On “In Between,” Soren Bryce as tummyache really dives deep into what it feels like to be at the bottom end of your life and feeling helpless and lacking in the willpower to make it better and to help your friends. So you have to start with feeling better and hope that’s a rung on the ladder to better days. The swirl of guitar sparkling and humming to life is like the static and fog of emotions that are wrapped around you and they fade out for moments of clarity embodied by Bryce’s vivid vocals in which she confesses to being in a place of weakness and remorseful for having behaved badly and any acting out though unable to help herself at the time. The feeling of anxiety is so well articulated in the sense of being crushed and trapped by that feeling and not having control but yearning to transcend it because you have known a time in your life when it didn’t seem like your psyche was being smothered and wracked by an internal self-torturer. Bryce conveys perfectly how when suffering through those periods you have to snatch moments of feeling okay or comforted by small things because simply overcoming anxiety long term seems insurmountable and the work to get there overwhelming. It’s a song for soothing and exorcising those feelings with a wash of beautifully melancholic atmospheres and Bryce’s ability to demonstrate she’s been there and understands the crippling angst and emotional paralysis well.
Author: simianthinker
Editor, primary content provider for this blog. Former contributor to Westword and The Onion.
The Maximalist Approach to Minimal Techno on Israel Kimchi’s “Live DJ FilmSet #1” Gives it Riveting Diversity and Depth
Israel Kimchi meticulously crafts a short set on the video for “Live DJ FilmSet #1.” Bringing in echoing tones, pulsing electronic bass, a driving cadre of percussion (electronic and acoustic—much of which he performs live) brought to bear creatively throughout and a progressive house compositional sensibility that centers the sounds and keeps a focus even as seemingly endless layers of sound are brought in without crowding the sonic field as Kimchi expertly adds and removes layers with a seamless precision. He brings in elements of the exotic in the percussion and samples and his builds dropping off into space are masterful rather than predictable. This track may be “Minimal Techno House” but Kimchi’s approach is maximalist in the sound palette and judiciously employed throughout the song’s more than sixteen minutes in a way that holds your attention with enough both variety and consistency. The pace is consistent but the use of dynamics in conjunction with bringing in sounds and themes gives the song a wonderfully colorful quality beginning to end. Including in the last third of the song where there’s a great use of samples of “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads. Watch the video on YouTube and follow Israel Kimchi at the links provided.
israelkimchi.com
soundcloud.com/israelkimchi
youtube.com/IsraelkimchiOfficial
facebook.com/IsraelKimchiOfficial
instagram.com/israelkimchi
Richard Swingle Brings Fire Down on Local Greed and Corruption on the Passionate “Gravy Train”
Richard Swingle’s “Gravy Train” single from his new EP Older Bones starts off sounding like a typical Americana blues track with the shuffling percussion and borderline bluegrass if not for the slide guitar putting some atmospheric touches at the edges. As the song progresses the vocals become more intense and the guitar work and rhythm unfurl in bursts of emotion. The raw quality of the song at that point is reminiscent of Sixteen Horsepower and the way that band held the fire in check until it was time to let it out. Thematically the song is a pointed critique of greed and the assumption of dignity and respect one has when moneyed even when that wealth is at the expense of those that helped create it. Swingle punctures that bubble with some choice rhetoric delivered with passion. Listen to the song on Soundcloud and follow Swingle at the links below.
open.spotify.com/artist/3Qy8eg9VXUgZ9x8T58ZbvD
richardswingle.bandcamp.com
Drug Hunt Blow the Lid Off the Foundations of Modern Conformity With “The Tower”
“The Tower” by Drug Hunt fools you a little with the warping grind of the opening stretch of music and when the vocals come in like they might in a Kyuss or Sleep song it evolves during the course of its nearly six and a half minutes into raga-inflected art rock passages circa the weirder ends of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, fiery yet fluid runs and majestic, crushing, dark blues. The title of the song is interesting given the lyrics outline a situation happening in the world today when the vested authority structure is crumbling in America and beyond and many people cling to what they know rather than embrace change and thinking for themselves outside their usual cultural and political affiliations. Of course in America this has been helped along by a figure whose policies boost and support the power of his own oligarchic class and the establishment generally but whose cognitive ability is so lacking he is destroying the foundations at the same time. The Tower in the Tarot is a card signifying both the destruction of the established power structures and authority, turning the existing order upside-down, it represents revolution and instant enlightenment and illumination in the eruption of the top of the tower. The card correlates to the astrological sign Sagittarius and thus a Bill Hicks connection that would suit the psychedelic sound here as well. The song itself escalates to that moment and brings the symbolic flame out to a satisfying denouement. Listen to “The Tower” on Soundcloud and follow Drug Hunt and their experimental and conceptual psychedelia at the links below.
