New Music – Page 216 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Alex Wilcox Captures a Sense of Hurried Anxiety and its Catharsis on “Sleep Paralysis”

AlexWilcox_PressPhotoChair_sm — Alex Wilcox, photo courtesy the artist

Detroit-based producer Alex Wilcox sounds like he took the challenge of making a track that would work as a soundtrack for a harder, faster, more frantic and intense sequel to Run Lola Run in writing “Sleep Paralysis.” The song wastes no time going headlong with pounding beats, an echoing pulse, alien voices warping through reverb, textured electronic percussion and expertly timed dynamic shifts that are themselves processed as if through a tiny bit of phasing so that you get the impression of hurtling through a bendy maze of dark walls and flickering neon colors toward a mysterious destination at a desperate run. Like actual sleep paralysis the song has that hyper real, disoriented feeling with your heart pounding and the world around you moving at seemingly breakneck speeds relative to your inability to move or interact, rather, you mind races in a near or full panic. Not as terrifying as that feeling, the song nevertheless captures some of that anxiety and a sustained, harried feeling. Listen to “Sleep Paralysis” on Soundcloud and follow Alex Wilcox at the links below.

soundcloud.com/alexwilcoxx
instagram.com/alexwilcoxx

Limón Limón’s “Believing in Yesterday” Perfectly Balances Nostalgia With Immediacy

LimonLimon_BelievingInYesterday_cover_crop — Limón Limón, “Believing In Yesterday” cover (cropped)

Los Angeles-based duo Limón Limón recently released its debut EP Believing In Yesterday. If the title track is any indication, it sounds as though the band absorbed the spirit and aesthetic of yacht rock and channeled it forward through the vocabulary of modern synth pop. Its relaxed vibe is able to wax nostalgic without crossing over into the maudlin. The song seems to be able two people who may be going through a troubled time in their relationship but the narrator asks the other to remember when things were good and what brought them together and to write another “chapter” of something good that came apart for reasons that don’t seem to matter now. What sets this song apart from music in a similar vein is the use of what sounds like live bass and drums to ground an otherwise well crafted set of airy melodies. It gives your ears an anchoring point without drawing attention away from the words and the mood, which is a solid choice and not often so well executed. Listen to “Believing in Yesterday” on Soundcloud and follow Limón Limón at their website linked below.

limonlimonmusic.com

As Winter Takes Hold, “Katie, my Queen” by Cold, cold heart is the Soundtrack to the Season’s Tranquil Contemplation Dreams for Future Fulfillment

ColdColdHeat2_Crop — Cold, cold heart, image courtesy the artists

Cold, cold heart weaves together piano, cello and modular synth to craft “Katie, my Queen” as if from frosty, blizzard winds and the night time fogs of deep winter. It feels like looking out into the forbidding weather from a place of warmth and comfort and instead of finding despair atthe obvious limitations it will impose, it engenders a reflective mood born of having the luxury of being able to wait out the worst and the spirit to enjoy the moment and take in the imposed tranquility and inactivity to fuel dreams and plans for the time when the natural world will support carrying them out. Piano and cello sketch out this dream territory and the broad vista drone of synths are like the winds that stir them to life through winter’s hibernation, contemplation and plotting and into the warmer weather of execution. Composed by English musicians Chris Daniel, Robert Manning, Gareth Jones and Alex Wilson, “Katie, my Queen” was passed for post-production work to mixing and mastering engineer Francesco Donadello who is most well known for his work on ambient and post-rock music with the likes of A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Michael Price and Eluvium. The results are a thoroughly evocative and captivating listen. Witness the results for yourself on Soundcloud.

