Graveyard Choir – Queen City Sounds and Art

Best Shows in Denver and Beyond June 2026

Low Cut Connie performs at The Aggie Theatre (6.26) and The Bluebird Theater (06.27), photo by Danny Clinch

Tuesday | 06.02
What: Lip Critic, Flatwounds, Public Opinion and Bejalvin
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Lip Critic is a digital hardcore/noise rock band from NYC that recently put out its new album Theft World. Its high energy, confrontational performance style and truly genre-bending music has already garnered it a bit of a cult following. Fans of Sleaford Mods, Gilla Band and Model/Actriz will appreciate the inventiveness, unusual and inspired sonic choices and overall energy of Lip Critic.

Wednesday | 06.03
What: Ladytron “Paradises”
When: 7
Where: The Oriental Theater
Why: UK experimental pop band Ladytron made a big splash early on helping to pioneer what came to be known as electroclash with inventive production incorporating retro sounds and aesthetics but with modern sensibilities and minimalism. As the band has evolved it is sometimes considered a shoegaze band for some of the guitar sounds it employed in the mid-to-late 2000s but all along the band had more in common with downtempo groups and dance music ideas. With its new album Paradises the group is well within more electronic dance territory but with rich, saturated synth tones and clear melodic lines and the usual, transporting, deeply atmospheric sounds. Like a science fiction soundtrack of a near future you’d want to live in rather than the dystopia we’re living with in the moment.

White Rose Motor Oil, photo courtesy the artists

Friday | 06.05
What: Graveyard Choir, The Milk Blossoms, White Rose Motor Oil
When: 7
Where: The Skylark Lounge
Why: Before retiring In the Whale in 2025, Nate Valdez was already using Graveyard Choir as an outlet for his more Americana songwriting. But as a full-fledged band with In the Whale drummer Eric Riley joining in the new project Graveyard Choir began after their former band folded. The two musicians had taken that project about as far as one can touring regularly and garnering a regional and even national fanbase fairly independently and by word of mouth. The new band isn’t like a garage rock Melvins, more like a bluesy alt-country band with an ear for mood and atmosphere. The Milk Blossoms are an experimental pop band that has recently expanded its own sounds to including more electronic elements and processed sounds but with Harmony Rose’s emotionally rich vocals and poetic storytelling at the center. White Rose Motor Oil is a very underrated band that plays regionally throughout the front range delivering its own vibrant brand of rockabilly-inflected Americana and a touch of punk spirit.

Saturday | 06.06
What: Yot Club w/Renny Conti
When: 7
Where: Summit Music Hall
Why: John Ryan Kaiser was perfecting his particular style of bedroom pop when he was writing music under the name Amateur Observer and releasing his songs via SoundCloud like many a truly underground songwriter of the 2010s (and even now). By 2019 he had taken on the moniker Yot Club perhaps as a play on the genre of yacht rock. His more recent music has the earnest charm and economic songwriting of the best bedroom pop but with higher end production so that his music has more tonal richness. His new album Simpleton (2026) is filled with song names as spare as the title track but each embodies a core concept of the confessional songwriting that runs through the record. Kaiser’s vocals are processed to the point of bordering on hyper pop but the production always feels just the right amount of mood and atmosphere so that Kaiser’s lyrics have maximum impact to offer catharsis for life’s melancholic moments and struggles. Opening the show is Renny Conti. The latter, according to a 2025 interview with WHUS, came up playing metalcore and punk as a teen but when he changed coasts for school from the Bay Area to New York his transformation as a musician was under way and his 2025 self-titled album sounded like he had spent more than a little time immersed in the likes of Elliott Smith, Nick Drake and maybe even the more folk end of Animal Collective. Fully blending organic folk pop with electronic production there is a pastoral gentleness to his music infused with a sense of wonder and emotional sensitivity and nuance that is sometimes reminiscent of a Phil Elverum project.

Saturday | 06.06
What: Red Tack, I’m a Band and Chef Andre
When: 9/9:30
Where: Lion’s Lair
Why: Red Tack is Ted Thacker who has been a prominent musician and songwriter in the Denver underground music scene first making waves perhaps as a member of experimental punk band Baldo Rex in the 90s. Also in the 90s through the 2000s he played as a member of power pop band Veronica. These days it’s more difficult to pin down any kind of style and that’s probably for the best because Thacker’s songwriting voice is unique. I’m a Band is the new incarnation of the band I’m a Boy with Jimmi Nasi as singer/guitarist. He appears to be inspired by the power of solid songwriting to inspire the musician and listener and though steeped in classic and alternative rock there is a fresh energy to Nasi’s performance and songwriting that has kept his projects worth witnessing and hearing. Chef Andre is a duo whose recent album Songs of Mehrhoff was inspired in part by the poetry of Charlie Merhoff but musically it’s more like a baroque pop and calypso fusion.

