New Music – Page 253 – Queen City Sounds and Art

“System” is LIGHTSPEAR’s Immersive Urban Adventure in a Tangerine Dream-esque Song

Lightspear_Metro_cover_lg_crop — LIGHTSPEAR, *Metro* cover (cropped)

Employing multiple layers of flowing sound, LIGHTSPEAR imbue the single “System” from its debut album Metro with a classic synth pop sound that transcends the standard synthwave style that you hear often imitated. With melodic, distorted washes, syncopated leads, minimal percussion and creatively sequenced arpeggios LIGHTSPEAR invoke the sorts of sounds Tangerine Dream engaged in on its 1980s soundtrack work on films like Thief, Wavelength and Risky Business. There is a sense of edge and excitement just out of reach and embarking upon a journey from which you will return a changed person. On this track LIGHTSPEAR also avoids the temptation to put in the kinds of drops and builds that are intended to create an artificial, dynamic progression but which always comes off lazy. Rather, this project focuses on the dynamics emerging from composing a song with a depth of detail in which its easy to become immersed. Listen to “System” on Spotify below and follow LIGHTSPEAR at its Bandcamp page.

lightspear.bandcamp.com

Tekisuto’s “Go Left” Evokes the Flights of Imagination Indulged on Everyday Train Trips

Tekisuto2_sm — Tekisuto, image courtesy the artist

There is a sense of traveling to living video game world in Tekisuto’s “Go Left.” Some of the synth is reminiscent of a more high fidelity version of some kind of early 90s Nintendo game. But the horns and the more urgent and angular melody recall early Depeche Mode as well. The ascending synth line that takes us out of the song with the brief bit of ambient room sound to follow gives a different impression like we’ve been riding a rapid transit shuttle and the jubilant music we’ve been listening to is the theme music for the ride. Like if “Welcome to the Machine” by Pink Floyd was a lot shorter, wasn’t a brooding, melancholic dirge but with the same otherworldly quality. The ambient room sound is there at the beginning of the song with some light laughter and indiscernible conversation to bookend the surreal song with a touch of regular life even as it takes us on a trip to a brighter, more fun hyper reality for a couple of minutes, a welcome transport to a fantastical place. Listen to “Go Left” below on Spotify.

“Synthie aus Marzahn” by Robin and the Modest is the Soundtrack to the High Tech Thriller in Your Head

RobinAndTheModest1_crop — Robin and the Modest, image courtesy the artist

With his project Robin and the Modest, Tobi Vogel presents a cinematic experience through the music. His pacing, dynamics, sonic architecture, textures and arrangements suggest a kind of narrative structure and mood. The project’s 2017 debut Eftychia set a high bar for instrumental rock/post-rock but the new album Playground makes good on that promise including the single “Synthie aus Marzahn.” With minimalist synth arpeggiation in the beginning the song quickly segues into haunting atmospherics giving the impression of some kind of unusual thriller plot taking place in a late night cosmopolitan city on the platform of a rail line. The vocal samples make you think of the kind of movie where a passive observer coming from or going to their job is drawn into a drama involving international intrigue and high tech crime. Every song on the album tells a different story but all employ evocative composition to set vivid scenes without explicit use of language. The titles give hints with neologisms like “Raketenfaust” (“Faust Rocket”) and phrases like “Kaltes Herz” (“Cold Hearts”) but even these suggestions pale in comparison to the aural journeys through which Vogel takes us on Playground. Listen to “Synthie aus Marzahn” below and follow Robin and the Modest at the links provided.

Playground by Robin and the Modest

soundcloud.com/robinandthemodest
open.spotify.com/artist/0cvjYUOxgAKoFEHvBVXvwZ
robinandthemodest.bandcamp.com/releases
facebook.com/robinandthemodest
instagram.com/robinandthemodest

Davi Valois Expresses the Demented and Destructive Quality of the World’s Oligarchic Leaders on his New Single “Event Horizon”

