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[Event Preview/Ticket Giveaway] Cloak & Dagger Music Festival – Denver, CO – 9/20

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 15, 2014

It seems within recent years the Mile High City of Denver, CO has been blessed with an abundance of incredible live music; especially larger scale offerings. So, when we heard our good friends at TheHundred Presents had put together one of the most eclectic and multifarious festival lineups we’d ever seen, we knew we had to get our Ninjas involved. On September 20th, The Cloak & Dagger Music Festival brings a wealth of underground dance talent, including Cashmere Cat, Holy Ghost!, Justin Martin, Thomas Jack, Kidnap Kid, Martyn, Midland, Moon Boots, Gigamesh, Sango, Pomo, Homework, Golf Clap, Graff as well as a few more lesser known acts championed by TMN in the past including Need & Necessity, Keepers. and Action 52 all in the span of one day. Well with the one day mega event just one business week away from becoming a reality, we wanted to extend our hands and invite our Ninja friends in Colorado (or anyone else who wants to make the trek to Denver for that matter) to try and win a pair of free tickets. As with every one of our contests, entering is streamlined and simple for you savvy readers. Simply follow these steps below and CHECK YOUR EMAIL. We will draw a winner on Friday, Sept 19th (one day before festival). If you don’t respond in two hours, we’ll go to the next person. You snooze, you lose.

There are a few rules, of course:
– You must be 18 or over to enter.
– You are responsible for transportation.
– You must bring a valid form of ID to pick up your tickets at will call.
-You ABSOLUTELY MUST come correct with your hottest dance moves and put them on display the entire day on behalf of The Music Ninja

In anticipation of what seems like a lineup curated just for some of our dance-head Ninja readers, we’ve also put together a nifty little playlist featuring the artists we’re most excited to see at Cloak & Dagger to get us focused up on the long Saturday ahead. Why not let this playlist soundtrack your day, and we’ll see you soon!

’With Me’

’Okay — Holy Ghost!’

’Henry Krinkle
Stay (Justin Martin Rmx)’

’Of Monsters and Men – Little Talks (Thomas Jack Remix)’

’Like You Used To’

’Martyn & copeland – ‘Love Of Pleasure”

’Whatever You Need’

’Wunder Wunder – Coastline (Gigamesh Remix)’

’One Of My Kind (Original Mix)

’This Life (Original Mix)’

’Ludacris – How Low (Action 52 Remix)’

[Deep-House] Keepers. – One Of My Kind [TMN Premiere]

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 10, 2014

Keepers.
One Of My Kind (Original Mix)

We’ve said it before, and while we’re not ones to repeat ourselves, we’ll say it again. There seems to be a burgeoning wealth of underground house talent rising out of Denver, CO, with deep-house duo Keepers. becoming the latest apple of our underground dance eye; or ear for that matter. While it’s been over a year since their last official release, “Hello”, Colin McKenna & Peter Washington are proving the old adage true, that it’s all bout quality as opposed to quantity. Taking the classic 1987 INXS single “I Need You Tonight” as the tune’s framework including that hooky guitar riff and Michael Hutchence’s (RIP) breathy and sexually oozing vocal incantations, Keepers. have crafted one of the most intoxicating dance cuts we’ve gotten our little ninja mitts on in some time. A deep-house groover in nature, “One Of My Kind” eschews the saturated four-four kick-drum intro in favor of clicky percussions and expansive claps, which segue into a lightly pitched vocal treatment before taking a dive directly into the dancefloor behind some gigantic deep-house synths. Just one listen had us going boogie all over the offices today, so it was our great pleasure to premiere this one to you Ninjas, especially as it comes in the form of a free download for a Facebook “like”. The multi-faceted pair of producers/DJ’s have been keeping quite busy in their home city as well, playing Snowball Music Festival (for which we had the chance to sit down and chat), The Underground Music Showcase (making an appearance in our festival review), Westword Music Showcase, the upcoming Cloak & Dagger Music Festival next weekend, as well as holding down multiple club residencies; and they don’t seem to be slowing down in the slightest. Stream Keepers.’ “One Of My Kind” above and let’s start dancing a bit early this Hump Day.

[Festival Review] TMN Dives Into Denver’s Underground Music Showcase

Posted by TMN Staff - August 7, 2014

The UMS Main Stage (Photo Credit: Robert Castro Ultra5280)

If you’re wondering whether or not Colorado’s music scene is embodied solely by bass-heavy barons devastating Red Rocks on a regular basis, or the constant national and international accolades given to Beta Nightclub year after year, you can stop that right now. While much of the Mile High City’s music scene’s notoriety falls into those two aforementioned venues, The UMS flexed it’s mighty indie muscle two weekends ago, showing the city, the state, the nation, and the world that a handful of tiny venues deserves just as much attention.

Taking over one of Denver’s most prized neighborhoods, The UMS flooded the numerous dive bars, galleries, and restaurants that adorn the colorful South Broadway stretch. In a meticulous blend of some well known acts coupled with hyper-indie (so indie, even the hippest of your friends haven’t heard about them yet) there was more than enough to appease the auditory appetite of the thousands of festival goers that flooded the streets.

