Something Like Sound

Andrea Ball has a new record coming out (March 23) and today she posted the first single and title track “Dial Tone.” If the rest of Dial Tone sounds as good as this track does, then we’re all in for a treat. Listen to the track below or on her MySpace or Facebook. A proper CD release show will be held at Hi-Dive on March 26. In the meantime, be sure to catch her at Westword’s Artopia.

Patrick Beseda // Photo By Tim Weilert

Welcome back to school! If you’re reading this there’s a good possibility that you’re at the lovely (and notorious) Colorado School of Mines. While you were off drilling for oil or designing yet another SolidWorks model, we were busy going to concerts, conducting interviews, and reviewing the best new music that Denver has to offer. Here’s some of the highlights from the 2009 Denver summer music season.

• Interviews! We got tons of them: everybody from Bad Religion, Lucero, and Big Head Todd & The Monsters to local favorites such as Danielle Ate The Sandwich, Paper Bird, Rob Drabkin, The Heyday, and Dualistics. Also, most of our interviews are in video form for your entertainment.
• Festivals! With access to the summer’s hottest festivals, be sure to read up on the Westword Music Showcase, Mile High Music Festival, The Underground Music Showcase, and Warped Tour.
• Reviews! Just scroll through a couple pages to see all the records we listened to this summer. Most of our favorites were local acts, sure to make it big soon.
• A compilation! Just when you thought there wasn’t anything else, we’re dropping this on you. Coming soon (hopefully September 4, to coincide with the Celebration of Mines), we will be releasing our first compilation of local acts on the newly formed OrediggeRecords.
• A contest! Be our 200th follower on Twitter and win!

Tim Weilert // Photo By Patrick Beseda

So consider joining the team and check out one of The Oredigger‘s informational sessions.

Here comes the second, just like the first, a little bit louder and a whole lot worse.

Saturday

Joseph Pope III (Rock The Cradle, 3 pm): I haven’t had a chance to catch his solo act yet, but I have enjoyed what he has added to The Wheel.

Elin Palmer (South Broadway Christian Church, 4pm): After seeing her play Friday night, I’m impressed (and also a little intrigued to learn more about Sweden). I might not show up to this one (since I did just see her), but you definitely should check it out.

In The Red (TS Board Shop, 5:30 pm): As a band on the local Suburban Home Records, I’ve heard alot about these guys, but haven’t heard them live yet.

Astrophagus (Hi-Dive, 6:30 pm): A band that combines beautiful and trippy soundscapes with guitar and trumpet. It’s like the ’59 sound remixed.

Wardens (Hi-Dive, 8:00 pm): I met the lovely ladies from Wardens Friday night, and I said I’d be there. Plus these girls came all the way from Brooklyn.

Danielle Ate The Sandwich (Hornet, 8:15 pm): Ukulele madness! You gotta love Danielle’s unique style

Dualistics (Skylark, 9:30 pm): Get ready to rock out, plus hear some new tunes from this group.

Bad Weather California (Hi-Dive, Midnight): Another excellent closer for the evening, Bad Weather will certainly not let Saturday go quietly into the night.

Sunday

The Pseudo-Dates (TS Board Shop, 3:30 pm): Another band I met during the festival. These guys seem like a fun bunch, so why not check them out (what else would you be doing at 3:30 on a Sunday?)

Hawks of Paradise (Goodwill Parking Lot, 4:30): Last time I saw these guys was opening for Akron/Family, and I remember it being very loud (in a good way).

1090 Club (Goodwill Parking Lot, 6 pm): I already did a write up on these guys, read that.

Andrea Ball (Hi-Dive, 8:15 pm): I had “Beat Beat Pound” stuck in my head today (again), maybe she can get it stuck in yours too.

Bowerbirds (Hi-Dive, 10 pm): This group is making the trek all the way from North Carolina to croon us Colorado folk, don’t miss it.

Pouring coffee on yourself is a very distressing occasion. Doing so will ruin both your shirt and your night. However, despite the vanilla latte my shirt was soaking up, my night was not all for loss as Andrea Ball and Trace Bundy filled the night with their relaxing melodies.

Filling Everyday Joe’s, a coffee shop in Fort Collins, to capacity, roughly 250 sat in eager silence as Andrea Ball picked up her guitar and started beating on it in a way somewhat musical. The song eventually took on more form as the drummer and bassist picked up the melody and continued along. Her set, simple in instrumentation and structure, progressed with Ball moving between piano and guitar regularly. Her voice led the way providing the varied strengths and weaknesses of the songs. Between songs, her dry sense of humor kept things going relating songs with influences and other random parts of her life. For more information on Andrea Ball, take a look at the album review we posted not too long ago.

Following up Andrea Ball’s hour-long set, Trace Bundy took the stage with little flair. No stranger to Everyday Joe’s, a sense of belonging aired about him as he adeptly picked up his guitar and beat it as percussion, starting quite similarly to Andrea Ball. Bundy’s extensive use of tapping, delay, and looping gave him a very unique sound that was as pleasurable to listen to as it was to watch. Between songs, stories about his travels around the world, learning how to text, and or the background for the next song filled the gaps, keeping people laughing as he tuned his guitars. For the most part, he played alone, only being joined occasionally by his violinist and, even rarer, his wife.

