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The ttypes’ “73 78 Honey” is a Blissful Reimagining of Beck’s Remix of Philip Glass Compositions “NYC 73-78”

Perhaps it’s as much a commentary of the modern era of electronic music as it is an interesting experiment but ttypes doing “73 78 Honey” as a reworking of Beck’s remix of Philip Glass compositions as “NYC 73-78” is not merely meta. Adding vocals, processing others, changing the focus and tenor of the music but not the expansive spirit the elements of the song are brought into focus and rendered into the kind of psychedelic pop song one might have expected out of the Beach Boys at their most experimental or Animal Collective when aiming at a more classical sonic architecture. The repeated choruses swim in musical sunlight and in the end fade out blissfully into the infinite distance like a flight home into the rising sun. Listen to “73 78 Honey” on YouTube and follow ttypes at the links below.

Turquoise Delivers a Thrilling Dream Pop Call to Cultivating One’s Better, More Vital Instincts on “Le Bruit”

“Le Bruit,” the companion single to “Lumio,” by Belgian shoegaze/dream pop band Turquoise combines a brisk pace with hazy melodies and a defiant spirit. The lyrics seem to outline rediscovering something within oneself, an irresistible noise, thus the song title, that represents a more spirited part of our personality that has until now been buried and obscured by social conditioning and the ways in which we make a habit of departing from what is at the core of our being and which drive us to do something worthwhile in life rather than simply fit in with the dictates of a society and economic system that needs compliance rather than people connected to their humanity and living a life that has a personal connected with a community. The lyrics are in French but plugging the words into a translation site on a search engine reveals to the English speaker the lyrics suggesting speaking about these things rather than burying them can be cathartic and a way not to be isolated and despairing. Even if you don’t subscribe to any ideological thinking even in these times when authoritarianism and its culture is operating completely in the open anyone can relate to the desire to live free, to speak our truths and to live in a world where basic human rights are the bottom rung and not an aspiration. Musically it is reminiscent of Stereolab in a more pop mode with that always appealing fusion of forceful yet playful and expansive energy and for that matter in melding that with socially uplifting content. Listen to “Le Bruit” on YouTube and follow Turquoise at the links provided.

Turquoise on TikTok

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Macro/micro’s “All Possible Worlds” is Like the Opening Music to a Future David Fincher Tech Noir

Macro/micro’s “All Possible Worlds” sounds like a more deep house inflected, futuristic take on Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer (Precursor).” Its quivering, hovering tones and rhythms changing in texture and tone as though put through a very controlled bit of phasing so that it can pulse into full high definition sound or muted and blurred out in the background out of focus, switching places with a flurry of distorted white noise as a lonely piano figure draws out in lingering chords like something from a late period Talk Talk album recontextualized to preserve the stark mood but enhancing the sense of isolation. It’s the kind of track that makes one think this is what it might sound like if Demdike Stare was convinced to write opening music for a David Fincher noir much as the aforementioned NIN song appeared on the soundtrack to Se7en. Listen to “All Possible Worlds” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the Things Will Never Be The Same Again with other fascinatingly dark techno material and follow Macro/micro at the links below.

Macro/micro on Instagram

Macro/micro aka Tommy Simpson on IMDB

Dilettante’s Brisk Synth Pop Single “Monster” is a Theme Song For Anyone Needing a Complete Break With the Toxic People in Their Lives

Utilizing the sound palette of a triumphant synth pop song, Dilettante gives its single “Monster” an emotional and conceptual depth it might not otherwise possess if it sounded dire and intense. In the music video we see a woman running down streets at a brisk pace looking as if she is running from a situation and never looking back. The lyrics tell us a story of a person who is choosing not to answer the call of a former partner knowing that person is strong and that she is weak. In the song we hear a line that is both eerie and carries with it a sense of relief and pity in “Now you found something else to play with.” She knows what’s in store for that thing, that group or that person and it’s bleak at best. The chorus swimming in bright and uplifting synth melodies and hopeful vocals describes a spirit of speaking one’s truth and psychologically breaking free of the grip of a dominant person who is so toxic there is nothing possible but a clean break with no thought of maintaining a friendship: “Baby you’re a monster and I don’t forgive you.” Tonally it’s reminiscent of more recent Lower Dens combined with Bonnie Tyler and the video like a modern day noir short of Run Lola Run but with the aim of escaping with one’s soul intact. Watch the video for “Monster” on YouTube and follow Dilettante on Spotify.

Tashi Delay’s “Deception” is a Surreal and Playfully Scathing Send-Up of Modern Political and Economic Malfeasance

Who can say are supposed to be the analogs in Tashi Delay’s animated music video for “Deception” but the primaries are “The Politician” and “The Banker.” The upbeat pop song with the slinky bass line is surreal as the characters get away with legal crimes just as the wealthy and powerful do in real life every day of the week. Casting the fairly scathing depiction may be playful and whimsical in presentation but the images of law officers and clergy cavorting with an array of politicians and bankers turn potential specific material world references into something more universal because we’ve all seen this dynamic play out across decades and even lifetimes. Songwriter and animator Emily Seabroke really found the perfect fusion of accessible music and visual representation thereof as a means of crafting a song with rich socio-political content without being hamfisted, a cleverly sharp edged poppy punk dart to the bloated self-importance and corruption of our era of late stage capitalism and the kind of take on these subjects it’s always refreshing to see and hear. Watch the video for “Deception” on YouTube, follow Tashi Delay at the links below and expect the debut album this fall.