Sunday | 06.07
What: CD Ghost w/Carrellee and Hex Cassette
When: 7
Where: HQ
Why: CD Ghost is a dream pop band from Los Angeles whose forthcoming album When The Rain Stops has some of that chillwave flavor from a decade and a half ago. The title track is reminiscent of “Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol but with more delicate vocals yet a similar saturated atmospheric quality that renders both songs instantly relistenable. Hex Cassette from Denver will bring his own ear worm industrial dance music to the show with a live performance that is both confrontational and highly animated as well as wickedly charming. Carrellee is a darkwave artist from Madison, Wisconsin whose moody dream pop has an impressive depth of atmospheric emotional resonance. Her song “Stay” was a standout on the soundtrack to the quasi-found footage film Frogman (2023) and in some ways elevated the movie. Her 2022 album Scale of Dreams, from which the song was borrowed, is front to back a reflection on seeking clarity in one’s own mind adrift in mixed emotions. The 2025 self-titled album seems to have some more forward momentum in its rhythms but still reaching for meaning in a world that seems to be short on that for many if not most people. Fans of Madeline Goldstein need to check out Carrellee.

Tuesday | 06.09
What: TsuShiMaMiRe, The Tammy Shine and Autumnal
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: TsuShiMaMiRe started up in 1999 in Chiba Prefecture in Japan and have been fairly prolific since with its most recent album Bando wa Mizumono which celebrated its 25 years as a and in 2024. Trying to pigeonhole the band wouldn’t do justice to how it has a real knack for pop songcraft while being very much a punk band without being pop punk. Its core sounds have been eclectic yet distinctive in its exuberant performance style that also weaves in some introspective melodies. Opening is the incomparable The Tammy shine whose debut solo album OK Shine OK released in February 2026. Tammy Ealom was perhaps best previously known and rightfully still so as the frontwoman of indie pop legends Dressy Bessy. The solo album is distinct from the Dressy Bessy material but still with the exuberant charm and thoughtful lyrics for which Ealom is known. The band autumnal from Fort Collins tends to have more pastoral sounds while being well within the realm of a kind of cosmic indie pop.

Tuesday | 06.09
What: The Cab w/Carr
When: 6:30
Where: Summit Music Hall
Why: The Cab from Las Vegas, Nevada came up during a big upsurge of emo and pop punk in the 2000s and enjoyed a good deal of cache from its first chapter 2004-2015 before going on hiatus for over a decade. The band always leaned more in the pop direction and since it has reunited the band has honed its instincts for crafting songs that are more in the realm of modern R&B and electronic pop but with some instrumental kick behind the music and its signature anthemic songwriting. The Cab finally released its new album Chasing Crowns in April 2026 and is now on its “Back From the Dead Tour” to showcase its new sound and more than likely perform more than a few fan favorites from its earlier years.

Wednesday | June 10
What: Worm w/Arkwave and Chamber Mage
When: 7/7:50
Where: The Marquis Theater
Why: Worm released its most recent album Necropalace in February 2026. Funeral doom, black metal, death doom, whatever genre tags you want to use the record includes spooky synths that wouldn’t be out of place in either an old Vincent Price movie or a Charles Band production. The spectral and caustic guitar work and sepulchral vocals create a unique sense of death metal theater delivered by the band’s stage presence and visual sense like one of those occult Hammer House films and the later seasons of Dark Shadows. Fantastical but inspired and clearly the product of idiosyncratic creativity.

Claire Rosinkranz, photo courtesy the artist

Wednesday | 06.10
What: Claire Rosinkranz w/Stevie Bill
When: 7
Where: Meow Wolf Convergence Station Persplexiplex
Why: Claire Rosinkranz started writing music from at a young age having helped her composer and mutli-instrumentalist father on songs he was writing for TV and advertisements. She had her breakthrough single of her own material with “Backyard Boy” in 2020 at age 16 which went viral through TikTok. Since then Rosinkranz has honed her songcraft and become a notable artist fusing pop, R&B and rock to give life to a body of work that tackles sometimes sensitive subject matter like chronic illness on her new record My Lover (2026). The songwriter’s melodiously expressive vocals and gift for perfectly blending her singing with vibrant arrangements that lend an orchestral quality to her economical compositions seem to make each song a unique and fresh listening experience without a wasted moment.

Kerosene Ensemble, photo courtesy the artists

Wednesday | 06.10
What: Kerosene Ensemble Plays the Music of John Zorn’s Masada
When: 6/7
Where: Dazzle
Why: Kerosene Ensemble is a Denver-based jazz quarter that began in 2001 including notable musicians David Thomas Bailey (guitar), Mike Brown (bass), Dean Hirschfield (drums) and Troy Thill (saxophone) who have made a name for themselves in the local avant-garde and experimental music scene. Masada is a band lead by John Zorn from the early 90s assembled to perform compositions by Zorn inspired by the Radical Jewish Culture scene in New York City. Mixing free jazz, punk and exploratory rock the music often sounds like something that could have come from the outer reaches of late 60s jazz with wild flourishes that push the boundaries of established forms of music. And this set of musicians with their collective skills and experiences seem like the only group in Denver capable of attempting to perform any of Zorn’s compositions in the group’s prolific releases.

