"I definitely make a kind of punk trance," explains Travis Egedy, the 24-year-old behind Denver dance group Pictureplane. "I never was a punker, but I always was punk as fuck." There is nothing remotely trance, in the Burning Man sense of the word, about Egedy. He is wearing a beat up leather jacket and a Psychic TV t-shirt, fingerless gloves and a flipped-up, wide-brimmed hat, and semi-croons over sped up Enya or ravey piano tracks. A Santa Fe native and Colorado transplant, Egedy has a distinctly southwestern feel. Perhaps it’s his interest in chaos magic and his fascination with the mystical–or just his art school background–but Egedy is a bit of a frontiersman. Constantly talking about bridging gaps or exploring boundaries, he has paired two patently irreconcilable genres–the freeform, aggro-spontaneous nature of punk rock and the structured, processed sound of electronic music. "I love playing punk shows as the only electronic artist," he confesses. "While it’s easier to play when people are ready to dance, walls are dissolving all over the place these days. Everyone is listening to everything now, so it’s not out of the ordinary to see live electronics next to a guitar band."

Pairing his iPod with effects and distortion pedals, the motley crowd awaiting Pictureplane in Austin's Iron Gate last week went into a dancing frenzy, creating a half mosh pit, half dance floor. His musical evolution is curious: how does an art school kid in a Psychic TV shirt become a one-man dance-group? "I started off making beats, focusing on the indie, experimental hip-hop that was popular in the early 2000s. Hip-hop is electronic music, so it was an easy trajectory for me." His next album tackles the same gap-bridging themes as 2009's Dark Rift, but in a more corporal, physical way. "I'm working on a concept record all about gender and being in touch with your sexuality. I imagine it to be dark and sexy. The song that is inspiring me the most right now is Bjork's 'Army of Me.'"

Dark Rift was about his fascination with 2012 and galactic alignment. It also was, quite plainly, a great dance album, filled with epic, emotional synths and flirty vocals. Along with bringing Egedy's work to light, it also drew attention to the tightly knit Denver rock scene, based around the venue Rhinoceropolis. Along with Pictureplane, bands like Gauntlet Hair, Hollagramz and White Heat embrace a dreamy, DIY aesthetic mixing performance and art. Egedy prides Denver on being a friendly and cooperative town. "Geographically, Denver is super interesting. It's very isolated but self-sustaining, which is both a blessing and a curse," he says. When asked about heading to the coasts, he doesn't seem interested. After all, those are well-tread paths, and it’s clear that Egedy likes staying mile-high, blazing a trail of his own.