Song Post – Page 171 – Queen City Sounds and Art

“As Dreams Are Made On” by Fountain Child is an IDM Garage Embodiment of a Contemplative Mood in Late Fall’s Dusk

FountainChild_AsDreamsAreMadeOn_crop — Fountain Child, “As Dreams Are Made On” cover (cropped)

“As Dreams Are Made On,” by UK based artist Fountain Child, is a rainy soundscape of downtempo beats and production with a great depth of field sound. Distant, impressionistic tones flicker through a swirling fog of melodic drone while vocals seem to announce stops along a train route in mantra-like fashion as an ethereal warble rather than coherent words, ghostly samples of a child ask why it’s so dark and offering sage observations on the nature of things as a shuffling beat carries a gentle but definite momentum. The influence of Burial, especially that artist’s epochal 2007 album Untrue, is obvious as a the flow of tone and texture echo the UK garage aesthetic including elements of ambient music in the layers of atmospherics. The song brings you along on a drift-y journey over a dusk-hued landscape in the late fall when the sun is setting early and you have time to indulge your mind’s wanderings between the priorities of your day life and plans for the evening. Listen to “As Dreams Are Made On” at Spotify and follow Fountain Child utilizing any of the links below.

open.spotify.com/artist/1UifhAK78Uo7DBcS57RmxA
fountainchild.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/fountainchild
instagram.com/key_yaoshi

Mimo Celebrates Her Musical and Personal Heritage on Downtempo Jazz and Neo-Soul Track “Papa Was”

Mimo1_crop — Mimo, photo courtesy the artist

“Papa Was” finds New York City-based songwriter Mimo weaving in references to lyrics throughout the song like other artists would drop in choice sample to craft a beat. It’s a way to connect the artist to her inspirations and place herself in a musical lineage in a creative way in the classic fashion in order to create something new. There’s the obvious reference to the psychedelic soul classic by The Undisputed Truth (made famous shortly after by The Temptations) but also “Killing Me Softly With His Song” first a hit with Roberta Flack in 1973 and then The Fugees in 1996. Mimo’s own song while not a cover draws upon similar inspirations in jazz, soul and R&B without seeming to be defined purely by any of those musical forms. There is a wry sense of humor informing the attitude of the song and that’s one of its charms as it charts a story in which the songwriter is figuring out her path in life and coming back to her roots as an anchor in moving forward with confidence. “Papa Was” is the first single from Mimo’s full-length album Street Candid and you can listen to it on Spotify and follow Mimo at the links below.

mimomagri.com
soundcloud.com/mimomagri
open.spotify.com/artist/3eIJIZKEFoBYxr8A12M00k
facebook.com/mimomagri
instagram.com/mimomagri

“Joyride” is Adam Melchor’s Indie Pop Song About Acceptance of the Good That Can Come From Seemingly Bad Times

AdamMelchor2_sm — Adam Melchor, photo courtesy the artist

“Joyride” is a startlingly wise song from 24-year-old songwriter Adam Melchor. It’s such a sane yet melancholy and resignedly amused take on letting go of the things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things even though you’ve grown up assuming that losing certain things in your existence are a life-ending, or at least life-altering, disaster. In the song it’s on the surface about a stolen car but could also be about relationships splitting up, your own or those foundational to your life like those of close friends and your own parents. Musically Melchor uses horns and minimal guitar to great effect to convey the sense of loss but also that of acceptance, a musical “What are you gonna do?” Fans of Beulah and Red Pony Clock will find much to like in Melchor’s brand of indie pop for not just the choice of instruments but also the clever and thoughtful wordplay using unvarnished sentiments and honest language in a way designed to comfort without pandering. Listen to “Joyride” on Soundcloud and follow Melchor at the links below.

soundcloud.com/adammelchor
twitter.com/AdamMelchor
facebook.com/adammelchor
instagram.com/adammelchor

With Warm Atmospheres and Vulnerable Melodies, Westwood Bluegrass Band Transcend Musical Conventions on “Ever Turning Wheel”

WestwoodBluegrassBand1_lg — Westwood Bluegrass Band, image courtesy the artists

Though writing within the realm of a well-established form of music in the kind of western, bluegrass tradition, Westwood Bluegrass Band’s creativity is immediately evident on “Ever Turning Wheel.” Everyone making traditional, acoustic music strives for the authentic by essentially imitating a past artist. If this trio is so obvious in its hearkening back to a specific artist, I don’t know because there is something disarmingly vulnerable and uncalculated by the performance in the live video for the song. The melodies between the instruments and the vocalists are exquisite and all the more impressive because it is a live recording and the players all create such a warm, atmospheric quality to the song that it stands out in what has long been a crowded field of folk and Americana. Westwood Bluegrass Band take the essence of what that music should be about and spin that into spare yet intricate arrangements that are mutually complimentary. It doesn’t sound like a stylistic museum piece and sits good in the ears even if you’re not necessarily a fan of bluegrass or folk because the songwriting and mood of the song transcends genre with its captivating emotional honesty. Watch the video below and follow Westwood Bluegrass Band at the links provided.

westwoodbluegrassband.de/westwoodbluegrassband.html
soundcloud.com/westwoodbluegrassband
open.spotify.com/artist/6ZJZeAwya5kBZucbVIq9r9
youtube.com/channel/UC0DcUiwrPY6NLGkGpda62YQ
de-de.facebook.com/westwoodbluegrassband
instagram.com/westwood.bluegrass.band

“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