Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel – Queen City Sounds and Art

Best Shows in Denver and Beyond June 2024

**Miki Berenyi Trio perform at The Bluebird Theater on June 6, 2024, photo by V. Arbelet**

The 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To Be Continued…

Best Shows in Denver 8/9/19 – 8/14/19

RollingStones_DaveHogan — Rolling Stones perform at Mile High Stadium on August 10. Photo by Dave Hogan.

Friday | August 9

GeneLovesJezebel_IanCollins — Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel, photo by Ian Collins

What: The Alarm, Modern English and Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel
When: Friday, 08.09, 7 p.m.
Where: Oriental Theater
Why: In the 1980s all three of these bands embodied the kind of highly melodic post-punk that articulated both the bleakness of an era and the hope that they and the rest of humanity would endure writing songs celebrating life and love and honoring the uncertainty, tentativeness and sometimes, yes, even gloominess that cast a pall over society with the impending threat of nuclear holocaust. Over thirty years hence we’re all in another period of doom hanging over the planet from, once again, the threat of nuclear war but also the collapse of our ecosystem and the rise of another wave of aggressive fascism throughout the world. Since these three bands have reconvened each has also been writing some of the best music of their careers and commenting on the times with songs that aren’t trying to capture past glory so much as writing music worthy of their legacy of not getting stuck in a rut. Modern English’s 2016 album Take Me to the Trees, Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel’s 2017 record Dance Underwater and The Alarm’s 2019 offering Sigma reflect not just the strength of the respective band’s original creative vision but also their growth as artists valid in the modern era.

What: The Yellow Rake 15 year anniversary night 1 w/Simulators, Moon Pussy, Charly Fasano, Brian Polk and Karl Christian Krumpholz
When: Friday, 08.09, 8 p.m.
Where: Mutiny Information Café
Why: The Yellow Rake is a Denver-based literary and culture magazine that is celebrating a remarkable fifteen years in existence with performances from local bands Simulators and Moon Pussy and writers and artists Charly Fasano, Karl Christian Krumpholz and Yellow Rake founder Brian Polk. The celebration will run two nights beginning tonight at Mutiny Information Café.

What: Martin Atkins DJ sets and spoken word
When: Friday, 08.09, 9 p.m.
Where: Tracks
Why: Martin Atkins who has been a major figure in post-punk and industrial music going back four decades (i.e. Nine Inch Nails, Killing Joke, Ministry, Public Image Limited) will do a DJ set tonight and perform some spoken word, possibly reading from his own body of work.

Saturday | August 10

ThisWIllDestroyYou_Veronika_Reinert — This Will Destroy You, photo by Veronika Reinert

What: This Will Destroy You w/Brin
When: Saturday, 08.10, 8 p.m.
Where: Oriental Theater
Why: This Will Destroy You is one of the better ambient post-rock bands. Mainly because its dynamics aren’t limited to the predictable builds and then inevitable catharsis like Sigur Ros without all the alien light and energy that imbues that band’s music. This Will Destroy You’s 2018 albums New Others Part One and Part Two finds the band further developing its textural elements giving its new set of soundscapes a depth of low end it didn’t lack but one that highlights the more ethereal melodies with a a evocative contrast in tone.

What: Rolling Stones: 2019 No Filter Tour
When: Friday, 08.10, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Mile High Stadium
Why: Anyone not know who the Rolling Stones are? Use your search engine and learn about the iconic rock and roll band that fused a gritty, heavily blues influenced rock music and evolved it in various and fascinating ways for years with lyrics that often indulged in unusual, offbeat subjects and really a broad spectrum of human experience making their songs long term engaging and influential. Keith Richards’ autobiography Life is one of a handful of essential books written by a musician.

What: GYES: Arc Sol, Mainland Break, Slugger
When: Friday, 08.10, 8 p.m.
Where: The People’s Building
Why: This edition of Get Your Ears Swoll brings to Northwest Aurora, Colorado experimental rock bands with a psychedelic loose edges.

What: The Yellow Rake 15th Anniversary Night 2: SPELLS, Black Dots, Muscle Beach and Joy Subtraction
When: Friday, 08.10, 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: The second night of The Yellow Rake’s celebration of fifteen years of existence takes place at the Hi-Dive with some of Denver’s best punk and post-hardcore bands.

