SAUNA

The B side of “Split Series Vol. 2? includes eight songs from barely legal beach rockers SAUNA. Together less than a year, and just escaping from high school, the teen quartet rocks with the confidence of a much more mature outfit. Guitarist CJ MacLeod and singer Molly take their cues from ’90s twee poppers like Beat Happening and Moldy Peaches, but there’s an almost punk edge to their interactions, especially when bassist Ethan Hill and drummer Sammi Davis (yep) push things forward with hormonal urgency. In true twee fashion, Davis learned to play the drums just a week before the band’s first public performance, giving the group’s raucous songs a Mo Tucker-like naïveté. Steal “Beachball” for a taste of SAUNA’s sillier side. - Denver Post Reverb

It’s almost summer festival time again, and that means the Westword Music Showcase is right around the corner (June 18, to be exact). And while the fest has some pretty solid touring talent lined up for the main stage, we’re more interested in using the day to catch up on all the kickass local talent we haven’t seen in a while or missed out on for some reason. With a lineup of dozens of the finest local acts, the fest’s a great opportunity to spend a day catching up and sampling some of our scene’s talent.
Considering all of that, The A.V. Club is offering our picks for 10 can’t-miss acts from the festival—acts we think will prove to be worth the time it will take to wander over to the venue and stare at them for 40 minutes. And before people get their panties in a bunch because their favorite acts aren’t on the list, this list is by no means all-inclusive, exhaustive, or complete in any way. It’s just a handful of things to look out for as you spend the entire day wandering from venue to venue in a drunken stupor, soaking in the glory of our local scene. So here are our picks, in no particular order:
Man Cub
This electronica duo uses a ton a of sweet guitar pedals to achieve their unique sound and, beyond shaking it at their show, it’s fun to watch them press buttons all night long. Plus, these two are notorious for their hairiness—in particular, Alex Anderson’s sexy goat-beard will enchant you before his infectious grooves do.
Mane Rok
There’s a very fine line that separates vitriolic commentary on society and the music industry from the ravings of a reactionary nitwit, and few in the Mile High City so consistently toe it like Mane Rok. After spending more than a decade in Denver perfecting his craft, Rok’s not so quietly became a force in Denver’s hip-hop underground.
Git Some
While most of Denver’s punk acts are glued up on bad teenage relationships or quarter-life, day-job malaise, these Black Flag-loving rockers carry chips on their shoulders that should be heavy enough to compress their spines. It’s simply some good old-fashioned, non-denominational hate for the world at work under Git Some’s hood.
Iuengliss
Tom Metz has long been an intriguing performer, mixing a dynamic take on live electronic music with a charming and disarmingly awkward stage manner. Since he’s just dropped the incredible Blank Matter, we can’t wait to see if his live show has achieved the kind of next-level awesomeness apparent in his recorded work.
The Kissing Party
It’s easy to get caught up in the jangly bedroom-pop guitars and Gregg Dolan and Deirdre Sage’s sugary boy-girl vocal interplay, but don’t be fooled. Underneath the garage-grimy ear candy, The Kissing Party’s songs of fucked-up romance are so simultaneously spiteful and heartwarming that they’ll almost make you want to look up your old exes. Almost.
The Knew
It’s pretty simple—The Knew is one of Denver’s best rock bands, and it consistently puts on a stellar live show. Plus, the band members have beautiful hair.
Sauna
Although they are all still in high school, the members of this group display an admirable dedication to retro music. They carve out quirky and creative new-waveish songs in the vein of the B-52s and early Elvis Costello, and they’ve taken the Denver scene by storm in the past few months. Something tells us they’re not going to stop here—not by a long shot.
Yerkish
This will be the band’s debut performance under the name Lexigram, the new moniker selected after a Sprint-sponsored Internet contest. There’s also the matter of the new drummer. Will the new-model Yerkish (er, Lexigram) meet our expectations based on the old band’s legacy of dynamic, explosive live sets? We’ll know soon enough.
BLKHRTS
As leader of The Pirate Signal, Yo has built a rep as a fiery, tough performer who leaves it all on the stage. BLKHRTS finds him joining up with fellow MCs Karma and FOE, Voltron-style, to make something of a local hip-hop supergroup that we can’t wait to see. Oh, and if you prefer The Pirate Signal, that group is playing too. Bonus.
Peter Black
If there are any more passionate, outspoken champions of DJ culture in Denver than Black, we’d be hard-pressed to name them. Tirelessly promoting his latest favorite tracks, repping his fellow DJs, and talking shit where necessary (online and off), Black is a force of (DJ) nature. Oh, and he has the skills to back it all up, which is why we’re eager to catch his set.
- The Onion A.V. Club