Join Lady Moon & The Eclipse on the Path to a Loving, Nurturing and Inclusive Future on “Le Petit Prince”

LadyMoonAndTheEclipse_LePetitPrince_cover1_crop — Lady Moon & The Eclipse “Le Petit Prince” cover (cropped)

Written in the wake of the passing of the Purple One, “Le Petit Prince” by Lady Moon & The Eclipse (from the band’s forthcoming debut album Journey to the Cosmic Soul) is swimming in luminous tones and lush, downtempo funk rhythms as the vocals take us on a journey to an outer space destnation where we can become self-actualized beings. If Parliament and Funkadelic were early examples of Afrofuturism in music, this band and song is a modern manifestation of the same much as is Janelle Monáe. It’s not hokey science fiction stuff here, it’s a beautiful vision of an expanded, enhanced vision of the future of humanity and ourselves. Not dystopian, not technocratic but a future that is also informed by a spirituality rooted in cultivating our best selves and instincts and aspirations. Whatever this future depicted in the video for “Le Petite Prince” might represent it’s a place you want to be with a music that is as soothing as it is challenging you to reach within to shake off the cynicism and angst that limits your personal growth even if you can only do that a little at a time. It’s not an aggressive challenge but one that encourages from a nurturing place, which is something the world needs much more of these days. Listen to “The Petit Prince” on Soundcloud, watch the music video on YouTube, follow Lady Moon & The Eclipse at the links provided and look out for Journey to the Cosmic Soul in 2020.

ladymoonandtheeclipse.com
instagram.com/ladymoonandtheeclipse
facebook.com/ladymoonandtheeclipse
twitter.com/lmelove
soundcloud.com/ladymoonandtheeclipse
youtube.com/user/ladymoontheeclipse

Take a Trip to the Hopeful End of the Low Mood Pool With adult daughter on “blueberry”

AdultDaughter_AllGoodThings_cover_sm — adult daughter *all good things* cover

A lot of people don’t know what it’s like to feel like you’ve hit the absolute bottom of your life only to find further layers down so even trying to explain that to them is a complete waste of time. Like trying to explain to people with little or no imagination the ecstasy of a creative or intellectual breakthrough or why what is most popular in creative work is not necessarily what determines what is the most significant and interesting. On the song “blueberry,” adult daughter gives a glimpse of what it’s like to hit the darkest end of psychological abyss and float back enough to want to reach for the glimmer of life and hope that we all tend to take for granted. The welling, melodic shimmer that swirls in luminous circles around the ethereal vocals and through the fuzzy backdrop drone is complimentary counterpoint to the minimal beat, floating the song like a slow eddy of sound. Listen to “blueberry” (and the rest of the all good things album) on Bandcamp and follow adult daughter at the links provided.

adultdaughter.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/adult.daughter

Karima Francis Describes the Day in the Life of a Homeless Man in Los Angeles With Humanity and Warmth on “Shelf Life”

KarimaFrancis1_sm — Karima Francis, photo courtesy the artist

Los Angeles has an image to most of the world that doesn’t live there or has limited exposure, mostly from television, movies and misinformation about the City of Angels, as an affluent, pristine place where wealthy, attractive people with no problems in the world live and work in the entertainment industry. But like most cities of size in America and elsewhere it has long been and is increasingly an expensive place to live with dire consequences for people who are, in fact, not moneyed meaning rising homelessness. Karima Francis chose this as the subject for her song “Shelf Life.” Struck by the stark disparity between the rich and the poor, Francis wrote a song depicting the day in the life of a homeless man and the everyday struggles that would probably seem impossible and alien to anyone who hasn’t been there or close to there or at least allowed their imaginations and hearts to expand enough to try to glimpse what it must be like to have no security and really nothing and vilified by society at large, treated largely as moral failures who deserve to be there with no need to see about addressing the causes of homelessness. Rather than let herself off the hook like most people, Francis wrote the song with a delicacy of feeling, sung with an aim to illuminate and understand on a basic human level and in doing so her hushed and warm treatment on “Shelf Life” is resonant and vivid without coming off exploitative or condescending. It is about capturing the experiences rather than imposing analysis and opinions and that makes all the difference. Listen to “Shelf Life” on Spotify and watch the official music video on YouTube.