What: Glasss Fest Day 1
When: Friday, 08.10, 12 p.m.
Where: Rhinoceropolis
Why: This two day event spanning roughly twelve hours each day brings together some of the most interesting of underground bands that often do not get much play at the clubs or more commercial venues. Which makes it an event worth attending to catch a slice of what you’re missing out on if you only go to venues that don’t book experimental music. Most of this stuff isn’t particularly challenging unless your idea of genius is mainstream pop music that is bland but has the veneer of quality or if you’re mainly only into one genre of music not represented. It’s an eclectic booking in a way that needs to happen in Denver and elsewhere more often. Schedule below. All times p.m. as if you needed to be told.

12:30 – DJ Zombie
3 – Grrrl
3:30 Kah Li
4 – Nothing is Everything
4:30 – MYTHirst
5 – Adam Selene
5:30 – Bios+a+ic
6 – Elle Green
6:30 – Sliver
7 – Bianca Mikahn
7:30 – Denizens of the Deep
8 – House N Complex
8:30 – Pearls & Perils
9 – Princess Dewclaw
9:30 – Abeasity Jones
10 – R A R E B Y R D $
10:30 – Catdog
11 – Techno Allah
11:30 – Savage Bass Goat

Sunday | August 11

UmbrasAnimas_Jun30_2019_TomMurphy — Umbras Animas, photo by Tom Murphy

What: Glasss Fest Day 2
When: Sunday, 08.11, 12 p.m.
Where: Rhinoceropolis
Why: See above for Glasss Fest.

1 – Sobremarcha/Hepster Pat DJ Sets
3 – Umbras Animus
4 – Galleries
4:30 Wngdu
5 – Disposal Notice
5:30 – Sumguy
6 – Bowshock
6:30 John Gross
7 – Venus305 / DCC
7:30 – Lady of Sorrows
8 – Pythian Whispers
8:30 – Dead Characters
9 – Soulless Maneater
9:30 Sadbug
10 – Joohsup
10:30 – $addy
11 – Hepster Pat DJ set

Tuesday | August 13

PlumeVaria_Jun8_2019_TomMurphy — Plume Varia, photo by Tom Murphy

What: Quits, Multicult (MD), Sliver and Equine
When: Tuesday, 08.13, 12 p.m.
Where: 3 Kings Tavern
Why: Basically a noise rock show except for Equine who is probably doing a noisy guitarscaping sort of set. And Sliver who are basically a grunge color-by-numbers act. At least when it comes to their Layne Staley wannabe singer/guitarist. But they’re pretty alright in spite of all of that. Multicult is a Baltimore-based noise rock band in the vein of Shellac and The Unsane. Quits is a Denver band with a similar aesthetic and one that doesn’t skimp on the raw emotional outbursts.

What: Pure Bathing Culture w/Plume Varia
When: Tuesday, 08.13, 7 p.m.
Where: Larimer Lounge
Why: Pure Bathing Culture started with Sarah Versprille and Daniel Hindman who are also members of experimental folk band Vetiver. PBC is more in the realm of dream pop but with a more organic base with vibrant and sparkling guitar work amid lush synths as well as Versprille’s warm vocals. The group’s 2019 album Night Pass is its first since being dropped from Partisan Records. And rather than a darker than usual album to reflect the process of the experience, Night Pass sounds like a band that kept going its previous creative trajectory of introspective, upbeat yet downtempo pop songs. Opening the show is Plume Varia who share a similar sensibility but whose sound palette is a little more dusky and with singer Cheri Cobbs’ vocals soulful and deeply evocative.

What: Matt Weston (Albany), Ryan Mcryhew and Ryan Seward
When: Tuesday, 08.13, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Rhinoceropolis
Why: This will be something of an experimental improvisational show including locals Ryan Mcryhew better known for his work as modular synth and beats composer Entrance and avant-garde percussionist Ryan Seward. Both will join Matt Weston whose own left field percussion and electronics has brought him into collaborative spheres with the likes of Roger Miller (of Mission of Burma), Jim O’Rourke, drone legend Kevin Drumm, free jazz saxophone player Charles Gayle and Jack Wright, another master sax improviser.

Wednesday | August 14

kamasi_washington3_Durimel — Kamasi Washington, photo by Durimel

What: Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington
When: Wednesday, 08.14, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Mission Ballroom
Why: Herbie Hancock probably needs no introduction as one of the most important artists in modern jazz as a composer, pianist and band leader. He played in Miles Davis Quarter, he was a pioneer of jazz fusion and funk, he has composed soundtracks, he had a 1983 pop hit with “Rockit” which fused jazz and hip-hop. His accomplishments are, frankly, to massive to list. Also on this bill is Kamasi Washington whose own role as a master saxophonist (he’s played on records by Kendrick Lamar, Thundercat, St. Vincent and others, no big deal), composer, band leader and producer parallels Hancock’s own. As a live performer Washington orchestrates the show with a subtle mastery that feels relaxed and informal due to the songwriting and the years of work already put in but which feels like watching a grandmaster at work. So go early to catch Washington and stay for one of the few living legends of jazz demonstrate his own musical magic.

