Indigenous Punk to Doom Metal: June Proved Colorado's Range Is the Whole Point

If you want a quick argument for why Colorado's music scene deserves more than the occasional national head-pat, don't build a thesis. Just look at what dropped in June. Six releases, and no two of them share a lane. This is the summer's freshest crop of Colorado records — technically landing just ahead of the busy season, but too good to leave out of the conversation — and the range on display is the entire flex.

Lead with the record that hits hardest. Dead Pioneers put out "Wagon Burner," a full album, on June 26 — Indigenous punk that doesn't ask permission and doesn't soften the edges. It's the kind of statement record that makes you sit up, the sound of a band with something specific to say and the fury to say it loudly. In a scene sometimes accused of being polite, "Wagon Burner" is a useful corrective.

Then swing the pendulum all the way to the other extreme: doom. Khemmis released a self-titled album in June, and if you know Khemmis, you know what that means — towering, melodic, gloriously heavy metal that has earned the band national genre respect. That a doom institution and an Indigenous punk firebrand came out of the same state in the same month tells you everything about Colorado's refusal to be pinned to a single sound.

The rest of June fills in the spectrum. Hooper dropped "Carry Your Own Saints," an EP, on June 2 — an early-month opening statement. Trouble's Braids followed with "Tarantula," another EP, on June 5, keeping the indie side of the ledger busy. A Place For Owls offered "To Be Found," a single, on June 12 — the kind of measured, atmospheric indie that rewards headphones. And Float Like a Buffalo got the month rolling first, releasing the single "Get in the Van" on June 4, a title that doubles as a working-band mission statement.

Line them up and the picture snaps into focus. On one end, Dead Pioneers' Indigenous punk. On the other, Khemmis' doom metal. And threaded between them, a run of indie EPs and singles from Hooper, Trouble's Braids, A Place For Owls, and Float Like a Buffalo. That's not a scene with a signature sound. That's a scene with a signature attitude — one that says the genre is up to the artist, and the only shared requirement is that you mean it.

This matters more than a tidy list of release dates might suggest. Cities get typecast. Nashville is country, Seattle got branded grunge for a generation, and plenty of outsiders still can't name a single thing about Colorado music beyond a jam band and a mountain amphitheater. June's releases are the counterargument, delivered without a single press release having to spell it out. You cannot reduce a month that contains both "Wagon Burner" and a Khemmis album to a marketing tagline. The range defies the shorthand.

So consider this your reading — sorry, listening — assignment for the back half of summer. Six records, one state, roughly zero overlap in sound. Start wherever your taste lives and then deliberately cross the aisle: if you came for the doom, sit with the Indigenous punk; if you came for the indie hooks, let Khemmis rattle your fillings. The reward isn't just six good releases. It's the reminder that "Colorado music" was never one thing, and June just handed you the proof, pressed and dated.

Sources: The Best New Music Releases From Colorado Artists in June — Westword