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Bad Flamingo’s Darkly Dreamy “The Devil Knows” is a Gritty and Shimmery Murder Ballad of a Love Gone Wrong

Bad Flamingo, photo courtesy the artists

Bad Flamingo waxes slightly more folk on “The Devil Knows” with a touch of banjo and/or mandolin more prominently in the mix intermingling seamlessly with guitar. The kind of percussion established sounds like the kind of thing a performer will effect by knocking on their guitar and a tambourine on a foot. But there are some nice touches of production with a dramatic, swelling drone here and there and in the background as well as electric guitar shimmer and buzz. The themes are a new spin on a tale of personal darkness and struggling with self-redemption and the acceptance and even romanticizing of one’s lurid past and anti-social impulses. With this song we hear hints of actual skullduggery rather than merely misdeeds in the pursuit of fun or at the fantasy of violating the sixth commandment. Bad Flamingo’s songwriting and musicianship with the tactile quality of fretting the guitar lends the whole song a grounded quality so that it’s cinematic, dreamlike mood has an intimacy and immediacy that makes its story not sound so sinister. Listen to “The Devil Knows” on Spotify and follow Bad Flamingo at the links below.

badflamingomusic.com

Bad Flamingo on Facebook

Bad Flamingo on Instagram

Bad Flamingo on YouTube

Running Man Gives Voice to Modern Existential Weariness and Anxiety in the Caustic Proto-punk Flavor of “One Wrong Move”

Current Dead Kennedys singer Skip Greer has a new project called Running Man and its single “One Wrong Move” sounds like that desperate and caustic early punk era of the mid-to-late 70s but with a Midwest vibe. The edgy guitar and melody immediately resonates with Dead Boys’ 1977 classic “Sonic Reducer.” But this song is about the current era of society and civilization on edge and seemingly about trying to hold it together with so much seemingly at stake in one’s personal life and as a species and the lines “One wrong move and it’s game over” and “It’s been going on far too long” sum up the unfortunate combination of existential weariness and anxiety that permeates the world today. Listen to “One Wrong Move” on Spotify and follow Running Man at the links below. The band’s self-titled debut released November 15, 2024 on vinyl including limited edition pink, CD, streaming and for digital download.

Running Man on Instagram

Running Man on YouTube

Icarus Phoenix’s Indiepop Single “Homeostasis” is Like an Epigram About Maintaining a Balanced Psychological Orientation

Icarus Phoenix, photo courtesy the artists

“Homeostasis” by Icarus Phoenix sounds like a finely crafted indiepop song in a classic mode with some nice changes and lilting flute and chime to accent the paces. In its two minutes seven seconds the song is incredibly economical in its songwriting in creating an uplifting mood with lyrics that are like a Zen epigram reflecting the title but relating it to modern life and how the demands of modern life can tilt you off balance from maintaining an internal and healthy mental balance. The opening line “I don’t trust happiness it always fades. A way to exacerbate nostalgia parading” is truly poetic in expressing how our expectations as we’ve been conditioned by society and culture can take us out of the moment and to not live in it. The rest of the song builds upon this concept of eschewing desires and staying focused on what’s important like the creation of art because it comes from within rather than an imposed and conditioned desire that can never be fully satisfied. Maybe it’s a commentary on capitalist culture and its push to turn us into constant consumers part of a paradigm of consumption and expansion of control with no purpose but to perpetuate the same cycle like a cancer. The song seems to suggest that simply writing a solid pop song or other creative work is satisfying on its own without it needing to serve a drive to overpower anything because it has its inherent appeal and need not have a purely utilitarian value in an economic model. Whatever the song is aimed at saying it is perfectly enjoyable as an expertly executed pop song about more than just the usual tropes and those aren’t common enough. Listen to “Homeostasis” on Spotify and follow Icarus Phoenix at the links below.

Icarus Phoenix on Instagram

Telos Tapes on Bandcamp

Icarus Phoenix on YouTube

Joona Vainionkulma’s Downtempo Ambient Song “Moon Garden” is a Cinematic Swim Through Conflicted Feelings to a Satisfying Resolution

The clarity of tone that Joona Vainionkulma employs in the beginning of “Moon Garden” makes the most of a bubbling minimalist synth tone by suggesting something more exciting over the horizon. When the percussion kicks in and the strains of piano the composition takes on a cinematic aspect like something from a more hopeful Alex Garland film. It transitions from minimal synth to a lush orchestral sound that recalls the soundtrack work of both Giorgio Moroder and John Murphy for the pure evocative impact of the way the music swells and switches to a stark spaciousness on a dime without it seeming sudden. Like swimming in fast moving waters into a those more tranquil for precious moments then back into the stream. The song is at once melancholic and hopeful and leaves you with a sense of resolution. Listen to “Moon Garden” on YouTube and follow Joona Vainionkulma on Spotify.

