Hundreds of hours spent in the basements of dive bars don’t often yield respectable accolades, but for George Cessna, that’s arguably how he came to be this month’s Colorado Sound featured artist.
Cessna and his close friend Brian Buck literally clocked as much time in the basement of Denver’s beloved Hi-Dive, recording and eventually emerging with Lucky Rider, a twangy, dark and lo-fi album released in December.
Folk trio Magpie the Band emerges into the Northern Colorado scene with their debut ‘Under The Maple Tree,’ featuring more Celtic and Eastern European sounds than the western Americana commonly heard in the Colorado scene. Balancing the amount of slow, introspective songs, and bouncy foot-stompers, the album plays like an intimate house concert put on by close friends.
Los Moccochetes, Denver’s award-winning latin funk band, springs from a group of highschool friends and acquaintances from the music and poetry scene. The raw, “la famiglia” vibe is potent both on stage and in their new, multi-lingual, socially conscious EP Mucho Gusto. Los Moccochetes are here to party for the right to fight.
“‘Cuchito’ is a song about a cat. It’s kind of about my cat,” Christopher Castillo Bowers says. But Kiltro’s most recent single, holds more layers than the obvious, much like the band’s spry sound: an intricate mix of acoustic instruments, warbling vocal and polished dance grooves.
Julie Koenig’s debut album explores what it means to be a woman – both the strengths and vulnerabilities – through the singer-songwriter genre and jazz.
Unapologetic about her features and her attitude, Koenig uses them to draw strength and elicit feminist ideals, employing a fierce set of original lyrics on being rambunctious.
After years of solely identifying as the co-front man of Colorado’s adored brother-band Slow Caves, Jakob Mueller steps away from those familiar indie guitar shoegaze shores. Adopting the pseudonym Cody, Mueller dips his toes into new, even washier waters. Cody’s first single “I’m Not Really Listening” premieres below, via BandWagon today.
Devin Tremell is one of those surprises everyone saw coming. In the last two years Tremell has cranked out an impressive amount of material, and his latest single “Light of Mine ii” – released on Juneteenth – stands on its own.
Tom Amend has been in a band since he was 6 years old, playing piano for his dad’s yacht rock cover band (when his hands were just big enough to reach a few chords) up until 2019 when he stepped down as the Burroughs’ keyboardist of many years. Now at 26, he’s making his mark in the Denver jazz scene as one of Colorado’s best pianists, playing one-off shows every other night with a constantly rotating collection of musicians.
“It’s the freedom of everything – the spaces, the sound, the tunes… [jazz] is a free form of music. It’s cliche, but it’s truly why I love it,” Amend tells BandWagon.
