Arcade Fire Put On The Show Of The Year In Denver

Walking into the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night you would have thought you were about to witness a boxing match judging by the boxing ring smack dab in the center of the arena. Not the case as Canadian imports Arcade Fire used the prop as their stage to shine. All we were missing was the familiar sound of Michael Buffer exclaiming "Let's Get Ready To Rumble". The band played into the boxing moniker as they were introduced before the modest crowd (who by the way missed the best show of the year) just like the prized champions of the squared circle.

As soon as they set foot into the ring all hell brooke loose for almost two hours of non-stop dancing and singing. The band put on a performance that will be talked about for many years to come (unless they outdo themselves on their next tour). Backed by one of the most talented bands in the land Win Butler played the master of ceremonies as each song on the setlist flowed smoothly and gave life to the live performance with the array of lighting visuals that would make the most popular EDM fan jealous. Fans who were on the floor got one of the most intimate performances as the center stage rotated along with the band members making for dynamic views all around. The setlist was a hodgepodge of material spanning from their five studio albums. Opening with the first single off their new album "Everything Now" the band took tremendous pride in what has been a much ridiculed album earning modest ratings. Not ones to back away from criticism, the band has established themselves beyond the fact that the perception of one album shouldn't hinder the amount of work they have put in to position themselves as one of the most respected bands in the world. Notable moments from the night were solo performances from Régine Chassagne who got to shine and impress on new single "Electric Blue" (Off Everything Now) and our beloved "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) off their third album The Suburbs. Her penchant for the theatrics gave way to a warm and welcomed reception as the crowd ate up everyone of her unorthodox dance moves. We love you Régine don't ever change. After all was said and done this may very well have been the show of the year for us.

Opening the night was Colombian band Bomba Estereo who warmed up the crowd with their stapled tropical electro indie anthems. Many in attendance were left in awe as the band who sang mostly in Spanish captured the audience with the array of tropical flare.

Arcade Fire Set List:

Everything Now | Signs Of Life | Rebellion (Lies) | Here Comes The Night | No Cars Go | Haîtî | Electric Blue | Put Your Money On Me | Neon Bible | Intervention | Modern Man | The Suburbs | Ready To Start | Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) | Reflektor | Afterlife | Creature Comfort | Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) | Encore: We Don't Deserve Love | Everything Now (Chorus) | Wake Up

Words and images: Robert Castro

Ariel Pink Felt The Altitude, Eh?

Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, otherwise known as Ariel Pink played the Bluebird Theater on Tuesday as a part of his tour promoting newest album Dedicated to Bobby Jameson.

If you’ve heard the music, you know it’s good. Ariel has a hold on this “hypnagogic pop” that makes you feel a sense of nostalgia because it specifically incorporates music, technology, and entertainment from time periods that make you feel this way. A master of the Lo-fi, psychedelic pop genre, he’s got lyrics that make the crowd simultaneously sing and sway, a kind of eerie setup full of props and webs, and fan base that obviously loves him through projects solo or otherwise.

Ariel Pink (Photo Credit: Meesh Deyden)

Despite all these factors, Ariel still seems to get himself into some trouble when it comes to his demeanor, such as October 14th at The Chapel in San Francisco when some of his fans left the venue after “gross behavior”. He took to Twitter to apologize for this incident saying, “I got very drunk and overdid everything and wrecked my vocal chords and managed to offend with my antics.” I bring this up because I’m under the impression that these same factors caused the Denver show to be much less than it could have been. Rosenberg was visibly drunk, lighting a cigarette onstage, running into his stage props, and causing a lot of microphone feedback. I can’t imagine that insulting the lighting guy by calling him “local talent” really helped either, which I think resulted in super obnoxious lighting choices made the rest of the set.

Favorites such as “Another Weekend”, “Lipstick”, “Round And Round”, and of course, “Baby” redeemed some of the front man’s seeming carelessness, but his ingenuity and overall seeming disconnect from the beautiful music he’s making is a slight put off.

The show was a good time, and the people around me seemed to think so too. I will say however, that it is a little discouraging as a fan to see an artist you love give very few shits about the performance you’re watching. Oh and, #Lightingguysmatter.

