The video for Mazeppa’s single “The Way In” shows us a woman searching through old stacks of books as the band issues forth layers of drone accented by a Motorik beat and ritualistic vocals. The woman finds herself leaving the shelves of books through an opening into a forest brimming with warm motes of light to meet with two figures wearing vaguely earth goddess robes and painted symbols. They help her discard the raiments of modernity to reveal her new wardrobe as an initiate of an expanded mystical awareness. She dances at a fire while the band, made up to by mystics in their own right, plays for the gathered seekers, the visual sense warping with the bends in tone and ebb and flow of sounds and rhythm. At the end the members of Mazeppa are seen with eyes glowing from the collective illumination that took place and to which you have been invited as well. Musically it’s in the realm of psychedelic rock but one that seems to time travel for influence and borrowing elements of the aforementioned Krautrock and more than the Motorik beats, the modulated distortion into droning atmospherics in hypnotic repetition as one might hear in the records of Spacemen 3 and the mystical bent and ritualistic compositional aspect of Sky Cries Mary. But Mazeppa here doesn’t sound throwback as the sound itself suggests an immediacy and focus on the moment from the beginning of the song to the end. Watch the video for “The Way In” on YouTube, follow Mazeppa at the links below and look out for the band’s full length album due out in 2020.
The title track of Locate S, 1’s upcoming full length album Personalia is an upbeat exploration of the wave of darkness that has seemingly filtered through the culture and the consciousness of so many of us in the past several years. With the strong bass line, bright synths and melodious vocals Christina Schneider, singer and main songwriter behind the project, gives us some poetic nuggets of personal despair and self-deprecation like “I can’t see myself in anything” and “Curse another crowd that doesn’t get it. Maybe something’s wrong with me. Maybe I’m just dumb.” Anyone with sensitivity has probably felt that first line and anyone in a “local” band in a city where you’re not playing a trendy style of music, which is to say most artists, has felt the second set of lyrics. You get to the point where you wonder what’s the point. And Schneider nearly did quit, perhaps more than music, as hinted at in the lines “Almost killed myself so I went home / I just cannot take these local shows.” Maybe not to be taken literally but the picture Schneider paints of the mood of late is one that honors the dark places your mind goes when it all seems like you’re hitting your head against the wall for years and for what? Whether that’s with music or just trying to get by in life. But somewhere in the song Schneider reconnects with the small things that make it seem worth it: “Plug in tonight when I get to my room / pretend I’m someone that I could believe in” and “I’ve shorted out but if I play long enough I’ll become the person that I wanna be again.” In singing that Schneider isn’t just saying it’s all going to work out or that hope and “manifesting” is going to make it happen but rather that some self-belief will help make it all seem worthwhile to you even if it isn’t celebrated by masses of people. The song’s fusion of gritty rock with ethereal soundscapes and Schneider’s melodious voice is a refreshingly effective take on a subject that is often avoided in a world of pop where people mention mental health issues but don’t dive deep enough into the core of those anxieties without getting lost there. Personalia, named after a poem by Mary Ruefle, is out on April 3 on Captured Tracks. But for now watch the video for the song on YouTube and follow Locate S, 1 (on tour with of Montreal in Spring 2020) on Facebook, linked below.
Sophomore album Personalia out April 3 on Captured Tracks
On her single “Fear the Fear,” Siv Jakobsen bares the tension between the anxiety and fear that rattle her psyche and their twin ability to fuel the subject matter of her songwriting. She sings “Shake it off, I can’t, I won’t. ‘Cause what would I write about if I don’t fear the fear inside my bones” and evokes another layer of anxiety regarding losing the personal demons that she fears define what seems like an important, and even core, aspect of her identity. In the music video she dons a head lamp, like a personal beacon of hope, and walks through the darkness of that moment looking fearful and nervous but moving forward as wind-like drones swirl in the background, her strong yet delicate vocals provide a focus in the song as though talking herself through the times when that colossus of nerves threatens to overwhelm her. Anyone that has been through that battle themselves can hear their own struggle with no permanent resolution on the horizon in Jakobsen’s song and while the song offers no shallow, pat answers in its gentle guitar melodies and the soothing vocals there is the unspoken will to be calm and patient with oneself until the wave of self-eroding emotional energy passes. Watch the video for “Fear the Fear” on YouTube, follow Siv Jakobsen at the links provided and look out for the songwriter’s new full-length A Temporary Soothing, due out April 24 on U OK?
