P Tersen’s “Methymnia” begins with a drone and brings in an array of organic sounds like a discordant orchestra. The title of the song is the name of the part of the island of Lesbos that was home to the poet and musician Arion who is attributed as having invented dithyrambic poetry, the precursor to Athenian tragic theater. In the context of P Tersen’s song one hears the deconstruction of classical structure favoring something more unorthodox in the vein of what Alexander Scriabin did with his “Piano Sonata No. 6” in crafting something singular and alien using fairly traditional instrumentation and pushing the aesthetics in ways that defy easy description using the usual language in capturing the tenor, mood and dynamics of music that seems to follow its own organic and internal logic. “Methymnia” bridges the worlds of ambient and drone with the classical avant-garde in a way that strikes the ears as mysterious and fascinating like remembering music from the world of dreams visiting another quantum reality where notions of harmony and melody at decidedly off from even the different cultural traditions in the earth we know. Listen to “Methymnia” on Soundcloud and connect with P Tersen at the links provided.
Images in black and white, a woman laying on the ground looking into the near distance flanked by footage of the tides. Then tides coming in and in reverse out. Simple, ghostly synth melody echoing and then giving way to lightly distorted keyboard tracing a line that that goes up and slightly down as the tides move about and hints of another figure appears as a layer of the image over which the tides become slightly transparent. We see a man sitting in an alcove surrounded by an enclosure with foliage. This is how Raelism’s “Self-Soothe Mechanism” starts before the minimalistic percussion edges into the soundscape. The atmosphere of the song and the footage is reminiscent of what a sequel to the 1962 horror classic Carnival of Souls might look and sound like. Especially when the spooky glimmers of higher pitched synth bursts in with short lines answered by hovering, darkly ethereal drones. And then the color as the figure sings/speaks “I didn’t hit you, I didn’t cut you” in almost deadpan fashion. Then the male figure crawls menacing forward from his greened alcove juxtaposed with an image of him sitting at the top of a staircase and holding his face in his hands. It’s a psychological horror in short form and the title of the song might seem counter intuitive except that when someone repeats what he wants to believe to himself to soothe a guilty conscience over some actual or imagined wrong it definitely serves that purpose. Like a mantra that can also serve to heal through reaching into that personal darkness deeply and bringing forth deep seated feelings that haven’t been allowed expression by the conscious mind. And yet the chilling aspect of the composition especially given the video treatment while unsettling is also calming. The combination is like if Alien Sex Fiend made a chill, ambient track with an A24 director directing the music video except in this case it was Abigail Clarkson. Is that perhaps too on the nose connecting the name of this project with the UFO cult of the same name started by Claude Vorihon in the 1970s? Maybe so, but it’s another dimension to this fascinatingly unusual music. Watch the video for “Self-Soothe Mechanism” on YouTube and follow Raelism on Spotify. Look for The Enemy is Us EP set to release in 2022.
Egopusher has described their music as being akin to something Sofia Coppola would have in a science fiction movie of her making and the duo’s song “Patrol Rework” bears this concept out. It is minimalistic, lush, moody and yet has a physicality that feels like both a wind sweeping past you and into the distance only to return like the flutter of feelings when a memory strikes you and you take the time out to contemplate the swirl of emotions evoked strongly yet again. Which is a bit like Coppola’s own filmmaking—a creative evocation of nostalgia and the role of memory in shaping your emotional reactions. But “Patrol Rework,” though tinged with melancholy also feels like a lingering on a memory and living in that moment not as a negative or a positive but as the complexity of experience that often is how we lived and felt at a time of great significance to us. And as something remembered not for any specific resonance but as something poignantly felt giving it the significance and power that a specific context anchors so strongly in our psyche. The songwriters’ use of a simple and evocative piano figure, strings bowed and plucked, synth drones, processed white noise and tonal sweeps is layered but of a piece that covers a great spectrum of sound while sounding tastefully spare. Listen to “Patrol Rework” on YouTube and follow Egopusher at the links provided.
Despite its title “Tethered” by Survival Skills sustains a steady momentum suggestive of linear movement. Like the soundtrack for a transcendent, science fiction side scroller video game. Layers of synths intertwine and trade out prominence in maintaining a theme and a tone run through with a dynamic rhythm that pulses and hits percussive accents. Another image that comes to mind is like the outro music from a season of a TV show about the adventures of another Gallifreyan time lord that isn’t the Dr. Who. You can almost hear the luminous imagery and stream of stars or the visualizer of a trip through a worm hole to another galaxy in the song’s cycling drones and fragmenting streams of sound. Listen to “Tethered” on Soundcloud and connect with Survival Skills at the links below where you can also listen to the rest of the recently released Cascade Concrete EP out now on Bandcamp.
