Mylo Choy brings together an array of simple elements to establish a hopeful warmth for “Intro: Not Yet,” the lead track on their new EP Summer Projects (Part 1). A simple synth figure performed by Choi and Guerilla Toss drummer Peter Negroponte who also performs the spare, tasteful percussion. The innocence of spirit and discovery that runs through the song is irresistible in grounding it in the concrete imagery and observations Choy offers us like the rustling in trees, of neighbors talking to them as they walk down the sidewalk, shaking blankets to find empty shoes, status as a loner in the past tense. These mundane yet significant details are the sorts of things that stick with us when we are no longer situated in a house or a city. Choy has lived in a variety of places but is apparently currently trying to see what it likes to be in a place like the Hudson Valley for more than a short spell. The most poetic and telling line though is the miniature chorus of “Life hasn’t deserted me yet” because it can feel like you’re disconnected from life when you don’t feel like you have a place where you’re living or staying or even visiting. Choy embraces this connection and articulates ways in which we might know we belong as well. Listen to “Intro: Not Yet” on Spotify, follow the songwriter at the links below and give the rest of the charmingly poignant EP on Spotify of Bandcamp.
Mckone Corkery’s video for Wizard Death’s “hvn” juxtaposes images of nature with the industry and development that threatens it along with the human occupation of said environment. The sky color is keyed out of blue into a hazy purple pink at times and the chill beat with ambient tonal swells, softened electronic percussion and melodic arpeggios of the song sets a hopeful tone suggesting our often too easy comfort with our impact on the world around us whether the natural environment or upon each other. The song and the video invite us to consider being attentive to subtle details that can affect our mood for the positive or otherwise. The awareness this pairing of imagery and music cultivates without being dramatic or overly intrusive is one way to encourage mindfulness without combativeness. Watch the video for “hvn” on YouTube and follow the Los Angeles-based electronic and ambient project at the links below.
The debut single by Denver-based psychedelic indiepop band green typewriters contains touchstone nods to other music but “europa” is so idiosyncratic and born of an individual vision that one hopes to encounter in the crowded world of the modern musical landscape. The music video for the song features vocalist Gioja (prononced “joya”) Lacy languishing playfully about contemplating cosmic imponderables as streams of animated starlight emanate from the box of imagery sitting on a field of stars. Her image is awash in purples and pinks and touches of warm colors to convey an unmistakable dreamlike quality. And musically one hears in its slowly undulating depths hints of early Bowie and the hauntingly languid pacing of T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer.” A touch of the compassionate moods of Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” And in this song there are sentiments of looking to the stars but really to powers and presences beyond the obvious of everyday life. The arrangements of brushed percussion, saxophone and trombone shouldn’t work but tied together with Lacey’s vocals and the way the song moves like a wave of lived memory, reliving a pleasant dream that’s a reminder that as challenging as things can be that there is a space of peace and possibility within you that you can tap into to weather those struggles and find some element of the magical at any point in your day. And like the aforementioned artists green typewriters seem to find a way to convey how we need not be completely defined by or trapped by the mundanity and drudgery of our immediate surroundings. Certainly the 1970s in the UK had more than its fair share of bland oppression and today you don’t have to look far to find something to find depressing and anxiety-inducing. But wallowing there endlessly serves no good purpose and music like this can be a thread out of the seemingly endless barrage of despair floating about. Watch the video for “europa” on YouTube. The track is the first song on the group’s new album The Solar Anus and you can listen to the rest of the long-awaited debut album by the duo on Bandcamp and to follow green typewriters visit its LinkTree below.
Courtney Barnett’s “Here And There” Festival makes a stop in Denver at the Mission Ballroom on September 3 with a unique lineup that for the Denver date in addition to Barnett includes Japanese Breakfast, Arooj Aftab and Bodouine.
The concept for the event was born of Barnett’s love of curation. As the owner of Milk! Records for the past decade Barnett has championed and released music by artists from her home town of Melbourne, Australia as well as US artists like Sleater-Kinney, Chastity Belt, Hand Habits and others.
Over the course of the tour from August through September, lineups will include all of the following artists: Alvvays, Arooj Aftab, Bartees Strange, Bedouine, Caroline Rose, Chicano Batman, Courtney Barnett, Ethel Cain, Faye Webster, Fred Armisen, Hana Vu, Indigo De Souza, Japanese Breakfast, Julia Jacklin, Leith Ross, Lido Pimienta, Lucy Dacus, Quinn Christopherson, Sleater Kinney, Snail Mail, The Beths, Waxahatchee and Wet Leg.
Barnett quickly went from a beloved and critically acclaimed indie artist known for her masterful use of the English language and powerful and imaginative guitar work and songwriting when her early EPs released 2012-2013 to widely celebrated singer-songwriter of no small cachet by the time of the 2015 release of her debut full length album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. With each record Barnett has distinguished herself as a songwriter able to expose her vulnerabilities and anxieties in a way that conveys a solidarity with other people and their own struggles.
