Courtesy Perception Records
Audio By Carbonatix
A cornucopia of new releases from Colorado musicians make up this month’s roundup. We’ve got thrash metal. We’ve got hardcore. We’ve got psych rock, funk and jam. There are even some cool covers to be had.
So load up your plate with November’s latest releases below – and don’t be afraid to go back for seconds!
Bun Bun
“Eat Curry Off My Body”
Still hungry after Thanksgiving dinner? Feast on Denver dance-pop duo Bun Bun‘s new song, “Eat Curry Off My Body,” released independently on November 26.
The line came to members Snarklet and Reed Fox while they were hiking to a warehouse rave in the hills of San Francisco, and soon enough, the two had a single. “It just sort of rolls off the tongue,” Snarklet says. “There’s a lot of power in shouting something so unnerving yet inviting at the top of your lungs.”
“Yeah, we were just hiking along, screaming ‘Eat curry off my body!’ and hearing it echo across the city,” Fox adds. “Soon enough, other people were shouting it, too, and pretty soon we had a quorum.”
As silly as that sounds, the result is a certified earworm with all the brashness of 2010s party pop. So go ahead, dig in.
Havok
New Eyes
Mile High thrashers Havok kicked off the month by treating us to a new four-song EP, New Eyes, released independently on November 1 under the Afterburner Records banner. It’s the group’s first offering since its 2020 album, V, and the trio of guitarist and vocalist David Sanchez, drummer Pete Webber, and bassist Nick Schendzielos are back with a pair of breakneck originals – “Death Is an Illusion” and “New Eyes” – alongside two amped-up covers in Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Commotion” and Metallica’s “Eye of the Beholder.”
A thrash band covering Metallica makes sense, but putting Havok’s speed signature on a CCR B-side is next level.
“We decided to cover a classic band that nobody would expect us to,” Sanchez shares. “We’re all CCR fans, and their song ‘Commotion’ was a perfect candidate for a proper metalizing, since most of the metal was already built in. We made it a little faster, turned up the distortion, and tweaked some riffs here and there to bend into the Havok style.”
On top of the latest EP, the crew, which also includes live guitarist Brett Rechtfertig, is currently touring with thrash legends Exodus through December, so things are going pretty well over in the Havok camp.
Infinite Cousins
“Mister Transistor”
Boulder band Infinite Cousins further introduced itself on November 1 by independently releasing the lead single, “Mister Transistor,” from its upcoming debut album, Nebulous Tremulous, which will be out on January 3.
The psych-rock quintet is a who’s-who of local music makers from the fertile indie scene, formed after vocalist and guitarist Theodore Stevens, formerly of Pool Sharks, decided to take his latest solo project to the next level. On “Mister Transistor,” Stevens, guitarist Sam Moylan (Red Light Ritual), bassist Jake Demarco (In Plain Air), synth player Leo Trevino (Pool Sharks) and drummer Will Tyson (Enso) create a hypnotic space-rock jam.
Stevens likes to call it “a prayer to all that is, all that will ever be, to the old gods in personification of technology, and technology as nature.”
As far as what Infinite Cousins is all about, Stevens has a medley of descriptions to share.
“Pop for the pissed. Asteroid transmissions. Krautrock inspiration forever. Neon gas. Apocalypse hymns. Utopic prayers. In simplest terms, psych rock, baby.”
Last Ditch
Dead 4 Life
The Denver hardcore-hitters of Last Ditch continue to make a head-caving impression. Since 2023, Tim Rendall (vocals), Bruce Butler (guitar), Corban Roberts (drums), Christopher Laporte (guitar) and Evan Zellar (bass and vocals) seemingly get heavier and heavier with each incendiary release. New EP Dead 4 Life, shared independently on November 22, is no exception.
Armed with a cadre of “high-altitude, down-tuned fight riffs,” as the band likes to call the work of Butler and Laporte, the latest two-fer of “Lost Cause” and “No Faith” hits like a ton of bricks. It’s pissed-off beatdown, complete with a loud, misanthropic message.
On “No Faith,” Rendall professes “We are all incompatible with humankind as a whole,” while “Lost Cause” has him screaming, “We are all the miserable ones.”
Luckily for us, Last Ditch chose to write hardcore and not holiday cards.
