“Clouds” is MOLTENO’s third single from her Element 2 EP as part of her series of releases celebrating the elements and the way we’re connected with nature. With a pulsing beat like a train running along tracks and streams of bright drone MOLTENO intones about connecting with others through the vehicle of clouds which most humans experience as a phenomenon in the sky in all their diversity of shapes and manifestations and features like thunder and lightning and which have the capacity to stir the imagination and perhaps to wonder who else might be sharing a similar experience. Molteno’s clear and warm vocals and uplifting tones, , in moments reminiscent of Björk, provide vivid tonal imagery enshrouded with gentle hazy textures that transcend while honoring individual experiences with the natural world. Listen to “Clouds” on Spotify and follow MOLTENO at the links below.
In “Old Enough,” talker almost brazenly broaches the topic of personal boundaries and how those change across a lifetime. Friends you once spent so much time around when you were young with no seeming boundaries with time limits and shared subjects who in some ways help define who you are as a person. But then as you grow older you will often grow apart because maybe you develop in ways that push you apart and if one person continues to cling to how things were without the self-awareness to realize that things are different it can prove painful, recognizing that barrier where once there was intimacy. The song is so upbeat and exuberant in talker’s typical fashion with spirited vocals and emotionally-charged melodies it can be easy to miss how insightful it is about changing interpersonal dynamics that work best if both people recognize and accept growth and even some natural distance that develops when you can’t spend so much easy and free time with each other that conveys a sense of closeness that is, to a large extent, circumstantial. It’s special for a time and that connection can stay special but it also has to change. The songwriter speaks poignantly to that moment of realization and a willingness to grow even if it means it has to hurt a little bit, even if it means we can feel lost for a time before we come to recognize and value the new connections we form as a natural outcome of growing up and yes being old enough to know that having a slumber party every weekend in the summer or hanging out until all hours because you feel like you have all the time in the world in a certain part of your life isn’t part of your current life and knowing that’s okay and even desirable. Watch the video for “Old Enough” on YouTube and follow talker at the links below. Look out for talker’s debut album out later in 2024.
Miki Berenyi Trio perform at The Bluebird Theater on June 6, 2024, photo by V. ArbeletThe Damned in 2018, photo by Steve Gullick
Tuesday | 06.04 What:The Damned with The Mañanas When: 7 Where: Gothic Theatre Why: The Damned were one of the foundational UK punk bands in the mid-1970s releasing that scene’s earliest single with the iconic “New Rose.” In subsequent decades the group managed to evolve and still remain a powerful and entertaining live band with a sense of theater. Though part of the first wave of punk The Damned’s raucous live show proved an enduring influence on hardcore. After numerous lineup changes the current band includes founding members Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible.
Wand, photo by Asal Shahindoust
Wednesday | 06.05 What:Wand w/Supreme Joy When: 7 PM Where: The Marquis Theater Why: Wand guitarist Cory Hanson is widely considered one of the great talents of 2010’s psychedelic rock whose solo recordings are as fascinating as anything he’s done in anyone else’s band (Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, Meatbodies etc). But Wand is the musical vehicle that has perhaps rightfully garnered Hanson and his bandmates much deserved attention for actually making modern psychedelic rock that is more than simply adding trippy sounds and pedals to fairly standard indie rock songwriting. Its forthcoming record Vertigo (due out July 26, 2024 via Drag City) and its lead single “Smile” has all the gorgeously warm melodies and winding momentum you’d expect from Wand as well as the mind-warping soundscapes but its music video is a surreal journey from intense highs to transcendent tranquility akin to the best of Flaming Lips tracks. Though the record doesn’t come out for over a month this show will surely feature plenty of that new material as well as mind-melting classics on Wand records past. Opening the show is psychedelic post-punk Denver band Supreme Joy who opened for Cory Hanson’s solo trek through Colorado this past year.
Dylan Owen, photo courtesy the artist
Wednesday | 06.05 What: Abstract & Dylan Owen w/Jake Luke, FLWRS and Merch When: 7 Where: Lost Lake Why: Rappers Abstract (Nashville) and Dylan Owens (New York) bring their tour to Lost Lake. Both artists deal in heartfelt, confessional lyrics seemingly inspired in part by 2000s alternative rap but with more modern production style. Owens’ lyrics in particular seem clearly informed by a deep exploration of music and ideas beyond what one might expect. In his song “LA FREESTYLE” he references Philip Glass and that doesn’t happen much in hip-hop.
