New Music – Page 162 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Christof R. Davis’ Ambient Mini-Epic “Troposphere” is a Succinct Musical Chart of the Long History of Earth

Christof R. Davis, photo courtesy the artist

“Troposphere,” the title of Christof R. Davis’s new single says so much about the seeming inspiration of the track. The title refers to the part of the earth’s atmosphere and the planet itself where the bulk of life and weather patterns exist. Almost the whole drama of life on earth including that of the human race has happened within the troposphere. The song begins with resonating drones like the sonic manifestation of primordial sunrise, the kind that has fallen on countless millennia of the history of life on earth. In drifts an evolving melodic tone and another shining and intertwining with the first. The dynamics of the song are organic and expressive of the subtle forces that have remained consistent and nurtured a great diversity of life and for lack of a better way of expressing it the manifestation of the natural course of the development of the planet across time from the early eras before life and on to the current era. The ambient composition brings in a bit of flute sound late in the just over two minutes of the song as perhaps a symbolic nod to the thin sliver of time that is the existence of our species and those that led up to our emergence on the planet. The delicacy, grace and fragility of the song contains within it an implicit statement on how we cold be no longer part of that grand symphony of natural forces by virtue of or civilizational choices. With any luck people will collectively choose to change course and that flute sound in the future equivalent of this song will sound out longer to reflect a choice for the path of wisdom and sustainability and not one embracing greed and elite power. Listen to “Troposphere” on Spotify and follow Christof R. Davis at the links below.

Christof R. Davis on Apple Music

Christof R. Davis on Twitter

Christof R. Davis on Facebook

Join Gus Englehorn in the Weird Side of Your Brain on the Dada Pop “Tarantula”

The surreal weirdness of Gus Englehorn’s song and video for “Tarantula” immediately triggers memories and visions of Half Japanese, Alice Donut, They Might Be Giants and King Missile in your brain. It’s from an album called Dungeon Master and if geek adept status wasn’t earned for Englehorn for that alone, the curiously catchy and tuneful song turns an off standard melody sound in the vocals and unusual delivery into something that draws you in. The lyrics are also somewhat nonsensical and bizarre. “Tarantula that whispers in your ear” followed by lines that don’t clarify a thing like “Hold your head under water” and “River bed ever after.” But it doesn’t matter. It’s absurdist imagery at its finest and need not fulfill some linear succession of thought. The image of a tarantula whispering quasi mystical, Dada-esque phrases into your ear forces the brain down alternate pathways that take you off the map of the everyday. And does it make less sense then the words to a whole swath of pop music? “Louie Louie” people have sung along to since it came out or “Surfin’ Bird” and both songs are completely demented musically with lyrics that matter less than the almost shamanistic quality of their cadence and the same is true here. Watch the video that Englehorn made with his musical partner in crime Estée Preda made for “Tarantula” on YouTube and connect with Englehorn at the links below. Dungeon Master releases on April 29, 2022 on Secret City Records.

Gus Englehorn on Apple Music

gusenglehorn.com

Gus Englehorn on Twitter

Gus Englehorn on Facebook

Gus Englehorn on Instagram

Jaws The Shark’s Bold and Fiery “Still Young” is a Meditation on Growing Up Without Growing Jadedly Old

Jaws The Shark, photo courtesy the artist

Olly Bailey is wearing a Hole t-shirt in the video for “Still Young” and the big, distorted riffs that drive the song hearken back to the grunge era without miming it. His spirited vocals and song dynamics that swing the chords deftly from the melancholic to the brash with major progression leads that have a bold momentum reflected in the performance of the song in general. There is a fiery aggression to the sound of the song that serves as counterpoint to a fairly raw and sensitive reflection on youth and outgrowing the naivete of your younger years while trying not to lose your enthusiasm for life and without developing a calloused and jaded heart. Watch the video for “Still Young” on YouTube and connect with Bailey’s solo rock band Jaws The Shark at the links below.

