Sister Neapolitan: The unforced fruition of musical chemistry and friendship

CU Denver-born folk trio release their debut album, marking a milestone in their sisterhood

In 2016, Alana Margolis, Katie Smith, and—a year later—Megan Ellsworth, each respectively moved to Denver with two main commonalities: they were moving to a brand new city from a very small town, and they genuinely loved singing. This summer, those commonalities have musically actualized into Sister Neapolitan’s self-titled debut album. 

The College of Arts & Media at CU Denver provided a kick-starting catalyst for their connection. Sitting down with Margolis, she recalled spotting Katie in her women’s studies class after seeing one another at a singer-songwriter semester kick-off function. Alana described the meeting as a “classic extrovert-introvert relationship.” A year later, Katie and Alana first heard Megan perform. Ellsworth had transferred into the program from a school in Santa Fe. At the start of her set, Alana and Katie shared a reverent glance—the friendship seemed set in stone. 

The three women’s shared small-town upbringing paved an easy connection as they all began developing their adult identities individually, and their friendship collectively. Music naturally became another adhesive layer to their bond until it clicked:
“Why don’t we just do this forever?” Alana recalled,  “why don’t we just be in a band?” 

The more they wrote together, the more their sound unified into the raw and angelic folk feel of the album. The silky, melodically driven harmonies sound intrinsically divine by the subtle fusions of raw acoustic instrumentation with balanced touches of production. Their producer, Ben Pisano, provided a key contribution to this fusion of the project. Much like the sister’s first meeting, Alana recalls first hearing Pisano playing at a coffee shop and approaching him: “you have the voice of a thousand cherubs, and I wanna be your friend.” 

Originally, the three planned to release their work at the beginning of 2020 as an EP, and do another tour that summer to workshop it. But like most of the world, before they knew it, they couldn’t even get together. “[W]e took like a three or four-month hiatus of just seeing each other, and then when we felt like it was ok to start being us again, we started writing.” They met with Ben and began to brainstorm. “‘Let’s just harp on this opportunity,’” Alana remembered thinking, “as much as it sucks and as much as no one planned for this to happen, let’s turn this into a creative opportunity for ourselves.” Katie suggested they turn it into a full album. After steady work for months, Sister Neapolitan dropped the album on June 5 of this year. 

With shifting roles of contribution, the sisterhood largely reflects the free-write atmosphere they met in. Each providing their own influence to the cohesive, sometimes they’d write together and others workshop each other’s solo concepts. “We would just automatically start harmonizing with each other,” Alana said, and the individual ideas would blossom within their space together. The album layout, although unintentionally so, reflected the combination of these writing methods with the first five tracks created collectively, and the final three being a collaborative coloring of individual pieces. 

The opening track, “Lulluaby,” suitingly stems from a songwriting exercise at CU where the three of them reshaped a poem written by their professor’s grandmother. “We just took parts of the song and made it our own,” Alana remembered. It was the first song they ever wrote together. Another group-composed song, “Time to Grieve,” came about as the three of them shared the new challenge of navigating the responsibilities of adulthood without a sense of being able to grieve with the passing of time. 

But the group also allowed them to expand their individual writing as well, as Alana described with her song on the album, “Outgrown,” being one of the best songs she has ever written. “So just to have the girls immediately pick up harmonies with it, and then what Ben Pisano—our producer—what he did with the track, the vision he had was something I could never imagine.” From the original 10-minute burst to write the original song in her room, to Pisano’s Jimmy Page-esc final touches on the electric guitar heard near the end, Margolis cherishes the collaboration not just for its results, but the space of honesty and support:

“All of us were friends with Ben before we started working together,” she said, “so we already had that relationship of just being like, ‘that wasn’t your strongest take, let’s do it again.’ It was nice just to have that relationship instead of being like ‘yeah whatever you wanna do sounds great:’ it taught us how to speak up for ourselves, especially as women in the industry.”
   

For all the industry’s many mechanisms to pump out hits and icons, Sister Neapolitan offers a refreshing paradigm to the lighter sides of the industry, the sides that really keep the music and its social importance alive. “I created this with my best friends in the whole world, and that people can resonate with it and actually like it? Insane to me, “ Alana said, “There are people who dream about doing this and it doesn’t happen for them, and just to be able to do it with the people that I love and make it something that I would listen to, that’s cool.” In all her excitement, Alana’s unwavering humility seemed to bring her back to what the real heart of our entire conversation was about:      

“Bands can last for so long, but to put it back to the beginning, we were best friends first—we’re gonna be friends forever. Those girls are my sisters.” Luckily for everyone, their sisterhood can be experienced sonically, today—and for many days to come.   

Learn more about Sister Neapolitan at https://www.sisterneapolitan.com/

Written by Tommy Clift

Artist Spotlight: Sydnie Battie

A home can sometimes be as transitory as a stage. For Sydnie Battie, this has certainly been the case. Born in Sarasota, Florida, Sydnie bounced around with her family, spending time in different cities across Florida, Las Vegas, and briefly Denver while her mother got her degree at CU Boulder.

