This week, Steal This Track brings you free Colorado music for your downloading delectation from three very different bands. We’ll start off with the heavy rock and roll of , move on to the experimental indie indulgence of , and then wrap up with the rollicking Americana punk of . Steal an earful.
It’s been about a year since we heard new music from Low Gravity, and the quartet’s latest EP, “Incarnadine,” makes it clear what the band has been up to in the meantime. Building on the strengths of its debut EP, Low Gravity continues to trade in stoner metal that’s as bluesy as John Lee Hooker with a Marshall stack and as sludgy as six-month old bong water. It’s also funny as hell. Epic tunes that blast far beyond the 8-minute mark are hallmark of doom metal, but so is taking yourself way too seriously, a pitfall that Low Gravity deftly avoids. The outfit’s punishing musical bludgeon seems to simultaneously pay tribute to the gods of the genre while also lampooning them, wielding the hammer of Thor in one hand and a rubber chicken in the other. Steal “Satellite” to hear what it’s all about. And in case you can’t quite understand the lyrics to the song’s last verse, they are: “I know how this night will end/Bacon waffles and aching shins.” Pick up the whole EP from , then catch the band live on Saturday, May 5, at Benders Tavern.
Indie rock eccentrics Rubedo are also capable of musical brutality, as evidenced by nearly prog-rock tunes like “Guise of a Traveling Scholar” from the trio’s long-awaited debut album, “Massa Confusa.” However, the album also proves that this threesome, which has been noisily knocking about the Denver music community for years, is capable of nearly anything. With a ’90s-esque lo-fi disregard for studio polish and perfection, Rubedo rambles through genre after genre on its album — swaying, rocking, screaming, crying, laughing, living and dying with undeniable power and passion. Alex Trujillo’s lush guitars, Gregg Ziemba’s cracker-crisp drumming and Kyle Gray’s noisy synths seem capable of creating infinite textures and infinite worlds. Gray’s earnest, emotive vocals give the otherworldly proceedings a human heart. The album’s staggering diversity makes it difficult to pick just one representative track (we’d originally picked five!), but my love for the films of Francois Truffaut ultimately forced me to offer “Antoine Doinel” for your purloining pleasure. Check it out, then pick up the whole album for yourself this Friday, May 4, when the band plays at Unit E (1201 Santa Fe, Denver). , and Cougar Pants (featuring ) share the bill.
Bringing up the rear with equal passion and power is Tin Horn Prayer. The ramshackle Americana outfit — which includes former members of , and — is still figuring out just how, exactly, it will release its just-finished album, “Grapple the Rails,” but you, lucky reader, get a sneak preview right here. The album contains the ensemble’s signature blend of American folk music (think mandolins and banjos), punk rock (think loud guitars, breakneck tempos and plenty of screaming) and the band’s own ingredient X, which makes Tin Horn Prayer sound unlike anyone else. If and had a baby, its giggles, cries and coos might sound something like Tin Horn Prayer, but probably not. Steal the album’s first single, “Stumble,” and decide for yourself. Catch the band live this weekend as part of the Reverb-sponsored mini-fest at and the .
Please note that downloads offered via Steal This Track are intended to whet your appetite, and are NOT CD-quality recordings. If you want those, please support the artists by buying their music and/or seeing them live.
If you’re a band or musician ready to expose your fresh sounds to the readers of Reverb, email your tracks — along with any interesting facts about them, as well as a photo or album art — to Eryc Eyl for consideration.
Eryc Eyl is a veteran music journalist, critic and Colorado native who has been neck-deep in local music for many years. Check out for local music you can HEAR, and the for stories about Denver musicians doing extraordinary things. Against his mother’s advice, Eryc has also been known to . You can also follow Sorry, Mom.
