Carson C. Lee, “Cubanos” still, image courtesy the artist
Carson C. Lee has written a modern take on the sound of Havana on his new single “Cubanos.” Mixing traditional Cuban instrumentation with downtempo electronic production, Lee captures a certain sense of melancholy, acceptance and peace. The horns provide an uplifting dynamic amid lingering electronic tones and lightly strummed guitar and electro-organic percussion in a relaxed calypso style. Given the companion music video, it seems as though Lee sought to capture the more leisurely pace of life he experienced in Cuba, it’s almost poetic cadence, and the sense of history and its mix of tragedy and romance. Lee captures it all in a modern interpretation of a classic sound. Listen to “Cubanos” on Spotify, watch the music video which includes footage from Cuba and follow Carson C. Lee at the various links out from the URL provided.
“Keep Me Safe,” the debut single from talker’s new EP puts a calm face on a place of deep uncertainty and anxiety. The song begins with a gentle melody and transitions to a moment of intense tranquility like the calm before one’s own storm, and back before the song erupts into fiery passages in which the fears blossom and the root of those fears manifests strongly—the painful recognition of inevitable change and the terror of being cast adrift. It’s something we’ve all experienced, the important relationships in our lives changing or ending for whatever reason they do and even in relationships with a complex dynamic we adapt to the situation and it represents the stability in our lives upon which we build the rest. The contrast with the first two thirds of the song and the final third or so is dramatic and breaks with standard song structure in a way that really amplifies the emotional impact of the song by also showing how allowing ourselves to feel and articulate that fear and pain can be cathartic and essential to our ability to cope and move on from that moment. Listen to “Keep Me Safe” on Soundcloud, watch the music video and follow talker at the links provided.
“Funeral Pop” duo MXMS (aka Me and My Shadow) display a gift for genre bending on its new single “Death Row.” The dark soundscape with samples, vocals delivered with an almost brash attitude, swagger even, is reminiscent of the way that, in another era, Curve or more contemporaneously Sleigh Bells mixed hip-hop and downtempo production with an industrial sound palette. It’s brooding yet upbeat, menacing yet enticing. The character in the song presents a tough stance steeped in bravado with a casual disregard for personal safety. The chorus of “Death row, motherfucker, and I’m wild and free” says it all in this story as the narrator catalogs her nihilistic exploits. The song doesn’t celebrate these adventures so much as provide a character study of a fun character the way an actor relishes playing a complex or at least colorful villain. You can listen to “Death Row” on Soundcloud and follow MXMS at the links below.
What:Church Fire When: Thursday, 11.14, 6:30 p.m. Where: Ross-Broadway Library Why: Denver-based synth-noise-pop doom darlings Church Fire are playing this event sponsored by Titwrench as part of its Surfacing series highlighting female and LGBTQ underground and experimental artists. It’s after hours at the library in the Baker District and free.
What:Roller Disco 3 When: Thursday, 11.14, 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. Where: Roller City
What:Whipporwill w/Courtney Hartman When: Friday, 11.15, 6 p.m. Where: Washington’s (Fort Collins) Why: Fort Collins based alternative folk band Whippoorwill distilled its past few years of experiencing the turmoil of the land and the culture into its new album The Nature of Storms. On its 2017 tour the band experienced tornadoes, floods, forest fires, blizzards and the destructive nature of the Trump presidency itself and the polarized social and political climate surrounding it. With the personal lives of its members in disarray as well the trio pulled together and crafted one of the most affecting releases of the year that exceeds expectations for terms like “alternative folk” as the band seems to be channeling the pain and agony of the times into songs that if not exactly exorcising those emotions, brings a compassionate energy to the proceedings. This show celebrates the release of that record and hopefully soon the band will play regional shows in support followed by a tour soon enough.
What:Entrancer LP release Downgrade, Lone Dancer, Techno Allah, Felix Fast4ward, DJ ilind When: Friday, 11.15, 9:30 p.m. Where: Rhinoceropolis Why: It’s been a couple of years or since Denver-based analog synth/techno composer Entrancer has released an album but his latest release on Multidim Records, Downgrade, shows where deep house could go if it followed a more conceptual pathway with a spirit of playfulness.