The Alarm Aims to be Creatively Restless, an Interview with Mike Peters Ahead of Denver Show

TheAlarm_AndyLaBrow3 — The Alarm, photo by Andy LaBrow

The Alarm is currently touring North America with Modern English and Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel with a stop in Denver at the Oriental Theater on Friday, August 9. All three bands came up at around the same time and were on even mainstream radio in the early 80s. At that time post-punk bands of various stripes were enjoying varying degrees of popularity and commercial success. In addition to the above groups like U2, Simple Minds, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees helped to define the sounds and look of that style of music for decades to come.

The Alarm’s roots in music go back to Wales where singer and guitarist Mike Peters cut his teeth as a live band playing in the punk band The Toilets in 1977. Peters says the fledgling group played with bands like The Clash, The Buzzcocks and Sioxsie & The Banshees. The band would go to London’s now legendary The Marquee Club, where the Rolling Stones played their first live show in 1962, to see bands including Chelsea whose James Stevenson once drove original Alarm guitarist Dave Sharp home one night because he’d had a bit to drink. Stevenson now plays in The Alarm as well as Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel. The same social milieu meant that Peters went to a clothing store on London’s King’s Row where Billy Duffy worked before the latter joined The Cult. At that time The Toilets had dissolved or rather evolved into a group called Seventeen. “That was fairly directionless in a way and we experimented with echo, power pop, rockabilly and we got lost in the learning curve,” comments Peters. “But we got a tour with the Stray Cats by pretending to be a support band at gigs and we played The Marquee Club and the guy who ran the club thought we were horrible.”

That club manager refused to book Seventeen from thereon out from one of the premier venues of the era. But a year later Peters and company had reconfigured and focused its ideas into The Alarm. And still the guy at the club recognized the members from being Seventeen. “[He] said, ‘I’m not gonna have them play,’” recalls Peters. But Chelsea Singer Gene October offered to get The Alarm a gig as a support band but needed an alternate name so The Alarm played The Marquee Club for the first time as The Black Sheep and the club manager said, “That band’s going places.” At that The Alarm’s manager quipped “That’s the band you wouldn’t book. That’s Seventeen!” And from there The Alarm became a popular band throughout the 80s even though savaged by the English music press. It’s 1983 single “Sixty-Eight Guns” broke into the top twenty in England and it’s 1987 single “Rain in Summertime” cracked the American top ten Mainstream Rock chart, the latter remaining a staple of college and Modern Rock playlists for decades.

Though known for unabashedly positive up-sweep to its music, The Alarm’s catalog runs the gamut of emotions with luminous songwriting that sounds like the band is striving to connect with something bigger than themselves. By 1991 in the wake of the then new album Raw, The Alarm called it quits. Peters went on to a respectable solo career but also engaged in a short-lived project in the late 90s with his previous acquaintance and now then friend Billy Duffy—Coloursound. The group recorded demos, no official releases, but it did perform live. “Pardon me saying so but those recordings have a kind of cult status for fans of the bands,” jokes Peters. The band sounded like a fusion of the great sounds of mid-80s post-punk and Peters says that in the audience of that first show were Ian Astbury, The Cult’s singer, and Eddie MacDonald formerly of The Alarm.

“The next morning the phones were ringing off the hook, says Peters. ‘Let’s get The Cult back together! Let’s get The Alarm back together.’” By the turn of the century or so both groups were back and active.

But by then Peters had already recovered from a bout of lymph cancer only to discover in 2005 that he had chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He formed the Love Hope Strength Foundation shortly after to support people suffering from cancer and leukemia. Peters and The Alarm continued to write and perform music perhaps more actively than in its previous iteration and in the wake of Peters’ wife/band mate, keyboardist Jules, diagnosis of breast cancer in 2016 The Alarm has put out four albums in three years beginning with Blood Red and Viral Black in 2017, Equals in 2018 and Sigma in 2019. It wasn’t just the urgency of health issues that has inspired this flurry of creative activity either. Peters took on the challenge of his creative legacy as well and not to just rest on past laurels like a band celebrating live a kind of museum.

