The Local Shakedown Vol. 3
To say the Denver/Boulder music scene has no unifying sound is a cop out; our strength comes from a lack of musical mimicry with dissimilar bands creating one multi-sided whole. This might be why Radio 1190's The Local Shakedown Vol. 3 sounds so right, as the Colorado cross section includes contributions from BDRMPPL, Paper Bird, Milton Melvin Croissant III, and 38 other diverse artists in one double disc release.
Vol. 3 opens with an instructional track from local DJ and self-deprecating humor expert Magic Cyclops detailing the use and care of a compact disc. It’s a nice lead into Mr. Pacman's “David Blaine’s Erotic Mansion,” as its clear both Cyclops and Pacman vocalist Avery Rains enjoy the sound of their own over-enunciations, fake British accents, and lovingly benign lyrical content. But past the gags and witticism is a blend of Colorado’s divergent sounds with punk rock traditionalists The Fire Drills fiercely offseting Dethbox's Henry Rollins-era Black Flag moments and the jittery strikes of Crack Magic's “Ike Turner” calmed by The Swayback’s “Steamrolling.” Each song creates a seesaw balance for the other, like the mid-record placidness of Multicast’s ambient snooze anthem “Hawaii” that is awakened by Pictureplane's scattered synths in “Cyclical Cyclical (Atlantis).”
While songs like Bad Luck City's “Stevie Johnson” and Aenka's “Mylarism” drag out with good intention, they cause some small trip-ups to the cohesive whole, leading to Vol. 3’s only real pitfall: too much diversity. But variance in a record of this nature is also a necessity, and the idle slides and comforting memes of Married In Berdichev's “Funnel Clouds” offer some needed down tempo breathing room for bitter punches like The Omens’ “She’s Just Fine.” Minor slow dives aside, Vol. 3 is a diligently chosen selection of some of Colorado’s most innovative musical hands at work. Grade: A-
