New Music – Page 246 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Leah Dunn’s Atonal Pop Song “Oakland” is a Gentle Reminder to Mind Our Blind Spots Even as We Get Swept Up in the Romance of a Moment

LeahDunn1_crop — Leah Dunn, photo courtesy the artist

Opening “Oakland” with some atonality and minimal instrumentation before her vocals come in is an interesting choice on the part of Leah Dunn. The disorienting almost anti-melody reflects the sense of how her experience in Oakland and a relationship undertaken there played out. The poetically vivid lyrics lay out how Dunn was drawn in by the mystery and romance of the moment and how these stories we tell ourselves help us to not just highlight the significance of experiences but also helps to obscure from our comprehension obvious warning signs. Dunn’s vocals, vulnerable and more conventionally melodic contrasts with the sounds of strings hitting “wrong” and at borderline jarring tones showing the clarity versus all the hints that things weren’t going to go well long term until both aspects of the song come together in a strong, unified final section of the song and thus the moment of realization. The song ends with a nod to the atonality because life is uncertain and no matter what we learn we’re capable of making the same mistake again and best to have compassion for one’s human frailties. Listen to the song on Apple Music and follow Leah Dunn at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/1zrefLbUbnYR1GAVrUNkRQ
instagram.com/leahdunndunn

Fear and Loathing in Ottawa: Garçons’ “Froggin'” is a Surreal Genre Bending Pop Gem

The core beat of Garçons’ “Froggin’” sounds a bit like a sped up version of the Sanford and Son theme and the video cements an impression of the 70s with Deelo Avery taking on the role of Hunter S. Thompson in the drama of the song. For a video with pretty much no budget and based in Canada, the crew nailed the vibe and giving the song that seems part Afrobeat and part R&B, the surreal quality it deserves. The pace of the song is frantic but the narrator is doing the best he can given clear and present challenges and managing with some sense of style. Given that Avery grew up hearing Fela Kuti it comes as no surprise there’s more than a touch of that in this song but it manages to transcend a narrow genre of hip-hop, Afrobeat and lo-fi pop and thus repeated listens are rewarding. Follow Garçons at the links below.

soundcloud.com/realgarcons
open.spotify.com/artist/0HAiMAa8lwFrKnEq55SLWe
youtube.com/channel/UCi-LyhMsvpYq_rqZrBr1nkw

Reverends’ Hypnotic “The Greater Roadrunner” Speaks Directly to the Frustration of Being Drawn to Unfulfilling Relationships

Reverends1_lg — Reverends, photo courtesy the artists

“Because I’ve been here too many times,” a line from “The Greater Roadrunner” by Atlanta-based psychedelic rock band seems poignant in a song about repeating the same patterns with a relationship whose fulfillment in a larger sense is ultimately elusive. The hypnotic, stretching, distorted melody of the song and its vivid and evocative tonal range sounds both world weary and amused at one’s own folly at the same time. But that maybe the realizations will stick this time even though the person in question has the power to draw you back in almost intuitively and instinctively the way Wile E. Coyote seems unable to stop chasing the Roadrunner from the cartoon. Except that Wile E. Coyote doesn’t know better and you should. “I have to be that guy, that fuckin’ guy,” the line preceding the aforementioned speaks so directly to the well-earned frustration it would be comedic if it weren’t just too real. Watch the kaleidoscopic video on YouTube and follow Reverends at the links below where you can give the group’s new album The Disappearing Dreams of Yesterday in full as well.

littlecloudrec.com/collections/reverends
open.spotify.com/artist/3t6Zk9rDDkmYwrY4tBb9v2
youtube.com/channel/UCI3ZDoYhLybdFnXSegJU3ng
reverendsatl.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/SomeHighSun
instagram.com/reverends_atl

Lochie Earl Reminds Us to Find a Grounding Humor in the Unpleasant Manifestations of Our Personalities on “Laugh@urseLF”