“I think a lot of that stems from arriving at that point in 2010 or 2011 and an era of fortieth anniversaries for The Alarm,” says Peters. “And I like to look forward so I took that as an opportunity to re-present ourselves as a modern band even given the dynamics of who we are, our age, and even though we have active and inactive members but all part of the family—you become a history of the band. You go away but you never really leave. So I wanted to re-establish the band in the modern era given the weight of our history and make music that can stand up to that and live up to that and represent itself through itself against that history. With the new records it challenged us to re-establish ourselves. That’s a stronger calling, I think, and that’s what’s fueled all the new music we’ve made. And more the will to survive, my wife diagnosed with breast cancer and my leukemia relapsed. There was a lot of reason in the air and to make music that could be a soundtrack for us not just as human beings but as a band as well.”

With the new configuration of the band Stevenson, a versatile instrumentalist, has taken on a greater role playing bass pedals as well as guitar as Peters plays a special guitar called The Deceiver which looks like an acoustic guitar but has greater capabilities than the standard instrument. Peters also has microphones set up across the stage so he can move about and in general the music can be presented in ways that had not been possible previously. To perform live for the anniversaries of their respective releases, the first two albums 1984’s Declaration and 1985’s Strength have been revisited and reinvented given the new live format and not hemmed in by the technological and creative limitations of the time of their original release.

In 2017 The Alarm performed on the Vans Warped Tour side by side with much younger bands but earned the respect of musicians and audiences who, given the era, shared The Alarm via social media platforms and giving the group a new audience that only truly knows the modern band and not influenced by expectations of years past. And the younger audience is having an impact on The Alarm’s older fans through social media.

“That’s re-invigorated our old audience and they see younger people talking about the music in social media. And they can say this band is making music today and it validates their reason to like the band in the first place. As long as we’re enjoying it and our success isn’t getting number one on the Billboard charts but maybe to still be there. It’s about longevity and creating a life in music. We’re still learning what we’re capable of. In the 80s we had big hair and western clothing but that’s only one facet of our history and people can discover other facets of us and doors open for us as we play and opportunities arise when we stay true to the core values of the band which is to to be restless, never be happy with what you’ve be created, make things better, make it around the next musical corner, live for the day to find that chord and keep on dreaming and the thrill of the music.”

Modern English and Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel have also been releasing some of the best music of their careers with 2016’s Take Me to the Trees with the former and the latter’s 2017 album Dance Underwater. Modern English in particular has always made interesting and moodily haunted post-punk but most people probably only remember the band for “I Melt With You,” which was commercially beneficial but has perhaps eclipsed its other fine offerings.

“A lot of bands can get overshadowed by a massive hit,” comments Peters. “I remember playing with Radiohead in Albany, NY in 1995. They were massive Alarm fans and struggling with the weight of ‘Creep.’ It became a sleeper hit in a way and they’d just released The Bends. And they were saying no one wants to hear The Bends, ‘They only want to hear ‘Creep!’ And it was killing them. Thom Yorke was really struggling and I talked with Jonny Greenwood and told him you’ve got to put your arm around this guy and stick to what you believe in and keep playing your music and it will come out from under the shadow. They stopped playing ‘Creep’ for awhile and I admire them for that because that’s what bands have got to do sometimes. That’s what’s great about seeing Modern English on this tour and spreading their wings and playing the music they love and playing ‘I Melt With You’ at the end of the night. It’s great seeing them and Jay and James playing songs from Dance Underwater. It’s as good as anything they’ve done. What’s good about this tour is that all three bands are as much about tomorrow and we’re all bands that have survived but the ethic of the band has stayed intact and that’s what people are experiencing when they come and see the tour.”

Best Shows in Denver 9/13/18 – 9/19/18

Angel-Olsen_TaylorBoylston2 — **Angel Olsen performs at The Paramount Theatre on 9/17/18. Photo by Taylor Boylston**

Thursday | September 13, 2018

JoeyDosik_CurtisEssel1 — Joe Dosik, photo by Curtis Essel

Who: Joe Dosik w/Moonglade
When: Thursday, 09.13, 7 p.m.
Where: Larimer Lounge
Why: With funk band Vulfpeck, Joe Dosik is often a bit of a sideplayer on sax and keys but with his recently released solo debut full length Inside Voice, Dosik makes good on the promise of his 2018 EP Game Winner. The lush production and Dosik’s versatile, soulful vocals is like something out of the late 70s or early 80s. Like maybe Dosik sequestered himself away from most modern music and listened mostly to a lot of Billy Paul, Luther Vandross’s 1981 breakout Never Too Much and Joe Jackson’s 1982 album Night and Day. Dosik’s compositions tend to be produced with more space to let atmospherics hang and resolve in a way that great pop artists in the aforementioned era often indulged but which in modern pop seems a bit of an all too human anachronism. These days, that’s the kind of quaint touch we could use more of.

