Best Shows in Denver and Beyond 10/24/19 – 10/30/19

Black Belt Eagle Scout performs at Boulder Theater on October 30, this photo and thumbnail image by Sarah Cass

Thursday | October 24

Penelope Isles, photo by Abbey Raymonde

What: Penelope Isles w/Sleepy Animals and Sad Bug
When: Thursday, 10.24, 7 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: Penelope Isles from Brighton, UK recently released its debut album, Until the Tide Creeps In, through Bella Union. The record is a mix of woozy indie pop and fuzzy guitar rock. Its washy dynamics and use of samples and incidental sounds on the record speaks to an almost sound design approach to the recording to convey a sense of place and an experience beyond some pristine studio product. It’s as though you’re hanging out with the band and going for a walk along that shore and trading stories about life. The band’s use of minor progression transitions is sublime making the record more evocative than might seem obvious on first blush and worth delving into for the sheer array of sounds and emotions running through the ten tracks.

What: Emergency Contact w/Debaser and American Culture
When: Thursday, 10.24, 9 p.m.
Where: Rhinoceropolis
Why: Seattle’s Emergency Contact is somewhere betwixt irreverent lo-fi slacker rock and pointed post-punk. Also on the bill is Josh Taylor (former Friends Forever and used to run Monkey Mania) as Debaser playing some strange bass-based songs. Unless it’s something completely different these days which it may be. American Culture is a guitar rock band rooted in indie pop but influenced by the chimy-dreamy-dark post-punk of The Cure. All shredders who care more about songwriting than showing off, which is a rarity.

What: Weathered Statues EP release, Triton FC, Rejekted Kauses
When: Thursday, 10.24, 8 p.m.
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Weathered Statues is releasing its latest EP, Desolation. Fans of Xmal Deutschland and The Cure will find something to like about this post-punk band whose fluid rhythms and urgent melodies go for the dark places in the psyche as a path to catharsis and healing.

What: JPEGMAFIA w/Butch Dawson
When: Thursday, 10.24, 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater

Friday | October 25

Maribou State, photo by Sam Neil

What: Maribou State w/Sea Moya
When: Friday, 10.25, 8 p.m.
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: English duo Maribou State are known for their remixes of popular artists as well as musical collaborations with the likes of Khruangbin, Holly Walker and Pedestrian on its 2018 album Kingdoms of Colour. The project’s sound could be described as downtempo steeped in non-Western sounds and rhythms mixed with electronic jazz and soul. Its songs have mood aplenty but also an uplifting quality driven by creative song dynamics. Though often described as an electronic project, Maribou State includes live, acoustic drums, guitar and other instrumentation performed by humans and not just a track of well sculpted electronics. Fans of Prefuse 73 and Blockhead may find much to like with Maribou State.

What: Cat Power w/Zsela
When: Friday, 10.25, 7 p.m.
Where: Boulder Theater

What: Johnnascus, Techno Allah, Data Rainbow and $addy
When: Friday, 10.25, 8 p.m.
Where: Glitter City

What: Five Iron Frenzy w/Be Like Max & Scooter James – benefit for Habitat for Humanity of Puerto Rico
When: Friday, 10.25, 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater

Saturday | October 26

Solypsis circa 2016, photo by Tom Murphy

What: Psychedelic Cave Collective Presents: Supreme Halloween Mega Bash 2019: Snowbeasts, Acidbat, Mondo Obscura, Red Side Vs. DJ Wise, Biostatic v. Denizens of the Deep, Psybrid, Solypsis, DJ Spacekeeper, DJ Hepster Pat, Visuals by Cheyenne Grow and Orchidz3ro
When: Saturday, 10.26, 9 p.m.
Where: Rhinoceropolis
Why: Thee beat driven ambient, noise and industrial extravaganza of the year in Denver. Acidbat is a hybrid of breakbeat and ambient glitch. Mondo Obscure is ambient bordering on psychedelia and new age mantra music. Biostatic is pure ambient but incorporating processed trumpet with finely sculpted electronic beats. Solypsis is here from Arizona with his own confrontational ambient-industrial mayhem. Visuals done by two of the real talents in Denver who get what goes well with this music.

