New Music – Page 67 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E04: Fire Motel

Fire Motel, photo courtesy Ilya Litoshik

Fire Motel is the songwriting project of multi-instrumentalist and singer Ilya Litoshik. The latter was born in Belarus but his family moved to upstate New York in 1991 when he was a young child. During a stint in the music program at a college in Schenectady, New York his parents moved to Round Rock, Texas and Litoshik ended up dropping out of school but before then a friend that had moved to Denver told him that the city had an up and coming music scene. Spending some time in Round Rock and finding nothing to keep him there the fledgling songwriter with $400 to his name relocated to the Mile High City around 2008. And though he spent his earliest days in Denver crashing on couches and sleeping in basements, Litoshik also fell in with a group of creatives including an art collective called The WPA Collective where he met Bryon Parker and other musicians who were making the Denver underground vibrant at that time.

Over the next several years Litoshik became involved in various projects including Adam Adam with Parker and Corey English. But perhaps the most enduring and popular of Litoshik’s bands until recently was Turvy Organ which ran through much of the 2010s and perhaps prophetically released its final single “Cold Water” on March 13, 2020 as the pandemic lockdowns ended live music and in many cases bands during the course of the subsequent year and a half. In the core of that band’s songwriting you can hear the strains of what Litoshik would do with his next project Fire Motel. Fans of Modest Mouse, Deathcab For Cutie and The National might have found something to really dig into with the excellent Turvy Organ. Early Fire Motel felt more stripped down than that but of course with sophisticated songs and Litoshik’s earnest and unpretentious performance style. However, in the years leading up to the pandemic and certainly after venues started opening again something had changed drastically in Denver in ways that have made it challenging for bands and anyone related to the music industry to develop and thrive. Litoshik felt this deeply and painfully so thinking about places where he might be able to flourish more fully so he moved to New York City in the spring of 2023 to connect with the creative energy of that city where there is always something going on and where a creative community has found a place to grow and be supported by what NYC has to offer in terms of opportunities and cultural infrastructure for decades.

Prior to his move, Litoshik had been working on his next set of songs for release and finally completed the recording and production of The World an Opera for release on October 1, 2023. Litoshik wrote the album, recorded it in his New York residence, mixed the songs and did the other production with mastering by Carmine Francis. Contributing vocals on the album is Alli Walz. You can hear echos of Litoshik’s various influences in the music but the new record combines the more analog musicianship with a kind of sound design and electronic production element for a sound that is deeply evocative and firmly establishes the songwriter as an artist who knows how to articulate a sense of wonder and poetically express the source of our modern anxieties while offering insightful portraits of life that anyone that has been living in the USA in recent years would recognize.

Fire Motel on Instagram

Ghostcake’s Fantastically Otherworldly Melodies in Dream Pop Single “Get It Right” Imbues a Time of Challenges With an Irresistibly Uplifting Spirit

“Get It Right” by Astoria, Queens, NYC synthpop artist Ghostcake has an uplifting charm that captivates from the beginning. Its ethereal bell tones, pulsing, warm bass and drifting melodies is like the memory you’d want to have of going to an unlikely combination of 1980s arcade and theme park minus any of the dark side of any of that. The beats are like something you’re more likely to hear on a hip-hop track with the steady cadence that supports well some choice bars but the music is more in the vein of a fantastical anime sequence where the lead character has time to follow her bliss in a wonderland of delights. The main lyric that we hear echoing slightly here and there is “I swear I’ll get it right” which introduces a deeply human element in this otherwise otherworldly and surreal pop song but lends it an irresistible hopefulness. Listen to “Get It Right” on Spotify and follow Ghostcake at the links below.

Ghostcake Streaming Links for “Get It Right”

Ghostcake on Facebook

Ghostcake on Instagram

CR&M Melds Hypnotic IDM Loops and Prog Psychedelia on the Dreamlike “Mondegreen”

The guitar figure that runs throughout CR&M’s “Mondegreen” might for some be reminiscent of Acid Mothers Temple’s 1997 psychedelic rock classic “Pink Lady Lemonade.” But around it is a rapidly repeating textural tone like a fluttering, cybernetic dragonfly. When the vocals come in like a disembodied presence in a dream it’s calming if barely discernible. At two and a half minutes in the tones cascade down over the forward progression of the original riff and the two vocalists ripple off one another in a dreamy shimmer that accentuates the mood of the song of transcending mundane existence and indulge a full blossoming of the imagination as a key to emotional and psychological liberation. Through composing the song so it taps into the aesthetics of genuinely psychedelic rock and the hypnotic loops of IDM it truly sounds like something different as it dares to incorporate sound elements that are outside the bounds of standard, pristine music production. Listen to “Mondegreen” on Spotify.