What: Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk at Sie Film Center w/Aaron Cometbus and Anna Brown
When: Thursday, 09.13, 6 p.m.
Where: Sie Film Center
Why: Aaron Cometbus’ ‘zine Cometbus has inspired generations of artists from other ‘zinesters, comics creators and musicians. His depiction of life across his body of work captured the moment, low and exciting, in a way few have. He and Anna Brown, a writer, surfer, educator and significant figure in the California punk world since the 80s, will be part of a Q&A after the screening of Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk, a documentary about the punk scene in the San Francisco Bay area that brought us not just Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll but the rich punk subculture that it documented and continues to do so including, for better or worse, the wave of pop punk that was the next major musical movement from the underground to emerge as alternative rock was splintering and co-opted by mainstream moneyed music industry interests.

Who: Musical Mayhem: Marvel West, Mean Hand, Limber Wolf
When: Thursday, 09.13, 8:30 p.m.
Where: Lion’s Lair
Why: In case anyone missed it, Musical Mayhem, the more or less free format monthly hosted by Claudia Woodman is now at Lion’s Lair. While not mainly “weird” music, Woodman’s tastes tend to run that direction. But on this night American band Marvel West will make an appearance along with Mean Hand, a band led by long time Denver underground rock and punk legend Tom Mestnik. Rumor has it Denver’s luminous western slowcore-esque band Limber Wolf is low key releasing its album at this show as well.

Who: Rabbit Fighter, The Pretty Bones, Nighttimeschoolbus, Miss Owl & the Pull Apart
When: Thursday, 09.13, 8 p.m.
Where: Syntax Physic Opera
Why: Touted as “Girl Power Night at Syntax” this show includes the mighty Nighttimeschoolbus, the duo of Robin Walker and Toby Hendricks who combine experimental hip-hop beat making and deeply affecting vocals. Rabbit Fighter has as its Facebook image a scene from Heathers quoting Veronica Sawyer, played by Winona Ryder, saying, “DEAR DIARY, I WANT TO KILL.” And, once in a while, who hasn’t felt that? If it really is a pop band at least it’s probably one with some attitude.

Who: Lowfaith record release w/Ridgeway, No Gossip In Braille and Voight
When: Thursday, 09.13, 8 p.m.
Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective
Why: Dream pop/darkwave band Lowfaith is releasing its new album On Loss tonight at Seventh Circle playing with bands in a similar vein. No Gossip In Braille includes Echo Beds frontman Keith Curts and its lush, low key atmospheric rock is almost a polar opposite of his other project in tone and texture. Voight really combines the melancholy mood of a dark post-punk band with the furious energy of a noise punk project. While initially sounding a bit like a a great A Place to Bury Strangers tribute band, the duo has really brought in its more electronic side more fully, giving its already wiry yet brooding sound a calming quality in contrast to its often explosive live intensity.

Friday | September 14, 2018

Landgrabbers_Aug24_2018_TomMurphy — Landgrabbers, photo by Tom Murphy

Who: Cyanidols, Luna Sol, Flat Earth and Landgrabbers
When: Friday, 09.14, 8 p.m.
Where: 3 Kings Tavern
Why: For something on the harder edge of Denver’s punk world this would be the show to check out tonight. Cyanidols includes Sonya Decman (whose bass prowess and vocal power brought a good deal to Tarmints, The Symptoms and Brain Police) and Chris Kieft who has been a staple of Denver’s punk scene going back to the 80s along with Oscar Pop. Luna Sol is sort of a stoner rock band and includes Shanda Kohlberg formerly of The Swanks as well as former Supafuzz frontman Dave Angstrom. Landgrabbers is a little more countrified but it is a welcome throwback to that time in the Denver punk scene when a band could simply be good and not have to cater too much to some prevailing trend.