Thursday | 06.11
What: Metric w/Broken Social Scene and Stars
When: 5:30/6:30
Where: The Fillmore Auditorium
Why: This All The Feelings Tour brings together three of Canada’s finest purveyors of experimental pop music whose projects have shared members over the years with Emily Haines of Metric having been a member of Broken Social Scene and Evan Cranley of Stars currently in that band (Amy Millan of Stars has been a contributor to the Scene as well). Metric released one of its best albums Romanticize the Dive in April with songs that seem to reflect on the early period of its existence. But it doesn’t feel nostalgic so much as tapping into some of the feelings and energy of being a band discovering its identity and striving for creative and professional fulfillment while holding onto personal and artistic integrity, a quality that can be lost or diluted once you’ve experienced any level of commercial success. It contains some of Haines’ most resonant vocal performances of the past several years as well as some of the band’s most focused songwriting. Broken Social Scene dropped its first record in some nine years with Remember the Humans reuniting the band with producer David Newfeld who worked on You Forgot It in People (2002) and Broken Social Scene (2005). The record feels like a deep and affectionate meditation on times past and its impact on one’s current life and the future. It revisits some of the energy of the band’s early records as well and uses that as a vehicle to help reinvent and recontextualize the band’s sound for the current era when things seem to be dissolving on the social and cultural level partly because people have forgotten about the things we took for granted for years and the album is a reminder of those personal and close connections that reverberate beyond.

Broken Social Scene, photo courtesy the artists

Cephalic Carnage circa 2009, photo by Tom Murphy

Saturday and Sunday | 06.13 and 06.14
What: Flatline Fest
When: 5pm start each night
Where: The Oriental Theater
Why: Flatline Audio is the renowned recording and production studio based in Denver out of which many of the more acclaimed records in the realm of extreme metal have come over the past twenty plus years. This debut festival showcases several of the bands with whom recording engineer and musician Dave Otero who runs Flatline Audio has worked meaning two whole evenings of some of the better metal bands operating today including local skate punk legends Clusterfux, blackened death metal outfit Glacial Tomb, deathgrind giants Cattle Decapitation, technical death metal band Archspire, Fort Collins-based melodic death metal group Allagaeon, doom metal trio In the Company of Serpents, Death-doom outfit Necropanther and jazz-death-metal greats Cephalic Carnage. For full lineup by date please visit the Flatine Fest site.

Quintron and Miss Pussycat in 2015, photo by Tom Murphy

Wednesday | 06.17
What: Quintron and Miss Pussycat w/Pink Lady Monster
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: It would be a disservice to call Quintron and Miss Pussycat merely a kind of psychedelic rockabilly garage rock band. It’s a full multi-media show but with practical effects including puppets and a stage set as well as the high octane live musical performance with costumes. If there is some gimmick to the show the band backs it up with high entertainment value and actually worthwhile songs that are best experienced in person with the concentrated, inspired strangeness of the duo in their element. Opening the show is one of Denver’s best bands who have experimented with camp with aspects of the live show which is also highly energetic without a theatrical and dramatic flourish but also with songs that stand on their own in the realm of No Wave post-punk jazz funk.

Thursday | 06.18
What: Midwife, Amulets and Devin Shaffer
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Three of the most important artists operating within the broad realm of ambient and existential folk music on one bill is a rare thing particularly when they’re based in disparate parts of the country. But Amulets has worked with Midwife and both have crossed paths with Devin Shaffer over the past several years. One thing all three have in common is the ability to channel emotional vulnerability and grace into songs of great delicacy and deep emotional resonance although each also has a different musical style. All have released transcendent records in the past year and a half and this is a rare opportunity to see them all together on the same bill.

Saturday | 06.20
What: Air Moons, Ripcords album release and Gila Teen
When: 7pm doors, 8pm show, $10
Where: East Fax Tap
Why: Air Moons is a psychedelic pop/indie rock quartet from Denver. Its membership includes current members of Salads and Sunbeams and A Strange Happening. The band hasn’t played many shows yet but the strong songwriting and performances including exquisite multi-part harmonies were there from the band’s first show last year. Gila Teen has long been one of the better bands from Denver with thoughtful and vulnerable lyrics deeply observant of personal psychology and social dynamics. Sort of a mix of dream pop, emo and post-punk with a charmingly raw quality that means the band avoids tropes ably. Ripcords are releasing their debut album You Should Not Continue In This Fashion in an official capacity with this release show. If you were fortunate enough to see recent shows you could pick up a CD as you’re likely able to for this performance. The trio is steeped in 90s grunge in a way that doesn’t feel like they borrowed some of the vibe. There is an intensity and a weaving in of thrash and heavy blues rock that gives one the impression of the same energy as early Alice in Chains but with more aggression.

Saturday | 06.20
What: Molly Tuttle w/Pixie & The Partygrass Boys and Mair
When: 7:30
Where: Arvada Center
Why: In a career that has yielded rightfully acclaimed albums in a bluegrass style, Molly Tuttle’s 2025 album So Long Little Miss Sunshine didn’t completely break with what has made Tuttle a notable artist but thoroughly leapt in new musical directions. Bits of country and pop sensibility were already part of Tuttles previous two records but the new album feels like something that doesn’t fit neatly into a box yet sounds like a natural next step forward as an artist. The title along is clever enough a nod to a shedding of a previous musical identity and the songs are like stories of that journey in short chapters as Tuttle delivers the sort of intimate yet lively songs that have garnered her an increasingly wider audience. There is even a contribution from Charli XCX on the song “I Love It” hinting at Tuttle’s embrace of pop songcraft beyond expected sources.