Sunday | October 27

The Vanilla Milkshakes with Frank Registrato on drums circa 2015, photo by Tom Murphy

What: Shibui Denver #7: Frank Registrato and Stalebread Scottie
When: Sunday, 10.27, 7 p.m.
Where: Mutiny Information Café
Why: Assuming a blizzard doesn’t descend on Denver, the next edition of Shibui Denver hosted by Queen City Sounds and Art scribe Tom Murphy will include Frank Registrato of The Vanilla Milkshakes who will perform vocal and piano songs for perhaps the first time in the Mile High City. He was once involved in the world of music in Orlando and Disney and in the orbit of Lou Pearlman and his pop music empire and brings a lifetime of vast musical experience into his songwriting and performances. Also on the bill from out of town making a special appearance is Stalebread Scottie of The Drunken Catfish Ramblers, blues folk artist from New Orleans, who appeared in the HBO series Treme.

Tuesday | October 29

Samvega circa 2016, photo by Tom Murphy

What: Today’s Paramount, Samvega, Emily Shreve and Giardia
When: Tuesday, 10.29, 7 p.m.
Where: Lost Lake
Why: Doom/folk/psychedelic band Samvega will perform at this show that features other bands on the spectrum of math rock and experimental like Today’s Paramount and Giardia.

What: Matt and Kim w/SWMRS
When: Tuesday, 10.29, 7 p.m.
Where: Ogden Theatre

What: Wu-Tang Clan w/Onyx and Dillon Cooper
When: Tuesday, 10.29, 7 p.m.
Where: The Mission Ballroom

Wednesday | October 30

Milly, photo courtesy the artist

What: Swervdriver w/Criminal Hygiene and Milly
When: Wednesesday, 10.30, 7 p.m.
Where: Bluebird Theater
Why: Of all the bands lumped in with early 90s shoegaze, Swervedriver, like Catherine Wheel, was one those that rocked a little harder than most and its use of car metaphors seemed to vibe with an American sensibility as well. The band’s 1991 debut album Raise yielded classic blazers like “Son of Mustang Ford” and “Rave Down.” Over the course of the next two decades and more the band evolved and explored new vistas of sound and is now touring for its 2019 album Future Ruins. Opening act Criminal Hygiene from Los Angeles sounds like a mix of slowcore delicacy and fuzzy indie pop. Milly, also based in Los Angeles, started as the home recording project of frontman Brendan Dyer when he was living in Connecticut. But the band has fleshed out a spacious and evocative sound employing entrancing gradients of atmosphere and floating melodies. The group recently released its Our First Four Songs EP showing great promise as modern slowcore soundsculptors with an ear for transporting dynamics.

What: Devendra Banhart w/Black Belt Eagle Scout
When: Wednesesday, 10.30, 7 p.m.
Where: Boulder Theater
Why: Psychedelic folk genius Devendra Banhart is now touring in support of his latest album Ma. His shows are always a lush presentation of his fascinatingly colorful and left field compositions. But sharing the bill is Black Belt Eagle Scout. Katherine Paul released the album Mother of My Children under that moniker in September 2018 to great acclaim for its vivid and poetic depiction of the experiences of queer Indigenous people in a sensitive and nuanced manner. Her bright, atmospheric folk songs and gently soulful vocals reveal an inner strength that comes across powerfully. She recently released her new record At the Party With My Brown Friends.

What: The Bloody Mary’s and Sympathy F
When: Wednesesday, 10.30, 7 p.m.
Where: Moe’s Original BBQ

What: Camilla’s Ball: Scifidelic, The UnioN and Married a Dead Man
When: Wednesesday, 10.30, 7 p.m.
Where: The Bug Theatre

What: Com Truise w/Altopalo and Beshken
When: Wednesesday, 10.30, 8:30 p.m.
Where: Fox Theatre

What: Ghostmane w/Lil Tracy, Harm’s Way, Horus the Astroneer and ParvO
When: Wednesesday, 10.30, 6 p.m.
Where: Ogden Theatre