"Holy Underground is a multi-faceted music company that takes pride in operating with a collective mentality. We represent a variety of independent artists who we feel are putting out the best music Denver has to offer, and who have a conscious commitment to pushing the boundaries of our scene. We offer these artists services such as booking, management and publicity, in addition to running a record label HUG Records on the side. Our goal is to get our bands the local and national attention they deserve, and offer a lifeline for our artists to reach their full potential inside and outside our beloved Denver island."

So what does all that mean? It means that Holy Underground is committed to enriching and bringing more attention to the vibrant Denver music scene. Holy Underground is launching with a stable of ten strong local acts that cover a range of music styles: Achille Lauro, Cerulean, Flashlights, Force Publique, Hollagramz, LUST, ManCub, Mombi, Sauna and School Knights. Their goal is to allow these and other future local acts to break outside of the Denver market and garner national attention while allowing them to maintain Denver as a base, in turn making Denver more important to the overall national music scene.


It also means that this Saturday night is shaping up to be a great party, as Holy Underground will be showcasing the electro side of their lineup with ManCub, Force Publique, Cerulean and Flashlights. Steffi Graf from L.A. will keep the party going with a late night DJ set, and DJ Babyshoe will keep the party going in between sets. CRAP Eyewear will have sunglasses on hand to give away as well. Come out and celebrate and be a part of Holy Underground's mission to further the Denver music scene!

The Holy Underground Launch Party is at Larimer Lounge on Saturday, September 1st. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. The show is 21+ and the doors open at 8:00PM. Tickets and more information are available online here.

It's been a long time coming, but the wait is over: To The Night, the debut official release from Denver DJ and producer option4 is available starting today. About three years ago, option4 was slated to release an album, but an unfortunate incident robbed him of all his hard work. Understandably devastated, option4 had to start the process all over again, but that didn't come until he found new inspiration in the city he currently calls home.


After some time as a resident DJ at Lipgloss and founding a house music movement of his own called TheHundred, the moment seemed right to hit the production studio again to create a collection of songs that reflected his emotions and experiences influenced by the places he's seen and the relationships that he has built. Seeking to combine an appreciation of techno, and funky soul with house music, the four tracks on To The Night represent his interpretation.


The EP opens with the bass-laden "Sunny Side" that juxtaposes a dark tech-house feel with a hint of acid house layered under airy vocals from Aubree. "Darkworld" envelops the listener like a thick, hypnotic fog; sobering yet infectious. "Mile High Bounce" was made with Denver in mind, a tribute to the vibrant late-night/early-morning dance music scene that thrives week after week. The whole album is rooted around the fiery single "Ride On", a tech-house western inspired by a gloomy drive on the west coast that mixes acoustic guitar with thumping bass and delivers an incredible hook.


The album will be available exclusively on beatport.com for one month before hitting other outlets like iTunes, so head on over there to grab a fresh copy for yourself. To celebrate the EP release, option4 will be headlining the Larimer Lounge this weekend - Saturday, August 18. This all-Denver affair presented by TheHundred and Holy Underground will include local support from Babyshoe, Jinro, Matt Ferry and London Dungeon. RSVP on Facebook and get your tickets and more information online here.

I may have just gotten back from the amazing marathon music weekend known as the Underground Music Showcase, but I'm ready to keep it going with another show at the Larimer Lounge tonight, especially with the lineup they have in store. Two innovative east coast imports share the headline, with a hot new local act getting the night of music started.

Young Magic is trio composed of world travels, two from Australia and one from Indonesia, that came together and formed their band in New York. Their collaboration meant melding together influences culled from the globe and from across time, creating a sound with an electronic hip-hop/bass footprint that mixes in tribal rhythms and '60s psychedelia. Check out "Sparkly".


Quilt is a band from Boston that can instantly transport listeners back in time about a half century with their sunshine-pop drenched indie rock sound. Ethereal vocal harmonies intertwine with bright guitars and deliberate beats to create something soothingly energetic. Check out "Rabid Love".



Cerulean opens the night as local support, but the duo and their innovative electronic dream-pop sound should definitely not be missed. The brother-sister duo took the internet by storm with the couple tracks they have released so far, and tonight is a rare opportunity to see them both live, as while brother Elliot Baker lives in Colorado, his sister Marilyn resides across the pond in London. Check out "Future Wind".



The Larimer Lounge doors open at 8:00PM and the show begins at 9:00PM. The show is 21+ and tickets are $10. Tickets and more information are available online here.

On Friday, July 6, ManCub will be rocking the Larimer Lounge once more, this time with Drop The Lime and Cassian on the bill. If you're not familiar with ManCub or you just want to know how ManCub's electro-noise pop sound is made, check out this video. Concerted Effort spent some time in Alex Anderson's studio. The mastermind behind the band talks about how he makes and performs his music. Watch the video before heading out to Friday's show. You can win tickets to this show on Facebook, courtesy of Early Bird // Night Owl and Holy Underground!


ManCub from Concerted Effort on Vimeo.