Sir Richard Bishop in 2013, photo by Tom Murphy

Monday | 06.22
What: Sir Richard Bishop w/Debaser, Eli Wendler and Flaming Tongues Above
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Sir Richard Bishop was a member of experimental rock band Sun City Girls from 1981-2026 and though part of the same punk scene that yielded Meat Puppets and JFA, brought together free improv, poetry, surf rock, tape collage and non-Western musical styles for a unique sound that has had an impact on American avant-garde underground music since. As a solo artist, Bishop has expanded upon that early foundation and threading together non-western folk styles with American primitive guitar aesthetics. He released the album Hillbilly Raga in 2025 and is on the verge of the more Middle Eastern sounding Hillbilly Erotica in 2026.

Tuesday | 06.23
What: Squid Pisser w/Victim of Fire and Cop Killer
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dice
Why: Squid Pisser is a mutant synthesis of grindcore, noise rock and No Wave with a gross-out aesthetic fitting considering its members include Tommy Mehan of GWAR and Cancer Christ, Michael Armendariz from Duck Duck Goose and Melted Bodies and Seth Carolina of Starcrawler. Live, it’s definitely something different like a more commited to the costume Slipknot with generally more interesting and confrontational music and performance style. Victim of Fire is a Denver-based hardcore band who don’t bother to not lean into thrash, death metal and grind influences and with superb musicianship and incisive lyrics. Cop Killer has a name bound to get it in trouble but its own version of early-hardcore-inspired punk definitely delivers the goods with a performance style that is fiery and intense the way you’d hope to witness.

Family Worship Center, photo by Sequoia Woods

Wednesday | 06.24
What: Family Worship Center w/Smoker Dad and Jesus Christ Taxi Driver
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Family Worship Center recently released its new album Only Visiting on June 12, 2026. The record is a vibrant psychedelic pop offering with a back story of a claim that the songs were recorded in 1974-1975 and recently unearthed. To be fair the songwriting is vivid with a recording attention to detail worthy of the finest songwriting of that decade like something that might have been recorded at Muscle Shoals sound studio if some kind of cult with a collective coherence had a faith band that was worth listening to steeped in R&B, funk, country, psychedelia and classic pop. This is not like Ya Ho Wha 13, the house commune band of The Source Family. Whatever the exact origins and motivations the new record is one of the best albums of its kind since the 1970s. Live, it’s a 10-member band and seeing that happen will be an event in itself especially at the Hi-Dive that actually hosted Sloppy Jane’s sprawling live band in 2022.

Friday | 06.26
What: Tiny Humans EP release w/Battle Pussy, Soy Celesté, Team Nonexistent
When: 6pm doors, 7 show
Where: Mutiny Information Cafe
Why: Tiny Humans is releasing its self-titled debut EP. The band is clearly coming from a place of the kind of punk that took the more punk end of 90s grunge more seriously in terms of its sound and spirit not to mention lyrics that don’t mince words about personal and social struggle. Battle Pussy is a politically-infused punk band that sounds like the next phase of what Riot Grrrl started with fiery vocals. Soy Celesté is similarly inspired by Riot Grrrl punk but weaves in Latin folk and a more expansive social critique with lyrics in Spanish as well as English paired with a spirited performance style from lead singer Celesté Martinez and back by Denver jazz and Latin music heavy hitters Joshua Trinidad (trumpet) and Yuzo Nieto (tenor saxophone, bass). And Team Nonexistent brings a queer punk sensibility to its own 90s-infused punk fury.

Friday and Saturday | 06.26 and 06.27
What: Low Cut Connie w/J. Roddy & The Automatic Band and The Patti Fiasco (06.26) and Queen Frog (06.27)
When: 7pm both nights
Where: The Aggie Theatre (06.26) and The Bluebird Theater (06.27)
Why: Low Cut Connie counts among its fans the likes of Barack Obama, Elton John, Springsteen and Nick Hornby. But that distinction means little if the music itself isn’t worth the attention and in this case Low Cut Connie has been making vital, insightful, socially aware rock and roll since the group emerged out of the solo performances of songwriter and lead vocalist Adam Weiner. The band really got off the ground in Philadelphia but Weiner paid his dues playing piano in dive bars, gay bars, karaoke joints, restaurants and honky tonks. He has performed in anarchist collectives often to people who were overtly not into what he was doing. But that taught the artist to really deliver in an engaging way. The band’s debut album Get Out the Lotion (2011) was a surprise hit with critics and audiences and the group’s spirited, soulful garage rock was a standout from the then nascent modern attempt at a classic rock sound because the music stood on its own apart from obvious musical reference points. As the group’s songwriting and live shows evolved you could hear in the music a through line of compassion for regular human existence expressed with a passion, compassion and poetry that felt missing from a lot of the music of bands trying to be a new version of Led Zeppelin or evoking a Laurel Canyon vibe. From then to now the songwriting has captivated a wide audience from all walks of life. On February 13, 2025 Low Cut Connie was the first act to announce it would not perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts following President Trump’s takeover of the formerly non-partisan arts institution and, albeit temporarily as it turns out, adding his own name as well as politicizing its board of trustees and programming. In May 2025 Low Cut Connie released the single “Livin’ in the USA” which with a grace and intensity criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the tactics employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the CBP. The single garnered the band threats of violence and death threats. Coming from American fascists and their ilk the song, admittedly powerful, immediately became one of the most important protest songs of the current era and one of the most musically commanding. In 2026 Low Cut Connie releases the album from which the aforementioned became the title track and is currently touring ahead of that release. Go expecting the usual sense of rock theater and heartfelt performances.

