BandWagon Magazine - July 2021 - Orville Peck by BandWagon Magazine

MUSIC reviews

BandWagon Magazine

MS. NOMER PG. 4 DESERT DWELLERS PG. 6 SLOW CAVES PG. 8 DEVIN TREMELL PG. 8 LADY DENIM PG. 8

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BANDWAGMAG.COM Publisher

ELY CORLISS

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Make More Everything

KEVIN JOHNSTON

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CARTER KERNS

CONTRIBUTORS

DAN ENGLAND GABE ALLEN VALERIE VAMPOLA DIEGO FELIX

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MS. NOMER TAOTUNU

Valerie Vampola

BandWagon Magazine

Fusion and rock group Ms. Nomer are releasing their debut full-length album TAOTUNU (things are on the up n up) July 16. Ms Nomer’s music already pulls a jazz sound with their colorful chords and complex grooves, but the addition of the other three musicians pull them out of the “rock jam band” genre and into a jazz fusion realm, reminiscent of instrumental giants Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea.

The trio was established in 2019, jamming on stages across Northern Colorado, and on TAOTUNU, that trio has expanded, implementing a lot of extra instruments. Jonah Greene, Jacob Hoeffner, and Adam Petty branched out and brought on some local powerhouses like keyboardist Bharat Bhargava, saxophonist Joey LeClerc, and trumpet and trombonist Zach Rich. The horn lines and e-piano fills blend in perfectly on tracks like “Clear” and “Pears,” deeply enriching the record. Ms. Nomer identifies as soul and funk, but they keep their sound interesting by introducing other influences. Their track “TimeWarp,” sticks out the most, sounding like a post-rock track from a band like “American Football.” Guitarist Petty is heard wailing all over the album, from a 70’s Jimi Hendrix style on “Kyle’s Frogs” to an 80’s Van Halen on “DadBod.” Already oozing with jazz influence,

drummer Greene adds a deep level of arrangement in each tune, as opposed to simply keeping time. In “The Sauce” and “Milk,” Greene exploits every opportunity to play every hit he can. Identifying as a trio is a bit of a misnomer, considering their friends appear all over TAOTUNU, but those additions

add a welcome depth and fullness to the album. And that’s part of the point of this band. Their music goes beyond just the three of them. Catch Ms. Nomer’s TAOTUNU album release show Friday, July 16 at The Aggie Theater in Fort Collins with The Nightshades. Go to www.msnomermusic.com for more.

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DESERT DWELLERS Night Visions 3

Diego Felix

BandWagon Magazine

From the Playa at Burning Man to the mountains, deserts, and jungles of world’s most iconic festivals, the seminal duo of Amani Friend and Treavor Moontribe, more widely known as their long-standing alias Desert Dwellers, are known across the globe for their ability to craft lush, worldly soundscapes and renegade dancefloor vibes. If the wait to see the Boulderbased duo live at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre on July 17 proves too long to bear, feel comforted that the freshly-released third installment of their Night Vision series can tide you over until then.

Night Visions 3 delves into the duo’s ever-changing interpretation of global music through eight re-imaginings from the electronic underworld. This 8-track release via their Desert Trax Label features remixes of original compositions by Hibernation, Poranguí, Uone & Western, Bluetech, Perfect Stranger, Gaudi, and Banco De Gaia. This collection combines the essence of tribal tech,

deep bass, progressive techno, and psychedelic dub into a quintessential journey of the Desert Dwellers’ signature style. Night Visions 3 draws upon the duo’s long history of production and performance, offering a doorway to a realm where boundaries between genres disappear. For instance, the duo’s remix of Poranguí’s “Stardust” kicks off with worldly percussion, lush melodic layers, and an overdub about the complexities of the universe, seamlessly evolving into a calmed uptempo exploration of Desert Dwellers’ classic sound. Comparably, on the remix of Bluetech’s “Dawn Ascent,” Treavor and Amani build up to a progressive house groove that feels more at home at a renegade stage than in a club environment. Bookending the album are two downtempo remixes: “Familiar Stars” by Hibernation and “All Sleeping” by Banco De Gaia. “Familiar Stars” starts things off with low-end-friendly psychedelic dub, dense with sparkling melodies and washed out vocal droning. Capping things off is the “All Sleeping” remix, dense with tribal percussion from the jump, culminating in a glitched-out, ever-changing bass heavy tune that doesn’t stray from the thoughtful musicality present on the rest of the album.