Wallice at Mission Ballroom 2/24/22 photo by Tom Murphy
About five minutes into Wallice’s set it looked like someone had passed out or otherwise fallen down near the middle of the room. But instead of letting the show go on while staff took that person to another area the band stopped to make sure the person was taken care of while urging other people present to remember to drink their water and otherwise take care of themselves. When it was determined that things were fine Wallice Watanabe and her band got back into the swing of the music.
Wallice at Mission Ballroom 2/24/22 photo by Tom Murphy
There were people present who didn’t know who Wallice is referring to her as the “opening act.” I didn’t know that her name was pronounced with the first syllable like the word “wall” and thus the name pronounced much like “Wallace.” But these distractions and observations aside, what Wallice’s singles and creative music videos didn’t make so obvious was how the songs were written aiming for more than a bedroom pop type of thing even if many of them were probably written in that way. All the singles you might know like “23,” “Hey Michael,” “Punching Bag,” “Little League,” as well as other Off the Rails tracks, and new material were showcased and Wallice commanded the large stage of the Mission Ballroom not like it was her or that of her bandmates first time on the stage. Wearing a cowboy hat and dancing about with dramatic flair and with little in the way of a set or special lights Wallice had obvious charisma and poise. The diversity of the material has been one of the songwriter’s strong points and one of the new songs came off like some kind of post-grunge rocker more than the pop songs but it all fit in somehow. Bassist Caleb Buchanan also engaged the audience directly at times and seemed like a long time collaborator (perhaps he is) and his contributions to great recent records by Mamalarky and Pulp are proof positive that he could easily add to Wallice’s aesthetic.
Wallice at Mission Ballroom 2/24/22 photo by Tom Murphy
Maybe most people weren’t there to see Wallice having bought tickets to the Still Woozy show but with the strength of the material and the live performance, coupled with the graceful ease and friendliness of the performers drawing you in, there’s a better than average chance that in a year or two, Watanabe and her band of that time will be headliners in their own right.
Wallice at Mission Ballroom 2/24/22 photo by Tom Murphy
If Wire had done a more pop score to the 2022 Winter Olympic games it might sound a bit like McDead’s instrumental post-punk song “Olympic Skeleton.” The driving, angular guitar lightly distorted with a touch of fuzz, playful interludes with call and response with synth bell tones, accented leads, start and stop dynamics that come off like freezing on an image for a second before the tenor of the song switches. Yet there’s a brightness to the song that contrasts a bit with the image conjured by the song title which might make those in the know recall the 2010 horror film Frozen (nothing like the beloved 2013 Disney animated feature). But there are no dire endings here and no morbid tones which gives the song a surreal aspect like someone years from now finding a skeleton from a lost fan or competitor found while excavating a former Olympic site and pondering on who that person is and how they got to be there. Perhaps it’s all just a play on words with the name of the project in mind and/or an oblique commentary on what happens to the sites of Olympics once the games move on to the next country following all the development no longer always put to civic use. And on that note, check out the song on Bandcamp and explore the works of Kev McDead by following him at any of the links below.
“Distancer” sounds like New Goo rapidly laid down layers of sound collage and yet this dynamic works as an unconventional architecture for what is essentially a pop song. It has a buoyant energy that carries you along for ride through bursts of sonic color and textures. Which is why Aspen De Rosa’s video (linked below on YouTube) with the bit about carnival rides seems so fitting. Dot Ashby of New Goo imaginative uses a keyboard chord that would be atonal in another context yet seems to perfectly complement Ashby’s breathy and melodic vocals. It never feels rushed and to say it’s reminiscent of a more manic and classic indie pop flavored Broadcast might be to overstate the song’s momentum and yet the song really hooks you from the beginning with sounds both alien and comforting that are instantly inviting into an alternative creative headspace that inspires repeated listens. Check out the track for yourself on YouTube and follow New Goo at the links below.
Cautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 02/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Cautious Clay brought a bit of a package tour for his performance at The Bluebird Theater no Friday, February 19, 2022. With the 2021 release of his debut full-length album Deadpan Love, Clay revealed a songwriter who has come into his own with a strong and coherent creative aesthetic that spans and transcends narrow genres and the show beginning to end broke with obvious expectations.
Julius Rodriguez at Bluebird Theater 2/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy
The opening act was Julius Rodriguez on keyboards with drummer Brian Richburg Jr and bassist Philip Norris. It was jazz in that moody yet lively mode that seemed to draw on the mid-to-late 60s NYC jazz vibe. The energy and fluidity of the ensemble felt like classic post-hard bop improv with modern sensibilities in the electronics so a blend of the classic with the accessibly avant-garde. A lot of jazz in the last 40 years is boringly academic in approach and feel but Rodriguez is not cut from that cloth, his blending of almost lounge jazz style, funk and pop was compelling and captivating the entire time his trio was on stage.
