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.
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.
With the World Cup Final airing earlier this morning, chances are you either came out disappointed or ecstatic with the end results of today’s thrilling match. But don’t worry, no matter you’re mood, we’ve got just the music to match. If you were let down, well, we’ve got plenty of somber tunes to match your poor disposition. On the contrary, if you’re too tired from all the celebrations, we’ve also got some relaxing tracks to help whisk you away to bed peacefully. So, without further ado, dim the lights down and press play below–you know you want to. As always, feel free to follow us on SoundCloud and Spotify to make sure you get notified when our playlists go live!
Yes, we know, we know, we’re a teensy bit late with this week’s Sunday Night Soul (no excuses this time, but things happen). Although we are a little behind schedule this week, we still hope you’ll enjoy the selection we have for you below. For those ninjas who are still awake, there’s a good mix of old and familiar names alike that we’re sure you’ll find hit all the right notes. Since it is late, we’ll let you dive right in without any further delays. As always, make sure to follow us on Spotify and SoundCloud to keep up with our playlists when they go live!
To be honest, I had something completely prepared for this week’s writeup before, but midway through my train of thought LeBron James decided to *shock* the world with his surprising decision to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. Unable to reconcile a reality where King James dons the purple and gold, I’ve been left completely speechless, so I’ll be using this week’s edition of Sunday Night Soul for some much needed therapeutic purposes. I suggest you do the same with the wonderful selection we have prepared for you this week. As always, you can listen below or follow the playlists on Spotify and SoundCloud using the links provided. Enjoy!
Music and travel have always been two hugely-important, intertwined pieces of my live. They’ve both served as sources of personal enrichment through discovery– whether it’s through the discovery of a cool new song, or through experiencing the world through different perspectives. I’ve always derived such joy in the new and unexplored, and I’ve found that music and world travel are both equally expansive and bountiful reservoirs in this regard.
Sharing new music with those from another part of the world is basically double-dipping when it comes to these pleasures. In this vein, I had the chance to catch up with French artist Møme about his recent project, Møments I. This latest project from the French multi-instrumentalist and producer derives its inspiration from the lush volcanic landscapes of Bali. Møments I magically encapsulates the ambient, serene nature of the tropical island. With polished guitar licks and soulful lyrical infusions, Møme creates a special vibe that’ll have you wishing you were in Bali right this moment. In Møme I saw a kindred spirit, inspired by the beauty and vibrance of the sunny surf town I had visited just over a year ago. Møments I is a two-single mini-EP, comprised of the tracks “Canggu” and “When We Ride”.
The project comes with some stunning visuals; a live performance filmed in the shadow of the mighty volcano Mount Batur. You can give it a watch below, and learn more about the man and the process behind Møments I after the jump.
TMN: So travel seems to be a source of inspiration for you when it comes to creating music. What is it that first made you want to start traveling the world?
Møme: Well I guess that I was living in the same town, with the same people for too long and needed a big change in my life. Traveling is going out of your comfort zone, challenging yourself, meeting new people, sometimes speaking another language. There is excitement, fear and I wanted to experience all of that. It also a great thing to get inspiration and then compose. And I started traveling at the same time as writing my first album “Panorama”.
TMN: Seeing new parts of the world has always sort of kept me grounded. Learning from new cultures has been an enlightening and rewarding experience. It’s also made me more appreciative of home, here in San Francisco. What’s your own personal relationship with travel? What has it done for your music?
Møme: Haha yes, I totally understand the “home feeling”. When I started traveling, it was more “personal”, for myself, like a desire for new experiences, a desire to discover. Now I travel for shows and to share my music. I go overseas every month, it’s exciting but I don’t have the same time for personal trips. It’s way more intensive and I also appreciate coming back home. I live in the South of France, where everything is quiet and where sun shines all year long. I need a peaceful lifestyle when I’m not on tour. And for music, traveling offered me the possibilities to discover talents, featurings that I’m now working with. I’ve composed more for international vocalists than for French ones!
TMN: Travel aside, where do you call home these days?
Møme: The French Riviera is home but Indonesia has been like a “home away from home” the past 6 months. It has the weather that I love, good surf, good food, extremely nice people and I have often said to myself “should I move there for real?”.
TMN: I also had the pleasure of visiting Canggu last year; what an amazing town. Idyllic paradise full of amazing people and good vibes. What’d you think of Canggu and Bali?
Møme: I only discovered Bali last year. It was for my honeymoon and the trip we planned was supposed to be very chill. But I don’t know what happened there, I immediately started to compose! I was so inspired by the local sounds, instruments, by everything that was surrounding us! I was supposed to visit Bali from North to South and East to West but last October, we received messages from our embassy because of a volcano threat and had to shorten our trip. Canggu is where we spent most of our time. It is very quiet, the food can be very authentic as well as super healthy and the surf is good! It is where I stayed last month to finalize my two tracks from Møment I (Canggu and When We Ride) and film a video clip.
TMN: So thisMøments project is going to be a three-part project, with the first highlighting your experiences in Bali. What can we expect from Møments II and III?
Møme: It will be very spontaneous! I’m now in South America and will be visiting again soon the USA and Canada. It may be possible that one of these destinations will be the inspirations for Møment II. And for Møment III, it will be a bit later, probably end of this year. I’m still hesitating in between a hot or cold destination for this one!
TMN: I’m a big fun of the funky guitar grooves on “When we Ride”. It seems like that retro, dance-y feel is really big in the French music scene these days. Who would you call your biggest musical influences?
Møme: Yes it is! French are a bit retro sometimes 😉 Wow, my influences are not all electronic actually. I’m a huge fan of Tom Misch from the UK, and I’ve been a huge fan of Flume few years ago. Now I like a lot r’n’b songs and voices like Jorja Smith for instance.
TMN: If you could perform with any other artist (historic or current), who would it be?
Møme: Probably Mura Masa! I’ve been listening to him for a while but he is getting more and more attention in France now! We played at the same festival in Paris last week.
TMN: Where is next on your list of travel destinations?
Møme: Today I’m in México, flying to Cancun then back in France for two shows. I’ll go back home beginning of July for literally two days and then, I’ll be flying to Canada (Montreal and Quebec) for festivals. Finally I go back to Los Angeles, my second home away from home after Bali! And after all of these trips I have Belgium, New Caledonia, probably again Mexico and Belize this year. Some are for fun, some are for work!
I have to say I really have been enjoying the music coming out of France these days. As touched upon in the interview, the French these days have been adeptly bringing back retro-chic elements, interlacing them flawlessly with soul, funk, and modern electronic influences. Between artists like Møme, Jean Tonique, Polo & Pan, and FKJ (who also created a track inspired by paradisiacal Canggu), there’s a lot to be gained by opening up your musical tastes to that part of the world.
As you may or may not have noticed last week, Sunday Night Soul was conspicuously missing. We apologize for that gap in the schedule (you can thank airline delays for that), but to make it up to you, we’re providing an extended playlist this time around. Without delaying any further, we’ll let you check out the massive lineup we’ve assembled below. Also, make sure to follow us on SoundCloud and Spotify to get weekly updates whenever the playlists go live!
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.