Catch Desert Dwellers live at The Mishawaka Amphitheatre on Saturday, July 17. More at desertdwellers.org.

SINGLE REVIEWS LAURA GIAGOS

Before I Leave Slow Caves

Light of Mine ii

Devin Tremmel ft. Dante M’$

Old & New

When Slow Caves puts out a track, the Colorado music scene collectively gazes on in awe. Their first release since last year’s single “Walk in the Park,” Slow Caves has returned with “Before I Leave,” a ‘90s postpsychedelic stroll through the minds of the Mueller brothers. As a song it parallels how we’re feeling, now that things are returning to normal: purposeful, sullen, energetic, contemplative, and downright ready to rock.

Devin Tremmel is one of those surprises everyone saw coming. Originally from South Carolina but based out of Northern Colorado, he’s been a mainstay in the rap scene there going back six plus years. Finding a home in Greeley, Tremmel never stopped pursuing his love of hip hop, and now something very real is happening.

Bright, energetic and bursting with youthful pop polish. That’s been the name of the game for Fort Collins indie rockers Lady Denim and it’s paying off. They take a stab in the right direction with “Old & New” (one of their sharpest songs yet) showing a band that continues to evolve with each release. The romantic nostalgia embedded in tightly-orchestrated pop rock could be a touch mono-thematic for some listeners, but it has a history of doing well in Northern Colorado. Expect a lot more Lady Denim in your summer collection this year - start by trying on the must-see “Old & New” video or being seen July 17 at their Globe Hall show.

Cleverly produced, it’s a positive and creative new course for the band. Stepping out of the dream pop genre and showing signs of something different, it’s a good time to be a Slow Caves fan.

In the last two years Tremmel has cranked out an impressive amount of material, and his latest single “Light of Mine ii” – released on Juneteenth – stands on its own. Clearly comfortable as a writer and with his flow, Tremmel is an artist to watch for 2022.

Lady Denim

Ron: Weekdays 6am - 10am Not only is live music coming back, but a lot of artists are also releasing new music this summer! Here are some of the albums I’m looking forward to hearing. 1. July 9: The Wallflowers, Exit Wounds. Man, who DIDN’T get into their sound when Bringing Down The Horse came out? 2. July 16: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Layla Revisited (Live At Lockn’). One of my fave startto-finish albums gets covered by TTB at a great rural Virginia venue. 3. July 23: Leon Bridges, Gold-Diggers Sound – This guy is ‘smooth soul’ for the 2000s. And he’s a great success story of someone who was washing dishes at a diner not that long ago! 4. July 30: Prince, Welcome 2 America. – For more than 40 years, all you’ve needed is two words: Puh and Rince. These are songs from an album he never released. 5. August 13: Jungle, Loving In Stereo – At what might be the hottest part of the summer, this group outta London gives us ANOTHER reason to sweat!

Margot: Weekdays 10am - 3pm 5 Great Internet Sites For Music History Buffs! If you have some time to kill and you love music history, check these out. 1. Internet Archive - internetarchive.net – The Internet Archive is a vast digital library with the stated mission of “universal access to all knowledge.” Music, video, books; you name it, they have it. 2. Dangerous Minds - dangerousminds.net - Dangerous Minds is basically a one-stop-internet-shop for articles about current things happening with classic punk bands. 3. TV Trope - tvtropes.org – A trope is an overused theme or device and this website covers all of pop culture to bring them to you. 4. Open Culture - openculture.com – It’s billed as “the best free cultural and educational media on the web.” That mission statement is taken seriously, with resources so abundant it would take you years to go through them all.

5. Library Of Congress - www.loc.gov – The Library Of Congress has digitized vast amounts of their music collection, from the earliest recorded sounds to rock music reviews.

