The drift of melody in Salvana’s “Cielos Rojos” (“Red Skies” in English) is anchored to a weighty sound when the song shifts gentle from ethereal to a gentle boil. The percussion provides a physicality that frames the song with a meditative rhythm as its guitars billow forth and the vocals occupy the center of the song like a spirit of warmth commenting on nostalgic memories. The resonant guitar tones that linger have a crystalline quality like something you’d hear in a Slowdive song from the Pygmalion period. While the atmospheres here are full there is a spaciousness that draws you into its immersive, dreamlike moods. The pairing of heaviness and lightness also brings to mind the more gentle end of Slow Crush and SOM and a more dream pop cousin to Holy Fawn. Comparison’s aside “Cielos Rojos” evokes a time of life one can look back on fondly to warm the colder months. Listen to the song on Spotify and follow Barcelona, Spain’s Salvana at the links below.
“Chrysanthemum Rock” engages in a bit of subversive songwriting in opening with a burst of noise before settling into a measured pace with layers of melody and texture on guitar. The song rushes and whirls while glittering with guitar jangle in a wall of noise mode while Matthew Engwall sings about personal decline and how that often comes about from burnout and the depression at so many factors living in a world mostly dominated by the extractive economic system that is capitalism that demands more and more of everyone at all levels while delivering little to anyone but the system itself and its biggest “winners.” Instead you have to do more faster and more efficiently but that isn’t what humans are built for and Engwall’s song takes aim at that culture of striving and grinding yourself to death and making yourself useful to a system on its own terms and not meeting you on yours. The chorus of “Teach yourself to ease the pain of learning how to live again/Prepare your body for the shock of learning to sing chrysanthemum rock”is so poignant if you know that chrysanthemums in many European cultures symbolizes death and the flower is used for funerals and left at graves and in China, Japan and Korea the flower symbolizes adversity and grief. In his own poetic and clever away Engwall has given us a song about how we’re all encouraged to work ourselves to death even if we no longer possess the capacity to operate at 100% at some job all the time. No one has that capability without it costing them long term. But at this point hopefully all of us realize this at some level but in America people largely still suffer from capitalism’s equivalent of the Stockholm Syndrome yet it seems more and more people are becoming aware of the deleterious effects of overwork and having little to show for it. This song is a lively expression of solidarity for that awakening. Listen to “Chrysanthemum Rock” on Spotify and follow llawgne at the links provided.
Pulses of hazy, gritty tone and click-y percussion guide us into DSTRY’s “Cassini Shields.” The song (referencing the space probe that studied Saturn and its system including its rings and satellites) has an animated music video that features a colorful outer space environment that shifts into scenes of the heroine of the song falling through space and roaming around an evolving set of scenery from buildings to ocean and more fantastical realms of existence. All the while almost pointillist rhythms and the sample of a tambourine keeps beat while various strands of bright electronic melody trace the paces of the song and warp off into the distance and vocals that sing and utter phrases that have emotional resonance even as their actual meaning is not discernible. None of it matters on this cosmic journey of music and visuals to the center of the galaxy where by the end of the video you see black holes forming and then transforming into planets as a figure in a space suit like those worn by American astronauts drifts forward. Is there a genre for this music outside of maybe calling it an IDM or more loosely and vaguely an “experimental electronic” song? The arbitrary designations and reference points don’t matter and the song draws you in with its warmly otherworldly energy and constantly evolving melodies and beats and within it an appealing sense of wonder and a spirit of adventure to match that seen in its visual representation. Watch the video for “Cassini Shields” on YouTube and follow DSTRY at the links below.