The live ManCub experience is one that is constantly changing. Alex Anderson strives to stay innovative and deliver something new and better every time he takes the stage as ManCub. This Friday will be no exception. ManCub will perform as a duo, but instead of another person on effects pedals and backing vocals, Alex Anderson will be joined by DJ Babyshoe. Together the pair will play a set where they will perform a DJ set with music live remixed and manipulated both through the DJ decks and ManCub's array of effects pedals to deliver a unique live experience.


ManCub will open in local support of these great artists:

Cassian:
The electro, nu-disco producer known for his club-ready, Euro-infused beats just released The Love Cuts EP  a few weeks ago. The Sydney native has been touring the festival circuit, including SnowBall Music Festival a few months ago. Signed to Windish Agency, alongside A-Trak, Washed Out, Chromeo and M83. In 2011 Cassian completed a slew of well received remixes for artists such as PNAU, The Rapture, Bag Raiders, Gigamesh, Citizens! and Miami Horror (who he collaborated with for a joint remix). Denver is his last stop on his US Tour before playing three dates in California before heading to the Dominican Republic.

Drop The Lime:
NYC native Luca Venezia aka Drop the Lime is an electronic producer and DJ and founder of dance label Trouble & Bass. He is best known for his distinct twist on the Trouble & Bass sound, combining his love of Rockabilly with his own take on bass-driven music. Vivian Host describes Venezia's sound as comprising "chopped-up breaks making hairpin turns, breakdowns coming out of nowhere, a foundation of wobbling goblin bass often cut in with tropical, clacking snares", with "enigmatic lyrics in his singularly scratchy, bluesy notes." In other words, Drop the Lime takes the rowdiest parts of electronic, rock and bass music to create an unforgettable dance experience.

The show takes place at the Larimer Lounge on Friday, July 6. The doors open at 8PM and the show starts at 9PM. Tickets are $12.50 in advance or $15 at the door. Tickets and more information are available online here.

The Larimer Lounge last Saturday was the setting for Flashlights' cassette release party.   The theme for the evening seemed to be about trying something new; new members were added to all of the night's performing acts, either specifically for the show or as permanent additions.  Flashlights was trying something new by releasing a special edition cassette.  Larimer Lounge was trying something new with a backyard setup that now includes a hanging carpet; noise complaints in the area had kept both Larimer Lounge and the Meadowlark from having outdoors guests past a certain time, but it seems like both venues have been working to aleviate the problems and have since been able to open their respective porch areas.  Summer is a great time to try new things, especially things that include being outside in the cool evening air.



LUST is Dillon Morton, and this show was billed as LUST's live set, and so it was a special treat for the audience to see Morton use instruments in his performance.  Accompanied by a bassist and a Casio keyboard, Morton's dark and edgy electronic music was accentuated by a green glowing backlight and fog.  Morton played tracks from the 2011 Dark Water EP, music which he has described as based as an "erotic horror movie soundtrack," and seamlessly meandered through his set with little pause and not one more word spoken than absolutely necessary.  LUST: so spooky, so dance-y.  


Roniit is an electro-pop singer from Denver, and she was joined by her boyfriend Eric Brown for their first live performance together (she exclaimed in between songs, "I'm really excited - tonight I have a new band member!").  There were lots of laser-y lights aglow as the tiny Roniit took the stage, letting her voice speak for itself.  You might like her music if you're a fan of infectious pop tunes that get stuck in your head.  Highlight of the performance:  the guy who was on stage, helping control the strobe lights came out to whip up some energy in the audience, and attempted to do so by doing power-cardio handclap jumps.  He was atleast 6 feet tall, so his extension was wide and left most people in the front row to scatter; but, he got people moving as he surely set out to do.


I like the genre identifiers for Flashlights glo-fi and dream-pop; both have a relationship with the nighttime, which can also be "flashlight time."  The stage warranted the portable, battery-operated invention as machine fog billowed out and descended onto the crowd of fans.  Those closest to the stage could barely make out the silhouette of their neighbors in the ethereal setting that was not unlike a lagoon or maybe a dance graveyard.  With the candy-colored stage lights flipped on, the club atmosphere was ignited.  Ethan Converse and Alex Anderson are the most recent iteration of Flashlights, and were joined by Ethan's friend Taylor Thomas on stage who was in town from Austin, TX to play drums for the special event.


Ethan talks about his collaboration with Travis in the video interview exclusive to Concerted Effort - if you haven't watched it yet, check it out (there are some sweet fingerboard shots in there you won't want to miss, as well).  Flashlights performed songs off of their recently released EP, So Close to Midnight, as well as some brand new, never-before-heard tracks.  A few technical difficulties were quickly forgotten as the crowd enthusiastically danced to the glo-fi tunes in the brightly illuminated fog.  I have a little bit of a bias here: Flashlights never fail to impress me.  I'm looking forward to seeing them play again at the Westword Music Showcase this Saturday June 23, and am curious to see how Alex and Ethan pull off playing two sets for both Flashlights and ManCub (back to back at City Hall), now that they are both collaborators in each project.

