Denver Music Blog

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This fine evening, Blue Million Miles is sharing a bill at 3 Kings Tavern with Lion Sized -- whose members will be taking some time off to hangout with kinfolk and write and record a new record, which means this will effectively be its last show of the year -- and Accordion Crimes. In advance of the show, the Blue Millonaires hooked us up with a new track, "Pterodactyl," previously only available on Radio 1190's latest Local Shakedown disc, which, incidently, is quite good and also features new, unreleased and exclusive songs from d.biddle, Bad Luck City, the Swayback, otem rellik, Munly and the Luprecalians, among others.

The band recorded "Pterodactyl" itself at guitarist Jeff Shapiro's home studio, with Shapiro and Ethan Ward (also of Gangcharger) behind the sliders. "We wanted to capture a live vibe for the song," Shapiro explains. "So we set up in our rehearsal space and just went for it. We tried not to get too lost in refining the production aspects, just wanted to get a good feel for a band playing a brand new song." Although "Pterodactyl" was merely a one-off recording while the band was writing new songs, the band plans to begin recording new tunes later this year and into next year, and if there's continuity between this version of the song and the new tracks, Sharpiro says, it may be included on the forthcoming record.

"I think the most exciting part for me," he concludes, "was that we have decided to engineer and produce our own stuff for the time being. Its a glorious headache being technician and musician, but I think it takes away the hourly studio rate gun away from our temple, allowing us to experiment with sounds and technique without blowing the proverbial budget -- meaning:none."

MP3: "Pterodactyl," Blue Million Miles

​The last time we heard from the Vices I Admire guys, they had just ended their seemingly never ending quest for a new bassist with the addition of former Fray five-stringer Dan Battenhouse. And aside from sporadic gigs here and there, the outfit has been relatively quiet -- for good reason. The band just wrapped up work on a brand new record, The Politics of Apathy, which it recorded at Colorado Sound with JP Manza and Ian Pinder. Although the album isn't slated for release for another month and and some change, we got our hands on the first single "Sweetest Girl," which we've subsequently posted here for your downloading pleasure. Catch Vices I Admire at its CD release party on Friday, January 1 at the Bluebird Theater.

MP3: "Sweetest Girl," Vices I Admire

​Just in time for the release of the second installment of the execrable Twilight series (New Moon opens tomorrow, in case you somehow managed to block that horrible truth from your consciousness) we're proud to bring you a vampire-related offering that doesn't suck. It's PJ Stroller's minimal tech remix of the Orange Peel Moses/Friends in Stereo track "Nocturnal Creatures." Stroller's take on the vampiric club anthem features some lovely, swirly metallic pads, a lonely, reverb-soaked melody that feels trance-inspired yet restrained, and a vocal that's pitchshifted down into something truly scary. It's a slick mix that manages to evoke the darkness and move your feet. Plus, no Robert Pattinson and absolutely NO sparkling. Download it below or hit the jump to preview it in an embedded player first.

MP3: "Nocturnal Creatures" - Orange Peel Moses (PJ Stroller Sunrise mix)

​The latest remix/mash-up from Animals at Risk -- the remix crew made up of Matt Fecher/DJ Hot to Death with Yonnas from the Pirate Signal -- is alive. The new track, "Intergalactic Fathers," takes the Beastie Boys classic "Intergalactic," chops up lots of little bits from Ideal Fathers "The Tendrils of Unreason" and makes something new(ish) out of the resulting mix. It's a decent track, but having never been a fan of that particular Beasties' cut, I can't help but wish they'd have chosen something else to fuse with the Fathers -- you'll probably get more out of it if you're one of the majority that seem tot adore that particular tune. You can preview the new track on the Animals at Risk MySpace, or just take advantage of the fact the track has found its way out into the wild and download it.

Photo by Lulu Devil

Tomorrow at the Larimer Lounge, Houses are playing a show where they will release Fall, the third of four planned seasonal EPs. And being the kind souls that they are, the good folk of Houses have provided us with a track from the new EP to give away. The track is "Red Feather," a warm, mellow slice of vintage-sounding rock and roll, perfect for the season and, as mentioned, absolutely free for you loyal fans to download. Grab it, enjoy it, and maybe we'll see you there.

