Daniel Mescher

The Shreveport, La., quartet Seratones mixes Southern soul with garage rock swagger on their debut album, “Get Gone.” Fronted by the powerful singer A.J. Haynes, the band earned a spot on Paste Magazine’s “20 Best New Bands of 2015” list. The band stopped into the CPR Performance Studio prior to a show at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium with St. Paul & the Broken Bones. They performed three songs from “Get Gone” and spoke with Jeremy Petersen about the multitude of genres the band incorporates, the music scene in their hometown of Shreveport and adjusting to life as a touring band.

Michelle Zauner recorded her debut LP as Japanese Breakfast immediately following a personal tragedy.

Denver musician Jon Shockness caught our attention as a member of hip-hop band Air Dubai and his soulful solo work as Kid Astronaut. Now, he’s teamed up with Nigerian-born producer Daniel Iyere for the new band HVN — which is pronounced “heaven.” CPR’s OpenAir was privy to one of the first ever HVN live performances when we welcomed them into our studio last month. Iyere’s synth-heavy electronic production gives a modern edge to the R&B that Shockness has explored throughout his career. HVN performed four songs in our studio and spoke with Alisha Sweeney about the genesis of their collaboration, how living in Denver has influenced their music and some details of their forthcoming debut EP.

Wheelchair Sports Camp has spent years establishing a reputation as “Denver’s biggest smallest band” through live shows, EPs and singles that blend Kalyn Heffernan’s rap lyrics with rock, jazz and even country instruments. Their music has won them fans like rapper Sage Francis and landed them on the cover of The Village Voice. This month the band released their debut studio album, “No Big Deal.” They worked with keyboardist and producer Isaiah “Ikey” Owens on the album shortly before his death in 2014. Wheelchair Sports Camp returned to our CPR Performance Studio this month to perform some music from the album. They also spoke with Alisha Sweeney about working with the late Owens, signing to Sage Francis’ Strange Famous label and getting “roasted” by comedian Jeff Ross at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas.

If you’re familiar with the Elephant Six collective, you’ll know there have been several notable bands with a Denver connection to come out of it. In addition to Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples In Stereo and Dressy Bessy, that list includes The Minders, who have since relocated to Portland, Ore. Fronted by Martyn Leaper, The Minders have been fairly quiet in recent years. But the band returned this month with the album “Into The River,” which they released the same day they visited our CPR Performance Studio. Leaper and his band played four songs from the new album. He also spoke with Jeremy Petersen about incorporating string parts into the band’s music for the first time, how they spent the 10 years since the debut album, and the history behind the Elephant Six collective.

The Tennessee native details the struggles of simultaneously pursuing a music career and an English degree.