New Music – Page 264 – Queen City Sounds and Art

STK Sound’s “Do You Feel My Love” is a Dream Flight Into Subconscious Realms of the Imagination

STKSound_Reincarnation_lg — STK Sound, *Reincarnation* cover

A drifty loop of melodic percussive tones runs through “Do You Feel My Love” to ground the arcs and swells of synth and impressionistic vocals. It feels like a journey flying through breeze swept landscapes in a dream but cross over into the hypnogogic state and wake briefly with memories of the experience and your brain misses the feeling enough to take you back in and you’re able to flying again into skies of permanent twilight. The band’s new album Reincarnation feels like many of the songs are opening up beautiful, buried memories of subconscious experiences that remind us of mysterious depths of the universe and existence that are not part of the our logical, linear experience of what we perceive as reality during our waking hours. In that way the music operates much as does that of Boards of Canada—tapping into the part of our brains where emotion, memory and imagination combine to shape our associations of experiences. In doing so, drawing forth a sense of tranquility and wonder. By naming the album as they did, STK Sound are clearly giving reference to knowledge of experiences beyond the limitations of the current manifestation of this mortal coil. Give “Do You Feel My Love” and the rest of the album if you’re so inclined a listen below.

With “Sense To You” Hugh and Bonjay Carry You Through a Foggy Street Lit Downtempo Soundscape of Romantic Yearning

Hugh_HughXBonjay_cover_crop — Hugh, “Sense To You” cover (cropped)

Hugh’s “Sense To You ft. Bonjay” feels like rainy day either traveling some distance by train or looking out the window into the overcast evening contemplating what could be and what could have been with while nursing a melancholic loneliness. The lush synthscapes hang close and flow with a shifting opacity to carry you adrift with the wash of complex emotions flavored with a sense of muted yearning. The highly processed vocals late in the song are like the voice of the room around you saying what is oft wondered if walls could speak the un-mediated truth. The small sonic details really anchor the hazy melody like lights on the side of roads in the distance and lend to a sense of aural depth and not layers so much as a complete musical environment through which the listener moves along with song’s narrators. Listen below and give the band’s links a visit to further explore its beautifully moody music.

soundcloud.com/hughlovehugh
open.spotify.com/artist/4p0QVR6IXF7g1AyKcW3I4r
twitter.com/hughlovehugh
facebook.com/hughlovehugh
instagram.com/HughLoveHugh

Ghost Against Ghost’s “still love” is a Stirring, Exultant, Towering Epic

GhostAgainstGhost1_sm — Ghost Against Ghost, photo courtesy the artist

The main progression of “still love” by Ghost Against Ghost is reminiscent of that of the otherworldly and chilling Goblin composition “Tenebre” from the soundtrack for Tenebrae. And from there the song sweeps with multiple streams of sound into an emotional peak before soaring off into ethereal minimalism held aloft by the main melodic theme. At a little over ten minutes the song sounds like the official music for a far future artifact that one would expect to see in a Moebius or Alejandro Jodorowsky comic complex machine that brings culture, art and technology across parallel universes appearing like a divine sculpture, an abstract expression of the local culture’s mythology. Its elegant sonic architecture is massive and cascades tones in what feels like great forward momentum. Composer Christopher Bono worked with drummer Thomas Pridgen and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Molina on this piece and it is obvious all the combined talent came together to create a powerful listening experience. Informed by classical music it’s the kind of art/progressive rock that belies the notion that it is all of the head and not the heart. If a movie is made of the comic series Saga, the producers should consider contacting Ghost Against Ghost because the music is on a scale worthy but as unpretentious as Bryan K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples creation itself. Listen below and follow Ghost Against Ghost on the Spotify account.

open.spotify.com/artist/3kekIPWkSOIfesmlmX8T3a

Krept & Konan Give Us a Gritty and Powerful Slice of Life in London’s Hip-hop Underground With “Ban Drill”

KreptAndKonan2_sm — Krept & Konan, photo courtesy the artists

Krept & Konan’s “Ban Drill” is a harrowing and poignant song about life on the lower rungs of society and the desperation and dream crushing aspects of a social reality that seems aimed at undermining anyone’s efforts to escape the cycle of poverty. Much as in the USA in the 80s and 90s, so-called “gangsta rap” that dared to accurately depict life in impoverished urban life mixed with a sometimes nihilistic sometimes aspirational mythologizing and swagger was targeted as being inherently dangerous to society, especially when it started to become commercially successful and popular outside the areas that spawned it. Drill music, its artists and its culture have been seen in a similar light whether in the USA where it spawned as a form of trap in Chicago or in Brixton in the UK. But “Ban Drill” and its video shows not just the down side of how that subculture is treated but also its promise as reflecting a life that isn’t 100% positive so it doesn’t have to hide or be swept aside or unacknowledged. Watch the remarkable video below a dollow Krept & Konan at the links provided.

twitter.com/Kreptplaydirty
twitter.com/konanplaydirty
www.instagram.com/kreptplaydirty
www.instagram.com/konanplaydirty
www.facebook.com/KreptandKonan

Ramz Takes You On His Fraught Journey to Success on “Don’t You Play With Me ft. LD”

Ramz1_crop — Ramz, photo courtesy the artist

Ramz recently released his Blockbuster EP and the single “Don’t You Play With Me ft. LD” and its attendant video are a peek into a life of a corner of London that not a lot of people not from the city know about. And he does so with such vivid storytelling, teaming with Doom-esque, bemasked rapper LD, that you feel like you were with him on the journey to chase a dream of making music that impacts a wide audience with the challenges in your way and the temptations that can trip you up along the way. The diverse influences on the track make for an enriching listen threading together hip-hop/trap, club music and modern dancehall—influences one hears in weirdo post-punk band Sleaford Mods. Ramz embraces his roots and where he’s from as a place where respect and authenticity are the social currency valued and it shines through in every moment of the song. Watch/listen below and follow Ramz at the links provided.

