Overtly, Grain Thief’s “Irish Rose” (from it’s album Stardust Lodge) is a song looking fondly back at a relationship that failed. With bittersweet affection Patrick Mulroy intones in warm regret, yet lacking all rancor, about about the good times before they came to an end with a song that is reminiscent of Kenny Rogers’ “Coward of the County.” Except that “Irish Rose” is impressionistic rather than a story. But the masterful musicianship and songwriting is comparable with fiddles, mandolin and guitars working together to weave an exquisitely intricate melody and framing for Mulroy’s wistful reverie. Bridging styles from country, bluegrass and psychedelic folk, “Irish Rose” and its attention to sonic detail is an ear worm beginning to end. Listen to the song below as well as the rest of Stardust Lodge and follow Grain Thief at the Instagram link following.
“Weightless Dreams” by Domus is like music for a video game about exploring the ruins of the home world of a benevolent galaxies-spanning civilization that left behind technologies that welcome and reward curiosity and productive engagement with the world. A sense of wonder imbues its almost 8-bit, Metroid-esque minus a sense of foreboding, soundscape. You can almost see the moving sculptures in Rube Goldberg device fashion on a faraway planet as you float from place to place powered by gentle force fields. If Buckminster Fuller had tried his hand at science fiction this would be the soundtrack, one that dares to imagine an inspiring and forward thinking future—an anti-dystopia. Listen below and look forward to the album from the Stockholm-based duo out soon.
When she was a teenager Jessica Vaughn caught the attention of a mainstream public as Charlotte Sometimes before retiring the name in favor of a new project moniker LACES in 2014. Her latest single “moved” is a dusky pop song about the complex nature of love driven by Vaughn’s smoldering, passionate vocals reminiscent at times of Martha Davis of The Motels. Vaughn is adept at giving voice to self doubt and doubts about the motivation of the loved one and how undeniable feelings of deep affection and love and connection can sweep aside the way we intellectualize and dissect our relationships often to their detriment. There is an enthralling depth of emotion that runs through the song that carries the listener away as well. The slow wave of feeling and the refreshingly real and poetic lyrics re-establish LACES as a pop project that spares us platitudes and delivers more than a few moments of beautifully expressed honesty. Listen below and follow LACES at the links following.
What:Glasss Presents the Final Speakeasy Series Season 3: Adam Selene, Abeasity Jones and MYTHirst When: Thursday, 06.20, 6:30 p.m. Where: Hooked On Colfax Why: This is the final edition of the Speak Easy Series not just Season 3 but overall. Each date has been a well-curated showcase of Denver’s underground experimental music underground with a reach covering a lot of that territory in a way few if any other events have in recent years. Tonight’s show includes some of the local scene’s hip-hop and production stars as named above.
What:SCAC with Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds When: Thursday, 06.20, 8 p.m. Where: Hi-Dive Why: Slim Cessna’s Auto Club is the long-running, legendary Americana post-punk band with a theatrical flair and costumes to enhance a strong visual presence on stage. Joining them tonight is Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds. Also favoring matching outfits in the vein of influential Chicano rock bands like Thee Midnighters, the group is fronted and lead by one of rock’s great songwriters and guitarists. Kid Congo Powers brought great finesse, inventiveness and a keen ear for melody and dynamics to groups like Gun Club, The Cramps and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
What:Mystery Lights w/Future Punx and Slynger When: Thursday, 06.20, 7 p.m. Where: Globe Hall Why: Mystery Lights is an odd and fascinating mix of retro synth bands and proto-punk. Give its new record Too Much Tension! a listen. Like early Zen Guerilla but weirder. Future Punx is also on tour from Brooklyn with its synth funk punk akin to Les Savy Fav and The Epoxies but with more synth than the former and less pop punk than the latter. Its own 2019 album The World Is A Mess (which includes an almost brooding cover of “The World’s A Mess (It’s In My Kiss)” by X) sure does sound like some people from the future looking back on the Twentieth Century New Wave and punk era the way some indie rockers have looked back on Laurel Canyon, classic rock and 80s glam rock for inspiration and cherry picked sounds to assemble in idiosyncratic fashion.