DaviValois1_crop — David Valois and friends, photo courtesy the artist

The sense of the surreal and sinister to Davi Valois’ “Event Horizon” reflects the political reality of modern Brazil with Jair Bolsonaro, a fascist leader whose bizarre beliefs and ease with the use of violent repressive policies, aren’t far removed from the likes of Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and Vladimir Putin or what Donald Trump would do if he could yet get away with it. With processed vocal samples and an unsettling melody cast in luminous piano tones and synth, Valois seems to evoke the demented side of Wendy Carlos’ iconic soundtrack work for A Clockwork Orange—a way to ridicule an awful and dangerous political regime while also invoking how as absurd as it is, those types of figures and governments destroy everything around them from the norms of governance and civic culture, the institutions that brought stability to society and the economic system itself. Given that, by extension, the aforementioned political figures contribute to the destruction of the world itself. “Event Horizon” is part of an album called Bátraquio that addresses these issues as well as the depression and general despair and malaise that infects everyone in ways they may not realize and how not all change should be embraced when it is not so much inevitable as part of a programme to benefit the few at the expense of everyone else in a self destructive spiral that will not even spare the perpetrators. Listen on Spotify and explore Valois work further at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/3fWDTxR4py978SSZV2IyJu
instagram.com/bass_valois

The Haunted Elegance of Dope Lemon’s Late Night Lounge Song “Give Me Honey” is Reminiscent of Luna and Harry Nilsson

The shimmer of slide guitar and languid pace of “Give Me Honey” by Dope Lemon is somehow reminiscent of both Luna and Harry Nilsson. The hovering synth haunting the background in descending tones to accent the main vocal line and unconventional percussion conveys a kind of late night lounge vibe but with a haunted elegance. The music video for the song reinforces the impression of the song like there’s a lurid secret hidden behind appearances and underneath the surface, secrets that may rattle existing norms and expectations. The hardened cowboy types and hanging out at a classier bar than one might associate with their usual hangout and the exotic, mysterious figure that draws their attention. The plot of the video ends inconclusively as does the song with a simply fast fade out. But it works as a slice of life and the simple mysteries and fantasies everyone entertains just to get through the drudgery of the usual mundane existence that is the work week. Follow Dope Lemon at any of the links below.

twitter.com/dopelemonmusic
facebook.com/dopelemon
instagram.com/dopelemonmusic

“Up Comes the Tunnel” is Sun Blood Stories’ Harrowing Meditation on the Inevitability of Our Own Mortality

SunBloodStories_HauntYourself_crop — Sun Blood Stories, *Haunt Yourself* cover (cropped)

“Up Comes the Tunnel” drifts in softly with tonal guitar swells, understated bass and nearly whispered vocals before Sun Blood Stories brings in the fire a little over a minute in. What starts as introspective quickly evolves into an urgent tale of impending doom. Dramatic, rapid swirls of synth coil around seething guitar work and plaintive, beckoning wails of warning. Listening, it’s like a whimsical dream in a mysterious land that turns into a nightmare in which you see your own death and doom rushing toward you. Like the tunnel in the title of the song you are in a car hurtling toward a passage into the next life whether metaphorical or literal. It’s a song that reminds us that no matter how much we’ve planned or thought through we can’t escape the fate of all living creates and it all too often comes before you or anyone you know is read and too soon. Dire stuff but the song has a life affirming quality that lifts it out of that personal darkness and musically Sun Blood Stories, who have always more than a few steps removed from the wave of psychedelic rock of the past decade and a half, have pushed themselves into realms of songwriting and soundscaping that avoid tropes of the genre. Look out for the new record Haunt Yourself on September 20, 2019. Listen to “Up Comes the Tunnel” on Soundcloud and connect with Boise, Idaho’s Sun Blood Stories at the links below.

sunbloodstories.com
soundcloud.com/sun-blood-stories
open.spotify.com/artist/32ipxyvZ3Is2o2PdxOi1jS
youtu.be/eZXtYUvuoDk
sunbloodstories.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/SunBloodStories
facebook.com/sunbloodstories
instagram.com/sunbloodstories

Eldren’s Emphasis on Rhythm and Vocal Aerobatics on “Hazy Days” Sets it Apart from the Modern Psych Rock Pack

Eldren1_lg — Eldren, photo courtesy the artists

Eldren’s sound has evolved a great deal over the last several years with the band exploring a fairly broad range of rock and roll sonics. Its latest single “Hazy Days” finds the band taking a sort of garage psych sound and stretching it beyond the softer, safer realms of some of its would-be peers into hard rock territory not unlike what you might expect out of, say, a Wand or King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. At the core of the song is a driving, fuzzy bass line that guides the melody through its various gyres and gimbles as the song cruises to its conclusion. The vocals effortlessly swing between Robert Plant-esque primal wails and Beatles-like vocal harmonies and one striking aspect of the song for a band writing music in this style is how guitars take a back seat to the rhythm, synths and singing. Where you might expect a trippy guitar solo, Eldren gives space for other aspects of the song to shine and as such its dynamics here and elsewhere in its musical catalog are fine examples of how a psych rock band can avoid the usual clichés of the loose genre. Listen on Spotify and follow Eldren at the links below.