Check out more photos from the night on our Facebook photo album!

I agreed to meet Alex Anderson, aka ManCub, at the Fancy Tiger clothing store during his CD sewing party where the store and some volunteers donated time to help finish 500 denim CD covers. What a great idea, am I right? Combining DIY flair with support for local music is a great way to promote your new EP, ManCub; add some pizza and beer and it’s absolutely the best idea I have ever heard of.


Unfortunately, I am not what you would call “crafty,” and after sitting down to sew my first CD sleeve, I came to realize that I lack the feminine guile that might allow me to make something nice with a sewing machine. I got a quick tutorial from ManCub's manager and DIY project partner-in-crime, Kristin Hubbard, and of course it seemed really easy when she showed me how to make a perfect denim square that will soon hold the brand new Business Dogs EP. I looked over my shoulder and saw hundreds of these squares neatly stacked, and saw the handful of people around me making sewing dreams come true. The volunteers were mostly fans and friends, and it was being managed with no assistance from the store’s staff which was pretty impressive. After making a couple of semi-sewn squares, rethreading my bobbin more times than I was actually sewing anything and  un-sticking and un-knotting various threads, I was convinced of two things: 1) Only those who practice magic or have a guardian angel over their shoulder can use sewing machines, and 2) I am not going to be helping much if I continue to fail at sewing.

My attempt to make denim CD covers was not so good, but it was fun and it was really great to see the process. In fact, most of what Anderson tells me about the new CD is all about the process and the various parts that are needed to get your new EP out to the masses. For instance, the materials needed for today’s sewing came from jeans donated to them from friends and Buffalo Exchange next door, and the rest was bought from the nearby Goodwill at a thrifty $1 per pound. ManCub received donated space from Fancy Tiger and donated beer from Great Divide, meaning his manufacturing costs were mostly represented by pizza. Getting these materials together and trying to make a larger quantity at once should help this hard-working crew save some time; whereas today’s output was assembled in about 8 hours, each pre-show assembling session could take up to two hours. “I would like all of these to be gone by September, but the thing is we don’t necessarily sell them. I usually ask anyone who wants one to give us what they can and we make it work out. That’s what I’d like to see, and it’s my place to come in and say, ‘Hey if you are going to listen to this music, take it and just give us what you can’,” says ManCub’s Anderson when asked how much time it would take to sell out of these new denim-cased EPs.


The packaging is one part of the recipe, the other part has to be the music-making. Anderson described what inspired him to start recording again after the 8 Bit Crush EP:

"I guess I wasn’t finished after we did the first record. I did that with my friend Danny, and we started ManCub together. When it was just me I just felt like I wasn’t finished recording ManCub, and I still don’t and we’re going to record some more, but I definitely feel more accomplished this time because I took more time. The first record we just wanted to come out of the gates and see what happened. For this record, I wanted to take my time. . . I decided to go crazy with it, and this [album] is more contained sounding but it came out of way more of an experimental process. The whole point of ManCub is to explore different styles of making music and recording music, and that’s how this record came to be."

Exploring is right. Anderson admits that experimentation with atypical recording techniques helped him and his former partner to produce the previous album. “I went to school and took recording classes, and I totally neglected everything I learned on the first record. We did some crazy stuff on songs where we wrote parts on loop pedals, and whatever those parts sounded like on loop pedals got recorded back into the computer. Basically if anyone reads this who is an engineer, they’ll think ‘Oh, that kid’s a dumbass’. It was a really dumb thing to do, but we just wanted to do it. It was sort of this punk rock way of doing it.” Even though some solid recording software was used for Business Dogs it’s still utilizing a deconstructive effect. “So now I’m using the Ableton software, which is the industry standard for dance music, and the functionality of it for writing is seamless. When I was done with this EP, it was exactly how I wanted it to sound before sending it to a mastering guy . . . [with] this record there is a lot more time, more care and more thought.”




Listening to Anderson describe his recording equipment and the techniques he has learned is akin to an audible blueprint being recounted. He has his hands in marketing, engineering, the creative process: Anderson’s work ethic is inspiring and might make any other musician a little more confident that they could do some of the same. With some help from his brother, Anderson also is directly involved in the filming and brainstorming behind the “Science” video promo. This short recording is minimalist but excellently executed, and the giant, silver globe featured therein is perplexing, and also engaging. The background scenery is like a typical neighborhood, and so when you are watching this video you wonder how they did it. “That is in Mescoda, Kansas. Behind the silver thing is my grandma’s house and a town of 200 when I was growing up, and now it’s probably 125. It used to be a steel town, and . . . the silver thing was what used to be the water tower which was on stilts above where I would play basketball, and they needed to build a new one so they knocked that water tower over, and it actually rolled and almost demolished some houses. Now they are saying they want to paint it like a baseball and make it a Joe Tinker museum . . .” The creativity and innovation is oozing out of ManCub’s paws, who knows what will happen during the CD release show at Larimer Lounge on May 25.