Who: Equine, Housekeys, Shawn Mlekush
When: Friday, 09.14, 9 p.m.
Where: Denver Distillery
Why: Even though most of the local music and culture press is sleeping hard on it, the local experimental music scene is pretty active and sizeable. This low key show at Denver Distillery includes avant-guitar and loop maestro Equine, ambient soundscaper Housekeys and Shawn Mlekush who may be playing some entrancing abstract guitar drones and/or using synth in conjunction. Brought to you by Thought//Forms, the gallery that has been home to some of this music since starting up earlier this year.
Who: UaZit, Goon, f-ether, Claudzilla
When: Friday, 09.14, 8 p.m.
Where: Lion’s Lair
Why: UaZit from Indiana is this sort of weirdo electronic downtempo project that is as much performance art as it is music. Akin to hip-hop with beats that could work for that but also reminiscent of MC 900 Ft. Jesus. This Goon is not the hardcore band, rather the alternative hip-hop/trap producer. F-ether is somewhere in the realm of dub techno and house. Claudzilla is also an artist that blurs the line between bizarro pop and performance art. She might even do some strange covers as worthy as the originals. But for sure if you think Denver only really produces stuff for the temporary techbro colony that has occupied the Mile High City, Claudzilla is an antidote to such cultural pathologies.

Saturday | September 15, 2018

NOTHING_2018_BenRayner — Nothing, photo by Ben Rayner

Who: Nothing w/Culture Abuse, Big Bite and Smut
When: Saturday, 09.15, 7 p.m.
Where: The Bluebird Theater
Why: Nothing has evolved its shoegaze-y sound since its inception having come out of hardcore and other heavier music but without losing some of the dark edge that informs the lyrics. Its new album On the Blacktop seems sonically the most fully-realized of its records with gritty pop washes and burning shines over melancholic vocals. Even though Domenic Palermo still struggles with health issues and the ensuing psychological maladies that predate and have come about because of those, he still manages to find a way to make it all seem like something you can cope with and not be completely subsumed by even if it seems impossible sometimes. Pop punk has long since made a comeback but Culture Abuse makes it seem like the genre isn’t out of ideas musically and thematically. It’s 2018 album Bay Dream looks like some kind of late 90s party record with the graffiti style visuals and it could be if that party involved some deep existential examinations rather than simply melodramatic songs about love lost forever. Smut from Cincinnati sounds like its members already went through that 90s grunge revival phase and discovered more expansive sounds even if right now it is sonically somewhere in the middle in a way that seems more interesting than throwback.

GeneLovesJezebel_CourtesyOfJayAstonsGeneLovesJezebel — Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel, photo Courtesy of Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel

Who: Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel w/Scifidelic and Radio Scarlet
When: Saturday, 09.15, 8 p.m.
Where: The Venue (1451 Cortez St., Denver)
Why: After a bit of a legal battle between Jay Aston and his brother Michael, Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel that the band Jay leads gets to use in America while the original band name in the UK and vice versa for Michael. Jay Aston’s band put out its first album in nearly a decade in 2017 with the surprisingly compelling beginning to end album Dance Underwater. The new record gives you a real appreciation for Jay’s talent as a songwriter and musician with a broad tonal and emotional range and great nuance of expression. His band includes members of Gene Loves Jezebel going back to the mid-80s and likely the closest one will get to see the classic line-up of one of post-punk’s underrated groups. In the 80s Gene Loves Jezebel had dance club hits and proved influential on the Goth scene of the time and Jay’s songwriting has been surprisingly durable with his current crop of songs seeming timeless rather than capitalizing on past glory.

Eyebeams_BlackLightPoster — Eyebeams, black light poster image courtesy Eyebeams

Who: Eyebeams EP & Blacklight Poster release w/Kissing Party and An Antiquated Bluff (Josie Cool solo)
When: Saturday, 09.15, 9 p.m.
Where: The Skylark Lounge
Why: Denver’s Eyebeams is releasing its latest EP and blacklight poster tonight at The Skylark. The four-piece makes music that out of having already done the indie pop and psychedelic pop thing and taking the skill set learned there to do something that’s the next step in that creative arc. Suzi Allegra and Nathan Brazil played in some of the best pop/rock bands of the 2000s and 2010s with Games For May, The Pseudo Dates and Fingers of the Sun and wrote literate, smart songs that will presumably someday be part of Denver underground rock canon. Fernando Guzman and Andrew Elkins made their own indelible mark with the experimental/weirdo art rock band Fissure Mystic, a group in which they spent their teen years and early twenties honing the use of raw sound experimentation in a pop song context even if no one would ever really confuse Fissure for being a pop band. Elkins very much brought that sensibility with his end of the songwriting. Allegra played in Fissure for a couple of years, Guzman played in Fingers of the Sun. So Eyebeams is a bit of a consolidation and progression of the musical ideas all four musicians contribute to this band. The new, self-titled, EP demonstrates Allegra’s genius for fully integrating melody with dynamics and for writing songs that have more depth and complexity than simply one emotional flavoring and color without self-indulgent clutter. There is a melancholic tone to all of the songs but also a yearning for knowledge and clarity of oneself yet an acceptance of the reality of ambiguity you come to live with as an adult that as a younger person maybe you churn into melodrama. As a bonus, the band is releasing a special edition blacklight poster of its album cover at the show as well.