MP3: "Red Feather" - Houses

​We've got a free pair of tickets to Monday's Wolfmother show at the Ogden Theatre with Heartless Bastards and Thenewno2. Sure, it's a Monday, but can you think of a better way to chase away those beginning-of-week blues than a sharp, concentrated shot of rock-and-roll insanity from Wolfmother? No, we can't either. So if you want to go, send us your name and contact info with "Wolfmother" in the subject line and we'll pick a lucky winner to attend the show with a guest, on us. And don't dawdle -- we'll be making our selection by lunchtime (early bird gets the worm and all that).

​Ready or not, it's time to start thinking about Christmas. Yes, we know, Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet, but you know how it goes. The pre-Christmas hype machine gets fired up earlier and earlier each year, it seems. Frankly, we're surprised that certain lite rock station hasn't started barraging us with wall-to-wall holiday tunes yet. Speaking of holiday music, newlyweds Jessica Sonner and Dan Craig as Oh, Starling have put together a five song EP comprised of -- you guessed it -- Christmas songs. Better act quickly, though, the couple is only giving the songs away as a free download until Thanksgiving. After that, it will be five bucks to download and a physical CD will be mailed to you, as well. Or if you'd like to skip the downloading thing altogether, if wait until after turkey day, you can pick up the disc at Twist & Shout or at various local businesses or at the show that Sonner and Craig are playing on Saturday, December 12 at the Gothic.

Michaela Joy

​Houses won't be the only local band unveiling new material at the Larimer Lounge this Saturday night. Action Packed Thrill Ride is playing an opening set during the release show for Houses' latest EP Fall, and they to hand out extended singles bearing new tunes. Today, we're offering some tastes of the group's new directions since their 2008 release, A Looseleaf Script. The following three tracks offer a stylistic departure from Action Packed's freshman record, bearing a slower pace, more nuanced finger picking patterns and meditative, musing vocals. The shift in style works, and if these songs serve as a preview of a full release to come, we're looking forward to it.

MP3: "Best I've Felt," Action Packed Thrill Ride
MP3: "In This River," Action Packed Thrill Ride
MP3: "Perfect Winter Day," Action Packed Thrill Ride

​Tonight, the Whigs are in town over at the Bluebird with the Features and the Dead Trees, and we've got a pair of tickets to the show up for grabs. If you'd like to be our guest at the gig this evening, drop us a line and tell us who or what the Flying Dorios are, and what, if anything, it has to do with the Whigs. (Hint: You'll find the answer by reading the Q&A we posted last year with drummer Julian Dorio.)

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If your idea of a good time is getting all crazy and sweaty, dancing to throbbing, bass-induced earthquakes beneath you on the dancefloor, this weekend's RE:CONVERGENCE dance music fest should be on your calendar. The last few years have been a renaissance of sorts for electronic musicians. Once confined to the underground warehouse rave scene of the '90's, modern dance music has grown infinitely more sophisticated, stylistically, into the brave new frontier of performers who expertly mate digitally enhanced beats with traditional drums, bass, and guitar.

​How are you set up for raw, fuzzed-out, classic-sounding garage rock? Could you use a few more songs to top off the collection? Sure you could! The Getdown! is giving away ten or so, in the form of two free EPs for you to download and (hopefully) enjoy. Rats & Vultures, from early 2008, is more like a mini album, clocking in at seven songs. The pictured Snakes & Snails (and can I just say how much I love that cover?) is a brand new, bite-sized EP with just three songs, two of them covers. You can grab both EPs at the Getdown's BandCamp site. And, as mentioned, they are free, so, as the band put it in the release announcing the offer, "If you download them and quickly decide that we are the worst band that you have ever heard and you could more than likely fart a better song, just delete them from your computer. Nothing is lost, You got them for free. But if you do like both of these albums....Well hot damn, Everybody likes free shit."