Hembree, photo by Stephen Shireman
What:Bloxx, Hembree and Warbly Jets When: Thursday, 06.20, 6:30 p.m. Where: Marquis Theater Why: Bloxx is a four piece from London whose sound makes one think its members evolved out of the music that defined its early youth and rediscovered 90s alternative rock and mulched it all in favor of a charmingly melodic, fuzzy emo-esque songwriting style reminiscent of newer bands like Culture Abuse. Kansas City’s Hembree rides that line between post-punk and synth pop well and its 2019 album House On Fire is filled with darkly luminous yet urgent dance songs.
Friday | June 21
Nick Murphy, photo by Willy Lukatis
What:Gasoline Lollipops., Dust Heart and Grayson County Burn Ban When: Friday, 06.21, 7 p.m. Where: Oriental Theater Why: Andy Thomas has been a fixture of Denver music for close to two decades as a member of bands like Ghost Buffalo, The Knew, Tin Horn Prayer, Only Thunder and, more recently, Lost Walks. Around a decade ago he started releasing music under his own name and as Andy Thomas Dust Heart and exploring different facets of his own songwriting. He is now releasing music as simply Dust Heart and tonight he releases his single “Plastic Walls” and “The Last Gap.” Thomas’ command of the musical vocabulary of Americana and punk has long been established. With the new material the songwriter delves further into something more akin to gritty power pop with charged guitar riffs and his always emotionally resonant vocal delivery. He’ll be performing the Punk Is Dad benefit tonight at the Oriental Theater with other like-minded local acts. Look for our interview with Thomas coming soon.
What:Nick Murphy fka Chet Faker w/Beacon When: Friday, 06.21, 7 p.m. Where: Ogden Theatre Why: Nick Murphy announced in 2016 that he would drop his long-running stage name of Chet Faker with the release of his next album, that being 2019’s Run Fast Sleep Naked. The Australian singer and songwriter’s mixture of R&B and downtempo electronic pop struck a chord in the first half decade of his career so far and his new album is the result of some wanderlust and making the music and putting together ideas as he went along. The album is a mixed bag but sometimes such material translates better live than as a loose concept album and you can see for yourself tonight as Murphy transforms the Ogden into a more intimate environment in which his songs can shine in the interpretation of the recorded music.
Saturday | June 22
Oh, Rose at Treefort Music Fest, photo courtesy the artist
What:Yeasayer w/Oh, Rose When: Saturday, 06.22, 7 p.m. Where: Gothic Theatre Why: Oh, Rose from Olympia, Washington has been making C86-esque pop songs for around half a decade and garnering some buzz for its emotionally warm and ebullient yet introspective songwriting. Fans of Shop Assistants and perhaps Black Tambourine will find much to like about Oh, Rose in general but especially it’s forthcoming album While My Father Sleeps due out on August 23, 2019 on Park The Van Records. The group is opening for Yeasayer whose genre bending sound makes psychedelic rock, non-Western rhythms and prog work well together by not bothering to recognize a boundary between all of that. The result is what might be considered “indie funk” but with a more imaginative live presentation of the music than those terms together might suggest.
What:TRVE DadFest When: Saturday, 06.22, 1 p.m. Where: Hi-Dive and Mutiny Information Café Why: TRVE Brewing and Dad Fest combined forces for this event to bring a day and night of stars of extreme, doom and experimental (and combinations thereof) metal from Denver and beyond. But as per usual for DadFest, there will music well outside that like ethereal soundscaper Midwife, Denver noise legends Page 27 and beat-driven noise auteur Data Rainbow. Our pick for the later heavy stuff if one must choose? BIG|BRAVE’s 2019 album A Gaze Among Them is a towering locomotive of driving beats that transcends narrow concepts of doom, noise and industrial. But, really, everything on the bill is worth your time—not something one can say about every festival, tastes differing. The event happens at two venues, schedule listed below.