The music you listen to as the self-absorbed teenage version of yourself is not the same as the music you listen to now.  If you grew up like I did, you may have just started to really spend obnoxious amounts of time on listening to new bands.  Or maybe you started spending a ridiculous amount of money seeing those bands while you were in college, like I did.  I never got a chance to see Margot & the Nuclear So and So's during either of these periods in my life, but I definitely feel like I would have if it were possible; they either weren't in existence or weren't touring all the way down to Florida.  But being at the Larimer Lounge and seeing them play brought me back to the feeling I got when I used to when I was in both of those musically-charged situations.  Seeing all of the "x's" on the wrists, and the camera phones snapping/recording and hearing the intense singing in the cramped space was a feeling entirely too familiar as I recalled the warehouse shows, the house parties, the small college venues that I grew up with and frequented before I was old enough to go to bars and other, bigger venues.  The music I listened to then was a lot more emotionally complicated, gritty-guitar infused and just crowded. 


The Nukes have cast a wide net for their fans over the years, and I love to see the different generations that get sucked into catch when I see shows like theirs this past Tuesday.  And their passionate, too: there are a certain type of music fan that will be drawn to bands for reasons that have more to do with values, and the way people were raised, and I get that feeling with the people I observed at the front of the crowd this evening.  I'm sure there were a few people that came to hear something new, too; all bands this evening had released a new album as of one or two months ago. 

So the opening band was Whispertown, and unfortunately I missed all but the last 3 songs they played.  They had a bare-bones set up with one small drum and Jake Bellows on the guitar.  Bellows is an established musician of the Saddle Creek / Omaha variety (you may know of his other band Neva Dinova), and I was not expecting to see him up there with Morgan Nagler, the principle member of Whispertown.  Nagler herself expressed the revolving door of musicians that Whispertown is comprised of in our interview we did over the internets - you can read it here.  I would have like to see more of the two perform, but I know from Nagler's interview and some brief internet searching that the duo will be back in town soon enough.  Her recent release is Parallel, and you can listen to it

Next up on the night's list of musical guests was Dinosaur Feathers.  They are a band from Brooklyn and their bassist is the splitting image of Ron Linvingston (the movie, Office Space).  The band plays fun, catchy songs that sound like pop-music crack: they jump around and make you want to jump around, it's addictive.  The band played mostly from their new release, Whistle Tips, and the highlights of their performance of that album I think would be "Young Bucks" and "SURPRISE!". 


Richard Edwards is the singer for Margot & the Nuclear So and So's and he's from Indianapolis.  This was made clear when he made a comment about the Broncos recent addition of Peyton Manning, famed quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts.  "I want someone to send me tapes once football season starts . . . you may have him now, but we got the best of him."  I forgot about football until he brought that up; I honestly have been in a mental NFL blackout since that Tebow-trading thing.  The Nukes started off with new tracks like "Shannon" and "Fisher of Men," but the night included a little of everything, including "Skeleton Key" and "Will You Love Me Forever?".  It was nice to see the musical accompaniment that Erik Kang provided with the slide guitar and violin, and Cameron McGill on the keyboard and backing vocals.  It was a full room of listeners and a full stage of band members.






The group enjoyed the captivation of that evening's guests, lot's of kids got to experience what I never did - seeing a great band that you can grow up with play a small venue.  And lots of new music to queue up on Spotify afterwards.

Don't you just love band names?  I particularly like to play the game where you try to guess what type of music a band makes from their name alone; it's good tactic for book covers, obviously, but with band names it becomes really funny really fast.  Please indulge yourself if you haven't heard of these bands before, then read on for the scoop on tonight's lineup that the Larimer Lounge.

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's are pop music first, but have a punk attitude and somewhat experimental in sound as they dabble in a few different types of sounds on each album they have released so far.  In 2006, the band released the emotionally-driven The Dust of Retreat and gained many fans with the single "Skeleton Key".  Since then the group has disbanded and reformed with new members and new grittier sounds with 2010 release of their third album Buzzard.  Singer and songwriter Richard Edwards is a lyrical whiz who puts a cute spin on any song with pop hooks throughout.  The March release of Rot Gut, Domestic (unfortunately the band didn't take advantage of the excellent marketing opportunity to release a microbrew with the same name) features songs that are '90s influenced rock, but maintain personality such as with "A Journalist Falls in Love with Death Row Inmate #16" which is about an unlikely relationship with a felon (I guess it happens, i.e. Danny Rawlings) and "Prozac Nation" which is most certainly an ode to the beloved pharmaceutical industry.




Whispertown is the newest version of Morgan Nagler's band, formerly the Whispertown 2000. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings have their own label, Acony records based in Nashville, and Whispertown is the only other band they've released on it. The new EP Parallel is the bands 2nd release, and the follow up to their previous release, Swim.




Dinosaur feathers is an indie-pop quartest from Brooklyn that cites Billy Joel as an influence on their Facebook page. I think that is a great summation for a new band. Check out all three of these acts tonight at the Larimer Lounge - Doors at 8:00 PM and Show at 9:00 PM, more information can be found on their website here.