The Small Square is the duo of mult-instrumentalist and vocalist Paul Chastain and drummer, percussionist and vocalist John Louis Richardson. The project released its self-titled album in 2015 and in 2023 following the reissue of that record, the new album Ours & Others dropped on October 31 via Farm to Label Records on digital download, on streaming platforms and CD. Fans of classic power pop like Big Star and the psychedelically tinged pop rock of The Paisley Underground will find much to like about what Chastain and Richardson have been crafting together. Chastain, some may know as the songwriter and co-founder of power pop band Velvet Crush that enjoyed critical and commercial success in the indie rock circles of the early-to-mid-90s before the group split for a couple of years in 1996 and reforming in 1998. Velvet Crush worked with in studio and live with Matthew Sweet, Mitch Easter, Roger McGuinn, Susanna Hoffs and Tommy Keene and in recent years has been one of the undersung acts of the alternative rock era. Its 1993 album Teenage Symphonies was reissued on vinyl in 2023 to mark its 30 year anniversary.
Chastain and Richardson recorded the new album at the latter’s Drum Farm Studio where the unique and differing musical roots and ideas have been fruitful in bringing a freshness and energy to the creative process. With contributions from Adam Ollendorf (lap steel, 12 string guitar), R. Walt Vincent (bass, keyboards, engineering) and the band Shoes, Ours & Others is a sonically rich and at times orchestral collection of vibrant songs and while most fit in that classic power pop sensibility that has rendered the aforementioned so re-listenable over the years there are songs (for example “Insta,” “Days In” and “Baby Face”) that are more experimental in their incorporation of synths and unconventional song structures. It all gives the album a depth of songwriting and emotional expression not common enough in modern pop music.
Listen to our interview with Paul Chastain on Bandcamp and follow The Small Square at the links below.
The Binary Marketing Show, photo courtesy the artists
When “Estu Vi” by The Binary Marketing Show opens with a sound of a cycling drone, a pulsing rhythm and percussive tone echoing you’re not expecting the song to develop into something with a subversion of pop song structure when the distorted vocals kick in. It almost sounds like an homage to “Wild in Blue” by Suicide or Drifters period Dirty Beaches. But the vocals have a quality like something put through reverse reverb with the full resonance cut off. The sound is reminiscent of something The Knife might have done. The drifting chime of a keyboard melody mid-song has a physicality like a steel drum processed beyond immediate recognition. Horns come into the mix and metallic rattling. The vocals take on a ritualistic aspect in the last quarter of the song and anyone lucky enough to have caught High Places in its tropical pop phase will have an appreciation for how The Binary Marketing Show has turned an organic aesthetic into something otherworldly. That the song ends abruptly simply adds to a sense that you’re visiting a hidden part of the world or a neglected part of the mind that can seem alien as the title of the song means “Be You.” Listen to “Estu Vi” on Spotify and follow The Binary Marketing Show at the links provided. The duo’s new album Dancing With Shadows emerged on September 22, 2023.
Taleen Kali closes out 2023 which saw the release of her new album Flower of Life in March with the video for “Vague Flesh.” The single was featured in the time-travel horror comedy Totally Killer and the style of the video and the hazy atmospheres of the song have a certain resonance with the 1980s setting of the film. But there isn’t an element of camp to the song itself. Its gauzy melodies and streams of sound that trail off into infinity set to a processional rhythm like a seamless blend of 60s girl group pop, Cocteau Twins and the use of vocals as an integral instrument and the ethereal and entrancing guitar interplay of Lush. The introspective lyrics seem to point to making a decisive choice for joy and connection in the chorus: “I chose love/it chose me/I can’t help myself.” The video features Kali walking the beach at sunset and the band performing in a room dimly lit in warm colors sealing the impression of embracing romance fully as a mutually consensual occurrence. Watch the video for “Vague Flesh” on YouTube and follow Taleen Kali at the links below.
