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Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E01: Church Fire

Church Fire, photo by Tom Murphy, concept by Church Fire

Church Fire is a trio from Denver, Colorado that formed around 2010. It’s sound is “…equal parts industrial synth pop, hyperkinetic dance punk and dreamlike ambient 8-bit EDM doom,” or so this author wrote some time back. The project began as a duo of Shannon Webber and David Samuelson originally calling itself Sew Buttons on Ice Cream and performing shows in the local underground and DIY circuit. Samuelson had been a member of art rock bands Bangtel and Dinner With Cannibals and Webber in political noise punk trio Dangerous Nonsense (which she would continue to front until the mid-2010s). The latter and Samuelson’s previous bands were welcomed by the local, weirdo art rock scene of groups with a penchant for the mutant sounds of artists like Mr. Bungle, John Zorn, Chrome and Frank Zappa that once had a loose affiliation as the Denver Art Rock Collective before that fizzled out in the early 2010s.

In 2012 Church Fire dispensed with its odd assortments of instrumentation and focused on the more electronic songwriting with Webber’s commanding and emotionally electrifying vocals and stage presence and changed its performance moniker to its current form. The name seeming to reflect the band’s anti-authoritarian spirit and its always creative and earnest anti-patriarchal critique. Its developing sound then was more in line with what was going on in the nascent darkwave scene of which Church Fire was not a part and which didn’t have a strong showing in Denver. So the band garnered its own following in Denver aside from what one might presume to be its scene with always strikingly powerful live shows and its undeniably compelling dance beats, entrancing and transporting melodies and rare fusion of joy and righteous anger. All qualities that have remained an aspect of the band’s sound and performance style even as it has evolved.

Around the time Church Fire took on its then new name it shared bills with other acts emerging in new forms and under new names like The Milk Blossoms who had once been called Architect (in which Samuelson plays bass) and Mirror Fears, the solo project of Kate Warner, formerly of dream-pop/indie rock band Talk All Night. Webber and Samuelson grew up south of Denver and Warner grew up on the north side in a family that encouraged creative endeavors and with siblings who made a mark in music in their own right, her brother Andrew now in Slim Cessna’s Auto Club and Weathered Statues and having been in groups like Bad Luck City and Snake Rattle Rattle Snake. There seemed to be a natural affinity and stylistic compatibility between Church Fire’s music and that of Mirror Fears. Warner had played keyboards and synth in Talk All Night but for Mirror Fears she learned electronic production/composition and principles of audio engineering (in part from doing live sound and trouble-shooting gear for a local rehearsal studio and various events) further and her emotionally rich and vulnerable voice has a unique resonance that transcends any specific musical style. In the summer of 2019 Warner had joined Church Fire and put Mirror Fears on hiatus.

As a trio Samuelson took up drums with a rigorous practice regimen that honed a precision and power suitable for the band’s existing music with Webber and Warner experimenting with combining and playing off each other’s strengths as vocalists while taking the group’s songwriting in new directions and maintaining an inspiring and engaging live show. You can go to a Church Fire and be guaranteed to see a fiery performance that invites you along for a shared catharsis. To date the band has played hundreds of shows and released four full-length albums, an EP and a few singles, all worthwhile listens with memorable songs throughout.

Listen to our interview with Church Fire on Bandcamp and follow the trio at the links below. Chances are if it’s a month, Church Fire has a show or two. But the next two shows are on Saturday, December 23, 2023 at The Broadway Roxy with The Milk Blossoms, Curta and Debthedem0 at 8:30 pm doors, 9pm show and Saturday, December 30, 2023 at The Skylark Lounge with Watch Yourself Die, Voight and Horse Girl 8 doors, 9 show.

