Indie 102.3 Sessions

Black Belt Eagle Scout’s “Mother of My Children” is the remarkable indie rock debut album from the Portland, Ore., band. At the time of its recording, Black Belt Eagle Scout was just one person: singer-songwriter Katherine Paul, who played every instrument on the album. She originally released it in 2017, and it soon caught the attention of renowned indie label Saddle Creek, who re-released it last year. Since then, the band has expanded to a quartet. Black Belt Eagle Scout visited the CPR Performance Studio before a show at Denver’s Larimer Lounge with Julia Jacklin. The band played four songs, including a couple new tracks, and Paul spoke with Bruce Trujillo about why she started the project after playing drums in several Portland bands, the Pacific Northwest music scene and recording the album on the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community reservation in Washington where she grew up.

Denver band iZCALLi recently released its fifth studio album, “Casa de Papel.” Shortly before the album’s release show, the Latin psych-rock band made its third appearance in our performance studio. iZCALLi played four songs from the new record. The members also spoke with Bruce Trujillo about consistently writing new music to “stay fresh,” working with producer Tyler Imbrogno of Denver band Eldren and performing at a Colorado Rockies game last year.

Roger Sellers has made electronic music for several years, first under his own name and currently as Bayonne. The Austin, Texas, musician released his sophomore Bayonne album, “Drastic Measures,” earlier this year. The record finds Sellers singing about life on the road as a touring musician while adding pop-inspired choruses into his loop-based music. Bayonne stopped into the CPR Performance Studio before a show at Denver’s Lost Lake. Sellers played four songs from “Drastic Measures” with drummer Ryan Heath and spoke with Alisha Sweeney about his love for musical repetition, his upcoming summer music festival gigs and creating his own hot sauce brand.

Aly Spaltro released “Even in the Tremor,” her third album as Lady Lamb, earlier this month. The New York-based singer-songwriter takes plenty of musical twists and turns in her music, shifting from charming and lively pop to contemplative folk at a moment’s notice. The connecting thread is Spaltro’s poetic and reflective lyrics. Spaltro visited our studio to play four songs from “Even in the Tremor” on acoustic guitar with bandmate Marian Li Pino on backing vocals. She also spoke with Bruce Trujillo about how her songs have become more autobiographical, why she arranged the album herself and how a traumatic childhood experience at Pizza Hut led to the song “Young Disciple.”

The Copper Children formed in 2015 when frontman Zea Stallings booked a performance at the Gothic Theatre and needed a band to back him. Since then the Denver group has released three albums that blend jam, folk and psychedelic rock, the most recent of which is “Speaking in Spirits.” The Copper Children visited the CPR Performance Studio before an album release show at Denver’s Larimer Lounge. The members played three songs from “Speaking in Spirits” and spoke with Bruce Trujillo about the band’s origin story, how they view their music as prayer and writing lyrics spontaneously during jam sessions.

The members of Oko Tygra shared their hypnotic, ’80s-influenced dream pop in our studio four years ago. Since then the Denver quartet — led by singer and guitarist Joshua Novak — has remained relatively quiet, playing intermittent local shows and working on new music. The band is back in the local spotlight this month with the release of its debut album, “Assistoma.” Oko Tygra recently returned to the CPR Performance Studio. The band members played three songs and spoke with Jeremy Petersen about why they don’t play as many concerts as some bands, the years of work that went into “Assistoma” and the themes of solitude and isolation behind the new music.

Daniel Rodriguez has been a guest in our studio several times as a member of Colorado folk band Elephant Revival. That band went on hiatus last year, but its members remain busy. Guitarist Rodriguez has done so by recording his debut solo EP, “Your Heart, The Stars, The Milky Way,” which he released earlier this year. Rodriguez returned to the CPR Performance Studio to play four songs from his new record. He also spoke with Bruce Trujillo about the differences between performing solo and with a band, how writing music helped him come to terms with a recent breakup and exploring a more “electric” sound.

We first welcomed Whiskey Autumn into our studio in 2016 after catching wind of their submission to that year’s Tiny Desk Contest from NPR Music. Three years later, the Denver band brought their eclectic indie pop back into our studio just before releasing the new album “Modern Doubt.” Whiskey Autumn played four songs from the new record and chatted with Bruce Trujillo about the political edge behind their songs, the ambient beach sounds on the record and the advantages of recording in their home studio.