ASHRR, like some of the most interesting artists from Los Angeles, highlights the experience of the side of the City of Angels that isn’t romanticized on television or in movies. The group’s sound reflects the unusual and surreal qualities of the city’s unique blend of geography and culture as a place where many go to pursue their dreams but finding it far different than anything they would have assumed. ASHRR’s musical vision is more in line with William Friedkin’s and Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s own depictions of Los Angeles and not that of Beverly Hills, 90210 or even Bret Easton Ellis’ nihilistically lurid depictions of the city and its culture. The music video for the group’s song “All Yours All Mine (Dark Days Mix)” is an apt companion to its darkly rich synthesizer melody with a plot like something out of Black Mirror or the new Twilight Zone with a man encountering duplicates of himself at home and lurking about even when he manages to escape the scene in his car into the night. Musically the song is also something like an R&B-inflected, late 80s Depeche Mode song, the aforementioned melody drawing a wide-ranging, pulsing sonic arc. That dynamic suggests the rhythm of night driving and the way street lights can serve as an almost hypnotic strobe to induce an introspective mood. Watch the video on YouTube and follow ASHRR at the links provided.
Mykimono’s “MotherTongue (language has a fault of its own)” has a roiling dynamic that swirls with saturated tone that goes spacious and clear like a day with high flying clouds that flow and move rapidly in a wind that hasn’t quite hit the ground. Musically it is reminiscent of a more introspective Swervedriver with the wah elegantly pitching the tones accented by a bass line that periodically punches gently through the soundscape to accent the riff. The tone is a touch melancholic but awash in nostalgia and hints of romance whether that’s romantic love lost or of something or some time that can never be again. The words of the song express well the inadequacy of language to express the fullness of feeling though one tries with poetic language and metaphor. Listen to “MotherTongue (language has a fault of its own)” on Soundcloud and follow Italian dream pop/shoegaze band Mykimono on Facebook (linked below).
Don’t put too much numerological analysis into SevenAntenna and it’s song “Nine from Lax-di-Kal” as it reduces to seven all over again. Further analysis will just take you down the Max Cohen rabbit hole and no trepanning needed. But the song begins like a retro IDM excursion that sounds like a musical analog of a basic Rube Goldberg machine and from there the beats increase in complexity and the layers of distorted synth tone take on more bombastic figures as the song progresses and then fade from the foreground in the final minute of the song. One might also imagine playing one of the more immersive early 8-bit video games to this song like Metroid but one in which you navigate an abandoned city of the future based on the artwork of Moebius, searching for treasure and solving the mystery of why the inhabitants had to leave. Listen to “Nine from Lax-di-Kal” on Soundcloud.
On “You’ll Only Make It Worse” Renwick articulates in some detail and with an air of sensitivity and hard won self-awareness the feeling of knowing you need to try to make amends to someone you hurt but that maybe your current self and your ways of being and communicating can only make the situation worse. Its hushed tones and beautifully saturated and lush soundscape express well a gentleness of spirit and vulnerability in that moment in having good intentions but being so keenly aware of one’s limitations and the hurt caused and the painful realization that maybe making things good again is beyond your abilities. It really is mostly a male instinct to think one can simply “fix” something with actions but here Renwick sagely recognizes that such a mentality is hard to shed when it’s so ingrained in you to be a “problem solver” and shed it you must and not so that you can make amends in a possessive way but so that you avoid causing harm in similar ways in the future. It’s a bittersweet, resigned song but all the better for not taking on the stance of conquering male bravado. The song comes from Renwick’s 2019 EP I Hope You Feel Good In The Morning and you can listen to the single on YouTube and follow Renwick at the links below.
Pleasures of the Flesh, photo courtesy the artists
Pleasures of the Flesh is a post-punk band from Louisville, Kentucky (home of some of the greatest art punk of the last 35+ years) that is trying to cultivate a punk community with “equality and kindness.” To that end the group wrote the song “Passover” as a way to address the curiously lingering cultural feature of white supremacy as a stumbling block to a just and open society. The refrain of “over and over and over” reflects the weariness with how white supremacy really should have been in the rearview at this point in history but for a variety of reasons some people cling to such regressive outmoded ideas even when it is simply used to manipulate them against their own natural interests to stay in conflict with people who live on the direct delivery end of its effects. And when something is pervasive, especially when some people think it’s subtle, it pops up in odd and often hideous ways obvious to anyone that doesn’t have a stake in perpetuating white supremacy. The song goes into some of the complexities of the issue without mincing words and that is not something one immediately expects from a post-punk band even though groups like Gang of Four, The Pop Group and Heaven 17 (to name but a few) tackled heady issues on the regular in their own music back in the day much as did Fugazi and bands like IDLES, Priests and Cheap Perfume do today with a creative and incisive flourish. This single and its wiry, evocative guitar work and impassioned vocals may have a touch of melancholy and atmosphere but its message refreshingly is direct and unequivocal without coming off as performative. Listen to “Passover” on Spotify and follow Pleasures of the Flesh on Instagram. The group released its Earthly Pleasures EP, of which “Passover” is a part, on Christmas Day 2019.