www.facebook.com/RamzRochester
twitter.com/RamoneRochester
www.instagram.com/ramonerochester

eva’s Seething, Gloriously Trashy, Dark Glam Goth Song “venacava” is Also Pure Rock and Roll

Eva_courtesyOfTheArtist_crop — Eva, photo courtesy the artist

In under three minutes Los Angeles band eva packs a lot of power and imaginative songwriting into its single “venacava.” Practically the whole history of post-punk, dark glam and 80s New Wave Goth is deconstructed and put back together in a song that crackles with a brash energy with an appeal beyond the obvious. It’s raw and sleazy guitar riff reminiscent of Daniel Ash gives way to a Gary Numan-esque robotic mid-secton with nods to Fad Gadget’s depth of field. The vocals are in your face with the guitar the way a gloriously borderline trashy glam band should be. But underlying this aggressive stance is a rich background of electronics giving a sense of space that in the end is the most surprising and striking with the contrast. Bold and introspective both, “venacava” hits many emotional spots in your field of listening in a way rare in the current field of post-punk and the new dark wave. It is unabashedly rock and roll and shamelessly arty.

soundcloud.com/evalosangeles/venacava
open.spotify.com/artist/1aMXwL79MfuV2t9FCUOgo7
https://www.instagram.com/eva_losangeles
evalosangeles.com

LP’s “Shaken” is a Powerful Anthem to Radical Vulnerability and Self-Care

LP sounds on the verge of breaking down while embracing the inherent power of her sensitivity and vulnerability on “Shaken.” Rather than out on a tough front after a break-up, LP feels that moment with every fiber of her being and speaks to that moment of intense pain with an unvarnished honesty and the knowledge that to deny the hurt is to dishonor your own reality. LP knows the peaks and valleys of love and when it ends, for whatever reason it ends, putting on dispassionate airs may make it easier to get through the worst of those moments but just feeling it with immediacy can so often make it easier to cope. The vocals on the track reach to your core and make it okay to join her in the heights of radical vulnerability throughout the song and beyond. Listen below and follow LP’s musical adventures at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/iamlpmusic
open.spotify.com/artist/0J7U24vlOOIeMpuaO6Q85A
twitter.com/iamlp
facebook.com/iamLP

“Never Look Back” From Rainbow Riots India is a New Disco Anthem to the Inevitability of LGBT Rights Being Seen as Human Rights Globally

Rainbow Riots India is a compilation of music featuring LGBT artists from India and released through the Rainbow Riots organization. The video for “Never Look Back” isn’t just a music video, it’s a documentary short about Paras, a member of Dancing Queens. Though the music is written and produced by Rainbow Riots founder and creative director Petter Wallenberg, an artist and musician in his own right in Sweden, the performances showcase the talents of noteworthy Indian musicians including, for “Never Look Back,” India’s first openly lesbian singer Pragya Pallavi. The song is reminiscent of Madonna circa the early 90s or Donna Summer and her collaborations with Giorgio Moroder in that sense of forward momentum into a more fulfilling future. At a time when the cultural currents of reactionary politics are trying to turn back the clock on progress in the realm of furthering human rights, this documentary shows how even in a fairly conservative country like India that strides are being made and the song the triumphant embodiment of those efforts. Watch the video below and check out more Rainbow Riots content at the link provided.

soundcloud.com/user-982619949

Tony Njoku’s “HAPLESS” is a Wry and Melanchoy Trip to Sonic Weirdsville

TonyNjoku_cover_crop — Tony Njoku, single cover, cropped

Tony Njoku uses truly unconventional sounds and layers of rhythm on “HAPLESS.” A mid-range bass line seems to be the through line in the song but the sounds of springing and warping synths, staccato synth figures, whorls of ethereal tone like something from the welcome screen of a 90s video game, what seem to be the sharp, insistent samples of insect noises amplified or a typewriter EQ’d to sound like sub-industrial clicks and Njoku presiding over this organized chaos like a trickster omniscient narrator reflecting on his life and changing aural shape at will. No need to slap a genre designation on this song but fans of Prefuse 73 and Autechre will appreciate Njoku’s sonic gyrations and trips to colorful Weirdsville. His next album is due to drop in October but for now listen below and follow Njoku at the link provided.

soundcloud.com/tonynjoku

HELGA’s “Haunted” is Imbued With an Ineffable Sense of the Sinister

HELGA_ErikLarsson1 — HELGA, photo by Erik Larsson of Apocalypse Orchestra

HELGA’s origin story to some extent is that she lives in a cabin in the forests of Dalarna, Sweden where her main companion is her guitar and, one would presume, communing with her own demons and the ghosts of her ancestors. The video for her “Haunted” single appears to be the story of a bride who killed her wealthy husband and now wracked with guilt faces the consequences of her actions in the community and to her own psyche. While it may be sort of horror story it’s also a metaphor for feeling as though you’ve take action in your life with irrevocable negative consequences. The guitar swirls around driving drums in and out with abstract tones and fiery riffing. Visually its reminiscent of Valhalla Rising or The Witch with the colors, the pacing and the ineffable sense that something sinister is afoot just out of conscious perception. Epic in its melodramatic strains, “Haunted” sounds exactly like it is so. HELGA recently performed her first lives shows accompanied by Jonathen Hulten of Tribulation and the photographs from the event are promising. Watch below and follow HELGA at the links provided. The Autumn Lament EP is due out later in the summer.

open.spotify.com/artist/7qseRh3ouracYc1Sy0NENa
facebook.com/helgadalarna