LochieEarl1_lg_crop — Lochie Earl, photo courtesy the artist

The title of Lochie Earl’s new single “Laugh@urseLF” should be an obvious clue that there is an element of humor involved in the songwriting. But that humor is pointed inward as a reminder to not be an insufferable jerk. Also, to remember that no matter how seriously you may take yourself that won’t change your condition or your personality and that in the end you can’t escape yourself and you may as well accept yourself as you are and have a laugh once in awhile at how your personality can have unpleasant manifestations that you can either find humor in to diminish their power or double down on your ridiculous moments. Musically it’s a dynamic and varied song that begins with a piano figure and rapid fire lyrics that reflect the rush of thoughts and emotion. The piano melody is reminiscent of Blue Oyster Cult’s 1974 song “Astronomy” and that gives it a haunted quality suggestive of maybe being stuck in your own head with the drama around you maybe in no small part existing as a figment of your imagination. Listen to “Laugh@urseLF” on YouTube and follow Lochie Earl on the Gypsys of Pangea Febook page.

www.facebook.com/gypsysofpangea

“Tears of the Past” is Duphi’s Musical Journey Away From a Cycle of Self-Punishment for Your Mistakes

Duphi_TearsOfThePast_crop — Duphi, “Tears of the Past” cover (cropped)

Duphi’s latest single “Tears of the Past” brings together production and natural sounds to create a track that sounds like a cycle of processing regret and grief in the context of your whole life. It’s a natural tendency to look back and assess and, if you’re a person of conscience possessed of self-honesty, flagellate yourself a little for mistakes, reliving those moments as if that ritual of punishment is an endless act of atonement that is the only proper way to demonstrate you’ve acknowledged that mistake but are never able to live it down. The gentle beats of this song and its utilizing sampled sounds of a storm in the distance and a sense of traveling away from that storm into more tranquil zones of melodic, percussive arpeggiation that bring a clarity of mind and engender giving yourself the perspective of placing your mistakes as part of your evolution as a person and not as something to always hang over your own head. The song is a reminder that while self-martyrdom may be normal it’s really a waste of time, energy and life better spent being the better person you aspire to be. Listen to “Tears of the Past” on Spotify and follow Duphi at any of the links below.

soundcloud.com/duphi
facebook.com/duphi.phillips

“Twintails” by Podge is a Dynamic Blend of the Aesthetics of Indie Pop and Manga

Podge1_sm_crop — Podge, photo courtesy the artist

A charming mix of 8-bit sounds, organic percussion and sounds and keyboards, Podge’s “Twintails” is a song that picks up where 80s Ninendo game soundtracks left off and explored the pop songwriting possibilities of that sensibility. The effect is something like a playfully yet melancholy indie pop song that draws on what is an element of so much manga and anime and that is how it reflects a sense of loneliness and yearning for connection while speaking to the aspirations and dreams of the artists. This palette of sounds thus never comes off as gimmicky or mere affectation. Podge’s songwriting is fully immersed in the blend of cultures Western and Japanese on that creative level and that gives “Twintails” an unexpected emotional and sonic depth for an effect of an eclecticism reminiscent of Alopecia-period Why? Listen to “Twintails” on Soundcloud and follow Podge at the links below.

www.instagram.com/_podge___
twitter.com/_podge___

edad del pavo’s Ambient Track “centric” Evokes a Sense of Place Both Physical and Existential

EdadDelPavo3_sm_crop — edad del pavo, photo courtesy the artist

One imagines this track inspired by dropping a small stone into a still pond from on high and watching the ripple effect as it intersects with small waves and the influence of a breeze on the water. Or contemplating a Zen garden and its use of organic and mathematical elements and contemplating how nature doesn’t do the calculations we create to model them imperfectly. Yet with the bright tone in an otherwise ethereal unfolding of sounds emits in echo like the horn of a ship in a distant harbor indistinctly on a foggy morning. Whatever was the collection of inspirations behind edad del pavo’s “centric,” it has a sense of place and wonder and a feeling of contemplative acceptance of our place in the entirety of existence. Listen to “centric” on Soundcloud and follow edad del pavo at the links provided.

edaddelpavo.com
soundcloud.com/edaddelpavo
open.spotify.com/artist/21tMOkmvZl9fpl2qsaWuLd
edaddelpavo.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/edaddelpavomusic
instagram.com/edaddelpavo

