The melodic, high tone bass line and minimal electronic percussion at the beginning of “Red Sheets” by OGMH calms the mind as the vocals come in with a tone that expresses pain and confusion in a way that is both transporting and affecting. Who can’t relate to the line “happiness is a fraud” that has lived and been honest with themselves and experienced life’s low points at least once in awhile. The keyboards soar and sync up with the rhythm and impressionistic guitar riff to sweep away those dark thoughts as only music that is willing to go to that place can sometimes. Anthemic and urgent the song captures a yearning for something more meaningful and vital in a world where so many of us have been sequestered to a life more ordinary and diminishing returns for our efforts in a way that permeates all of life. “Don’t give me that look like I’ve been lazy,” doesn’t that about sum up the plight of people who have done what they were supposed to do or make a solid effort only to find out its never enough? The song is about the struggles of generation Y but it could apply to anyone who has realized that the international economic and political system as it is is aimed at grinding under the people that don’t matter, those that weren’t born to wealth but sold a lie about hard work and getting an education and what happiness looks like and how you’ll get there if you just line up behind an agenda that never serves your life the way we all assume it should. The track is the lead single from the band’s new album Void and you can listen on Soundcloud and follow OGMH at the links below.
YALI BLANK’s single “Keep Me Sane” is awash in dense low end that buoys the ethereal melody in a fascinating dynamic that also leaves the sonic space for the more delicate melodies and BLANK’s soulful vocals to shine through. The desolate tone of the lyrics and the yearning is evoked well by Cheap Vacation’s music video. It is there that we see YALI BLANK sitting alone in dark spaces, illuminated by a mysterious light that gives little distinct detail of the background except for the gear used to make the music, a fishbowl, a mouse running across equipment. The colors are reminiscent of a Nicolas Winding Refn film and as the plot plays out stones break mirrors and the psychological space of being trapped by someone’s hold on you by song’s end when keyboards are torched as well as other trappings of what perhaps defined the nature of the relationship. It’s dark stuff but the warping vocal treatments and the surreal quality of the video paired with a song about not being able to move on are fascinating contrasts. The single is part of YALI BLANK’s new EP Why Do Flowers Mean Love? due out October 2019. Watch the video on YouTube and follow YALI BLANK at the links below.
The claymation video for Liily’s new single “Wash” begins with a figure standing in the foreground like an omniscient narrator describing the action unfolding in the valley below the Hollywood sign. The frantic pace of the song and urgency of the vocals give the scene a surreal quality as we see scenes of fast food drive-ups and car culture flexes, cyclops robots and monsters rampaging through the landscape growing from the aforementioned robot into something much larger as it feeds on the populace and anything else in its path. Our car racing heroes come to the rescue with shovels, a katana, a pistol and explosives. In the end we see the word “Wash” appear on the screen before the credits. Clearly the name of the song but perhaps a rascally nod to someone needing to clean the monster blood and guts off the Hollywood sign. Musically its noisy post-punk in the vein of Liars or HEALTH if they went through a hardcore and psychedelic garage rock phase and as bombastic and wonderfully rampaging as the music video. Watch for yourself on YouTube and follow Liily at the links below.
“Landes,” the lead single from the recently released album Anunis (Injazero Records) by Pétra, a duo comprised of Anenon (Friends of Friends) and Chantal Chadwick is described by the artists as an “aquatic, immersive track.” And in fact the level of tonal and textural detail presented feels like you’re suspended in fluid and drifting toward a luminous destination, air bubbles floating past you, tangible in a way you take for granted when you’re not deep in the water. A phasing bell tone keeps the time, ethereal female vocals and a flowing low end give form to the currents of water that push you along to what sounds like an airlock admitting you to an improbably city street. The effect is not unlike the end of “Welcome to the Machine” by Pink Floyd and similarly, unexpectedly refreshing but after a period of soothing vibes and not the slow, melancholic catharsis of the Floyd song. Engulfing without being claustrophobic the song and its engrossing moods leaves you wanting to explore the album further. Listen to the track on Soundcloud and follow Anenon and Chantal Chadwick at the links provided.