You wish you were this cool when you were 17. I wish I was this cool when I was 17. But I wasn't, and I doubt any of you were, and I doubt most of you other 17 year olds are not nearly half as cool as SAUNA is. I idolize these kids. They are super cute, very nice, and they write really good music. They sound like they grew up (er... are growing up) on the right stuff (likely old school punk, first-wave ska and glam), and are gradually cementing themselves within a highly supportive scene (Bad Weather California, Lust-Cats of the Gutters, Night of Joy...). And best of all, they have fun with it. A lot of fun—this little sampler of tunes from the Denver-based neo-retro-surf rockers comes pre-packaged with snappy beats, heavy guitars, bright tones, and cheerful tunes.

Coming from the supremely land-locked state of Colorado has gotten these kids antsy for sun, sand, and surf. Summer vacation is here, SAUNA is all over it and they want you to be all over it too. Album opener "Beachball," with it's giggling and dialogues of "Hey, wanna go surf?" and "I hope Jaws isn't around!" plays out like an invitation to hop in the car with a cooler and sun tan lotion. And spinning Rad Shit! will just about get you there. The songs definitely have a fuck-all, "whatever", fun-or-nuthin' attitude that places emphasis on energy rather than precision, so the songs come out almost tripping over themselves in jumpy excitement, angsty anger, and bashful boy-girl crushery.

Musically, SAUNA incorporates a lot of different elements into something cohesive. Drawing from punk, pop, ska, some glam and even metal (see the hilarious and completely awesome "God Dammit Ethan!"), the band filters these different ideas from track to track. But the "sound" of SAUNA is less a "sound" and more an attitude, the band's goofball wit and charm forming something of a trademark. Otherwise, the songs are simple riffs and hooks, simple vocal rhyme schemes, and simple, straight-ahead drum beats all aligned into clearly defined forms - concise capsules of pop greatness with some slinky guitar lines to give the music some added motion and pizzazz. So, if it wasn't for all that fun, this record might be at the risk of being run of the mill. Fortunately (I'm sure you get this by now... I've said it a million times), this is fun. Vocals are yelped out in such a overjoyed, cheerful fashion that you can hear the foot-wide smiles—and not just from the lovely singer, but from the entire band. One big, collective toothy smile that is bound to catch on.

SAUNA is great music because it is very young music. Not only are the members of the band quite young, but the music itself relates the very idea of youth in a powerful way, shoving any listener of any age in Rad Shit!'s path squarely into the band's muddied Converse All-Stars and beneath duct taped guitar straps. You want to be SAUNA so desperately bad. You want your jeans to be completely destroyed at the knees. You want to wear loose-fitting tanks. You want horn-rimmed glasses. You want to rock. It just sounds like a fun place to be. And trust me, it is. It has to be.

Crawf - Tome To The Weather Machine

Molly Bartlett, Samantha Davis, Ethan Hill and CJ Macleod have to be the coolest kids at their high school. By day, they're regular teenagers; by night, they turn into SAUNA, an intelligent pop band that crams jumpy beats and reverb-heavy guitars into a perfect throwback package. When the band isn't performing, you can find its members at the foot of stages for Liz Phair, Black Angels and Best Coast shows — doing more music-history homework, the result of which is clearly displayed in their own explosive live sets. If you're lucky enough to catch SAUNA live, the band just might do an excellent cover of the Who's "Boris the Spider." How cool is that? - Westword