Song Review – Page 39 – Queen City Sounds and Art

The Noisy Outbursts of Too Many Suns’ Unraveling Post-punk Single “Kim Gordon” is a Cathartic Purge of the Anxieties of Modern Life

Too Many Suns, photo courtesy the artists

“Kim Gordon” is bit of a different style of song from Lisbon, Portugal’s Too Many Suns’ new album Reverie (released May 24, 2024 on the band’s own Reverie Records). Whereas a good deal of the rest of the album is in the realm of psychedelic pop, “Kim Gordon” is brash and noisy and seems to be inspired by one of those songs Kim Gordon herself would write about the life of a person struggling with personal demons and an oppressive culture that inspires what some might see as an extreme reaction to internal and external pressures but given Gordon’s delivery and emotional nuance reveals those responses as simply normal human reactions to heightened anxiety in the face of dysfunctional forces. The band ties the noisy riffs and emotional outbursts as vocals to a groove but in the end just lets the self-deconstructing song be what it tranquilly settles into. Listen to “Kim Gordon” on Spotify and follow Too Many Suns at the links provided.

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Three Lefts And A Right Infuse “Opened Up My Eyes” With an Exuberant Jangle Pop Spirit Encouraging One to Seize Upon Life’s Opportunities in the Now

Three Lefts And A Right, photo courtesy Dan Ruprecht

Three Lefts And A Right sounds like it walked right out of The Paisley Underground on “Opened Up My Eyes” with its kaleidoscopic, jangle guitar driven psychedelia. But its raw exuberance grounds it in the present as do its words of looking forward and not getting stuck on notions of the past and the future when there is plenty in life right in front of you right now to enjoy and to act upon whether one’s life adventure or romantic possibilities that can come and go in an instant if you let them pass you by. Musically it’s also reminiscent a bit of early XTC, The Smithereens and REM but through the lens of musicians who rediscovered that music after coming up in punk. Listen to “Opened Up My Eyes” on Spotify and follow Three Lefts And A Right and band leader Dan Ruprecht at the links below.

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Samuel Nicholson’s Reimagined “Black Dog Funeral” is Like a Bedroom Dub Indie Pop Daydream

Samuel Nicholson is about to release the Further Listening EP on July 10. The latter is a companion piece to the 2023 full-length Birthday Suit with songs that didn’t quite make the final album and others reworked to give them a distinctly different flavor. “Black Dog Funeral – Alt” takes the robust and expansive indie rock of the original with its giant hooks and boosts the low end so it has a dub-like feel but with Nicholson’s vocals standing clear in the warm yet enigmatic soundscape. Fans of Smog and Bill Callahan in general will appreciate this musical transformation and how the reverse delay gives some of the tones an otherworldly quality while the slightly blown out distortion adds a unique texture that feels wonderfully rough around the edges. It all makes the song have a more intimate feel like this was how the song hit before filters and editing were added to give it the kind of clarity one generally wants on a record released to a general public yet sometimes you prefer the raw and real deal in art. Listen to “Black Dog Funeral – Alt” on Spotify and follow Samuel Nicholson at the links below.

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Gabriel Abedi’s Cinematic “Ekewo” Combines Modern Classical Music and Traditional Ewe Polyrhythmic Textures to Create a Sense of Something Greater on the Horizon

Gabriel Abedi, photo courtesy the artist

Gabriel Abedi’s song “Ekewo” is immediately striking with a cinematic resonance with its sonic richness and depth. It’s like music for a movie you wish existed about some kind of near future thriller drama or historical epic set in Africa. The title refers to an Ewe word that can be taken to mean “roots” in English in the sense of one’s origins and the cultural heritage that has helped to shape you and your perspectives and sensibilities. The dynamic song layers modern classical composition with the percussive and polyrhythmic textures of the Ewe music of Ghana and draws inspiration from a time in the nation’s history when the Ewe people escaped the rule of the dictator Togbe Agorkoli centuries ago. The piano melodies, the hushed but commanding vocals and the intricate yet evocative percussion conveys a sense of historical sweep and anticipation of something promising on the horizon. Listen to “Ekewo” on Spotify and follow Gabriel Abedi at the links provided.

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Reykjavik Kids’ Big Beat Synthpop Single “Sanctimony” is a Triumphant Shaking Off of Anonymous Judgment

Reykjavik Kids, photo courtesy the artists

With the breakbeats and 8-bit style synth tones sprinkled in Reykjavik Kids’ “Sanctimony” has a massive sound like a fusion of 90s electro-Britpop and 2010s indie electronic pop circa Crystal Castles and M83. Except this band with this song has a triumphant spirit even with the even keeled and clear-eyed lead vocals and the call and response harmonies. The rich tonality in the production makes the song a standout even if its subject matter seems to be about anonymous and vicious judgment that can come at you out of nowhere in great numbers in the social media environment. The song feels like a shaking off of that mood. Listen to “Sanctimony” on Spotify and follow the UK band based in Newcastle upon Tyne at the links below.