Kudos to Cassilda and Carcosa for the reference to The King in Yellow in the name of the project. The allusion to a sinister and mysterious place and the tragic character are a nice analog to the music you’ll hear in the single “Atlantis2 Test.” It’s a lively electronic track but in the background lurks murky atmospheres and oscillating tones that decay into an ambient texture as the music progresses. It’s reminiscent of the neo-alien soundtracks of 90s IDM the way Future Sound of London’s Lifeforms and Dead Cities evoked another world without direct reference to previous electronic music that had provided the soundscape for so much science fiction and horror cinema. It was a break from the brilliant work Vangelis did for Blade Runner and Tangerine Dream did for numerous films beyond science fiction but whose music embodied a futuristic vision. This is a break from that and creates in your mind the imagery of delving into worlds as yet not fully explored within the confines of the earth. As the title suggests underwater environments, the textured white noise and bubbling tones express a journey into the watery dark in search of the secrets of the ancients. But rather than the menace of the proto-Lovecraftian references, Cassilda and Carcosa makes the unknown seem playful and fun. Listen to “Atlantis2 Test” on Soundcloud and check out the rest of the album On The Shores of Hali (another cool reference to the cursed play from the aforementioned story collection) on Spotify linked below.
The bluesy guitar and the pulsing synth with Ay Wing’s smoldering vocals over the top give the video for “Fortunes” its grounding in the beginning when it looks as though the band is performing on a floating platform in the dark, slowly approaching. But it becomes clear there is some light reflected on water that might have been the energy field holding some kind of UFO technology platform aloft. The effect is initially somewhat like one of those early 80s music videos where the limitations of video effects resulted in a mysterious, disconnected quality while the music, warm and dynamic, provided the emotional connection. Apparently this video was recorded in Lake Seelisberg in the Swiss mountains timed for when the night transitioned to day. The symbolism is perhaps layered as the song is about modern relationships and the inevitability of someone getting hurt and coming out the other side of of that time through the reflections on the good and the rough times into better times. Watch the visually fascinating video on YouTube and follow Ay Wing at the links below.
Pop Smear’s latest single “Nuclear” finds the New York City-based duo crafting what sounds like an alternative soundtrack to The Atomic Café. It is playful throughout but with an undertone of urgency and brushes of menace. Unlike Pop Smear’s usually oeuvre, this is an instrumental reminiscent of something Fad Gadget might have done or Xeno & Oaklander might do now. Its sound is retrofuturistic like a soundtrack to a pinball machine, the beat and rhythm bouncy, the synth arpeggio’s rolling like clockwork, the splashes of slightly distorted synth as melody like hitting the flippers to send the ball rolling to trigger lights and an escalating score. All the while there is a sense of the otherworldly combined with a familiarity like you walked through a door into an early 1980s arcade with your knowledge of video game post 1979 wiped from your memory and how surreal, mysterious and magical it felt even knowing they were just games with the threat of nuclear holocaust pending as the Cold War was, perhaps unknowingly, coming to a close. Even if it wasn’t aiming for that vibe, that’s what “Nuclear” sounds like to anyone who might remember that era. Listen to “Nuclear” on YouTube and follow Pop Smear at their Facebook page linked below.
Bella Venutti from IV League has a solo project called prettything and the debut single “Endless Blue” is awash in the sample of the tide coming in like memories of another era of life, bring in the people who maybe held you back or held you down until you left their orbit. And who maybe prefer to treat you the way they remember rather than assume you’ve evolved as a human. When Venutti sings“You still see me as I am, now I’ve got nothing to prove ’til you see me as I am,” she draws that line for someone who wants to limit you to an era of your life you’ve outgrown, that you’ve moved beyond. The luminously ethereal melody and the easy flow of Venutti’s vocals ripple and glisten like the sun on the ocean and take the metaphor of the tides further by embodying the cycles that may bring back the past and familiar patterns but whose constant, if consistent flow, are in perpetual motion wearing down the rough edges and just as easily taking that burdensome past outside of your purview so that you can shine outside the influence of the forces that formerly tried to shape you in ways that eroded your sense of self and your own best notions for the direction of your life. Fans of Enya and early Beach House will appreciate the way Venutti composes her soundscapes conveying a sense of texture, mood and dream-like introspection. Listen to “Endless Blue” on Soundcloud and follow prettything at the links provided.
