Denver Underground Music Showase Part I of III –
Constellations

Local music is a an unexepected thing. It exists everywhere and the fact that it’s everywhere doesn’t mean that it’s going to be good. The amount of local music is alarming because everybody’s in a band or knows somebody in a band. That’s why the Denver Underground Music Showcase is special. A handful of tastemakers from Denver pick and choose who will perform for Denver crowds as oppose to the Westword where they have ballots that are available to everybody. Elitist, yes, but the difference is that the Denver Post Showcase focuses on rock primarily whereas the Westword has a giant spectrum that includes DJ’s, Hip Hop, etc…. Mother Nature she is a bitch and hell hath no fury like a woman. That said, I opted to go to the afternoon shows as opposed to the night shows because the gawdawful heat sucked my will to live. I was fortunate enough to catch three of the afternoon acts, all of which were at the Hi-Dive.

Readers note: I have never seen any of these three bands and had no idea of what they sounded like live so there was no bias going into the shows.

The first act I caught was Constellations. It’s kind of curious to see two drum sets and two Power Books sharing one stage. This was the first clue that this set was going to be electrifying and full of vibrant energy. The energy would be unmatched for the rest of the afternoon. I have never been to a show where several band members dropped their respective instruments to break into dance, in a good way of course. Their sound, and I hate comparing sound/music to other bands, was an interesting hybrid of Talking Heads/Early Cure (think Killing an Arab) with the lead singer sounding like Paul Banks from Interpol. I was very impressed by the enthusiasm of the band and the cohesion of their sound. It blended well and their on stage banter was very dry funny. Has their sound been down a beaten path, yes. Dance Punk/Electro-clash is here to stay, atleast for the meanwhile and I’m all ears because I’m a sucker for this kind of music.

Myspace-http://www.myspace.com/constellations
Band Website- constellationsband.com