Catch a Dinosaur captures that perfect moment as you’re drifting off into a nap and and your mind wanders mixing contemplative reflection and a dreamstate with its single “Maybe You Just Wait.” The shimmering tremolo sound of the guitar and the vocals are reminiscent of Luna’s more chill moments and the way Dean Wareham can say so much with a pithy observation that is neither self-deprecating or aggressive in its analysis of a situation. There is a bittersweet flavor to the song once it gets into the main groove but the mood doesn’t get stuck there and brief guitar solos flare up that propel the song back into its wistfully romantic mood and again before the outro. There are angry breakup songs, this is more a hey maybe things aren’t working now and we need a break sort of vibe. Follow Catch a Dinosaur on Spotify.
Category: Uncategorized
Skinjobs Explores the Fine Line Between Desire and Personal Boundaries on the Darkwave-Esque “Soothsayer”
“Soothsayer” by Skinjobs from Helsinki, Finland immediately draws you into its story of struggling with the drives of ones desires and one’s personal boundaries. The music, like so much of the more experimental rock out of Finland, is eclectic in a way that doesn’t feel forced. There is no stylistic or genre straightjacket to which the band seems to adhere to as a guide for how it’s supposed to sound and that’s gives the song a freshness and different quality than might seem immediately obvious. Skinjobs seems to orchestrate guitar, bass, drums, piano and vocals in a way that suggests a classical music foundation manifesting in a much more free form songwriting style. Its sweeping pace and tightly dynamic and dramatic structure has an emotional urgency that carries you along from its introspective beginnings to the heights of feeling later in the song. Skinjobs takes us to places of intense emotions and gives us breaks from the action in the song but without losing momentum. It’s difficult to compare this song to anyone else except to maybe reference 4AD bands like early Dead Can Dance or Xmal Deutschland but without truly sounding like either. Just that dusky sensibility with a bit of an edge and seeming to not be coming from modern musical reference points. Listen to “Soothsayer” on Soundcloud and follow Skinjobs at the links below.
soundcloud.com/skinjobsband
skinjobs2019.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/skinjobs2019
“Caterpillar Motion” by Sudo Williams is One Piece of his Futuristic Concept Album That Stimulates Multiple Parts of Your Brain
Sudo Williams gets “Caterpillar Motion” off the ground with an insistent and irresistible flow of words and imagery weaving in references to mythology and daydreaming. The background melody as almost a rhythmic counterpoint to the cadence of the lyrics is an ascending series of ethereal tones and synth drone accents giving the song a dynamic contrast of mood and texture. The song is part of the album Me, You & Them which takes place in the year 3005 in a town named Port Ambedo where music doesn’t exist and life is experienced visually. Except for the latter there is no real night and day, just eternal starlight and the appearance of an Aurora Borealis to mark the day as the citizens of the town are active at night. The main character of the songs is a figure named B( )R (pronounced “Bear”) who has an eidetic memory and a form of synesthesia between sound and color. In giving the songs a dual property working together so well as described above, Sudo Williams in this song and others is helping us to think in ways that by drawing us into songs that stimulate our various cognitive capacities in numerous ways with poetic lyrics that tie it all together into a cohesive whole. You can listen to the single and the rest of the album on Soundcloud and follow Sudo Williams at the links below.
soundcloud.com/sudowilliams
twitter.com/Sudo_Williams
facebook.com/SudoWilliams
instagram.com/sudo_williams
Discrete’s Video for “In My Room” is an Urban Subterranean Science Fiction Horror Story
Working with Colin Greenwood, Toronto’s Kyle Yip has created a song and video called “In My Room” that sonically and visually feels like clandestine and arcane work in hidden places. The single bell tone marking time, the collage of metronomic percussion and tones, the nearly whispered vocals—all contributing to an evolving narrative wherein our usual rational methods of measure and assessing our reality come up wanting as we encounter higher or unhitherto known aspects of the universe around us. The video is like a David Cronenberg and Chris Cunningham science fiction/horror mash-up, the music like Aphex Twin gone minimal and mutated directly by aesthetics of free jazz. Watch the video on YouTube and follow Discrete at the links below including that of his music imprint Savvy Records.