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Alterity Captures the Deep Sense of Melancholic Resignation in Processing Emotional Trauma in the Ambient Gloom of “i don’t deserve this”

The nearly abstract pulse of downtempo melody that courses throughout alterity’s “i don’t deserve this” is like a melancholic mood that can hang over you across an entire day or days at a time. But through this murky filter glimmers of clear tones shine through like the flickering of hope when life seems to be going through a period of sustained gloom and prolonged self-examination and processing why you’re tolerating the way things are rather than making an abrupt and immediate change. But trauma can have that impact on you and you can float through longer periods than would otherwise be normal and you cling to these seemingly emotionally tangible motes of hope and joy until the dark times have passed or you have managed to gather the will to push yourself through the things you need to do to get clear of the situations that have you feeling like you’re living in a muted version of a vibrant life. The song captures that feeling that is rarely articulated well in life and in art and fans of Tim Hecker’s most beautifully nightmarish moments will find some moments of solace here too. Listen to “i don’t deserve this” on Spotify.

“less today” by plaster 0f paris is Deep Mood Shoegaze Noir From Tony Bevilacqua of The Distillers

plaster 0f paris, photo courtesy Tony Bevilacqua

“less today” by plaster 0f paris sounds like a noir version of a post-punk song. It has breathy vocals and granular guitar tones that together give the song the sound of weary resignation that bears out the title some. For mood think somewhere between True Widow and A Place to Bury Strangers and that starkly vivid intensity that allows for the atmospheric melodies to take center stage in how the song emerges from a more spacious opening into swimming in the sinuous swirl of melancholic yet commanding haze. The project is a new flavor for guitarist and vocalist Tony Bevilacqua who some may know for his time in The Distillers but one that showcases his interest in crafting vivid and evocative atmospheric compositions. Listen to “less today” on Spotify and follow plaster 0f paris at the links below. The 3-song less today EP dropped May 17, 2024.

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Squarewav’s “Constructing my new world” is Analog Synth Soundtrack to Setting Your Life Back on a Fulfilling Path

“Constructing my new world” by Squarewav sounds like the music you’d want to hear if you had to witness a visual representation of the reconstruction of your life in chapters. The sequenced, textural beats and melodic paces are uplifting and bright, hopeful even. The saturated synth tones mid-song are reminiscent of the work of Norm Chambers and his Panabrite project. Later in the song the distorted sounds of a robot construction crew welding, landing rivets and screws and assembling the shiny and tidy final project end the song on a satisfying note like getting closure on an ambitious project that is your life or at least a chapter that began in raw disarray but now feels like a place where you can move forward with confidence and integrity. Listen to “Constructing my new world” on Spotify where the rest of the Beautiful digital, construct my world EP dropped on May 3, 2024 and follow Squarewav at the links provided.

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Nihiloceros’ Surreal and Poignant “Penguin Wings” is a Fusion of Gritty Power Pop and Noisy Emo

Nihiloceros sounds like an amalgam of sounds and ideas across decades on “Penguin Wings.” The vocal melodies are in moments reminiscent of Lincoln-period They Might Be Giants but the angular, aggressive yet upliftingly melodic guitar riffs with a touch of jangle are like the a fusion of Bob Mould’s post-Hüsker musical projects and the more imaginative end of 2010s emo. The lyrics seem to juxtapose the surreal with the poignant like the band used a cut-up technique to assemble the words to give it a blend of the personal and the fantastical. The song mentions “dark ice balloons” which is also the name of the group’s latest full length that dropped on May 3, 2024 and available on vinyl, digital download and streaming. Listen to “Penguin Wings” on Spotify and follow Nihiloceros at the links provided.

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The Hypnotic Pulse and Haunted Echoes of Eudscher’s “RFU318” is a Soundtrack to Liminal Spaces

Eudscher’s enigmatically titled “RFU318” sounds like traveling down a long corridor accompanied by pulsing low end sounds and echoing voices and rattles draw out into fading infinity. The music video presents a series of triangles in black coming at you against a hazy off-white background like markers on that corridor to who knows where. In moments it brings to mind the vibe of those “The Backrooms” videos of liminal spaces parallel to our own regular dimensional space or the mood of the chapters of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski where the characters find the hidden stairways that go on forever lit by a luminous gray light. It is a sustained drone, only small details change yet it is a little hypnotic ever evolving and holds your attention until the end. Watch the video for “RFU318” on YouTube and follow Eudscher at the links below. The album SN24002 released on April 5, 2024 and includes “RFU318.”

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