Knowing that there was too much music for one ninja to cover, we had to break up The UMS between two from our clan. Check out what Matty and Clayton experienced during their first full experience of this must-attend event.

Day 1, Thursday:

CRL CRRL. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro Ultra5280)

While we couldn’t yet make it out in full force to the first night of Denver’s incredible Underground Music Showcase, we did manage to make it to one of our favorite electronic artist’s sets, with CRL CRRLL (pronounced Carl Carrell) at Blue Ice. An abbreviated set to say the least, CRL CRRLL managed to warp our minds through different texturized soundscapes played off of his bevy of machines, MIDI controllers and gadgets on stage through the 40 minute performance. This was the second time we’ve had the pleasure of witnessing him live, as he played our TMN presented show in Denver with Young & Sick (which if you haven’t heard his remix of their tune “Glass”, check it out below) and it seems in the short span of time, CRLCRRLL’s reached a more fluid, comfortable and mature stage presence.

’Young & Sick Glass Remix By CRL CRRLL’

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[Exclusive Interview] TMN Sits Down With option4, Keepers. and Need & Necessity at Snowball

Posted by Matthew Bloss - April 8, 2014

’Elizabeth Rose – The Good Life (option4 Remix)’

’Keepers – Hello (Original Mix)’

’Lemme See (Original Mix) **FREE DOWNLOAD**’

This past weekend at Snowball Music Festival, we were treated to a wonderful palate of eclectic artists, all in the heart of Denver Broncos territory at Sports Authority Field. From major acts like Busta Rhymes, Pretty Lights, Yeasayer, Twin Shadow, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Griz, Knife Party and MiMOSA to the amazingly well represented house tent with names including MK, J. Phlip, Graff, Justin Jay, Maxxi Soundsystem and The Juan Mclean; it was safe to say our tastes for all different genres of music were well satiated. We also had the chance to catch up with some of our absolute favorite up and coming house artists option4, as well as the duos of Keepers. and Need & Necessity round-table style in their home city to talk about their burgeoning record label Night Supply, their drinks of choice, spirit animals, Miley Cyrus and a whole lot more. And who better than these three entities to give us a little insight into the climate of dance music in their own state? Check out the full transcript below.

The Music Ninja (TMN): Alright, The Music Ninja here at Snowball Music Festival with option4, Keepers. and Need & Necessity. First things first, I know we can be a bit intimidating so how about a round of Fireball shots? [five minute pause from interview] Okay, let’s get the ball rolling!

TMN: Now, we’re obviously here in your guys’ back yard of Denver. A lot of people don’t realize this, but all of you have been throwing and curating proper house music events in the city for over three years as TheHundred and have built relationships with most every dance artist on the festival. With this year being so heavy on house music, what has it been like to see your collective work begin to take a bit of a hold through more mainstream outlets like a Snowball Music Festival? Let’s start with option4.

option4: Man it’s been awesome to see so many people that might not normally be into this style of music fully support and accept it. For example, last night MK was killer, J. Phlip was killer and all those people choosing to be in the house tent as opposed to some of the other stages. That was something that felt very tangible, very real. It was kind of a weird stage to begin with because nobody could really hear the music outside of the tent and it was a little bit tucked away, but that thing was still absolutely packed. It seemed like there were a lot of people there for that style of music, so it was nice to see house music have a real footing at an American festival.

Read the rest of our interview with option4, Keepers. and Need & Necessity after the jump!

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[Deep/Tech House] option4, Keepers, Need & Necessity – Night x Night Vol. 1 EP

Posted by Matthew Bloss - June 26, 2013

Today we have a trio of club tracks from brand new Deep/Tech-House label Night Supply Records. Featuring contributions from three of Denver’s premier electronic taste-makers in the underground, Night x Night Vol. 1 was a breath of fresh air musically speaking and hopefully signals more good things to come out of our city’s club scene. option4, an artist previously featured here at TMN, sets the pace with a peak hour primed house tune “Ain’t Nothin’ Buddy”. With a vocal sample from Tupac & Snoop’s classic “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” backed by an infectious house beat fit perfectly for a packed dance floor. “Ain’t Nothin’ Buddy” definitely sets the tone for the EP, and had our attention for its entirety. Brand new Deep and Tech-House duo Keepers‘ comes in with the sophomore contribution and take us a slightly more Summery direction with “Hello”. The deep cut is supported by a warm synth line and bongo percussion before scooting into a dancefloor friendly hook which had our heads bobbing to the beat in approval. Rounding out Night x Night Vol. 1 is a tune from one of the rising House and Techno pairs not just in Denver, but on the nation wide underground scene as well. Need & Necessity‘s “Love On” was produced in a way earmarked to display their knowledgeable and established deep club sound, but catchy enough to warrant an approving listen from even the most casual of electronic listeners.The three track extended play was definitely a solid debut for the fledgling label, and we will be sure to bring you more of what they have to offer as it becomes available. Things get even better from the Night Supply crew as they have offered up the downloads on Facebook for the hefty price of one “like”. Do yourself a favor and head on over and grab Night x Night Vol. 1 here.

’option4 – Ain’t Nothin Buddy (Original Mix)’

’Keepers – Hello (Original Mix)’

’Need & Necessity – Love On (Original Mix)’

’Night x Night Vol. 1’