Carina T lists all the discouraging messages thrown your way by other people and your own brain throughout “Bucket List.” But part of those narratives is the illusion of infinite choices and why choose any of them when you can pursue something provided for you. But Carina wades through the competing voices with some self-belief and a vision of the life she wants for herself. The music is reminiscent of one of those pop ballads of the 80s or 90s that is part of a montage of a character setting aside distractions and naysayers and getting things done but without malice. She also introduces the idea of how you often need to keep your dreams to yourself to protect them from those who would prefer to see everyone around them striving for the middle, threatened by anything or anyone that stands out, spewing words dismantling fledgling plans and positive impulses as silly or impractical before they get off the ground. On the surface it’s a positivistic, self-affirmation song but its undercurrent is more subversive in acknowledging the existence of legitimate concerns and doubts but putting the defeatist messaging in its proper perspective. As the title of the song suggests, it’s important to have goals but also not to get bogged down by accomplishing them all and certainly not insist they happen in a particular order. Listen to “Bucket List” on Soundcloud and follow Carina T at the links provided.
What:The Ocean Blue When: Thursday, 12.5, 7 p.m. Where: Soiled Dove Underground Why: Dream pop band and precursors of modern indie pop, The Ocean Blue, makes a stop in Denver in support of its new album Kings and Queens / Knaves and Thieves. Read our interview with singer/guitarist David Schelzel here.
What:Dog Basketball and Dry Ice album release When: Thursday, 12.5, 7 p.m. Where: Old Main Chapel CU 1600 Pleasant St. Boulder 80302 Why: Dual album release show from experimental pop band Dog Basketball and “psychedelic dream punk” band Dry Ice from Denver. A rarity to see any show at Old Main much less something this underground and experimental.
What:She Past Away w/Radio Scarlet and WitchHands When: Friday, 12.6, 7 p.m. Where: Marquis Theater Why: She Past Away is the Turkish post-punk band from Bursa that began in 2006 and making them early adopters of the current darkwave movement. Its synth and bass-driven songs have a different quality than its Western European and American counterparts while sharing that dark, introspective quality that is clearly descended from the likes of D.A.F., Depeche Mode and Clan of Xymox with an aesthetic that isn’t so far removed from its punk roots. The group’s third and latest album 2019 Disko Anksiyete saw a dual release on Fabrika Records and Metropolis Record and with a US tour currently under way it’s proof that its music transcends barriers of language.
What:Altas with Tiffany Christopher When: Friday, 12.6, 8 p.m. Where: Denver Open Media Why: Instrumental rock band Altas performs at Denver Open Media for a free show with Tiffany Christopher. Altas released the powerfully cinematic All I Ever Wanted Was in June 2019.
What:May Erlewine w/Dango Rose When: Saturday, 12.7, 7 p.m. Where: Tuft Theatre (Swallow Hill) Why: May Erlewine is a prolific blues folk artist from Big Rapids, Michigan with fifteen albums under her belt since 2003 including 2019’s In the Night. Erlewine cut her teeth as a live performer, according to a piece on MTV.com, while hitch hiking across North America and performing on the streets. For In the Night Erlewine picked herself up from the state of despair that hit many people in the wake of the Trump presidency and use her music as way to address 45’s ignorant and hateful and destructive remarks and behaviors with thoughtful commentary and observations on life and the American culture she and many of us know to be much more authentic than the spewage from a pampered, narcissistic child of privilege. But expect that music to be delivered with Erlewine’s usual warmth, nuance and strength with her dynamic and elegant voice.
Lettuce, photo Courtesy Casey Flanigan
What:Lettuce w/Antibalas and Chris Karns When: Saturday, 12.7, 7 p.m. Where: Fillmore Auditorium Why: Lettuce is an experimental funk band that has crossed over into the realm of jam bands and EDM even though its music has ranged far afield of that for years including its 2019 album Elevate. The group freely borrows from styles and sounds to craft its signature synthesis of funk, Afrobeat, jazz and electronic pop.
What:Anamanaguchi w/Default Genders and Nullsleep When: Sunday, 12.8, 7 p.m. Where: Bluebird Theater Why: Mix an anthemic J-pop band with an 8-bit glitchcore project and a progressive rock/jazz fusion band and task it to make dynamic and engrossing video game music with an uncommon sense of space, composition and emotional impact and you have Anamanaguchi. Particularly on its 2019 album [USA]. Seems gimmicky at first but the New York-based band doesn’t get stuck in the hyperactive songwriting that plagues a lot of “Nintendocore” acts or the dull focus on displays of technical prowess and knowledge of theory that is behind a lot of prog. Just well crafted, expansive pop songs that feel like endless possibilities and the positive ghosts of childhood reverie manifested in sound.