A couple months ago a small indie quintet out of Gainesville, FL put out a forward-thinking debut album that seems to perfectly weave together both the past and present into something new. That group, Hundred Waters, released an album by the same name, a collection of songs that combines gentle folk sensibilities with an electronic approach to composition. The band combines organic instrumentation with sampled, synthesized and sequenced portions. Although that in itself isn't an entirely new approach, the way Hundred Waters blends it all together is very impressive, creating what seems to be like future-folk meshed with dream-pop. Check out "Me & Anodyne".



Young Pharaohs, a local trio, will join the lineup and should be exhibiting a similar approach to creating music but with a different resulting sound. Young Pharaohs have purportedly evolved from their strictly electronic approach to include live instrumentation. It will be interesting to see how that works with their experimental electronic meets R&B/soul sound. Expect a lot of new material to go along with the live debut of this new approach. Check out an early demo of "Put Your Love In My Hands".


The Larimer Lounge doors open tonight at 8:30PM and the music starts at around 9:30PM. The show is 21+ and tickets are $10 at the door. Tickets and more information are available online here.

College and bands are a match made in heaven: expanding minds crave to push boundaries. College music is the soundtrack to a bohemian lifestyle in which philosophy is discussed over a vegan potluck and all you need is a long board and a few dollars to see your friend’s band play. And it doesn’t hurt when your typical college band is being fostered by a liberal arts environment and supported by donations from parents or financial aid. StaG’s farewell show was an opportunity to see this college band play once more before parting ways, or heading back to Los Angeles where they were from originally.

Sunday night’s show was meant to be a night for well-wishers to send the young college kids off into the real world, and also a chance to spend a night with some of the musical acts that have supported them while they were here. A cold, rainy evening made for a bittersweet farewell at this Larimer Lounge show with a small audience able to brave the dismal Sunday night weather. Or maybe it was because no one likes to say ‘goodbye’.



Galaxies started the evening off with a synth-pop u-key-lele (a tricked out uke with keyboard attached) setup, something I’d like to call treehouse club. Can I make up my own genres here? Well the chosen description was zoowave on Galaxies’ Facebook page, which I also like, but seeing this one-man-band on stage play songs with sound bites of ocean waves and chirping birds really strikes me as needing a "treehouse". Frequently I wondered what parts I heard that night were him and which were the “invisible band” - so dubbed by Dillon Groeneman himself. It was very impressive to see Groeneman manage drumming the tom, adjusting laptop sounds and playing the uke while singing. If you haven’t heard of Galaxies, you might be more familiar with the previous iteration of the band which was called Moon Tides.



The Kevin Costner Suicide Pact is Denver’s answer to atmospheric performance art. The group plays with nobs and strings and huddles over their work table like they are playing a high stakes game of dice in the alley. As the group took the stage, they dedicated their set to StaG and then to the Denver Nuggets, who were playing game 4 against the Lakers in the NBA playoffs. At the bar there was a couple that was solely involved in watching the game; inexcusably they had voiced their allegiance to the Lakers. It was great to see a projection screen with a dedicated film strip operator collaborating with the performance on stage, or rather the interpretation of performance. Instead of facing the crowd, the four men on stage were busy crouching over sound effects pedals and various wires, every so often crouching to adjust something underneath the table or picking up a stringed instrument only to put it back down after a certain sound was detected.



The group would meet eachother’s eyes and make hushed conversation with one another while sipping their drinks, and the camera man was busy coloring and feeding film strips for the projector. We are used to looking and having a musician perform “at” us - the standing or sitting audience - but the sensation of looking over their shoulders has a unique voyeuristic quality to it that heightened the effect of the atmospheric sounds, as if your mind is more curious as to what is happening. In the psuedo-confusion, the projection screen is a nice distraction. Less noise and more calm, the whirring ambience of the Kevin Costner Suicide Pact is a gem of the Denver scene, and shouldn’t be missed live.



StaG took the stage and immediately created a strong presence with their moody, emotive vocals and rapping drum beats. Matt McGuire (bass, sampler, vocals) and Will Walden (guitar, vocals) have been friends and bandmates since high school. While in California, they had a full band, but about three years ago the pair moved to Colorado to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder. They were joined by their third bandmate Mac Welch on guitar and trombone, as well as a drummer who is not a band staple and unfortunately I could not identify before posting this review (I’m sorry, buddy!). The group was not about nostalgia or remembering the good times this evening, they had a job to do. And honestly must have been pretty worn out, what with finishing the semester and recording a new album due out this summer called When It Falls Apart.