savvyrecords.biz
soundcloud.com/discrete
twitter.com/_Discrete
facebook.com/DJDiscrete
instagram.com/kylepyip
Mwahaha Returns With the Lush and Brooding Cyber Funk Anthem “Sundown”
You’ll have to wait until September 6 to hear Lovers, the new album from Oakland quartet Mwahaha. But for now you can give a listen to its brooding yet progressively syncopated song “Sundown.” If Clark, Robert Alfons and LCD Soundsystem circa “Starry Eyes” wanted to make a track that would fit a science fiction noir soundtrack driven by the music itself. A story about in the classic mold of passion and betrayal, reconciliation and justice but with an ending that isn’t as neatly resolved as a cheesy mainstream movie. Something more like life where you have to continue on with the mundane tasks of life once the adventure and crisis has passed. That the record was started before former member Cyrus Tilton passed away from cancer in 2017 perhaps gives context for its heavy and somber tone. But that the band could come back to the material and imbue it with life and an inventive low end architecture is truly a tribute to the band’s lost comrade who worked on the music through his illness. Even without that context the track has enormous momentum carried across by all the performances and Ross Peacock’s relatively stripped down vocals. Very promising stuff from one of the most promising bands of recent years. Listen below and follow Mwahaha at the links provided.
open.spotify.com/artist/3Qj0Sos2RvizJ6GmB8FIxz
youtube.com/channel/UCGLcDA_Vtz_ingcT8yQJzMA
twitter.com/mwahahamusic
facebook.com/Mwahahamusic
VIETNAMINGO$ Splice Cowboy and Outlaw Urban Culture With Swagger and Humor on “Khmer Krom Kowboyz”
VIETNAMINGO$ display plenty of swagger on “Khmer Krom Kowboyz” splicing cultural references with a sly disregard for time frames and geography. Bookending the track with samples from Marty Robbins’ “Prairie Fire,” the the duo names the song by transforming the spelling of “cowboys” and imbue that with the kind of rebel/outlaw attitude of the present and giving it an alliteration using the term for the part of Vietnam that was once part of the southeastern part of the Khmer empire. The lyrics are about authenticity and hustling how you must to get by when no matter where you are your cultural status might be in question even as you’re making music in a country where there isn’t nearly enough Asian public representation in the arts. You know, a country where Joel Grey played a Korean in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, for starters. In adopting the gangster stance VIETNAMINGO$ is calling bullshit on all of that and asserting the ability of people of Asian extraction to draw on the stories and mythology both ancestral and urban American culture to create music that is informed fully by both.
“I’m Gone” by Ginger Cowgirl is an Anti-Ode to Fragile Tough Guy Masculinity
Stacy Antonel of Ginger Cowgirl minces no words on “I’m Gone.” She starts out singing about how she’s tired of the endless disappointments and her tolerance for them in an ex-lover. And of the culture that produces men whose range of outward emotional expression goes from simple lust to a charade of strength that is really an unwillingness to be vulnerable and, in the end, real and giving. The stoic tough guy thing gets old and tiring to maintain when you are a man but having to deal with that nonsense across a lifetime when you want genuine connection with someone has to be incredibly frustrating. How many times have you had conversations with men who talk about how women are emotional but they’re not and yet get upset about anything at all? Best to drop the facade and live like a human and risk getting hurt and feeling that in the moment and having a dynamic inner life that you can share with others and not feel ashamed about letting it show. This song is about that from the perspective of someone who has had more than her share of it all. For fans of Neil Young at his most world-wearily tender. Listen below and follow Ginger Cowgirl at the links provided.
gingercowgirl.com
soundcloud.com/gingercowgirl/sets/ginger-cowgirl-ep/s-4VJPm
open.spotify.com/artist/0jNIIsjRvChD5NDEUgDenA
gingercowgirl.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/gingercowgirl
instagram.com/gingercowgirlband
The Disaffected Surreal Pop of King Ropes’ “California Stars” is an Ode to Personal Misadventure
There’s something wonderfully slightly off to the tone of “California Stars” by King Ropes. It sounds like King Missile tried to write a typical country song but gave up on that idea and went for something more in the realm of Americana pop. Then failed at that stylistic mistake and simply wrote something that sounds more like a chamber pop band making post-punk in the style of Camper Van Beethoven. The languid pace gives the song an introspective and wistful quality while the finely accented and brooding bass provide a foundation over which the mutely bemused, somewhat disaffected vocals could opine over foolish misadventures, misguided wanderlust and a sense that in spite of perhaps unknowingly modest, low rent dreams the world could end at any moment and we could have done ourselves the favor of aspiring for better for ourselves years ago. This single is from Gravity and Friction which comes out on July 26 and if the rest of the record is as strange and as off angle from typical indie rock and pop of late it’s bound to be worth more than one spin.