Sydnie first discovered the stage when in fifth grade she auditioned for the play Dig It, centered around two archeologists being lead through time by a skeleton. From there, she continued to work in musicals and plays—which she had always preferred the latter, but in high school her involvement in cheerleading took over the school’s play-season, leaving springtime musicals the only chance for her to perform.

Graduating high school, she wanted to pursue both singing and acting, but her music teacher, Mr. Hughes, warned her about the difficulties of pursuing both as a career at the same time. So she chose to pursue acting, having been fresh out of her theatre experience. “It was very natural to me—I loved it, and it felt like it loved me.”

Knowing she wanted to leave Florida, she applied to the Art Institute in Los Angeles and got in, but the extortionate tuition prices moved her to University of Florida—also called “The Swamp.” Starting as an English Major and a Film Studies focus, she switched over to theatre in hopes of getting a more hands-on experience. Even while in theatre, she didn’t perform in any shows—she knew she was in need of a change.

During her year in theatre, she had begun writing lyrics to YouTube beats in her spare time at the dorm rooms. Her friend she met from her few years in Denver encouraged her music-making and told her to move out to the city to work with some of her friends in the industry. “I tend to not do things without the validation from somebody else telling me that it’s okay,” she said. Although she received none for the idea of coming to Denver, she pushed herself out of her comfort zone, and within the first week she was meeting with another artist: “It was like ripping off the worst, stickiest Band-Aid.”

With a decade past since she’d first been in Colorado, the new environment on top of pursuing a new facet of her talent was an all-in-one reinvention. “It’s been about three years now,” she said, “who I was back home is like a completely different person than who I am now.” Her time in the Denver music scene has proven to be more educational than any of her time in school.

First moving to the city, she had projected this idea of an artist persona: “How I wanted my shows to look, how I wanted my music to sound, how I wanted people to perceive me was kind of this nice little R&B package… and it’s funny because it just didn’t feel right.” While she tried to convince herself it was necessary to make a name for herself, her personal growth began to even outpace her music. “I am not supposed to be in this little box,” she realized “but I think the music gave me the nudge.”

Battie feels her artistry and identity have developed separately but complementary towards one another. “I have noticed that in learning more about myself, it has made my approach to music a thousand percent better,” she explained, “if I don’t spend time just on building myself in general—outside of the music—then the music doesn’t grow.”

In fact, her time in Denver has yielded such fast personal growth, Battie feels the music isn’t always up-to-speed. “It just doesn’t reflect who I am anymore in a lot of ways.” While they reflect parts of her true self, she feels they were also made “in a time when I was trying to fit into a mold—what an R&B artist looks like and does.”

While success can generate growth, often trying experiences play a heavy hand in that curve, and Battie has witnessed old challenges in new ways since coming to Denver as a woman of color. “Oftentimes when I am dealing with producers, artists, 7-to-8 times out of 10, it’s a guy,” she recounted. Even for all the positive experiences she’s had with her producers, she has chosen to not work with plenty as they clearly weren’t just after her music.

Battie recalled a show for Black History Month at Regis University—she was the only female in the lineup. While backstage with her manager and the rest of the show’s lineup, a group of men entered—greeting everyone in the room except the two of them, not even acknowledging their presence. “Oh,” she thought back, “they walked into the green room and saw women and automatically thought that we were groupies, that we were here for the men.” Of course after hearing her set, they were ecstatically supportive, but the implicit assumptions had already been made. 

Like icons such as Drake, Battie says she wants to be able to appeal to both women and men as an artist, and not just as an icon of desire. “I pride myself on my writing over my singing,” she says, and yet lots of people assume she doesn’t write for herself.

With the protests following George Floyd’s death, Battie had been arrested with two of her friends while being out past curfew. “We were told we were just going to be given our charges then sent home,” she said, but she and hundreds of others ended up in 12-hour processing and put into a cell block for over two days. Often when she writes she prefers obscurity so that people may shape distinctive experiences from listening, but she knows she will write about her experience in jail because of how eye-opening it was.

“I used to hate performing,” she said, feeling stressed about the way she would come across to the audience. She used to think, “I have to appeal to people a certain way, and now it’s like—fuck that—I don’t care. I want to appeal to myself. If you rock with it, great, if you don’t, that’s okay—you don’t have to.”

Her most recent show was on the rooftop of False Ego, a clothing supplier in RiNo Art District in Five Points. “When I allowed myself to just be myself,” she said, “they were laughing, and they were smiling.” Battie feels proud and deeply fortunate to have been able to play in four shows and two live video shoots since COVID’s eruption.

On performing virtually, Battie said, “I’m happy that we can do that. I don’t like doing it.” Taking away that physical togetherness is a major loss for people who feel most at home on the stage: “They can hear me, I can hear them, we can interact with each other, I can see everybody’s faces—we are in this moment together.”’

This article was written for The Sentry at UCD by Tommy Clift

http://cu-sentry.com/2020/10/14/local-artist-molds-her-music-career-in-denver/

Photo by Vvonskii

“Enough” by Stop Motion (Music Video Review)

“We revolt because, for many reasons, we cannot breathe.” 