Miki Berenyi Trio, photo courtesy V. Arbelet
Thursday | 06.06 What: Miki Berenyi Trio w/Lol Tolhurst X Budgie When: 7 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: Miki Berenyi is one of the founding members of influential early shoegaze band Lush. Her unique and melodious vocals and unorthodox guitar style helped to shape the sound of the genre. With this current band Berenyi tapped an old comrade in guitarist Kevin McKillop formerly of shoegaze legends Moose to be in the lineup as well as Oliver Cherer (Gilroy Mere, Aircooled). Its early recorded music and live performances promise plenty of immersive soundscapes and otherworldly melodies. Opening the show are Lol Tolhurst who, you know, was in The Cure for years as a drummer/synth player during that band’s key years of development and Budgie, the drummer of Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Creatures and the duo has been collaborating with various musicians on a string of singles and performances so who can say what to expect this night.
Meet the Giant, photo by Tom Murphy
Friday | 06/07 What:Takipnik, Meet the Giant, Falcon Haptics and Saint Somebody When: 7:30 Where: The Skylark Lounge Why: Takipnik is a synthrock band that sounds like it draws a bit of influence from modern prog/art rock bands like Tool. Falcon Haptics are a black metal band from Fort Collins with some stoner rock leanings. Saint Somebody is an Americana band from Denver with some chamber pop flavor. Meet the Giant is a trio that completely blurs the line between downtempo, shoegaze and fiery alternative rock with imaginative soundscapes and top shelf electronic production fully integrated into its live sound.
Ghostly Kisses, photo by Fred Gervais
Friday | 06/07 What: Ghostly Kisses w/Kroy and Mon Cher When: 7 Where: Globe Hall Why: Margaux Sauvé is a singer-songwriter from Québec, Canada who releases music and performs under the moniker Ghostly Kisses. Her songs combine a sublime synthpop sound and orchestral indie rock. Her newly released full-length Darkroom (May 17, 2024 via Akira Records) features her beautifully breathy vocals and ethereal yet warmly executed soundscapes tied together with techno production-rooted beats and an almost classical music sensibility that at times waxes into similar realms of organic-electronic pop populated in the 90s by the likes of Everything But the Girl and other luminaries of sophistipop. Also on hand for this tour is Montreal-based, experimental pop/downtempo artist KROY and Denver’s Mon Cher which is the synth-driven musical project of producer and multi-instrumentalist Meghan Holton.
Cris Jacobs, photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Friday and Saturday | 06.07 and 06.08 What: The Bluegrass Generals featuring Chris Pandolfi & Andy Hall, Jarrod Walker, Cris Jacobs, Emma Rose w/Twisted Pine When: 7 both nights Where: Cervantes’ Mastrerpiece Ballroom Why: The Bluegrass Generals aka Chris Pandolfii & Andy Hall are putting on this even of some of the more gifted practitioners of the modern version of that style of music suggested by their shared moniker. For this edition of the event Baltimore-based roots rocker Cris Jacobs who is touring in support of his new album One Of These Days (Soundly Music). The songwriter’s expressive vocals and vivid storytelling and gift for expanding upon his stylistic foundations with imaginative arrangements has made him a favorite in his hometown and well beyond as evidenced by the invite to be part of this event with some of his more talented peers.
Quits, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 06.08 What:Dry Wedding,. Snakes, Quits and Moon Pussy When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Dry Wedding is a dark, Americana flavored post-punk band from Portland, Oregon. Its gloomy and brooding moods are shot through with bursts of nervy energy like purgings of anxiety and desperation. Ready comparisons to The Birthday Party and other Nick Cave projects are valid because it has a touch of that surreal, dark and harrowing carnival murder punk vibe. But fans of Love Life and Bambara will appreciate the band too. Snakes is a band whose music is Americana adjacent but its sound is almost as much spooky surf garage with expansive energy. Quits’ portraits of a conflicted and desperation-wracked American life are as inherently Americana as anything dubbed so even if its distorted, discordant sonic gyrations and burns are noise rock gold. Moon Pussy should be mandatory listening for anyone wanting a quick and thrilling escape from Mile High City Yuppie Normie bullshit.