Words: Lina Skrzypczak Images: Meesh Deyden

Austin City Limits Music Festival | Day Three | Weekend Two

RTJ (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

RTJ (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Day three of this years Austin City Limits paved way to probably the best of the three days. The weather was perfect as the high never really reached about 75 degrees or so. One of the best acts we caught all weekend was Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit, riding the wave of their recently released new album, the band took advantage and played a lot of newer material. With perfect harmonies and layered riffs the sisters fed off each other and played a near flawless set. Up next was one of our favorites Run The Jewels (do these guys ever take a day off?). It has gotten to the point were the duo of Killer Mike and EL-P have reached headliner status with their infectious politically charged lyrics and well though out beats. Always encouraging  crowd participation which makes way for an amazing live set, the band feeds off the energy and vice versa. They played through many of their hits and left us hungry for another album.

As the sun set and crowds got comfortable we made our way to catch one of the hottest bands of 2017. Portugal. The Man, with heir recently released album Woodstock and fell good hit of the summer "Feel The Still", the band performed under the dark lights and motion projection layered upon the backdrop. A band who we have seen mature over the years and continue to get better and better with each take.

The nights dueling headliners had us choosing between Gorillaz and The Killers (photo restrictions for both). We managed to split our time between both sets as we sang and danced to the early material from Brandon Flowers and company and also managed to catch Damon Albarn and his supergroup lay into some of their newer material. As always The Austin City Limits Music Festival continues to earn top billing for us year in and year out. With a new layout and more ample space, the fest never felt overcrowded and still managed to include a few more stages and variety of music for all to enjoy. See ya next year Austin.

Tera Melos Awes the Larimer Lounge

Photo by fan Jamie Cotton

Photo by fan Jamie Cotton

Three piece band Tera Melos hasn’t graced Prog-Rock fans with any music since 2013’s X’ed Out but the groups newest album, Trash Generator, has fans of the innovators excited. Igniting the Larimer Lounge this past Friday with their fun presence, complex song structures, and use of effect pedals, Tera Melos was a sight to see, even if the music doesn’t suit your fancy. To understand what you missed, you must first understand the genre from which they come, “math rock”. Intricate guitar riffs, unconventional time signatures, and quickly alternating rhythmic patterns can feel chaotic to those who don’t get it. Being someone who has followed Tera Melos since 2009, I’ve seen the band grow in terms of approachability. They have added vocal measures that resonate with fans, and hooks that are repetitive enough to be catchy. Plus, they have a really awesome set up involving something like 15 sample and effect pedals that contribute to the intricacies and improvisation aspect of the genre, while showcasing their individuality.

A decent sized crowd of all ages looked as though they were enjoying themselves, most people taking part in the massive mosh pit that overtook the majority of the room. No bigots, no loud talkers, everyone was there to flail to some weird noise music and embrace a Friday night.
Openers Speedy Ortiz and local band Holophrase started the night off with a taste into progressive indie rock and industrial sounding electronics. Frontwoman of Holophrase, Malgosia Stacha, had nothing but wonderful things to share about her own experience and collaboration with group Tera Melos. “Nick, guitarist, played and co-produced or last album, so we use a lot of samples of his guitar which makes us sound cool, and Nick seems to love hearing himself all chopped up like in our songs.” Cool to know that the music of the evening all comes from a community inspired and thriving within itself. Obviously I had to ask Stacha what her favorite part of the night was, to which she responded, “It was seeing all the Tera Melos fans just completely lost in their music. I can’t forget their faces.” Hell yeah!

A bill worth seeing, musicians worth noting, in an environment that didn’t make me want to pull my hair out. 9/10

Tera Melos comes to Denver 10/20

tera melos.jpg

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Tera Melos. Four years to be exact. And, oh my, are they back with a vengeance.

Trash Generator, the trio’s third full length, is an astonishing blast of confidence and rejuvenation. It sounds as if the downtime has recharged the band with an entirely new sense of purpose. The performances are brilliant and sharp, the songs concise yet intricately detailed, and the album production deftly captures the band’s strength as a live unit. Their dalliances with mellower psychedelic phrases on their previous two albums, X’ed Out (2013) and Patagonian Rats (2010) are significantly trimmed and instead utilized as colorations within a swirling maelstrom of righteous aggro punk-jazz abandon. As such, it sounds like Tera Melos has fully metabolized their pop tendencies and found a way they can coexist with the band’s iconoclast origins. Tera Melos — guitarist/vocalist Nick Reinhart, bassist Nathan Latona and drummer John Clardy — have learned to stop worrying and just be Tera Melos.

