Welcome to our monthly series on new Colorado music. Every month we highlight five local musicians, five local music videos and five local songs. Go here to check out previous entries to the series. Are you a Denver artist with fresh music you would like us to check out? Send to Logan.Sasser@303Magazine.com for consideration.
April is here and you can smell Spring in the air — which will be sitting around 50-60 degrees all week (despite the light snow day yesterday). There’s no better time of the year to enjoy a nice stroll around Cheeseman Park with some sunny new music from our favorite local artists here in the Mile High City. The sunny sounds are everywhere this month — From Co-Stanza’s aptly named “Sunny” to Disco Lines’ warm-tinted “I See Colors,” Colorado artists are really shining this month.
Be sure to check out their playlist below and don’t forget to follow 303 Magazine and like our New Colorado Music playlist on Spotify.
Five Up & Coming Local Acts
DeEtta Jain
Listen if you like Shygirl
DeEtta Jain is an artist that puts creativity first — always. From her strange and eerie music video concepts to the left-field ambient production, every piece of art she releases to the world is filled with purpose. Her new track, “2 Cents” is a perfect example.
Taylor Shae
Listen if you like Carrie Underwood
Taylor Shae makes the kind of country music that’s accessible to the masses — regardless of your opinion of the often polarizing genre. Even if you’ve sworn off country music forever, Taylor Shae might be able to change your mind. Her new track, “Small Town America,” stays true to classic country tropes and songwriting, but includes a relentlessly catchy hook that’s impossible to ignore.
Co-Stanza
Listen if you like Rex Orange County
Co-Stanza, known for his boyish charm and laid-back delivery, is an easy addition to your Spring and Summer playlists. His music is the sound of a picnic with your favorite lover or morning mimosas on the porch, casually playing fetch with your dog while the birds chirp. Make sure to catch him at Globe Hall on May 5th.
Liquid Chicken
Listen if you like AnnenMayKantereit
Deep, soulful vocals, psychedelic guitar lines and bouncy rock & roll beats? Say no more. Liquid Chicken is the sound of the first-and-only gas station beside the Nevada desert highway. Think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but with a pinch of class that makes their sound a little more approachable.
Neon the Bishop
Listen if you like Young the Giant
Piano rock is not dead! Apparently, neither is theatrical performances — something Neon the Bishop understands at a fundamental level. Their sound is a modern take on the glam days of 80’s rock and roll that might pair perfectly with a nostalgic VHS montage or a dimly lit roller skating rink.
Five New Local Songs
Grace DeVine — Just Around the Corner
Listen if you like Florence & The Machine
“Just Around The Corner” is as dramatic as it is simple — a pleasant track that never shies away from the pop-rock aesthetics DeVine is known for. Of course, there are some angelic vocals underlying the track that elevate the track to a fresh listening experience with a slight gospel flair.
Better Weather — Too Close for Comfort
Listen if you like Albert Hammond Jr
Better Weather’s first release is an inoffensive piece of big-band rock alternative rock — complete with lush horns, pretty piano melodies and some super fun drumming. In line with the album art, “Too Close for Comfort” has a quaint European Renaissance vibe that reminds the listener of stone-lined roads and candle-lit taverns.
SoDown & Kyral x Banko — Underground (Kyral x Banko Remix)
Listen if you like Mersiv
Nothing makes us happier than seeing Denver artists coming together to release massive bangers. SoDown’s impressive Worlds Beyond album, released last November, is finally seeing some remixes — and SoDown is tapping in with Denver’s hottest producers to make some magic happen. First, it was the MZG remix for “All Go Wrong.” Then, Mport turned “Dinero” into a relentless dubstep monstrosity. Now, Kyral x Banko transforms “Underground” into a trippy, low-frequency, high-energy piece of experimental bass that twists and turns with every bass drop. Once the track finally settles down, you might want to pick your jaw back off the floor.
Triiip — Options
Listen if you like Wale
Triiip’s “Options” is a fresh, nocturnal take on the classic “player’s anthem” hip-hop trope that’s been explored by nearly every rapper in the game — from Biggie’s “Just Playing (Dreams) and Ludacris’s “Area Codes” to Anderson. Paak’s “Sweet Chick.”
Disco Lines — I See Colors
Listen if you like MATVEÏ
Disco Lines and Rain Radio’s recent release “I See Colors” sounds like what it feels like to be surrounded by people you love. It’s the type of music that makes you want to see the sun rising over the city from a rooftop, your arms draped around friends you’ve known for years and your heart full.
Five New Local Music Videos
Isadora Eden — Haunted
Listen if you like Soccer Mommy
Isadora Eden’s “Haunted” is a rainy night at home put to music. It’s a melancholy ode to the past and feelings of uncertainty about the future. The song feels like looking out of a window in the home you grew up in as rain pours down and drenches the neighborhood. The video reflects the feeling as Eden sits in front of a window in changing outfits as life seems to pass her by.
N3ptune & Rusty Steve — “Wedlock” Indie102.3 Live Session
Listen if you like Brockhampton
“Wedlock” by N3ptune and Rusty Steve is intense. It begins by sending you into a kind of fervor, like a desperate prayer manifested in N3ptune’s vocals. The percussion stomps its way into your chest, beating on like a healthy heart. Then, it absolutely slaps you in the face by transitioning without warning into a dirty, in-your-face rap song, ensuring that it won’t be soon forgotten by any who hears it.
Co-Stanza — Sunny (Lyric video)
Listen if you like Rex Orange County
Co-Stanza’s breezy “Sunny” feels universal and uniquely Colorado. It’s a song that looks to the future, full of hope and possibility, the potential to right past wrongs and captures how many of us are feeling: tired of the cold and ready for Summer. The video shows scenes familiar to any Coloradan as Co-Stanza dances through the snow while the sun shines brightly over the mountains.
The Mañanas — La Plaga
Listen if you like Allah-Las
The Mananas’ energy is absolutely electric. Percussive, heavy on old-school piano riffs and featuring infectious vocals, “La Plaga” has a kind of purity to it. It feels like early rock and roll, rebellious but inclusive, meant to make any person that hears it tap a toe. Most of all, it’s just plain fun.