- The Would Shop: A clever name for a clever venue in a warehouse district of north Denver. Masquerading by day as a skate park, come the weekend it sometimes brings underground techno and house to an intimate dance floor with a 250 person capacity. As the name suggests, it's a renovated wood shop and is composed of only a few components, namely walls splattered by local graffiti artists with relocated pews for a pause, a fixed DJ table in one corner and an ample fenced smoking area. The simplicity is the space's charm.
The Weird Noises crew are great hosts, using their networking in the region to bring in solid names. Tonight saw Drumcode's Kyle Geiger come through. A Midwest product, Geiger hails from Indiana along with JPLS and Skoozbot, a trio which has collaborated in the past for Adam Beyer's label. The crowd was a bit sparse upon arrival just after 12:30. The lack of numbers didn't affect the vibe, though, as locals Jon Foster and Aaron Blauer threw down an upbeat set of weird noises.
The lights were a bit bright, but as I was later informed, they dim as the night goes on, a visual cue for the setting. When the lights did go low, I was pleasantly surprised with the accompanying sounds as Lunatik took to a pair of 1200's. A recent transplant from Omaha, he opened with a disjointed techno sound that eventually smoothed into two hours of chugging goodness. Dustin Zahn's remix off his own Best Intentions EP was a highlight.
Kyle Geiger came on soon after a burst of punters came rolling in after the clubs downtown closed. Like Lunatik before him, he took controlled the friendly crowd with tempo, volume and textured sounds. Geiger drifted in between dark, lush and banging static tracks, keeping everyone engaged, even as the sun reminded us of what time it was. It eventually caught up with me, however: I only caught about an hour of the live set from Weird Noise/Emote Records' John Templeton. While it was the best I've heard from him, I stayed only as long as my feet would move, before they moved to the car for home.