Song Post – Page 40 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Nebno Guides Us From a State of Relaxed Tranquility to the More Transcendent on “Meradalir”

The tranquil flow of ethereal streams of tone that Nebno assembles for “Meradalir” is what you’d imagine would be the ambient music of the passage from The Grey Havens (from The Lord of the Rings) to Valinor. A heavenly iridescent melody and transcendent vocals enshrouded in sounds expansive and bright run through with a touch of distortion where the angles of luminous frequencies intersect as we are carried along in dreamlike reverie seemingly from a tranquil space to one more elevated in spirit. It’s a short song at under two minutes thus suggesting itself as a transitional piece but one that can stand on its own. Listen to “Meradalir” on Soundcloud and follow Swiss ambient and experimental electronic artist Nebno at the links provided.

Zeki Releases the Anxieties of the Waking Hours Into the Cosmos in the Video for “Astroplaning”

Zeki’s visualizer for “Astroplaning” delivers more than a little on the title. A blue figure representing the astral body of a sleeping figure astral projects around the world to the Sphinx and to outer space. And dense synth pulses like a day glow bass line marks time with the percussion as the strained vocals outline the ways in which we often feel isolated and in the case of our narrator the manner in which he tries to get the attention he craves by becoming an entertainer. Musically it’s a little like a synthwave Dose One track with a bit more angst and desperation in the vocals fitting regarding a song that seems to be a litany of anxiety that in the end relents just a little as the astral body in the video settles back into the physical body which wakes to the face the morning sun. Its a song that leaves you feeling like something happened to ease out the nerve wracking clutter of the mind through the sheer freedom of being able to use the imagination to undertake a mysterious journey into the cosmos and back. Watch the video for “Astroplaning” on YouTube and follow Zeki at the links below.

Zeki on Instagram

Zeki on Apple Music

Listen to Plasma Canvas’ Earworm Emo Punk Love Anthem “Need” Ahead of the Release of the New Album DUSK

“Need” begins with a typically melodic earworm riff from Plasma Canvas. And when Adrienne Rae Ash’s vocals come in there’s an earnest soulfulness that pairs well with the emotional urgency of the song’s lyrics and exuberant performances. Plasma Canvas has long been adept at completely fusing strong songcraft rooted in emo, punk and classic rock. But for this song a simple concept is stretched out into an epic about love and yearning, self-forgiveness and being open to learning about one’s deepest needs that can remain hidden from you without the help of others. And never once does it overstay its welcome, instead it pulls you into the eddy of the gravity of its sentiments that are the subject of endless rock and roll and emo songs except here the gloriously indulgent and infectious guitar solos and bombast is given the perfect amount of nuance in a line like “Give me what I need, show me what I need” as an admission that you never have everything figured out, you don’t know everything even when you’re swept up in the fervor of love. Listen to “Need” on Spotify, connect with Fort Collins, Colorado’s Plasma Canvas at the links below and pre-order the new album DUSK on vinyl which releases on February 17, 2023 along with releated merch on SideOneDummy Records.

Plasma Canvas on Facebook

Plasma Canvas on Twitter

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Plasma Canvas on Instagram

Pharmacist’s Harrowing and Noisy Post-punk Single “Calculated Violence” is a Poignant Take on Psychological Abuse

Pharmacist spins a dark tale of manipulation and abuse in the harrowing and noisy passages of “Calculated Violence.” It begins with a splintering and distorted bass line and female vocals that sound like the narrative is being recalled some months and years down the line with the agony and psychological pain coming crashing in and well up all at once in dramatic waves. As the song progresses guitar comes in more as a vehicle for creating texture and noise like a mind becoming fractured and recovering with a desperate energy. In the last half of the song All sounds, percussion, bass, tortured guitar, vocals finally releasing the tension in cathartic, wordless utterances writhe around together upward and collide into the menacing outro. The line “there’s a calculated violence in everything you do” spells out succinctly the dynamic of someone who seems supportive and kind in the beginning of a relationship who gaslights you until you’ve lost your way until an abrupt and almost violent realization snaps you out of that spell and you find out what your real value was to the abuse. The closing line “The only thing that I can think is when you wish that I was dead” is stated almost matter-of-factly it’s chilling. Musically it’s in the realm of post-punk/art punk and noise rock but the execution and style is much more original than one might expect from mere genre tags. Think more Live Skull and Sonic Youth more than darkwave. Pharmacist is hitting upon a particularly creative and potent phase of its songwriting with its new set of releases. Listen to “Calculated Violence” and other tracks from the Swedish band on Spotify and follow the act at the links below.