Stop Motion’s new music video, “Enough,” captures Franz Fannon’s quote from 1961 painted on the side of a Denver building, and it’s an apt quote for their release. The music video offers a refreshing visualization of their lyrics written as protest boards surrounded by the ambient scene of the city’s changed landscape since the death of George Floyd and the following protests. 

Across the many mediums of social media, people beg to be heard. Every day a new ploy of a dangerously dividing regime furthers its agenda of exploitation. Stop Motion captures the many faces of Denver who have had enough. As they hold their signs to the camera, there are the eyes of the hopeful, the disheartened, and the repulsed. And the music brings that alive—with the posed exhaustion behind the lyrics pleasantly juxtaposed to a musical energy that is charged and ready for vindication and justice. 

As the instrumentation escalates, the vocals clouded by slight transistor-esc distortion, the fire behind our city’s people climbs and summits with the crash of symbols synchronized visually by a young musician throwing down his drum stick onto a snare—finally falling back into the isolation of the guitar and vocals—enough is enough. The outro sonically blurs into the background sound of protestors, crowned by the words of Angela Davis:

“I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”

Written by Tommy Clift

Ghost Tapes Rock a Paranormal Fusion of Sounds in their New Album, F.I.G.

How might one expect a band with the name Ghost Tapes to sound? Like a group of musicians possessed by the spirits of the elite, postmortem rockers of the world? All of them set out to procure a tape so perfectly rocking, soulful, and cerebral that it simply had to be paranmormal? That actually comes pretty close. Started back in late 2014 by Will Carman and Nick Moulds, the goal-oriented band is set to release their second album, F.I.G., with the first EP release, Ichumi. The five-part band is composed of Will on the drums, Nick on guitar, Evan Ballinger on keys, vocalist Ishka B. Phoenix, and Zeke Kyoku on bass. But their live ensemble is made complete by their producer and record engineer, Vago Galindo. The George Martin to their Beatles, he has been an integral part of the recording process for Ghost Tapes helping them embrace the crunchy distortion found rocking throughout this new album.

With their debut and self-titled album having been released in 2017, it’s been nearly 3 years since they’ve released content. “Moving slowly—I think that’s been the theme—like don’t try to force anything,” Will said. In those three years, they focused on honing in on their songwriting. “When we started [the band], the whole purpose was to just make one album,” Nick mentioned, “one good album that we could be proud of and that if we wanted to keep going we could. But that was the goal.” While that first album was fundamental in developing their sound and forming a relationship with Vago, they still felt they weren’t finished. Will added: “Nick and I wanted to do a band that was more focused on the record than our live experience. We didn’t really pull that off with our self-recorded album, but we let Vago know, who mixed our first album, that we wanted a production heavy second album. [We] kind of gave him free reign.” In recording each song, they would play all together, then individually track with Vago—bring his own artistic style to the mix both figuratively and literally. “We got our alone time with dad,” Ishka said. The shift in sound from their debut album to even our first taste of F.I.G. in this EP is unmistakable. While their self-titled album grooves within a cleaner, jazz-funk realm, Ichumi introduces a chaotic collision of acoustic and production qualities that feel electrifylingly alive.

This awesome embrace of musical lawlessness seems to suit Ishka as a vocalist too, who has embraced the potency of anger as a creative harness for her lyrics: “My mood throughout writing all of these songs was just bitter as fuck. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. I find that I write best from a place of anger. For me, that’s where I feel most motivated. But also carrying that is painful,” she said. Even with that pain, she describes her lyrics coming from almost an alternate persona, one that champions advertence to past conflicts while still being self-confident. “When we create these songs, it [her lyrics] sort of adds these layers of—kind of a fictional character that isn’t where I’m necessarily at right now, but it’s more envisioning where I’d like to be. It’s a character that I play, but to run deeper—my ideal self.”

F.I.G. as a thematic album is conceptualized as evolution within a cycle—the full stages of development within an entity that is not finite. As Will put it, releasing the EPs is “...releasing themes, feelings—like a birth, and growth, and celebration, and death—and that death is the entire album, and you get to look at the whole thing like a life story.” Having stage-based releases was part of “having this feeling of evolution or at least cyclical behavior,” he continued. Ishka joined in saying it was “all encompassing too—not just like a snapshot of a mostly developed being growing into a more developed being, and that’s the end of the story, but from conception all the way through to death,” she said. “And rebirth,” Will joined back in. Ichumi as an introduction to the album is a birthplace, raw and disrupted, and the following two EPs before the album release covers it’s development: “It’s the album ripening,” Will said, “it takes a while for something beautiful to grow out of it.” Vago and Will had landed on the track order with what Will had considered to be his most “counterintuitive” order option. But what is very intriguing is that the full album’s order will be different from the EP’s. The album will be the full experience, rearranged. “Much like life, it’s all very convoluted,” Ishka laughed. F.I.G. as a name not only represents the fruit—holding the symbolism of stage based growth—but also an acronym for “Fucks I Give.”

