New Music – Page 256 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Moudy Afifi’s Remix of The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition” Transforms the Song Into an Ambient New Wave Dance Track

MoudyAfifi1_sm — Moudy Afifi, photo courtesy the artist

Moudy Afifi’s remix of The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition” places the emphasis on its potential as a more abstract and ambient dance track. The falsetto vocals of the original take on a more processed sound here as though put through a vocoder. In basically doubling the length of the song Afifi is able to explore the tonal qualities of the song even more as he is able to slow down the pace and all but remove the organic drums and guitar and replace them with electronic elements (or a highly processed version of the original percussion) occupying the same sonic and thematic space. The effect is almost like a deep house version of an Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark song. Afifi in effect does what one would hope a remix would do with a song and basically make it anew while preserving something of the song’s core appeal. Listen to the remix on Soundcloud and follow Moudy Afifi at the links below.

disclosedrecords.net/moudyafifi
soundcloud.com/moudyafifi
twitter.com/MoudyAfifi
facebook.com/moudyafifi
instagram.com/moudyafifi

“Away we go” by Noukko is an Invitation to Following Serendipity Into a More Fun and Fulfilling Life

Noukko1_sm — Noukko, photo courtesy the artist

“Away we go” by Noukko is initially a summery, light pop saunter into serendipitous encounters and experiences. And its rhythmic structure is similarly loose yet coherent as is the melody. It feels very spontaneous and off the cuff and that’s what draws you in aside from the chill melody and Noukko’s bright and breathily soulful vocals. The mix of organic sounds and the electronic give the song a sound like it could have been made forty years ago or in someone’s bedroom studio today. There is a bit of library music vibe here too like it’s a song made for other potential uses whether for a soundtrack, a business seminar, a hipper than average commercial. When the song speeds up a little after the two minute mark it feels as though you enter into a fast forward mode too as the rest of the song trained your ear for its languid pace. All in all it’s an unconventional pop song with the trappings of a downtempo lounge composition. Throughout the song there seems to be an implied suggestion to set aside the logical mind and embrace the spontaneity most people lose when they reach adulthood. It is the musical equivalent of Melanie Griffith’s character in Something Wild. Watch the video below on YouTube and follow Noukko at the links provided.

noukko.com
soundcloud.com/user-600686401
open.spotify.com/artist/1tSC2akd29inEOKNBcfHun
youtube.com/watch

T-Shirt Dream Party Reconciles the Melancholic and the Exuberant, the Resigned and the Triumphant on “Bookends (Sunrise)”

T-ShirtDreamParty1_crop — T-Shirt Dream Party, image courtesy the artists

T-shirt Dream Party introduces its song “Bookends (Sunrise)” with ghostly, introspective vocals before the pace picks up and the song’s atmospherics seem to collide together before dissolving into the ether from before. The synth accents in the song give it a paradoxically melancholic frisson the likes of which you might hear in a The Twilight Sad song. The falsetto vocals and the sweeping musical passages are both bracing and thrilling even as the song sets you down for a moment of reflection and tranquility before carrying you off into a moment of scintillating sound just before the melodic fadeout and to some extent thus the title of the song. Listen to “Bookends (Sunrise)” below and follow T-Shirt Dream Party at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/tshirtdreamparty
open.spotify.com/artist/1cefQY0A8X8IQ7RXhqy6K7
facebook.com/tshirtdreamparty
instagram.com/tshirtdreamparty

Bootleg Rascal’s “Tryin’ to Run” is the Sound of Dangerously Fun Hijinks in the Offing

