Denver Music Blog

Yesterday, Eryc Eyl discussed Michael Trundle's debut remix. Today, he delves into Trundle's musical background a bit and unveils the remix itself.

"The entire song is there," says Trundle, with a hint of pride. "In some places, it's separated by some beats, but it's all there." The DJ is now working on a treatment of the Pixies classic, "Hey," and he says he'll be taking the same approach with that track. "These are songs I love," he says. "It'd be kind of a shame and an insult to the artists to not include the whole song. I want all those lyrics present. I want Danzig to hear it and not completely hate my guts."

Michael Trundle (aka boyhollow)

​A couple weeks ago at Monolith pre-party, something new and unexpected caught my ear, a track Michael Trundle (aka boyhollow) played as he warmed up the crowd for the Cool Kids at the Gothic Theatre. It was an electrified, dancefloor-friendly version of the classic Danzig tune, "Mother." Instantly recognizable, the remix had me singing along, throwing up devil horns and dancing like an ecstasy-fueled rave monkey. As I looked around the floor, I noticed I wasn't the only one responding. The entire front of the Gothic was bouncing and screaming "Mother!" at the top of its lungs. At the end of the set, Trundle revealed that he had created the remix -- his first -- and all I could do was grin.

Soren McCarty

​Most years, I make it up to Red Rocks for just one show. It has to be a real occasion -- something to make it worth the drive, the parking, the overpriced beers and the difficulty of escaping once the show is over. Two years ago, I made the journey for Ozomatli, and I left when the headliner, Los Lonely Boys, launched into its onanistic set. Last year, it was Daft Punk, I think. This year, I thought Leonard Cohen was going to be the one show worth the hassle -- one beautiful, magical, once-in-a-lifetime moment up in the hills to catch a performer I've longed to see for more than twenty years. Turns out I was wrong. Tonight, I'm heading up for the third time this summer, so far.

​I have this friend in town, a DJ who has been making music for a very long time and absolutely loves Denver. He played in hardcore bands back in the day and can wax nostalgic for hours about cruising down from his teenaged home in Evergreen to explore the underground punk scene. Nowadays, he's a pretty successful DJ who gets to do things other DJs dream of -- like touring with rappers, playing huge parties in places like Las Vegas, New York and LA, and actually making a living. And even though my buddy still returns to his Denver home every chance he gets, he still thinks there's something fundamentally wrong with our city's scene that limits an artist's ability to find his fans. What is it?

​Musicians have plenty of frustrations to contend with. Between dealing with their haters and detractors, and banging their heads against the unyielding wall that stands between their artistic efforts and some kind of meaningful financial reward, the battle can be downright exhausting. Sometimes, however, the most difficult thing about being an artist can be finding your audience - not for cynical, commercial gain, but because you know there just have to be folks out there who would really get some joy out of what you're doing - if only they knew you existed. This frustration can even exist within a relatively small community like Denver.

As I've mentioned once or twice in this blog, I occasionally DJ around town, under a pseudonym. I use a pseudonym because I want to make it clear that Eryc Eyl, the DJ, operates in a musical universe that is completely different from the one inhabited by Eryc Eyl, the music critic. We are, in some ways, separate individuals. My deejaying has very little to do with my writing. It's an outlet for a completely different relationship with music. I rarely play the hippest, hottest underground releases, break new artists or balance on the bleeding edge of indie obscurity. My sets lean heavily on mash-ups, covers, '80s cheese, dirty raps and whatever else it takes to get people in a bar to dance, laugh or smile. I might have been listening to obscure death metal or kiwi pop all day, but when I set up my humble rig, the first track out is more likely to be Too Short or one of Mad Mix Mustang's absurd mashes than it is to be Phoenix or any other Pitchfork favorite. When I DJ, I pander. I placate. I wallow in the muck of pop culture. I wink at people a lot, which is probably a little creepy.

3OH!3 has officially achieved ubiquity. The duo performed live yesterday on MTV's It's On with Alexa Chung. The guys are featured among people.com's hottest bachelors. Oh, and in actual music news, "Don't Trust Me" has reached the number five spot on Billboard's top 40 chart. As the Boulder ballers -- due at this year's Mile High Music Festival in addition to embarking on another go round on the Warped Tour, followed by a slot at the Reading & Leeds festival in late August -- unleash "Starstrukk," the next single from their major label debut, Want, "Don't Trust Me" gets the remix treatment from Cleveland hip-hopper Kid Cudi. Nat Motte unveiled the remix last night. Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.