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As promised, we have your Fu Manchu tickets for the re-scheduled show tonight at the Larimer Lounge. Wanna go? Hit us up. For your chance to win, send us a note with your real name and tell us who you think has the coolest actual fu manchu in the world and why. We'll pick winners from the best responses we get. (FYI: In case you're on the fence due to certain athletic events taking place this evening, the Larimer has a pair of sizable flat screens, and smart money says that at least one of them will be tuned to the Broncos game. Just saying.)

​Every instrument, no matter how lowly, shall have its day. And the ukulele's day has arrived, at least locally. From Danielle Ate the Sandwich using the tiny instrument to accompany her big voice, to the Inactivists' distorting it and putting it front and center in their humor-riddled, weirdo rock, Denver digs the uke. And at the forefront of the ukulele movement is a guy so into it he incorporated it into his name -- Ukulele Loki.

Loki's been pimping the guitar's wee cousin for some time and his love for it shows on Ukulele's Gadabout Orchestra, his group's self-titled album which sounds like a bizarre art-rock circus time traveling through the first third of the 20th century, then stopping to jam with the early days of Elephant 6 before heading to the future in a banana-peel fueled Delorean. Full of clever, funny songs about acrobats, balloon animals and inflation, it's a weird ride, but one totally worth taking. But you don't have to take my word for it -- Have a listen via the player embedded after the jump, or just head over to Ukulele Loki's site and grab the record for free. The site says it's free for only a limited time, so don't dawdle.

​If you love the Talking Heads, enjoy cover versions of favorite tunes and don't think "jam" is a four letter word, you're going to dig this. Local jazz/afrobeat/electronic artist has long been known for their dress-up sets where they dedicate an evening to a favorite band's music. They tackled Sly and the Family Stone for Halloween this year, and this December 2008 show was a revisit of last year's Halloween selection of Talking Heads. It's got a bunch of recognizable Heads' hits ("Once in a Lifetime," "Burning Down the House," "Psycho Killer") and some gems from deeper in the catalog for Heads heads, too. You can download the whole thing in a variety of formats, from high-quality MP3s to lossless FLAC, at Archive.org, or just hit the jump and listen to it via the embedded player.

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Update 11/02: Last week's Fu Manchu show, which was canceled due to the band's difficulty navigating the roads into Denver, has been rescheduled for Monday, November 9 at the Larimer Lounge. We'll have tickets up for grabs next Monday, so be sure to check back.

Can't speak for the entire city, obviously, but the metro area roadways seem to be pretty decent right now. Although the winter conditions have prevented Combichrist from making its way to Denver, Fu Manchu is in route and ready to bring its sunbleached gargantuan groove to the Larimer Lounge tonight. Since that show is still very much on and we're guessing you could use a serious late afternoon pick me up, we've got a couple of tickets up for grabs for the show tonight. For your chance to win, drop us a line with your full name and we'll pick a few winners later this afternoon. Be sure to check your e-mail this afternoon to see if you won, as that's how you'll be notified.

Update 10/28: Uh, evidently, we spoke to soon or simply angered the snow titans. Just received word that tonight's Fu Manchu show has now been canceled. D'oh! Guessing the roads into Denver are a lot worse than they seem down here. No word yet on when/if this will be rescheduled, but we'll keep you posted.

​If you like your metal complex, melodic and focused on weighty matters such as mysterious murder and supernatural occurrences, have we found something you're going to love. Local prog-metal outfit Envinity has released their new, epic concept album Moira's Lake free for your consideration. Comprised of Niko Van Steenhoven (vocals/keyboards), John Taylor (guitars), Bryan Romero (bass) and Eric Everhart (drums), Envinity dwells in the musical (and conceptual) neighborhood inhabited by outfits like Tool, Queensryche and the more operatic black metal groups.