“Carry On” Finds UK Dream Pop Duo CATBEAR in a More Darkwave Mode Reflecting on the Need to Sustain Ourselves Through Challenging Times

“Carry On” finds UK-based dream pop band CATBEAR in a more darkwave mode. The brooding bass line and icy synth establish a more somber mood and the vocals this time seem even more introspective. The lyrics seem to catalog all the things we’ve done to struggle through times and situations in life and in the world with no seeming end to a need to restart, retool, re-strategize, re-imagine ourselves, our situations and our ability to keep going on. Thus the title of the song. Sometimes it feels like you can only tell yourself that sort of thing to keep from falling completely into despair when challenges and setbacks just keep falling into your path and our collective journey as a species. But the glimmer of melody that flashes into the song hints at moments when something a little more than the usual breaks through what could be a gloomy present and the strong rhythms of the song like a fortifying internal momentum to hang onto. Listen to “Carry On” on Spotify and follow CATBEAR at the links below.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E41: In These Trees

In These Trees (Binnie Klein), photo courtesy the artist

The Quiver is the debut album of In These Trees & Tartie. A collaborative effort between two women who live in nearly opposite ends of the world (Hamden, Connecticut, USA and Melbourne, Australia respectively) the album is the product of a chance encounter between Binnie Klein and Tartie when the former chose the latter’s song “Winter’s Girl” to play on her WPKN radio show from the bevy of submissions she received each week. Something about the song struck Klein, its passion and authenticity, and Klein asked Tartie about putting a melody to one of her poems. Klein had been writing poetry for years and had been told they might make good song lyrics and something seemed to make sense resulting in exchanging ideas and Tartie lending her vocals to the project with contributions from Jeff Pevar, John Andrews and Jerry Marotta with production by David Baron. The Quiver, which released March 19, 2024 for digital download and streaming, became available on CD in September has a spacious, orchestral quality like one of those great late 80s and early 90s college radio artists like Kate Bush, 10,000 Maniacs and Tori Amos with more than a little musical sophistication and grace but lacking none of the vibrant emotional resonance.

Listen to our interview with Binnie Klein on Bandcamp and follow In These Trees at the links below.

inthesetrees.com

In These Trees on Instagram

Nappy Nina’s Cosmic Downtempop Hip-Hop Single “Groundhog Day” is a an Urgent Yet Chill Song About Not Getting Lost in Everyday Static

The restless and smooth percussion on “Groundhog Day” alongside the incandescent keyboard tones with Nappy Nina’s steady flow of lyrics creates a uniquely engaging dynamic. It sounds both soothing and chill but intense and energetic. It’s a dreamlike stream-of-conscious arrangement that is matched by the music video wherein we see the rapper working at her music playing piano with images of dragons and an apartment, distant darkened mountains like fantasy and reality mixing together befitting the lyrics. Later we see Nappy Nina flying through the air in a nimbus of fire and in a convertible driving down a cosmic freeway after appearing in a blaze of light like something out of Repo Man and all the while she seems to be taking it all in stride hinting that even though life can seem like we’re repeating experiences in our lives like the film Groundhog Day we can maintain our inherent sense of self and because of that through it and maybe, just maybe, take some moments to do what we really want to do and not get lost in the hustle and rush of everyday static. Watch the video for “Groundhog Day” on YouTube and follow Nappy Nina at the links below. Her new album Nothing Is My Favorite Thing dropped October 23, 2024.

Nappy Nina on Instagram

Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E40: Pulsars

Pulsars is a band from Chicago that released one album, the 1997 self-titled LP, but which has a bit of a cult following. Though the band was around from 1994-2000 with a 2009 reunion and despite playing with some of the more well known alternative bands of its era Pulsars never entered the mainstream. But its embrace of New Wave synth sounds and power pop melodies was slightly ahead of the curve of a similar fusion of early synth pop and experimental electronic music with other popular music forms that informed the music of the likes of The Faint, !!! and later MGMT. chillwave and darkwave. But Pulsars’ music is a little grittier and in moments sounds like it has more sonically in common with The Jesus and Mary Chain and Dinosaur Jr at their most poppy and upbeat. In 2024 the group’s record was released for digital download, streaming, compact disc and vinyl.

Listen to our interview with Dave Trumfio of Pulsars on Bandcamp and follow Pulsars at the links below. Trumfio some may know for the band but many more may be familiar with his production work with Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Grandaddy and American Music Club among many others at his Kingsize Soundlabs also linked below.

thepulsars.com

kingsizesoundlabs.com

Street Trash (2024) to Premiere at Sie Film Center on November 30, 2024

The 2024 re-imagining of 1987 gonzo cult film classic Street Trash has its Denver screen premiere at Sie Film Center on November 30 at 7pm. The new version directed by Ryan Kruger (Fried Barry) was shot in Cape Town, South Africa in 35mm techniscope. The horror comedy reboot is set in the near dystopian future where, similar to the original, a group of vagrants work to stop the government, rather than a ruthless liquor store owner, from liquidating the homeless. It is a humorous, gory and transgressive commentary on the disparity between the rich and the poor and the international issue of houselessness. The film was produced in collaboration with Vinegar Syndrome Pictures by Not The Funeral Home, the people behind the Shudder series The Last Drive In with Joe Bob Briggs who are part of the revival of the horror hosting culture. The 2024 Street Trash reboot will also be streaming starting November 19 (Screambox, Amazon, Apple etc.). For tickets to the premiere, presented by Scream Screen and hosted by Theresa Mercado, please visit the Sie Film Center website here.

Reindeer Flotilla’s “Today” Lends a Lushly Cinematic Quality to Its Retro Art Pop Flavor

Reindeer Flotilla’s new album Radio Silence LP will be out in early 2025 but for now you can see the video for “Today” and it’s vintage nature documentary visuals and lush guitar and synth interplay. Musically it’s reminiscent of mid-to-late 80s Talk Talk before that band went fully into pioneering post-rock. The processed guitar sound has that flare and edge favored inf that era and the vocals landing somewhere between soulful New Wave and a jazz fusion sensibility. The song has a cinematic quality that recalls the aesthetics of a previous decade when art rock bands were on mainstream radio and Michael Mann and Jonathan Demme films featured cutting edge left field rock. And yet there’s an immediacy to the energy of the songwriting and production that grounds it in the present befitting the title. Watch the video for “Today” on YouTube and follow Reindeer Flotilla at the links below.