American Culture in 2018, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 06.08 What: American Culture album release w/Wave Decay, Cherry Spit, Dirt Filled and Flaming Tongues Above When: 7 Where: D3 Arts Why: American Culture’s latest, and greatest, album Hey Brother, It’s Been Awhile is a self-redemption arc fable not just on a personal level but for a society that has lost its way more than most individuals ever will. The music is a step away from the inspired and earnest indiepop of some of the group’s earlier efforts and has all the hallmarks of 90s Britpop, modern dream-pop-adjacent shoegaze and production driven dub. It’s a unique record in a time of many imitators and vibe hoppers. Wave Decay is a shoegaze act with foundations in krautrock and noise rock. Cherry Spit splits the difference between post-hardcore, noise rock and aggressive shoegaze and shapes it into electrifying live performances. Flaming Tongues Above is the solo, singer-songwriter project of former American Culture and current Destiny Bond guitarist Amos Helvey.
Death to All, photo courtesy the artists
Saturday | 06.08 What:Death to All (Scream Bloody Gore in its entirety) w/Cryptopsy When: 7 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: Death is one of the most influential bands in all of heavy metal and one of the earliest death metal bands. The group split for the final time in 2001 with the untimely passing of guitar wizard and frontman Chuck Schuldiner. Death to All is a tribute to the legacy of the group and includes former members of the like drummer Gene Hoglan (who has been one of the most important musicians in modern metal), bassist Steve DiGiorgio and guitarist Bobby Koelble joined by Max Phelps who some may know from his time in Obscura and Cynic. So the line-up is solid and filled with gifted musicians in the artform. For this tour the group will perform two nights. This first night it will play the entire 1987 debut album Scream Bloody Gore with some choice classics from Leprosy and Spiritual Healing.
Pale Waves, photo by Pip
Saturday | 06.08 What: PVRIS w/Pale Waves and Sizzy Rocket When: 6 Where: Summit Music Hall Why: PVRIS is the electro-pop band from Lowell, Massachusetts that has come a long way since its early metalcore days as Operation Guillotine. And for the better. Its uplifting and triumphant songs about life and love delivered with no small degree of emotionally charged vocals and ethereal melodies has struck an enduring chord with fans. Sizzy Rocket seems to produce pop songs with undeniable hooks but about being very accepting of what other people might perceive as your flaws especially if you’re really just not a polite society conformist. Pale Waves is a pop rock band from Manchester, UK that’s a little challenging to pin down to some simple subgenre. Its bright melodies and rich arrangements somehow tie in a bit of post-punk grit and style with modern indie pop. Its visual presence and attitude bears all the marks of a darkwave band but one that isn’t ashamed of embracing a love for mainstream pop without giving up lyrics that aim for emotional authenticity.
Death to All, photo courtesy the artists
Sunday | 06.09 What:Death to All (The Sound of Perseverance in its entirety) w/Cryptopsy When: 6 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: This second night of Death to All will be a performance of the final Death album 1998’s progressive death metal masterpiece The Sound of Perseverance along with favorites from Human, Individual Thought Patterns and Symbolic.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat in 2015, photo by Tom Murphy
Tuesday | 06/11 What:Quintron & Miss Pussycat w/Mr. Pacman When: 7 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Going to a Quintron and Miss Pussycat show is a bit like going to an adult version of a weekday kids’ show with the surreal sounds and imagery and often an elaborate live puppet show as part of the act. The music bridges the gap of psychedelic garage rock and the avant-garde/noise. Mr. Pacman similarly preserves a mystique of the weird with its members in costume like a band from a long lost video game show of the 90s but with music that is synth punk with actual edge and intensity.
The Chameleons, photo by Mick Peek
Wednesday | 06.12 What: The Chameleons perform Strange Times w/Missing and FashionNation DJ Eli When: 7 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: The legendary, Manchester post-punk band The Chameleons will perform its 1986 classic Strange Times in its entirety. The band’s perfect fusion of electronic and rock aesthetics with emotionally charged and existential lyrics as well as its masterful guitar work anticipating the sound of shoegaze in the 90s has proven influential across decades and this incarnation of the band includes original singer Mark Burgess and guitarist Reg Smithies so expect more than a little of the magic of the group’s classic material.
