Hardly anything gets our proverbial Music Ninja blood pumping quite like unveiling brand new artists yet unheard to the rest of the world. Such is the case with today’s TMN Premiere coming from L.A. based, Canadian Indie-Pop project, Loveclub. Loveclub’s aural aesthetic is one bending 80’s synth kits & sensibilities around sharp songwriting, and contemporary pop arrangements for a sound uniquely his, yet utterly relatable.
The first single to see light from Loveclub is “Stuck”. Fusing tinny kick-drums, aerated pads and perfectly popping snare stabs, Loveclub buoys the lovely instrumentation with a flitting vocal track that shapes the tune’s emotional identity; landing somewhere between indie-pop and (wink, wink) PBR&B. About the tune, the debuting artist shared: “’Stuck’ is about putting it all out there and realizing that sometimes it doesn’t work out.” Something surely most of our listeners can associate with. We’re prognosticating a strong finish to 2018 from the budding synth-pop style-bender that is Loveclub, and you can be sure we’ll be revealing more pieces to his unraveling puzzle as they are released. Until then, stream Loveclub’s premiere single “Stuck” above.
The 18th anniversary of one of Denver’s most storied music events, The Underground Music Showcase, is rapidly encroaching, bringing with it perhaps its heaviest-hitting lineup ever. What began as a one-night performance featuring just four bands, The UMS has steadily exploded into to a three-day music and arts festival featuring hundreds of performances. As the time draws nearer to what will no doubt be another incredible weekend of performances, this year taking place from July 27th – July 29th, it’s time to get our readers familiar with this year’s crop of highly established headliners and burgeoning local & national artists, spanning a plethora of genres and sounds.
Dotting the top end of this year’s addition of The Underground Music Showcase are more than a few TMN regulars. Among this year’s biggest highlights are the smooth indie-disco stylings of L.A. electronic duo Classixx, the infectious ciphers of B.J. the Chicago Kid, Deezie Brown & legendary hip-hop troupe Digable Planets, a healthy smattering of established indie acts including Greta Kline’s Frankie Cosmos project, Parallelephants, Deerhunter & Mothers, scuzzy rock sets from Alvvays, White Denim & Superchunk; not to mention the most eclectic handling of local talent we get to hear year after year including sets from olorado’s own CRL CRRLL, Aaron Bordas, Slow Caves, Bud Bronson & The Goodtimers and loads more.
Right now, special one-day GA tickets can be found for $40 over on their homepage with weekend passes for just $75. We’ll see you there in full force on July 27th, but until then, get in the UMS swing of things by streaming our playlist below.
Seriously, how is it July already? Guess time flies when you have a weekly Indie Dojo to look forward to.
Even writing this, it’s hard to believe that Canadian synth-pop stalwarts (and quasi Broken Social Scene offshoot) Stars are nearing their twentieth year in existence. Once supplying some of this writer’s favorite sugary sweet, heartfelt pop tunes, Stars have managed to carve out one of the most endeared fan bases in any stretch of music, and last week, your Ninja faithful were privy to another stirring performance from our Northern friends. Stars, who are touring on the heels of 2017’s excellent There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light, and a pair of exciting singles to pace the first half of 2018, trotted out to rapturous applause before diving straight into aforementioned LP’s lead single “Flourescent Light”.
Read the rest of our review, and check out a few pictures from the evening after the jump! Continue reading
It’s no secret that unearthing new and exciting artists is the main vein running through the pages of TMN. Sometimes an album strikes you just the right way, providing our ears with a dose of dopamine, while also signalling a wealth of untapped potential. One such artist and album is Zach Maxwell and his recent Music for Life EP. A songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Maxwell’s music manages to flit around the edges of multiple genres while offering a completely unique scope to listen through. Recently, Maxwell has been converting his recordings into a live setting behind a highly buzzed about residency in Denver at the eclectic Your Mom’s House venue; building loads of Mile-High hype over the past year.
Zach Maxwell will be playing the final show of his residency this Saturday, June 16th at Your Mom’s House, and we had the chance to sit down and get to know the burgeoning artist a little better before this weekend’s show. Read our interview with Maxwell below, and be sure to listen to Music For Life streaming on all major platforms.
The Music Ninja: First off, thanks so much for taking the time to sit down and chat with us a little bit. We’ve had the chance to listen to Music For Life a few times through, and more layers seem to reveal themselves with each passing listen. With this being your first official release more than a single, can you speak to the writing and recording process? Was your process any different trying to make a cohesive multi-track statement, or were things pretty routine when it came to getting the individual tracks in order for Music For Life?
Zach Maxwell: Thanks so much for the kind words about Music for Life! I’m glad that more and more layers are revealing themselves in subsequent listens. It’s interesting, the process for making this EP was super nonlinear for me. Before I decided to release this EP, I spent a few years just making music that I wanted to listen to. Just flowing with whatever vibe I was feeling on whatever day I happened to be making music. After a few years, I had 100’s of songs to choose from and realized it was probably time to put some of them out in the world! In listening to all the material I had made, certain songs seemed to fit together as a unit more than others. I wanted my first release to be something that was more of an offering to the listener as a complete unit with a message versus a bunch of songs that I happened to like and put together. Additionally, my friend and longtime music Veteran Jayson Jackson helped me curate the songs and put together something that worked together. So the process was more working backward than thinking from the get-go that I was going to put a collection of music together.