“Still Waters (Run Deep)” by Accidental Allies Fuses Trance and IDM For a Dynamic Chillout Track

AccidentalAllies1_sm — Accidental Allies, photo courtesy the artists

The Accidental Allies track “Still Waters (Run Deep)” sits in your mind like an overlapping memory of early 90s trance and IDM. Like if Paul Oakenfold teamed up with Autechre or Future Sound of London to make something chill but with some texture to keep the song grounded. A sound like a bell being gently and insistently struck starts the teack off as a spiraling, echoing tone slowly manifests in the foreground and fades, coming back in throughout the song as tightly rhythmic sequences push the song along like echoing arpeggios. The pace remains the same and thus perhaps explaining part of the title of the song as the movement of the piece takes place deeper in the mix so that the overall impression is a tranquil, peaceful song with a great deal of dynamism in its paces. Listen to “Still Waters (Run Deep)” on Soundcloud and follow Accidental Allies at the links provided.

accidentalallies.com
soundcloud.com/accidentlallies
facebook.com/accidentalalliesmusic

“Giuoco Piano” by Electric Capablanca Is an Inviting Enigma Like a Mansion Haunted by Benevolent Spirits

ElectricCapablanca2_Crop — Electric Capablanca, image courtesy the artists

Electric Capablanca leaves few touchstones as to intent or obvious influences on “Giuoco Piano” to suggest genre or rooting. Which of course leaves the song open to interpretation and taking it in as an experience rather than something to be shaped by expectation. Like benevolent, disembodied spirits, vocals like echoes from another room in a vast mansion float through the track in the distance, airy, melodic drones waft along to provide an informal pace by virtue of tonal shift rather than formal rhythm. The sound of an electronic harp languidly plucked provides a parallel meter. The title of the piece refers to an opening move in chess, also known as the “Italian Opening,” and this song in its way feels like the introduction to a piece of orchestration or cinema with the elements coming together to pull us into a larger narrative stratagem through relaxing the mind. The instrumental composition defies easy categorization but is also not challenging to take in. Fans of ambient and modern classical and minimal techno will find much to like here and it’s rare that a song at over nine minutes feels like a third of that time. Listen to “Giunoco Piano” on Spotify.

Maggy Lee Conveys a Sense of Comfort With Uncertainty in the Early Stages of a Relationship on Treasure’s “Feelings”

Treasure3_crop — Treasure, photo courtesy the artist

Treasure’s new single “Feelings” uses a gently subtle mix of sounds that allow for featured vocalist Maggy Lee’s vocals to shine and resonate. The mix on the percussion is so tasteful in how it sits in the mix and seems so unobtrusive but unmistakable in setting the pace as lingering synth notes set a contemplative mood as Lee’s voice tells the story of uncertainty about the title of the song by asserting she has various feelings and wondering if the object of the song shares them or even has them. But there’s no judgment in her tone, she seems to be looking back on her encounters with the subject of the song in the third person and observing that those feelings are there but that she is often left wondering. The song ends with the implied questioned unanswered or resolved but it also doesn’t require a resolution. It speaks to a spirit of knowing something is there but not wanting to pressure a deep commitment so early on. Listen to “Feelings” featuring Maggy Lee on Soundcloud and follow Treasure at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/treasuretheband
facebook.com/olwhkb
instagram.com/treasuretheband

Remington super 60’s French Pop and Downtempo Track “Fake Crush” is a Tribute to the Complexities of Aspirational Love

RemingtonSuper603 — Remington super 60, photo courtesy the artists

Norwegian band Remington super 60 has been releasing left field pop songs since the late 90s and its latest single “Fake Crush” sounds like it bridges decades. Its exquisitely gentle guitar work and subtle bass line sit between 60s French pop and 90s downtempo with a tonal change in the verses that resolves in a way that transports the listener to some kind of exotic lounge in a cosmopolitan city as the vocals describes confused feelings about a love that feels in some senses real but with the certainty that it isn’t because a crush isn’t truly built to last, it’s just a fantasy as fragile and as delicate as the song’s melody. And this isn’t even a true crush but a fake crush like a feeling someone wants to have and thinks she should have but upon closer examination it’s better as a fantasy than as a reality. And yet it’s these thoughts that spark the imagination some and give one a sense of something to look forward to, which is sometimes all we need to get out of an emotional rut. Listen to “Fake Crush” on Soundcloud and follow the enigmatically named Remington super 60 at the links. Look for a new EP from the project due out January 24, 2020.

remingtonsuper60.com
facebook.com/remingtonsuper60