The diffuse pulses of billowing tone drifting into pink noise textures on Mike Costaney’s “J” conjures visions of what it’s like to look out across a bank of clouds from above lit by moonlight. Or to be aboard a ship drifting through a luminous bank of fog in the early morning. Its sounds have an unusual quality of being both abstractly hypnotic and soothingly intimate. It suggests the experience of a breeze flowing over you and of a dream state in which your mind feels unmoored from its corporeal bonds. Though the track comes from an album with the humorous title Ambient Music For Ambient People II, “J” sounds like the audio analog of a tranquil dream of flight. Listen to “J” as well as the rest of the album on Spotify and follow Costaney on his Soundcloud account.
What:Muscle Beach, Church Fire, Vexing and Grief Ritual When: Thursday, 1.16, 8 p.m. Where: Hi-Dive Why: With the exception of Church Fire whose own politically-charged, emotionally cathartic, noisy synth pop, this is basically a showcase for some of the best Denver bands who bridge the gap between experimental metal, hardcore and noise punk. Muscle Beach released its riveting new album Charms in 2019 and Vexing just let loose with its album Cradle.
What:Heilung When: Friday, 1.17, 7 p.m. Where: Ogden Theatre Why: Many bands in the past two or three decades claim to hearken back in their music to early northern European culture. Heilung took the concept a step or two further by basing their music on texts and runes from the Germanic people of the Viking era and longer ago infused with pan-ancient world cultures. The band members look like members of a Scandinavian mystery cult with elaborate outfits, some wearing horned head gear, performing with recreations of traditional instruments from various ancient cultures, guttural vocals reminiscent of Tuvan throat singing. It is a spectacle that is a ritualistic performance of music and poetry designed to transport you to the mindset of earlier humanity getting in touch with its subconscious mind communally.
What:The Still Tide Between Skies album release, Down Time and Heavy Diamond Ring When: Friday, 1.17, 7 p.m. Where: Hi-Dive Why: The Still Tide has been making waves in Denver and beyond for several years at this point with its poignantly expressive dream pop soundscapes. Its sounds are expansive yet are imbued with an intimate sensibility as though Anna Morsett is singing from the past toward the future. It takes you out of a mundane mindset and transports you to a realm where you can feel all the pressures, angst and demands of everyday life but it seems in context of a bigger picture hidden from your thinking most of the time. At least that’s the vibe of the band’s new record Between Skies. The lush and well-balanced soundscapes crafted by Morsett, Jake Miller, Joe Richmond and Nate Meese render incredibly accessible an album of meaningful songs about personal struggle and striving to make sense of the seemingly endless run of reverses and confusing experiences with your heart intact.
What:Caustic Soda EP release w/Sinister Pig and Princess Dewclaw When: Friday, 1.17, 7 p.m. Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective Why: Caustic Soda is a noise punk band from Boulder whose new EP Stud Count will be available at this show. As the title suggests it’s a pointed critique of the all the destructive and regressive ideas that have seemed to issue forth prominently in the wake of Donald Trump announcing his candidacy for president: the misogyny, the bizarre anti-science right, open racism—all the stuff nascent fascism spews into the world.
What:Lazarus Horse Oh, The Guilt album release w/Disinherited and Dead Characters When: Saturday, 1.18, 8 p.m. Where: Mutiny Information Café Why: Eddie Durkin was once a member of the promising and powerful experimental guitar pop band Sparkler Bombs but for various reasons had to take a break from playing in bands and playing shows. But his time away allowed him to incubate and hone his talent further and his latest project Lazarus Horse has been performing now and then with a set of songs that are rough enough around the edges to be fresh and interesting but refined in the execution of dynamics to not be confused for an off-the-cuff band still not in possession of a sense of intentionality. The group’s new album Oh, The Guilt will be an earworm for fans of Codeine, Red House Painters, Versus and Slint. The songs have a simple construction but because of that they are capable of a great emotional range as the layers of sound interact with a fluidity that the sometimes splintery tones might suggest otherwise. The vulnerability on display is disarming, honest and inviting. Given the arc of the songs it’s part eulogy for a time in Denver Durkin experienced while playing DIY spaces in the late 2000s and early 2010s and a map for navigating the new reality in the Mile High City and America in general, one that seems to have put so much up in the air with no sense of confidence in social stability. It’s a record showing bravery and self-awareness in the face of massive uncertainty and possible civilizational collapse.