Animal Feelings’ Remix of Lila Swain’s Dream Pop Single “Calling” Amplifies Its Sensual Downtempo Atmospherics and Sense of Mystery

Lila Swain entrusted Animal Feelings to lend more than a touch of cinematic soundscaping to her 2023 single “Calling.” The original is a spare yet soulfully evocative electronic pop song. For this remix the textures are accented and augmented so there is a quality like something from a futuristic music box in this version. The sounds of alien birds warble and Swain’s vocals echo ever so slightly and bleed into one another like a sound in the conscious world entering a dream state without interrupting it whereas the echos in the original seem distinct and spaced out slightly more. All of the atmosphere elements stream out to the edges and beyond the horizon and the song is transformed into something one might expect more from a rare and obscure but treasured downtempo compilation from the late 90s. Except the sensibilities here are all modern with how Animal Feelings interpreted Swain’s original composition’s emotional impact, deconstructed some of the elements and reassembled them to lend the song an impressive depth of dynamic atmospheres to amplify all the song’s emotional resonances. Listen to the Animal Feelings remix of Lila Swain’s “Calling” on Spotify and follow the Australian singer and songwriter Swain at the links below.

Lila Swain LinkTree

Lila Swain on Facebook

Lila Swain on TikTok

Lila Swain on Instagram

Queen City Sounds Podcast S4E03: Kissing Party

Kissing Party is the self-styled “slop pop” band from Denver that formed during the heyday of the wave of indie rock that came to prominence in the mid-to-late 2000s. The band’s sound early on and even to the current moment might be considered in the realm of twee pop except the group has had two guitarists for years but whose interplay has meant lush and delicate melodies that compliment the gentle exuberance of the songwriting and passionate live shows. What is “Slop Pop”? According to the band’s bio it’s “a perfectly blended chaos of dream pop, shoegaze & beach goth. But fans of Belle & Sebastian, Sarah Records and C86 bands and Denver indiepop from the 90s will find Kissing Party’s earnest sentiments, refreshingly and completely lacking in irony, and exquisitely crafted melodies much to their liking.

Several releases over nearly two decades has proven Kissing Party adept at creating deceptively simple songs about love and life that offer genuine insight without coming off corny or insincere. Sure there is some humor on stage and you might catch a show that’s loose around the edges but the charm is in the humanity of the music and its presentation while taking care to give listeners accessible songs of substance. The latest album Graceless released on November 17 via the band’s own label BbyV Records and available for digital download and streaming. It is a particularly focused and emotionally wide-ranging record from the band yet still retains a freshness of spirit that has been a hallmark of its previous recorded output and sustained song to song with a sense that the whole album is an emotional journey rather than a collection of resonant pop songs. It feels like a creative next step for a group that has been consistent in quality throughout its career thus far. For those interested the band’s generous back catalog is still available and in a handful of cases on a physical format, each worth a listen and all of which has aged well because Kissing Party seems to tap into timeless themes and aesthetics.

Listen to our interview with band founder, primary songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Gregg Dolan on Bandcamp and follow Kissing Party at the links below along with a few music videos for the new album.

Kissing Party on Twitter

Kissing Party on Facebook

Kissing Party on Instagram

HolyKimJo’s Immersive, Slowcore Sound Collage of “Photosynthesis In Your Love” is an Homage to the Invisible Forces of Our Lives That Sustain It

HolyKimJo recorded the music for “Photosynthesis In Your Love” on an old tape recorder to give it that unique touch of the analog experience which is closes to life and emotions as we experience them directly. The format preserves and communicates a constant flow of atmospheric sounds around the vocal melody like a keen awareness of environment and the rhythms of the world around you would convey to you if you stop to pay attention. The song itself is about the invisible forces we take for granted that sustain life and one’s well being that one can take for granted until the moment we focus on our own awareness whether that’s photosynthesis or the love of and for another and so many things that make our lives feel significant while we live it. The song is on a slowcore vein with minimal guitar work and breathy vocals akin to The Microphones circa The Glow, Pt. 2 or even an old Flying Saucer Attack song. But it isn’t derivative, it feels like its own universe of sounds, a collage of field recordings, guitar, processed vocals and drones that feel like a unified sensory experience which the beautifully enigmatic music video embodies perfectly with its sense of wonder at the great expanse of existence. Watch the video for “Photosynthesis In Your Love” on YouTube and follow Seoul, South Korea’s HolyKimJo at the links below. The album Her Name, Like a Fading Polaroid released November 29, 2023 and is now available on streaming and as a digital download on Bandcamp.

HolyKimJo on Instagram

Lost & Profound’s “Comet” is an Unorthodox Breakup Song in Tones Melancholic and Anthemic

Lost & Profound, photo courtesy the artists

A sound like a sitar opens “Comet” by Lost & Profound lending it an exotic quality before it drops out and Lisa Boudreau’s vocals come in with an intimate tone for quite an unorthodox breakup song. What might have been sitar reveals itself as potentially acoustic or electric guitar processed to give the bends a strange voicing. But which accompanies the vocals alongside low key percussion and a background pulse as though the words of the song are meditative and intentional rather than mournful. Our narrator uses the metaphor of being a river that can overflow for being a person of strong emotions while later in the song using the image of self as comet, fiery and headed to distant realms to the same effect. But the chorus “I’m a teardrop, watch me fall” that floats in the song in its most melancholic passages expresses the heartbreak and intense moment of regret that lingers but doesn’t last forever. Stylistically the song shifts from a more dream pop sound to a touch of country rock swagger mid-song when going into that bit about being a comet and the guitar is more expansive and crunchy and Boudreau’s vocals joined by backing vocals echoing her lines for the most anthemic moments of the song before the outro back into vulnerability and fadeout to some tasty backwards delay on the guitar to close out a chapter in a life story. Listen to “Comet” on Spotify.