Hi-Dive Schedule (upstairs and downstairs as indicated)
Up: Dreadnought 7:50-8:10
Down: Noctambulist 8:15-8:35
Up: In the Company of Serpents 8:40-9:00
Down: Vale 9:05-9:25
Up: Midwife 9:30-9:50
Down: Of Feather and Bone 9:55-10:15
Up: BIG|BRAVE 10:20-10:50
Up: Wake 11:05-11:25
Up: Vanum 11:40 – finis
Mutiny Schedule
Lost Relics 2:00-2:20
New Standards Men 2:35-2:55
Chair of Torture 3:10-3:30
A Light Among Many 3:45-4:05
Livid 4:20-4:40
Whilt 4:55-5:05
909 5:20-5:40
Flesh Buzzard 5:55-6:05
Heathen Burial 6:20-6:40
Data Rainbow 6:55-7:05
Page 27 7:20-7:40
Sunday | June 23
Howard Jones circa 2017, photo by Tom Murphy
What:A Vulture Wake w/Joy Subtraction and State Drugs When: Sunday, 06.23, 7 p.m. Where: Lost Lake Why: A Vulture Wake is a sort of melodic punk super group including Chad Price of ALL and Drag the River) and members of Lagwagon and Real McKenzies. But you won’t be getting some odd pop punk or melodic hardcore redo, it’s songwriting goes a bit beyond all of that with technical proficiency used with imaginative and evocative guitar riffs. Joy Subtraction doesn’t play much these days but its punk is borderline post-punk and its sharp take on social and political issues lacks is way more clever and insightful than that of at least two or three other bands. But not just any two or three other bands.
What:Howard Jones w/Men Without Hats and All Hail the Silence When: Sunday, 06.23, 5:30 p.m. Where: Hudson Gardens Why: Howard Jones is a pioneer of synth pop and one who learned to use difficult and temperamental equipment to compose some of the biggest hits of the 1980s like “Things Can Only Get Better,” “No One Is To Blame,” “What Is Love” and “Like to Get to Know You Well.” While for some these may be light pop songs Jones’ voice expressive and highly emotional deliver stood out even back then in the heyday of that music. As a live performer now Jones is surprisingly forceful and charismatic with an expertly crafted light show whose music seems prescient considering the direction synthwave and chillwave has developed.
Monday | June 24
Ginger Root, photo by Seannie Bryan
What:Ginger Root w/Oko Tygra and Hi-Fi Gentry When: Monday, 06.24, 7 p.m. Where: Hudson Gardens Why: As Ginger Root, Cameron Lew has been making lush downtempo synth pop that sets itself very much apart with an attention to the low end. It gives his songs a sonic depth and flow that credibly gives a nod to 70s dance music and soul. Frankly, some filmmakers who are trying to nail that 70s and 80s vibe should hit up Lew to score and/or music supervise their projects because more than most people making music now who probably wasn’t alive at that time, he gets it and it’s not just having access to the vintage gear. But listen for yourself to his new singles “Weather” and “Slump” here.
What:Stevie Wonder When: Monday, 06.24, 7 p.m. Where: Red Rocks Why: Stevie Wonder needs no introduction as a legend of soul, funk, R&B and jazz. He’s performing at this Red Rocks show as a fundraiser for SeriesFest.
Tuesday | June 25
Mitski, photo by Bao Ngo
What:Death Cab for Cutie w/Mitski When: Tuesday, 06.25, 6:30 p.m. Where: Red Rocks Why: Mitski Miyawaki recently announced that after her fall live bookings she was taking a hiatus from the grinding, album-release-cycle-and-touring of the music industry that allows little time for cultivating one’s life and creativity separate from its considering for delivering up to an audience in a form they are expecting. Miyawaki has had a respectable career and body of work up to now including her 2018 album Be the Cowboy. The latter pushed her songwriting to new heights of creativity in telling stories, self-examination and soundscaping. And a deep level of emotional honesty. With an album as great Be the Cowboy where does a songwriter go without repeating oneself while under the gun to produce something more quickly than one’s brain is prepared to deliver? With any luck she’ll find the time away from the cultural realm that Hunter S. Thompson famously critiqued before it got as bad as it is now by writing: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good [people] die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” Wherever Miyawaki lands we wish her good fortune and happiness while hoping she comes back with a new set of music that continues her legacy of great songs.