Stacy: Weekdays 3pm - 7pm Live music on its way back and so is travel! Grab your passport and head to these destination festivals world-wide. 1. Festival Estéreo Picnic - Bogotá, Colombia - This early summer festival had to be pushed to early September this year due to (well, you know). The line-up has yet to be announced but expect 3 days of genre crossing festival cheer! Last year featured Wu-Tang Clan, Vampire Weekend, Cage the Elephant, and Rita Ora. festivalestereopicnic.com 2. Iceland Airwaves – Reykjavík, Iceland – Pack warm for this festival on November 3-6 featuring Arlo Parks, Bartees Strange, Black Pumas, Dry Cleaning, Metronomy, ISÁK, Júníus Meyvant, kef LAVÍK, and many more. This festival has a cool vibe, and the venues are scattered all around this beautiful city! icelandairwaves.is 3. Electric Castle - Bánffy Castle, Bonţida, Romania – Due to current restrictions they’ve expanded this festival to ten days! August 6 – 15, explore over 400 bands in 30 venues. Current lineup is in flux but should include Twenty One Pilots, The Chemical Brothers, Placebo, Foals, Aurora, The Neighbourhood and Machine Gun Kelly. electriccastle.ro 4. Fuji Rock Festival – Naeba Ski Resort, Niigata Prefecture, Japan - For a full immersion in the Japanese music scene, try this three-day festival August 20-22, featuring 70 bands in a beautiful setting: RADWIMPS, Man With a Mission, Manabu Hirasawa, CHAI, Shintaro Sakamoto, OAU, Akiyama Yellow and many more! fujirockfestival.com 5. Rocking the Daisies – Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa – This music and lifestyle fest is celebrating its 15th birthday and features live music, installation art, dancing, magic and more, split between the two locations! SAINt JHN, Stormzy, Ari, Lennox Duckwrth and more. rockingthedaisies.com

Benji: Weekdays 7pm - 10pm 1. Tour De France – The Nuggets and Avs failed to go far in the playoffs but there’s still the Tour De France, considered the most difficult professional sporting event going. If you enjoy great scenery with some suffering thrown in. This is the event for you! 2. Los Lobos – Native Sons – Los Lobos decided to honor the city they grew up in, covering 13 of their favorite songs by fellow Los Angelinos and showcasing the diversity of the LA music scene. Everyone from Buffalo Springfield to Jackson Browne are covered and it’s awesome. 3. Shannon & The Clams – “Midnight Wine” – Shannon & The Clams just like to have fun. “Midnight Wine” encompasses a lot of different styles: Garage, Psychedelia, Doo Wop and Girl Groups, plus, the cheesy organ makes you feel like you’re at a roller rink. 4. Rodrigo y Gabriella – Jazz EP – Rodrigo y Gabriella like to keep us guessing. They may give us a flamenco cover of “Stairway to Heaven” or a song about a rollercoaster then take us along for the ride. It’s only 3 songs, but they really turn them on their heads. 5. Southern Culture On The Skids - At Home With Southern Culture On The Skids – An entire album created during the pandemic, this record contains traditional toe-tappers like “Run Baby Run” but also “Call Me,” poking fun at the lockdown. If you want a record to put a smile on your face, this is it.

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Home o n T he Frin ge BY: DAN ENGLAND

rville Peck prepared to sing “Born This Way,” and he felt nervous. He knew what the song meant to Lady Gaga’s career, their followers and to himself. It was a thrill to cover it, even to do it in his traditional country style with a voice that recalls Elvis in addition to legends of the Grand Ole Opry. But the song is also an iconic emblem of the LBGTQ community, and Peck is a proud member as a gay man. He didn’t want to let them down. “It can be a daunting thing,” Peck said in an interview with BandWagon. “That song in particular means a lot to a lot of people. I just approached it the way I [approach] my own music, or anything I do. You have to be respectful, and you have to do it your way. I think authenticity wins at the end of the day.” It’s no wonder, then, that Gaga’s team chose Peck as part of a group of artists celebrating the 10th anniversary of her

classic album. He’s known for handmade, fringed masks that cover everything but his blue eyes. His videos look like previews on the Vegas strip. And yet, his selfproduced album draws heavily on classic country influences, with songs such as “Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call).” Further titles include “Old River,” “Roses are Falling” and “Queen of the Rodeo.” The New Yorker reviewed his debut album, Pony, by comparing his voice to Roy Orbison. In a rare profile, done by the New York Times, he said, “Honestly, there is nothing I love more than being around a horse.” His authenticity, he said, is why he’s friends with classic country music stars, and why they’ve embraced him. Past stars, such as Willie Nelson, who sang about pot, and Garth Brooks, who brought rock and pop to his music, and Shania Twain, who flaunted her sexuality and independent strength, were all seen as outlaws, or perhaps “not country enough.” They can relate to him as fellow outlaws. “I don’t get blowback from traditional country fans, I get it from modern country fans who believe what’s country is what’s on

the radio, that doesn’t sound very country at all to me,” Peck tells BandWagon. “There’s always been something new introduced to that genre, whether it’s an instrument or Willie singing about weed or it’s me singing about men and wearing a mask. Everyone freaks out and says it’s not country, and then slowly it becomes part of it. I don’t mind that blowback. That means I’m doing it right. I take it as a challenge.” Peck seems to enjoy turning country music on its ten-gallon hat. “True country music is not about instrumentation, it’s not about the color of your skin, and it’s not about your sexual orientation,” Peck said in his official bio. “It’s about the crossroads of drama, storytelling, and sincerity.” The point of country, he said, is to tell his story in the only musical genre that welcomes that kind of deep introspection. Only one song on his debut album, Pony, was fictional. “Queen of the Rodeo,” for instance, was about real drag queens, not blonde-haired binary beauties from Kansas, and “Big Sky” was about his difficult relationships with a biker, a boxer and a jail officer.