Jaws The Shark on Facebook

Jaws The Shark on Instagram

Exumano’s “We Come From the Sky” is Like an Ambient Techno Industrial Passage Out of the Glut of Inessential Stimuli of Modern Life

“We Come From the Sky” finds Italian composer Exumano using a shuffling, industrial rhythm and repeated motifs to build a sense of space and movement. The single tonal pulse amid the more percussive and texture soundscapes is like a guiding beacon in the fog through the constant flow of information and marketing to which we’re subjected daily as a distraction from finding a focus and purpose in life. The processed piano section is like a guiding lifeline through this tidal wave of info-junk and as the track progresses an urgent melody emerges to suggest getting to the end of this glut of inessential stimuli or at least to be able to tune it out and at song’s end the white noise clears with a strong rhythm line underneath a more blunt pulse that no longer feels like a beacon in the distance. Musically it’s reminiscent of early 2010’s techno and deep house but blended with industrial musicand the prepared sonic environment composition end of ambient. Listen to “We Come From The Sky” on YouTube where the visual element was done in collaboration with Arice CG and follow Exumano at the links below.

Exumano on Facebook

Exumano on Instagram

Julian Zyklus Invites Us For a Refreshingly Glorious Trip to Exotic Places in the Ocean on “Waterpiano n.1”

Imagine yourself looking out the window of being lowered into the Great Barrier Reef in a transparent submersible while listening to Julian Zyklus’ “Waterpiano n.1.” The sounds of water flowing and lapping against the side of your craft as you hear widely dynamic and expressive, joyfully elegant piano work and bright synth tones trace the path of your trip and enhance the raw and otherworldly beauty of your environment before you are pulled back out into the world you know. The track is the first on Zyklus’ forthcoming EP Waterpiano. Listen to “Waterpiano n.1” on Spotify and connect with Zyklus at the links below.

Julian Zyklus on Instagram

Shellter’s Crushingly Honest “Wissant” Makes the Heartfelt Hurt of a Bad Breakup Easier to Process

The all but black and white video treatment by Alex Schuurbiers for Shellter’s single “Wissant” poignantly complements the song’s feeling of utter emotional desolation. Shellter’s powerfully expressive vocals manage to be forceful yet fragile as she sings words that describe the aftermath of a break-up. But it is bereft of any rage, of any anger, and all that’s left is the hurt and the vulnerability that you have to allow yourself to feel in order to process the experience of a bad break-up especially one in which one’s emotions were put into such turmoil and in which you were made to feel like the villain. The ache in the lines “How your voice hit me hard without caution/How I broke like a branch in slow motion” and later the refrain of “How you made me believe that was me” hit deep even though Silke Janssens (aka Shellter) sounds like she’s merely contemplating some melancholic episode of the distant past with some time and space between. Her words for this song are poetically visceral and without going into the gory details it’s obvious she felt that hurt profoundly and found a way to transmute it into a song that with the presentation of her voice front and center and tender instrumentals augmenting the reflective vibe of the song is something one can take on and maybe find a way to process one’s own heartfelt hurt in the resonance of the lyrics and accessible tones employed by the songwriter. Watch the video for “Wissant” on YouTube, follow the Belgian singer-songwriter at the links below and give a listen to the rest of Shellter’s debut EP The Sun’s Already Low which was released on November 26, 2021.

Shellter on Apple Music

Shellter on Facebook

Shellter on Instagram

siera wiski Manifests an Icily Gorgeous Shade of Hope for Drifting Out of the Brain’s Low Places on “moondore”

The sound of a winter storm in your head is the dynamic of siera wiski’s song “moondore.” Icy synth lines echo, highly processed vocals run through like Alice Glass gone fully ambient pop. The lyrics describe being in an emotional place of stasis with seemingly no way out with time around you moving forward but you’re moored to your own low state without the wonders of the world or dreams and aspirations to pull you out of it. But the raw, ethereal sweep of the song suggests that maybe those events that seem to pass you by might bring something your way to nudge you out of your psychic quicksand in a way you didn’t seem coming and had no hope for happening. And in that dynamic of the song there is a ghost of hope and sometimes that’s enough. It is a gripping and gorgeous evocation of depression in the broad experience of it without hackneyed rhetoric and that’s exceedingly rare. Listen to “moondore” on Soundcloud and follow siera wiski at the links provided. The song is also available as a t-shirt on Bandcamp linked below.

siera wiski on Bandcamp

siera wiski on Facebook

siera wiski on Instagram

Pyxis Iota Expresses the Magic of the Eternal Liminal Space of Extended School Breaks on “Summer ’94”