McGuire and Walden have a musical chemistry on stage as they harmonize together on many songs and have a history of many years with eachother. The two would frequently look to eachother during the performance and discuss tidbits in between songs; given the low lighting in the Larimer Lounge you can’t expect a spotlight on everyone in the group, but unfortunately the lighting seemed to hide trombonist Welch as if he were apart of Galaxies’ invisible band. McGuire gave the smallest hint of a “looking back” moment as he mentioned that he had enjoyed playing with StaG over the years, and revealed that one of the main reasons they had continued to play past a battle of the bands was on the recommendation of their friends in the Kevin Costner Suicide Pact. In a room filled with mostly musical friends, the guys in StaG had an attentive audience as well as a stage to perform on, and I’m sure that as a college band there little else you could want at a farewell show. Be sure to keep your eyes and ears alert for their pending release, and hopefully we see these guys again soon.

It may have been a Wednesday night, but at the Larimer Lounge it might as well have been a disco-worthy weekend night. Without even going into the strength of the lineup, the fact that the show was presented by both Holy Underground and TheHundred were immediate tip-offs that the night was going to be a party. Over the past six months, TheHundred has been making huge waves in the local house music scene, and rightly so thanks to some amazing parties. This may have been the first Holy Underground show, but judging by what they've got coming down the pipeline, they seem to know exactly what they are doing. Wednesday night featured a solid international act and some of the biggest names in the local scene. When it all came together - it was madness.

Peter Black

The night began with an opening DJ set from Peter Black. He's someone that has put in a lot of work into Denver's scene, both on stage and and in the background, and his qualities as a tastemaker tends to shine through in his sets. Tonight was no exception. Peter Black showed off the versatility of an experienced DJ by heating up the night with some smooth mid-tempo nu-disco tracks, allowing the early crowd to settle in and latch onto the groove as the venue started to fill in. It seems that pacing is becoming a lost art, but not under Peter Black's watch. That's what makes him a great act to see no matter where he is slotted in a lineup. He set the tone early and led the crowd smoothly into the next big local act.

Flashlights

Flashlights took the stage next, an electro/dream-pop duo whose infectiously danceable sound has begun to garner them attention well beyond just this city. Ethan Converse (lead vocals) and Alex Anderson (backing vocals) took their places on the darkened stage, each behind sequencers/controllers that they would use to manipulate their eventual barrage of ethereal dance songs. As their set began with "Glowing Eyes" off Flashlight's first EP, Hidden Behind Trees, the stage went aglow as well. A light mist of fog accentuated the colorful stage lights, while the added touch of a floor lights helped fill the venue with light and color from floor to ceiling and across the venue walls.

Flashlights

The pair played a solid set of songs both old and new. The dreamier, slightly more downtempo and chillwave-esque song "New Hampshire" came next, allowing the duo to work the crowd steadily into a full on dance party as their set progressed. Selections from their latest release, So Close To Midnight made up the middle of their set, where songs like "Fireworks" and "Ruby Sun" balanced the energy of electro-pop with a decidedly dreamy character, inciting the crowd to dance up a sweat but maintain a dose of cool. Flashlights also revealed a couple new songs, ending with "Haunting Me", a dream-pop piece with a healthy helping of disco-funk and monstrously delicious bass line. Flashlights proves time and time again why they are one of the best groups in Denver right now, and if you are a fan of electro/dream-pop or just plain like to dance, you need to see them if you haven't yet.

Tiger & Woods

Next up was the main event, the European nu-disco/future-boogie duo Tiger & Woods. The two have managed to keep mum about their identities and back story, instead choosing to let their music do the talking, and on Wednesday night, their music spoke loud and clear. Behind an impressive set up that contained a huge mixer, two laptops, and a pair of sequencer/controller/samplers, the duo unleashed their mid-tempo, snare heavy, disco inspired sound on the soon-to-be-drenched-in-sweat crowd.

Tiger & Woods

Using a blend of influences that stem from Italo disco, Minneapolis funk, boogie, Chicago house and Detroit techno, Tiger & Woods got the dance floor churning to their original productions. They kept a smooth flowing set of pieces available off their full-length release, Through The Green, as bodies became entranced to their catchy bass lines and their ability to emphasize the beat. I was expecting a straight forward DJ set, but the two were recreating their songs using their computer controllers right before the crowd. It meant that there were slight variations in their set that made hearing songs like "Don't Hesistate", "Dr. Burner" and "Love In Cambodgia" all that more contagious. If you want something a little more laid back but will still get you to boogie, check out Tiger & Woods.

option4

Another seasoned local DJ, option4 joined the night's lineup, playing a closing set to keep the night's party going. Although it was a Wednesday night, much of the crowd still felt the itch to dance through the night, so option4 kept the party going for another hour as he laced together a seamless set of groovy and deep house. He also unleashed a couple of his own productions on the crowd. First, he hit the crowd with his newly released bass-heavy deep house version of Daft Punk's "One More Time", a rendition that gives the song a brand new attitude while still keeping what makes the song so recognizable. Then later, he dropped the single off his upcoming EP, an entirely original production called "Ride On". That tech-house meets western piece has a hook so good it gets crowds to sing along while they tear up the dance floor. If you love house music, option4 will supply a steady diet in his sets. Keep an eye out for his upcoming release, because his productions are on another level.