See Orville Peck

SATURday, July 24

and Gasoline Lollipops

51 I-25 Service Rd, Cheyenne, Wy

live and in person with Wheelwright

“It’s the only music that can just grab you and tell your story, even if it may not be your story,” Peck said. “I would listen to Patsy Cline when I was 16 and just cry. Those stories resonate with people for years and years and years. I actually think country is the most unifying genre. It’s just gotten a bad rap for a long time.” Peck just spent two weeks in the studio with Miley Cyrus, who identifies as pansexual and has a place as another country music outlier. The two also performed for Cyrus’ Pride Month special via Peacock, released on June 25, at the iconic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The moment wasn’t lost on him or Cyrus or others who performed, he said. He called it “monumental.” “I think it’s important that someone like Miley knows how to use their platform to make progress,” Peck said. “It was another incredible moment for me, for country music and for the community. We all knew what we were a part of.”

at Terry Bison Ranch

Get Tickets at gochinook.com

ycling almost killed Yawper’s in rural Kansas. When he got there, he Man.” Barring any major collisions, frontman Nate Cook, but it also re-routed onto an unpaved country he will arrive in Los Angeles to play a saved his life. road and quickly regretted it. celebratory set with the Yawpers on “I think I would have drank myself to “I wound up without cell service (then September 3. Along the way, he will also death during the pandemic had I not my phone died), without water, on a play solo shows in Chicago, Tulsa, Fort had something else to focus my energy road bike in soft sand. I walked about Worth and Austin. on,” he tells BandWagon.

25 miles [bare foot - without his cycling So instead, Cook set a lofty goal for shoes] until I got back to a road and was which he would have to train. Starting able to flag down a car.” Cook said. “I on September 20 of last year, Cook was absolutely certain I was going to pedaled his road bike to a gig in Tulsa, die.” Oklahoma from Denver. Cook raised Of course, if you’ve listened to the over $17,000 with a corresponding Yawpers’ music, you know that Cook has fundraising campaign dubbed “Go East an affinity for grandiose stories with life Aging Man.” All of the money went to or death consequences. So it is fitting Sweet Relief, a nonprofit that provides that he will once again tempt fate on financial aid to musicians who have the open road this summer — this time fallen on hard times. on a westward bearing.

“I’m terrified. The scope of this is insane and it’s going to be heavily publicized,” Cook said. And then with characteristic dark wit: “I’m concerned about failing, although, I feel like if I get hit by a car or something it will drive donations even more.”

The money raised through the charity ride will once again go towards Sweet Relief — an organization that once funded a liver transplant for one of Cook’s friends. Last year, the But, he almost didn’t make it. Without Starting on July 4, Cook will depart nonprofit created a fund dedicated to realising it, Cook had planned for his from Greeley Square Park in New York music industry workers who have been route to go along a section of interstate City in a ride dubbed “Go West Aging medically affected by the pandemic.

Cook knows many musicians who have struggled to make ends meet over the past year, and he is thankful to be in a position to bolster support. “My understanding is that Sweet Relief is getting more requests than during the height of the pandemic,” Cook said. “The idea is to give people a rallying point to donate to artists in a meaningful way. That’s what this is really all about.” Of course, it’s never quite that simple for Cook. The man wrote an entire concept album about a boy who was abandoned in a well in France during World War I. His motivations stem from a nebulous mix of altruism, restlessness, penitence and a search for revelation. “A man creates his problems — each dilemma the misbegotten product of some preceding ill-conceived remedy,” a narrator ruminates floridly over the promo video for “Go West Aging Man.” “As our nation reaches the midpoint of its third century, as cleaved as the days of Greeley, one wonders, what cardinal should we follow.” The philosophical forefather of Cook’s ride is Horace Greeley — the namesake of both the town in which this magazine is published and the park in New York City where Cook will begin his ride. Greeley (1811-1872) was a writer, publisher of the New York Tribune and, for the time, an extremely progressive politician. He was a fierce abolitionist, first-wave feminist and staunch socialist. He is also the author of the manifest destiny-era slogan “Go west young man, and grow up with the country.”