LABRYS, photo from Bandcamp
Friday | 06.14 What: LABRYS w/Tiny Tomboy and Isadora Eden When: 8 Where: The Skylark Lounge Why: LABRYS is the songwriting vehicle for Oklahoma City-based Penny Pitchlynn and the sounds heard on the project’s 2024 album 10:10 has a brooding grit like PJ Harvey gone psychedelic blues garage. Tiny Tomboy is a Denver based indie band whose delicate songwriting is reminiscent of Soccer Mommy’s brash vulnerability and ear for finely sculpted guitar melodies. Isadora Eden’s introspective and soulful dream pop has a gentle feel even as the lyrics often give voice to intrusive thoughts and dark musings captured in imaginative songwriting.
bellhoss, photo taken at JCPenney
Saturday | 06.15 What: SarahFest When: 5 doors, 6 show Where: The Mercury Cafe Why: This inaugural edition of SarahFest showcases some of the most noteworthy female or female fronted acts from Colorado’s Front Range including bellhoss, The Milk Blossoms, Luna Nuñez, Dream of Time, Gartener, Nina de Freitas, Summer Bedhead, Tammy Shine and DJ Demigod (Demi Harvey). Listen to our interview with organizer Becky Otárola of bellhoss here.
Morgan Garrett, photo from Bandcamp
Saturday | 06.15 What: Morgan Garrett, Purity LP tour w/Many Blessings, Fossil Fuel and Head Slug When: 8 Where: Glob Why: Morgan Garrett recently released the new album Purity through Orange Milk Records and further cemented the artist’s reputation for genre bursting weirdness that happen to form into coherent songs with a unique and haunting emotional resonance whether it’s the abstract industrial noise metal or organically flowing anti-folk acoustic ambient. Also on hand are Denver noiseniks including Many Blessings, the harsh noise side project of Ethan McCarthy who many may know from his being in legendary doom death grind trio Primitive Man.
DIIV, photo by Louie Kovatch
Sunday | 06.16 What: DIIV w/Sasami and Glixen When: 7 Where: The Ogden Theatre Why: DIIV is the New York City band that helped to re-popularize shoegaze in the early 2010s with the release of its 2012 album Oshin. It wasn’t merely imitative but its own take and sound in an established genre which is something not nearly enough bands accomplish. And so DIIV has never seemed simply derivative. Its new album Frog In Boiling Water is a deep commentary on what if feels like to live in the end stages of capitalism and how sometimes the despair at what we could have done as a civilization but seem to continue to fail to do to alleviate the inevitable destruction and suffering ahead of us in terms of the environment, economic collapse and political collapse can be deeply dispiriting. But the gentle energy of the record and its richly atmospheric songwriting makes the album a standout from the group and something to witness live. Also on the bill is Sasami whose inspired genre bending songwriting has manifested as garage-y dreampop and alternative metal.
Shwarma, photo from Bandcamp
Friday | 06.21 What: Shwarma w/Cloud Catcher and Kaepora When: 7 Where: Cervantes’ Other Side Why: Denver’s Shwarma might be best described as a psychedelic space rock band whose players all got into Frank Zappa and Melvins along the way as well as perhaps Hawkwind. The group is celebrating the release of its new album Best Cerv’d Shwarm with this show and sharing the stage with doom metal group Cloud Catcher and prog jazz fusion bluegrass band Kaepora.
d4vd, photo by Nick Walker
Friday | 06.21 What:d4vd – My House is Not a Home Tour w/Scott James When: 6 Where: Ogden Theatre Why: David Anthony Burke aka d4vd has been building an audience since his earliest singles came out when he was a mere 16 years of age. But from early on the singer-songwriter’s songs demonstrated an ear for soulful melodies and freely associating a wide array of influences, not all musical, into sonically rich songs that don’t fit neatly into even broad categories of R&B, hip-hop, pop and rock. 2022’s “Romantic Homicide” and its J-horror-themed music video was a beautifully haunting song about heartbreak. His live shows proved the artist had real command of the stage and audience interaction. 2024 saw d4vd release his the single “Feel It” as part of the soundtrack season two of the animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s (Walking Dead), dystopian super hero comic series Invincible.