You've had the experience. You're driving in the car or Pandora-ing or even - gasp! - listening to the radio when that song comes on - the one you can't believe you forgot all about. Instantly, you're transported in time and space - back to that kegger during your freshman year when you got so drunk that you lost your shoes. Or to that high school dance where you got dumped by the vending machines. Or to your wedding, the birth of your child, your divorce. I've written before about the Proustian power of music -- and so has Dave Herrera -- but over the past week or so, I've been overwhelmed by it. Nostalgia isn't quite the word for it. That word connotes positive - even idealized - longing for the past. This is something entirely different.

Denver-based photographer Gary Isaacs has just unveiled a 78-page collection of photographs of one of this city's best-loved bands, Slim Cessna's Auto Club. The book includes some truly striking black-and-white on- and off-stage shots of Slim, Munly and the gang from the past few years, as well as snippets of Auto Club lyrics. You can get a glimpse of the book and pick up a copy from Isaacs's website. Copies will also be available on the band's July tour, including a stop at the Larimer Lounge on July 15. 

Many thanks, for your patience and indulgence as I continue to wrestle with family health drama. Almost two weeks ago, I started to tell you about my experience at LIFEspot, and then left you hanging on the cliff. It's high time we picked up where we left off -- which is exactly when things got weird, in beautiful, creative and surprising ways.

Look, I hear you. I can't imagine running or walking six miles, except, perhaps, to find some great bands and cold beverages. Still, every Memorial Day, thousands of people descend on Boulder to run the BolderBOULDER. This is the famous 10k race's 31st year, and, if you're like me, it'll be the 31st year that you won't be running. However, for non-runners, there's plenty of ancillary entertainment all along the race route, including many, many bands and solo musicians. For the sixth year in a row, race organizers have put together a compilation of songs that you can download on the BolderBOULDER website, tracks from a bunch of great local bands including, King for a Day, Magic Mice, Sonnenblume and Meniskus, among others. And, if you happen to be a runner, 2009 is the first year when headphones will be allowed on the course, so you can load these tunes onto the portable listening device of your choice before you commence to pounding the pavement.

Earlier this year, I made a commitment to broaden my horizons. I said I'd catch music in different genres and at different venues than I normally frequent. I didn't set any specific measurable goals to correspond with this resolution, but I think I've been fairly successful. For example, last month, I caught some bands at the fabled Herman's Hideaway for the first time. Last week, I enjoyed drinks (and the cacophony of the piano bar) on the patio at Charlie Brown's. And last Friday, I had my inaugural experience at the LIFEspot in Centennial. That last one was nothing like what I'd expected.

When we made out yesterday, I told you about how to get Wentworth Kersey's new CD for the price of a cup of coffee. In response to that, I received several incisive and insistent questions, such as: "Huh?" "Wha?" "Why?" and "Is that your hand on my thigh?" So I thought I'd share a bit of my conversation with Jeffrey Stevens, one half of the enigmatic duo known as Wentworth Kersey (Joe Sampson makes up the other half), to further elucidate this, um, marketing plan. Read on.

Forgive me, for I have sinned. It's been nearly two weeks since our last makeout. I'm sure you've probably moved on by now, found others to make out with and forgotten me completely, and I don't blame you. All I can say in my defense is something you undoubtedly already know -- that family emergencies have a powerful proclivity to clarify priorities and put things in perspective. Getting one of those phone calls is like being awakened from a wet dream by a bucket of ice water, poured over your head by a sadistic Angus Young lookalike. Even if I'd wanted to make out with you while waiting to see my daughter through a bizarre bacterial infection and my father through quadruple bypass surgery, my cotton mouth and shaking hands would have made it pretty unpleasant. But all is better now, and I have to tell you about a local act's cool ploy to get their music into your hands for the price of a cup of coffee -- literally.