At the beginning of The Qualia’s song “Like Bricks,” the staccato guitar line accented by bass with percussion counterpoint is like the introduction of a stream of consciousness timeline. But the story about how life throws unexpected events in your path, often in your face, hitting just as the title suggests. The dynamic unfolding of the song allows all the instruments and the vocals to shine together even though they seem to be going in different directions that somehow still compliment each other. It gives a sense of paradoxically focused disorientation. Maybe because even in the face of multiple challenges in your life you have to at least pretend to be keeping it together while you figure out your bearings to get through. Musically it’s reminiscent of an unusual mixture of Joe Jackson, Supertramp and The Dismemberment Plan as it has that tinge of soul that informs the music of all of those artists. That and a sense of something mysterious on the horizon threatening to crash into your life. “Like Bricks” takes you through some turns but in the end it’s comforting in the way that something or someone can be when you’re hearing your own struggles echoed in someone else’s words and music. Listen to “Like Bricks” on Bandcamp and follow The Qualia at the links provided.
What:PUP w/Screaming Females, The Drew Thompson Foundation When: Thursday, 3.5, 7 p.m. Where: Ogden Theatre Why: PUP started out as one of the new wave of pop punk bands but the inherent psychological insight of its early albums blossomed most fully on its unusually thought-provoking 2019 album Morbid Stuff.
What:Paul DeHaven album release Echoes and Overtones w/Lake Mary/Chaz Prymek When: Thursday, 3.5, 8 p.m. Where: Ubisubibi Room Why: Paul DeHaven (formerly of Paper Bird) is releasing his latest album Echoes and Overtones tonight at an intimate show at Ubisububi Room in the basement of The Thin Man. Time time out DeHaven assembled songs from a large batch of material and found a tonal and thematic resonance among his more mellow compositions and brought in old live favorites “Souvenir American Gun” and “I Love You Love Me” to round out an album of pastoral, vivid stories tied to specific times, seasons and places in DeHaven’s life.
Friday | March 6
Down Time, photo by Tom Murphy
What:Lower Dens w/:3LON When: Friday, 3.6, 8 p.m. Where: Globe Hall Why: Lower Dens once again gave us a vibrant, evocative electronic art pop album with 2019’s The Competition in which the band uses creativity as a vehicle for exploring the pain and confusion of the current era of history with human civilization at a perilous crossroads between environmental apocalypse and fascism and a path toward a more compassionate and sane future.
What:Down Time – Hurts Being Alive release w/Bluebook and Bellhoss When: Friday, 3.6, 8 p.m. Where: Lost Lake Why: A sonically diverse billing with three of the best bands out of Denver’s indie rock underground will perform this night with Down Time releasing its latest album Hurts Being Alive.
What:Day of Jubilee: Marcus Church and Sliver When: Friday, 3.6, 5 p.m. Where: The People’s Building Why: Rescheduled from February – Marcus Church is a Denver-based power pop trio. Its gently jangle-y and fuzzy melodies sound like singer/guitarist Dustin Habel spent a whole lot of time obsessively listening to only records produced by Mitch Easter and the complete discographies of Teenage Fanclub and Big Star. That also means there’s a tender earnestness to the songwriting imbued with an uncommon tenderness and humanity. Sliver bypassed the 90s grunge nostalgia wave of recent years by making no bones about its musical roots in its hard driving, explosively emotional guitar rock. Mudhoney influence aside, its aesthetic is most informed by both the self-effacing, sensitive, introspective side of Pacific Northwest noise punk and the wiry, politically conscious end of DC hardcore.