Fainting Dreams, photo from Bandcamp
Friday | 06.21 What: Nighdrator w/Evan Kallas, Water on the Thirsty Ground, RMO and Fainting Dreams When: 7 Where: Squirm Gallery Why: Nighdrator is a psychedelic shoegaze doom band from Hattiesburg, Mississippi that shares membership with the great post-punk band MSPAINT. Its epic and nuanced soundscapes are cinematic in scope yet intimate in its expressions of personal challenges. Fans of SubRosa and the more shoegazey of Chelsea Wolfe’s songwriting will find much to like in Nighdrator’s arresting compositions. And so it’s only fitting that doomy shoegaze post-dream pop band Fainting Dreams is also on the bill with its thrillingly gritty soundscapes and raw catharsis.
Friday | 06.21 What: Colorado Goth Fest Pre-Party When: 9pm-2am Where: 715 Club Why: This event inaugurates Colorado Goth Fest with some of the DJs who have been very much part of the local Goth scene in Denver in its more post-punk, death rock and darkwave manifestations with Precious Blood, Lord Charon, DJ BatBoy and DJ Mal Toxisk.
Plague Garden, photo courtesy the artists
Saturday | 06.22 What:Colorado Goth Fest Featuring Calabrese and Scary Black w/WitchHands, Plague Garden, Opaque Shades, Funeral Process, Thee Coroners, Redwing Blackbird and Devoratus When: 3 doors, 4 show Where: HQ Why: Colorado Goth Fest returns after a long hiatus but finally in Denver. This edition puts the focus on post-punk, death rock and horror punk. The out of town headliners include Arizona-based horror punk act Calabrese and Louisville, Kentucky’s Scary Black, a one man Goth rock act like a post-punk Alabama 3. And the local line-up includes notable veterans of local darkwave and post-punk like WitchHands, Plague Garden and Redwing Blackbird and newer acts like Devoratus and its Spanish-language darkwave pop.
Ex Lover, photo from Bandcamp
Saturday | 06.22 What: Ex Lover w/Twin Ion Engine, Pill Joy, Sell Farm and Kill You Club DJs When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Omaha-based Ex Lover stops in Denver for a night for a performance of her hyperpop infused darkwave dance songs. Her 2023 album Devotion mixes English and Spanish lyrics but all threaded through with soaring guitar melody and upbeat vocals. Fans of Nuovo Testamento should check out Ex Lover.
Hawthorne Heights, photo by Courtney Kiara
Monday| 06.24 What: 20 Years of Tears: Hawthorne Heights, I See Stars, Anberlin, Armor for Sleep, Emery, This Wild Life When: 5 Where: Ogden Theatre Why: This package tour features some of the stars of 2000s and 2010s post-hardcore and emo. The latter is a genre that earned plenty of ridicule with the scene kids and their signature style of dress and hair cuts nevermind the controversies with various bands in later years. Hawthorne Heights took on that moniker in 2004 before which it operated as A Day in the Life. Even if you weren’t into emo at least Hawthorne Heights had interesting guitar work, expressive vocals (and not mostly shouting and easily parodied screaming) and a dramatic flair in its arrangements. Is it easy to trace the band’s influences? Certainly. But its music has aged better than that of many of its peers.
The Alarm, photo by Andy Labrow
Tuesday | 06.25 What:The Alarm w/Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel and Belouis Some When: 6 Where: The Oriental Theater Why: The Alarm is a post-punk/New Wave band from Wales lead since its formation by Mike Peters. The group’s lyrics and musical style bore the influence of Welsh literature and cultural tradition that it translated into songs that caught on with a much wider public than simple local cult band status. Early on the group played shows with The Fall and U2 going on to support the latter for its US War Tour in 1983. The Alarm became popular on college radio throughout the 80s while also enjoying a degree of commercial popularity as well that landed them a support slot with Bob Dylan by the end of the decade. The band’s buoyant melodies and poetic lyrics sustained a following while it was broken up between 1991 and 1999 and since the group has reconvened it has been more prolific than its first chapter in existence. Also on this bill other than Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel and its own blend of psychedelia and post-punk is New Wave artist Belouis Some aka Neville Keighley. The latter garnered some popularity for hits “Some People,” “Imagination” and cinematic fame with “Round, Round” featured on the soundtrack to the 1986 John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. Though mostly known for his 80s heyday Keighley has remained active in music on and off since that time and this is a rare chance to see him live in Denver.
