Queen City Sounds and Art

Queen City Sounds Podcast S6E9: Sam Zalkin

Sam Zalkin is a photographer and musician from Denver. If you’re not from Denver, you might not know who he is but if you’ve been paying attention to the underground scene in the Mile High City you may have run across his photographic work documenting bands playing places like Squirm Gallery, Seventh Circle Music Collective, D3, Hi-Dive, The Marquis Theater and elsewhere. He was born in Houston, Texas but moved to Denver around age five when his father moved to town for a job at Children’s Hospital. In seventh grade Zalkin was encouraged by his school counselor to apply to go to Denver School of the Arts where he would attend through high school graduation in 2026. He was a film student who got into photography when he got access to a camera in his early-to-mid-teens and early in his tenure at DSA he met a friend who introduced him to K Records and Kill Rock Stars bands which lead him to a different world of music than what his parents were into. Zalkin wrote a piece about David Lynch for school and his teacher Amy McGrath told him her daughter was friends with someone opening for Midwife at the Bluebird Theater in 2024 and that lead Zalkin to an internship and then employment at Wax Trax records and being around the likes of the members of Pink Lady Monster, Cherry Spit and going to Squirm gallery for the first time and encountering Ryan Wong and his musical projects. Rapidly Sam became a fixture in the local scene shooting shows and bringing a uniquely creative vision to the visual presentation of the bands in post-processing and honing his photography skills. His work has graced the artwork for east coast-based experimental rock band Neptune’s album Play Some Music (2026) and he has done short documentaries on Denver musician and long-time Wax Trax employee Doug Mioducki (title Common American Crow, Mioducki has been in bands Felt Pilotes, Koala, North Americans, Sparkles, CP-208, Quits etc) as well as Squirm Gallery (titled Something Real). Now Zalkin is off to attend school at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where he will likely further pursue his work in film and photography but he will always be a key contributor to documenting the Denver scene the past couple of years plus.

Listen to our interview with Sam Zalkin on Bandcamp and see his band Apple Blossom at D3 Arts at 3:45 on Saturday, July 25, 2026 as part of the Blucifer Fest Satellite event.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S6E8: Modern Leisure

Modern Leisure, photo courtesy Casey Banker

Modern Leisure is the songwriting project of singer/guitarist Casey Banker. The latter grew up in the Denver metro area and played guitar from a relatively young age before attempting college at UNC in Greeley where he ended up meeting like-minded musicians and forming his first band that played live that anyone who was part of the late 2000s Denver underground music world has heard of called The Don’ts And Be Carefuls. The group made a mark in Denver with well-developed songwriting and exuberant energy as a live band with poetic lyrics that truly channeled the experience of being young and experience all the strong feelings that come from being in your early 20s. Banker’s lyrics were clearly telling stories that felt vivid and thoughtful and the music like a post-punk band with a knack for dance rhythms and evocative melodies. The band faded out by the early 2010s and Banker joined dream pop group Shady Elders for a time until forming a project that could be a vehicle for his creative vision and Modern Leisure was formed in the mid-2010s and garnered attention for Banker’s strong songwriting and charismatic live performances. Before the end of he decade Sumner Erhard joined the band and brought his own accomplished musicianship to the band. But like many musical endeavors Modern Leisure went on hiatus with the pandemic. Banker went on to develop his DJ business as DJ Kay Bay and affiliated with the Weird Touch night when it had a residency at what is now The Roxy on Broadway. That experience gave Banker his current career as a DJ for events including weddings. But of course he had songs in the can and a new set of material he wanted to write and develop and Modern Leisure returned to life with Banker recording new songs with contributions from studio musicians and a producer Jake Supple formerly of the psychedelic rock band Plum and contributions from Will Walden of ambient/psychedelic rock band StaG. The new live edition of Modern Leisure debuted on July 2, 2026 at the Hi-Dive with a lineup that included Erhard and his Dollpile bandmate Isadora Eden proving the continued vitality of the older songs and the vibrancy of the new songs. The lead single “tied in a knot” was released on July 21, 2026 and expresses a catharsis from the oppression of the working class by the oligarchy. Expect further singles to be released throughout 2026 and a new album in 2027.

Listen to our interview with Casey Banker on Bandcamp and follow Modern Leisure at the links below. Modern Leisure will perform at Blucifer’s First Rodeo on Friday 24, 2026 at 7PM at Adrift Tiki Bar.

