Indie Shows This Week in Denver/Boulder

Larimer Lounge Presents Riley! with Kerosene Heights, bugsy and Skiimo on Tuesday, July 14th. RILEY! is the kind of band that only could have come from somewhere far off the map – making music shaped by isolation, boredom, anxiety, friendship, and dreaming about what lies beyond the limits of their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hometown. Their details may belong to the Rio Grande Valley deep in South Texas, but the feelings amplified through their hyper-modern spin on Midwest emo have carried them around the world, from self-booked headlining tours and bills with genre heavyweights Hot Mulligan, Arm’s Length and Saturdays at Your Place to stages at festivals like Treefort. Formed in 2018 and named after vocalist/guitarist Ryan Bluhm (they/them)’s beloved cat, Riley! began as a low-stakes creative outlet between Bluhm and bassist Kris Gallardo (he/him): an excuse to write songs, record them in bedroom studios and hit the road on DIY tours. Longtime friend and frequent collaborator Cesar “Izzy” Izaguirre (they/them) joined on drums in 2020, adding a background in punk and hardcore that helped push Riley! into more dynamic territory. What’s followed on albums like 2021’s Already Fucked and 2024’s Keep Your Cool has been a steady transformation from scrappy cult favorite to one of modern emo’s most compelling young bands on the strength of twinkly textures from high-capoed guitars, raucous rhythm section energy and Bluhm’s highly personal storytelling. Now, Riley! level up once again leveled up on their Pure Noise Records debut, TO LIVE AND DIE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH. Recorded in Austin, TX, alongside producer Phil Odom (Militarie Gun, Say Anything and a protegee of Grammy-winning producer Will Yip), the five-song EP finds Riley! embracing a more finely harnessed sound without losing any of their edge. “We were going for something a little bit more polished,” Bluhm explains. “Not everyone is necessarily into screaming emo music, so we wanted to make things a bit more digestible.” As an openly queer, progressive band in a deeply red state, Riley! have always built their own version of belonging. That spirit runs throughout To Live and Die in the American South, from its very title to the song themselves – deeply personal stories of isolation, connection and the eternal fight to feel seen. Outside the walls of their hometown, though, they’ve built connections that have made survival possible, growing alongside a fanbase that has found itself reflected in every sweat-soaked note as they’ve carved out their own communities. As Izaguirre puts it, “I feel like nobody really knows if they belong anywhere. That’s what these songs are – just trying to say it out loud.” All ages, ticketed guests under 16 ONLY ADMITTED WITH TICKETED GUARDIAN 21+ All sales are final. Check your tickets carefully, NO REFUNDS FOR ANY REASON Your name will be on the Will Call list the night of the show at doors time.

Lost Lake Presents JZAC x Dylan Owen with BEAMIN on Thursday, July 16th. Dylan Owen: Dylan Owen is a New York rap artist with his own brand of confessional, heartfelt storytelling. Out of the sleepy small towns of New York state he has become a beacon of light for tens of thousands of ardent listeners who come from towns such as these and beyond; who turn to his songs of introspection and wonder and struggle as a soundtrack to their lives and a navigation device. His vulnerable, poetic rap songwriting has generated press comparisons to Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith, and he has collaborated with rap peers Watsky, Sol, Abhi The Nomad, Blueprint, Ceschi, Abstract, Sam Lachow, Kinetics & One Love and opened a tour date for Mac Miller. Dylan possesses disarming technical prowess as an emcee and flows on production palettes from alternative rap to pop to folk—where neither DJ scratches nor a live violin or trumpet are out of place. Through breakout EPs There’s More To Life and Keep Your Friends Close and fan-facing efforts such as his self-published book and Coffee with Dylan series, he has fostered a deeply engrossed and active community that sell out his shows, tattoo his lyrics, buy merch from every drop (from which the proceeds benefit mental health causes), and compose thousands of heartfelt social media messages. What sustains Dylan is his ongoing quest to carve out meaning from his journey for himself and others, and to give it away so that it might empower his listeners, who prove to him time and time again that there is more to life. JZAC: Originally hailing from southern New Hampshire, Jerry Zajac, known as JZAC, is a rapper with over a decade of experience in the music industry. He first started putting out music on YouTube in 2011, but it was around 2016 when he began to break through on the internet, posting short video clips of freestyles that would end up going viral and circulating on social media. Since that pivotal moment, he has meticulously built his catalog, accumulating over 100 million streams on his music, releasing four studio albums, multiple EP’s, and countless singles over the years. All ages, ticketed guests under 16 ONLY ADMITTED WITH TICKETED GUARDIAN 21+ All sales are final. Check your tickets carefully, NO REFUNDS FOR ANY REASON Your name will be on the Will Call list the night of the show at doors time.