionally in the Big Easy for several years. The record was recorded at Dockside Studio in Maurice, Louisiana where Dr. John and B.B. King once laid down some music onto tape and it captures the natural chemistry and energy between the musicians and their ability to fuse styles and play to an evolving dynamic and organically shifting rhythms. The recording of Hurry Up was funded in part by a grand from the Threadhead Cultural Foundation.
Listen to our interview with bassist Smitti Supab on Bandcamp and follow Captain Buckles at the links below.
The Salt Collective formed in 2016 with songwriter and guitarist Stéphane Schück, guitarist Ken Stringfellow and lead vocalist and keyboardist Anton Barbeau. The core group was joined by bassist Fred Quentin and drummer Benoit Lautridou and released a debut album The Loneliness of Clouds in 2019. Schück had come up with an appreciation for American jangle rock and power pop and he and Quentin and Lautridou became friends during high school in Caen, Normandy, France. The trio formed a band in their college years but Schück and Quentin went onto careers in medicine and Lautridou in education. In the 2000s Schück contacted one of his musical heroes on a lark and received a letter back. Which is how he came to work with Scott Miller of acclaimed Paisley Underground-affiliated group Game Theory to produce a demo. The two would go on to co-write a few songs brfore Miller died in 2013. But Schück wasn’t done making music and when he started making music with Stringfellow of influential power pop band The Posies and former Miller associate Anton Barbeau it seemed that the songwriter had a knack for crafting songs as well in the vein of the musicians that had inspired him.
The group shrank to a trio by 2022 but by then it had begun working with The dB’s singer/guitarist Chris Stamey, bringing in another circle of the band’s influences. Stamey in turn was able to help bring aboard collaborators for recordings including the likes of Juliana Hatfield, Matthew Sweet. Mitch Easter, Richard Lloyd, Susan Cowsill and Matthew Caws. The group’s subsequent records have continued an ambitious type of pop songwriting and its latest A Brief History of Blindness (released November 21, 2025 on 12” LP, CD, digital download and straming via Propeller Sound Recordings), is a bit of a concept album about how we as humans approach the world we try to navigate as best we can. The contributors to the new album include Lynn Blakey of Let’s Active, Mike Mills (REM), Aimee Mann and Andy Partridge of XTC as well as some of the aforementioned. It is a vibrant record that expands beyond the power pop roots while honoring the level of songcraft of the group’s most obvious influences.
Listen to our interview with Stéphane Schück on Bandcamp and follow The Salt Collective at the links below.
Trouble’s Braids just released Live at Stone Cottage including intimate and lively versions of “Precipice” and “The Pines.” The former is a lighthearted song about living on the edge of mainstream society and striving to pursue one’s passions with integrity. The latter a more somber composition telling the story of being pulled between two types of live, one more safe and predictable and one more satisfying and liberated. The spare guitar work and vocal harmonies really draw the listener into the song’s heartfelt storytelling. Both songs come in the wake of the late June release of the Americana duo’s debut EP, The Big Tourist. The warmly rendered songs from the EP have an earnest energy mixed with a knack for creating mood that one doesn’t always associate with music associated with folk Americana. Trouble’s Braids consists of Oliver Franklin and Emily Pennington who got their starts in music in Seattle and Los Angeles respectively but now call Boulder home. The two new songs were recorded at Stone Cottage Studios in Boulder and highlight the project’s diverse musical instincts and style.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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