“Casey” by Jon Wiilde Captures That Post-Existential Crisis Liminal State Where All Seems Lost But Hope Remains
Jon Wiilde’s calm demeanor on “Casey” is even more obvious in the music video. The echoing synth rhythm casts a hypnotic, dream like sheen over the languid pace of ethereal guitar and minimal percussion to evoke a deep dive into a psychedelic realm of downtempo, melancholic melodies. What Wiilde sings from what sounds like a post-existential crisis place of spiritual weariness in search of an everyday moment of joy to pull him out of the doldrums. As colorful and entrancing as the song, the video is the sort of thing you’d expect out of Gregg Araki revisiting his filmmaking roots or Darren Aronofsky make a film that doesn’t plunge you to the depths of despair—that beautiful use of darkness, shadow and color that makes their work so striking. That mixture of elements is present in Wiilde’s songwriting and informs the remarkable video for “Casey.” Below are both the audio and the video followed by links at which you can follow further Wiilde’s imaginative creative output.
soundcloud.com/jonwiilde
https://open.spotify.com/album/50TF79R1LcTjV07l1PFlIE
Best Shows in Denver 04/25/19 – 05/01/19
Thursday | April 25
Who: Starjammer featuring Kuf Knotz
When: Thursday, 04.25, 4 p.m. – ?
Where: 3 Kings Tavern
Why: Starjammer, the avant-garde dub reggae one-man/device band, will be playing two sets tonight in phases like a rocket launch. The Launch Pad Prep runs from 4-7 and the Late Night Lift Off starts at 9 and runs until the musical equivalent of escape velocity is reached. Or at least until you have to leave whether you want to or not.
Who: Bowshock and El Tigr3
When: Thursday, 04.25, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Hooked On Colfax
Why: This week’s Speakeasy Series presented by Glasss Records includes Bowshock, the experimental improv psych jazz reggae band.
Who: Stop Motion EP release w/Ramakhandra, Fresh Fruit!
When: Thursday, 04.25, 7
Where: Lost Lake
Friday | April 26
Who: The Yawpers release of Human Question w/In the Whale and Fast Eddie
When: Friday, 04.26, 8 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: The Yawpers have been writing solid, rough around the edges, southern fried punk rock and roll for years. While earlier releases honestly cataloged singer Nate Cook’s headlong dive into desperation and self-destruction, Human Question, with the image of an immolating figure walking out of the fields into the forest on the cover, is more introspective and taking into consideration a subject as the title suggests—what is the purpose and significance of living in the world as a creature fully capable of being self-aware, reflective and capable of extremes of behavior and of consciously choosing a path other than the most immediate and obvious. The record is a collection of rockers but, especially with the single “Carry Me,” The Yawpers prove that they are capable of more than rocking and that even at the root of that is a raw and nuanced cauldron of emotion and now more an ability to write from a place beyond primal urges with a finely tuned discernment as articulated with fiery displays of musical and poetic catharsis.
Who: Superorganism w/Simpson
When: Friday, 04.26, 8 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Originating in London, Superorganism is an international, multi-ethnic indie pop band whose members met through various internet channels and mutual friends. Its sound might be described as electronic music pitched to sound like something made using unorthodox, highly tactile instruments. In some ways the group’s 2018 self-titled debut is reminiscent of Kala-period M.I.A. with its fusion of styles and sounds and strong visual element to its performances.
What: PRF BBQ Day 1
When: Friday, 04.26, 8 p.m.
Where: Black Sky Brewery
Why: This is a three day music festival featuring some of the better Denver underground bands. On this night you can catch Dead Characters, New Standards Men, Modern Goon and Clutch Plague.
Who: Lotus
When: Friday, 04.26, 8 p.m.
Where: Summit Music Hall
Why: Certainly Lotus’ fan base is largely comprised of those with a love of all things jam band. And Lotus’ free flowing groove and sprawling improvisations fit in that pocket as well. But there’s something more experimental to the band’s music slightly beneath the surface. Its 2018 album Frames Per Second showcases this well with unusual jazz structures and dynamics, moody bass lines, vocal processing, playful and colorful synth work. Like the inevitable musical offspring of Steely Dan and Jean-Michel Jarre, Lotus sounds like a band with chops playing fairly straightforward yet intricate grooves but there is a layer of subversiveness to keep it interesting beyond technical flourishes.
Who: Murs w/DJ Eps, Locksmith, Cojo and AstroGrizz
When: Friday, 04.26, 8 p.m.
