Music and Venues continued from page 106 is the program director of the Colorado Sound, and hosts the fi ve-hour weekday block from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. But in addi- tion to serving as a fi rst-rate host of regular programming, she delivers a feature called “Music 101” that’s pure bliss for anyone who likes to fi nd common ground between widely varied artists and songs. She loves to highlight tracks from an assortment of genres — cover versions of the same composition by seemingly dissimilar per- formers, cuts linked by shared personnel and so on — in ways that demonstrate the connectedness of all musical things. Her explanations balance nerdy ephemera with pure love. Best Musical Messengers Los Mocochetes losmocochetes.wixsite.com Denver has a blossoming scene of Latin roots music, with bands that add their own twists to the traditional sounds. And one of the most innovative champions of the genre is Los Mocochetes, a Chicanx six- piece act that layers traditional Mexican sounds with funk, always guaranteeing a high-energy, unforgettable show. The bandmates honor and share their pride in their culture’s music while also using it to express and educate about issues that affect Latinx people. Don’t miss out on this group. Best Animal Whisperer Andy Thorn andythornmusic.com He’s best known as the banjo player for bluegrass band Leftover Salmon, a 2021 Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee. But Andy Thorn has recently gone viral as a solo act, after YouTube videos of him playing tunes for a friendly fox he named Foxy in his Boulder back yard were shared millions of times. One video, which shows Foxy calmly perched on a rock while be- ing serenaded, has now been played almost 4 million times. Thorn even made an al- bum, Fox Songs and Other Tales During the Pandemic, that was inspired by their encounters. Best New Bluegrass Band Deer Creek Sharpshooters facebook.com/deercreeksharpshooters You’ve probably seen these up-and-comers playing at venues such as Cervantes’ and breweries in and around Denver as Deer Creek Sharpshooters grow their way into the city’s bluegrass scene. With Luke Hin- der on mandolin, Harrison Gaeng on banjo, Zach Hudson on fi ddle, Fritz Boniface on Dobro, Daniel Putrino on bass and Josh Bergmann on guitar, this bluegrass group is now in the midst of mastering its debut album. 108 Best Bluegrass Album Get Yourself Outside Yonder Mountain String Band yondermountain.com Yonder Mountain String Band, Colora- do’s favorite bluegrass band, started 2022 with a bang, releasing a long-anticipated album and celebrating it with a sold-out concert at Meow Wolf. Even though the Nederland-based act had to work on Get Yourself Outside during the height of the pandemic, guitarist Adam Aijala says the musicians had never been more prepared in the band’s twenty-year-long career. They took a completely new approach and pre- produced the album, knowing where every solo and arrangement would go before hit- ting the studio. And the practice paid off. Best Breakthrough Metal Band Stormkeep stormkeep.bandcamp.com/album/tales- of-othertime Denver’s Stormkeep initially formed in 2017 and includes members from other well-known local acts, mainly Wayfarer and Blood Incantation, that have grown in popularity recently. But Stormkeep’s 2021 full-length debut, Tales of Other- time, vaulted the fi ve-member symphonic black-metal outfi t onto the scene with a 43-minute-plus album filled with wan- dering wizards and cavalries of dragons. Stormkeep creates a refreshing mix of epic music that showcases familiar components, but there’s still a thread of originality that keeps it sounding fresh. Best Metal Album Deceiver Khemmis khemmis.bandcamp.com/album/ deceiver Khemmis is Denver’s best purveyor of modern-day doom metal. Period. While doom is what Khemmis does best, though, there are some death-metal nuggets sprin- kled throughout its latest full-length, De- ceiver. After parting with bassist Daniel Beiers in 2020, drummer Zach Coleman and guitarist-vocalist duo Phil Pendergast and Ben Hutcherson show that less can be more on the new album. Best Electronic Music Album Gateway FOANS foans.bandcamp.com/album/gateway-2 On Gateway, FOANS fans experience a fourteen-track, genre-less electronic mu- sic album that runs the gamut of timbres, textures and frequencies. It’s a contempla- tive, delicate opus of electronic music that grabs infl uence from lo-fi , ambient, house, techno, IDM and glitch, all held together by a signature veneer that gives congruity to the LP. Its sparse integration of organic instruments like harps, violins and guitar gives it a feel that is inexplicably human. Released on the enigmatic Los Angeles la- bel 100% Silk, Gateway speaks to the am- biverted nature of thoughtful electronic music, where it can be experienced both on the dance fl oor and at home. Best Rock Album Nightmare Daydream The Velveteers thevelveteers.com click.ees.link/nightmaredaydream The Velveteers are coming out of an incred- ible year. Currently on the North Ameri- can leg of Greta van continued on page 110 APRIL 7-13, 2022 WESTWORD | BACKBEAT | MUSIC & VENUES | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | SHOPPING & SERVICES | CONTENTS | westword.com