Saturday | 06.27
What: Chroma Lips album release for chromaZone w/Wave Decay, Various Blonde and DJ Kleiman
When: 8
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: For the past few years Chroma Lips have garnered a following locally for its signature fusion of krautrock, post-punk, shoegaze and garage rock. And for this show the band will release its debut full-length chromaZone which is five new songs and five reworked, remastered older songs for a coherent presentation of its catalog of songs up to now. The album has some trippy edge to its sonics yet undeniable pop hooks and vibrant synth work that mean it doesn’t get stuck in some psych jam or prog groove rut. The album released digitally on June 22 but should be available on vinyl for the show. Bonus, one of the opening bands is the fantastic krautrock shoegaze trio Wave Decay.

Sunday | 06.28
What: Blanket: Entrancer and Modern Devotion
When: 1pm
Where: City Park
Why: The new season of the Blanket mini-concert series kicks off with the inspired techno/ambient/analog synth compositions/dance music concoctions of Entrancer and the gabber-infused industrial techno of Modern Devotion. This isn’t just some half-baked presentation of the music and the sound system brought for these shows is impressive in its richness and clarity of sound rare for an outdoors gig in general much less something as low key as these events.

Ak’Chamel: The Giver of Illness, photo by Tom Murphy

Tuesday | 06.30
What: Ak’Chamel: The Giver of Illness w/Munly & The Lupercalians
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Ak’Chamel: The Giver of Illness might perhaps be best described as a ritual folk psychedelic performance art group that puts on a show with maybe costumes isn’t the right word but garb intended to put the audience into a different headspace and something from another time, a mystical frame outside the norms of industrial civilization. The music is created from organic and often self-made instrumentation and the live show is not going to be much like anything else you’re going to see in Denver this year unless you see Quintron and Miss Pussycat except this will be radically different from that and yet resonates in that the presentation is executed with a similarly masterful expression of craft. Munly & The Lupercalians too will bring a ritualistic, occult element to its own performance of dark, avant-garde folk.

Best Shows in Denver and Beyond August 2025

**Latter performs at Ghost Canyon Fest on Saturday, August 22, 2025, photo by Vanessa Valdez**

Friday | 08.01
What: MSPAINT w/American Culture, Lip Critic and Pat and the Pissers
When: 7
Where: Marquis Theater
Why: MSPAINT came out of the hardcore underground as a band that didn’t have a guitarist instead took the attitude and applied it to a more synth-and-bass driven post-punk. Since then the group has evolved a sharp critique of American society and culture while maintaining a compassionate stance toward human vulnerability with an analog to what Chat Pile has been putting out. Its latest release is the No Separation EP on which the group expand its more experimental soundscaping tendencies while still having an arresting and commanding delivery. American Culture has had its own evolution as a band from earlier indie-pop-turned-atmospheric post-punk band but along the way it absorbed the influence of modern hardcore, The Cure and 90s Britpop simultaneously. It has resulted in a band that is not much like anything else going either.

Friday | 08.01
What: Down Time, Bluebook and Fingertip 57
When: 8
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Down Time is now based out of Los Angeles but cut its teeth in the Denver indie rock scene where its sophisticated songwriting and tender melodies struck a chord locally in certain circles. Since then the group has developed its fusion of synth pop and a more baroque sound that hits as timeless and very analog in its aesthetic so that it’s songwriting has a very tangible quality in its saturated tones. Bluebook is one of the premier art pop bands in Denver fronted by the enigmatic and charismatic Julie Davis backed by former Monofog frontwoman Hailey Helmericks, gifted songwriter Jess Parsons and Still Tide’s guitar genius Anna Morsett.

Entrancer at Listening Lawn I, photo by Tom Murphy

Saturday | 08.02
What: Listening Lawn V: Flyvee, Moth Sanctuary, Snowswept, Suo and Entrancer
When: 5-8
Where: Carpio Sanguinette Park
Why: This is an event organized by Multidim records and it’s for the experimental electronic heads who miss a time when this music had wider places to be experienced before Nü Denver came in and rapidly gentrified most corners of the metro area by the time the COVID-19 pandemic crashed into the headlong rush of all of that. This event will include notable producers and composers in the electronic realm including longtime forward thinking techno artist Entrancer. The event takes place in a park that is part ruin, part forgotten pocket of Denver and between complete corporate dominance and industrial land use. A perfect setting.

Saturday | 08.02
What: Lifeguard w/Autobahn and The Red Scare
When: 8
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Lifeguard is touring in support of its full-length album Ripped and Torn out now on Matador. The noisy post-punk discordant aspect of the band’s sound with the dub-like tonal ripple baked into the guitar riffs as they interact at odd angles with the rhythm might be something one has come to expect from Chicago’s rich noise rock and post-punk scene generally but Lifeguard sounds like it’s on the edge and expressing the nervous energy and fragility that seems ambient in the world at the moment.