Death Cab for Cutie is a band that helped to define and shape what “indie rock” has meant, sounded like and looked like since at least the late 90s. Now that the group has been fairly commercially successful for several years at this point its songwriting may lack some of the urgency and poignancy of its earlier output at least the band has a few decent songs with every album since the turn of the decade.
Wednesday | June 26
J. Hamilton Isaacs, photo by Tom Murphy
What:Harry Tuft When: Wednesday, 06.26, 6 p.m. Where: Four Mile Historic Park – Shady Grove Why: Harry Tuft is the godfather of bluegrass and folk in Denver having run the Denver Folklore Center in the 60s through the 70s and as a founder of Swallow Hill. He seldomly performs but when he does his interpretations of other people’s songs and standards is always interesting and his originals worthy as well. As a champion of music for decades, Tuft ironically didn’t have many chances to play his own music until his 80s and he does so with emotional power and grace.
What:Die ANGEL, Xambuca, Equine, Ian Douglas Moore and J. Hamilton Isaacs When: Wednesday, 06.26, 8 p.m. Where: Thought//Forms Why: Die ANGEL is Ilpo Väisänen of noise/drone legends Pan Sonic and Dirk Dresselhaus of avant-guitar group Schneider TM. With Die ANGELthe duo explore the kind of noise, ambient, sound environment composition that is an experience in itself in flowing sounds, tones and rumbling low end. It is a physical as well as a psychological experience that will engulf the room at Thought//Forms. Xambuca is a San Francisco-based modular synth and production artist who will bring his own depth of sonic field to the proceedings. Denver’s Equine is Kevin Richards whose avant-garde guitar work has been part of the Mile High City’s underground for nearly two decades as a member of weirdo, jazz/noise post-hardcore band Motheater and blackened noise duo Epileptinomicon. J. Hamilton Isaacs is one of the local music world’s champions of modular synth music as well as a noteworthy artist in his own right producing entrancing (no pun intended for those in the know) synth/dance music that blurs the line between ambient and more academic synth experiments.
What:No Vacation w/Okey Dokey and Hello, Mountain When: Wednesday, 06.26, 7 p.m. Where: Larimer Lounge Why: No Vacation’s take on surf rock-inflected dream pop is truly elegant and transporting like they’re able to relax and let whatever is in them speak through their collective efforts. Of course a lot of practice and playing together was involved but the band makes it look effortless and easy.
TROVA “Silver” is the first release of his “Elements” concept recordings. And its minimalist, arpeggiated synth melodies repeating through and swimming in layers of drones flowing drones conveys a sense of underwater movement. One imagines whales and dolphins dancing to this in their elegant movements in the deep South Pacific where humans rarely venture to interrupt their way of life. The feeling of tranquility the song conveys is nearly irresistible as its dynamic arcs are long but never tedious. It’s an ambient track but one that is more on the end of beatless deep house and library music. Whatever TROVA’s true inspirations or process behind producing the song it expresses the feeling of endless early summer days in a now impossibly temperate climate with time to let the demands of everyday life untangle. Listen below and follow TROVA at the links provided.
The Silver Lake Chorus is no stranger to taking songs written for it by indie musicians (for example, Sia, Tegan and Sara and Bon Iver), and “Not Not” is a collaboration with the band Lucius in partnership with Van Dyke Parks (who is and should be known widely beyond his work with The Beach Boys) and producer Luke Top (of Fool’s Gold fame). The song with the impressive vocal harmonies and minimal instrumentation have the lightness and freshness suggested in the music video. And contained with it a clandestine melancholy represented by the dreamlike and surreal aspect of the visuals which seems somewhere between late-80s David Lynch, Heathers and a Los Angeles edition of Portlandia. Transcending such comparisons, The Silver Lake Chorus’ exquisite vocals shine on their own which the low key musical accompaniment highlights and accents with a masterful touch. Follow the group at the links below.
