On this episode of Air Check:
Vicky, Jeff, and Jake share their favorite new releases of the last month; Local band Eros and the Eschaton preview some tracks from their new album, Weight of Matter; Pueblo Pulp music writer John Bueno shares some of his favorite bands from the Steel City; Musician Ed Parsons schools us on the history of Reggae; And electronic producer Tor talks sampling and songwriting.
PART ONE: A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE SONGS
As usual, we start the show by sharing some of our favorite albums of the last month. They're all featured below:
Tor - "Days Gone" from Blue Book
The Dandy Warhols - "Catcher in the Rye" from Distortland
Blood Orange - "Hands Up" from Freetown Sound
PART TWO: AN INTERVIEW WITH TOR
After sharing a song by producer, Tor, during our musical roundtable, Jeff Bieri had the opportunity to speak with the man behind the music. More than two years in the making, Tor's latest album, Blue Book, is a captivating, slow-burning electronic journey through lush soundscapes peppered with skittering percussion and haunting vocal samples. Think Thievery Corporation-meets-Four Tet-meets-J Dilla. In this interview, Jeff speaks with Tor (full name Tor Sjogren) about how and why he makes the music he does.
Listen to the first installment of the mix series Tor mentions in the interview here:
PART THREE: EROS AND THE ESCHATON ON THE WEIGHT OF MATTER
Local darlings Eros and the Eschaton are making Colorado Springs proud. Their brand of shoegazy indie rock has impressed fans, record label execs, and music writers alike, and they've achieved a degree of critical and commercial success rarely seen by bands in the Pikes Peak Region. And luckily for us, they've chosen to make Colorado Springs home. Signed by the legendary indie label, Bar/None Records, back in 2013--before they were really a band at all--Eros and the Eschaton have released one full length album, Home Address For Civil War, and they're soon to release their long-awaited follow up, Weight of Matter. In this interview, founders Kate Perdoni and Adam Hawkins preview three songs from the new record (release date is 8/19), and talk about what it's like to work with a label that has had bands like Yo La Tengo, They Might Be Giants, and Of Montreal on its roster.
Eros and the Eschaton will be throwing an album release show Friday, August 26th, at Flux Capacitor in Colorado Springs.
PART FOUR: SOUNDS FROM THE STEEL CITY
In this segment, we speak with Pueblo Pulp music writer, John Bueno, about some of his favorite bands playing in Pueblo right now. Here are the bands featured:
PART FIVE: A REGGAE LESSON WITH ARCHTOP EDDY
Ed Parsons, AKA Archtop Eddy, has been playing music in Colorado Springs for decades. He has played reggae with Raku, gypsy jazz-inspired music with Mango Fan Django and the Surfin' Djangos, and, most recently, ska/rocksteady/reggae with Mo' Mungus. Parsons is a diligent student of the genres he plays, and eager to share his knowledge, so we thought we'd invite him into the studio to school us on a genre that's perfect for these hot summer days: reggae. In this segment, he takes us through the evolution of Jamaican music from Ska to Rocksteady to Reggae, and even demonstrates some of the finer points on his acoustic guitar.