Breaking down the tracks of the album’s first thematic release, Ichumi’s self-titled opening song is a revived track that had been “sent to the dumpster” in 2016, as Will reported it. But just as tracks cycle through for many artists, it was raised from the dead as a great way to start shows, and it found itself workshopped and dropped into the album. Will said the original sound was a lot jazzier—more reminiscent of their first albums sound—but in its revision they embraced the gnarly distortion that Vago brought to the table.

The second track “Nekkid,” slides into an immediate grove of upright bass and percussion. The drums feel both strikingly acoustic and produced. Will reminisced on the process to make that kind of sound saying that Vago had him intentionally offset his playing, and then he went back in during the editing process to quantize some of the playing for a raw but distorted production feel. The crunchy guitar that follows, escalating the song’s intensity, is relentlessly catchy until it breaks into Ishka’s gritty and soulful verse. Nick worked with a Harp VST plugin (virtual studio technology for all unfamiliar), put it through an arpeggiator, cut it up as a sample, and then transposed the line to the guitar for the fiery charged riff that rocks us through the song.

The final track for the first EP release “Remember” is a deeper, cacophonous step into Ghost Tape’s new sound. Opening with an ominous acoustic piano arpeggiation and slowly pulsing synthesizer swelling up, the song breaks into a more dissonant groove as Ishka drives forward with her lyrics. Ishka’s aforementioned relationship to her songwriting persona was embraced headon for this song: “I write from a very vulnerable perspective,” she said. “I use my music as this exoskeleton. Here’s the trauma I’ve felt, and here’s my response to it; here’s what I would have said in that moment if I had had any sense—from a place that wasn’t emotional. So I put it into the hands of my persona.” While the centers around one chord for a majority of the song, Ishka’s lyrics inspired the climactic embrace of a harmony rarely used by their group, which centers around a I-IV-V progression (for all who do not know, the progression is one of the most frequented in popular North-American music). “It has this massive impact ‘cause we never go to that space. To me it felt like such a great last stand for that song,” Will said. He also mentioned the song’s malleability in a live context: “When we’re playing it live, depending on how we feel about the audience—we usually do it in a dark chaotic way—we forcefully crash-land the song into dissonant insanity. But occasionally we do it in a beautifully ambient way.”

It may be some time before we can hear them make that choice between a chaotic and calm rendition of their songs. With the unfortunate crash of the live-music scene along with many others during this pandemic, Ghost Tapes had to scrap an entire summer tour. “We were really depending on getting in front of some new people,” Nick said. Now their album has become an even more vital component in their engagement with music-loving communities and current fans alike. The bright side is: they rock. They have a sound that’s easy to dive into, and with two more upcoming EPs before the grand release of their album, there’s a lot more on the way to look forward to. Check out Ghost Tapes with the link below, and start rocking till they return to stage.

Check out Ghost Tapes’s latest EP on Spotify and be sure to sign up for their newsletter on their Website.

Written by Tommy Clift

Photo by @mernejudsonthethird

The Man Behind the Brand: Spotlight on Michael Figge

Michael Figge personifies the landmarks that have raised him. With the booming arts scene of Denver to the North, and the Rocky Mountains to the west, he’s equal parts artist and outdoor enthusiast. Growing up as an Eagles Scout, he has always loved everything outdoors—particularly snowboarding. Even after his time at the San Francisco Art Institute studying fine arts, he came back to his hometown, Littleton, to be closer to the mountains. “As much as I’m inside, I’m outside,” he says, and he makes great use of his time in both. While at school in San Francisco, he underwent an important transition in his creative interests. “I was really into computers at the time,” he said, but he knew he wanted more from visual art than still images. Moving back to Denver, he started studying 3D animation and eventually graduated in digital design. It’s there where he recalls “[falling] in love with everything digital.” After graduating, Michael recalled how difficult it was finding a job in graphic design. But at one of CU Denver’s art internship programs, he met FM4FP’s founder Mona Magno, and she offered to bring him on as an intern developing music videos for Zonra. He loved how trusting she was in letting him explore and develop his own talents and potential as a creative; he has always felt free to explore his own visions. Today, not only is Michael the head graphic designer and a video editor for FM4FP, he also works on branding for FreePeopleTV and Free People Records. “It’s really fun to make what I think is the brand.” Through Mona’s trust in him as a versatile contributor to the team, Michael feels he gets a real experience that has helped his career development profoundly. In tandem with his visual artwork and contributions, Michael has always been equally passionate with sound, making house music under his artist name, Figgetronica, on Soundcloud. He was booked for a show in April that was cancelled when COVID hit.  “It was weird—having all that stop,” he said. Still, he stayed focused on what could be done. Quarantine has helped launch that from a hobby to a second passion: “Here’s some time; here’s that extra time” he remembered thinking. Mona has been helping him with his mastering as he polishes up his new music to be released on Spotify and Apple soon. As he has shifted more into musical pathways, he’s been energized by people’s positive responses, and he sees the potential to develop it into financial solubility down the line. Also working through his graphic design business, http://getfiggewitit.com/, Michael feels it's the time to jump into art—music and graphic design. Michael loves bringing the crafts together anytime he can. “I’ve always had a love for images paired with sounds.” He’s always worked towards that goal. 