3OH!3's single, "Don't Trust Me," is currently the number one four downloaded song on iTunes. If you haven't yet heard the Colorado-grown duo's big-time debut, Want, you can now download the whole record without putting a penny in Steve Jobs's pocket. Lala.com is offering the album for a mere $3.99. Given the fact that Max3 recently offered the Photo Atlas's latest for $3.98, are we to assume we're entering the era of the four-dollar album? Skip a latte and get your afternoon pick-me-up from 3OH!3 instead.

Last week, I downloaded the latest free EP from the Autumn Film, a local act that makes a habit of giving its tracks away online. I must admit that, before I got my hands on this collection, a three-track-and-a-video collection called Heart-Shaped Box, I was far from being a fan of the band formerly known as Tifah. It wasn't that I had anything against the extremely talented trio of Tifah Al-Attas, Dann Stockton and Reid Phillips. It was simply that the group's adult contemporary pop didn't speak to me. All that changed, however, with one track: "Joy."

If you're like me, when you go out to see live local music, you're not really thinking about the ecological impact of the experience. You drink a few beers out of plastic cups. You set those beers on a paperboard coaster. You spill beer down your shirt, then wipe it up with a bleached napkin. And then you watch the band perform, bathed in the light of horribly inefficient bulbs. Last week, I wrote about how Bands for Lands is a launching a "Green the Scene" initiative to help venues improve their relationships with Mother Earth. However, I failed to mention how you can help. Read on, land lovers!

Making good on its promise to deliver unique multimedia bundles for download, Max3 is currently offering the latest EP from the Photo Atlas, To Silently Provoke the Ghost, for the recession-friendly price of $3.98. But that's only part of the story. In addition to the record's five fresh tracks, you'll also get a video for "Jealous Teeth," band photos, the poster from the band's February CD release show (shown here), all the cover art from the physical CD and a lyric sheet. You can view, peruse, print and fetishize the digital files at your leisure. This is a great way to make local, independently-released music available and interesting to the masses. If you're looking for a way to support local music, support a local business and support innovative music distribution, now you can do it all on the cheap. And, as if that weren't enough, the music is really good.

I had a very exciting conversation last week with Doug Bohm, co-founder of Bands for Lands. The Denver-based nonprofit, which has used live music and other arts to further the cause of conservation and sustainability for over a decade, is about to embark on a new initiative to increase awareness of these same issues within our city's live music venues, bars and clubs. The program, called Green the Scene, aims to decrease the negative impact that your favorite dive or dance club has on the environment.

"Can you make me sound like Akon?"

Once again, the Boulder bubble will host the socially and musically progressive Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts. Now in its second year, the three-day event includes electronic musicians from the UK, Germany, Canada, Mexico, the US and Belgrade, as well as local freaks, like Denver's Cacheflowe and Boulder's Normal Ones. Best of all, the festival emphasizes the environment alongside electronics, powering its outdoor events with biofuel, encouraging attendees to use alternative transportation and even implementing a program to ensure that the festival generates zero waste. But none of that is what really caught my eye about this year's festival.

The Photo Atlas and the Still City will be playing this Thursday night at the Marquis Theater. In itself, that might not seem so noteworthy. Sure, the Photo Atlas has been receiving some great national press lately, and the Still City is one of the best bands I haven't seen. What makes this show really remarkable, however, is that it is in honor of the launch of a new Denver-based digital distribution company called Max3. Oh, and there's free beer (if you RSVP)! Sounds like just the right place to make out.

On Friday night, I caught an entertaining, thought-provoking and extraordinarily heady bit of theater out at Miners Alley Playhouse in Golden. The play, directed by award-winning Denver actor and skilled chef John Arp, is called The Visitor. Written in 1993 by French playwright Eric Emmanuel-Schmitt, the piece finds God on Sigmund Freud's couch as the Nazis lay siege to Austria. It's a bizarre and surprisingly funny bit of philosophy that tests the limits of both faith and reason.

Upon leaving the theater, my radiant date and I high-tailed it back to Denver to catch the Nirvana tribute show. Helmed by Dualistics, the all-star affair commemorated the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Nirvana frontman, grunge posterboy and fin-de-siècle martyr, Kurt Cobain. This might sound like a far cry from contemporary French theater, but as it happened, Dualistics carried on challenging my powers of reason and faith. I'll leave it to others to review the show, but I can't avoid commenting on the philosophical victories of the night.