The engimatically titled “Summer ’94” by the creatively named Pyxis Iota establishes a simple yet inviting rhythm line early on that carries you along throughout the song. But around that line tones drift and gyre, intertwined with a meditative guitar line that shimmers in counterpoint to the shimmering and glimmering synth drones that swell and fade. Perhaps it’s the title but the way the song plays out, even when the guitar drops out replaced by gentle distorted waves of synths, it sounds like the act of remembering a time in your life when things seemed less compressed, when summer seemed to last forever with amble time to play, learn, explore, discover and travel before demands of school or of a job post-college graduation demanded the bulk of your time and energy. There’s something magical about that headspace, the eternal liminal, that seems to nourish the psyche and spirit and Pyxis Iota evokes that energy with this track. Fans of early Oneohtrix Point Never and turn of the century Boards of Canada will appreciate the textures and evolving atmospheres of this song greatly. Listen to “Summer ’94” on Soundcloud and follow Pyxis Iota at the links below.

Pyxis Iota on Bandcamp

“Horror Movie Pie Fight” is a Charming Miniature Horror Comedy That Showcases Le Big Zero’s Charming Hooks and Irresistible Energy

Le Big Zero chose a more than averagely clever band name and its video for “Horror Movie Pie Fight” directed by Jeanette D. Moses is a good reflection of the group’s offbeat sense of humor. It features a vampire trying to navigate an even more vampiric world of people coasting through modern life until she cuts that faux party time mingle short with an extravaganza of gore satiating her thirst for blood. But the video has that quality of the awkward comedy but one that is actually darkly funny rather than something from which to walk away partway through. The music is reminiscent of the dynamic starts and stops of what made so many of those Boston bands of the 80s and early 90s so interesting in the way the songs hit with both a forcefulness and a sense of fun—art punk with a knack for pop hooks and bereft of pretentiousness. Though, to be fair, Le Big Zero has its roots on the east coast but not Boston. It’s difficult to be funny as a band and write music that isn’t easily dismissible but Le Big Zero has accomplished that. With beautifully X-esque vocal harmonies and wiry and scrappy guitar riffs anyone into early alternative rock will find something to like with Le Big Zero. Watch the video for “Horror Movie Pie Fight”on YouTube and look out for the release of the act’s new album A Proper Mess out on April 8, 2022 through Know Hope Records.

Le Big Zero on Apple Music

lebigzero.com

Le Big Zero on Instagram

Erika Wester Sifts Through the Fog of Fascination With Toxic Relationships on “Novelty”

Erika Webster, photo courtesy the artist

Erika Wester’s single “Novelty” has all the hallmarks of a classic pop song: gorgeous melodies, entrancing arrangements that pull you immediately into the embrace of the song. And that’s exactly what makes it such a poignant and effective bit of musical writing in general. Webster honed in on the essential dysfunction of a toxic relationship and her own complicity therein by allowing the person bad for her having their hooks in her psyche and not quite being able to resist those charms because of some bad emotional habits she picked up along the way. It happens. But right from the beginning Wester sings “I hate the way you make me feel, I think I make up what I want to be real” as an acknowledgment of that the relationship and the connection in general is bad and that she has some issues with identifying what is real and what she wants to be real and holding on to what does feel good rather than what she wants to feel good because it’s supposed to because all relationships should be fulfilling even when they’re not, right? The rest of the song Wester paints for us some small situations that would be gutting in the experiencing but sounds not so bad with the tone of the song. And that’s the seduction of being the kind of person who hasn’t quite jettisoned these ingrained behavior from their psyche. But knowing you deserve and want better is a good first step and Webster begins with that. Is this literally about Wester’s life? It doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s something in the past, maybe it’s not, but it is an extremely relatable situation and mindset for most people at some point in their lives and laying it out there sometimes helps in getting the will to move onward from a psychological space that no longer serves you well. Titling the song “Novelty” frames the deeper sentiment of the song so well because no one wants to be that, no one wants to just have an emotional bond with someone on that basis and sometimes something or someone will appeal to us simply on that basis when we shouldn’t take it or them so seriously and make it or them part of our lives. Listen to “Novelty” on Spotify and follow Webster at the links below.

Erika Webster on Bandcamp

Erika Webster on Instagram