Open Music Session: The Symbols Shake It at the Open Media Foundation

On Friday, October 7, the Open Media Foundation hosts its next monthly free Open Music Session event, which will feature musical guests Jux County and comedian Brent Gill. Last month, the September 2016 Open Music Session welcomed bluesy pop-rock band the Symbols, a band that actually describes its own music...

By Brett Callwood

September 30, 2016

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On Friday, October 7, the Open Media Foundation hosts its next monthly free Open Music Session event, which will feature musical guests Jux County and comedian Brent Gill.

Last month, the September 2016 Open Music Session welcomed bluesy pop-rock band the Symbols, a band that actually describes its own music as "spiritual porn rock." The Fort Collins group swears that its music is good for the soul, and it's tough to argue when hearing Jasco's intricate guitar work and Mer Sal's expressive vocals on a song like heart-wrenching blues ballad "Not Enough Love."

Listen to more of the Symbols' music library, and download and remix with the stems of their Open Music Session songs below.

"Shake It," or "Shake That Butt," according to Sal on the night of the performance, is a much more lively tune. It's unapologetically funky, and all three musicians take the opportunity to indulge in a solo part-way through, though the butts never stop shaking. Bass-heavy and ludicrously good fun, "Shake It" offers a fair representation of what the Symbols are all about.

About Open Music Sessions: Every month, Westword joins Open Media Foundation and Greater Than Collective to bring you Open Music Sessions, a video series aimed at introducing people to bands and providing context for their music. Every First Friday, we bring a band to the Open Media Foundation studio at Seventh and Kalamath and record a live performance. In addition to broadcasting the show live on the Denver Open Media TV stations (Comcast channels 56, 57 and 219), we edit the clips for certain songs, which you can find at westword.com. You'll also find additional information about the band and the recordings of individual instruments on select songs, which you are welcome to download in order to create remixes or simply to learn more about the way the music is constructed.

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