Well, it's the end of the week and time to wrap up this little tutorial on how to begin sinking slowly, satisfyingly and inextricably into the local music scene. We've barely scratched the surface, of course, but it's time to move on to other pressing issues. So far, we've talked about getting exposure to local bands by catching the opening acts of touring bands you like and about bingeing on local music at one or more of Denver's fantastic music festivals. Today, we'll look at a tactic that is often overlooked: become a regular.

Fissure Mystic

As I mentioned yesterday, it can be pretty damned daunting and difficult for a well-intentioned person to start exploring Denver's almost embarrassingly fertile local music scene. Sure, you can pore over Westword's listings, but how do you figure out what's both worth checking out and up your proverbial alley? In the last Mile High Makeout, I talked about the power of catching local opening acts for touring bands that you already know. Today, we'll look at another trick that I actually used to start making out with the Denver music scene.

Photo: Dave Herrera

Anyone who has cast even a cursory glance at Westword's calendar recently will see that the media hue and cry over the death of music is greatly exaggerated. In spite of economic and emotional depression, music piracy and General Qaddafi, the Denver music scene is alive and kicking the crap out of prime time television. You can still catch original, local, live music nearly every night of the week.

In a beautiful collision of altruism, more musicians are donating their time and talents to help kids this week. Instead of helping the children of Denver, as the Denver Gives March Music Jam will, these musicians will benefit kids on the other side of the world. On Friday night, March 27, at the Driscoll Ballroom on the DU campus, you can catch a world-class lineup for a mere ten clams. The indomitable Ian Cooke, the captivating Joshua Novak and the powerfully charming Hello Kavita will all contribute to the Gaza Relief Concert, an event intended to raise awareness of the very human suffering endured by the people of that region, and to raise money for the Middle East Children's Alliance, an organization that helps families and children in need.

Towering rocker and singer-songwriter Mike Marchant has a well-documented penchant for giving away music. When his band, Widowers, released its debut album, Marchant couldn't give away copies of the painstakingly recorded beauty fast enough. Little has changed since then, as evidenced by a recent e-mail the psych-pop tunesmith sent. The message contained links to download a handful of Widowers and Marchant solo tracks, as well as an exhortation to share liberally. One of those tracks is a concise little solo gem called "Mexico" that has yet to see an official release. Want it? Well, Marchant wants you to have it. Download "Mexico" for yourself, and make sure to catch the man himself at his next gig and thank him. Along with Dualistics, Jen Korte, John Common, Dan Craig, Angie Stevens, and members of Achille Lauro, Hello Kavita, the Still City, Ghost Buffalo and more, Marchant will be playing the hi-dive on April 3 as part of a show to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Denver musicians donating their talents to a worthy cause. As I observed back in October, the most generous contribution an artist can make is his or her art, especially when it just might draw in a crowd of folks with some deeper pockets. This Saturday, a number of incredibly talented Denver musicians will be donating their delicious art for the sake of Denver's children. You'll find rock veterans Forth Yeer Freshman, the remixed Revenge of Astrophagus (read this for an explanation of what that means), David Tamkin, the jammish Revelation Union and pop-rockers Schofield -- plus DJ Cristian Whitney -- pouring out their musical hearts at the March Music Jam, organized by Denver Gives, a local nonprofit group. It all goes down on Saturday, March 28, at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom. Read on for more details.

I'm a little stunned by the controversy surrounding ridiculous screamo-hip-hop also-rans, BrokenCYDE. If you haven't heard, earlier this week, a post on Loud Hawk Press called for the removal of the band from this summer's Warped Tour, on the basis of two offenses: 1) they suck, and 2) their lyrics are misogynistic and racist. Now, I'm no fan of BrokenCYDE, nor do I condone sexism and racism, but something about the conversation going on over there strikes me as, well, a tad prissy for punk rock.

photo by Chad Fahnestock

Picking up a thread I started on Tuesday, in which I confessed to judging a band's performance based on elements that, honestly, had nothing to do with the music, I'd like to turn now to the flip side. Last weekend, I decided I liked an act before it even took the stage. Once again, my snap judgment had nothing to do with the music.