Holland Andrews’ clear, radiant voice comes in and soars over the blasts of white noise, murky synths and industrial beat of the new Like A Villain single “Daughters” from the new album What Makes Vulnerability Good. Andrews has been at making stirring and unsettling yet gripping soundscapes for several years at this point but this song is especially confrontational, it hits you with searing lines like “they listen, they see her but they don’t believe her, they’ve broken my daughter” uttered with nearly blinding outrage more than suggesting violence of some kind inflicted on a woman and the aftermath of denial of the events. Comparisons are often made between Andrews’ work and that of Diamanda Galas’ groundbreaking, heartrending exorcisms of industrial beats, soaring vocals and raw and challenging subject matter and Holly Herndon’s experiments in vocal processing and similarly psyche unmasking material. But for this song one might even reference Lingua Ignota’s new album Caligula and its uncompromising and moving critique of misogyny in modern culture and its pervasive effects on everyone’s lives. While a harrowing listen this song feels like it shakes off some of the rage and personal darkness it also embodies or at least gives it a coherent form that is impossible to ignore. Listen to “Daughters” on Soundcloud and follow Like A Villain at the links below.
What:Curse w/Echo Beds, Church Fire and Gruesome Relics When: Thursday, 10.03, 9 p.m. Where: Rhinoceropolis Why: Baltimore’s Curse has been touring the US for the past eight years playing its alchemical mix of doom, darkwave analog synth pop, electro-acoustic industrial beats and hardcore. Its commanding and spirited performances and DIY ethos has earned the band a fanbase in the American underground where its gritty, emotionally charged and dream-like music needn’t appeal to a narrow spectrum of musical tastes. Also on the bill are like-minded Denver locals. Echo Beds and Church Fire both bridge the worlds of hardcore, industrial and darkwave with both groups incorporating live drums and physical sound generation with an electronic music aesthetic.
What:Bleached w/Dude York and Pout House When: Thursday, 10.03, 7 p.m. Where: Globe Hall Why: Seattle’s Dude York recently released its new album Falling out on Hardly Art. The band’s been writing fun, thoughtful music since its inception but on the new record the songwriting seems somehow fuller and the tone nostalgic like the members of the band have reached a point in their life that everyone gets to where you can embrace the music of your youth that maybe in your late teens or twenties you rejected a bit because you outgrew it. Except that you can appreciate it on your terms as someone who has some life experience and has more insight as to why you you can either still love that music or aspects of it or appreciate how it made you feel even if that music doesn’t have that level of impact on you now. The problem with a lot of rock music is that it gets emotionally stuck in a rut of stunted adolescence. Falling sounds like a band that acknowledges the importance on a deeply personal level of not letting your heart fully harden to weather the blows of life with a shield of knowing jadedness when some sensitivity and openness would be a better way to navigate the world with curiosity and humanity intact. Bleached not so long ago went through its own transformation after some years of exploring what it wanted to sound like, even as the songwriting was always strong, to get into a groove of gritty, atmospheric pop that grew out of the Clavin sisters’ past in noise punk band Mika Miko and the garage surf sound of the early 2010s.
What:Half Moon Run w/Tim Baker (former Hey Rosetta!) When: Friday, 10.04, 8 p.m. Where: Bluebird Theater Why: Tim Baker the charismatic singer for Hey Rosetta! released his debut solo album Forever Overhead. When the band went on indefinite hiatus in October 2017 Baker went on tour as a solo artist playing the unconventional types of venues he had probably when he was coming with the songs that were the backbone of the early era of his Hey Rosetta!. The songs are the warm, introspective but yearning, anthemic pieces that garnered the band a wide audience from early on. The album seems to sketch a journey of personal rediscovery and reconnecting with the everyday experiences and epiphanies that make for vivid lyrics that resonate with feelings we’ve all had.
