Today we bring you the second installment of this week’s six-pack of fresh and free Colorado music. If you caught , we know you’re excited, so we won’t waste any time getting right to crazed rock from , gritty soul from and bare-bones folk from . Steal, rinse and repeat.
With six — sometimes seven — people and a panoply of conventional and not-so-conventional instruments on stage, Eldren draws plenty of attention before the band ever plays a note. Once the group starts playing, it becomes clear that it’s more than just a feast for the eyes. The ensemble’s mashup of jazz, prog rock, jam, power pop, indie rock and more makes for a joyful noise that would be utterly chaotic if it weren’t so damned catchy. The rare art rock outfit with an ear for pop nuggets, Eldren is poised to release “Yankee Stargazer” — its latest slab of surprisingly accessible weirdness — with a shared EP release party with The Foot. this Saturday at the Bluebird Theater. You can get your ticket AND a four-song sampler of all the artists playing that night . In the meantime, steal “Sleepywalker” and just try not to sing along. We dare you.
Speaking of The Foot., the quartet of Jeff McCollister, Noah Shomberg, Phil Barrett and newest member Drew Sowell is finally ready to share the second and third installments of its EP trilogy that began with last year’s “Hangman.” Packed to the gills with the band’s funky and soulful take on garage rock, the “Cloud Control” and “Crowd Control” EPs showcase a group that is really hitting its musical stride. The Foot. has never sounded so ready to swagger into a room, steal your drink, make out with your girlfriend and leave you wanting more as they do on these six tracks. Grab “The Day We Danced Around Gold” for a small sample of what you can expect to hear on Saturday at the Bluebird Theater. The link to buy tickets (and get more music) is, once again, .
Closing out this six-pack of free tracks, we have something completely different. Poet’s Row grabbed our attention last year with its debut release, “Exquisite Corpse,” and we’re only just getting around to sharing its delicate beauty with you. Comprising Mickey Bakas and Emily Hobbs, Poet’s Row — taking its name from the cluster of Capitol Hill apartment buildings where Bakas and Hobbs met — created one of the simplest and most vulnerable releases to come out of Denver last year. The duo’s gossamer harmonies accompanied by an unadorned guitar gently cut a path straight to the heart via the ears, unmolested by studio wizardry or unnecessary complexity. While it’s easy to pigeonhole the pair’s crystalline vocals and austere arrangements as folk music in the ’60s Newport mold, the songs themselves have more in common with traditional spirituals than with any contemporary folkies. You can buy “Exquisite Corpse” for a mere $4 (you’ll get both a digital download and the CD) from . After you do, make sure you make it to Buffalo Rose in Golden this Friday night to catch Bakas and Hobbs live with . Oh, and steal the EP’s title track below to hear what you’re in for. You’ll be glad you did.
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.
