block party tonight!

Desperate Electric, Uptown Butte, Utopia

Desperate Electric’s second album What Do You Want is out now!

Hear it LIVE in Uptown Butte TONIGHT (Saturday, September 10) at a block party on 34 E. Galena Street, presented by Collective Elevation. I’d be there if I could. A night to remember for sure. Utopian, perhaps.

[This is an addendum to a musical verano pt. 2 on Desperate Electric.]

The new record comprises eleven entrancing, carefully crafted songs—orchestrations, really. The volume and balance of sound, seamlessly blending composite instrumentations with vocal power and lyrical depth, is altogether mesmerizing.

It sounds like SUPERSTARDOM.

Each composition stands powerfully in itself. Yet, woven together, emerges deeper meaning, purpose, and power. They’re interdependent, free, energizing, and fun.

I can’t stop listening to Have 2 Do It. It’s a cool ride on a love train to the cosmos. Heavy organ-like keys and hypnotic vocal interplay bridge into a pulsating disco train, ascendant to a Morris Mountain guitar summit, and beyond.

Cause all I wanna do is get you feeling right

But I can’t let go of this doubt inside my mind

So why’d you have to do it, have do it

You know you put me through it, put me through it

I love it all. At first, I thought this was because I love Ben and Kayti so much. I’m biased, obviously—I’m an interested party, deeply admiring of, and inspired by their creativity and dedication. Maybe this blinds me?

Then this morning, I read a story in the Billings Gazette written by Jake Iverson. He sees their magic too. And his telling adds more context to Ben and Kayti’s journey together. They’re marrying next year, for example. I’ll be toasting them then, alongside our best friend Connor, to a room full of family and friends celebrating their love. What a night that’ll be.

“This is a record made by people who really, really love each other,” Iverson writes.

Desperate Electric’s music is fun and technicolor. But it’s not all roses. There’s work here. Morris and Korte have spent untold hours in the studio and around 300 live shows honing their craft. And that’s just on the music side.

Passing the mic to Ben and Kayti:

“Love takes work,” said Korte, “whether that’s in a couple relationship, or just friendship or other partnerships in your life. It takes work, but it’s worth it. And we can just have a dance party about it.”

“Dance your problems away,” Morris suggested.

“We’re all in this together,” Korte said.

“With honesty, and communication and understanding,” Morris interjected. “And love.”

“Yeah,” added Korte. “Love.”

They played Billings last night and are back home in Butte tonight, joined by the Partygoers and The Surfs. Uptown. 34 E. Galena Street. Music at 5:30. Get there!

I bet it’s a night you don’t forget. Singing, dancing, toasting, and telling the truth under a cool fall moon. What could be better than that?

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This is a quick add-on to a longer write up on Ben, Kayti, and Desperate Electric in a musical verano pt. 2, published Thursday, September 8. In the musical verano series, I’m reflecting on the world as it is and the futures we could be, peering through the music that moves me to laugh, think, dance, and cry—music for life and living.

Read the first two parts:

pt. 1: Señores Ladrones by Tomasito (8/29/22)

pt. 2: What Do You Want by Desperate Electric (9/8/22)