What:Ride w/The Spirit of the Beehive and One Flew West When: Friday, 10.04, 7:30 p.m. Where: Boulder Theater Why: Ride was one of the earliest of the UK shoegaze bands. Its sound was aswirl with elements of a colossal neo-psychedelia but rocked with a momentous drive. Currently the group is touring in support of its 2019 album This is Not a Safe Place.
nervesandgel circa 2013 (Johnny Wohlfahrt aka nervesandgel with Allison Young), photo by Tom Murphy
What:Pythian Whispers album release w/RAREBYRD$, SOMNILOQUIST and nervesandgel When: Saturday, 10.05, 8 p.m. Where: Rhinoceropolis Why: SOMNILOQUIST is an ambient/drone artist from Albuquerque whose 2019 album Perpetual Fall is a collection of vivid sonic sketches of a scene, a sensation, a mood captured by the song titles including the humorously titled “How Long Are You Going to Leave Those Jack-o-Lanterns on Your Porch?” Majestic, enigmatic, impressionistic, introspective but always conveying the emotional experiences behind them eloquently. Nervesandgel hasn’t performed a show in over six years but the Denver-based experimental electronic artist has a vast back catalog that explores depths of experimenting with the form of ambient music and psychedelia beyond the tropes implied by the latter designation. He, Johnny Wohlfahrt, has releases on various imprints including a record out on indie pop label Best Friends Records but most of his work is self-released including the darkly moving Cometcrash and the more than three hour long epic 333. He may make ambient music but his performances are always richly emotional. R A R E B Y R D $ took the root of underground hip-hop and imbued it with personal mythology and a willingness to push the weird end of electronic beat-making to craft some of the most entrancing and evocative, sometimes inspirationally brash, sometimes cathartically heartbreaking happening in the world right now. Pythian Whispers is a Denver-based ambient band that Queen City Sounds and Art editor and writer Tom Murphy started as a solo project in 2009 but which became a band in 2011 when David Britton joined followed by various other long term and short term collaborators including renowned photographer/film-maker Charles DeGraaf, Titwrench MC Piper Rose, former Dangerous Nonsense bassist and current Umbras Animas member Harmony Fredere, Brad Schumacher of Night Grinder, Melissa Bell formerly of Rasputina and Howling Hex, Victoria Lundy of The Inactivists, Darren Kulback formerly of Hot White now Quits and The Lifers, former Action Friend drummer Paul Alexander, Misun Oh formerly of French Chemists, Tripp Wallin of The Lifers, comic artist Sara Century, photographer Joel Dallenbach and likely more. The band’s new album Lullabies For the Way of St. James is its first full length album since 2012’s The Dark Edge of Hippie Life. The band will have enamel band logo pins for sale for $12 that come with a download or a bundle with a forthcoming cassette with extra tracks for maybe $20.
What:Franksgiving: Church Fire, Little Fyodor, Ralph Gean and Gort Vs. Goom When: Saturday, 10.05, 9 p.m. Where: Lion’s Lair Why: Franklin Bell is a local character and weird music afficionado who DJs many events featuring gloriously odd music. This is his yearly benefit for the Crohn’s Foundation of America. It features some of Denver’s best including tribal industrial dance phenoms Church Fire, punker than your average fashion victim punk band Little Fyodor & Babushka Band, Denver’s OG rock and roll hero Ralph Gean and irreverent bass thrash post-punkers Gort Vs. Goom.
What:Nakatani Gong Orchestra When: Saturday, 10.05, 7-10 p.m. Where: The Savoy at Curtis Park
What:Sam Fender w/Noel Wells When: Sunday, 10.06, 7 p.m. Where: Globe Hall Why: You may not know who Sam Fender is now but the singer/songwriter from the UK has had his musical star on the ascent for several years now and his new album Hypersonic Missiles hit the number one sport on the UK Albums Chart last month. His earnest songwriting and candid portraits of working class life, the struggles, the aspirations, the frustrations and the triumphs, elevate his upbeat and anthemic songwriting to something more ambitious and meaningful than much of what is passing for pop and rock music in the mainstream these days.