Pharmacist on Facebook

Pharmacist on Instagram

Laveda Fuses Raw Heartbreak With Uplifting Melodies on Its Latest Single Shoegaze/Dream Pop Single “F***”

The snow falling in the video for Laveda’s single “F***” seems timed perfectly for the recent cold wave that has swept through North America around the beginning of 2023. The rhythm guitar paired with Ali Genevich’s emotionally rich vocals at the beginning of the song are somehow both spare and lush as the sound evolves into wider-ranging sonics. Guitar texture turns to crunchy distorted atmospherics and shining keyboard work threads through the haze like the sun through a fading snowstorm. The lyrics about heartbreak, betrayal and coming into owning your anger after feeling like you had to keep it under wraps because it’s what’s expected of you are so raw but expressed in a way that is uplifting and liberating gives the song a depth of meaning that has been typical for the band’s songwriting up to now and in particular for A Place You Grew Up In (due Spring 2023 on Papercup Music), the follow up album to 2020’s What Happens After. Watch the video for “F***” on YouTube and follow Laveda at the links provied.

Laveda on TikTok

Laveda on Facebook

Laveda on Instagram

Thrillhouse’s New Wave Inflected Post-punk Track “Fatal Flaw” is an Arrestingly Vulnerable and Affectionate Love Song

Thrillhouse may be tapping into some of the moods and melodic structures of classic 1980s post-punk bands like The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen with its single “Fatal Flaw.” But the song has an undeniable inertia and the layers of guitar, vocal and synth melody that carries you along on a wave of introspective, romantic fervor. In moments it’s reminiscent of Ultravox’s 1982 hit “Reap The Wild Wind” but its lyrics seem to tell the story of someone being willing to open up, to be vulnerable, as a means of comforting someone they love who is in a place of hurt, offering solace in the form of a shared knowledge of joys of which only people who know each other well are privy. The line “I’ll take you to that secret place, the one that brings a smile back to your face” could be perceived as trite but in context there is a sweetness to it and an agenda free benevolence that speaks to genuine affection and concern. If it’s a love song it’s one rooted in an emotional nuance that demonstrates a sensitivity toward the needs of another person beyond their utility in one’s own life and that makes all the beautiful harmonies and melodic layering especially effective in the end. Listen to “Fatal Flaw” on Spotify and follow Thrillhouse at the links below.

Thrillhouse on Twitter

Thrillhouse on Instagram

Springworks’ Deconstructed Psychedelic Pop IDM Song “Nigerian Slum” Pushes the Boundaries of What Constitutes the Accessible

If Anne Dudley relaunched The Art of Noise as an IDM project, it might sound like what Springworks has done with “Nigerian Slum.” It sounds like it brought in samples from toy instruments and vintage, eccentric synth sounds to make the slinky bass line. But then the song shifts into an unusual retro psychedelic pop song with twin vocals that seem to weave in and out of the spectral keyboard work and sleigh bell-esque percussion. In trading off the lines syncopated the way they are it’s reminiscent of The Happy Mondays had that group of yobs went the route of indie pop but bringing in an echoing saxophone to trace the drawn out paces. It’s the kind of song that should have been a hit in the logical third generation in the wake of Madchester had it more fully absorbed the influence of late 80s Cabaret Voltaire. Truly a psychedelic pop song following the songwriters’ most experimental instincts in expanding what can constitute the accessible. Watch the video for “Nigerian Slum” on YouTube and follow Springworks at the links below.