What:Alex Cameron w/Jackladder and Emily Panic When: Monday, 12.9, 7 p.m. Where: Bluebird Theater Why: Alex Cameron’s 2019 album Miami Memory is like a set of vignettes about people in crisis. But the take is one of compassion and understanding without trying to underplay or make light of the struggles. At a time when a lot of synth pop is generic, Cameron’s eccentric and psychologically insightful take on songwriting is strikingly different with a knack for changing up the vibe, texture and tone of his songs throughout an album. Just watch the video for “Far From Born Again” for a bit about Cameron’s keen understanding of the human condition.
The Ocean Blue performs tonight, December 5, at Soiled Dove Underground. Hailing from Hershey, Pennsylvania, The Ocean Blue didn’t blow up into a household name when it first came to the attention of an international audience by the late 80s but like many bands of the era this has perhaps accounted for some of its enduring longevity. Its sound was a lushly melodic rock music that was fairly sophisticated by the time the fledgling band released its earliest singles in 1986, the year it formed. The members of the group had known each other since middle school and had learned to play together in that organic way a group of friends who more or less grew up together do with a natural chemistry that makes the songs most other people get to hear seem effortless and polished.
Looking back to the 80s from the perspective of today it can be a bit of a mystery to suss out where bands might have played and honed their craft outside of garages and bedrooms unless it was a punk band. The Ocean Blue didn’t play out much other than a birthday party and a school dance until the band got a manager who advised the group to play out and work on the live show. “At that point, we started playing small clubs and colleges in the mid-Atlantic area,” says guitarist and lead vocalist David Schelzel.
The young band also connected with older musicians who were coming to be known in the pre-alternative rock underground music world who enjoyed some degree of success on college radio, which was a far more important factor in the success of a band beyond the local scene up through the 2000s. Most significantly for The Ocean Blue in this regard was dream pop legends The Innocence Mission.
“We met the Innocence Mission when we did a radio station benefit record, and I became fast friends with Don and Karen,” says Schelzel. “They were a bit older and way ahead of us musically, but they were super kind and became great encouragers and friends as we both started to get a wider audience and later on, record deals. They are kindred spirits for sure. Music in the late 80s locally was dominated by hair metal and blues bands, along with peppy pop stuff. We stood out, and thus didn’t get lost in a big city or scene. We found a bit of a circuit at clubs and colleges that supported original, local music, in nearby cities, like Lancaster, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.”
Undoubtedly The Innocence Mission helped to mentor The Ocean Blue in the ways of the music industry including dealing with labels and publishing. Fortunately the group had a team of people including a manager, a good lawyer and a music publisher by the time it signed, in 1988, a three record deal with respected independent label Sire for the release of its 1989 debut, self-titled full length. At the time of signing the band was still in high school but were savvy enough to know what label they might like to be a part of as Sire had released important records by Ramones, Talking Heads, Ministry, Pretenders, Wild Swans, The Cult and Echo & The Bunnymen. The latter is a group that the first The Ocean Blue album gets compared to the most.
“Sire was always where we wanted to be,” says Schelzel. “So many bands we loved were on that label. I realize now how extraordinary it was to get signed to Sire, let alone as teenagers and to a long term deal that allowed us to develop. As for how, we were lucky to have a good manager, that knew how to get our music to the right people, get people out to see our shows, and drum up a buzz. And of course the key to any signing is that there is music and something as a band that people are drawn to, and from a label’s perspective, that will do well.”
The band evolved rapidly and its subsequent albums for Sire, 1991’s Cerulean and 1993’s Beneath the Rhythm & Sound, broke from the obvious influences and aligned more with the kind of music that was on the ascent at the time and seemed to vibe well with some of the “Madchester” bands like The Charlatans UK, C86 groups like Felt and Sarah Records outfits like The Field Mice and The Sundays. That style of dream pop grounded in classic songwriting that has interestingly enough exerted a great deal of influence on contemporary bands trying to mine for ideas and sounds that haven’t been shoved down their throats by ubiquitous commercial popularity.
