Rhinoceropolis

Rhinoceropolis is an all ages’ art space in Denver that seems to be making some brilliant sounds right now. A young scene is brewing in Denver and I can hear it all the way over in the UK so it must be pretty loud. I found out about Rhinoceropolis from treading about HEALTH who hail from the LA all ages art space The Smell. These two scenes feel like kindred spirits to me. I first stumbled upon Pictureplane who I wrote about here and from that I got some interest from a Denver local Brent (cheers dude) who sent me some tips for other ace groups popping up in the area. He wasn’t wrong hell there is some serious sounds developing. This is what I discovered, from the young scene. It looks pretty exciting and a lot of the groups are just starting out and finding their feet, which is brilliant news. Anyway here are a bunch of experimental artists:

Married in Berdichew
She makes a beautiful and emotional racket out of looped vocals, feedback and assorted instruments, its truly moving, brooding and intense. The songs on the myspace are brilliant and I’m informed that live she is chilling.

Calder Lakes
Feature Brittany from Married in Berdichew and Eva from a LA noise band called Kevin Shields, named after the My Bloody Valentine legend no doubt. Again this is dark, brooding noise with a filthy undercurrent. There is a breath taking, other worldly atmosphere to it. Not to mention some beastly feedback noise to blow out the old cobwebs.

Kevin Sheilds
Just to demonstrate the Denver/LA axis of sound Kevin Sheilds the band not to be confused with the My Bloody Valentine geezer are from LA and I see are playing at The Smell soon. They make a massive kind of noise, its all abrasive and quite in your face; I like the primal energy of it all. This is what I wanted Fuck Buttons to be I think.

BRDMPPL
This is a group that make a kind of funky electro noise that is just well ace. It has a dance route to it and experimental tendencies. You can even download a tour CD of theirs direct from the myspace page. There is a fun edge to all of the tunes and they even remind me of an electro version of HEALTH in some ways. I will be keeping my beady eye on this lot.

Thundercade

This is a project of Ryan from BRDMPPL, it’s a kind of IDM, electro based dance thing you can download tracks from the myspace too. Its similar to his other group and why the hell not hey, as that is brilliant.

Alphabets
Is just 17 and hell he should well keep this up, he makes a kind of deconstructed pop music that is almost ambient and has a beautiful electro sound that is warm and glitchy. Some tunes are available for download on the myspace page.

Pictureplane
I may as well give Pictureplane another mention in this post as they are ace and started me off on the whole Rhinoceropolis/Denver quest for freaked out noise. A mix of electro, shoegaze and just all out fun beats, check it out.

Vampire Pussy
Make a kind of noise again out of what sounds like guitar fuck-up-ary if that’s a word. They seem pretty new as they only have 61 friends so far but I enjoyed it.

Rhinoceropolis
And finally the place its self, now I have never been as I’m stuck out here in the UK but it all looks pretty exciting to me. They are putting on a lot of mad gigs and amazing artists. Long live the Rhinoceropolis and good luck to all of the talent coming out of it.

I’m sure there are tons more groups coming out of Denver and the Rhinoceropolis these where just the ones I have come across from my far away place. Check it out.