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Latest News!..
ACTION FRIEND have released their new self-titled album
LITTLE FYODOR & BABUSHKA just finished up their new CD entitled "Peace Is Boring" and are looking for the appropriate venues and vehicles by which to reproduce it.
THE INACTIVISTS are almost done recording their new CD (as yet untitled)
YERKISH have just started recording their new CD (as yet untitled)
NEW ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS are writing songs they hope to record for their new CD (titled "TESSERACT")
AMPHIBIOUS JONES are auditioning a new bassist and drummer, so they can start writing songs for their new CD (as yet untitled)
If you have any news or developments you feel are worth posting - please, message the site-master here.
..WHAT IS ART ROCK?....
My twelve cents: Art Rock is not someone grinding a belt sander against an oil drum, miking it up till it feeds back and then looping it for 48 minutes. It's catchier than Noise/Experimental, but not really any more commercial. Art Rock is thought out, but not calculated. Art Rock can have seven or eight difficult passages as opposed to your usual verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge structure. Art Rock songs can also only have three chords, provided that they are just the right three chords. Art Rock songs can be long or instrumental, but they are not jam bands. Art Rock is not just an ordinary rock band with some eccentric personality or odd instrumentation piled on top to try and make it stand out. Art rock sounds weirder with a guitar bass and drum than some bands do with cellos and tubas (not that I'm gonna start naming names). Art Rock is fun. You can still dance to it. But Art Rock also rewards those who are willing to pay a little closer attention and invest a little time. Art Rock is not easily-accessible, nor does it try and push people away with deliberate abrasiveness. Art Rock does not work well in the background. Art Rock is all-inclusive and encourages artists and audiences to try something new. Art Rock does not concern itself with "authenticity". Art Rock embraces music that might not actually fit into the category Art Rock. String quartets and hip-hop are fair game for Art Rock connoisseurs. Art Rock agrees with the posit of the original Punk movement that the Prog Rock of the seventies had gotten too humorless, silly, and pretentious. But that doesn't mean that musical ambition is a bad thing. Art Rock is trying to do more than just rock, but it still wants to rock. Or rawk. Or something...
..WHAT IS A COLLECTIVE?....
Unlike what you may have gleaned from American Idol or Guitar Hero, music is not a competition. There is not just one record contract and if you get it, then I won't. If I write a good song it doesn't mean you can't. And if someone becomes a fan of your band, doesn't mean that can't also be a fan of ours too. Music isn't like NASCAR, where everyone is trying to do the same thing (go in a circle) in the same way (as fast as they can). Music can do all sorts of amazing things using a wide variety of techniques. I picked up the guitar because I love good music and wanted there to be more of it. So anything I can do to help facilitate the creation and dissemination of good music is alright by me, whether that music actually has me playing on it or not. That is what we are trying to do with this collective. There are no hard and fast rules here. There is no strict membership guidelines. We don't invite anyone in; we don't kick anyone out. You'll know if you are a member. There more you put into the collective the more you get out of it.
..WHAT IS DENVER?....
Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.344 m) above sea level. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Denver Union Station, making it the reference point for the Mountain Time Zone.
..A SHORT HISTORY OF D.A.R.C.....
"So, What kind of music do you play?"
This is usually the first question someone will ask you when you tell them you play in a band. And for most people this is a fairly easy question to answer. But what of those few disgruntled souls whose music doesn't fall easily into any one category or even categories (trance-gangsta-bluegrass)?
What of those who are trying to carve out unique and unqualified new sounds? How do they answer the question? It can test the patience of even their closest friends and family; but the real problem is when you are talking to a club owner or booking agent. They don't care what kind of music you play -- as long as you bring in the bodies that buy the booze; they just need to know what other bands to put on the bill with you.
The last thing that they want is a supporting act who will scare off the headliner's entire audience the moment they step on-stage (and vice versa).
After a while of playing with rowdy audiences and non-complimentary stage-mates, a small cadre of these "genre-less" bands discovered that their respective demographics overlapped and complimented each other phenomenally well. Just over a year ago this "island of misfit toys" decided to form their own group: D.A.R.C. - The Denver Art Rock Collective.
Why did they chose to call themselves "art rock"? Perhaps the term was just as accurate, yet as vague as they needed. See, unlike those organic musical labels that get assigned to you, "art rock" does not have one a single unified sound that they are trying to achieve.
Which is good, because as much as the members of D.A.R.C. don't sound like anybody else, they don't sound like each other either. Sometimes they don't even sound like themselves from song to song. Instead, what bonds the self-selected members of this classification is a commitment to quality, experimentation, diversity, artistic ambition, and a sense of humor.
And apparently the label has proven apt. When the Westword created the "Art Rock/Experimental" category for last year's Music Showcase, four of the five nominees were members of the Denver Art Rock Collective; including that year's winner, The Skivies. Three members were nominated again this year. We won't tell you which one to vote for, or if you want to write in another member go ahead - just don't let one of the other two bands win. You can vote here.
This year the entire collective was even honored be given the title of Best Purveyor of Artsy Rock by the Westword.
A group devoted not to just helping out confused booking agents decide who to package together into a show, but a group committed to helping each other out and helping expand the exposure and appreciation of this so-called "difficult listening" music.
In November 2007, DARC celebrated its first sampler CD with a two day release party and festival. Read all about it here. The turnout to that was so phenomenal, that DARC threw a big shindig on its own behalf in May of 2008. Each band played songs written by the other bands in a big self-congratulatory mutual adoration session. Read the pre-release hype here or read the press's (somewhat inaccurate) reaction here.
Who knows what DARC has planned for its next big showcase, but you can eat your hat to know that it will be most phenomenal! Until then enjoy a local DARC. Any gig with one of these bands will be outstanding, but if you get a chance to see two or more on the same night, you don't want to miss it.
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