Who: Cometbus: Live Reading and Q&A with Aaron Cometbus
When: Saturday, 09.15, 8 p.m.
Where: Mutiny Information Café
Why: For more on Cometbus see above on Thursday, September 13. For this night, Cometbus is doing a live reading from his body of work with a follow-up Q&A.

Sunday | September 16, 2018

LuxuryHearse_Sep7_2017_TomMurphy — Luxury Hearse, photo by Tom Murphy

What: 2 OUTS: An Electronic songwriter gathering: Pearls and Perils, Mirror Fears, And I, Keldari Station, Church Fire, Gold Trash, EVP, Panic Priest, Blackcell, Strange Powers, Lady of Sorrows, Juniordeer, $addy, eHpH, Nighttimeschoolbus, Luxury Hearse, Voight
When: Sunday, 09.16, 3 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: A veritable cornucopia of great Denver musicians writing songs using electronic instruments or, in the case of Voight, using a guitar but writing with electronic music sensibilities. If you go to one event the rest of the year and want a great and fairly broadly representative slice of Denver music that uses electronic instrumentation in a boundary-pushing, interesting way, there won’t be a better chance to see it all in one place because no one else is thinking of an event like this with the level of quality curation that went into it.

Who: WOE, WVRM, Noctambulist and Scepter of Eligos
When: Sunday, 09.16, 8 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: The heaviest show of the week, nay, the month happens tonight at the Hi-Dive. Brooklyn’s WOE may be black metal but its furious live performance feels more like seeing Neurosis combining dark, relentless grinding psychedelia with eruptive energy. WVRM from Greenville, South Carolina is on the surface more straight ahead grind but there’s something flowing underneath that suggests someone in the band is deeply into noise and industrial music. That sensibility gives the music an textural quality and vibe that brings even more an edge to the sound. Noctambulist conveys a similar unconventionality to its death metal onslaught. Like they’re crafting atmospheres to replicate those of a Lovecrafting other dimension hanging with Nodens while he sits back while the Great Old Ones bash it out amongst each other seeding the civilizations of mortal life forms with nightmarish it their darker corners. It seems as though doom is a genre that’s starting to get played out but Scepter of Eligos really challenges that notion because its own take on having roots in that music is to inject it with a healthy heaping of more interesting atmospheric and rhythmic qualities that give its songs an uncommon dimensionality in the genre.

Monday | September 17, 2018

AngelOlsen_Mar10_2014_TomMurphy — Angel Olsen circa 2014, photo by Tom Murphy

Who: Angel Olsen
When: Monday, 09.17, 7 p.m.
Where: The Paramount Theatre
Why: Angel Olsen is currently on her first solo tour in four years. The songwriter spent some time as a backing singer for Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Cairo Gang before striking out on her own and making a name for herself with her powerfully evocative voice and her ability to vividly articulate a complexity of emotion through lyrics and casting the perfect tone for the song. These qualities were there from early on but 2016’s My Woman revealed that Olsen wasn’t capable of just having a creative leap forward but transforming the sonic breadth of her music. The clever and wise songs of Burn Your Fire For No Witness was a brilliant indie rock album, My Woman was Olsen coming into her own and embracing possibilities for a record that seemed to convey that one can go forward in life without letting uncertainty be a stumbling block to your progress. For this tour Olsen will be performing stripped down versions of new material as well as some of her older songs yet playing fairly large rooms. Something about that hints at Olsen’s dry, absurdist sense of humor while acknowledging that she’s probably going to have to get used to those settings for the rest of her career.

Who: Gillian Welch and David Rawlings w/Punch Brothers
When: Monday, 09.17, 6 p.m.
Where: Red Rocks
Why: Since early in her career, Gillian Welch has performed with an ineffable gravitas and seemingly easy mastery of her voice and the voicings of her instruments. Maybe her being an orphan, albeit adopted into a musical family, put a haunting in her brain from a young age, a layer of melancholy that many musicians spend a good deal of their 20s and 30s trying to cultivate so that when they try to sing the blues or country or rock and roll it has genuine weight behind songwriting and performance. Welch had that on her 1996 record Revival and has simply evolved into being of the great artists of the modern era alongside her musical partner David Rawlings. At this Welch and Rawlings are no strangers to big format concerts but a late summer show at Red Rocks seems just about perfect for one of their shows.