“Orders of Magnitude” by Lakes of Wada Has the Mood of Summer Breaking and Descending Into the Cool of Fall

LakesOfWada1_sm_crop — Lakes of Wada logo, cropped

Beginning with volume swells on guitar and a low background repeating synth figure “Orders of Magnitude” by Lakes of Wada edges forward like a drifting cloud formation. Melodic electronic drones thread into the mix in layers giving the composition a bit of conventional songwriting element inside the more experimental soundscape framing. Going from minimal to a full spectrum of sounds including a full drum set, the song progresses to give expression to the title. From quiet calm of the beginnings of a rainstorm to not torrents but a steady rain interrupted by sunshine as the rain clouds pass overhead away from a sun headed toward the night time horizon. Rather than morning music or night music, this is late afternoon music and while dynamic with flaring tones, it’s feel is like that time of the day when you know it’s time to wind down a bit or the part of the summer when you can tell the season has broken and cooler days area ahead. Listen to “Orders of Magnitude” on YouTube and follow Lakes of Wada at the links below.

youtube.com/channel/UCxOgxdEbk3UpDTi-xiMqdFw
lakesofwada.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/lakesofwada
instagram.com/lakesofwada

Sulene’s “Diamond” is a Song For Anyone Who Realizes They’ve Outgrown Their Past

Sulene_ BaoNgo — Sulene, photo by Bao Ngo

It’s the little biographical details that Sulene puts into her song “Diamond” that really sets it apart from so many indie synth pop songs. The hook and the breezy chorus are what keeps the momentum going and the tasty and fluid bass line at the song’s outro. But Sulene knows how to set a scene as early in the song when she speaks of drinking whiskey in the August heat and hanging out on the fire escape. Dancing in Brooklyn and grinding her teeth and how friends move on, talking about LCD (presumably Soundsystem) – these are the sorts of memories that can tie you to a time in your life and a situation that you’ve outgrown and as Sulene sings in the chorus about being a diamond in the rough she’s ready to let go of the life and some of the attachments she once had for the next step in her life’s journey. Listen to “Diamond” on Soundcloud and follow Sulene at the links provided.

itunes.apple.com/us/artist/sulene/id790314223
soundcloud.com/sulene
open.spotify.com/artist/3H0Mdkhat3ZJFgKxLHEymg
twitter.com/sulenemusic
facebook.com/sulenemusic
instagram.com/sulenemusic

Per Störby Jutbring Instills a Sense of Childhood Curiosity and Sense of Adventure on the Title Track to His New Album The Thief Bunny Society

PerStorbyJutbring1_crop — Per Störby Jutbring, photo courtesy the artist

The title track to Per Störby Jutbring’s latest album The Thief Bunny Society has all the light, playful yet imagination stirring qualities of great childhood fantasy movies, the kind that don’t pander and remain enjoyable through adulthood. Like Nigel Westlake’s score for Babe, Alan Silvestri’s soundtrack to FernGully or any of Danny Elfman’s cinematic music. With layers of piano, strings, clarinet and electronics, Jutbring conveys a sense of openness and freedom, of a vista of adventures to look forward to in whatever this Thief Bunny Society may be. Is it the kind of society children form to bond over a summer of shared hijinks and discovery, of creative mischief and several weeks free of all the demands of life during the school year? While that may be an age and perhaps for many class specific option, it is something everyone should get to experience sometime in their lives—a lengthy period of time where your imagination and intuition are the guide and fun is the goal—so that you have a place in your heart that you can go to when life can seem like drudgery and the demands place on you seem burdensome. It’s a psychological space that represents a freedom that can’t be taken away from you. Jutbring’s soundtrack provides the sonic analog of that experience as the childhood soundtrack to a film that does not yet exist, He taps into those parts of your brain that create those feelings with his composition and your mind is better for having heard it. Listen to “The Thief Bunny Society” on Soundcloud and follow Jutbring at the links below.

www.perstorbyjutbring.com
www.instagram.com/perstorbyjutbring
www.facebook.com/perstorbyjutbring
open.spotify.com/artist/5HKQ1eZfmajJNGC12Nj7xB?si=px7e_sadQcyPbfgPmUOW-Q