What:Punk Against Trump: Cheap Perfume, Allout Helter, Over Time, Filthy Hearts, Altar Girls (debut) When: Saturday, 1.18, 7 p.m. Where: Marquis Theater Why: Maybe in the years ahead Trump and everything he willfully and unintentionally encouraged among the forces of cultural and political reaction will be in the rearview and great punk bands won’t have to have fundraiser for groups that are keeping essential services and a compassionate mission alive but for now Punk Against Trump remains a proud tradition in Denver.
What: Ladies Night (band) and Lifers When: Saturday, 1.18, 9 p.m. Where: The Squire Lounge
Sunday | January 19
Drune, photo courtesy the artists
What:Drune (album release), New Standards Men and Simulators When: Sunday, 1.19, 7 p.m. Where: Larimer Lounge Why: Drune’s debut album SEER is three extended tracks with Roman numerals as the title. Doing so almost invites you to have no preconceptions about what you might be in for with the listening even if you’ve heard the band is a doom band or “heavy.” And it is but there is an elegance to Drune’s composition that has as much in common with bands like Black Mountain who push the aesthetic into unconventional sonic territory as it does with any doom band. James Cook’s soaring vocals and the modulated rhythms syncing with guitar riffs that are as textural and moody as brutal. It’s a sonically expansive record that rewards your attention. Drune doesn’t drone on the same idea ad infinitum, its evolution through a song suggests a narrative structure that pulls you in for the long haul.
Tuesday | January 21
GZA, photo courtesy GZA management
What:GZA 25th Anniversary of Liquid Swords w/Righteous Revolution (feat. 1-natVson-1), D-Stylz & High Key (Affliction Music), DJ Notch, Killah Priest When: Tuesday, 1.21, 7:30 p.m. Where: Summit Music Hall Why: GZA’s 1995 album Liquid Swords is of course a classic of 90s hip-hop fusing a more traditional genre aesthetic with genre-bending innovations in the use of atmospheric elements in the production to give the whole record an otherworldly quality worthy of its transcendental lyrics. While it might be difficult to prove this record sounds like one of the primary influences on late-90s alternative hip-hop like artists on the Anticon, Mush and Rhymesayers imprints and on experimental electronic music and bands as unusual and adventurous as Black Moth Super Rainbow and CocoRosie. Whatever its exact impact and legacy, Liquid Swords gets into your head and still manages to surprise with the sheer creativity in its use of sound and GZA’s masterful wordplay like a thinking person’s futuristic crime drama manga.
John McCabe sounds like he took a deep dive into early-to-mid 80s Paisley Underground music and jangle pop produced by Mitch Easter, R.E.M. in particular on “On TV.” But like a lot of that music McCabe has some incisive commentary on the absurdities of American and international politics in recent years and the resultant cultural turmoil as institutions seem to be on the verge of collapsing and leaving society in free fall as the human race heads off into the sunset of climate catastrophe. And as part and parcel of that process we are overloaded with insipid information to make wading through the haze of marketing and partisan sophistry too often tied together challenging and tiring for most people. McCabe’s song sounds like a measured approach to this unfortunate situation in world civilization but it also articulates that frustration with economy and poetry and makes it all seem manageable in spite of how overwhelming it can be. Listen to “On TV” on Soundcloud and follow McCabe at the links below.
“Halcyon” by Advakit is a great example of how to place sounds in a mix to give a sense of depth and movement. The layers of synth melody and electronic percussion create a sonic environment that feels like your mind is resting in a place in your memory where the happy and tranquil moods and images dwell. As though you are able to take a walk through a moving gallery that only contains the good and soothing things so that you’re able to shuffle off the anxiety and concern of everyday life if only for the relatively short duration of the song. One imagines a place well lit but not aggressively illuminated, impossibly infinite horizons outside windows and off an immaculate beachside view in perpetual mid-spring or fall. Of course a lifetime spent in such an place would stagnate and become unhealthily soporific but in these angst-ridden times indulging in a bit of this mode of being is good for everyone. Listen to “Halcyon” on Soundcloud.
Though it’s nearly a month after Christmas, Dream Reporter’s cover of Low’s “Just Like Christmas” with the samples of ye olde domestic violence that might occur during the holiday season gives a bit of an edge to the presentation. Fortunately, the song’s sentiment reflects that reality obliquely with the metaphor of the lack of trappings of Christmas as the lack of goodwill and tranquility. The vocals have enough of an emotionally fragile quality to express a yearning for something nurturing and imbued with mutual affection over the tense social climate that too many of us encounter during that time of the year. Yes, the song is an acknowledgment of that reality but also of the dysfunction of the pressure of expectation for people to perform benevolence when their lives and psyches may be more challenging. It could be enjoyed as a nice and spare rendition of a song by a band whose thematic complexity encompasses the double meaning of the lyrics but that opening sample gives the proper context and makes what could be another hackneyed Christmas song an uncommon depth of meaning. Listen to Dream Reporter’s cover of “Just Like Christmas” by Low on Soundcloud and follow the project at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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