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How To Dress Well Returns With the Art Pop Single “New Confusion” and Its Themes of the Rebirth of the Capacity to Love Authentically

How To Dress Well, photo courtesy the artist

It’s been five years since How To Dress Well has released new music when then his new record was The Anteroom. But ahead of the May 10, 2024 release of the new album I Am Toward on Sargent House, Tom Krell aka How To Dress Well offers the single “New Confusion.” It has the hallmarks of what has made the project so fascinating and compelling with highly detailed, almost maximalist synth compositions in a pop format, otherworldly yet expressive and intimate vocals and lyrics that take pop song conceits and takes them in a thoughtful directions. The song unfolds in mini-chapters with shifting dynamics that build organically with tonal shimmers and ethereal melodies as Krell tells the story of someone who has been so hurt in love that he feels like it’s time to disconnect from the feeling entirely and burying the impulse to love where it manifests as realizations that “Hell is where no one has anything in common with anyone else” and as the song of “A small wet bird from deep inside my shoe.” As the song progresses our narrator recognizes this bird as the dormant capacity to love to which he never had to say goodbye. But Krell doesn’t offer an easy and sunny return to normal human functioning and by the end of the song the pain needs to be acknowledged and processed before the bird as the symbol of love can fully take flight. Listen to “New Confusion” on Spotify and follow How To Dress Well at the links provided.

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Susan James Coaxes Us Into Embracing Our Own Transformative Powers on the Psychedelic Space Folk Single “Time Is Now”

Susan James infuses the title track of her forthcoming album Time Is Now with some paradoxically practical idealism with a vision for a better human society. She envisions a time when hate and fear are conquered and our ability to work to undo some of the civilizational developments that threaten all life on the planet much less our ability to actualize as individuals. But for James this future vision can begin now and thus the title of the song because the future is always arriving and waiting for it to happen seems like some kind of collective negative hypnosis of stasis we’re suffering under. The song has a brisk pace but a gentle touch with its blend of psychedelic folk, Bossa Nova tonal flavors and space rock. No scolding or dire predictions, James coaxes us to realize our own power in this moment. Watch the video for “Time Is Now” on YouTube and follow Susan James at the links below.

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Walter The Producer’s “PAMPLEMOUSSE” is a Soulful Power Pop Ballad About Un-Recipricated Infatuation and Moving On

Walter The Producer, photo courtesy the artist

Walter The Producer’s “PAMPLEMOUSSE” sounds like an a fusion of soul and fuzzy power pop and in the highly entertaining music video (directed by Dylan Budnieski) the melodrama of its lyrics manifest in humorously self-aware fashion. The song is about a crush that doesn’t pan out the way our narrator would like, as is usually the case, but the song gives those fragile and tender feelings the share of dignity they deserve because most people have felt a wave of attraction to someone who may not share those sentiments to the same degree or not at all and it doesn’t have to be in a creepy way or head in a negative direction. You get disappointed and you move on and the song with its almost orchestral arrangements succinctly captures that moment as well. Walter has honed in on something in this short song that a lot of people could learn from and that’s that disappointment doesn’t have to be catastrophized and you can still feel the feels and be comfortable in knowing that genuinely having them doesn’t mean they were worthless even if they’re reciprocated. Watch the video for “PAMPLEMOUSSE” on YouTube and follow Walter The Producer at the links below. Look for the album PLEASE HELP ME I’M SCARED due out later in 2024.