Adrianne Lenker, photo by Germaine Dunes
Wednesday | 06.26 What:Adrianne Lenker w/Twain When: 6 Where: Mission Ballroom Why: Adrianne Lenker has firmly established herself as both a member of one of the more acclaimed bands of recent years and as an equally respected solo artist. Lenker had already garnered critical accolades before Big Thief got going in 2015. Her second album Hours Were the Birds was released on Saddle Creek in 2014 already revealing Lenker’s gift for articulating personal insight with spareness of composition and vulnerable minimalism. A decade later Lenker offers her latest record Bright Future which while offering more orchestral arrangements still comes across as Lenker finding the poetic essence of solitary revelations that flash into your mind fully formed. The cover art to the record give you a clue into the vibe a bit of late evening drives on the road with enough time to sort out the important thoughts from the distractions. Lenker’s voice intoning with a tender slight warble like the songs were worked out around a campfire with friends.
French Cassettes, photo by Marisa Bazan
Wednesday | 06.26 What:French Cassettes w/Body and Barbara When: 8 Where: The Skylark Lounge Why: French Cassettes is touring in support of its latest album Benzene. The latter is frontman Lorenzo Scott Herta’s family nickname given without the usual connotations. It’s a gentle set of songs with rich melodies like an indie rock psychedelic band with an ear for lushly orchestral arrangements reminiscent of art pop bands like The Magnetic Fields and Belle & Sebastian. It’s a record about miscommunication and reconnecting on a better basis while owning up to shortcomings and coming together to sort out the barriers to mutual comprehension and coming to terms with how we’ve been, how we are and how we will be.
Yellow Card, photo by Acacia Evans
Wednesday | 06.26 What: Third Eye Blind w/Yellowcard and Arizona When: 5 Where: Red Rocks Why: Third Eye Blind wrote one of the iconic songs of late 90s, late alternative rock with “Semi-Charmed Life.” The band’s upbeat music and wry humor has since garnered a cult following enough to be able to headline Red Rocks Yellowcard might have been forgotten as yet another pop punk band at a time when the world seemed awash in multiple generic versions of that sound. But its fourth album, 2003’s Ocean Avenue, somehow fused sunny pop punk with lyrics about struggling with what you want to do with your life, complicated relationships with the people in your life and the nature of relationships beyond those teen and high school romances that are the subject matter of a lot of rock, pop and certainly pop punk and emo. And hey Sean Mackin, the only original member left in the band, doesn’t just do lead vocals he plays violin and it actually adds an atmospheric element that doesn’t just sound like a gimmick in a punk band.
Steven Lee Lawson, photo courtesy the artist
Thursday | 06.27 What: Steven Lee Lawson + The Archers EP release w/Blacktop Musical When: 7 Where: Roxy on Broadway in the Speakeasy Downstairs Why: Steven Lee Lawson is a singer-songwriter from Denver whose musical exploits date back to the late 90s and early 2000s when as a fledgling musician he was involved in a variety of styles of music including the experimental/krautrock of Zubabi before finding his lane at the edges of Denver’s indie rock scene in the mid-2000s with the more classic pop and Americana-inflected projects like Oblio Duo and its multiple incarnations with then songwriting partner Will Duncan (now of Pleasure Prince). Lawson’s poetic lyrics shed a light on his attempts to come to terms with life challenges and struggles with a society and culture seemingly stuck on boosting dull and crass commercialism and anti-human systems of politics and economy. Lawson also spent some time as a sideman in bands like Ross Etherton and the Chariots of Judah before dropping out of actively being involved in music for a handful of years and then getting back into the joy of creating music again in recent years. Obvious touchstones like Harry Nilsson, Townes Van Zandt, Sparklehorse and Neil Young can be heard in Lawson’s musical DNA but his songs have always seemed deeply personal and idiosyncratic including his new EP Help Is On the Way due out June 27, 2024. Listen to our interview with Lawson here.