Modern Leisure on Bandcamp

Modern Leisure on Instagram

Queen City Sounds Podcast S6E7: Blucifer Fest

Blucifer Fest pre-show, photo courtesy Gillian Pasley and Mike Young

Blucifer’s First Rodeo is the debut edition of Blucifer Fest, a music festival focused on local artists, independent venues and businesses as well as DIY spaces and the active Denver house show scene. The festival runs from Thursday July 23, 2026 through Sunday July 26, 2026 beginning with the DIY venue shows, the small venues and businesses on Friday and Saturday and closing with the house shows on Sunday and ending with a few performances including bands from the fest’s primary organizers. Two of the main heads behind the festival are Gillian Pasley of the cosmic Americana band Caspar Milquetoast and Mike Young of the psychedelic country group Clementine Was Right. Both had extensive experience in the world of underground and DIY music before moving to Denver during and shortly after the lifting of the pandemic restrictions. Pasley came from the East Coast and went to college in Ohio having organized a festival while in high school and putting together shows as a student at Oberlin and playing in various bands prior to moving to Colorado in 2022. Young is from California but has spent time in Portland, Oregon, New Mexico and other parts of the country playing in bands and organizing shows himself before landing in Colorado in 2020. Both have become significant participants in the local music community in addition to writing music and performing in two of the local scenes most noteworthy bands. For the festival the two pooled resources and traded ideas and honestly planned and executed one of the most ambitious local music festivals in the modern history of Denver by incorporating the DIY music scene more completely as well as the house show scene not to mention the significant Baker district area that has been a home to a good deal of local music venues featuring underground artists for decades. The festival involves hosts of the venues and Pasley and Young aimed to help participants know how to do this sort of thing themselves and in effect become stakeholders in the event in a way that empowers them some too. Going to any or all nights of the festival and you could randomly pick one of the venues and see a band that represents well some corner of the music scene as well as catch some of the more celebrated relatively underground artists. The festival sold out more than a month before it happened indicating that the festival was a success before it even happened at least on that score but also the planning of not just the shows but the amenities and promotion of the event and how the organizers of Blucifer Fest have thought about so many aspects of the event and put together shows leading up to the show with aims of highlighting the local scene throughout the year. Other festivals take note and not just those in Denver.

Listen to our interview with Gillian Pasley and Mike Young on Bandcamp and for more information about the festival please visit bluciferfest.com. The festival runs from July 23-26, 2026 and is currently sold out but you might be able to find a ticket.

Josaleigh Pollett Guides Us Out of the Hypnosis of Insomniac Thoughts With Electro Pop Single “Bed of Quiet”

“Bed of Quiet” finds Josaleigh Pollett initially sketching thoughts against a backdrop of impressionistic sound but goes into gear exploring themes of insomniac thinking. The steady beat and Pollett’s voice anchor the song while swells of tone and minimal guitar comes in to accent lines until the song expands into full-flung expression before seemingly fading into a harmonic outro. The song captures well the sort of thoughts one can go over endlessly when you can’t sleep if you’re prone to overthinking mistakes and better options because you could have made better decisions for your life and how it can be hard to accept your perceived mistakes rather than accept that maybe your conscious mind can’t know or think of everything or account for every possibility in the moment. Life can present itself to you as a high stakes game but most things in life aren’t necessarily imbued with a sense of catastrophe yet we can convince ourselves that everything is a life or death decision without considering the pressure we put on ourselves and others in the process. The song takes on a more playful tone than that and feels more like an odd yet soothing dream given its themes of nighttime anxiety and in that way serves as a passage out of that headspace. Listen to “Bed of Quiet” on Bandcamp and follow Josaleigh Pollett at the links below. Pollett is touring this summer in the wake of the release of the new album If I Let It Quiet out July 24, 2026 on vinyl, digital download and streaming.