Julius Rodriguez at Bluebird Theater 2/18/22, photo by Tom MurphyCautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 02/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Cautious Clay took the stage with a calm and chill charisma and exuded an ease and level of comfort that also didn’t mask how happy he was to see so many people coming out to support this run of shows in Colorado where he had three dates including on in Aspen. Julius Rodriguez took the role of keyboardist, utility percussionist and second guitar. The band rounded out with a bassist, a lead guitarist and a drummer whose names I didn’t catch (sorry, guys) while Cautious Clay (Joshua Karpeh) performed on guitar, flute and saxophone as well as provided the softly yet strongly soulful vocals. Across nearly twenty songs, including the encore, the band showcased why Clay is rapidly gathering a strong fan base with many people seeming to know the words to pretty much every song.
Cautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 02/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Was the music we got to see hip-hop? Is it R&B? Is it a smooth kind of funk? Is it jazz? It’s all of that and presented in an immediately accessible way due to Clay’s charismatic and relatable energy with words that are capable of articulating challenging feelings and experiences with a rare poetic clarity without offering hackneyed premises. His stories and sentiments hit as real but manifested creatively into song. This wasn’t Clay’s first time in Denver and he related how he had played, perhaps even at the Bluebird Theater then, in 2019 and had had a good time then too and the crowd for this show was certainly enthusiastic. I had only heard the studio material prior to the show but Clay exceeded any expectations I could have had. You might have been excused for thinking he might have performed solo with tracks and maybe one other musician but this performance was proof of his ability to sync with other musicians for the kind of musical alchemy that presents as much stronger and more visceral and vibrant especially when the musicians click and Clay brought with him some people familiar with his material who swung well into the music together with a spontaneity that makes for a striking show. Also the singer’s intelligence and basic human compassion was obvious in his banter with the audience and among his bandmates which makes a subtle but important difference for any artist and how their personality connects with people as fellow humans. If Cautious Clay isn’t playing bigger rooms on his next tour it would be surprising as word gets out.
Cautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 02/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy
The second single from don’t get lemon’s album Hyper Hollow Heaven (out March 26, 2022 on à La Carte Records) has the rather dire title “D.I.E.I.N.T.H.E.U.S.A.” and the lyrics hit with the resigned nihilism born of an accurate assessment of where human civilization is trending. But the music is a special kind of lush, synth pop like bedroom production style Roxy Music or Crush-period Abe Vigoda. In the video Austin Curtis, the band’s singer, seems to party privately in the few creature comforts available in late capitalism before the utter collapse: oddly plentiful, Asian grocery items that seem like a cruel and surreal joke, karaoke night lighting and equipment, late night Vegas lounge aesthetic. This while the audio equivalent of VHS video fidelity and visuals to match has Curtis singing about basically being ready for the end of the world or at least the world as we know it and knowing that it’s kind of too late to do anything to stop it. One imagines if synth pop had existed in the fourth century Roman empire it would take on a tone like this between climate change, widespread political corruption and fiscal malfeasance, deep social divisions, international strife, pandemics and other crises that ended up rendering the most powerful economic and political entity the world had ever seen unable to rally to address the many built in ills that were contributing to its downfall. Many perceptive people had to have seen it coming and had there been a popular art form that survived we might have seen the ancient equivalent of a song like this born out of similar struggles, pressures and a sense that it’s all worse than a recession or political partisanship gone wild. This band personalizes the ambient anxiety of the time with a soothing song that commiserates with us a downer mood. But contained within it is the seed that we could turn this whole thing at least partly around but do you see anyone overthrowing the oligarchic power and economic structure in the next five to twenty years? Seems unlikely so while perhaps hoping and working for the best may as well enjoy some of the small joys of life before it’s completely over. Watch the video for “D.I.E.I.N.T.H.E.U.S.A.” on YouTube and connect with don’t get lemon at the links below.
Having first come to prominence as the frontperson for One Dove Dot Allison has had a long and distinguished career with numerous collaborations and an acclaimed solo career. Now Allison has the distinction of having been part of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s final work: his remix of her song “Love Died In Our Arms.” The songwriter and vocalist has long had a gift for imbuing her work with a lush warmth and an enveloping quality informed by great emotional nuance. The almost undulating structure of “Love Died In Our Arms” lends itself well to Perry’s dub treatment as the breathy vocals float through reggae style instrumentation, echoing tones, a vibrant keyboard mid song like a non-linear, cinematic presentation of film slides from a person’s life projected in slow motion animation. It’s the kind of song in which it would be easy to get lost especially when played on a powerful sound system embraced by its alchemy of layered sounds and exquisite sound design coupled with its richly emotional seductive energy. The remix is part of Allison’s forthcoming Entangled Remix EP but for now you can listen to the single on Spotify and follow Dot Allison at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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