By the mid-90s, The Ocean Blue suffered from the usual corporate mergers of the day and the conservative trend of record labels after scrambling to capitalize on the alternative rock wave of the early part of the decade. But the band persevered and by 1999 self-released its then new album Davy Jones Locker. By the 2010s The Ocean Blue was back to being more active than it had been in many years (at least as far as anyone outside the band and its immediate associates might know) with its first new album in over a decade, Ultramarine, out in 2013 on Korda Records followed by Waterworks in 2014 and 2019’s strikingly gorgeous Kings and Queens / Knaves and Thieves. It’s bright tones and transporting melodies in high form, The Ocean Blue has never sounded better. Like certain bands from its original era the group has retained a good deal of its original artist as well as having an appeal to a younger audience for whom the group might have a bit of cult cachet, Schelzel also says the band didn’t know it had fans in South America until the past ten years.
“I think what has kept us together and doing what we do is our love for music and each other,” offers Schelzel regarding the band’s having stayed together. “I am always making music, and I love the guys I make music with. There were things that were much easier when we were on major labels and had a team of people handling management, promotion, production, touring, etc. But there has been something very refreshing about doing things as an independent artist. Things are way less complicated and the focus is almost entirely on making music. We try to maximize the aspects of what we do that are pleasant and rewarding, and minimize those things that are unpleasant and draining. It is the satisfaction of making music. Personally, I think it’s part of who I am and what I find meaningful and joyful in life. I don’t say that lightly. Life is hard and dark and full of a lot of pain. Music is a hugely important counterweight to all that.”
The title of the new album suggests political commentary but for The Ocean Blue the lyrics have always been more observations about human nature and personal reflection. “I see that line and that song, and maybe the whole record, as more of a musing on the human condition, particularly questions of existence, meaning, relationships with each other, the world, etc. and love,” says Schelzel. “I think the human problems of the modern world are pretty much the same as they were 100 years ago.”
“The Journey” finds Emiji exploring the concept of travel both physically, emotionally and psychologically through finely modulated dynamics and syncopation. Like several different sounds set to different ways of counting time and measuring distance, layered upon each other the way we are hit with new stimuli as we travel through a landscape or in the imagination. But Emiji leaves room for the space and thus a place for the mind to expand and process rather than simply take in a solid feed of information. In that way it’s a little like the mythological journey in which adventures and stimuli are undertaken and then made sense of in cultural context later on to convey to the tribe. Except that this journey is no epic adventure but rather a doorway into the calm places of the mind where peaceful moments can linger in your mind and go back to when life gets more complicated. Listen to “The Journey” on Soundcloud and follow Emiji at the links below.
Produced by Edwyn Collins, “Black Spring” by Seatbelts was inspired in part by Henry Miller’s classic work of the same name. It tackles the issue of great changes that hit us whether we’re ready or not. It challenges the often spurious notion that one must embrace all change because it’s inevitable. But is it always for the positive, must it be welcomed in all circumstances? Do some changes that seem beneficial at first eventually become agents of a negative upheaval? The tone of trepidation and skepticism that imbues the R&B inflected melody seems warranted given how the modern world in the West has meant shrinking prospects for dignified work that doesn’t bleed over into all hours of the day with you being on call much of the time at the behest of customers in a way that isn’t adequately compensated but what else is there for some of us? The dubious promises of a better life for all with Brexit and cutting taxes for the ultra wealthy and for some reason imagining ensuring the so-called donor class being allowed to hold on to greater shares of unearned largesse will translate to better economic conditions for all when history consistently shows the opposite is the backdrop to this introspective and gently scrappy song. Listen to “Black Spring” on Soundcloud and follow Seatbelts at the links provided.
Ariza’s use of space on “Find Me” gives the track a fascinating dynamic both sonic and emotional. It begins with the sounds almost sitting in the background before flowing effortlessly into the foreground as Miette Hope’s vocals come into vivid focus with the rest of the music. The production suggests a visual aesthetic to the composition and at times there is a layer of gossamer noise floating over Hope’s voice as it weaves through the track like a jazz ghost reminiscent of Beth Gibbons but less dramatic and alien. And yet Ariza places the voice in balance with meditative pace so that it sounds as though you’re hearing deep personal secrets normally spoken, if at all, alone to a bedroom mirror. The parts are woven together with glitches that manage to be smoother than usual while maintaining the flow. Although a different musical flavor in that way Ariza’s songwriting bears comparison to Broadcast and its perfect melding of ethereal downtempo, experimental electronic music and sound design. Listen to “Find Me” on Soundcloud.