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Church Fire on Bandcamp

Church Fire on Instagram

Church Fire on Facebook

Church Fire on Twitter

Midheaven’s Synth Pop Shoegaze Single “Heaven” is an Engrossing Wave of Uplifting Emotion

These days a love song expressing feelings of deep connection can seem like a hackneyed pop song premise. But Midheaven’s crafting of its song “Heaven,” a testament to Andy DeLuca’s and Sarah Eiseman’s richness of affection for one another, feels like taking a journey through a hall of illuminated emotions in a dazzling pageant of sonic detail. The elegant and fragile guitar work, Eiseman’s ethereal vocals a constant presence and the human connection with the dense and dynamic procession of tones. Melodic drones, driving rhythms, thick and finely accented bass and while clearly in the realm of a shoegaze band something about the band’s attention to the electronic elements is reminiscent as much of early 90s Curve slightly more so than obvious shoegaze greats of that era. Think more like newer acts like Tamaryn, Asobi Seksu and The Lost Patrol. Like the duo took its New Wave and synthpop influences and extrapolated that style of production and dance music sensibilities into an atmospheric rock context resulting in a song that truly engulfs you with its wave of uplifting emotion which isn’t experience we get often enough in the musical parlance of modern shoegaze.

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Midheaven on Facebook

Midheaven on TikTok

Midheaven on Instagram

Midheaven on Bandcamp

Midheaven on YouTube

Showtime Ramon’s Driving Synthwave Hip-Hop Single “84 Dan Marino” Takes a Trip Through 80s Thriller Cinema Vibes

Showtime Ramon, photo courtesy the artist

Showtime Ramon brings an unexpected musical and rhetorical complexity to “84 Dan Marino.” Yes, in the music video we see beautiful women and a cool sports car, Ramon delivers an expertly crafted line of swagger and braggadocio like you might expect to see and hear in a mainstream hip-hop banger. But the visual aesthetics of the video is like something from a gritty, 80s thriller including he leads on screen from a film reel and scratches and pops and glitches in the print. It complements the darkly pulsing synthwave beat and the gorgeously evocative melodic splashes that linger like music from an existential horror film of today tapping into the aforementioned 80s vibe. Like Anthony Scott Burns and Nicolas Winding Refn but reaching to an even more lo-fi feel, like Ramon took in more than a few Michael Mann, William Friedkin and Brian De Palma films and absorbed the essence of moods and themes of those movies in writing this song. It has that starkness, menace and a core of melancholia that makes them all effective and “84 Dan Marino” exudes a similar energy. The key line to the song to give it the proper context, or so it seems is when Ramon raps “Lost my best friend now I spit with pain.” With those words, referencing the unsolved murder of Ramon’s best friend, the display of success, luxury, vitality, the promise of pleasure all comes into focus as where your head may need to be so your heart doesn’t sink into oblivion. Not to escape those feelings of loss and despair but to survive them. Ramon makes the processing of the darkest times of our lives feel like an adventure, a chapter of life and an affirmation of what makes being alive feel so significant and good. The song hits hard yet reminds you of the good things in life. Watch the video for “84 Dan Marino” on YouTube and follow Mexican American rapper, and proud Capricorn, Showtime Ramon at the links provided.

Showtime Ramon on Apple Music

Showtime Ramon on Facebook

Showtime Ramon on Instagram

Alex McArtor’s Dream Pop Single “Endless Summer” is a Celebration of Those Perfect Memories We Can Hold Onto For a Lifetime

Winter is upon us at the time of the writing of this review but Alex McArtor’s single “Endless Summer” and its warmly nostalgic melodies is an escape to a another headspace. The guitar line traces the melody downward and highlights the edges of the mood of the song that is a collection of the best memories of times of travel, indulging pleasures, loving and being loved, savoring the companionship of a partner in these adventures. McArtor’s slightly husky voice embodying the synthesis of the cumulative feelings contained within all of those snapshots of carefree times. The guitar work between passages traces a downward arc in luminous single notes and evocative slides accented by subtle bass and drums. Altogether the song draws you in and whether or not you’ve shared some of the specific nuggets of cherished memories it is a song about holding onto those perfect memories in your mind to sustain you through more challenging times. Listen to “Endless Summer,” produced by Benny Cassette, on Spotify and follow Alex McArtor at the links below.