The eleven songs are bolstered by a 23 page PDF of artwork, back story and credits, plus a handful of other promo materials (wallpaper, contact info, ways to give them money) thrown in for good measure, all zipped into one convenient file. It's an appealing and complete package that other acts could definitely learn from when releasing their own digital albums. Download it for free (no registration required, either!) at www.envinity.org

​Later today, in an effort to thank fans and to tide them over until the upcoming full-length is released in January, the Chain Gang of 1974 will be posting a new album for free download on its MySpace page. Guerilla, as it's been titled, is comprised of b-sides, remixes and also features "F'n Head," a track from the new as-yet-titled record. The outfit, led by Kamtin Mohager, is playing tonight at the Marquis Theater, opening for the Epilogues and the Photo Atlas. See the full track listing after the jump.

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Yesterday, we told you about this Friday's split CD release party featuring the Photo Atlas and the Epilogues. Today we present you with a track from each of the bands for free download. The full split, titled the Friendship EP, will obviously be available at the show, and features the Photo Atlas taking on "King Arthur" by the Epilogues and that band taking on "Handshake Heart Attack" by the Photo Atlas. Since the guys -- who just returned from a joint tour in route to New York for CMJ -- are already pulling the old switcheroo, we're kind of wondering if they'e going to be dressing up as each other this Friday at their sexy costume dance party. It is Halloween after all. If not, maybe some of the other bands on the bill (The Battleship Agenda, Regret Night and the Chain Gang of 1974) will entertain us with their kooky costumes.

MP3: "I Can't Sleep," the Photo Atlas
MP3: "Hunting Season," the Epilogues

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Denver rapper/producer and former radio personality Lenny Lenn and his Kintenders imprint are offering their entire catalog for free download.The catalog features three compilation albums, solo projects from Lenny Lenn, James Ray, Joe D, and Mr. H, as well as collaborative projects with DJ Psycho and Q-Burse. When asked why they're giving away all these projects, Lenny Lenn said because people aren't really buying CD's anymore, so why not give them away?

"Sure you may sell a couple here and there but nothing to quit your day job over," he says. "I'd rather folks hear our music and be impressed with the full body of work. We did this all ourselves: recording, mixing, mastering, artwork, videos, all the beats, everything. That way when folks hear the material and it sparks an interest and they start calling -- which they are beginning to -- then you can charge."

Get the catalog list and links to all the projects after the jump.

Charlie Villyard

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More Freeloader tickets. Today: The Dodos at the Bluebird. Heard of 'em? They're great. If you haven't, here's what Jason Heller had to say about them in this week's issue:

Unlike their sonic brethren the Animal Collective
on the East Coast, San Francisco's the Dodos keep it simple -- but
hardly stupid. Steeped in psychedelic folk and classic pop, leader
Meric Long and crew focus on tattered guitars, huge yet warm drums and
the kinds of melodies and harmonies that bands once sold their souls to
the Devil (or at least the Byrds) to achieve. That said, there's
nothing blatantly retro about The Dodos' sound; rather, the band's most recent full-length, the sharp yet dreamlike Time to Die,
fits the current indie-rock landscape perfectly, carving out a sweet,
humble little niche without blindly following trends, throwing up
attitude or resorting to arty pretension. Plus, there's vibraphone. And
who couldn't use a little more of that particular happy noisemaker in
their lives?

Want to go to the show? Hit us up. That's it. No trivia today. Keeping it simple. Just drop us a line with your full name, and we'll pick a pair of winners later this afternoon.

Update: Congrats to Gemma Bayly and David Blehm, who each won a pair of tickets to tonight's show.

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Happy Wednesday. Yes, we've looked outside and know there's not much happy about this dreary day. Winter, it seems, is eager to rear it's ugly head. Nonetheless, we've got a bunch of tickets for some shows tonight that will hopefully help ease some of the pre-winter blues. First up, is Meshell Ndegeocello at the Boulder Theater. If you're unfamiliar with her, let's just said that aside from being an exceptional, multi-faceted musician -- particularly as a bassist, she's truly worthy of being in the pantheon of greats -- she's a captivating singer and songwriter. A few years back, she appeared in Standing In the Shadows of Motown, a compelling documentary focusing on the Funk Brothers, the unsung studio aces behind that imprints earliest hits. For your chance to win tickets to her show tonight, drop us a line and tell us what Motown classic she covered. With the weather, if you'd rather stay closer to the city, we've also got tickets to see the Nadas, a band whose seemingly made Denver its second home, at the Bluebird, and Great Lake Swimmers at the Larimer Lounge. And we'll make it simple to get your hands on those tix. For your chance to win, tell us where each act hails from. From the correct answers we receive, we'll pick some winners later this afternoon and shoot you an e-mail to let you know you won. So be sure to check your e-mail between 3 and 4 p.m. Happy humpday!