The new Fleonite single “Shifting Time” seems so aptly named because its pacing has a more intuitive and organic flow and not a standard song arrangement. There is a sense of depth in the sound with a subtle bass line in the background accenting time, blissed out synth melodies, echoing piano, enigmatic vocals and washes of tone that feel like you’re walking down a tunnel toward some shining, promising fulfillment at the end but not completely out of reach. As such, there is a sense of hope and light that streams forth from the song. While it doesn’t provide that psychic payoff itself, it’s almost like a musical analog of that Buddhist thing about the journey being the goal as in the practice is the reward, the ongoing learning and striving toward something new to stimulate the heart and mind rather than get complacent having achieved and end point. The music reminds one of a casual stroll through a bright springtime garden wherein the natural beauty of the environment is itself good enough and nourishing to the spirit without the experience having to adhere to an artificial, preconceived notion of the good. Listen to “Shifting Time” on Soundcloud where you can further explore Fleonite’s work.
TaReef KnockOut is a hip-hop artist from Tallahassee, Florida and the track “Family Recipe” from his new album Local Rapper features a refreshingly honest, aspirational yet not boastful flow of words against a backdrop of spare percussion and an elegant, melancholic horn sample. TaReef talks about the depression that’s been coursing through his mind and some biographical details that bring some heaviness to the song but rather than weighing everything down, TaReef takes the death of his grandmother and the drama of scene politics and turns it into a drive to do something legitimate and respectable beyond the people who think they know you and want you to reach for the dull lower rung just like they do. In every local music world so many artists aspire to play for drink tickets and exposure and being “honored” by being included on play lists that merely mention them and a single song by name, playing some major opening slots and after two or three years being discarded by the local press and clubs in favor of the next biggest flavor. TaReef envisions more for himself as indicated by the line “ambition over riches, the world gon’ love my vision.” If you don’t have creative ambition as an artist you end up being a one trick pony with a short career and without vision that’s all you’ll ever be. TaReef by expressing these ideas in spite of so many things in life as a stumbling block tells us we owe it to ourselves to imagine better for ourselves in our own lives too and to look beyond our immediate context which can so often seem to be all there is since it’s all around us and can pen in our dreams if we let it. TaReef just benefited from a little faith from his family and at least some modest life goals upon which to build even more. Listen to “Family Recipe” on YouTube and follow TaReef KnocOut at the links provided.
The baseline for Flexagon’s single “Mont Crevelt 4am,” as for the rest of the tracks of his upcoming album Nocturnes East due out January 24, 2020, is found sounds and field recordings done in the early morning at the time and place cited in the song title. Sometimes the sounds inspire the music, sometimes the music comes first and one of the recordings suggests itself in the pairing. The result is an ambient track with a powerful sense of place, of environment and of a mood that while intentional isn’t purely manufactured. “Mont Crevelt 4am” is named for the location on the southern side of the entrance to St Sampson’s Harbour in Guernsey, UK, one of the Channel Islands near France. It suggests dappled moonlight on the water with the delicate bell tones and drifts of fog with the lingering synth over sound of water lapping against the shore. In the distance you can hear men talking discussing who knows what at that hour. But it all combines to create a kind of tone poem in your mind that takes you to that place, for most of us, a place we’ve never been, which is one of the great powers of music and art generally. Listen to “Mont Crevelt 4am” on Soundcloud and follow Flexagon at the links provided.
Fun Balloon Animals (The Narrator), photo courtesy the artists
Fun Balloon Animals took inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for the themes of its self-titled album (released on Halloween 2019, appropriately enough). The single “The Death of William” from about the middle of the album sounds like something from a near future home invasion movie scored by Sisters of Mercy minus the melodramatic vocals. Pounding drums like lightning while blossoming synth figures cast a dreamlike yet menacing quality upon the track. Musically it also sounds like the part of the book when the creature is hanging about and observing human behavior including the framing of Justine Moritz for the murder of Victor Von Frankenstein’s brother William leading up to asking his creator to craft a mate for him so that he needn’t feel all alone in the world. All the while Victor assumes the creature, which does later threaten to kill everyone he cares about if Frankenstein doesn’t create that mate, is responsible for his misfortunes. The air of heightened reality and impending tragedy courses through the song lending it multiple interpretations and applications in service of a narrative work. The record is a concept album and works well as a whole but “The Death of William” stands on its own with its cinematic aesthetic reminiscent also of Eurhythmics’ darkly moody score for 1984. Listen to the song on Soundcloud and follow Fun Balloon Animals at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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