is something that we share, and that’s why I chose him as the kind of spiritual father of the ride.” While the money he raises will go towards healing ailing musicians, the journey itself may heal Cook. He still struggles with alcohol abuse, but training has kept him from taking it too far. “I don’t want to be all sanctimonious about it, because if I had read this during my darker days I would have thought it pretty pretentious to suggest that riding a bicycle could save somebody’s life,” he said. “But musicians – a lot of us – lead an unhealthy lifestyle, between touring and drugs and alcohol and lack of sleep and constant travel. Having found a way to do my art and still be healthy is a revelation.” This, perhaps, is the emotional heart of Cook’s journey. The desire to bring health and happiness to artists — a group whose modern narrative is wrapped up in depression and destitution. “Most major artists who now inform what we think of as ‘good art’ were not able to support themselves during their lifetimes,” Cook said. “If we can somehow subsidize the art community in a way that allows you to make art independent of financial responsibility, I think it improves cultural life, life in general and makes us better as a society.”

“Maybe one of his more problematic causes was that he was an outspoken proponent of pushing westward,” Cook said. “But the idea of travel as healing

Make More Everything BY: GABE ALLEN

FOCO FILM & MUSIC COLLIDE AND CONNECT

hese days, anyone can create and disseminate a video, short work of fiction or piece of music while holed up in their bedroom. Smartphones, user-friendly editing software and templatebased web development companies have made it easier than ever to broadcast your creative voice to the world. But, with these innovations has also come the potential for isolation. When you don’t need anyone else’s skills or expertise, or even an audience, to be creative, it’s easy to become sealed off from the outside world.

which he described as “a game of telephone between writers, musicians and visual artists.” This summer, Tretter collaborated with the creator of the Weekend Warriors 48-hour film slam, Jesse Nyander, to bring filmmakers into the mix.

This trend deepened during the pandemic. Performance art and creative collaboration retreated into the lonlier, less tactile, digital realm. But, in Fort Collins, two creative professionals have schemed up a multimedia challenge aimed at reviving artistic collaboration in the local community.

“I just get pleasure from seeing my friends make stuff, Tretter said. “That's my motivating factor. One of my closest friends was a writer for that competition. Not only did she write the movie, but she also acted in it. It was clear that it was so deeply personal for her. And this is a new method of expression because she's never written a screenplay before, and she's never acted before.”

“A lot of people that are emotionally driven tend to gravitate towards the arts,” musician Maxwell Tretter tells BandWagon. “But, then they also hit this pivotal moment between the path of isolation or the path of connection. Almost always the path of isolation leads toward destructive tendencies. I don’t want that for anyone, I’m sick of hearing about the tragic origin story. I want to hear about the well connected, like, ‘life went great for me and I made amazing shit’ story.” And thus sparked a new forum for positive, interactive creativity in Fort Collins. It all started when Tretter challenged his Instagram followers to create an original song in just a week during the early days of the pandemic last spring. Last summer, he followed it up with Make More Everything,

“There are a gajillion different music venues and a gajillion different art galleries,” Tretter tells BandWagon. “What Jesse does for independent filmmakers is kind of the only thing that exists for that art form in our area.”

After gathering participants through social media (each signed up as a visual artist,

musician, filmmaker or writer), Nyander and Tretter assigned randomly-assembled teams to a prompt. Then, the teams had from June 4 to 12 to create an original film that incorporated original music and art direction. “Everybody showed up kind of excited but also scared. This is one of the first large social interactions that they’ve had since the beginning of the pandemic,” Tretter said. “People forget what it’s like to sit down and be creative with a stranger. And that’s something that used to happen all the time,” Nyander added. Nonetheless, the teams got right to work. “Every team hung out there for like two hours on the first day,” Nyander said. “There were some deep thoughts going on, I was afraid to interrupt.” Tretter continued: “I want people to get over the notion that talent and ability is something you're born with — the right to express yourself. Freedom of expression is a pivotal part of the human experience as a whole.”

During “First Friday” on July 2, the Lyric Cinema in Fort Collins hosts the Make More Everything launch party for the films. Participating musicians perform live, visual artists display props and art. At sundown, each film is introduced and projected on the big screen. Afterward, audience and creators will mingle and dance to a live set by local trio Trash Cat. More info at MakeMoreFoCo.com