Ian Cooke to present "The Race" remixes and debut new songs at Create Denver kickoff

Last we heard from Ian Cooke, he had extended an invitation to fellow local musicians to remix his song " The Race." With that goal in mind, Cooke posted a dozen different parts of the song that folks could download and tweak, twist and manipulate at will. A number of people, including Tommy Metz of Ieungliss, took him up on the challenge, and you can hear the results of their handiwork on Cooke's Bandcamp page.

Or if you're the type who prefers a more tactile listening experience, tomorrow night at the Spire Building (14th and Champa) at 7 p.m., as part of Create Denver Week, Cooke will offer up some remixes of the song, including a live mash-up of the Iuengliss version, along with some sort of interpretive dance put together by some other folks.

If that's not enticing enough, Cooke is also planning on playing some of his new songs, eight of which he's already recorded with his estimable bandmates -- drummer Sean Merrell, bassist Whit Sibley and guitarist Ian O'Dougherty -- at Bob Ferbrache's Absinthe Studios. Cooke and O'Dougherty have been hard at work finishing up those tracks and recording more at the latter's Popshop Studio. All told, Cooke has twenty new songs to choose from -- some brand-new and some that he's been working on for a while -- which he hopes to release this fall.

"The songs are more dense, more epic, and generally more piano-based," O'Dougherty notes, adding, "Still, there are plenty of cello-only songs, as well."