Alongside his artistic work, he’s been dedicated to helping out at his family’s business, SOS Technologies, which leases oxygen and AEDs to small businesses (restaurants and hotels). The equipment buffers the time for people in emergency situations waiting for first responders. He’s been working there for over 15 years and can’t even remember when he started. But he loves having it in the background. 

Michael is a versatile creative—through and through. He loves to have found the like-minded community he’s now a part of in Denver and getting to watch it grow.

Written by Tommy Clift

Exposing the IllFooMinati

Written by Tessa Barker

Ryan Foo is a well-known event producer throughout Denver, best known for his work with WeAreDenver and the Black Actors Guild, his immersive birthday parties, and unexpectedly his multiple fantasy football leagues. I got to know Ryan a little better as we discussed his beginning at the Denver School of Arts to his most recent creative projects.  

“the denver underground”: Tell us about your creative background, how you got started, and how it has blossomed into what it is now. 

Ryan Foo: Wow you’re making me feel kind of old. That was a long time ago. I would say that it all began at the Denver School of the Arts, where I and the rest of the members of the Black Actors Guild are alumni. This is where our creative journey began, and then after high school we all decided to drop out of college to create a business and become entrepreneurs. (I found this hilarious because I am a college student always looking for reasons to drop out. Is this a sign?) Very quickly, I realized that, personally, I am not really an actor, but I’ve always found myself around creative people, and I always had a role to play. I did the backstage, technical, director, producer role and just found my way into event production through the Denver Theater District and working in various theaters. And I’ve been doing that for seven or eight years.

“tdu”: How do you think your work elevates the Denver community, and what makes you integruel to this unique community?

Ryan Foo: I think there's a bunch of different answers to that question. The first one being that I pride myself in someone who does my best to pay artists as much as I can. I’m also an event director so I do immersive events. I host all kinds of weird birthday parties, fort building parties, dungeon and dragon themed events. (How do I get invited?) Beyond all of those gigs, there aren’t really a lot of young event producers. Not a lot of people have the experience, the respect and the connections on various fronts. I also work with groups that are traditionally marginalized, and I also work with people like “the gentrifier” or “the developer,” and I work to find a place to work in between those groups which is a sense of pride for me. 

“tdu”: Taking an opposite turn, after asking you what makes you unique, who do you draw inspiration from and look up to in your field of work? 

Ryan Foo: That’s hard. I would say that one of the people who certainly helped me in the event production world would be David Moke, from the Denver Theatre District. A lot of the people I look up to are people in the festival community. I have a lot of respect for the folks from REengineering (they build Burning Man projects) and they are just the cream of the crop for DIY smart folks who just make stuff for fun. I look up to all kinds of people, but if I’m being honest, there aren’t really other young event producers. I wish I had someone in that vein. 

“tdu”: With the stay at home orders in place, how is your creative process being affected? Would you say you’re more or less inspired? 

Ryan Foo: I fluctuate. But the great thing about the type of creative I am is that I am always fueled by how talented other people are. But I think that’s my superpower. I get to watch thousands of submissions through WeAreDenver and that cool creative content I watch everyday gets me inspired. Also, last week we gave out our first $2,200 to artists who have been on the channel, and we’re going to have more money to give out next week. My creative flex, which goes back to my answer for the first question, was just that I love paying people. As we are growing, we’ll be able to pay folks more and until I feel good about how creatives are getting paid, I won’t be making any money. 

“tdu”: It seems like you’re an open book, willing to share a lot about yourself, but do you have anything that most people don’t know about you?

Ryan Foo: I’m a big fantasy football nerd, which is so silly because I’m so leftist and for social justice communities who are like “ugh football, yuck,” but the thing about all the members of the Black Actors Guild is that we all love sports. (Who would have thought?) We were some of the only kids at DSA ironically who loved sports. I run several fantasy football leagues as a commissioner, and I just love football. 

“tdu”: What is your favorite creative project you’re working on right now? 

Ryan Foo: The Black Actors Guild just launched a new photo series and open dialogue about healthy masculinity called “Are We Still Cool.” I’m proud to be a part of this project with the Guild and hope it can help men of all ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations to realize how beautiful they are. The Guild has a lot of other projects in the works right now as we show our active support towards the Black Lives Matter Movement. All of our work can be found on our website. 

To learn more about Ryan Foo and his mission visit his website here.

Take a Moment to Escape With Ramakahandra

Reviewed by Samantha Camp

Escapism is part of human identity. We dive nose deep into science fiction novels that take us to another dimension and watch movies set in space with colors and scenes from another world. We listen to music that makes our imaginations run wild through wars, through wildflower fields and mystical forests with creatures unknown to this Earth. If you’re looking for another artist to add to your soundtrack to another world, Ramakahandra is the artist for you. 

