Something Like Sound

It was a couple months ago Dave Herrera at Westword contacted us to get our input on this year’s showcase. We sent in our picks and the festival finally came. Due to the shear massiveness of writing reviews for the acts we saw, each band gets 30 words… ready, go!

Astrophagus (1 pm, Curious Theater): Think Miles Davis meets Radiohead, minus Thom Yorke’s whiney voice. These guys built an amazing wall of sound with synths, guitar, drum loops, and trumpet. Expect to see them at UMS.

Houses (2 pm, Curious Theater): Ever since lead singer Andy Hamilton sent me their EP, I haven’t listened to anything else. With all 7 members, Houses had a big sound, but a relaxed attitude. Expect to see our EP review soon.

Hello Kavita (3 pm, Curious Theater): I remember walking in thinking “Who kidnapped Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and brought him to Denver?” These guys put on a top-rate performance, and are putting finishing touches on a new album.

Achille Lauro (4 pm, Curious Theater): “I feel like we’re in a Talking Heads video,” said bassist Jon Evans of the Curious’s interesting set-up. The group proceeded to create instrumental harmonies until we left early for Cursive.

Cursive (4:15 pm, Verizon Outdoor Stage): Having only heard The Ugly Organ once, and their new single “I Couldn’t Love You,” I had an enjoyable time watching this Omaha-based band’s incredibly intense performance.

BDRMPPL, CacheFlowe, luengliss, Josephine & the Mousepeople, Married in Berdichev, Pictureplane, and Slight Harp (5pm, Curious Theater): Perhaps one of the most interesting things I’ve ever seen, this group of about 10 musicians from all the groups listed filled the stage with synths, laptops, modulators, and all kinds of electronics to perform their unique styles of trip-hop/remix music live.

Bela Karoli (featuring The Wheel) (6 pm, Curious Theater): This avant-pop group had a little trouble with feedback, but once it was under control everything went beautifully. At the end of the set The Wheel came out and played a couple songs to the then-packed house.

Meese (6:55 pm, Verizon Outdoor Stage): This local group is releasing a new album on a major label at the end of the month. Quite honestly I got a little bored during their hour-long set, the generic pop sounds didn’t really strike me as memorable.

Built To Spill (8:25, Verizon Outdoor Stage): When I woke up on the day of the fest, I had “I Would Hurt A Fly” running through my head (basically, I love Built To Spill). Although they didn’t play that song, they did most of my favorites, including “In Your Mind,” “Strange,” “Sidewalks,” “Kicked It In the Sun,” and had a strong closing with “Carry The Zero.” Seeing these legends of indie-rock reminded me how much I love guitar and how good their music is after all these years.

Well, that was it, we took the bus home and slept. As you can see, we spent most of our time at Curious, this was mostly because that’s where most of the great up-and-coming acts I’d only heard about were playing. Our friends Young Coyotes, The Photo Atlas, Epilogues, Andrea Ball, etc. also had sets that day, but I wanted to expand my boarders. Special thanks again to Dave Herrera at Westword for getting us better connected with Denver music, we all look forward to seeing what’s in store for next year.

One last thing. Our buddy Lance from The Flat Response was there taping at both Curious and the Verizon Outdoor Stage for most of the day, if any of his recordings turn out, we’ll let you know where you can listen to them.

Words by Tim Weilert, Photos by Bengsoon Chuah

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