Monday | 08.04
What: Badvril, Surprise Soup, BabyBaby and Headslug
When: 7:30
Where: The Skylark Lounge
Why: Badvril is a shoegaze band from San Francisco that is touring behind its new record In Heaven. If you’re into stuff like Letting Up Despite Great Faults and Wild Nothing you’ll probably enjoy what these people are doing. BabyBaby is a standout synth pop artist whose rich electronic melodies and effervescent spirit elevate any show of which she is a part. Surprise Soup is a Denver trio that sounds like it took a bit of inspiration from math rock bands of the late 90s, Pavement and Death Cab For Cutie. Headslug can be sorta ambient or shoegaze-adjacent but also lo-fi slowcore but always surprisingly interesting.

Monday | 08.04
What: MØAA w/Tassles
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: MØAA is a Seattle-based artist whose 2021 album Euphoric Recall was a crossover hit in underground shoegaze and Goth/post-punk for the moody yet tonally rich guitar work and expansive drift. The breathy vocals and sense of space on the project’s 2023 album Jaywalker paired with the electronic beats is reminiscent of mid-2000s Ladytron but with decidedly modern flavor. Denver’s Tassles is hard to pin down to anything except the music sounds like shoegaze made by someone who has spent a lot of time listening to Black Marble and corporate training video music but somehow transcending the limitations of both. The recently released Net Worth album has a breezy quality that is summery without feeling similarly insubstantial. Psychedelic warping and techno beats and hazy around the edges production make it one of the more original entries into the crowded modern shoegaze field.

Tuesday | 08.05
What: Angel Band tour kickoff w/Sonic Chick, Fragrant Blossom and Scorplings
When: 7
Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective
Why: Angel Band is taking its twee jangle pop on the road and leading off with this show. Fans of Sarah Records bands and their fresh energy and borderline naive style songwriting or newer bands like Denver’s The Maybellines will find a great deal to like about Angel Band and its charismatic live show. Fragrant Blossom is more like an arty abstract jazz and New Age pop project that includes Ben Donehower aka Petite Garcon. Scorplings will bring an angular, Chicago scene style noise rock and Yo La Tengo bleeding edge pop sound to this show.

The Milk Blossoms in 2025, photo by Tom Murphy

Wednesday | 08.06
What: The Milk Blossoms
When: 5-8 pm
Where: Granby Ranch
Why: Denver-based art pop heartbreakers The Milk Blossoms make a rare trip to the hinterlands to charm and entrance an audience for a three hour set in a beautiful outdoor setting away from the baking heat of Denver in August. Likely the group will break out some of its older material to extend the set so if you’re lucky enough to be there you’ll get to experience a full range of the band’s songwriting, all of it poignant, deeply evocative and cathartic in the way that only songs that truly tug at the heartstrings and stir the imagination simultaneously as deftly as The Milk Blossoms’ material can and always does.

Thursday | 08.07
What: Dispatch w/John Butler, Donavon Frankenreiter and Illiterate Light
When: 6
Where: Red Rocks
Why: Dispatch is mostly known as an indie and roots rock band in the past decade and a half or so that it’s been back together. But its new album Yellow Jacket hearkens more back to its early days when the group was more steeped in a reggae and ska sound blended into its more folk rock sound. Of course it’s an update and the band’s songcraft is more honed than in its earlier incarnation but the songs are still informed by a spirit of human liberation and the joy of living with the ups and downs inevitable with human existence. The new record includes an acoustic song with Ani DiFranco that sounds like a 60s folkie protest song and all the better for it. Live the band brings a passion to the performances that elevate what might be perceived as more introspective and tranquil material.

White Rose Motor Oil, photo by Tammy Shine

Friday | 08.08
What: White Rose Motor Oil, Graveyard Choir and Chella & The Charm
When: 8
Where: The Skylark Lounge
Why: This is a stacked lineup for local Americana but one in which none of the bands are really even remotely alike. White Rose Motor Oil combines a rockabilly sound with stripped down country rock without compromising the passionate delivery. As a duo WRMO are surprisingly exuberant and warm in their performances. Graveyard Choir is a country rock group fronted by former In The Whale guitarist and singer Nate Valdez. The songwriting is more blues driven with more honky tonk bar style ragers but with more tonally expressive guitar than expected with that style of music. Chella & The Charm threads together alt-country creativity in the realm of Americana with lyrics that aren’t just sharply and sensitively observed but which offer a keen insight into social and psychological dynamics. And also performed with a commanding presence.

Friday | 08.08
What: Sharpie Smile, Pink Lady Monster, Chroma Lips
When: 8
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Sharpie Smile from Los Angeles just put out its new album The Staircase on Drag City. The mix of minimalist left field rock and hyperpop with ambient and industrial soundscaping lends its songwriting futuristic feel like music you’d more expect on a label like Ninja Tune or Warp. Its expert use of jump cut swells and subtle pitch shifting renders the music both accessible and pleasantly disorienting. Pink Lady Monster won’t be one for small minds either with its alchemical fusion of No Wave funk, avant-garde performance pop and skronk-infused free jazz. Chroma Lips is a psychedelic garage rock band from Denver that ditched the trendy sound of the 2010s and adopted the more krautrock end of shoegaze as a driver of its sound.