Ramakahandra dropped their self-titled debut album June 19th, and it is pure, abstract jazz-gold. The Denver based four-piece consists of harpist and vocalist Annastezhaa, bassist Clato, Ness on synth and drummer Nobadee. Their genre can best be described as sonic jazz with a hint of cosmic flare taking listeners on a journey to the multiverse with alluring drums and enchanting harp playing. You would expect to find their music as the soundtrack to a film set on a planet filled with purple-tinted grass and a horizon packed with familiar planets and constellations.

 “E.T. (Extended Technique)” is the first track and it is very appropriate for the other-worldly introduction to the album. The song’s slow start is embedded with chimes, an electric keyboard, and sound effects that give the listener a nostalgic feel. A steady drumbeat moves the song forward.The harp fills the space with a dreamy melody. A bass joins later in the song to give the track a funky vibe, accompanying the harp and the drums to seal in the dreamy aura they have created. 

“Andromeda Soup Dumpling” begins with fast harp playing and faster jazz style drumming. Being the first song with lyrics, we are introduced to the haunting vocals by harpist Annastezhaa. This dreamy track is a lovely introduction to the band’s musicality.

The third track of the record “Kujia” is a fan (and personal) favorite amassing over 4,000 streams on Spotify. The track starts with trippy audio and moves into a fast-paced jam with a driving rhythm. The harp accompanies the bass and the quick drumming with high notes and soft tones. 

“Romin Ramen Shamen” begins with a pulsing electronic sound similar to that of starting up a video game console. The groovy bass and drums welcome the harp and lyrics to the mix a little later into the song. A dreamy vocal reverb in the middle of the song jazzes the track up and keeps the listener’s interest throughout the song. 

The second to last song “March of the Ents” is a dreamy song similar to the others on the track. The song marries the haunting lyrics, bass and drum line, harp playing that we have seen throughout the album. 

The final song “Haku” is a softer lullaby with a simpler melody but is just as dreamy as the rest of the album. The 11- minute song is truly a journey through the senses with dreamy bass lines, a high strung harp and jazzy drums in the background. 

Check out Ramakahandra’s debut album on Spotify and Bandcamp and be sure to follow their Instagram, Facebook and Youtube pages too.

Meet the FreePeopleTV Team

Interview by Tessa Barker

FreeMusicForFreePeople is like a tree with three main branches; Free People Records, The Denver Underground, and FreePeopleTV. Although all of the branches are simultaneously cultivating new ideas and projects, FreePeopleTV’s branch is currently blooming as it prepares for its launch of Season 1. The Denver Underground sat down with the gardeners of FPTV to discuss how they’ve been nurturing the media company and what viewers can expect from Season 1. 

What is your role in FPTV?

JuiceBox: I’m the host of Let’s Get Bizzy Creating, which is an offshoot of the Let’s Get Bizzy podcast which is now collaborating with FreePeopleTV, and I also am a producer. 

Michael Figge: I’ve been the “brand man” for the past year. I’m in charge of branding for the company and I do the visual and graphic designing. 

Fayth Krause: I lead the artist sessions in which we go to an artist’s house, apartment, basically where they create music where they do a bare bones acoustic set followed by an interview. It’s really cool because we get to see them make the music in the place where the magic happens. I film and edit those. 

Luke Barba: Mine is audio engineering. 

Mona Magno: Executive producer is my overarching role. But I would say I am a steward of the vision, cultivating what exactly we do and how we do it. I try to take all of the hard work we’ve done over the past year and find ways for it to be released into the world. 

In your own words what is FPTV? 

Magno: FPTV is exposed music culture. We believe the creative community has stories to tell, so we focus on those stories and offer opportunities for artists to be highlighted and be put into collaborative opportunities—a sort of Denver focused music television. 

Krause: I see it as a media space that is by and for artists in the community. 

Barba: A cultural expressions of the Denver area’s music community. 

There are a lot of Denver based media companies that produce similar video content to FPTV. How would you say FPTV is unique from other media collectives and production companies? 

Magno: I think what sets us apart is the emphasis on creating engaging and compelling media. The heart behind it isn't just creating something for an audience, but we’re creating something that could be utilized by the artists to progress their creative pursuits. 

JuiceBox: I think our production quality sets us apart also. We’re very focused on quality over quantity. We give the viewer the best experience possible as well as highlight the artists being featured in literally the best lighting possible and more metaphorically as well. 

What is the purpose of FPTV? What would the ideal outcome look like for you?

Juicebox: Get rich! I mean that's part of it but more so to make everybody rich. To bring prosperity to the Denver community and wherever we decide to branch out after that.  

Barba: I would agree with that. I want to see artists in our community get exposure. But like we said it’s quality over quantity. It's not just because they’re artists and they’re local; it's because we think they’re really good artists and deserve more exposure than they're getting. 

Krause: There is so much good local music, and I want to see that get celebrated more. FPTV is a way to do that.

Figge: I think we felt some of the stuff we were including when we initially released content didn’t quite get the views, so we’re trying to get more exposure because we really believe that it is good content.

Magno: I hope that people are inspired. I hope that it pushes people to want to create videos or music and ultimately feel a strong sense of pride in what has been developing in Denver in this renaissance that we are a part of.