Fake Fruit, photo by Daniel Topete
Saturday | 06.29 What:Omni w/Fake Fruit and Tender Object When: 8 Where: Hi-Dive Why: Atlanta’s Omni has been one of the more interesting post-punk bands out of the past decade and more with intricate and angular rhythms and structures like a missing link between jangly college rock sounds and Wire’s art punk minimalism and ferocity. Its latest record Souvenir was borne out of creating during a time of immense change in the world during the course of the 2020 pandemic and how that has played out and necessitated some reflection and reassessment of one’s life and priorities but this time Omni does so with no small amount of wry humor and and vulnerability. Oakland’s Fake Fruit seems to share some similar musical DNA but with more jagged edges and noisy outbursts that bear the potential influence of arty guitar bands like Women and Lithics. With its forthcoming album Mucho Mistrust Fake Fruit has a wonderfully discordant fervor like The Pretenders gone unhinged and with the cathartic vitriol aimed at the anxieties of living under late capitalism and its trickle down inhumanity and has and continues to warp hearts and minds.
Quits, photo by Tom Murphy
Saturday | 06.29 What:Red Fang w/Spoon Benders and Quits When: 8 Where: The Bluebird Theater Why: Portland-based sludge rock band Red Fang makes a stop in Denver on its current tour. Frontman and bassist Aaron Beam grew up in Fort Collins and still has family in the Mile High City so it’s sort of a hometown show for the musician. Also on the tour is psychedelic doom prog band Spoon Benders and opening is one of Denver’s greatest noise rock bands Quits and its own mind-altering sonic assault and emotionally harrowing lyrics.
Russian Baths combines an elegant, ethereal guitar riff with one more gritty and dark throughout “Bind.” It lends the track a heaviness and dreaminess to match its subject matter that seems to be about the weight of family legacy and freeing oneself of its worst aspects cast in mythical terms with words about getting lost in darkness and trying to drown painful feelings and memories but never quite being able to escape them. The spooky motes of tone and dissonant drones that haunt the song highlight its more driving moments. It’s a song of great contrasts and tensions that build until the end when it dissolves and breaks down into the sound of wind. One imagines the influence of Bauhaus here or the more post-punk shadows in mid-80s Sonic Youth, no pun intended, but Russian Baths also manage to embody modern post-punk without succumbing to the stylistic trends of thin sonics that have made too much modern darkwave a bit cookie cutter. Listen to “Bind” on Spotify and follow Russian Baths at the links below. The band will have an album release show for its new record Mirror (to be available on streaming, digital download and as a vinyl LP) on the night of its album release day, June 14, at Main Drag Music in Brooklyn, New York, doors 8pm, $10.
Brooklyn’s BODEGA free associate the concepts of convenience, transactional relationships and culture on “ATM.” The animated video is playful enough in what looks like an older art style like something from an early 2000s web cartoon which fits the almost tribal rhythms of the song. The overall effect is like Killing Joke or Gang of Four indulging in a bit of pop punk whimsy. But the lyrics are incisive in sussing out how in all transactional relationships and the way capitalism has been baked into how we interface with much of the world and the culture and thus into at least some aspect of our psyches reducing organic and not-digital associations to those more monetizable and to think in that way. It’s insidious and BODEGA pokes fun at this aspect of our lives because you have to point out the absurdity of it all at least once in awhile or you end up, and pardon the expression, buying into the conceit that all things are economic acts in the classical “liberal” mode. In mocking how a-human it is, and with clever wordplay including juxtaposing the phrase “at the moment” (often reduced to “atm” in text speak) with the familiar cash dispensing machine, BODEGA shows us yet another way to hold onto our humanity and dignity because in many ways it’s all we’ve got. Watch the video for “ATM” on YouTube and follow BODEGA at the links below. The group’s recently released album Our Brand Could Be Yr Life is out now on streaming, digital download and vinyl.
Bug Facer displays a joyous cacophony throughout “Fiery Demon Attacks Old Man on Bridge.” That uplifts the impression that the song title and raw exuberance of its performance came right out of late nights playing D&D or some other fantasy RPG among bandmates (nevermind the photo) who later undertake the ritual of writing a song based on the marathon gaming session. This of course following having witnessed the surreal majesty of surf rock mutants Daikaiju and the inspired costume synthwave heros Magic Sword. Except that Bug Facer sounds like a psychedelic rock band that decided to deconstruct King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard into a primal essentials and blasted it back out in spirited lo-fi garage punk fashion including distorted vocals like shouted incantations. It’s a thorny mess that manages to also be hypnotic and infectious and unlike any obvious musical touchstones. Listen to “Fiery Demon Attacks Old Man on Bridge” on Spotify and follow Bug Facer at the links below.