Where: Cervantes’ Other Side
Who: Cactus Blossoms w/Jack Klatt
When: Friday, 04.26, 8 p.m.
Where: Globe Hall
What: Outrun presents Final Wave
When: Friday, 04.26, 7 p.m.
Where: Hyperspace Arcade
Saturday | April 27
What: Lotus w/Ghostland Observatory, Jade Cicada and Magic Beans
When: Saturday, 04.27, 5 p.m.
Where: Red Rocks
Why: If Lotus wasn’t responsible for this line-up directly, someone somewhere put together a great bill of bands who share a similar sensibility in adventurous electronic music suited to a large stage format.
What: DMX w/DJ Chonz
When: Saturday, 04.27, 7 p.m.
Where: Summit Music Hall
What: Weird Touch
When: Saturday, 04.27, 9 p.m.
Where: Syntax Physic Opera
Why: It’s one of many hip DJ nights probably more focused on indie releases than average that we’re fortunate to have in Denver.
What: The North Ensemble
When: Saturday, 04.27, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Trident
Why: An avant-garde improvisational show in the back room/outdoors area in the back of Trident. Boulder likes to act like it’s weird but stuff like this is the rare occasion when it is in a productive way.
What: PRF BBQ Day 2
When: Saturday, 04.27, 4:30 p.m.
Where: The Bakery
Why: Simulators will rip your face off with their angular noise rock and when Moon Pussy finishes the process with its cybernetic psychedelic post-punk you will be glad you went unless you’re into safe, boring music. The other bands are probably worth it too. Schedule below.
430 – 500 – Simulators
515 – 545 – The Oxford Coma
600 – 630 – Moon Pussy
645 – 715 – Laurium
Food break
815 – 845 – Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends
9 – 930 – Hooper
945 – 1015 Sewingneedle
1030 – Future Scars
Sunday | April 28
Who: La Dispute w/Gouge Away and Slow Mass
When: Sunday, 04.28, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Summit Music Hall
Why: Maybe it’s because Jordan Dreyer was a writer before ever making music. Maybe it’s because La Dispute’s take on post-hardcore and emo isn’t tied to the usual sounds and progressions. Sure you can hear bits of the influence of At The Drive-In and Refused but on another level the band’s music sounds like a heavier Bright Eyes or even Slint—that sense of desolation and desperation. Also on this bill/tour are two other bands within the realm of punk that are a bit different yet share some of the same sensibilities with Gouge Away, a band that combines an atmospheric heaviness with eruptive energy and an unexpectedly forceful frontperson in Christina Michelle. Slow Mass is one of the better bands out there that has fused emotionally taut math rock with fluid post-hardcore.
What: Shibui Denver #2 – Victoria Lundy and Blank Human
When: Sunday, 04.28, 7 p.m.
Where: Mutiny Information Café
Why: Denver avant-garde veteran Victoria Lundy may play some of her classical material on Theremin or some of her spookier faire with the same as well as synth. Blank Human is a drone/ambient project from Dan Coleman also of Luxury Hearse.
What: PRF BBQ Day 3
When: Sunday, 04.28, 4 p.m.
Where: The Bakery
Why: Final evening of PRF BBQ including a performance from glam/psych post-punk stars Teacup Gorilla.
400 – 430 – Flowlines
445 – 515 – 50 Miles of Elbow Room
530 – 600 – Little Beards
615 – 645 – Falsetto Boy
Food break
745 -815 – Church Van
830 – 900 – Teacup Gorilla
915 – 945 – Purple Honey
1000 – The Gary
What: Sabroso Taco Fest: The Offspring, Bad Religion, The Vandals, Black Flag, Strung Out, Dwarves
When: Sunday, 04.28, 12 p.m.
Where: Fiddler’s Green
Why: Kind of a craft beer and taco event with some of the more well-known names in punk. One of the few chances to see Greg Ginn perform with the new version of Black Flag. No matter one’s opinion on that matter, Ginn is always startlingly impressive with the material.
Monday | April 29
Who: Beach Fossils w/George Clanton
When: Monday, 04.29, 7 p.m.
Where: Oriental Theater
Why: Beach Fossils is from Brooklyn but capture a more West Coast breeziness in its melancholic surf pop confections. Unlike artists mining similar territory, Beach Fossils’ songwriting in its emotional colorings. That Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell contributed to the group’s 2017 album Somersault gives the direction Beach Fossils have been going some cachet by lending some of her low key yet evocatively powerful vocals to the record. George Clanton brings his lush, IDM-esque, deeply atmospheric electronic pop along for this leg of the tour as well.