Springworks on Facebook

Springworks on Twitter

Springworks on Instagram

springworksband.com

Worker & Parasite Parody the Compliance Culture of Corporate Domination Under Late Capitalism in the New Wave Post-punk “The Silent Majority”

Worker & Parasite, photo courtesy the artists

Worker & Parasite uses the imagery of the corporate machine from clothing to visual design in the video for “The Silent Majority.” Its spiky guitar, eccentric anti-melodies and rhythmic accents reflect an awkward, robotic, conformist aspect of how we’re expected to be in the context of late capitalist economic arrangements where your aspirations are all but dictated to you and your horizons defined by what the corporate world has decided fits into its programme. Musically fans of stuff like Devo, The Fall, The Mathematicians and Les Savy Fav will appreciate the surreal and socially critical aspect of the song and video as well as the clear songwriting and performance chops channeled into a whole creative expression of the kinds of thoughts and feelings those of us who have been subject to the strictures of corporate culture know to well, which is to say most of us. Watch the video for “The Silent Majority” on YouTube and follow Worker & Parasite at the links provided.

Worker & Parasite on TikTok

Worker & Parasite on Facebook

Worker & Parasite on Twitter

Worker & Parasite on Bandcamp

Worker & Parasite on Instagram

YUNGMORPHEUS Contemplates the Virtues of Keeping an Even Keel in Life’s Storms of Highs and Lows on “Sonny’s Triangle”

“Sonny’s Triangle” by YUNGMORPHEUS is a little like the inversion of the standard hip-hop song arrangement. It begins with a voice sample of an older man giving some dubious advice to a younger person that has some harsh truth about basically not being able to completely depend on anyone else but yourself so take care with your actions. Then the song eases into a loop like a downtempo production on late period Sly and the Family Stone funk sample all while there’s a leisurely rap opining introspectively on how trying to take short cuts in life didn’t really get him ahead and how discerning between what’s real and what’s performative and boastful. The contemplation further offers how all the choices one makes come with conditions and consequences and how being involved in anything important can put pressures on you that can push you to the breaking point but that if you weather these highs and lows and try not to believe too much in how either will be ongoing and reliable. It’s a song about being realistic about what happens in life and staying focused on doing what matters and keeping an even keel rather than being too caught up in the high of success and the despair of perceived failure. Listen to “Sonny’s Triangle” on YouTube and follow YUNGMORPHEUS at the links below.

YUNGMORPHEUS on Bandcamp

Maja Lena’s Art Pop Single “Portal” is a Mysterious Path to Transformative Self-Discovery

Maja Lena’s experimental pop song “Portal” with its pulse of minimal percussion as rhythm track and melodic drone leading into the songwriter’s almost sing-song-y vocals has an immediate accessibility in spite of its unconventional, more intuitive structure and pacing. Its poetic lines do not follow any standard form of verse and its more avant-garde leanings fit well the beautifully symbolic language and imagery. The music video and its enigmatic footage of dark roads at night, brightly lit vegetation against a dark backdrop and mysterious figures whose faces are hidden by shadow somehow makes the music make more sense in a concrete way in the manner with which Kate Bush’s more structuralist film format videos and the post-modern aesthetic of repeated images and themes reinforcing and evolving meaning with every iteration did for some of her own music. The playful woodwind sounds in this song and Lena’s wide ranging vocals in counterpoint with each other might be compared favorable as well with Cate Le Bon’s wonderfully alien pop songcraft. You hear it and you know that you’re in for a musical ride into realms that will expand one’s emotional knowledge and gain a language for articulating aspects of existence that elude standard use of language. Lena speaks to the way our imagination though a wonderful tool and at the core of our existence and cognitive orientation can run away with us and how we can be compelled by unconscious influences to act in unpredictable ways that are perhaps best understood through imaginative constructs like mythology. When Lena sings about “answering to Pluto,” “answering through fire” and “answering through desire” maybe it’s intended in a way to be literal but Pluto can symbolize the shadow side of ourselves and fire and desire the passions and inspirations that can drive us. But however one interprets Maja Lena’s richly diverse set of symbols as employed in the song, the mysterious allure of “Portal” suggests a transformation in stepping through whether as a life changing decision, choosing to take a path of possible peril but also reward or into the world of another with its personally crafted vision guiding the experience. Watch the video for “Portal” on YouTube, follow Maja Lena at the links below and perhaps give a listen to the rest of the new album Pluto which released on December 2, 2022.