What can viewers expect from Season 1? 

Magno: Season 1 is focusing on highlights of different segments that we produce. It's a variety of music coverage, whether that's live sets, artists sessions or interviews with artists, just a mix of everything. You’ll also be diving into the FreeMusicForFreePeople universe.

Where can FPTV Season 1 be viewed? 

Magno: It will be streamed on Twitch (@FreePeopleTV) starting on June 3rd at 10:00 pm and will air every Wednesday in June. After every episode airs you can then find it on our website.

On a personal level how has FPTV impacted your life?

Magno: For me engaging in this kind of work is not only my life’s passion, but it also has become extremely fulfilling cultivating this team of other creative people who are also passionate about music and media. I think that part of this project has really made an impact on the way I create art. I hope that we blaze a trail for people to come together who are passionate about the same things: to do something beyond themselves. 

JuiceBox: I am extremely excited and grateful to be a part of FPTV because it has filled me with a sense of purpose and this drive for success just being surrounded by creative folk coming together on this common idea. It really feels like the beginning of something special. 

Krause: It's so nice having creative freedom, and I’ve definitely felt confidence in my craft grow through this. It's so nice to be trusted that my ideas are going to be good as well as receiving honest feedback. I mean how often do you get that in a media company? 

Figge: I like to be able to do what I want to do and Mona has trusted me to do that which is so awesome. I’m really excited to see how this comes together because it's a lot of different people’s hard work. 

Barba: I love that FM4FP is centered around music and art and freedom of expression and not necessarily being bottom line or being a profit machine. It is about the art and that's the important thing. 

The relaxed yet driven demeanor in this group of creatives is mirrored in their work. FPTV Season 1 is a beautiful display of creativity, self-expression and artists who make Denver such an amazing place. Tune in on June 3rd to experience all FreePeopleTV and it’s collaborating artists have to offer.

Give Them Some Room to Grow: How The Head Room Sessions give artists the space to do just that

Written by Tessa Barker

Everyone knows to get involved in the music industry you have to network like everyone is your best friend and create those meaningful connections that lead to the formation of a tight knit community; your music family per say. Your community should have all the resources you could need at the dial of a phone from collaborators, to photographers, to supporters. As much work as creating that special group takes, Elle Naef, the relations manager and right-hand women for The Head Room Sessions, believes those tight communities can hinder the creative process. The Head Room Sessions act as a crossroads for artists, in all senses of the word, to network with people they would never meet otherwise in what Naef calls a “bubble crossover”. 

It all began with creator Matthew Shaw’s realization that the community art gallery he worked in was “begging for [live music] to happen” strictly based on the sheer perfection of the acoustics produced by the 25’ ceilings. Now for almost four years, Recreative Denver has housed 40 sessions consisting of two artists and two poets that are professionally recorded and photographed with a small but engaging live audience. The Head Room Sessions are completely volunteer run with a mission to help creatives from all sectors of Denver’s artistic community with a career boost through skill shares, exposure and local support. Both Shaw and Naef have a soft spot for DIY venues and local communities, something they feared would be lost with the rapid gentrification of the art districts in Denver, which is why The Head Room Sessions are such an important factor in keeping art a creative and authentic process, rather than a money making operation. 

Although The Head Room Sessions only asks for a small door fee from audience members, they have a running fund they use to support local artists who become financially troubled. Due to COVID-19 and the lack of income independent artists face during this time, The Head Room Session’s funds are being quickly depleted. They do an hour long segment on WeAreDenver’s Wednesday podcast asking for any donations via their Venmo, @headroomsessions, in which they then allocate to Denver creatives.  

While the live sessions are currently on hold due to the coronavirus, The Head Room Sessions are still creating content and supporting their community, specifically within the Black Lives Matter movement. To show their solidarity with the protests, they have paused all musical programming and handed over their platform to local leaders. Every Thursday community Black rights activists determine the topic they see fit and engage in an honest, thought provoking conversation. So far topics have included Black joy, mental health, allyship and Black space in the arts. These conversation live streams can be found on The Head Room Sessions’ Facebook page.

As the organization itself grows, Shaw and Naef intend on keeping the sessions intimate and exclusive due to the live recording factor. Their main goal has always been and always will be giving Denver artists a place to collaborate and grow while holding true to their non-profit and DIY values. Through their initiative, artists have the head room to let their creativity cultivate and The Head Room Sessions to capture it.

Photo by Caito Foster

Homeless Youth are Creating Like Professionals: How Urban Peak’s music studio is supporting young artists

Written by Tessa Barker

For many, music is an escape. But for some, making the music is an even greater release of feelings that get pent up in the brain. This truth is no stranger to the young adults who regularly visit Urban Peak, a non-profit organization that provides an array of services for youth experiencing homelessness or risk of homelessness. Among the programs offered are classes and resources for youth to engage in hobbies and potential career paths, but one specific program is a little more appealing to the ear than others. 

