Uncategorized – The SoCC Blog

2May

By Marina MalinNo Comments

Album Reviews, Uncategorized

Shannon Lay’s Covers Vol. 1 Review

Image courtesy of Pitchfork Written by Marina Malin As I begin to write this, the only items in my backpack are two books on albums from Elliott Smith and Nick Drake that I am cheerlessly returning to the music library. This morning as I scrolled through my Instagram feed, naturally I nearly screeched at the Pitchfork release post of Shannon Lay’s Covers Vol. 1; The brief caption mentioned my forever favorites, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. Never having heard of Shannon Lay, the dynamic duo was enough for me to spring out of bed and immediately binge the album in its entirety (which made me very late to class). It felt as if the album was a gift to me as covers of Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier, Ty Segall, and Velvet Underground accompanied the two. Covers Vol. 1 begins with...

100 gecs gec the heck out at Denver’s Mission Ballroom

24Apr

By Sadie AlmgrenNo Comments

Reviews, Shows, Uncategorized

100 gecs gec the heck out at Denver’s Mission Ballroom

Written by Sadie Almgren photo by Sadie Almgren “I went to wilderness therapy in Siberia”, I overhear someone say as I stand in what feels like a can of human sardines. Someone else holds their phone high above their head, playing the pilot episode of Breaking Bad, people eagerly crowd around to watch Walter White ask Jesse Pinkman to cook meth. I was standing in Denver’s Mission Ballroom on a Thursday evening, waiting for 100 gecs to come onstage. Following their genre-defining 2019 album, 1000 gecs, 100 gecs recently released 10,000 gecs and subsequently embarked on the 10,000 Gecs Tour 2. Yeah, I know, that’s a lot of gecs to keep track of. 10,000 gecs offers a delicious combination of classic gecs-style autotuned vocals, ridiculously creative glitchy aesthetics, and stupid s...

SONG OF THE DAY: Simulation Swarm, Big Thief

15Apr

By AlexNo Comments

Uncategorized

SONG OF THE DAY: Simulation Swarm, Big Thief

Image courtesy of The Current Upon my first listen, "Simulation Swarm"- simply put- just didn’t do it for me. I found myself disconnected, neutral, and slightly disappointed in Big Thief, one of my all-time favorite bands, and their newest release. As a self-proclaimed musical genius, I assumed my initial reaction to the song was correct. "Simulation Swarm" found itself forgotten after my inaugural dismissal, never to be seen again. This is the last time I trust my pretentious expectations; I was treacherously mistaken. A December evening in Boston was the second time “Simulation Swarm” found me. Though I choose to believe my rediscovery of the song is a case of fate, or perhaps divine intervention, Spotify autoplay is arguably responsible for my pot-of-gold moment. I drive around m...

31Jul

By Jack MadisonNo Comments

Uncategorized

Pitchfork Music Festival Review

Friday I’ve trekked to Chicago this week, and my big toe is sticking out of a hole in my sock. A man yells at me to buy his $10 poncho, but I just want a new sock. That’s okay, I’ve made it to my destination: Pitchfork Music Festival is the record-collecting younger sister to Lollapalooza, her fraternity-rushing older brother. A list on my phone holds the artist lineup, and it is filled with current critical successes along with legends of the past. Looking down, I see the ground swallow rain to spit mud back out. The grey Chicago skies tend to be sporadic. My weather app says the rain will soon clear, but these clouds will linger for a bit to hear some good music. During a Porta Potty hiatus, the big rectangular urination-box begins to shake. SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, a band that exis...

29Jul

By Jack MadisonNo Comments

Interview, Uncategorized

Interview with Ray Angry of The Roots

Anywhere he goes, Ray Angry is probably the most skilled pianist in any direction for many, many miles. However, at Pitchfork Music Festival, he is surrounded by some of the most talented instrumentalists in the current musical canon— no, he’s still probably the best pianist here. He has album credits with artists such as Mick Jagger, Solange, Elvis Costello, Mobb Deep, and many more. This modern renaissance man walks in with a sharp green jacket on; under his large tan hat rests a calm brain that will soon shoot neurons to his fingers, they will play notes and impress tens of thousands of attendees for The Roots' headlining performance. They call him Mr. Goldfinger for a reason. Jack: So let's go back to the beginning, tell me about your early days playing piano at...