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Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E17: Orange Peel Moses

Orange Peel Moses has been a figure in the Colorado music scene going back over a decade. He first came to prominence in the 2000s for his collaborations with production duo Friends in Stereo garnering critical and popular acclaim for a string of singles that bridged a gap between pop, indie rock and electronic dance music. Around that same time the Orange Peel Moses also entered into a long career as a singing telegram artist whose performances have appeared on television. He is also a stilt performer who has been onstage with LMFAO and Will.i.am at Ultra Music Festival in Miami as well as the Electric Daisy Carnival. He has also done impersonations of various characters like Hunter S. Thompson, The Grinch, Jack Skellington and The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. You might not be able to track down a conventional physical release of any Orange Peel Moses music because he’s mainly been focused on occasional singles as original releases including his new song “Under the Eclipse.” The song was written by OPM who also performs lead vocals but the rest of the music was brought to life by collaborators like engineer, producer and musician El Javi, Erik Deutsch on piano (Leftover Salmon, The Black Crowes, Dixie Chicks etc.), percussionist Zay Alejandro Rios and backing vocals by Lex Alvis. All mixed and mastered by Andy McEwen at Crucible Recording in Eldorado Springs, Colorado. The song is about a man who is looking for a partner with whom to make a “magical eclipse baby with him during a total solar eclipse.” In the lushly colorful music video we see live musical performances tof OPM test-driving the song in front of audiences mixed with frolicking in clubs and scenes of the narrator of the story living out his dream. Musically it’s a charming and humorous blend of piano driven, folk-inflected indie rock and gentle psychedelia reminiscent of early 70s Cat Stevens. In the wake of the release of the single Orange Peel Moses will perform during the Texas Eclipse event at Reveille Park Range Friday April 5, 2024 through Tuesday, April, 9, 2024 in the path of totality. Following that on April 19 at Archipelago Clubs for “Singaversary: 20 Years of Singing Grams” to mark a major anniversary of his career.

Listen to our interview with Orange Peel Moses on Bandcamp, watch the music video for “Under the Eclipse” below and follow the artist at the links provided.

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Razor Braids Honor and Calm the Parade of Thoughts That Course Through Your Head When You’re Trying to Be Present on “It Goes Quiet”

Razor Braids, photo courtesy the artists

There is a deep sense of nearly paralyzing self-awareness in Razor Braids’ single “It Goes Quiet.” But the song with its themes of learning to be present in relationships rides that fine line between overthinking and trying to be sensitive to the boundaries and concerns of one’s partner and not letting those thoughts overwhelm you. The distorted guitar lines interweave with those more moody, introspective and atmospheric in moments reflecting the various impulses of mind that one navigates in moments of peak vulnerability that borders on insecurity and veering off letting that state guide one’s feelings away from dissociating in reaction to the flood of thoughts and emotional colorings that can come into your heart and head when you’re trying to be mindful and not mess up something special. The line “I feel like I am somebody else” and the bit about “the weight of words unsaid” speak to that tension eloquently. And the final line of the song “I wanna be your ocean, swim in me, stay the night” articulates a desire for intimacy and deep connection that can seem intense though real. It’s a short song imbued with great psychological nuance that gives comfort in the acknowledgment of the multiplicity of thoughts that can pull one away from being in the moment. Listen to “It Goes Quiet” on Spotify and follow Razor Braids at the links below.

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Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E16: Dust City Opera

Dust City Opera, photo courtesy the artists

Dust City Opera is a rock band from Albuquerque, New Mexico whose sound interweaves orchestral Americana, dark psychedelia and art pop into cinematic and literary songs filled with evocative tales of “sadness, madness and mayhem.” But within the group’s rich body of work there is a surreal sense of humor and humanity that reveals an empathy for the human condition and the characters and situations depicted in which listeners can identify aspects of their own experiences navigating our often physically and emotionally perilous world. Since it’s 2018 foundation, pick any of Dust City Opera’s albums from its 2019 debut album Heaven to 2022’s horror and science fiction themed Alien Summer record to the 2024 EP Cold Hands (released March 8 via Rexius Records) and you’ll hear imaginatively eclectic arrangements and vivid narratives from a band that seems fully realized even as it’s still relatively early in its career. There is a theatrical sensibility to the music that translates to the band’s live performances that fans of the likes of DeVotchKa and Beirut will appreciate.

Listen to our interview with Dust City Opera on Bandcamp and follow Dust City Opera at the links below. Dust City Opera is now on tour starting April 4, 2024 throughout Colorado and the midwest including a stop in Denver at Swallow Hill on Saturday, April 6 with Avourneen, doors 7pm, show 8pm. THIS SHOW HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 7, 2024.