What:Noise Vs. Doom IV When: Friday, 11.15, 7 p.m. Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective Why: This is the fourth edition of the Noise Vs. Doom event featuring bands that fall loosely into either category. Tonight’s lineup includes Denver noise legends Page 27, doom collective Ice Troll and avant-garde composer Victoria Lundy. Schedule below.
Clark Nova 6-615
Ice Troll 6:30 -6:50
minus X 7:00 – 7:20
Prayer Hands 7:30 -7:50
Haunted Sound Lab 8pm -8:20
Distance Research 8:30-9:00pm
9:15-9:45 Victoria Lundy
10-10:20 Page 27
10:30-11pm Deer Creek
DJ sets PterrorFranklin Soundsystem
(Frank Bell / James Jewkes )
Action Friend circa August 2006, photo by Tom Murphy
What:No Swoon, Kissing Party and Voight When: Saturday, 11.16, 7 p.m. Where: Rhinoceropolis Why: No Swoon’s recently released self-titled full length is an example of how 2010s darkwave as evolved beyond the obvious classic reference points into the realm of sophisticated pop songcraft. Its vibrant tones and sense of sonic space is reminiscent of Chromatics but not tapping into feelings of nostalgia as much as a reflective yearning and introspection. Kissing Party is an indie pop band from Denver that has reliably been releasing quality material since the mid-2000s seeming to perpetually be able to draw on a sense of youthful romance and ideal love. Voight has been performing its brand of industrial post-punk noise-gaze since 2015 and is in the process of completing its new album due out in 2020.
What:GYES: Lady Gang, Preparation and Gothsta When: Saturday, 11.16, 8 p.m. Where: The People’s Building Why: The final Get Your Ears Swoll at the People’s Building in Aurora featuring experimental loop and psychedelic folk artist/one-woman band Lady Gang and Gothsta who plays truly unusual covers in a playful style that lives up to the name. The latter is organizer Claudia Woodman who will rename the event for the same location on a different day of the month in 2020.
What:Hi-Dive 16th (and 7th) anniversary w/Wobbles, Rattlesnake Milk, Zebroids, George Cessna, Permanent Boner and DJ Marika When: Saturday, 11.16, 8 p.m. Where: Hi-Dive Why: Hard to believe the H-Dive has been around for sixteen years at this point but it remains a place to see some of Denver’s best underground bands and up and coming artists from around the world. This show brings together stalwarts of the club including Zebroids who are more an obnoxious collective of yobs than strictly a ridiculous but oddly good punk band and George Cessna whose sonically inventive songwriting blows expectations of the son of Slim Cessna in a great way.
What:Noise vs. Doom IV When: Saturday, 11.16, 8 p.m. Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective Why: Second night of Noise Vs. Doom with performances from vinyl-collage sound processor Atari, ambient noise sculptor Blank Human and experimental noise rock prog punk band Action Friend from Los Angeles, formerly from Denver. This evening’s schedule below.
6pm-6:20 Jochanaan
6:30 -6:50 Mismo
7-7:30 Mautam
7:45 -8:05 Atari
8:15- 8:35 Flood Ov Blood
8:45 -8:55 – DJ Yeldarb Franklin
9-9:20 Clutch Plague
9:30-9:50 Voideater
10-10:20 Blank Human
10:30 -10:50 Cosmic Abyss
11pm Action Friend (Los Angeles CA)
DJ sets Mudwulf + Dj Zombie
What:DBUK When: Saturday, 11.16, 7 p.m. Where: Tuft Theater at Swallow Hill
Sunday | November 17
Vetiver, photo by Alissa Anderson
What:Vetiver w/Joe Sampson When: Saturday, 11.16, 8 p.m. Where: Ophelia’s Electric Soap Box Why: Before it became very much a part of the current stream of “indie” music, Andy Cabic was crafting exquisite psych folk songs that incorporated electronic elements in a fully integrated way. His 2019 album Up On High is a fairly stripped down affair but the delicately intricate rhythms and textures with Cabic’s expressive vocals are still there creating an unconventionally atmospheric quality akin to something one might have heard on a Byrds or early Dead record. Maybe something Mitch Easter would have produced in the 80s. But the sensibility is very modern and its emotional immediacy is immediately compelling. Opening the show is Joe Sampson, one of Denver’s most gifted songwriters who some may remember from his days in A Dog Paloma but in the last decade plus he’s been woodshedding his own material while also having played in Bad Weather California.