Alex McArtor on Facebook

Alex McArtor on Instagram

Springworks Channels Aggrievement Into Playfully Edgy Power Pop on “We Are Not Amused”

Recriminations and spite run through Springworks’ lates single “We Are Not Amused.” The band regularly finds old industrial film footage, commercials and public domain reels in crafting the music videos to accompany its songs and for this it looks like a family conflict and one more in the workplace while women dance for some television show from the 60s that would play popular music like Hullaballoo or Shindig! The song is a lo-fi power pop number akin to a bubblegum pop band of that late 60s era but the lyrics relate what sounds like a serious conflict of some sort that was challenging to resolve in which both parties probably won’t see eye to eye and get some mutually agreeable resolution. And that happens in life and you have to find some way to process those feelings. The line “The steam-uh/Evaporating into/Pistons/To make it up that hill/And this song/Replacing urge to kill” outlines a path to transmuting rage into something productive which, unfortunately, doesn’t happen enough in the world. But in the distorted guitar crunch and buoyant melodies of this song there’s something that honors the anger while putting that energy to use and make something out of it you’d rather have in the world and maybe someone will hear it and pull back from the precipice just a little. Watch the video for “We Are Not Amused” on YouTube and follow Springworks at the links provided.

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Springworks on Twitter

Springworks on Facebook

Springworks on Instagram

Noh Kitty’s Art Pop Single “Numbers and Letters” is Like an Electro Indiepop Fairy Tale Poem

Noh Kitty sets “Numbers and Letters” in a universe of music that feels both baroque and of a fascinating fusion of 8-bit aesthetics and the electronic and acoustic indie pop that we hear in the 2000s work of The Blow. But the synth sounds that run through the song on the more rhythmic end is like something heard on the periphery of a Kraftwerk song. The main keyboard/synth melody, though, has an aspect like a classical piece played on a toy keyboard. The vocals, though, carry a more conventional melody and convey a narrative that seems to be about the cycle of life and seasons and the mathematical underpinnings and cultural signifiers we identify and employ to make sense of the world as we experience it. It’s like a Medieval fairy tale poem as told through the kind of music one might expect from a songwriter that sequestered herself with intentionally limited access to other music and instruments to craft an intricate art pop song to create a unique and idiosyncratic work. And “Numbers and Letters” has that aspect of no obvious musical influences or inspirations. Listen for yourself on Spotify and follow the Denver-based Noh Kitty on Instagram.

Pasocom Music Club Taps Into the Playful Sounds and Sights of Classic Pop Electronic For the Alien DJ-Themed Music Video For “UFO-Mie”

Pascom Music Club, photo courtesy the artists

Anyone with sufficient knowledge of the history of popular electronic music will pick up on multiple resonances from the fantastical and fantastic music video for Pasocom Music Club’s “UFO-Mie” (which means “UFO Pose” in English, surely slyly conceived title). Directed by ayafuji and produced by Toshikuni the video features a green alien who arrives in Tokyo on a flying saucer and then proceeds to show of his fine fance moves on the street, in pedestrial walkways, sidewalks, in front of a food stall, in a shelter for bicycles with graffiti on the walls and alongside construction zones, on a rooftop and in the often ignored or neglected pockets of the urban landscape. The song, featuring a high energy rap from The Hair Kid and modified vocals repeating the chorus of “My little green homie is a DJ” is reminiscent of 90s and early 2000s club hits from the likes of Daft Punk circa Homework and Fatboy Slim from You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. That playful use of rhythm and melody and unabashed mashing together of club music and hip-hop aesthetics. Even the visual sense of the video reflects that lineage and that of the more quirky videos of Aphex Twin. But Pascom Music Club updates the sounds, the production and the reference points to resonate more with the present. Yet it hooks you in with a similar appeal to fun strangeness. Watch the video for “UFO-Mie” on YouTube and follow Tokyo’s Pasocom Music Club at the links below. The project’s For The Aliens EP dropped October 27, 2023.

pasoconongaku.club

Pasocom Music Club on Twitter

Pasocom Music Club on Instagram

Bad Flamingo’s “I Drink Alone” is a Song About Reserving Some Joys, Rituals and Moments of Vulnerability For Your Solitary Hours