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Ringo Deathstarr’s Remix of Lauren Lakis’ “Terror Tears” Transforms the Introspective Dream Pop Original Into a Beautiful, Industrial Darkwave Nightmare

Lauren Lakis, photo courtesy the artists

Ringo Deathstarr took Lauren Lakis’ “Terror Tears” and transformed the spacious, dream pop gorgeousness into a distorted and urgent borderline industrial song. Where previously the music felt introspective and tranquil, this version sounds like it was inspired by the title to engage in some deconstuction and in the last third of the song it is almost pure rhythm and rapidly echoing guitar stripped of all but the barest of melodies and the vocals like a ghost haunting an old television that bursts forth into vivid focus in the last moments of the song. It is nearly unrecognizable from the original and a remix that truly explores the possibilities of the songwriting. Listen to Lauren Lakis’ “Terror Tears (Ringo Deathstarr Mix)” on Spotify and follow Lauren Lakis at the links provided.

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Mikahl Anthony’s “Space Blue/Deep Ain’t It” is a Poignantly Poetic Meditation on World Weariness and Resilience Set to Cosmic Jazz, Blues and Psychedelic Soul

Mikahl Anthony, photo courtesy the artist

The applause the open Mikahl Anthony’s “Space Blue” give the song the air of an early 70s psychedelic soul/late night jazz lounge feel. Runs of keyboards burst and drift off into the cosmos and the vocals opine about the state of the world and the state of a relationship and the way those developments intersect. The track is two minutes seven seconds but Anthony seems to layer so many musical and thematic ideas into that small space with deft nods simultaneously to Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock and Dilla. It has a deeply introspective mood yet one that seems yearning for meaning and connection and a weariness with the way the world and life often are but aware that often one can’t make changes as quickly and as thoroughly as one would prefer. And thus the final line of the song “I sing the same old blues song” has a playfulness and resonance that hits like a complex truth expressed with a poetic poignant succinctness. Listen to “Space Blue” on Spotify.

M Wagner’s “Release Yrself” is a Joyous Catharsis Swimming in Urgent Grainy Melodies and Tranquil Tones

The distorted stream of sounds in M Wagner’s “Release Yrself” sounds like you’re hearing a joyous outburst of melodic tones through the filter of a blizzard. One imagines someone walking from a secluded manor up a path to the site where all the fun is happening having come late to the proceedings and missing the shuttle or the procession through a fog and snow shower but knowing you want to be there. And in the last just over a minute of the song the haze clears and crystalline bell tones ring out in the near distance signaling your arrival and freedom from the challenges and resistance encountered to and of the urgency of the effort. And in the end of the song the grainy effect on the tones returns like a reminder of how the journey had its own sense of significance and catharsis. The song as a whole is like a futuristic techno club hit. Listen to “Release Yrself” on Spotify and follow M Wagner at the links below. The artist’s new album We Could Stay releases on May 17, 2024.

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Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes Burn Through a Sense of Social Stagnation in the Urgency of Indie Pop Single “EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING”

Daniel Ellsworth, photo courtesy the artist

“EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING” by Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes surges forth from the beginning of the song with a sustained sense of joyful urgency. Ellsworth’s rich falsetto soars over and through the song and seems to both guide and carried on by the steady beat and ethereal synths like something out of a daydream, guitar providing both textured melody and arcs of bright tonality. It seems to be a song about a sense of how things and places can be essentially the same or feel familiar but always changing in ways that can seem overwhelming but also not fast enough in many ways. It’s about a sense of comfort with the familiar but also a desire for the world around you to progress at a pace that that matches an expectation that nothing can fully stay stagnant because the nature of existence is change. The song bridges synth pop, electro soul and indie rock in a way that feels fortifying and transporting at once. The group’s new album HIGH LIFE released February 16, 2024. Listen to “EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING” on Spotify and follow Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes and the songwriter’s other projects at the links provided.

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