What: A$AP Ferg and Ski Mask the Slump God w/Murda Beatz, MadeinTYO, Pouya, Danny Towers, DJ Scheme When: Monday, 11.18, 6 p.m. Where: Mission Ballroom Why: A$AP Ferg is one of the most influential and creative artists in the world of trap and Ski Mask the Slump God is one of the great innovators in that genre but one who incorporates even more elements of punk and metal into his animated material and performances. Sometimes live rap shows are disappointing but this should very much be an exception.
Tuesday | November 19
Nots circa 2015, photo by Tom Murphy
What:Nots, Slugger and Dearborn When: Tuesday, 11.19, 8 p.m. Where: Lost Lake Why: Nots is the noise punk band from Memphis, Tennessee that is currently touring in support of its new album 3 out on Goner Records. Guitarist and singer Natalie Hoffman was once the bass player of Ex-Cult where she stood out as a charismatic performer with wiry energy in a band not short on those qualities.
Helmet, photo by Jacob Blickenstaff, copyright earMUSIC
What:An Evening With Helmet When: Wednesday, 11.20, 7 p.m. Where: Summit Music Hall Why: Helmet is the legendary noise rock/posthardcore band from New York whose 1992 album Meantime yielded a hit single “Unsung” during that period when anything a little different stood a chance of making it to the radio. The group’s blunt and angular riffs and aggressive groove has proven influential on a certain segment of heavy music since.
SONICONOCLASM starts off its new single “Dead Air Zone,” the third from its forthcoming album, with sentiments of disassociation and references to different aspects of oneself in the third person and of being a fainting memory, repeated , as though convincing oneself to stay emotionally paralyzed. The vocals at times almost synthesized as befitting the aforementioned but also expressively emotional like the voice resisting the feelings of depersonalization like the side of your brain that isn’t stuck but has empathy for the side that is. Musically its within the realm of downtempo with the beautiful low end tones, brooding pace and sense of echoing space and motion. But it’s sonic lines are a little too clear and stark to be trip-hop. Though moody and brimming with emotional murk there is a clarity of tempo and tonality and even though the song doesn’t come to clean cut conclusions there is a sense that a will to go somewhere out of the mental stasis suggested in the song is very much present and gives the piece its languid momentum. Listen to “Dead Air Zone,” an apt title for a song if ever there was one to suggest a sense of stasis and stark dissatisfaction, on Soundcloud and follow SONICONOCLASM at the links below.
On his new single “Saltwater” Salt Lake City based hip-hop artist Heather Grey recruited Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated peoples to rap and therein there are references to Bob Ross and Skin Walker Ranch in lyrics that sound like musings offered during a stroll through the neighborhood, reflecting on recent journeys to the coast with the concept of salt water as a trigger for memory and reflection, something tangible that can take you out of a moment or transport you to another. The song with its offhand delivery speaks to the things in our everyday lives that keep us inspired and nourish our imaginations. The shifting tones of Heather Grey’s production and Rakaa’s cadence are at times reminiscent of Cannibal Ox but the mood and vibe are hazier and dreamy perhaps hinting at the melding of styles with DJ Juggy throwing some scratching for texture on the edges. West Coast imagery alongside SLC references give the track a unique flavor that is chill but not lacking in a casual swagger. The music video features choice graffiti that seem to obliquely narrate the journey outlined in the song and enhances a sense of complimentary aesthetic between Rakaa’s Los Angeles roots and Heather Grey’s own from the middle of the country. Listen to the song and check out the video on YouTube and follow Heather Grey at the links provided.
