Localized: Spring thaw edition
Local CDs pop up faster than lawns and leaves come springtime—and 2008 is no exception. While Decider’s weekly Localized section tries to keep up with the onslaught of Denver/Boulder-based releases, this year has already been particularly busy for local bands, which is why we’re playing catch-up with a special extended edition. At this rate, 2008 might just wind up bearing the best—or at least the biggest—crop of Colorado music yet.
Action Packed Thrill Ride
A Looseleaf Script
Denver might as well consider itself a shrine to dour Americana: Over the past couple decades, dozens of local bands have tried their hand at some permutation of howling, haunted twang. Action Packed Thrill Ride thankfully casts a wider net. The band’s new full-length, A Looseleaf Script, opens with the spooky “Something Tells Me,” but it quickly branches out to encompass ramshackle country-rock, primal hoedowns, and arrangements that aren’t afraid to veer into dizzying dynamics and lopsided rhythms. There’s tenderness, too, resting like lazy currents besides crazed country-punk meltdowns and skin-crawling weirdness. Unlike many current practitioners of Americana in Denver, APTR offers that rarest of treats, especially when it comes to such a traditional genre: a surprise at almost every turn. [JH] Grade: B+
A Looseleaf Script
Denver might as well consider itself a shrine to dour Americana: Over the past couple decades, dozens of local bands have tried their hand at some permutation of howling, haunted twang. Action Packed Thrill Ride thankfully casts a wider net. The band’s new full-length, A Looseleaf Script, opens with the spooky “Something Tells Me,” but it quickly branches out to encompass ramshackle country-rock, primal hoedowns, and arrangements that aren’t afraid to veer into dizzying dynamics and lopsided rhythms. There’s tenderness, too, resting like lazy currents besides crazed country-punk meltdowns and skin-crawling weirdness. Unlike many current practitioners of Americana in Denver, APTR offers that rarest of treats, especially when it comes to such a traditional genre: a surprise at almost every turn. [JH] Grade: B+
L’Elan Vital
The Wink And The Gun
L’Elan Vital’s new album, The Wink and the Gun, beautifully avoids the two worst mistakes in post-rock. First and most important, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. And second, it thankfully knows when to quit. With vocalist Brandon Bosch’s husky whisper and Sam Gathman’s melancholy violin, the disc has a distinctly Western edge more akin to Explosions In The Sky than imports like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. And although nearly every song has an epic scope, even the most sprawling, the seven-plus-minute “English Clash,” feels exactly as long as it needs to be. The album’s misfires are few—for example, “Ode From The Mountains Of Bothzak,” a silly, lisping, spoken-word track that unfortunately sullies the very pretty tune playing in the background. But the strength of The Wink And The Gun is its soundtrack-y atmosphere; all it needs now is the great film to go with it. [CS] Grade: A-
The Wink And The Gun
L’Elan Vital’s new album, The Wink and the Gun, beautifully avoids the two worst mistakes in post-rock. First and most important, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. And second, it thankfully knows when to quit. With vocalist Brandon Bosch’s husky whisper and Sam Gathman’s melancholy violin, the disc has a distinctly Western edge more akin to Explosions In The Sky than imports like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. And although nearly every song has an epic scope, even the most sprawling, the seven-plus-minute “English Clash,” feels exactly as long as it needs to be. The album’s misfires are few—for example, “Ode From The Mountains Of Bothzak,” a silly, lisping, spoken-word track that unfortunately sullies the very pretty tune playing in the background. But the strength of The Wink And The Gun is its soundtrack-y atmosphere; all it needs now is the great film to go with it. [CS] Grade: A-
Laylights
Auricle
Denver’s Laylights glibly use the term “post-pop” as their MySpace headline. And while it may be an inside joke or a bit of sarcasm, the title oddly fits. Where post-rock revels in sweeping, orchestral intensity, the galloping guitars, towering vocals, and pulsing drums of Laylights gives guitar-pop a lush, complex dimension. The group’s new full-length Auricle—named for a part of the ear as well as the upper chamber of the heart—brings the sparkling hopefulness of their previous, self-titled EP to a slightly more thoughtful, but no less swaggering and danceable, level. With deeper lyrics and a strikingly more polished sound, Auricle has a welcome maturity and heft to it, suggesting that the two years separating the band’s two records were times of trial by fire. By retaining and refining their boisterous Killers-and-Interpol-inspired sound, Laylights bring a touch of motion and even sweetness to their darkest moments. [CS] Grade: B+
Auricle
Denver’s Laylights glibly use the term “post-pop” as their MySpace headline. And while it may be an inside joke or a bit of sarcasm, the title oddly fits. Where post-rock revels in sweeping, orchestral intensity, the galloping guitars, towering vocals, and pulsing drums of Laylights gives guitar-pop a lush, complex dimension. The group’s new full-length Auricle—named for a part of the ear as well as the upper chamber of the heart—brings the sparkling hopefulness of their previous, self-titled EP to a slightly more thoughtful, but no less swaggering and danceable, level. With deeper lyrics and a strikingly more polished sound, Auricle has a welcome maturity and heft to it, suggesting that the two years separating the band’s two records were times of trial by fire. By retaining and refining their boisterous Killers-and-Interpol-inspired sound, Laylights bring a touch of motion and even sweetness to their darkest moments. [CS] Grade: B+