What:Best Coast w/Mannequin Pussy When: Saturday, 3.7, 8 p.m. Where: Ogden Theatre Why: Best Coast is touring in support of its 2020 album Always Tomorrow, its first in five years following a period in which singer Bethany Cosentino felt creatively tapped out and the record is about coming back from that space of feeling trapped inside your own anxieties and emotional exhaustion.
What:Freq Boutique 36 featuring Victoria Lundy When: Monday, 3.9, 8 p.m. Where: Fort Greene Why: This is the three year anniversary of synthesizer showcase Freq Boutique that includes good food and drink as well as a synth open mic. This edition will include a performance from Theremin and synth artist Victoria Lundy whose own compositions are steeped in pop and the classical avant-garde. She has performed in various Denver bands including The Inactivists, The Goofus Device and Carbon Dioxide Orchestra.
Wednesday | March 11
Plague Garden, photo by Tom Murphy
What:Gene Loves Jezebel w/Red Wing Black Bird and Plague Garden When: Wednesday, 3.11, 7 p.m. Where: Ophelia’s Electric Soap Box Why: This is the Michael Aston version of Gene Loves Jezebel, the influential 80s post-punk/new wave band whose eclectic aesthetic and lush melodies influenced a segment of what became alternative rock in the 1990s. Opening is darkwave/shoegaze one-man act Red Wing Black Bird whose 2019 album Too Klaus For Comfort was a unique fusion of synth pop and industrial post-punk and swirling guitar. Plague Garden’s flavor of modern death rock seemingly draws inspiration from the early Cure records and Valor Kand-era Christian Death. The duo recently released the haunting and harrowing LEFT IN THE GRAVE.
“Step by step and day by day I’m removing the powder,” the chorus of Bliss Carmxn’s “Powder” is about the way we use and put on various things to cope and adjust to a world that’s ever changing and leaves us seemingly always off balance but how when we recognize these habits of mind and living we have some chance of finding our equilibrium even if it’s a lifelong endeavor. It might be seen as another way of saying the path is the destination and that that consciousness of it all is where we will find our balance. The song itself embodies this in its fusion of Calypso beats and percussion with pop structure and melodies giving a balance of tonal and rhythmic elements that gives the song a way to be fresh in each iteration of the chorus. The playfulness with which it’s performed also suggests a comfort with the ambiguity that is unavoidable in life and thus a cultivated ability to roll with what comes your way. Listen to “Powder” on Spotify and follow experimental pop artist Bliss Carmxn at the links provided.
Esbie Fonte paces “Time Traveler” as though she’s walking down a corridor with images from the past several decades and giving a guided tour of where the human race has been and where it’s going. What gives it an unusual and interesting quality is how it is sometimes related from the first person like an autobiography related by someone who has been able to partake of that timeline in its tragically poetic, heartbreaking moments. Musically its somewhere in the realm of dark, lush folk in instrumentation and in free use of natural textures and rhythm. There is a vulnerable, even fragile, quality to the songwriting that is as inviting as it is foreboding. Fans of Marissa Nadler will appreciate the way Fonte’s mythical storytelling imbues it with a subconscious quality as though coming from a place of raw subjectivity. The vocals in being unconventional and quavering with the heft of emotion should resonate for those with an appreciation for Kimya Dawson’s idiosyncratic delivery of her own insightful poetry in song. Listen to “Time Traveler” on Soundcloud and follow Esbie Fonte at the links provided.