BootlegRascal1_sm — Bootleg Rascal, photo courtesy the artists

Bootleg Rascal’s music is a rowdy and eclectic mix of styles that stretches the boundaries of what hip-hop might sound like. On its single “Tryin’ to Run” the band brings in some tasty, hot guitar licks and its vocals are more like conventional singing than spitting bars though laid out like the latter. The song gives the impression of hijinks in the offing like the introduction to a Judd Apatow movie or a Zach Galifianakis vehicle. Or like a more funk-oriented LMFAO. It is a party anthem but one that has an element of the subversive in the lyrics. After all, one of the lines is “tryin’ to run while tying the noose” and a reference to coming back from the ICU. For a song that seems so carefree and headlong there’s some skullduggery and danger to give it a bit of an edge. And who doesn’t appreciate that in what is otherwise a rousing pop song for the summer? Listen to “Tryin’ to Run” on Soundcloud and follow Bootleg Rascal at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/bootleg-rascal
open.spotify.com/artist/2cScEQkwCAObAfeFX4CYr4

“Eyze” is Stray Fossa’s Song About Staying the Course Creatively Even When the Spark of Inspiration is But a Memory

StrayFossa1_crop — Stray Fossa, photo courtesy the artists

“Eyze,” the new single from Stray Fossa takes us along for a journey into the vagaries, the ups and downs of inspiration. Its breezy pace suits the way the way creativity can manifest in our imagination as a fleeting sprite of energy that we can follow to vistas fruitful for our work but which can flutter out of our grasp. But the song doesn’t feel like it comes from a place of frustration but rather acceptance of the ebbs and flows of that energy and the importance of channeling it into concrete work that can spark its own momentum when we’re falling short of the elusive quality of inspiration. As anyone that is involved in creative projects can tell you it is what you’re doing when inspiration isn’t directly there that makes for some of the most inspired and enduring creations because you have to draw on the memory of inspiration to drive them to completion. Fans of Beach Fossils will appreciate the song’s fluid guitar atmospherics and melodic bass counter melody. Listen to “Eyze” on YouTube and follow Stray Fossa at the links below.

strayfossa.com
soundcloud.com/strayfossa
open.spotify.com/artist/5UuvCjt4c4BvzGwK4W0ipD
strayfossa.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/strayfossa
instagram.com/strayfossa

Fragile Gods’ “Days Without End” is Like a Night Time Stroll to the City’s Still Secret Places

FragileGods1_crop — Fragile Gods, photo courtesy the artist

Fragile Gods are rooted in 80s experimental electronic and post-punk bands like Cabaret Voltaire (think the more pop-oriented The Crackdown and The Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord period) and Nitzer Ebb. But its new single “Days Without End” strikes some vocal tonality reminiscent of David Bowie of the same era and a bit of Andrew Eldritch in his less angsty moments. Frederick Frantz and Aika Zabala compliment each other perfectly in creating that kind of lost public access video quality with the swarming-flowing synth track and stark atmospherics and the retro vocal processing throughout. But it doesn’t sound like retro-fetishism either. It’s a well-crafted song in which you can get lost in its foggy, introspective moods and vocal and melodic synth line interplay. The song doesn’t get stuck in a dynamic rut and evolves in interesting directions like you’re being lead through a night time urban landscape in the pre-dawn dark to one of the only remaining underground clubs where the music isn’t dictated or shaped by an algorithm and where you can be around like-minded connoisseurs of authentic underground culture. Listen to “Days Without End” on Soundcloud and follow Fragile Gods on their website or listen on Spotify where you can check out the rest of the band’s output including its EPs Cold Comfort and The Future Never Came.

fragilegods.com

“White Walls” by August Ten is an Understated and Elegant Breakup Song that Will Drift Into Your Psyche