Bundy’s sense of humor matched his skill at the guitar. He revealed that the first song he learned on the guitar was “One” by Metallica. However, it’s become a bit too easy for him over the years. To keep the challenge fresh, he played the famous riff on his iPhone using a guitar app. His violinist also joined him with a violin app. The story behind his song “Dueling Ninjas” was equally entertaining with details about how ninjas dislike violins and were therefore angry at each other. Through the entirety of his two-hour set, the crowd sat laughing and amazed at the Colorado-native guitarist.

Words by Spencer Nelson, Photos by Tim Weilert

With finals now behind us it’s time to start summer classes (insert sarcastic “yay!”). But that doesn’t mean we’re stopping. This week we’re going to 3 concerts in 3 days, and we’ll have daily posts with photos and reviews. Tomorrow is Manchester Orchestra at the Marquis, Wednesday is Young Coyotes at Rhinoceropolis, and Thursday is Trace Bundy and Andrea Ball at Everyday Joe’s in Fort Collins. We also have a new video interview from The Silent Years that should be ready in the next couple of days. Also in the works: New album reviews from Paper Bird and Dualistics. We should also be hearing back from the Mile High Music Fest. people about our press access here soon.

Finally, we’ve decided that it would be awesome to put together a compilation of Denver-based music acts. It would be available for free via this blog and will achieve 3 goals.

1. Promote the featured bands: If you want to get your music to smart, sexy people who have great taste, there’s no better group than our readers.

2. Promote Denver: The Mile High City is pretty great, and the talent doesn’t end with the Fray, we’ve got lots of great musicians to showcase.

3. Promote our blog: by organizing such an ambitious experiment we hope to grow our readership and continue to bring you the best of Denver music.

Any parties interested in taking part in our experiment need only comment below.

Introduction: Andrea Ball is one of those musicians who caught our attention earlier this year when a few friends of the blog introduced us to her music. At the time all we had to go from was the few tracks streaming on her MySpace page, but it was definitely enough to make an impact. When Dave Herrera at Westword asked for our picks of Denver bands that we liked we put Andrea on our list (and I think a few other people did too, because she made the cut for the Westword Music Showcase ballot). Either way, Andrea Ball has a particularly straighforward and accesible sound that should make the Mile High City proud.

Memorable Song: The title track “Beat Beat Pound” certainly represents the best of Ball’s musical and lyrical prowess. Waking up today I had a lot to think about: finals, bills, etc.; yet I had the lyrics “You don’t define me / it’s the other way around / put your ear to my chest / hear my heart beat, beat, pound” running through my head. This song has an incredible replay value and I would say it’s better than most of the singles you hear on the radio. Another track we like: Gem.

Forgettable Tune: Once again I’m having a hard time saying that any song on this album is “forgettable.” Perhaps it’s because the entire album is only 8 songs (clocking in at about 30 minutes). Despite this shortness, every track seems well put-together and thoughtfully arranged. There are definitely stand-out tracks (see above), but the rest of them are still pretty good.

Final Thoughts: I think Andrea’s in the process of recording some new material (judging from recent posts on her blog), which is exciting. I am definitely looking forward to hearing what’s next from this Denver-based singer-songwriter. Be sure to consider her when voting in the Westword Music Showcase. Furthermore, she’s playing a couple shows in the near-future. May 14 at Everyday Joe’s (Fort Collins) and May 15 at the Soiled Dove (Denver).

Watch “Funeral” here!

Edit: It looks like the Hot IQs are breaking up after their June 19 show at the Bluebird (we learned the news from Backbeat Online here) I know we already mentioned this as a must see show, but we’re moving it up to “do not miss this show or you will never forgive yourself” status.

Further Edit: We took Fear Before, 3Oh!3, and Flobots off the list because you probably already know them.

So last month we had extensive coverage of one of my favorite DIY bands from Denver, Young Coyotes. This got me thinking, “Who are the other groups people should know about?” Well, then today Dave Herrera over at Westword asked us to send in our nominations for the 2009 Westword Music Showcase, here’s who we chose. You might have heard of some of these groups, some you don’t know. Hopefully we’ll be able to work with these bands to bring you the best new music from the Denver scene all summer long.

1. Young Coyotes
2. Hot IQs
3. Ian Cooke
4. Pee Pee
5. Bad Weather California
6. Born In The Flood / The Wheel
7. The Photo Atlas
8. Hearts of Palm (have apparently broken up too)
9. Meese
10. Andrea Ball
11. Richard Ingersoll
12. Danielle Ate The Sandwich
13. The Heyday
14. Paper Bird
15. Trace Bundy
16. Bela Karoli
17. Laura Goldhamer
18. Roe
19. Brave Saint Saturn
20. Rob Drabkin