It is nights like these that make Denver such a great music scene. Promoters in the know like Holy Underground and TheHundred are great at giving people what they want - even if the people aren't sure who it is they want yet. Tiger & Woods is still pretty underground, and there aren't many cities in the country right now who are up enough on the cutting edge like that to support a show like the one Larimer Lounge had last night. But thanks to everyone in Denver's great scene and especially the fans that come out in support, we are all ahead of the curve.

See more pictures from this show in the Facebook photo album. Like the Concerted Effort page to stay up to date.

It's been proven time and time again; Denver loves disco. Whenever house music and disco revival collide, people come from all around the city to boogie down on the dance floor. That was definitely the case the last time the Larimer Lounge hosted a disco party when Aeroplane came to town, and that looks likely to be the case again tonight when the Larimer Lounge hosts another excellent European nu-disco act. Tonight, TheHundred presents a surefire dance party when local heavyweights team up with Tiger & Woods.


Tiger & Woods is duo of DJ/producers that is shrouded in a bit of mystery. Somehow the two have been able to keep their backstory mostly under wraps, revealing little to the world about where they come from or what their identities are. What is known is that the pair come from Europe, and they started the project as a way to come up with some unique edits to play in DJ sets. The next thing they knew, the full length album Through The Green was born. A collection of mid-tempo disco gems that has been described as future boogie and disco-funk. Check out "Deflowered".



Flashlights will perform a set as one of the three solid local supporting acts for this show. The local duo will be performing their brand of electro/dream-pop that combines retro and contemporary influences to create a sound that is somewhere between ethereal and gilttery but engineered to be ripe for the dance floor. Their music has a glo-fi aesthetic but their passion for the party balances out any notion of 'chill'. Check out "Fireworks".



Peter Black is Denver DJ fixture who's known for continually making moves in the Denver scene. Along with  Analog Space, nowadays he just about books as many hot parties as he participates in. As a house music aficionado, he'll be sure to keep the crowd vibing hard in preparation for the full on disco party to come.


option4 is a resident Lipgloss DJ and founder of probably the hottest monthly house music night in Denver right now, TheHundred. This DJ works the crowd with ninja-like skills - he won't assault the dance floor all night long with abrasive 'bangers', instead using smooth grooves and deep house to incite dance parties - the perfect tactic to keep the dance floor packed all night long. Check out his bootleg of Daft Punk's "One More Time".



The Larimer Lounge doors open at 8:00PM and the party starts at 9:00PM. The show is 21+ and tickets are $15. Grab your ticket online here now or hope they'll still be available at the door, because these tickets won't last!

By the end of Valentine's day this Tuesday night, one thing became clear - Denver is in love. It is a pure and genuine love - the kind that people pen novels, write songs, and film movies about. The kind that when observed from afar just seems so obviously right. Denver is in love with house music, and a sold out crowd made their way to the Larimer Lounge to profess their love through a night-long dance party. Two of the cities best DJs turned up the heat by getting the crowd warmed up on the dance floor, leaving it up to an internationally acclaimed DJ to set hearts ablaze until the end of the night.

boyhollow

It may have been a Sunday night, but with about ten minutes to go before the scheduled showtime, the lengthy line in front of the Ogden Theater box office window certainly made it seem like a Friday or Saturday night. Trouble was, it was at that moment those in line had to be turned away, as the last tickets to the evening's show had been sold and the venue would be at capacity. As unfortunate as that was for those that could not enter the show, it meant those that could had a golden ticket to what was sure to be a great night of music accompanied with the energy of a sold out crowd.

American Tomahawk

The night began with an opening performance from American Tomahawk. American Tomahawk is an indie rock band based out of Los Angeles with Denver ties. They performed as a five-piece band; Adam Halferty (vocals/guitar), Jessie Dixon (drums), Nolan Aldridge (guitar), Sean Foreman (bass/vocals), and brand new member Crisanta Baker (keyboard/vocals). They played a promising albeit brief set of their indie rock, which featured a mellowed Americana, almost modern folk/singer-songwriter type sound with subdued yet punctuated rhythms around an indie rock framework. The band didn't seem completely comfortable up on the big stage but played five songs from their EP, shining brightest on their performance of "Me Vs. The Apocalypse". It was a low-key start to the evening, an interesting way to begin a concert featuring high-intensity bands, but at least the crowd had plenty of energy reserved for the rest of the night.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. took the stage next, delving headfirst into a high-energy set to kick the sold out crowd into high gear. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. consists of Joshua Epstein (vocals/keyboard/sampler/guitar/bass/drums), Daniel Zott (vocals/guitar/bass/drums) and Mike Higgins (drums). The duo of Epstein and Zott crafts music with such a host of influences, it's hard to peg it into any individual category, but I would describe it as indie pop-rock infused slyly with electronic elements through live looping and clever sampling. The result is catchy songs with memorable lyrics that inject danceability into modern rock songs.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