Josaleigh Pollett Lintr.ee

Josaleigh Pollett on Facebook

Josaleigh Pollett on TikTok

Josaleigh Pollett on Instagram

Queen City Sounds Podcast S6E6: White Rose Motor Oil

White Rose Motor Oil, photo courtesy the artists

White Rose Motor Oil is an Americana/cowpunk duo from Denver that launched in 2018. Singe/guitarist Eryn DeSomer and drummer Keith Hoerig-DeSomer were both members of notable alt-country bands The Hollyfelds and The Jeckylls in 2000s and 2010s. Hoerig-DeSomer was also one of the founding and longtime members of ska-punk/rock band Five Iron Frenzy. By 2016 The Jeckylls were winding down and Eryn DeSomer played some solo shows but that evolved into White Rose Motor Oil by 2018 when Hoerig-DeSomer decided he would learn to play drums. From the beginning WRMO was playing regular gigs and as part of its circuit it would play out of town shows regionally and well beyond. Its lively and emotionally-charged music equal parts garage rock, punk and alt-country and straight ahead country with some deep mood in the mix garnered the band a following and the duo has released a string of EPs and albums all along including the excellent 2023 album The Gift of Poison. One thing that has set the band apart is how its music fits in fine with a broad spectrum of bookings because the presentation has a lot of spirit and edge and the superb songwriting and DeSomer’s powerful and charismatic vocals transcend specific genre. Also its simple format of drums, guitar and vocals comes across as much more forceful than seems likely. The band also regularly donates money to causes for social and civil rights justice because it’s obvious the world could use some encouragement at improvement and even a casual listen to band’s music reveals it’s about more than just entertainment. Look for the band’s new album out on vinyl, download and streaming on Halloween 2026.

White Rose Motor Oil performs at Blucifer’s First Rodeo (aka Blucifer Fest) on Friday, July 24, 2026 at 6PM at Wax Trax Broadway Bazaar. You can also catch WRMO at The Skylark Lounge on Tuesday, August 11 at The Skylark Lounge with Minot and Zealot, at Rugby Rocks Festival on Saturday, August 29 at 1PM in Aguilar, Colorado and at Bar 404 for the album release show on Saturday, October 31 at 7PM.

whiterosemotoroil.com

White Rose Motor Oil on Bandcamp

White Rose Motor Oil on Instagram

Annie Elise’s Intimate and Otherworldly Synth Pop Single “make a wish” Encourages Us to Act On Our Dreams

One of the things that is immediately striking about Annie Elise’s single “make a wish” is how it establishes a dreamlike mood with sounds seemingly drawn from “vintage” electronic sources of the late Twentieth Century. The vocals are processed and the arpeggiated synths sequenced like they were originally composed on an 8-bit or 16-bit machine. And the sound palette is both reminiscent of early chillwave and a more modern glitch aesthetic at the same time. The effect is song that creates a psychological space for the listener to consider the song’s themes of yearning and the need to act on one’s dreams and desires rather than be stuck in a state of stasis being held captive by hyperfocused aspirations and reach for what you really want and not merely what you’ve told yourself is the only perfection worth pursuing. Fans of early Purity Ring will appreciate Elise’s arrangements and inventive use of tone and processing of sound sources to lend them a paradoxically intimate and charmingly otherworldly quality with sonically rich resonance. Listen to “make a wish” on Spotify and follow Annie Elise at the links provided.

annieelisemusic.com

Annie Elise on Twitter

Annie Elise on Facebook

Annie Elise on TikTok

Annie Elise on Instagram

Annie Elise on YouTube

Charlotte Greve’s Cinematic Pop Single “Membranes” Layers Vocals, Drones and Playful Rhythms to Express Leaning Into an Acceptance of Impermanence

Charlotte Greve’s simple percussion and low key bass line paired with her layered vocals and ethereal synth drones lend “Membranes” a cinematic quality reminiscent of the more experimental end of tUnE-yArDs. One images images akin to the multi-media presentations of mid-80s Laurie Anderson particularly when the expressive sax comes in the later parts of the song and the ways in which Greve accents her vocal lines to lend the words a thematic and visual aspect as she sings about the constant motion and forward momentum of her mind and body that she seems unable to fully control as embodied by the line “If there’s one thing that does not change it is the will to change.” Then words about trusting one’s inner processes and leaning into the impermanence of the current moment and embracing the changes that are beneficial while working through those which seem challenging. Greve’s facility with combining rhythm, texture and melody as a unified whole with a playful and direct energy makes the single fascinating beginning to end. Listen to “Membranes” on Spotify and follow Charlotte Greve on Instagram. Her new album WATERBODIES releases October 2, 2026 via New Amsterdam.