August Ten uses layers of atmospherics in composing “White Walls,” the lead single off its second EP. Floating over the soothing procession of sounds are nearly ghostly vocals for an effect like a kind of dream pop and downtempo side of Legendary Pink Dots. There’s something enigmatic to this song about a breakup reflected on in the rear view with a rare personal insight into how that past relationship and breakup echoes into the narrator’s psyche now. The line “I can only sleep when I’m alone” is simple enough but speaks volumes of the emotional aftermath. This is not a song screaming in anguish, anger or bitterness, rather it’s poignant because it acknowledges the hurt long after and not having that all figured out. Subdued keys, light percussion with brushed snare, a progressive yet spare guitar line climbing elegantly up a melodic trajectory all make for a listening experience that is unobtrusive yet impactful. Listen below on YouTube and follow August Ten at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/augustten
open.spotify.com/artist/4YfmCJlMxx6dJ5yRnNTBpA
youtube.com/channel/UCAtHUqKpHN4cA_ONPr8IJXA

The “respawn” Video Single by bensnburner is a Haunting Embodiment of the Game Concept as Manifested in Song

bensburner1_crop — bensnburner logo (cropped)

A montage of what appears to be a passing bus in reverse and then I forward motion is the backdrop of “respawn,” the first single from bensnburner’s forthcoming album. The low textural drone flowing along with a cycling background melodic drone convey a dream-like energy as guitar strikes fractured and drawn out riffing and distorted synth winds warble and whorl. It’s reminiscent of the film Koyaanisqatsi in how the music and the footage are synergistic in highlighting how mysterious and alien every day, seemingly mundane events can be unless we truly pull back and examine what it is that’s really going on if we’re able and willing to strip it of the cultural knowledge and assumptions that give them the meaning suggested and programmed by cultural context. The concept of “respawning” in a video game is to die in game and then come back to life at a beginning point and to, in a way, to start over, have another chance to approach things from another angle or to make the same fatal mistakes all over again but without the consequences of actual death. The motion of the video and the recursive structure of the song is sort of an embodiment of respawning in musical form but with the iterations evolving as one hopes one would in a game setting. Watch the video below and follow bensnburner at the links provided.

bensnburner.com
youtube.com/user/bensnburner
facebook.com/bensnburner
instagram.com/bensnburner

Kip LaVie Evokes the Rhythms and Organic Musicality of the Natural World on “Time Enough”

KipLaVie2_crop — Kip LaVie, image courtesy the artist

The wash of textures and melodic strings of beeps and swirling up of bloops and the visceral sound of air bubbles all commingle in the organic flow of Kip LaVie’s “Time Enough.” It sounds like the musical equivalent of recreating the environment of a mountain bound wetlands. Electronic dulcimer casting a figure in the breeze as sculpted white noise and shiny tones blowing down from mountain peaks, the glisten off the water as arpeggiated distant notes, synth swells as the sunlight peeking through clouds. It presents an abstract analog of the inherent musicality of natural rhythms allowing the listener to take it in as a different manifestation of the experience. Often environment-oriented compositions try to create something more industrial or urban, “Time Enough” is a reminder that the field of this type of music rooted in minimal electronics is broad with possibilities. Listen on Soundcloud and follow Kip LaVie at any of the links below.

itunes.apple.com/album/id1449644752
soundcloud.com/kiplavie
open.spotify.com/artist/4uvFMStdlU6xSYr5ygeCDD
kiplavie.bandcamp.com/releases

Suzy V’s Melancholic “Gone Tomorrow” Blends the Exotic, The Familiar and The Classic

SuzyV1_crop — Suzy V, photo courtesy the artist

It sounds like there’s a touch of reverse delay on the guitar in Suzy V’s “Gone Tomorrow” like a touch of psychedelia in a Flamenco-inflected pop song. Her breathy vocals sound like they’re coming in from another time like a translucent overlay of a narrator in a movie scene lamenting what could have been. The reverb on her singing reinforces the sense of lonely desolation, inconsolable. In some ways the song hearkens to a prologue to a Jim Jarmusch movie because while distinct and concrete it has a fully-integrated, multicultural sensibility and the impression that it is not drawing on a single, fixed, cultural time frame and without topical and specific references to ground the song in a narrow context in which it must have been made. Blending the exotic and the familiar with the classic and modern flourishes in production, Suzy V has crafted a timeless, melancholic, existential composition.