Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack of Baltimore duo Wye Oak toured their new album The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs at Bluebird Theater in Denver, Colorado on May 23, 2018. 

Check out my photos from Kimbra's Primal Heart tour at Bluebird Theater in Denver on May 22, 2018 and read my interview with Kimbra about the new album and tour on Indie Shuffle here. 

On March 6, 2012, Minneapolis trio Now, Now released its breakthrough record Threads. And five months later on August 6, 2012, the Curiosity rover landed on Mars. Launched in November 2011, Curiosity was in transit—traveling the vast expanse of space between Earth and Mars—while  Cacie Dalager, Bradley Hale and Jess Abbott finished and sent their own creation out into the world. Both of them landed successfully and have gone on to have much longer and fruitful careers than those who planned them had expected. Now six years later, Now, Now has released their next LP, Saved, and Curiosity continues to explore the red planet, searching for signs of life. 

I like to ponder the strange series of connections that lead us to the places we visit, the books we read, or the music we listen to. Because so often, the meaning of these things comes not from their content alone, but from the people who traveled with us, gifted them to us, or made us a mixtape. I usually think about that person whenever I hear the track they first shared with me, when we have a connection based closely on a band, or went to a live show together. So when I discover a band I really like on my own, as the opener for another act or plucked from the vast stream online, I tend to think about myself like a good friend: an act of loving myself more through loving the music. 

Half a year ago, I had never heard, or heard of, the band Half Waif. But Nandi Rose Plunkett and her collaborators from Brooklyn were touring with Julien Baker, who I had fallen in love with in late 2015 (introduced by an ex-boyfriend). They were coming to Boulder, Colorado in December 2017 and I thought about going, but I was too busy in the middle of graduate school finals. Plus, I thought, I like Phoebe Bridgers (found on my own) better and I'd rather see Overcoats (introduced by a good college friend) in Denver that week. But I did look up Half Waif on Soundcloud, and found myself listening to the best thing since Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton's 2006 album Knives Don't Have Your Back (introduced by a high school friend). I was blown away by "Tactilian" and became mesmerized by "Overthrown" off her 2016 album, Probable Depths. I listened on repeat in my bedroom, in the morning, the afternoon, before bed. There was something about Plunkett's musical musings that got under my skin, into my mind, and weighed on my heart. 

So when I found out she was releasing a new album this spring and coming to Denver, I knew I would be there. 

Read my latest for Bearded Gentlemen Music on rapper and singer Dessa's live show in Denver.