Victim of Fire in 2023, photo by Tom Murphy

Saturday | 08.09
What: Victim of Fire album release w/Speed of the Sorcerer, Womb of the Witch, Spear of Cassius and Ukko’s Hammer
When: 8
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Victim of Fire is celebrating the release of its new record The Old Lie with a stacked lineup of other bands within the wide realm of its own amalgam of d-beat, hardcore, black metal and crust punk. The fast-forward avalanche of both distorted and melodic guitar work and feral vocals suits well its songs about the deceptions of society and government regarding the organization of our resources toward war as part of an ongoing and age old charade of actions for the betterment of the country or our in-group. Speed of the Sorcerer, Womb of the Witch is a death doom band from Denver who seem to have fused perfectly classic death metal with melodic thrash including song titles that fuse ideas and concepts in an over-the-top and absurdly humorous fashion but which definitely conjure an image. Spear of Cassius is more of a screamo and power violence band with vocals that sound like they’re both distended and compressed with melancholic musical passages that suggest a great nuance of emotional expression than one often comes to expect from extreme metal. Ukko’s Hammer is classic crossover hardcore with caustic urgency in the vocals and percussion that seems to persistent it feels like the world drops out carried by the sheer momentum of the rest of the music and Zach Reini’s vocals over a chasm before re-engaging.

Bad Luck City in 2015, photo by Tom Murphy

Saturday | 08.09
What: Munly & The Lupercalians, Let the Dead Eat the Dead (feat. Members of Bad Luck City) and Weathered Statues
When: 8
Where: The Skylark Lounge
Why: Drummer and visual artist Andrew Warner is celebrating his birthday by playing sets with three of his bands. Munly & The Lupercalians is potent fusion of dark Americana and post-punk with folkloric lyrics. Weathered Statues is one of the few genuine death rock bands from Denver but one that utilizes soaring vocals and synths with sharp guitar work and some of the most powerful bass lines of any band in Denver or anywhere. Let the Dead Eat the Dead, though, is like a new incarnation of the great Americana band Bad Luck City. Fronted by the charismatic Dameon Merkl, BLC was clearly influenced by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds but with unique and often darkly humorous lyrics and noir storytelling that made it a local favorite for years.

In the Company of Serpents, photo by Kate Rose

Saturday | 08.09
What: In the Company of Serpents w/Palehorse/Palerider, Church Fire and Cronos Compulsion
When: 7
Where: The Bluebird Theater
Why: In the Company of Serpents has completely reconciled its musical impulses on its new record A Crack In Everything. It is one of its heaviest and most crushing records but infused with the atmospheric desert rock psychedelia that has been a part of its sound over the past decade and with lyrics that capture the emotional tenor of the moment through the expression of personal struggle. Fitting that psychedelic, experimental heavy folk outfit Palehorse/Paleride shares the bills as does politically charged industrial dance phenoms Church Fire and its live show to suit the name of the band.

Thursday | 08.14
What: Shannon Lay w/Cyrena Rosati and Ryan Wong
When: 7
Where: Squirm Gallery
Why: Shannon Lay probably became known to underground music audiences as a member of indie rock/punk band Feels even before leaving the group in 2020 her solo work has taken on different dimension entirely. Quickly evolving from a more bedroom pop sound to experimental yet earnest folk Lay signed with SubPop for two albums. August (2019) proved that Lay had a great command of what might be called cosmic, existential indie folk with an arresting sense of intimacy. Her 2021 album Geist found Lay shedding any and all adopted styles and personae for an album that was moving and tranquil with elegantly inspired guitar work. Cyrena Rosati may now be known for her commanding bass work in Quits, Cherry Spit and Supreme Joy but before all of that she made beautiful dream-pop infused indie rock as Sweetness Itself. Who can say what this solo set will sound like but it will be worth showing up early to see. Same with Ryan Wong, frontman of Supreme Joy and member of The Fresh & Onlys. His own expertise in the realms of psychedelic and garage rock and post-punk will likely shine through on this rare solo set as well.

Friday | 08.15
What: Entrancer, Lanx Borealis, Staggered Hooks, Quinn Boudeleaux, 4 Digit Visuals
When: 8
Where: Glob
Why: Entrancer has recently been mixing some older DIY, lo-fi electronic aesthetics into his masterful modern techno made with analog and digital synths. The result is audio time traveling layered together to great evocative effect like some 2020s rave music thoroughly blended with early witchhouse and 8-bit composition. Nothing like it. Lanx Borealis makes ambient music that integrates circuit bent devices and minimal synth. Staggered Hooks is Dean Inman who some may know for his involvement in the 2010s Denver rave scene but also for his fusion of hardware based dance music and noise with this project.

Saturday | 08.16
What: An Evening With Wilco
When: 6:30
Where: Mission Ballroom
Why: Wilco helped to pioneer and influence indie rock as we know it with eclectic yet coherent musical vision ever evolving past previous limits. Partly because the songwriting has always been imaginative and daring in its sonic creativity and also due to the insightful and poignantly earnest lyrics with a literary flavor minus the pretentious baggage. For this tour the band is playing choice selections from a large swath of its impressive and consistently quality catalog. Which could be mere fan service but Wilco is a band that brings a passionate delivery with the live show and at this point a nearly orchestral sound that elevates what indie rock and Americana music can be.