25May

By Jack MadisonNo Comments

Uncategorized

Car Seat Headrest Live in Denver

“What happened to that chubby little kid, who smiled so much and loved the beach boys?” Car Seat Headrest songwriter Will Toledo screams this on stage with his post-pubescent voice cracks fragmenting through the crowd. “What happened is I killed that fucker and I took his name, and I got new glasses” The audience collectively belts this “Destroyed by Hippie Powers” line as if it is one of the universal truths of the online age. And to this group of people, it may as well be. So what the hell happened to the music kids? I’d imagine twenty-five years ago, the Car Seat Headrest fanbase’s past-adjacents would have been scoffing at hair-metal during a Pavement concert, or wearing a dirty pair of jeans at a Yo La Tengo show. The internet happened, Bandcamp happened, and the ability ...

1May

By Emily FaulksNo Comments

Uncategorized

The Flaming Lips at Mission Ballroom

By Emily Faulks I remember being at home during the Fall 2020 quarantine period and discovering The Flaming Lips’ Pitchfork documentary of their 1999 album The Soft Bulletin. I did not know them outside of some of their classic songs like “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1” and “She Don’t Use Jelly,” that were conceptually and aesthetically different from this album- this was something special. I hung onto every song on the album for dear life, as its messages of grief and existential dread felt particularly salient during the pandemic. Now that COVID’s presence seems more of a backdrop to “normal” life, I have moved through the Flaming Lips discography to compliment the laughter and joy that has flowed back into my day. The Flaming Lips concert, even with an emotionally vari...

4Apr

By Jack MadisonNo Comments

Uncategorized

Concert Review: Beach House in Denver

The phrase “the fog is coming” has been everywhere over the last few weeks. Comment sections are riddled with this warning, I’ve even seen a post-it note with the warning in our supposedly-safe school library. But I saw the fog. It came at 9:03 PM MST on March 30, 2022 at 39.776374, -104.969329, aka the Mission Ballroom in Denver. This glorious haze swept over the audience resulting in dead silence. Darkness and silence. I’ve seen what the fog consists of, the lights shone revealing the silhouettes of the legendary Dream Pop duo Beach House. The title track and intro of Once Twice Melody launched the concert with plainsong-like chimes; its hypnotizing instruments progress with Victoria Legrand’s voice. Legrand’s delivery has a similar effect to German artist Nico. Her vocals fee...

28Mar

By Jack MadisonNo Comments

Uncategorized

Album Review: Big Thief – “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You”

When I saw the 80 minute length and massive name of the new Big Thief album, my cynicism got the best of me. A quick, near-empty black and white sketch on the cover further confuses the assuming asshole in my head: big album needs big artwork, right? I saw that large-scale magazines were ALREADY giving this album extremely high reviews before it was released to the public. I texted my friend, curious as to what could possibly be so interesting about this massive record. She responded with a quote that would define the next month: “hey man, let those pasty basement fairies do their thing.” Lead singer Adrienne Lenker starts the album with an arbitrary statement “Ok?” Ok. The intro, “Change” is a hug. A hopeful one. Maybe change isn’t a bad thing? Maybe it’s beaut...

7Mar

By Augie VossNo Comments

Uncategorized

Fall Favorites Recap—A Return To Live Music in Colorado

By Augie Voss While the pandemic still feels far from over, the availability of vaccines has allowed some semblances of normalcy to re-enter our lives. For music lovers like me, perhaps the most celebrated change came with artists around the world announcing US tours—here are a few of my favorite artists that visited the Front Range. Mdou Moctar In September, Mdou Moctar stopped through Denver’s Globe Hall on the North American tour for their recent album Afrique Victim. The Nigerien singer and guitarist brings a modern twist to Tuareg music, backed by a full band, and the result was a night of non-stop dancing to dynamic riffs and soulful singing. To see Mdou Moctar perform is to witness virtuosity in its purest form—I can’t remember the last time I was so awestruck by a musicia...