Whipper Snipper’s Dark Dream Pop Single “I Fell” is a Brooding and Ethereal Journey Through Loss and Acceptance

“I Fell” by Whipper Snipper has a darkly wandering structure made up of seemingly interconnected circles of melody and rhythm. The music video depicts in black, white and grey tones a landscape of what look like legos of a person navigating a fantastical landscape dodging being caught up in the grips of gigantic arachnids. The moody bass line that introduces the song is a near constant presence that feels reassuring like a lifeline to reality from a realm of dreams and enchantment as seems depicted in the lyrics. The imagery of falling for someone and becoming lost and unmoored. When the percussion and bass drop out at around the 1:50 mark for haunting, teeming synth melody and a melancholic electronic piano figure filling that void it feels like emotional free fall. But all elements come together in the end and disappearing a little at a time before the final line of the song where the vocals sit all but alone and the vocalist sings, “Unchained, untroubled, unhinged.” And that captures the unsettling aspect of the song even though its atmospheres are beautiful and mysterious but at its heart it expresses that sense one can get when you think you got what you wanted in life in a relationship only to find out despite once feeling a deep sense of connection, attraction and affection all of those can dissolve for reasons you may never fully understand yet even in that liminal moment a sense of freedom, relief and acceptance can mix in with a sense of loss. Fans of Cranes and Just Mustard may appreciate the entrancing yet understated brooding quality of this song. Watch the video for “I Fell” on YouTube and follow Whipper Snipper at the links below.

Otis Mensah’s Mystical, Existential “That Mouth Of Rainfall” is an Avant-Downtempo Hip-Hop Exploration of Identity, Depression and Dreams

Otis Mensah, photo from cover of *WINTERSKIN*

Otis Mensah, the first Poet Laureate of the City of Sheffield in the UK, free associates spiritual imagery and experiences with those more earth bound throughout “That Mouth Of Rainfall” (featuring contributions from Rituals of Mine). In the music video we see Mensah walking through a church and the streets of Berlin captured on Super 8 which suits well the soft, soulful, pulsing synth and hushed, downtempo production and Mensah’s sentiments with each line of lyrics. Mensah navigates issues of perception and reality, of identity and aspirations and how those intersect with a life that can seem to throw you setbacks and opportunities at seemingly perversely random intervals. Mensah is open about an extended depression and contemplating surrendering to what seems inevitable and pulling back and finding vitality in new experiences and contemplating possibilities. In the soulful vocals of Terra Lopez aka Rituals of Mine (some may know Lopez for her tenure writing and performing music as Sister Crayon) we hear an emotional clarity as a companion to Mensah’s flow of existential sketches, an architecture of the song that reflects Mensah’s seemingly dialectical narrative with self. The effect of all these elements working in perfect sync with each other brings a great dimensionality to the song musically, thematically and emotionally all while pulling you into its gorgeously lush layers of melody and gentle rhythm. All in all a fine example of the kind of music we’ve come to expect from Sheffield in terms of being incredibly experimental and forward thinking and accessible in ways that aren’t immediately predictable. Watch the video for “The Mouth Of Rainfall” on YouTube and follow Otis Mensah at the links below. The album WINTERSKIN dropped on October 4, 2023.

Otis Mensah on Facebook

Otis Mensah on Instagram

Johnathan Maske’s Chilling Folk Single “Chasing Shadows” is Like the End Theme Music for a Haunted Spaghetti Western

Johnathan Maske, photo courtesy the artist

Johnathan Maske sounds like he immersed himself in some late 60s and early 70s folk singers on “Chasing Shadows,” the debut single from his forthcoming album The Down Valley (out in May 2024). The vocals tilt over the edge a little when hitting that falsetto with raw feeling but reel back in with the the chill melodies that run through the song. There’s a melancholic tone to the song and its orchestral songwriting is reminiscent of something out of a Spaghetti western but with all the desert tones turned icy and overcast rather than sun scorched, like a film Sergio Leone might have made based on an Edgar Allan Poe story. The shuffling beat and slightly lo-fi production lends the song a quality that feels like it’s from another decade like music you’d hear in the end scenes and credits of a baroque horror or thriller film from the UK or Europe in the aforementioned era of folk. The sentiments of the lyrics read like the thoughts of a person who is trapped by his own paranoid thoughts and visions of failure, petty revenge and futility and the song serves well the tragic mood of that kind of emotional isolation and that the song sometimes feels like it could fall apart the essential fragility of that headspace. And yet there’s a compelling hauntedness to the song that draws you in to the end. Listen to “Chasing Shadows” on Spotify and follow Johanthan Maske at the links below. In the months ahead Maske will release further singles from the album leading up to its issuance in the spring.

Johnathan Maske on Facebook

Johnathan Maske on Instagram

Johnathan Maske on Bandcamp