Tuesday | 08.19
What: Youth Code w/King Yosef, Street Sects and Insula Iscariot
When: 7
Where: HQ
Why: Stars of modern industrial hardcore for the entire night. King Yosef will have just released his new album Spire of Fear on his own imprint BLEAKHOUSE when this show happens and it includes contributes from space rock/black metal/shoegaze legends Holy Fawn. The album recorded and mixed by Kurt Ballou is an abrasive, disorienting and relentless listen with vocals that sound like they’re giving voice to the accelerated and amplified collective outrage over current world events with a direct personal resonance that may be reminiscent of Ballou’s main band Converge but with an aesthetic that more closely reflects King Yosef’s own work as a producer in the realm of electronic industrial music. A few years back Yosef worked with co-headliner Youth Code who were the industrial hardcore band of note around 10-12 years ago on a collaborative album called A Skeleton Key in the Doors of Depression (2021) that revealed his ability to enhance the virtues of a like-minded band in which each could complement each other perfectly. Youth Code returns with a new EP titled Yours, With Malice which showcases the duo in classic form with edgy, caustic and emotionally-charged EBM-infused hardcore. Street Sects are an Austin duo that pioneered a different edge of industrial hardcore with its fog-enshrouded yet confrontational live shows and manic energy. The music itself could be lost in the theatrical aspect of the show but listening to the records it was obvious they had incorporated elements of noise and dance music into the mix. This has become even more obvious with its “side project” Street Sex and its new album Full Color Eclipse with its fusion of industrial and synth pop like a disco darkwave with some gritty highlights. Street Sects is simultaneously releasing its new album under that name called Dry Drunk that is more in the vein of what you might expect but the sounds are often like a collection of samples assembled in a beautifully jarring fashion that also flows with pointed social commentary. The album cover looks like Charles Burns doing a tribute to Raymond Pettibon. Perfect for what you’ll hear on the record. Insula Iscariot is a death industrial act whose new album is out on Yosef’s BLEAKHOUSE imprint.

Street Sects, photo by Ismael Quintanilla III

Saturday – Sunday | 08.21-08.24
What: Ghost Canyon Fest
When: Varies by Night
Where: What’s Left Records (8.21), The Skylark Lounge (8.22), Hi-Dive (8.23-08.24)
Why: Ghost Canyon Fest is in its third year with yet another stellar lineup of bands from a broad spectrum of noise rock and experimental rock including Church Fire and Scorplings the first night and sort of pre-festival proper event at What’s Left Records in Colorado Springs, The Milk Blossoms and Pink Lady Monster with Honduh Daze at The Skylark on the second night, Flesh Tape and Flowting Clowds the afternoon of 8/23, Suicide Cages, Latter, Still House Plants and Black Eyes the third night at Hi-Dive (8/23), Moon Pussy and Dug the afternoon of 8/24 at Wax Trax, and Buildings and Cloakroom the concluding night Sunday 8/24 at the Hi-Dive. Look for our more comprehensive guide to the festival and interviews coming soon.

Tuesday | 08.26
What: Horsegirl w/Godcaster
When: 7
Where: The Bluebird Theater
Why: Chicago’s Horsegirl made waves when it released its debut single “Forecast” in 2019 and became a much hyped act out of the Windy City’s post-punk scene. Its minimalist guitar work and delicacy of feeling was reminiscent of the likes of a slowcore Raincoats or Young Marble Giants. The group’s new album Phonetics On and On was written when most of the trio have been students in New York and the introspection and evocation of uncertainty heard throughout the album lends it an emotional resonance that may suit young adulthood specifically but also reflects how in the current time things feel so fragile and tentative and the way you can navigate the energy with integrity is to approach things with intention and a sense of creating a normalcy rooted in exploring new expressions of confidence and a sense of play. The result is a song that is rewarding for its bold and sharply observed lyrics and paring the music to its absolute sonic essentials without skimping on a full sound.

Friday | 08.29
What: I’m A Boy w/Toddy Ivy, Gata Negra and Red Tack
When: 8
Where: Lost Lake
Why: I’m A Boy’s original lineup of singer/guitarist Jimmi Nasi, bassist/singer Whitney Rehr and drummer John Shipe are reuniting for a show that’s a bit of a celebration of its spectacular 2012 album Sensation. The record benefits from not just masterful musicianship from its three members with no shying away from technical flourishes. But it’s not showing off for the sake of doing so, it all serves the songs which are an unusually and refreshingly insightful take on what it is to be an adult that hasn’t lost the love of art and music as a valid art form and avenue of expressing and exploring the grown up psyche and looking back and remembering what made life feel vital and bringing that energy into the present and finding that essence in the context of where you are now. Looking back it’s a classic of Denver underground rock for the sophistication of the songwriting and the sheer moxy of its performances. Many bands of that time were trying to mimic classic rock glory in a fashion that felt try-hard. I’m A Boy always seemed to live and embody the spirit of its influences by writing songs that didn’t feel derivative but also in spirit not so far removed from its roots. For this show it’s not just the band reuniting but also Rehr’s excellent garage-blues adjacent Gata Negra, Red Tack (fronted by former Baldo Rex frontman Ted Thacker) and his own take on reinventing punk rock spirit into gritty singer-songwriter style music and longtime friend of everyone involved with this show Toddy Ivy aka Toddy Walters.