facebook.com/pg/EldrenMusic
http://www.eldrenband.com

“Rumors” by The Motion Epic is Lush and Melodramatic Pop Song in the Classic Mid-80s Style

TheMotionEpic_Rumors_crop — The Motion Epic “Rumors” cover (cropped)

Pat DiMeo takes us on a trip back to the mid-80s with his project The Motion Epic and the single “Rumors.” Soft, luminous, bell tone synth arpeggios, Casiotone-esque washes and emotive saxophone provided by Benjamin Harrison of Cirque Du Soleil all sound like something straight out of an episode of Miami Vice or any other Michael Mann production of the era like Band of the Hand. It’s melodramatic and would have fit on the radio alongside the likes of Phil Collins and John Parr. It is the sound of a niche period in mainstream popular music from 1984-1986 when soaring melodies and windswept dynamics with production and treatments on instruments that would quickly go out of style. Fortunately DiMeo spares us that cheesy and personality-lacking, compressed guitar sound that was de rigueur at the time. Rather, he focuses on the cool emotional colorings and lush compositions that gave some of that music its enduring appeal. Listen to “Rumors” on Soundcloud and follow The Motion Epic at the links below.

themotionepic.com
soundcloud.com/themotionepic

“Caterpillar Motion” by Sudo Williams is One Piece of his Futuristic Concept Album That Stimulates Multiple Parts of Your Brain

SudoWilliams1_crop — Sudo Williams, photo courtesy the artist

Sudo Williams gets “Caterpillar Motion” off the ground with an insistent and irresistible flow of words and imagery weaving in references to mythology and daydreaming. The background melody as almost a rhythmic counterpoint to the cadence of the lyrics is an ascending series of ethereal tones and synth drone accents giving the song a dynamic contrast of mood and texture. The song is part of the album Me, You & Them which takes place in the year 3005 in a town named Port Ambedo where music doesn’t exist and life is experienced visually. Except for the latter there is no real night and day, just eternal starlight and the appearance of an Aurora Borealis to mark the day as the citizens of the town are active at night. The main character of the songs is a figure named B( )R (pronounced “Bear”) who has an eidetic memory and a form of synesthesia between sound and color. In giving the songs a dual property working together so well as described above, Sudo Williams in this song and others is helping us to think in ways that by drawing us into songs that stimulate our various cognitive capacities in numerous ways with poetic lyrics that tie it all together into a cohesive whole. You can listen to the single and the rest of the album on Soundcloud and follow Sudo Williams at the links below.

soundcloud.com/sudowilliams
twitter.com/Sudo_Williams
facebook.com/SudoWilliams
instagram.com/sudo_williams

Handsome Naked Sends Up the Obligatory Summer Jam With Its Song and Video for, well, “Summer”

HandsomeNaked2_lg_crop — Handsome Naked, photo courtesy the artists

Handsome Naked has the opposite of swagger in its single “Summer” featuring Becca Brown. Rapping about waking up coated in sweat all summer and the losing of one’s best pair of sunglasses as existential crisis is not quite Vic Berger territory with the surreal but it is a deft send-up of feel-good summer hits as an absurd subgenre whether hip-hop or otherwise. In delineating all the annoying and unromantic aspects of summer that most people can relate to, Handsome Naked definitely take the piss out of getting stoked on summer. Referencing chafing thighs and “booby sweat” the song nevertheless sounds like a legitimate downtempo pop hip-hop hit because Handsome Naked didn’t skimp on the songwriting and production in making comedy music up to and including its seventh and newly released album Doors. Like other comedy music artists like “Weird” Al Yankovic, Flight of the Conchords and Garfunkel and Oates, Handsome Naked had to put in some time learning songcraft to write songs that would actually be funny. Watch the video on YouTube and follow Handsome Naked at the links below.

soundcloud.com/handsome-naked
open.spotify.com/artist/1nSITZ48ppCY55h84d5w81
twitter.com/HandsomeNaked
facebook.com/hnake
instagram.com/handsomenaked