Lettuce
“Monorail 3000”
Lettuce lovers might have heard bits and pieces of this song live before, but the funk-infused jam band, which includes Denver drummer Adam Deitch, independently dropped the single “Monorail 3000” on November 20.
Under wraps since it came together during the writing sessions of 2012 album Fly, “Monorail 3000” is the group’s love letter to soul king James Brown. “‘Monorail 3000’ is an ode to ‘J.B. Monaurail,’ one of our favorite James Brown tunes,” Deitch explains. “The mood of the song is cool and steady. All aboard, everyone!”
Plus, for years, Lettuce has used the first section of the sultry tune as a live intro to crowd favorite “Blast Off,” so it’s cool to hear it as part of a full song.
Along with the single, Deitch, bassist Erick “E.D.” Coomes, guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff, saxophonist Ryan Zoidis, trumpet player Eric “Benny” Bloom, and vocalist/keys players Nigel Hall announced a new, collectible seven-inch series, too.
Nitecap
“Love and Light”
Speaking of Adam Deitch, he teamed up with Lettuce bandmate Nigel Hall on another new song, “Love and Light,” released via local label Perception Records on November 22, for Denver supergroup Nitecap.
The soulful song is somewhat somber but more optimistic than anything, with Hall sharing the view from his lens as a Black man living in an unjust world, especially post-election. Like previous Nitecap singles (“Things of That Nature” and “Plátanos”), the latest track from next year’s debut album (release date TBD) is a unifying force, “a testament to resilience and the tenacity of the human spirit,” according to the band.
If you’re not familiar already, the new trio, which also features Josh Fairman (SunSquabi) and Ian Gilley (Diastrata), blends familiar funk, soothing synth and jazzy drums with R&B sensibilities. Of course, Hall’s silky vocals on “Love and Light” only adds to Nitecap’s neo-soul mix.
Planes Mistaken for Stars
Do You Still Love Me?
Gared O’Donnell, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of Denver post-hardcore band Planes Mistaken for Stars, passed away in 2021 after a brief battle with esophageal cancer. He was 41.
But his music continues to live on, as the group released one final album, Do You Still Love Me?, on November 1 via Deathwish Inc., featuring its fearless leader. Recorded after O’Donnell’s diagnosis, the record’s thirteen tracks are as emotionally heavy as you’d imagine, but the vocalist refused to let radiation treatment and chemotherapy slow him from working on what would eventually become his swan song.
Behind such songs as “Fix Me” and “Arrow,” Do You Still Love Me? also serves as an “emotional bloodletting” for drummer Mike Ricketts, guitarist Chuck French and bassist Neil Keener.
“It’s a collective primal scream of coping with life and last breaths, and eternal proof that death is truly not the end,” according to the band.
Yes, Gared, we still love you.
RUGBURN
RUGBURN
When TJ Luiz decided to start a legit band two years ago, he turned to the far reaches of the internet and threw up a post on Craigslist looking for a kindred spirit “to make a lot of noise and tour the f*@$-ing world,” according to the initial listing.
Drummer Brian Rossi responded, and so RUGBURN was officially born as a two-piece. Now, after adding bassist Dustin Gilmore, the psych-loving Denver grunge trio is armed with a debut self-titled LP, released independently on November 1.
The eleven tracks, including singles “Scorched Earth” and “Samurai,” capture the raw, live energy RUGBURN is quickly becoming known for on the local circuit. “As a two-piece band, it is critical to fill out sound space on stage and make it a palpable experience for any listener with ears,” Luiz says. “At least that’s what we always try for, so on this album, we recorded it live with no metronome.”
Plug in and play.
The Infamous Stringdusters
Undercover, Vol. 3
Colorado bluegrass band the Infamous Stringdusters shared the third installment of its popular cover series, Undercover, Vol. 3, on November 13 via American Vibes. The six-pack of songs that make up the EP features an entertaining mix of time-tested jam classics (renditions of the Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Grey” and Phish favorite “Possum”) and some surprising genre-hopping (Avicii’s EDM banger “Wake Me Up” and pop anthem “As It Was” by Harry Styles). Then there are the covers of Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle” and ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man.”
With each member – Andy Hall (dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle) and Travis Book (double bass) – picking a tune to reimagine, the variety on Undercover, Vol. 3 is fun and refreshing.
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