Influential slowcore outfit Idaho returns with its first album in over a decade with the May 31, 2024 release of Lapse (via Arts & Crafts on CD, LP, digital download and streaming). Lead single “On Fire” has a title that is perhaps a nod to foundational slowcore band Galaxie 500 but Idaho’s hushed and finely detailed sonics are its own. Liquid melodic lines flow and sparkle and fade in sync with Jeff Martin’s delicately rendered couplets. Call and response riffs intertwine with whorls of psychedelic shimmer all while the song’s layered dynamics complement each other with an elegant grace. The song seems to be one encouraging the listener, perhaps as an initial message to self, to indulge the inner life and cultivate the core of creativity within all of us and do something with it while you can because life doesn’t last forever and let’s face it so many pursuits we’re told matter more and what we often need to do to survive matter a lot less than in the grand narrative of our lives than getting to what is in our hearts to do with the time we have. Listen to “On Fire” on Spotify and order Lapse from Arts & Crafts here.
The title track to Primer’s forthcoming EP Round and Round (due out June 6, 2024 via Born Losers Records for streaming, digital download and cassette) is a subversion of synthpop conventions even those the artist established for herself on previous releases. The melodic progressions go off the expected sequence and warp well outside in a way that somehow feels both accidental and purposeful. As though Alyssa Midcalf is trying to break the cycle of which she sings in the song while trying to maintain a coherent sense of self. In the music video we see Midcalf rolling with literal punches from boxing gloves and looking dazed now and again and smiling at times and dancing in place with multiple images of herself, in the end having a laugh at the absurdity of it all because you have to have a sense of humor when it feels like you’re facing the familiar challenges of the demons of your own mind. The song is like a slow cycling carnival ride with a beautifully expansive tonal arc like a fusion of the sensibilities of a 1980s synth pop artist, Kala-period MIA and modern indie pop artists like Charli XCX except with Midcalf’s signature deeply atmospheric synth work to give the song its emotional heft. Watch the video for “Round and Round” on YouTube and follow Primer at the links provided.
The title of Sweet Fellas’ song “I’m More Afraid to Lose My Job Than I Am of Dying” is a poignantly bleak summation of life for many living under late capitalism. When the piece begins its bleak drones have a textural and tonal sweep, drift and flow that expresses what sounds like social bonds and one’s own psychology eroding and dissolving. In that haze of sounds there is a slowly evolving melodic figure, perhaps a piano processing minimal chords and faintly resonate like the flickering embers of hope in a devastated landscape. It has an emotional resonance with Tarkovsky’s 1979 existential and beautifully bleak masterpiece Stalker and Eduard Artemiev’s film score as a cutting through of values and aspirations we’re often told matter when deep down we know that life should be more than fulfilling the third rate technocratic goals of an oligarchy whose demands are baked into the social fabric. Listen to “I’m More Afraid to Lose My Job Than I Am of Dying” on Spotify and follow Sweet Fellas on Instagram.
Applied Communications dives deep into Millennial nostalgia and inverted self-loathing on “Oxytocin Drunk.” The song has an upbeat melody and rhythm with expertly cadenced lyrics altogether like an indiepop MC Chris song. The song is beyond a parody of the angry nerd. It takes all the intrusive and dark thoughts that sink you when, for those that can relate, when you’re swan diving into the terminal velocity of the amplified anxiety zone and turns them into unlikely life rafts in the depression deep end. There’s a choice, wryly tragic joke about kids whose faces we’ll never see when the Tamagotchi dies. All amidst dated cultural references and the detritus of the symbols of a ruined middle class American life that were foundations of life if you were alive before the late 90s. Applied Communications both laughs and lets out a few implied tears at the absurdity of it all and the emotional anchors that helped define our lives swimming in consumer culture and in the end with a line about how he loves himself, a nod to the title of the song, and the trap of being too tied up in that yet needing to do so to have some thread of something to cling to that can’t really be taken away from you or forcefully redefined/sequeled/re-queled or discarded like so many of the things to which one might have a nostalgic attachment. And there is actual power and dignity in that realization. A lot of self-awareness and personal insight is packed into the roughly two minute song as well as a curiously poignant pop resonance that stays with you. Listen to “Oxytocin Drunk” on Spotify and follow Applied Communications at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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