Whew. Day 3. Late-night / early-morning afterparty after a day of heated venues and blasting music, and then waking at 9:00am; the combo just doesn’t mix. Okay caffeine, do your magic. Please. If I don’t recognize you on the street its because I’m sleepwalking. Here are my UMS picks for Saturday, July 23.
BNLX – 6:00pm – Skylark
Minneapolis’ BNLX bio reads more like a people-person’s resume on LinkedIn, gravitating towards business buzz words (mission-critical, exceeding expectations, one-year plan) when describing the two-person team. I’m going out on a limb and guessing its pretty tongue and cheek, since the last thing that comes to mind when listening to “Shut Up and Drive” or “Vaporize” is wondering whether I remembered to put on a cover sheet on the TPS report I submitted to management on Friday.
What does pop into the brain cells is reflections of The Smiths (“Living in Exile,” “Garbage Strike”), Girls Against Boys (“Burn the Boats”), and a page or two of Jim Carroll (“Vaporize”); the kind of burning, speed demon sound that will make you very happy that Skylark has air conditioning.
BNLX E.P.s are available for free download on Soundcloud, as is a new E.P. from Brooklyn’s Artifact Shore that features “indierockselfslayer” remixed by BNLX. (Photo credit: Mike Minehart)
Dynamic – 6:00pm at TS Board Shop
There are a few songs that I could listen to a million times and never tire of, and “Mad World” by Tears for Fears is one of them. So I have to say, I was quite blown away by Denver’s Dynamic, who has brilliantly reformed that song into a new classic that would no doubt impress Roland and Curt.
Crafting electro melodies with hip-hop finessed beats on the Dynamic Vibes E.P., Dynamic taps into lyrical tones that call out cultural states and personal takes on what his eyes see and ears hear, including “Hipster Hop.” Little nuggets are thrown in unexpectedly, including a sliver sample from the cult favorite, “Young Frankenstein” on “White Trench Coat.” Another banger is “Get Jrumatic,” pulling you down the deep groove alley with an underlying tone as Dynamic bounces his musical narration from wall to wall.
Dynamic performs tonight with a live drummer and option4 (Lipgloss) DJing, all of which will be captured via the planned video shoot. The Dynamic Vibes E.P. is available for free download.
Goldenboy– 9:00pm – Skylark
Out for a short west coast tour, Goldenboy returns to Denver. Having visited our fine city on Valentine’s Day this past year, the band continues to hit the towns with songs from Sleepwalker – check out our review.
We got ‘em for two days this time, with a show tonight at Skylark and another on Sunday at TBD, the infamous venue that just changed its name from TBA. [UPDATE] Goldenboy is playing at 3:00pm at the South Broadway Christian Church on Sunday, July 24.
Bear Hands – 11:00pm – Hi-Dive
Out of curiosity, I created a new Bear Hands playlist in Pandora to see what would pop up. And as expected, giving the band’s effervescent, bouncy nature, tracks from Phoenix, MGMT, and Two Door Cinema Club came streaming through the speakers, one after another (learning later that Bear Hands had in fact, toured with MGMT).
Burning Bush Supper Club (Cantora Records) is the band’s debut full length, chock full of tasty, lively treats that at times, have a cynical, biting aftertaste via lyrical lines like “Everybody knows that crime pays and everybody does it / Everybody knows that crime pays and everybody loves it,” or “I’m engaged to be single.”
Bear Hands – Dylan Rau (vocals/guitar/keyboard), Ted Feldman (guitar/percussion), Val Loper (bass/percussion), TJ Orscher (Drums/Vocals) – is on a nationwide tour that goes clear into November, one that will no doubt result in a steady recruitment of fans all along the way. So catch the band’s show at an intimate venue like Hi-Dive while you can.
Get Bear Hand’s Burning Bush Supper Club at: bit.ly/BurningBushiTunes
Quick Picks
Dominique Young Unique – 8:15pm – Goodwill Parking Lot — Living up to her name, this Tampa teenager seems highly capable of knocking down walls to get what she wants, mainly, to stake her flag in the house of electro hip-hop. Working with Yo Majesty’s producer David Alexander, Dominique Young released her Glamorous Touch mixtape in May of this year, making it available for download here.
Delite at Night — This venue is guesting quite an array of electronic and dance artists/DJs this weekend, and tonight will be chock full of beats compliments of Tonyo at 8:00pm, Chaves & Chavez at 10:00pm, and finishing up the evening, a fixture in Denver’s drum and bass community, DJ DMX at midnight.