Perhaps to understand Trash Generator, we must look at the situations leading up to it…

“We toured consistently for 19 months after X’ed Out was released in 2013,” Latona explains. “We did two full US headliners, three full US support tours, a Japanese tour, a month in Europe, and a run of shows in the UK and Ireland. When we finished, we were pretty exhausted and frustrated.” It had seemed that after all of that work, not much had changed for the band. Tera Melos took a short holiday break, which eventually turned into two years as each of them pursued other interests. “I found myself at ease with the idea of not worrying about ticket sales, strategic tours, units moved, likes, clicks, views, and the short-fused moodiness of living in a van with two other people,” Latona says. In that downtime, Reinhart remained active in multiple endeavors: contributing guitar to Death Grips’ The Powers That B album + the I.L.Y.’s (Zach Hill and Andy Morin’s other band), Big Walnuts Yonder (with Mike Watt, Nels Cline and Greg Saunier), Goblin Cock, Portugal.the man and many others. Latona completed a college degree he’d put off for 11 years. Clardy became an integral faculty member at the School of Rock in Dallas/Ft. Worth, inspiring young musicians with his real-world approach to learning music.

For every touring band there’s a subtle pressure — from fans, industry, promoters, family — that the band is supposed to be on a constantly rising trajectory of success. Regardless of the group’s own potentially esoteric goals, if you’re not reaching for the “next level” at every turn, you’re supposedly not doing it right. Tera Melos thought long and hard about it and said, “fuck it.”

“With this record it was 100% let's not concern ourselves with what we should be doing at this point in the band's lifespan, and just fully focus on what makes us happy,” Reinhart says. “Making a new record seemed like a fun act of defiance,” Latona adds. “The odds are against bands like us, but despite all the negativity involved in trying to struggle and survive as an artist, we made Trash Generator because we just wanted to get together, have some fun, and make something that we think is cool.”

The trio decamped to San Diego in late 2016 to record at Singing Serpent Studios with Ben Moore (Hot Snakes, Pinback). It was their first time recording in a continuous block of time, rather than the piecemeal stealth late night sessions at friends’ studios of previous efforts. It gave the band a razor-sharp focus atop of their beholden-to-none attitude. “We stayed in a spare place at Rob Crow’s house which had a barracks kind of feel to it,” Clardy explains. “We’d come home exhausted each day and fall asleep within an hour. It was very spartan when away from the studio.” That mindset clearly informs the direct, in-your-face energy of Trash Generator.

Album opener “System Preferences” starts things off with a simmering energy built upon a short 3-note bass loop and Reinhart’s trademark whispersational Syd Barrett-esque vocals setting the stage for Gang Of Four style chopping guitar lines and rollicking toms. “Dyer Ln” pits a twangy guitar and a slice-n-dice rhythm section against each other with subtle sleight of hand (and foot) between Clardy and Latona. Elsewhere, “Don’t Say I Know” showcases the band’s brilliant synthesis of pop hooks with lightning fast shifts of rhythm, style, tone and mood — often within the same measure. The title track centers around syncopated, angular arpeggiated guitar notes building into an explosive chorus with the catchy, odd chorus refrain, “trash generator/ I’m not a bad guy.” Reinhart has gained considerable notoriety in the musician’s gear world in recent years from his contributions to Juan Alderete’s “Pedals and Effects” blog/YouTube channel and their viral “100 Pedals” video. HIs knowledge of and skill with employing countless guitar pedals to accentuate his playing is tastefully on full display throughout the album. Latona and Clardy, not to be outdone, shine like never before as the band effortlessly slips back into their own unique and jaw-dropping musical vocabulary.

Check them out October 20th in Denver at our very own Larimer Lounge! 

 

the upcoming Tera Melos album "Trash Generator", available August 25th, 2017

The Red Hot Chili Peppers Returned To Denver After Their Rescheduled Appearance

California rockers The Red Hot Chili Peppers made their way back to the Mile High City for their rescheduled performance at The Pepsi Center on Monday night. The legendary rockers belted out their hits from their incredible catalog to entertain the packed house. In typical RHCP fashion the band played for the crowd with intensity and true showmanship. They also celebrated the birthday of bassist Flea (who managed to throw in a few jabs at the Denver Nuggets) who still manages to get up and down the stage with his gyrations and customary bass in your face attitude. Check out the amazing photos from staff photographer Aly Mclaran.

Lead man Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers performs for the Pepsi Center crowd. (Photo Credit: Alyson McClaran)