Bad Flamingo, photo courtesy the artists

Twinkly, moody keyboards and a drum click bring us into Bad Flamingo’s “I Drink Alone.” It’s an even further departure from the duo’s palette of sounds and to a certain extent the subject matter of the lyrics. Acoustic guitar slinks along and a spectral drone haunts the backgrounds of the song, maybe a bit of autoharp or hammered dulcimer near the song’s end alongside some nice slide guitar flourishes—all lend the song a hushed intensity befitting what sounds like the narrative of a person who acknowledges their own tempestuous emotions and passionate nature. We hear hints of former relationships and the boundary set, willing to share everything and give almost anything, but sparing the activity of drinking for a solitary experience. Why? That is left up to the listener to interpret whether in those moments or narrator feels most unguarded and open to suggestions and foolish acts better left to one’s own mind to inspire. When you’re someone who is normally so generous with your heart, your energy and your time sometimes you just have to carve out some space and some pleasures for your alone time. Listen to the dark, psychedelic, western folk blues song “I Drink Alone” (not to be confused with the George Thorogood song) on Spotify and follow the enigmatic songwriting phenoms Bad Flamingo at the links below.

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Bad Flamingo on Facebook

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Bad Flamingo on YouTube

This is a Revolver Tears Into Demented Christian Sectarianism With Joyous Grunge Punk Single “Arrivederci!”

This is a Revolver, photo courtesy the artists

This is a Revolver rejects the corrupt, hateful, judgment and money-grubbing aspects of the Christian church in the joyful and pointed single “Arrivederci!” In the music video we see the band dressed to the nines as though going to some major service while spelling out a litany of the offenses committed by leaders, institutions and many of the followers of the religion including a level of unattainable purity expected, and in centuries past purchased by the wealthy, to which adherents and really everyone is expected to adhere or suffer eternal damnation, which is not the basis of a worthwhile faith. Considering recent right wing figures have called for the extermination of everyone in America and the world that doesn’t follow their narrow interpretation of faith as a nefarious echo of, say, the Catholic Church in the middle ages and during the Inquisition, this very unapologetic, grunge-fueled punk song tearing in efficient manner tearing into the hypocrisies and dubious foundations of the most violently oppressive end of Christianity is not just welcome but necessary. Going along to get along works when you’re dealing with trifling matters but not when a sizable group of people sees anyone that doesn’t align with their demented, sectarian beliefs as an existential threat to be eliminated. This Is a Revolver just made that kind of spirited condemnation seem fun with this song. Watch the video for “Arrivederci!” on YouTube and follow This is a Revolver at the links provided.

This is a Revolver on TikTok

This is a Revolver on Instagram

Dead Senses Rages Against the Toxin of Contemporary Capitalism on Caustic Noise Rock Single “Strozzapreti”

Los Angeles-based, experimental post-punk band Dead Senses released its self-titled album through Already Dead Tapes and Records on November 17, 2023. To mark that occasion the group dropped a music video for the single “Strozzapreti” edited by the band itself using public domain footage to give the visual presentation of the song the same fascinatingly out of phase quality possessed by the song itself. The title means “priest strangler” or “priest choker” in Italian and one wishes that were the title of a modern, and return to enthralling and unsettling, Dario Argento film. But the term usually refers to a thick, ropey pasta except in the song it references, according to its press release, “a quiet, seething anger toward abusive authority, violence, and omnipresent demand for consumption and submission under contemporary capitalism.” A feeling presumably most of us share at this point even if some of us misguidedly overtly support the agenda and values of late stage capitalism because that support is so internalized it manifests in identifying with conservative politics or “centrist” neoliberalism transmuted into what is presumed to being a self-identified “moderate” with no sense of irony. Dead Senses makes no bones about dissolving those narratives in the song in style, structure, its use of imagery and in mulching cultural artifacts to repurpose into thrillingly furious agitprop.

The members of Dead Senses came out of the metal and hardcore scenes and “Strozzapreti” bears of the hallmarks of those roots with pointed, and aggressive rhythms and noisy guitar, bass, percussion and shouted, desperate blasts of vocals. But the production also feels like the people in the band has been listening to a lot of industrial music and other musical forms in which the aesthetic is heavily samples based to give the whole sound of the piece an intentionally stark and direct sound. The rest of the album reveals the group’s free use of atmospheric elements that flow into angular noise rock that fans of modern noise rock outfits like Meat Wave, Moon Pussy and Chat Pile will appreciate not just for the caustic and exhilarating sounds but also the righteous substance of what the music is about. Watch the video for “Strozzapreti” on YouTube and follow Dead Senses at the links provided.

Dead Senses Streaming Links