Tuesday | April 30
Who: Bayonne and Palm Daze
When: Tuesday, 04.30, 7 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: Roger Sellers as Bayonne uses minimalist layers of texture-as-percussion and simple melodies to craft atmospheric pop that recalls late 2000s chillwave and its capacity to seemingly dispel anxiety and angst. His latest record, 2019’s Drastic Measures, should be on anyone’s short list for summer listening and to save for the winter months when it seems like warmer times are a distant memory.
What: Ambigere (WA), Causer, Paranoid Preacher and Emotional Calcification
When: Tuesday, 04.30, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Thought//Forms
Why: The noise show for the week.
What: Sage Francis & B. Dolan: Epic Beard Men and Vockah Redu and Wheelchair Sports Camp
When: Tuesday, 04.30, 7 p.m.
Where: Cervantes’ Other Side
Why: Sage Francis and B. Dolan, two giants alternative hip-hop and superb lyricists, are touring in their collaborative alternate personas Epic Beard Men. The masterful phrasing won’t be in short supply tonight with Denver’s Wheelchair Sports Camp and its jazz and beats rooted offerings.
What: Santigold w/Naeem
When: Tuesday, 04.30, 7 p.m.
Where: Fillmore Auditorium
What: The 1975, Pale Waves and No Rome — canceled
When: Tuesday, 04.30, 6 p.m.
Where: Red Rocks
Wednesday | May 1
Who: Interpol w/Car Seat Headrest, Japanese Breakfast and Sunflower Bean
When: Wednesday, 05.01, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Red Rocks
Why: Interpol could just tour on the strength of its fan base and pick some weird music industry management openers (and maybe that is part of this booking) but instead the post-punk stars are having three of the best indie rock bands opening the show. Between Car Seat Headrest’s lo-fi, emotionally raw math rock, Sunflower Bean’s driving, brooding post-punk and Japanese Breakfast’s highly imaginative and powerful guitar rock soundscaping the opening sets alone are worth the price of admission but then you get to see Interpol whose back catalog has held up better than that of many of its peers from the late 90s and early 2000s.
What: Lil Pump w/Lil Skies
When: Wednesday, 05.01, 6 p.m.
Where: Fillmore Auditorium
Why: Lil Pump turned 18 last August so expecting wisdom and thoughtfulness even on his 2019 album Haverd Dropout might be a bit much. He’s got a long way to go before his mumble trap is in the same league as Migos or his raps and performance in the same realm as Vince Staples or anyone in the A$AP crew or Odd Future. But it’s obvious he’s borrowed a lot from all of them. Nevertheless, Lil Pump is likeable enough despite his deficits and as he grows as an artist and as a human hopefully he’ll grow in more interesting and original directions so that the implicit faith that collaborators like Kanye West, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz put in his sophomore album. It’s clear Pump is a weirdo so with any luck he’ll embrace that side of himself and give us a third album on which he truly lets his freak flag fly.
What: Weird Wednesday: Orbiting Olympia, Elk Minister, Tears to Light
When: Wednesday, 05.01, 9 p.m.
Where: 3 Kings Tavern
Why: Weird Wednesday this month features Orbiting Olympia which is a grand alchemy of Eve Orenstein’s opera training and Sean Faling’s mastery of synthesizers both analog and otherwise. Elk Minister is a multi-instrumentalist, self-styled mystic and songwriter who has been sitting on his material for years. His visual presentation on his social media accounts look like he’s come back from some junkyard holy site with the appropriate twenty-third century raiment.
What: Lizzo w/Tayla Parx
When: Wednesday, 05.01, 7 p.m.
Where: Ogden Theatre
Why: The show is sold out but if you can get in you can catch rising hip-hop/pop star Lizzo before she starts playing much larger venues (like her October date in Denver at the Fillmore) from now on. Her 2019 album Cuz I Love You has the kind of frisson that sounds, at times and certainly the “Juice” single, like something that might have come out of a late 70s-period Studio 54 playlist. Except not dated. And across the record Lizzo shows off her chops as a vocalist of great emotional power and a songwriter with a keen ear for dynamics. Fans of Prince are well-advised to give Lizzo’s new album a deep listen because it’s worth it.
What: Ben Kweller w/Mainman and Modern Love Child
When: Wednesday, 05.01, 7 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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