When it comes to live performance, the energy and intensity of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s music increases immeasurably. They began with the first track off of their debut album, It's A Corporate World, titled "Morning Thought". The album version is one of the more mellow songs in their repertoire, but there's nothing mellow about the way Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. performs live. Donned in colorful fluorescent suit jackets and joined with lighted J-R-J-R's up on stage, they gave the song an arena-like feel by triggering extra samples, rocking out with distorted bass guitar, and really letting Mike Higgins go to town on the drum set. Although they set the energy bar really high with their opening song, they managed to have it climb up higher from there.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

The electro-rock/dance-pop infused "An Ugly Person On A Movie Screen" came next, really getting people to shuffle their dancing shoes on the floor. The dancing continued with "When I Open My Eyes" and was accompanied by an audience sing-a-long with their single "Skeletons". Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. owned the stage with incredible presence and energy as they brought that song to a crescendo with a rock-n-roll style breakdown. The crowd went from a sing-a-long to a whistle-a-long with the performance of "Simple Girl", before erupting into another dance fest with "Vocal Chords". Rocking out continued with the soul injected "We Almost Lost Detroit". The amazing set ended with the performance of "Nothing But Our Love", a usually mellow song made cleverly into a dance floor burner. The Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. album experience is already a fun ride, but it does not compare to how captivating the live experience is. If you like their songs, their live experience will completely sweep you away.

Fitz & The Tantrums

Fitz & The Tantrums came out next faced with the tough task of performing a set that would maintain the energy of the riled up crowd. The six members of Fitz & The Tantrums took their places on stage; keyboardist Jeremy Ruzumna, drummer John Wicks, and bassist Joseph Karnes were towards the rear of stage with James King on saxophone/flute,  Noelle Scaggs on backing vocals, and Michael Fitzgerald on lead vocals at the front of the stage. Luckily for Fitz & The Tantrums, their brand of revivalist '60s inspired soul made the task of delivering more energy to the crowd an easy one for these very capable performers.

Fitz & The Tantrums

The sweat inducing dance-athon began with "Don't Gotta Work It Out", as the crowd knew exactly what to do once they heard the keyboard stabs and drum beat. The crowd matched Fitz word for word as they sang along with him. "Breakin' The Chains of Love" kept the singing and dancing going. "Winds of Change" got the whole venue swinging their arms in the air, all the way to the upper balcony last row. With Fitz & The Tantrums the crowd's singing and dancing never stopped while the music went on, and the stage presence of the band, especially the dynamic between Michael Fitzgerald and Noelle Scaggs, kept the crowd fed with constant energy.

Fitz & The Tantrums

The only time the crowd stopped singing along was when Fitz & The Tantrums debuted a brand new song, which they said they wanted to make sure would get the 'Denver seal of approval'. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, it seems the mile high city did indeed approve. From there, the sing-along resumed with the band's soul infused cover of The Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes". The rest of their regular set consisted of almost all the remaining songs off of their album Pickin' Up The Pieces, performed flawlessly with incredible energy and crowd involvement.

Fitz & The Tantrums

They ended their regular set with an epic eight and a half minute long rendition of "News 4 U", which incorporated both slow-dance and uptempo elements. The building walls were shaking all night, but they shook the hardest when the audience called for an encore. After a short respite Michael Fitzpatrick returned to the stage, asking the crowd if they wanted more and explaining the band was passed out in the back, so if the audience wanted them to return they better call them back loudly as to wake them up. The crowd obliged, nearly blowing the roof of the place with their wails.

Fitz & The Tantrums

The band returned to the stage and performed a sweeping three song encore, starting with a slow song off of their first EP, Songs For A Break Up Vol.1 titled "We Don't Need No Love Songs". Then they tore into another soul injected cover, this time of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams". The night ended with another extended song, "Moneygrabber". Not only did the crowd sing along and dance to that final number, but they had every person in the venue get low to the floor and burst up into a boiling dance fest to close out the night - an incredible experience and sight to behold. Overall their set may not have changed much since the last time they were in Denver, but neither did the energy or the polish of their performance. It was still an incredible show having seen them before, and those that witnessed it for the first time will likely have the night lodged in their memories for a long length of time. If you need a little (or a whole lot) of soul in your life, Fitz & The Tantrums will have you covered.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

For those that wanted to keep the party going, the Larimer Lounge was the place to be. After the show concluded, the Larimer Lounge hosted local DJ and founder of Lipgloss, boyhollow, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. to perform DJ sets for an afterparty. The dance party began with boyhollow's set, mixing a smooth set of indie dance songs that got people in the dancing mood. Then Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. took the decks and mixed an amazingly eclectic but highly enjoyable set. Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein left no stone unturned, mixing songs from all over the place - Mayer Hawthorne, Madonna, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Young M.C., The Chemical Brothers, Was (Not Was), Wang Chung, even the Tiger & Woods remix of their own song "Simple Girl". Although some transitions weren't buttery smooth, the crafty song selection brought excitement and smiles to those that came to afterparty, and I certainly wouldn't hesitate to seem them play out another set in the future - such a great way to end an amazing night.

See more pictures from this show in the Facebook photo album. Like the Concerted Effort page and stay up to date!