Possimiste Bridges the Quantum Gap to Sing a Love Ode to Her Alternate Self on “Unseeable”
“Unseeable” by Possimiste strikes one as a beautiful synthesis of The Space Lady and Kate Bush. It’s pop music but one from some alien civilization that isn’t inundated with bad examples of how it should sound. The glockenspiel, twinkling synth swirls and Possimiste’s unique vocals straight out of the realm of Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter. In its lyrics it’s like an ode to a twin from another quantum reality connected by a kind of magic mirror or psychological technology that bridges the cosmic chasm. Somehow Possimiste combines tones wistful and bittersweet in equal measure making for an enchanting listen that promises more strangeness ahead for this Estonian songwriter. Listen on Soundcloud and follow Possimiste at the links below.
possimiste.com
soundcloud.com/possimiste
instagram.com/possimiste
The Video for Ros Gilman’s “Fresh Air” is a Dynamic Graphical Representation of the Meeting of Mathematics and Imagination
Ros Gilman’s song “Fresh Air” unfolds and expands like the images in the music video. Simple piano melody joined by sampled vocals and layers of percussion. Later joined by horns and all represented mathematically by a dynamic EQ meter on screen throughout the song whether in mirrored top and bottom, down the middle, in various arcs like geographical features in the musical world presented. Playful bell tones are reminiscent of The Art of Noise though the track is well within the realm of a deep house aesthetic informed by a free jazz sensibility and a flowing free association employment of sounds to suit each moment while remaining thematically coherent. Fans of Future Sound of London and IDM of that ilk will find much to like here as organic sounds are mixed in so well with the electronic composition and sound design. Watch the video and follow Ros Gilman at the links below.
rosgilman.com
open.spotify.com/artist/4encGefmC48XGvJod2eBr2
youtube.com/rosgilman
twitter.com/rosgilman
facebook.com/rosgilman
instagram.com/rosgilman
Broughton’s Aching “R.I.P. Joyce” is the Heartbreaking Tribute to Struggling With the Passing of a Loved One
Somber echoing piano, minor chord progression synth drones and a sampling of rain serve as the evocative backdrop of Broughton’s “R.I.P. Joyce.” It’s about the artist’s struggle with the passing of his grandmother due to cancer. The ache in his voice as he spits bars like graffiti poetry on the walls of his psyche and tries to make sense of the loss of a woman in his life who was such an important figure and presence who shaped who he is, who supported him and helped him to see things in his life more clearly. Presumably she encouraged his creative endeavors and his development as a human being yet never got to see him perform his own music in front of an audience. Broughton consoles himself, to the extent possible, with the hope that his Nan looking down on him from the afterlife with a sense of pride. It’s a powerful composition that at close to four minutes feels like more like half that because Broughton conveys so well that moment of sorrow that may never go away but also always means your poignant appreciation for your loved one lost never goes away as well. Listen on Spotify and follow Broughton at the links below.
soundcloud.com/nqh-x-dbds
open.spotify.com/artist/1ZgfHlEOqu1zHd3PoK14aa
youtube.com/channel/UCFJKu3mvFZ3Pz1XeRXK2u0w
twitter.com/BroughtonNQH
instagram.com/broughtonnqh
Legendary Acid House DJ or Not, Klaus Blatter’s “(I Find Myself Surrounded By) The Lunatics of Acid House” Sounds Like a New Classic of the Genre
The mystique, perhaps manufactured, behind Klaus Blatter is only enhanced by the unusual and dryly humorous and surreal single video for “(I Find Myself Surrounded By) The Lunatics of Acid House.” The story goes that Blatter is an influential figure in the world of Acid House (which started in Chicago, of course, and developed further in the UK) but whose name doesn’t appear in histories of or articles on the genre. That he’s allegedly from Dortmund, Germany may go some way to explain his not being included in the official record. But whatever his exact origins or place in the family tree of Acid House, Blatter’s track is both an eccentric celebration of and documentation of the spirit of an era that changed the course of electronic music forever as well as a fine example of the art form. Blatter reportedly performed at the most recent Glastonbury Festival so there may be something to his story so follow Blatter on his Twitter page as his story further unfolds.
“No Music No Peace” by Shinji Kaneko is a Song About the Barrier Transcending Power of Music
Shinji Kaneko’s lyric video for “No Music No Peace” works so well in its simple charm and explicit spelling out of its message of how music connects and bonds people. Kaneko also talks about how at the root of human psychology and well-being and international understanding is that bond of music that can transcend the usual barriers of language, politics and culture. Kaneko is based in Japan but the lyrics are in English and not the awkward variety one sees on t-shirts in markets in the Ginza. Rather, the kind of language that may seem quaint to some but which speaks to universal truths in a relatable way that requires no knowledge of hip references or familiarity with the rich American and Japanese folk traditions to grasp. It’s simply a refreshingly earnest and catchy pop song aimed at bringing people together through a shared appreciation for music. Watch the video below and follow Kaneko at the links provided.
soundcloud.com/shinjikmusic
open.spotify.com/artist/6I67i3PFoodl0xVF6YMd3n
youtube.com/shinjikanekomusic
twitter.com/shinjikmusic
facebook.com/shinjikmusic
instagram.com/shinjikmusic
Hayden Everett’s Debut Single “Color” is a Song About Freeing Yourself of Harmful Habits of the Mind
Hayden Everett’s debut single “Color” ebbs and flows with clouds of melody that wrap themselves around his brightly resonant vocals. He sings about the ephemeral rewards he thought he was supposed to chase only to find attaining them not as fulfilling as he had once thought. And that often when we reach a place we think we need to be or reach a goal that seemed so important it’s never enough and the bar is raised even higher. It’s a song about the folly of that rat race and letting go of the habit of the chase without considering if any of it’s what you really want out of life. Everett recognizes the difficulty of breaking those habits because they are so ingrained in us from a young age and this song is written in compassion for the struggle of freeing oneself of psychologically harmful patterns. Listen on Soundcloud and follow Everett’s future musical endeavors at his website below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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