Akiyoshi Yasuda’s Ambient Piece “day4 by memento” Induces the Listener Into a Deep and Transformative Environmental Awareness

Akiyoshi Yasuda, photo courtesy the artist

Akiyoshi Yasuda immediately puts us in a time and place that feels familiar yet enigmatic from the beginning of “day4 by memento.” The constantly present harmonic drone is like the background energy of an urban environment like a steady presence of the human collective. The layers of textural rhythm and resonating tones and swells of abstract sounds all interact to create a tapestry of noise that flows into your brain like becoming fully aware of the world around you that you normally take for granted which could be startling but Yasuda’s composition is more soothing and it causes you to pay attention to details you might not otherwise and notice things like the occasional processed piano work through the haze of closer sound sources mixing with all other sensory elements. The song is like a musical Zen experience in which one becomes present and accepting of what is around you without judgment or becoming overwhelmed by one’s hyper awareness. And then the sonic energy recedes seeming to have taken no time but in fact brought you along for that journey for over five minutes. The production on the piece itself is impressive for how Yasuda placed each sound component and orchestrated them all for a singular listening experience that conveyed experiences beyond what music often does. Listen to “day4 by memento” on Spotify and follow the Japanese composer at the links provided.

studioselfish.com

Akiyoshi Yasuda on Instagram

Bondo’s Hypnotic Yet Cathartic Post-Hardcore Single “Running Back” Draws You In With Its Sonic Contrasts

Bondo seems to sketch and stretch out musical ideas on “Running Back,” like its structure was arranged like stringing together journal entries. Connecting thoughts and feelings with a hypnotic and meditative bass line and drums. The vocals are nearly laconic and meditative but the guitar fractures that peace and feeds back slightly to give the song some evocative dissonance. The song’s mood is reminiscent of a more mellow Unwound or more discordant Versus song which is what makes it immediately relistenable. It is economical in its composition and hits the dramatic notes at the right times with a sense of emotional urgency. What isn’t as obvious initially is how it isn’t conventional in its structure. There is no intro or outro, just moments in time in the songwriting and the way it draws you into its dreamlike tone and thrilling moments of peak catharsis. Watch the video for “Running Back” on YouTube and follow Bondo at the links below. The band’s latest, self-titled, album releases July 24, 2026 on limited vinyl, digital download and streaming.

Bondo on Instagram

Bondo on Bandcamp

Queen City Sounds Podcast S6E05: Michael McGrath

Michael McGrath, photo courtesy Amy McGrath

Michael McGrath is one of the premier live music photographers based out of Colorado. Born in the Bronx, McGrath found himself seeing the Rolling Stones play Folsom Field in Boulder in 1981 and found a resonance with the state and has lived in New Mexico and Colorado since. Having studied at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and University of New Mexico in Albuquerque he took advantage of his access to camera equipment and film processing facilities to focus on his early endeavors in live music photography. Since around the mid 90s McGrath has shot for New York Times, The Denver Post, Vice, Relix and various other publications. His photos of Yoko Ono were included in the impressive one volume career retrospective of her work titled Infinite Universe At Dawn. These days McGrath is the primary photographer for the music website Audiovore. All of these details, though, leave out McGrath’s presence in Denver as one of the most active photographers of live music for over a decade and a half always capturing the essence of the show and knowing how to get the right lighting and angle to convey the life inherent in the subjects of his photos with high quality equipment. You can see him patiently and quietly getting the perfect images knowing so many of the rooms well and the lighting situations he is likely to encounter and how to adapt to dynamic situations. But beyond being a photographer McGrath has become a part of the local music community because of his expansive personality, inherent friendliness and unpretentious grace. The world of music through McGrath’s lens is a better place than we’re used to and one you want to be involved with because it lends the art a timeless and compelling quality that isn’t present in all concert photography and an intuitive sense of composition born of inherent skill and honed practice. The interview presented is very casual with plenty of surprises and left turns.

Listen to our interview with Michael McGrath on Bandcamp and follow his work at the links below. He, his wife Amy and one of their children Molly, a musician and writer, will be guests at the next Analog Salon at Posner Center for International Development on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 with doors and DJ at 6pm, talk at 7pm during which the family will in the tradition of the event discuss some of the records that most impacted them. Molly’s band Tassles will also play a set.

mcgphotos.com

audiovore.us

Michael McGrath on Instagram