The studio program, implemented by Owen Kortz and Owen Trujillo, started with Kortz’s realization of his common interest with the youth he met at Urban Peak: music. Kortz started volunteering with Urban Peak in 2009 and has watched the studio program grow from him bringing his guitar into the shelter, to what it has become today: a home-studio-like set up that attracts talented youth. Because Kortz comes from a more folk indie background, he asked Trujillo, a former student who volunteered at the Peak, to help appeal to some of the participant’s interest in hip-hop. Trujillo brought in a mic, keyboard and midi controller, created a few beats and thus began the first songs created at the Urban Peak music studio. 

    Since then, crowdfunding platforms have helped bring in donations allowing Urban Peak to turn their music room into a small production studio, adding a mac computer with Logic, a keyboard, microphones, drums, guitars and more. They also recently received a $30,000 grant to not only upgrade the studio, but create paid intern positions for CU Denver students. 

    The music produced from the shelter is pure and unapologetic as it provides insights into the lives of young adults facing addiction and homelessness. Kortz described it as an outlet for them to “get off their chest what’s been on their minds,” and noted their positive mood change after they’ve had a chance on the mic. Kortz mentioned “time and individualized attention” sparks the most change he sees in the youth as they work on becoming self-sufficient and exit a life on the streets. Through speaking with Kortz and listening to the music posted on the Urban Peak Music Studio Soundcloud. it's obvious that music’s power and influence does not discriminate based on age, living situation or wealth. With the freedom to say what they want and explore a new form of expression, beautiful things have been and will continue to be created. 

Because Urban Peak is a non-profit shelter and day-time center, grants, donations and volunteers are never turned away, especially during COVID-19 times. To support Urban Peak and the dedication to homeless youth in Denver, donate to their COVID-19 Crisis Assistance Fund or make fabric masks for homeless service providers with more information found on their website - www.urbanpeak.org.

UrbanPeakMusicStudio · Best of Urban Peak Music Studio

Urban Peak Website

https://www.urbanpeak.org/denver/about-us/about-urban-peak/about-urban-peak/

Owen Kortz Outreach Page

http://owenkortz.com/outreach/

Music as Nonviolent Direct Action: How Armando Lopez is fighting systemic racism as a musician

Written by Tessa Barker

Photo by Laini Dash

Our nation is in turmoil right now. However, the protests that have occurred due to the murder of George Floyd are not contributing to the destruction of the United States. They are rebuilding a broken system through powerful demonstrations of public outcry and lifting up those who have been muted by systemic racism for centuries. The protests in Denver have had range, from nightly battles against law enforcement, to peaceful marches outside the capitol building. A new demonstration form is being organized by Armando Lopez and other Denver musicians who have had a stake in civil justice for many years. 

Armando Lopez, saxophonist for Brothers of Brass and research chemist, has held an interest and passion for social and climate justice since he was young. Moving to Denver in high school, Lopez said, “injustice in the world was pretty apparent at a young age” and that being a first generation hispanic who was taught to “americanise” himself made him realise that the world needed to change. He wanted to be a part of it. His work in social justice began with the Flobots and Earth Guardians who taught him everything he wanted to know about nonviolent direct action.

His work in protesting and civil justice is further elevated through his music and band Brothers of Brass. Brothers of Brass play primarily funk and Southern street music which are both rooted in African American traditions. Lopez and his band mates believe that the music they play not only represents black culture but icons of the genres, like Prince and The Roots, “are of a revolutionary mindset.” Because of this, Lopez feels those foundations lay an undercurrent of social justice in the music being produced today. Lopez also mentioned Fela Kuti as a leader citing his “potent and politically concise” music as an inspiration in activism based music. 

Lopez and Brothers of Brass have felt a call to action within the past few weeks in regards to organizing and supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement. Their music “is the kind that brings people together” and this Saturday they plan to use that to create a space for black and indigenous voices and stories. They are also bringing in nonprofits to table and raise funds, spread awareness, and continue the fight against systemic racism. Their event will be educational, entertaining, and critical as we fight to continue the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Amplify Black and Indigenous Voices, 12pm-9pm Saturday, June 13th, Denver's Civic Center Park

Photos by Laini Dash

A note from FM4FP Founder, Mona M.

My name is Mona Magno, though some in the creative community know me as Monalicious.

I started FreeMusicForFreePeople in 2013 and have since been continuously exploring different artistic ways to support and cultivate the Denver creative community. With that said, I haven’t done this work alone. Throughout the years many have joined our team and offered their talents and passion to strengthen our work and vision.

The Denver Underground is our newest project, which we hope serves as a yet another platform for the creative community to be celebrated. I think it is important to express that although we strive to tell exciting stories and spotlight inspiring people within our community, we fully acknowledge that there is no way for us to know of every amazing project or person contributing to the robust Denver scene. We hope artists and creative folks feel open to reaching out to our team with new stories and ideas - we want this publication to be interactive and inclusive.

I personally would like to dedicate this new publication to the Denver creative community. To those who have been building up this scene for decades, to those who are currently contributing to keeping the fire alive and to those who have yet to make their mark. May this project serve as a continual reminder that you and your work are worthy of being celebrated!

- Mona M. // Founder of FM4FP