Tuesday | September 18, 2018

NIneInchNails_CorinneSchiavone — Nine Inch Nails, photo by Corinne Schiavone

Who: Nine Inch Nails w/The Jesus and Mary Chain and Tobacco
When: Tuesday, 09.18, 6 p.m.
Where: Red Rocks
Why: Nine Inch Nails has apparently been breaking out some material it hasn’t performed live in quite some time like all of the 1992 EP Broken at its tour kickoff. But that aside, every Nine Inch Nails tour brings one of the best live shows that anyone is doing any given year since the band broke in the late 80s. On a recent tour the group had live set changes on stage in addition to an impressive light show. And as per usual, someone in the NIN camp has great and adventurous tastes in co-headliners and opening acts. In the past NIN has brought on tour underground weirdo rock/electronic bands like Deerhunter, HEALTH and Oneohtrix Point Never. This time out for the co-headlining tour with legendary proto-shoegaze/alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain, there will be Tobacco. The enigmatic electronic/psych/noise artist is perhaps more well known for his otherworldly pop band Black Moth Super Rainbow, but Tobacco is a bit of a different animal and at times could be considered a kind of avant-garde hip-hop with truly unique and mind-altering beats.

Wednesday | September 19, 2018

Who: Nine Inch Nails w/The Jesus and Mary Chain and Tobacco
When: Wednesday, 09.19, 6 p.m.
Where: Red Rocks
Why: For Nine Inch Nails, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Tobacco see above for 09.18.

Who: Sinister Pig, Lion Slicer, Suspicious Activity
When: Wednesday, 09.19, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Chain Reaction Records
Why: Lion Slicer is a punk band from Green Bay, Wisconsin making a stop in Denver on its “Wooly Eggnog Tour Part 2.” Does that mean it’s a little moldy? Who can say but since the show is free you have little to lose seeing it Chain Reaction Records. The band recently released its new record Lion Slicer Part 2, which if you’re into street punk, is great reminder that stuff didn’t die off into complete and utter obsolescence. Also on the bill are two of Denver’s better political hardcore bands with Sinister Pig and Suspicious Activity.

Who: The Mattson 2 and Astronauts, Etc. w/Stop Motion
When: Wednesday, 09.19, 7 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: Anthony Ferraro of Astronauts Etc. has written a kind of downtempo masterpiece with his 2018 album Living in Symbol. Something akin to a hazy Laurel Canyon jazz record but one written on the American East Coast while spending the evenings prior to writing in a dimly lit and cozy bar hanging out with Justin Hayward and Joe Jackson. Then taking the recordings infused with all those mysterious, chilled out vibes to Jonathan Rado to put his own haunted psychedelic pop touches into the mixing and mastering. Mattson 2 is cut from a similar cloth albeit one more obviously drawing on jazz roots with real chops to augment its lounge fusion compositions.

Who: Miniature Tigers w/Jasper Bones
When: Wednesday, 09.19, 7 p.m.
Where: The Marquis Theater
Why: Miniature Tigers came out of the mid-2000s as one of the more promising of Brooklyn’s indie pop bands. Although the influence of The Kinks and Elephant 6 bands were there, Mini Tigers also embraced the use of electronic instruments in its mix of sounds as well but with a more modern rather than retro sensibility. For its 2010 album Fortress the group collaborated on a song with Neon Indian as chillwave was reaching toward the apex of its popularity. The record that broke the band to a national, albeit still fairly underground, audience with touring to promote the album was 2008’s Tell It To The Volcano. This tour commemorates the 10 year anniversary of the release of the album but for a band that has consistently released albums since its inception, it’s a good chance to catch up with what the group is doing now.

Who: Ohmme w/Down Time and Mr. Atomic
When: Wednesday, 09.19, 7 p.m.
Where: Larimer Lounge
Why: Chicago-based jazz pop duo Ohmme released their debut full-length album Parts in summer 2018 but the group comprised of vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart had already established itself as a going concern melding technical prowess, avant-garde sensibilities and imaginative songwriting. The eclectic resume of both musicians including credits working with the likes of Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and Chance the Rapper. The synergy of their live performances, though, prove that they’re a force to be reckoned with and not a recording project that is taking tentative steps into the live arena.