The descending keyboard line in Gone Sugar Die’s “Grey Eyes” is like a stylized series of raindrops in the melancholic melodic haze that runs through most of the song. The processed vocals shift slightly in tone and in echo so that it is easily takes on the role of omniscient observer. Lightly distorted synth swells mark time as the vocals relate what sounds like the story of a a girl with a troubled conscience with her sleep interrupted by anxiety. What the source of that nervous energy might be remains mysterious but the narrator of the song and the soothing, chill tones are aimed directly at dissolving those worries so that she can get some rest from a long stretch of emotional duress. The song hearkens back to the chillwave style of around a decade ago but with a more modern sheen in the production without sacrificing the emotional immediacy and introspection that much of that music excelled at evoking. Listen to “Grey Eyes” on YouTube and follow Gone Sugar Die, which includes members of The Bravery and The Cut Losses, at the links below.
YZMUTi’s “The Space Out,” the fourth and final epic from the group’s debut album Tipota, begins with sounds like voices calling wordlessly across the water on a moonlit night. But when the beat comes in the abstraction coheres a bit and then comes into focus with the lyrics toward the first third of the more than nine minute composition. Yet there is a beautifully disorienting element that vibes with the name of the song. Swelling, textured tones bubble up, sparkling sounds hover and zip by in the soundscape as our imagined narrator wanders through a futuristic landscape with distractions from reality aplenty so that one can be spaced out to the point of a perpetual dissociative episode. The line “I overdosed on pleasantries by the age of three” and “I hope I never have to return from delirium” speaks to that state of things as a swing from becoming too readily attached to things and to people. It is exploring that spectrum in ethereal and effervescent dynamics and imaginative, poetic imagery on which this unusual and ambitious song work. We experience the intimacy of thought while taking a trip into emotional stratosphere in the melody. The lyrics talk about that process and mechanism of dissociation while coming from direct experiences that are themselves a ladder out of endless distraction through self-awareness and recognizing that process as a choice made easier by circumstance. Musically it’s reminiscent of Alice Coltrane’s more ambient, spiritual records and Stevie Wonder’s more unusual 1970s experimental records but with a modern ear for sound design. Although the song is over nine minutes long it feels like a short, colorful journey through a life in dreamlike stasis yearning to wake up into a conscious life filled with genuine joy rather than soporific bliss. Listen to “The Space Out” on Soundcloud.
Shaeen’s hip-hop single “Leyla” is a stark story about an ongoing issue in his home country of Iran. It might be safe to say most Americans know little about Iran, its culture and its history except for cartoonish propaganda and distortions. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979 concluded in the declaration of an Islamic republic plenty of Iranians supported and were already been used to a more modernist, secular government with freedoms for women. Marjane Satrapi’s excellent 2000 graphic novel Persepolis and the 2004 follow-up Persepolis 2 discuss some of those tensions with the Islamist takeover for her own family and life. “Leyla” is about one facet of life faced by women by telling the story of a 17-year-old girl who is forced to marry an older man, twenty years her senior, who is just now coming into the middle class because he has a job and not because she loves him. She resists by declaring she doesn’t love the man but in that society these choices are not hers to make, she can be essentially sold off to a man. While this is passed off as part of a culture, no one really wants to be married off to someone they don’t know and when the abuse happens, they don’t want to stay with that person. Shaheen describes how the girl is told to wear a hijab and “act modestly” as a symbol of the supression of her wishes and agency as a human. Following that, depression and other mental health issues ensue as would be a normal reaction from anyone given the same situation. But of course a divorce is a sin no matter the abuse inflicted. And of course the girl has a daughter with the man in question and the cycle repeats into a generational kind of abuse. The lines “Take me to heaven what do I got to do? To be at peace I’ve got nothing to lose” suggest much and a tragic conclusion to the story. Shaeen uses some traditional Persian music sounds and scales in the beat while delivering the lyrics with a compassionate urgency. While that specific scenario may be a major problem in Iran, it has resonance with so many situations in even America where cultural indoctrination of various kinds and poverty has convinced and continues to convince people they have no other options in life other than those imposed on them. That resonance gives the track another dimension of power. Listen to “Leyla” on Spotify and follow Shaheen at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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