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I’ve long said that per capita, the Colorado music scene is as good as any in the nation. Every genre you can think of is represented by top notch talent in the Centennial State, and with each passing year, more artists bubble to the top of an already outstanding slate of performers. This year’s collection of some of my favorite albums is by no means comprehensive, nor representative of all the great music released in 2023 — but it is the best I can offer in less than 750 words. Here then, in no particular order, is a short list of some of the great albums released this year.
Future Joy
Present Peace
A lively blend of EDM, jazz sax, and pop, this album features 7 dance-friendly tracks that overflow with groove.
Listen: FutureJoyMusic.com
New Ben Franklins
Existential Dread Capricious Joy
Long time Denver alt-country darlings, the New Ben Franklins seep into a little more despair, a little more melancholy and a little more existential dread on this outing.
Listen: Spoti.fi/40ZFe7M
Manzanita Quintet
Osmosis
Recorded by Colin Bricker at Mighty Fine Studios in Denver, this jazz album features eight originals that blend startlingly well with covers of Thelonius Monk’s “Bemsha Swing” and Charlie Haden’s “Silence.” Bricker’s recording captures the live feel of a jazz club without sacrificing clarity in the slightest.
Listen: ManzanitaQuintet.Bandcamp.com
Ryan Fiegl
Out From Light
A virtuoso guitarist and educator, Ryan Fiegl’s newest release delivers a rich, lush soundscape of atmospheric lullabies that pluck any doleful strings you may have in your heart.
N3ptune
Renaissance (The Revival)
By all accounts N3ptune’s live performances are everything you’d expect after listening to this brash, bombastic, gospel-flavored soul-meets-rock album. Not to get hyperbolic, but there’s little doubt Prince himself wouldn’t love this outing.
Listen: www.n3ptune.com
Still Gonna Bail
Riley
Though it’s only a 3-song EP, it definitely deserves attention. Billing themselves as “Music you can lose your virginity to,” might suggest you’d hear something other than pop-ska-punk, but that doesn’t make this outing any less infectious. Just make sure to stretch first.
Listen: facebook.com/StillGonnaBail
Matthew Wilburn Skinner
When the Sky Falls
As someone who has never been a big fan of the banjo, I still listened to this album on repeat. Skinner’s vocals have the right amount of plaintive grit to blend with his banjo wizardry in a way that just scratches your heart with bramble weeds.
Listen: MatthewWilburnSkinner.com
The Trujillo Company
4 Arrows
This power rock trio does an outstanding job of sounding bigger than they are without resorting to too much in the way of production tricks and overdubs. Riff-heavy rock that appeals to the Nirvana fan in all of us.
Listen: Facebook.com/TheTrujilloCompany
The Ephinjis
After Hours
Fuzzy guitar-driven punk with new wave tendencies and soaring vocal harmonies, the Ephinjis’ latest outing delivers all the edge we’ve come to expect out of the Boulder-trio.
Listen: TheEphinjis.com
The Mañanas
3000
I admittedly don’t tire much of good power-pop; The Apples in Stereo remains one of my all-time favorite bands, and The Mañanas’ latest outing fits neatly in the same bin as any Apples album. Great hooks, jangly guitars and indelible songwriting make this one an instant classic I’ll be spinning for years.
Listen: TheMananasBand.com
MF Ruckus
The Front Lines of Good Times
I attended MF Ruckus’ new album release at the Bluebird in Denver last summer, and it was hands-down the hardest rock show I’d attended in years. Just in-your-face, sweaty, bombastic, thunderous rock the way it was meant to be played from a band that knows how to deliver live or on wax.
Listen: MFRuckus.com
Dear Marsha
Notes From The Tip Jar
Inescapably engaging vocal harmonies and a southern rock-tinged pop sensibility make Dear Marsha’s 5-song EP a great underscore for a summer camping trip and some time on a lazy inner tube river float.
Listen: Facebook.com/DearMarshaRocks
SOLOHAWK
Rio Grande
Earlier this year, Til Willis and Steve Schnepel drove out to Rangely, CO — a few miles from the Utah border in the northwest corner of the state — to record this hauntingly gorgeous EP at The Tank studio. The dark, lush reverb is all-natural, a result of recording live in a 7-story abandoned water tank. Wicked cool.
Listen: Solohawk.Bandcamp.com