What:Dave Bixby w/Midwife and Scott Seskind — canceled When: Sunday, 10.06, 7 p.m. Where: Rhinoceropolis Why: In 1969 Dave Bixby released his debut Ode to Quetzalcoatl, inspired by a spiritual revelation after wrecking his mind with drugs and transcending that experience. His second album, Second Coming, commissioned by a cult called The Movement, was released in 1970 and he subsequently disappeared from the world of music until 2011. This is a rare chance to catch this legend of psychedelic folk. [This show was canceled due to Dave’s gear being stolen. Possible reschedule at some point]
What:Emotional Oranges w/Chiiild When: Monday, 10.07, 7:30 p.m. Where: Fox Theatre Why: Chiiild is the kind of R&B we need now that is identifiable as such but which has absorbed modern music and while maintaining an appreciation for the eccentric sound and musical ideas from yesteryear with no prejudice toward where it belongs in conventional notion of genre. The group’s songs sound like they were written without notions of musical tradition weighing it down, only the pressure of writing meaningful and transporting music the way its obvious influences weren’t aiming to borrow so heavily from an earlier era either.
Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, photo by Matt Sav
What:Tame Impala w/Altin Gün When: Monday, 10.07, 7 p.m. Where: Mission Ballroom Why: Tame Impala could have done fine for itself basically soundtracking modern yacht rock for young people and had a commercially successful music career. But Kevin Parker’s songwriting reveals some more imaginative combinations of sounds and moods layered into the music so that even if sometimes a song will remind those in the know of a later era Supertramp track with more luxuriant synth work it’s an example of Parker’s penchant for weaving together modern sensibilities and pop songcraft from previous or current times with equal aplomb.
What:Stereolab w/Wand When: Monday, 10.07, 7 p.m. Where: Ogden Theatre Why: Stereolab took French pop, Krautrock, avant-garde synth music, dub and psychedelia and infused it with the radical left politics to make some of the most compelling yet accessible music of the 1990s and 2000s. Reunited after a decade apart “The Groop” will not fail to dazzle.
Blood Orange, photo by Nick Harwood
What:Tyler, The Creator w/Blood Orange and Goldlink When: Monday, 10.07, 6 p.m. Where: Red Rocks Why: Tyler the Creator made a name for himself crafting experimental hip-hop as a member of Odd Future and under his own creative moniker. But in recent years, particularly with his 2019 album Igor, he’s been writing works that explore themes of identity and a deep examination of what drives our desires. While nothing new per se, for this record Tyler has dispensed with the aggressive character that was a manifestation of his anxieties and insecurities writ larger than life in favor of a compelling vulnerability with production that complements that unmasked sensitivity perfectly. Also on the tour is Blood Orange whose own experimental beat-crafting and creative approaches to cultural narratives reached a peak thus far with 2018’s Negro Swan with its lush jazz and downtempo sound and lyrics that took an honest yet nuanced look into the way society and conventional mores impact racial, gender and sexual identity. Heavy stuff for a show at Red Rocks and yet both artists make these subjects accessible and fun without downplaying their seriousness.
What:Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin performs Deep Red for movie screening When: Monday, 10.07, 7 p.m. Where: Oriental Theater Why: Claudio Simonetti is a founding member of Italian progressive rock band Goblin and for this show he and his band will perform a live soundtrack to the 1975 Dario Argento splatter horror thrill Deep Red.
What:Jakob Ogawa w/Niña When: Wednesday, 10.09, 7 p.m. Where: Larimer Lounge Why: Swedish singer-songwriter Jakob Ogawa’s songwriting seems steeped in jazz-inflected pop but there’s something unusual about the angle with which he approaches the music. Almost like it incorporates elements of childhood music and fairy tales into the mix. For instance the music video for his single “April” features a sasquatch type figure who wakes up one morning and has some adventures including trying out surfing and night driving. Some fishing, visiting the graves of pets. Hanging out in a hammock. It’s subtle but it really does tell you Ogawa’s gift for chill synth pop and his own idiosyncratic vocals is coming from a place of individual imagination that immediately sets him apart from the rest of the modern crop of indie pop artists.
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