​What a compelling night of music in the Mile High City tonight, amigos. At the Bluebird, The Future of the Left, a promising U.K. trio on the 4AD imprint, shares a bill with Mumiy Troll, one of Russia's most esteemed exports, and Austin's finest, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. Over at the Larimer Lounge, meanwhile, rustic troubadour William Elliot Whimore stops by in support of Animals In the Dark, his Anti Records debut. We've got a couple of pairs of tickets for both shows with your name on 'em. For a chance to win, drop us a line with your full name and either tell us how Trail of Dead supposedly got its name for tickets to that show or tell us the place that Whitmore calls home. We'll pick a few winners this afternoon from those with the correct answer. Oh and if you haven't already, check out the interview we did earlier this year with Whitmore and the two we just posted with Ilya Laqutenko of Mumiy Troll and Trail of Dead's Conrad Keely.

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Update: Charles Hughes and Cherie C will be our guests at the show tonight. Thanks to them and to everyone else who responded with the correct answer ("Don't Dream It's Over" and The Stand). We'll have more tix up for grabs later this week.

Yes, we know it's a Monday. And yes, we know the Broncos are playing tonight. And yes, we know that suggesting that you do anything else on a night where those two things converge is appalling, like asking you to lend us $20 after you've just been laid off. Nonetheless, if you happen to be one of the few folks in this town not completely consumed by all things pigskin (we'd like to meet you, BTW, as we don't really believe that you exist), we've got great news: There's some compelling non-sporto related activities to compete for your attention this evening, namely the inaugural edition of Mike Marchant's songwriters workshop at the Meadowlark. And then when that wraps, Liam Finn (Neil from Crowded House's boy) is playing a show over at the Larimer Lounge. Dude's a pretty decent songwriter in his own right. Should be a good time. Want to go? We've got a couple pairs of tickets. For your chance to win, drop us a line with the answer to this question: There was a Crowded House song played in a Stephen King movie. Which song was it and what was the movie?

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This must just be the week for seemingly inactive bands to unceremoniously jump back into the fold. Earlier this week, we posted an item about the Titan Courageous, who's been off the grid for a while, making new music. Now we've received confirmation that Three Miles West, an outfit led by Russ Christiansen (pictured above) that has undergone its share of lineup shifts over the past few years and mostly been a face on a milk carton until recently, is back together and in the studio. After resurfacing for a few gigs this past summer, Christiansen and company have written and recorded several new songs, a pair of which we've posted for free download below, in anticipation of as yet titled release due this coming December.

MP3: "I'm Your Man," Three Miles West
MP3: "Raining In Greenville," Three Miles West

​Update: Congratulations to David Fender! He and a guest will be our guests at the show tomorrow night.

Gregory Alan Isakov has made quite a name for himself since first making his way down from the People's Republic some years back. Although he's been headlining rooms like the Boulder Theater and the Fox Theatre in his hometown for sometime now, he's steadily built up a loyal following in Denver playing intimate, well-received shows at places like the Meadowlark and the Walnut Room, which has allowed him to move on to performing at the Bluebird, where he's due tomorrow night with Eleanor, Danielle Ate the Sandwich and our own Andy Thomas. If you haven't heard it yet, his latest effort, This Empty Northern Hemisphere, which features Brandi Carlile, is just an absolute gem (give it a listen after the jump). The Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco are fans of the guy. And so are we. Isakov is still one of our favorite singer-songwriters. Want to see the show? We'd love for you and a guest to be our guests. We've got a pair of tickets up for grabs. Drop us a line for your chance to win, and we'll pick a winner later this afternoon.