Sharing the bill is Japanese Breakfast, the band lead by Michelle Zauner whose own trajectory as an artist parallels that of Barnett going from playing all the small clubs on the same circuits a little under a decade ago and delivering emotionally arresting pop songs that aren’t short on musicianly artistry. In 2021 she released her memoir Crying in H Mart to great acclaim in its poignant and loving depiction of her life coming up with a Korean mom, coming into playing music and the passing of her mother from pancreatic cancer in 2014. Her own pop music has as much in common with art rock in its creative ambition and songwriting with her songs easily fitting into the categories of dream pop, shoegaze, psychedelia, indie rock and R&B.
Arooj Aftab is the US-based Pakistani singer and songwriter who is the first person of Pakistani origin to be awarded a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for her song “Mohabbat.” Her style is a hybrid of experimental folk, jazz and more traditional Pakistani music with elements of her 2021 album Vulture Prince reminiscent of Qawwali, the devotional music of Sufism. But her orchestral arrangements and powerfully tranquil yet emotionally rich vocal delivery defies easy categorization.
Bedouine aka Azniv Korkejian is a Syrian-American musician who grew up with both mainstream music via MTV and traditional Armenian and Arabic music. Her third album Waysides (2021) is a masterful evocation of loss, isolation, yearning and introspective insight cast in the sounds of Laurel Canyon era folk.
A figure that looks corroded by life walks through the neon/LED sign and street light illuminated streets of a major city, at times at a casual stroll and then with more urgency, looking over his shoulder. What is this scene about in the music video for AUS!Funkt’s video for “Turn To Rust”? The industrial disco beat and the hushed vocals with the lightly distorted bass line is reminiscent of Nicolás Jaar’s “Space is Only Noise.” Except that this song has a more exuberant melody that gives an uplift at key points even though the lyrics seem to be about feeling eroded by the demands and travails of life and a world that seems to be falling into a similar level of disrepair and disuse. And the challenge to do something about it or any other aspect of life or just succumb to crumbling to rust and “Gathering dust.” The simple drive of the song suggests a favorable choice without spelling that out. Watch the Chris Cunningham-esque music video for “Turn To Rust,” the title track from AUS!Funkt’s new album, on YouTube and follow the Toronto-based post-punk band at the links provided.
Even as the members of Resolute Vibration reveal how the music is made in the performance video for “The Stars Above” it does nothing to detract the sublime tonal bath they produce. Surely it’s intentional in the composition and execution but it looks like Michael Garbett and Alex Price are simply intuitively in tune with each others’ processes and working in sync to produce the subtly in rhythm and frequencies elicited from Garbett’s vibraphone and Price’s guitar. There is no flash, there doesn’t need to be and would be out of place with music that seems aimed at eliciting a sense of wonder in moments of tranquility. Like maybe you get some time outside the haze of light pollution endemic to cities and catch a glimpse of the full night sky unencumbered by the sound and energy of civic life and are struck with the yes cosmic beauty of the universe that you will never likely get to visit but whose existence and presence speaks to something deep in the subconscious. Resolute Vibration taps into that often neglected part of the brain and creates that feeling all across this track. Watch the video on YouTube, connect with Resolute Vibration at the links provided and give a listen to the rest of the Resolute Vibration album Volume 4 which released on April 15, 2022.
Teenhood’s throbbing and urgent single “Single Mistakse” tackles the age old generation gap struggle in a way that initially seems like the usual callout of adult hypocrisy. But between the melancholic drive of the lead guitar and that of the bass and drum machines the vocals adopt the perspective of a parent so steeped in the worn out patriarchal perspective that tells all of us we need to be tough and strong in the neglectful and ineffective, unsustainable ways that have become the norm for too many for too long. Not the nurturing approach to being a parent but the “tough love” variety that doesn’t even take accountability for the consequences of the failure of that approach. Though mid-song there is a crack in tha presentation when mistakes made are admitted like a tacit admission that the guiding worldview doesn’t really work but also pushing responsibility for the lived legacy of a cultural feature that was never particularly viable even if it has often been common. In taking on that persona the song calls attention to the utter lack of reason and logic to that way of being and sets it to stark atmospheres and propulsive energy in the modern post-punk mode. Listen to “Same Mistakes” on Spotify and follow Teenhood at the links below.