Jessica Sonner
All We Need
Jessica Sonner has it going on: flaming red hair, flawless skin, and a sexy, throaty voice that sounds like it should come from an older, more experienced woman. But there’s still something missing from All We Need, the Denver-via-Chicago artist’s first full-length. Every song is winsome, joyous, and practically begging for a spot on an episode of One Tree Hill. There are no hard edges, no despair, and no anger. The result is more than a little lightweight, despite the obvious influence of tough girls like Sheryl Crow and Ani DiFranco. In an argument in favor of female singer-songwriters, Sonner’s album is a solid opening argument—she’s an effortlessly organic guitarist, and her lyrics show promise, despite a tendency toward repetition and Splenda-sweet rhetoric. And her versatility is apparent, from the honky-tonkin’ “Forget You” to the seductive, Latin-flavoered “Took Your Love.” These components have laid a formidable groundwork for Sonner; after a few more years and heartaches, it might grow even stronger. [CS] Grade: B
All We Need
Jessica Sonner has it going on: flaming red hair, flawless skin, and a sexy, throaty voice that sounds like it should come from an older, more experienced woman. But there’s still something missing from All We Need, the Denver-via-Chicago artist’s first full-length. Every song is winsome, joyous, and practically begging for a spot on an episode of One Tree Hill. There are no hard edges, no despair, and no anger. The result is more than a little lightweight, despite the obvious influence of tough girls like Sheryl Crow and Ani DiFranco. In an argument in favor of female singer-songwriters, Sonner’s album is a solid opening argument—she’s an effortlessly organic guitarist, and her lyrics show promise, despite a tendency toward repetition and Splenda-sweet rhetoric. And her versatility is apparent, from the honky-tonkin’ “Forget You” to the seductive, Latin-flavoered “Took Your Love.” These components have laid a formidable groundwork for Sonner; after a few more years and heartaches, it might grow even stronger. [CS] Grade: B
The Swayback
Long Gone Lads
Rock music is a lot like a cup of coffee: Some like it as strong as The Stooges), while others prefer it dark like Joy Division. The Swayback takes it both ways—usually at the same time. The Denver act revs up the same sort of swagger that’s floated around local rock clubs since, well, forever, but instead of reveling in trashy garage-punk sleaze-gasms, The Swayback cuts it with a healthy dose of art-school gloom. But the band is more just a musical hybrid: Both of the its sides are essential to its long-awaited debut, Long Gone Lads. When languishing in an acoustic, rainy-day sulkers like “Just Like the Old Days,” the disc is more dangerous than Interpol’s sweatiest nightmare. And when it kicks out the jams on “Concrete Blocks,” the trio’s command of atmosphere is far more sophisticated than your average Motor City wannabes. [MS] Grade: B+
Long Gone Lads
Rock music is a lot like a cup of coffee: Some like it as strong as The Stooges), while others prefer it dark like Joy Division. The Swayback takes it both ways—usually at the same time. The Denver act revs up the same sort of swagger that’s floated around local rock clubs since, well, forever, but instead of reveling in trashy garage-punk sleaze-gasms, The Swayback cuts it with a healthy dose of art-school gloom. But the band is more just a musical hybrid: Both of the its sides are essential to its long-awaited debut, Long Gone Lads. When languishing in an acoustic, rainy-day sulkers like “Just Like the Old Days,” the disc is more dangerous than Interpol’s sweatiest nightmare. And when it kicks out the jams on “Concrete Blocks,” the trio’s command of atmosphere is far more sophisticated than your average Motor City wannabes. [MS] Grade: B+
Vonnegut
Fall Into Place
There’s nothing wrong with a band having obvious influences—that is, if those influences are solid and the homage is respectful. Neither is entirely the case with Vonnegut’s latest release, Fall Into Place. Nearly every song on the album sounds like it was created by a logarithm that generates radio-ready tracks in the vein of The Killers, Linkin Park, and Incubus. The track “So It Goes,” which takes its name from Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five, seems to embody more of an attitude of ambivalence than reverence for the iconic author. In fact, Vonnegut’s jacking of the name of the literary giant comes off as a book left on a nightstand to impress potential conquests. There is certainly talent and energy in Vonnegut the band, but the challenge is to go deeper, further and more sincerely into the future—and maybe even attempt to somehow live up to its lefendary namesake. [CS] Grade: C
Fall Into Place
There’s nothing wrong with a band having obvious influences—that is, if those influences are solid and the homage is respectful. Neither is entirely the case with Vonnegut’s latest release, Fall Into Place. Nearly every song on the album sounds like it was created by a logarithm that generates radio-ready tracks in the vein of The Killers, Linkin Park, and Incubus. The track “So It Goes,” which takes its name from Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five, seems to embody more of an attitude of ambivalence than reverence for the iconic author. In fact, Vonnegut’s jacking of the name of the literary giant comes off as a book left on a nightstand to impress potential conquests. There is certainly talent and energy in Vonnegut the band, but the challenge is to go deeper, further and more sincerely into the future—and maybe even attempt to somehow live up to its lefendary namesake. [CS] Grade: C