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Although Mama has still (frustratingly) yet to play live with the lineup that recorded the excellent Bayoutopia, the ferocious hard rock act fronted by the inimitable Jeff Leonetti (aka Leonomadic), is reportedly hard at work on a new album. The record, Toxikinesis, takes its name from the superhero strengths of Swamp Thing. According to bassist Jonny Barber (aka Chris Barber, frontman of Spiv and expert channeler of The King as the Velvet Elvis), the record pivots on a heady theme of taking in so many toxins into the blood stream that a touch becomes deadly and results in an immunity to all poisons, viruses, bacteria and fungi. No word yet on when the album will be available -- or if the unit will indeed ever perform live -- but Barber, who's recording the record as we speak at the Church of Rock with his brother Jeremy Barber on guitar, Chris "Squaredogg" Woodward on drums and Leonetti on vocals and harmonica, has set us up with a few tracks from the sessions. Download them below, and if you haven't already, check out more few tracks from Mama's Bayoutopia.

MP3: "One More Day to the Full Moon," Mama
MP3: "Two Moons Rising to the West," Mama

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Great news: The Titan Courageous is back and sounding just as good as ever. After being spotlighted as one of the act's to watch in our Class of 2008, the act curiously embarked on an indefinite sabbatical. After a while, we just assumed the outfit was pushing daisies like so many other local acts that expired before realizing their potential. And so we were pleasantly surprised to to see the band's name listed on a few bills at the Marquis over the summer, and are even more heartened now to discover that the Titan Courageous appears to be making new music. This morning, we downloaded a new track from the band called "The War Portrait." Kicks major ass. We'd post it here for you to download, but honestly, you're better off picking it up directly at Titan's Bandcamp page, where you can choose from array of download files, from low quality MP3s to Flac or Apple Lossless files.

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Update: Congratulations to Bridget Dyer. Her and a guest will be our guests at the show tonight featuring Stone Temple Pilots, who, as correctly noted by everyone that responded, was originally known as the Mighty Joe Young before briefly changing their moniker to Shirley Temple's Pussy and then eventually settling on their current handle.

It's been a minute since Scott Weiland and his Stone Temple Pilots band mates have embarked on a headlining tour, and it's been even longer since they recorded any new music. In fact, the outfit has spent the better part of the current decade on the sidelines as Weiland focused on Velvet Revolver and his various solo endeavors. By all accounts, such inactivity would prove terminal for most bands in terms of momentum. Yet as a testament to the profound impact the act had during the '90s, if not the staying power of the music, STP's still able to play rooms the size of the Fillmore. The same cannot be said of a good majority of STP's contemporaries. Needless to say, it will be interesting to see if the band is still firing on all cylinders after all these years or if it has lost a step. Find out for yourself: We've got a pair of tickets up for grabs. For your chance to win, drop us a line and tell us the original name of the band, and we'll pick a winner from the correct answers later this afternoon. Good luck!

​So, you've been driving around, nodding your head and/or snapping your fingers to "Sexy Bitch," the cheesy, sleazy collaboration between French superstar DJ David Guetta and hip-hop dude Akon. And you're digging it, but you keep asking yourself, "Why didn't they release a crazy electro version of this shit?!?" Well, we may never know the answer to that question, but luckily, it doesn't really matter anymore, because local producer Audius has gone and banged up a remix of the track that piles the electro on heavy and he's slapped it up for you to download, free like. Have at it, electro fiends, and if you like it, catch Audius tomorrow at Brainwash, where he'll be playing it and numerous other records alongside Keoki, Barry Weaver and DJ Swamp and many other fine dance music acts.

​If you're in need of some new music to freshen up the ol' iPod, yet find yourself as bereft of disposable income as ever, here's some good news: more than three dozen free albums from Rope Swing Cities, all in one place for easy perusal. The local IDM/ambient electronic netlabel is just about ready to restart releasing music again after a moderate hiatus, and to celebrate, they made one, easy to access location for their entire back catalog. The artists represented include nearly a dozen local acts, plus musicians from Canada, France and Japan. So what are you waiting for? Visit the Rope Swing Cities catalog page, grab a few releases and enjoy.