Chella & The Charm at UMS 2018, photo by Tom Murphy
Michelle Caponigro grew up in La Crosse, Wisconsin where she honed her singing skills in school choir and moved to Denver in the late 90s after getting involved in the jam band scene. As a member of Purple Buddha for seven years she performed shows and on stages in that then and now very active musical world. But as is often inevitable personal differences arise and Caponigro parted ways with the band and learned to play guitar and write her own songs and found a bit of a niche on the indie and Americana end of the singer-songwriter milieu in Denver performing as Chella Negro. There are plenty of singer-songwriters in every city playing guitar solo or with a band in every city that has a music scene but Chella’s performances had an exuberance that was compelling on their own. But whatever the subject matter of her compositions there was a depth of thought and complexity of sentiment that brought a philosophical quality to her love songs and her songs commenting on culture and society. When Caponigro put together a full band and dubbed it Chella and the Charm around a decade ago the intelligent and heartfelt lyrics continued as the sound palette broadened. The most recent offering from the band is 2019’s Good Gal but look for a new EP by 2023.
Listen to our interview with Michelle Caponigro of Chella & The Charm on Bandcamp linked below and go see the band at Down in Denver Fest on Sunday, 8/21/22 at 9:30 pm on the Further Stage. For more information on the festival and on Chella & The Charm visit the links beneath the interview.
Emerald Siam has been running for nearly a decade in the Denvoid. The band was been lead by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Ottaway from the beginning but reflects a lifetime of influences and inspirations drawn from its collective membership. So the sound has a deep mood and melodies that are woven in with emotional expressions cast in poetic expressions in the lyrics and songwriting. To call it post-punk gives a potential listener a touchstone for what they’re in for with swarming and swimming atmospheres, fluid musical structures that burst in cathartic release orchestrated to dramatic effect minus pretense. Since the late 80s Ottaway has been part of some of Denver’s most vital rock bands beginning with Twice Wilted who were steeped in the creative energies of Killing Joke, Joy Division and the Jesus and Mary Chain as well as 60s psychedelic garage rock. Its colossal sounds and DIY ethos garnered a large following and the band had a brush with being signed to a major label before establishing its own Gift Records imprint with which it released the 1993 classic Ice Hex Fix. And the way of many of Denver’s best bands at the time, Twice Wilted split in 1996 with Ottaway headed to the Bay Area only to discover he didn’t quite belong there and he returned to the Denver area and founded Tarmints, a band stylistically drastically different from Twice Wilted but not in terms of intention to put together something of quality and originality. If you were fortunate enough to see Tarmints during its eleven years of existence you saw a band that defied easy classification and which demanded being taken on its own terms. Yes, blues, sure mutant punk Birthday Party and Gun Club sounds and attitude with some of the grizzled Laughing Hyenas-esque intensity and immediately enthralling songwriting with shows that lasted exactly as long as they needed to be meaning no drawn-out, self-indulgent sets. Tarmints hit the stage hard with incredibly energy and focus and left before you could ever be weary of being sonically grabbed by the throat and brought along for an irresistible emotional ride that felt like a mutual purge of the dark corners of the psyche where the anxiety and nightmare fuel of your mind dwell. During most of this musical journey Ottaway ran a number of DIY spaces going back to the 1980s in Upper Larimer, RINO, what is now the Santa Fe Arts District, downtown and Lower Colfax and encouraging people in the local scene to make something that could be mutually inspiring. In this interview we do not talk about Emerald Siam much at all but rather the early days from his youth in the 1970s up through about the early 90s when Twice Wilted was in high gear. Perhaps in future conversations to be shared in this podcast we will get into other stories of which Ottaway has hundreds and thousands.
Listen to our interview with Kurt Ottaway of Emerald Siam on Bandcamp linked below and go see the band at Down in Denver Fest on Sunday, 8/21/22 at 6:30 pm on the Further Stage. For more information on the festival and on Emerald Siam visit the links beneath the interview.
Gila Teen is Hunter Wood and Aidan Bettis. They went to the same middle school in Lakewood but really met in high school when they started being in the same friend circles and formed their early bands at that time. After a bit of a hiatus and while in college the two musicians reconnected and started projects that some may have seen in and around Denver in the DIY scene and elsewhere like the folk punk groups Bear Face and Burgundy Church Wagon. But they started Bert Olsen in around 2017 though the roots of the songwriting for the band go back to 2011. In 2018 one could see Bert Olsen at a variety of venues and even early on it was obvious it was something different seemingly threading together disparate stylistic elements and creating something that has felt unique. One hears in its music the influence of emo, shoegaze, post-punk and electronic music. They played their final show as Bert Olsen in June 2019 opening for Church Fire, Rabbit Fighter and Natural Velvet at Lost Lake. Changing the name to Gila Teen and utilizing a drum machine, Wood and Bettis have leaned into any idiosyncratic style choices for the stage that occurs to them as well as songwriting instincts that have kept its sound fresh and unpredictable not fitting neatly into a specific genre. Its most recent release is the 2021 album Pain Vacation.
Listen to our interview with Gila Teen on Bandcamp linked below and go see the band at Down in Denver Fest on Sunday, 8/21/22 at 6:30 pm on the Further Stage. For more information on the festival and on Gila Teen visit the links beneath the interview.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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