New CD Reviews – Denver Local Edition! Gangcharger, Ideal Fathers offer new tunes

Gangcharger – Metal Sun EP

For a band that was started almost on a lark, Gangcharger seems to be doing damned well for themselves. In fact, if things keep moving the way they are, and the band continues to enjoy some pretty constant airplay, they could be responsible for shooting some desperately needed new life into the noisier, almost-shoegaze genre that Denver’s scene has all but missed over the past couple of years (as solid as they are, Overcasters and Sonnenblume simply can’t fill that part of the scene on their own). And it may never have come to be, as lead singer Ethan Warde (who also plays for Blue Million Miles, another like-minded band) explained in an email:

“About 2 years ago, Mark Mullis (bassist) and I had a band called Mansfield Ghost.  We were invited to play a release party at the Fox in Boulder for skate videos from Meta and Null, but we had no drummer at the time.  We decided to say fuck it and start a new band just to play this one show, so in 3 weeks we got 6 songs written with this crazy metal drummer named Gordon Koch (who now plays in Black Sleep of Kali and Iron Horse) and our friend Jim Murray playing 2nd guitar, and we called it Gangcharger.  These two tracks are what we recorded at that time.  Obviously we revived the name and the general aesthetic for Gangcharger this year, just with some different people.”

Metal Sun, the group’s debut EP, is a gritty, seismic collection of songs that entwine swirling riffs drenched in reverb with driving, hypnotic beats and draped heavily with Ward’s lyrics, warbled in a deep, stuck moan. Think any song from Loop’s A Gilded Eternity mixed with Sonic Youth’s “Death Valley ’69” and you get the idea. Live and on record, the sound is huge, maybe one of Denver’s loudest bands, but not unwieldy. And with bands like Bright Channel, Tarmints and Monofog now defunct, Gangcharger fills a sorely under-represented hole in the Denver scene. Raw, forced chords and heavy bass drill into the inner ear and drag you and your surroundings inside with them, leaving you in an aural vertigo, leaning heavily on sheer volume to remain upright.

Lately, the band’s “Kathy In the Quarry,” with a sonic nod in Lydia Lunch’s diretion, has been getting pretty regular play on CU Boulder’s Radio 1190, and deservedly so. Here’s another taste of Gangcharger below, “Apparition,” from the new EP:

[wpaudio url=”https://www.denverthread.com/wp-content/themes/mimbo/sounds/02 Apparition A.mp3″ text=”Gangcharger – Appariton”]

Ideal Fathers – Tokyo Gore Police EP

If you’re familiar with Denver’s Ideal Fathers, then you’ve probably already succumbed to your own uncontrollable urge to download this two song offering of super-tight, super-fast post-punk chaos. If not, even better! This four-piece is hell-bent on infecting your audiosphere with their complex and furious bass-led onslaught of musical mayhem, and the sickness will make you that much stronger.

Ideal Fathers’ sound is an aural mosh pit of swirling Devo-type constructions filled with Big Black and Scratch Acid noise, spinning, slamming and landing fat lips on anyone & everyone too scared to join in. Vocalist Jesse Hunsaker’s rough, but perfectly fitting, pipes sometimes recall the singer from Portion Control mixed with just a touch of ScratchAcid’s signature David Yow scream, looped and dripped over the band’s arrangements with ample fury. And their new EP may be the best mix they’ve dropped to date. With 
“Tokyo Gore Police,” a hyper-ballad inspired by a Troma-esque Japanese gore film, the Fathers have solidified their sound so that any rough edges are obviously painstakingly placed just so, for just the right effect. Adam Rojo’s guitar work slides chaotically in and out over Mike Perfetti’s frenetic drumming and Mike King’s cyclonic bass lines like streams of water on an over-heated grill – instantly vaporizing, but leaving dry scars in the surface as they disappear. And the band’s humor is also obvious, especially in Hunsaker’s apocalyptic narration towards the end.

Give “Tokyo Gore Police” a listen below, and then download the two song EP. Do it – you know you can’t resist. . . .

[wpaudio url=”https://www.denverthread.com/wp-content/themes/mimbo/sounds/01 Tokyo Gore Police.mp3″ text=”Ideal Fathers – Tokyo Gore Police”]