“Lil’ Flicker,” the first single from Sinnet’s new EP Tennis Elbow Club is about those flashes in life where you are taken out of the current moment and forget that someone you knew is gone and they remain a presence in your conscious mind. The lyrics of the song describe this experience like a psychological ghost mixed with a yearning of reconnecting. The line “just a break in the nothingness” captures well this desire within us to transcend the strictures of everyday mundane experience and to embrace the kind of nostalgia born of your living memory of someone or something that reminds you that life is more than a mundane ho hum existence. The gorgeous synth melody repeating like a hypnotic metronome of memory trickling in like the gentle pulse and flow of the Aurora Borealis draws you in a rhythm of mind in which you’re able to hold onto those better memories for longer than the fleeting moments captured so well in the song. Listen to “Lil’ Flicker” on Soundcloud and follow Sinnet at the links provided.
Jai Discord’s track “All4wan” (working with Xamax and produced by and with contributions from BlueBayou) sounds like both a cry for help, a personal exorcism and the utter breakdown of the psyche once you’ve run yourself down through the prison of your own mind after self-medication has long since failed to salve the psychic pain. The vocals strain against the drag of personal darkness in the lyrics and the synth and beats set out a cadence like one might imagine being awake during an alien medical examination wherein even those advanced scientists schooled in more than purely physical medical science hit a conundrum in treatment, the background sounds of their instruments monitoring vitals and brainwaves counting time in tones and texture. The descending bass line mid-song is menacing and in perfect sync with the desperation of the tortured vocals that precede the slow warping that serves as the surreal outro. Fans of Doseone, Busdriver and Clipping. will find much to appreciate about the relentless and creative flow of ideas and sound and the experimental spirit of this song. But the whole of Jai Discord’s new EP Why Lie? Is rife with unusual sounds and wonderfully left field musical ideas, soundscapes and imagery. It’s the kind of record that puts you through some tough headspaces but by evoking them so well and pairing them with imaginative beats that mirror those feelings well you get the sense that no matter how bad a place you’ve been in your mind that you’re definitely not alone in being there and that you too can get through this time with the help of creativity and patience with yourself. Listen to “All4wan” on YouTube and check out the rest of Why Lie? on Spotify.
Charcoal Burners described their new single “Time’s Informers” as “an unlikely marriage of Hüsker Dü and Pet Shop Boys.” Fair enough considering the mix of distorted pop hooks and acerbic wit is actually like a latter day, more slackery “Could You Be The One.” But at times it also oddly reminds one of “Living After Midnight” by Judas Priest in its changes and dynamics. All this combines to make for a song that touches upon familiar places in your brain. But overall its sweet synth sheen and back beat-driven rhythm and introspective yet pointed lyrics delivered in laid back, almost disengaged, fashion give the single fascinating contrasts that add another dynamic dimension to the song but one more emotional than purely sonic. For a band that has a single called “The Verlaines and Hüsker Dü” name-checking its most obvious influences, this song isn’t as crackling with inspired cheek but it is informed by a similarly wonderful sardonic humor. Listen to “Time’s Informers” on Bandcamp and follow New Zeland’s Charcoal Burners at the links provided.
Iñigo Montoya’s animated video for “MDTG” traces the band’s journey since releasing its debut EP in 2015. The triumphs signified by green and frustrations by red. Natural disasters both benefit and throw stumbling blocks. Nuclear waste and warplanes represent the active and passive conflict that plagues everyone’s lives making them more dramatic than need be but also enervating at times that aren’t always obvious. All the while the playful yet sometimes frantic melody and almost sing-song-y vocals give the surreal imagery their emotional context as an expression of perversity of our lives in the developed world as we are encouraged to indulge our whims even in the face of impending global disaster. Follow Iñigo Montoya at the links below.
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