With “AWAKE,” Ashley Zarah has perfectly synthesized Western pop songcraft with traditional Iranian music and other cultural musical styles. Her vocal cadence is partly based on Iranian cha-cha which gives it a fluidity and flexibility in compound time that also gives it that entrancingly hypnotic quality. The broad arrange of instrumentation in the percussion and stringed instruments goes beyond giving the song an exotic edge as they are fully integrated into the songwriting and in the modern era when pop artists are pulling from so many sources through samples and working cross genre and cross method one would assume that there would be more cross-pollination of influence the way African rhythms and sounds were adopted even more directly by American and European artists in the 70s and the 80s. Sure, Eddie Vedder and Massive Attack worked with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the first international star of qawwali, on some brilliant pieces and “world music” may have been very much a thing for nearly four decades, but in Zarah’s songwriting you hear a sound of the future where all cultures can coexist and peacefully influence each other in a manner fruitful and edifying. As an advocate for mental health awareness, suicide prevention and gender and cultural representation, Ashley Zarah imbues her music with those perspectives as well. Watch the video and follow Zarah at the links below.
Episodic, segmented, mediated, captured, documented, stored away, surface level memory, endless variety, life connected.referenced to popular culture artifacts, organic and meaningful choices channeled into a product delivered to us by phone. That’s the world, the modern world in which we too often find ourselves. Musically the track is brilliantly peppered with sonic fragments to reflect this flow of information that bombards us all day but in the background of the background is the reminder that we have a voice and an existence that transcends the ways in which we’ve been taught and taught ourselves to interact with the world and other humans. When the static and samples fade out into minimal strings and hushed vocals talking about stopping and observing the world as it is instead of through a screen, JAF 34 seems to have reached an authentic human place in the song and how crucial it is to be there and be present whenever we can. Watch below and follow JAF 34’s further musical and multi-media adventures at the link provided.
Joshua Trimmell has done a bit of musical time traveling on his new single “scifiFANTASY” under the moniker joswayah. The repeating ethereal guitar figure sets the pace and backdrop of haunted horns (sax, maybe a bassoon) processed to give them futuristic feel if you were standing in 1974 London hanging out with members of Roxy Music and Hawkwind and, of course, Michael Moorcock, discussing doing some kind of mellow “folk” record based on a more low key episode in one of the author’s “Eternal Champion” yarns. Of course they would have put reverse delays on parts of the recording so it’s even more tripped out than merely delays and other processing on organic instruments. In getting it done they would let the avant-psych jam go and then cut the tape before things got too out of hand. Safe to say Trimmell doesn’t have a time machine he’s telling us about but his weaving together so many sounds that seem specific to certain contexts across space and time makes the title of the song entirely appropriate. Take that trip below and follow joswayah at the link provided.
Sky Civilian’s “Let’s Be Easy” trickles in tones into an evolving flow of sound until Maggie Thornton’s vocals drift in with the layers of minimal percussion and horn. Its downtempo but progressive tempo is the kind of music you’d want to hear someday if and when someone builds one of those space elevators theorized by scientists since the late Nineteenth Century and by science fiction writers like Arthur C. Clarke, Kim Stanley Robinson and Joan Slonczewski. It would be the kind of chillout song to make going above and beyond the world as we know it on that journey between planets and space stations easier to take on and to enjoy. And it’s just one of a few tracks from Sky Civilian’s new EP Open Door. The whole EP is the sound of looking forward and stepping into the future not with aggression but with an open attitude and a calmness of spirit. This isn’t the dystopian cyberpunk future but one more likely and one we’d all rather experience of more nurturing societies and mutually fulfilling lives. Thornton is one of the minds behind artist collective Meow Wolf’s truly mind-bending, multi-dimensional funhouse of art installations House of Eternal Return and the depth of creativity and attention to detail that she and the other members of the collective brought to that undertaking can be heard echoed on Open Door as well.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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