The edgy jangle of the introduction to “China Again” by Luminatrix promises something menacing ahead. What makes this song so fascinating and definitely sets it apart from other rock songs that are clearly tapping into earlier eras of music is that the strands of influence are rich and intertwining and result in something original but with a classic resonance. In Jenna McGrath’s vocals you can hear some of the poetic inflection of Patti Smith and Chrissie Hynde and the emotional intensity of Carrie Brownstein when the latter channels harrowing experiences and mixes them with a delicacy of feeling to create a psychologically complex mood. The crunchy guitar riff alongside a haunting, hovering surf rock warble, the enigmatic laughter early in the song, the steady cadence and the sense that the song could tip over into a dramatic emotional outburst gives this song of a relationship being at a decisive end over being weary of one’s partner’s numerous offenses and foibles a dark vitality that invites repeated listens. Fans of Death Valley Girls will definitely appreciate what Luminatrix has to offer in its own songwriting. Listen to “China Again” on Spotify. Luminatrix’s new album Antihero dropped September 25, 2023.
Paging Doctor Moon utilizes a delicate, jazz-like arrangement on “Scars” to deliver a song about yearning for connection. The instrumentation glides along and then rushes together in the moments of elevated emotion throughout the song for an effect like an indie pop equivalent of Steely Dan. In the vocals we hear what for some might be the familiar thoughts of making life harder for yourself because of how you’ve had to cope with the struggles in your life. But there are also lines about needing help with overcoming one’s own barriers. The lyric “I wanna see you for who you are/so you have to break through these ancient scars” speaks to a self-awareness of habits that maybe you don’t always have the ability and will to break because at some point in your life they served a purpose of protecting you from shoddy treatment, at least emotionally. It’s a short song at three minutes one second but this existential struggle gets a fairly deep examination set to a song that creates a musical setting to ease the process with a breezy tone that honors the motions through which your brain goes when trying to reach a better place after years of self-conditioning to get through an often challenging life. But the will to trust and to seek honest connection runs deep in song’s words and its expansive spirit. The animated lyric video for the song by Luke Paulina, Giuliana Fox and Danielle Powell both illustrates the complexity of emotions expressed in the song and also how setting one’s own words into the physical world rather than keeping them in your head can often be a map to sorting through the mess. Watch the video for “Scars” on YouTube and connect with Paging Doctor Moon from Pittsburgh, PA at the links below.
Benjamin Jayne is the musical project of Benjamin Wright based in Brattleboro, Vermont. On the 2019 debut album HI-LO the songwriting might be characterized as an introspective, gentle folk rock. For the follow-up 2021’s Theater introduced more electronic elements to craft the moody and thought provoking songs and included extensive contributions from Wright’s sister Amanda Wright in vocals, piano and bells as well as one of her own compositions. Since the start of Benjamin Jayne, Wright has enlisted the services of Drew Skinner for mixing and production including on the new album Broken (released October 13, 2023). The music for Broken is darker and heavier befitting the subjects of trying to reconciling who people are in comparison to who they remember themselves to be and the cognitive dissonance and distance we can experience as we try to come to terms with it all and how we want to live and be going forward.
Listen to our interview with Benjamin Wright on Bandcamp and follow Benjamin Jayne at the links below.
In the video for “Champion,” Lenka sits against a white backdrop as illustrative sketches of objects representing the lyrics appear both on the background and across her own white shirt. Around halfway through guest vocalist Josh Pyke appears in his own white shirt with the black and white animated sketches accenting his own lines. Toward the end of the video the floating drawings are filled in with color and moving with a vibrant activity to match the climax of the song. It’s all a playful and lighthearted way to present Lenka’s upbeat pop song about how she doesn’t need grand gestures for someone to prove their love to her when it’s real, just the knowledge that she’s supported in life and her feelings by someone with whom she shares a mutual understanding and regard. And that such tangible and enduring affections are mutual. It’s a simple message and in its earnestness seems sincere and uplifting when many other pop songs are about a journey and struggling for it. This song is about appreciating what one has without second guessing it. Watch the video for “Champion” on YouTube and follow Lenka at the links provided. The new album Intraspectral was released on November 17, 2023 and available to stream on Spotify also linked below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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