Tashi Delay on TikTok

Tashi Delay on Facebook

Tashi Delay on Instagram

“Rhythm” by roman around is an Affectionate Tribute to the Beloved Animals in Our Lives

The way the guitars sit in the mix on roman around’s “Rhythm” is perhaps most immediately striking. There is an emphasis on the percussion and bass highlights with, indeed, rhythm framing the melody. Roman Rivera’s vocals sound like they’re floating in the memory of a dream. The effusive and effervescent sounds toward the end of the song are like the bubbling up of cherished memories but also a shielding of these memories from being eroded by time. The music video for the song makes the lyrics more explicit as an ode to beloved animals in our lives across a lifetime and how though the specific animals may change or the number expand the special connections we have with them remain consistent and something we can look back on with affection even if the pain of loss can mixes in with the joy of our remembrances even though that short time can often make it even more poignant. The music hits like a lo-fi Built to Spill or the more introspective side of DIIV with truly unconventional song structure. Watch the video for “Rhythm” on YouTube and connect with roman around at the links below.

roman around on TikTok

roman around on Facebook

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roman around LinkTree

Belief’s Layered Minimal Techno Track “WOT” Brims With Zen-like Swagger

Stella Mozgawa and Boom Bip as Belief offer the fast-pace techno piece “WOT” as an example of the artists stretching beyond the boundaries of the music for which they’re most well known (Mozgawa as a member of Warpaint but also contributing to recordings by Kurt Vile, Cate Le Bon, Courtney Barnett, Sharon Van Etten and Kim Gordon, Boom Bip for his work with Neon Neon). The track is composed of modulated beats in the minimal techno style but layered to give that simplicity of style a dimensionality that draws you in. The first section sounds like its in an unorthodox compound time, with a break for a vocal that simply says “Wot” as though giving voice to an implied character that is vibing to herself along with the beat, walking through her neighborhood with the ambient urban noise of vehicle whooshing by, the buzzing of streetlights all seeming to affirm an inner pace with accented beats echoing enough to bring a sense of open space and a sense of freedom. If one were to create this emotional and psychological space in one’s head taking in the surrounding area with a Zen-like peace, awareness and mindfulness until someone interrupts your headspace in the music and being one with the world with some mundane foolishness and you dismiss their frivolous demand for attention with a simple, monosyllabic “Wot” and then move on. Without being explicit the song implies swagger and attitude in a more abstract and creative way. Listen to “WOT” on YouTube and follow Belief at the links below.

Belief on Instagram

Wild Arrows’ “Reasoning with the Guards” Bursts Darkwave Tropes and Encourages a Deprogramming of Deeply Ingrained, Ritualistic Habits of Mind

Wild Arrows’ single “Reasoning with the Guards” is emblematic of the genre blending and warping experiments to be heard on its new album Loving the Void which released on June 17, 2022. There is an edginess to the vocals with male and either female sounds delivering the lyrics in tandem with a touch of desperation. The pace of the song and an underlying use of frequencies give the track an air of unease and tension that isn’t off putting so much as imbues the music with a sense of anticipation that runs the entire run time of four and a half minutes. Guitar and synth lines blare out and warp into different melodic shapes over the insistent beat and the effect is something that feels like chaos and catharsis switching then into passages of introspective transcendence like the lyrics in the song will progress from being in a state of flux and resolve: “I’m not a prisoner or the guard” or “Pursued by the riders, the riders pursue.” And it never fully does yet the song is a thrilling journey through existential uncertainty and identity. The music video rected by Steven Ungureanu shows a figure being confronted by and also confronting shadows in an array of illuminated squares like windows into the possibilities of one’s own soul and suggesting maybe what we think we want is not unlike Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and we confuse our ego driven actions in the moment for the truth of our lives. Maybe that’s not what the video is expressing in creative abstract but when the actions of the figure we see making movement do not directly correlate with the movements of the shadow it’s a subtle effect but one that’s also striking. With the repetition in the lyrics and this visual aspect of the song it seems certain that it is commenting on our habits of mind and our ritualistic behaviors that reinforce what we might think of as our fate and in recognize this we can perhaps break with patterns that no longer serve us well. Heady stuff for a song that sounds like a strange and decidedly not standard experimental post-punk and industrial song but it’s that kind of creative thinking that informs the album as a whole. Watch the video for “Reasoning with the Guards” and follow Wild Arrows at the links below.

Dude Reppin Knowhere’s Anti-Banger “Airplane Mode” is a Subversive Deconstruction of Popular Culture and Electronic Dance Music

Dude Reppin Knowhere really turns the whole concept of going viral and self-promotional obsession and maintaining active social media engagement as a replacement for actual activity that helps one’s self-esteem on its head with “Airplane Mode.” The title of the song and the project name alone more than cleverly hint at the vibe he’s going for with the song where the vocals seem tuned down a little, maybe slowed down or with effect to give it that tonal warp. Every hip-hop artist and those adjacent is reppin’ some geographical zone like its really an identity for a lot of people and Dude Reppin Knowhere isn’t into that so much. The track is an anti-banger and yet is also oddly catchy so there is a healthy amount of subversive spirit to what this song that is part ambient and part the kind of playful production aim that is a part of what Aphex Twin does when he’s in a mood to take tropes and do something more creative with them. The music video shows a guy who looks like an EDM/rapper/influencer type frolicking in various locales except the music is what hype might sound like if it had already collapsed under its own hubris and had slid into the electronic music equivalent of broken machine mode. The video and the song might even be purely funny if it wasn’t also oddly inventive and offering a lateral thinking take on deconstructing popular culture and style. Watch the video for “Airplane Mode” on YouTube and follow Dude Reppin Knowhere at the links below.

Dude Reppin Knowhere on Instagram

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Parallel Perfectly Conveys the Elusive, Bittersweet Moods of Moving Forward From a Cherished Time of Life on “Drench”

The gently cascading guitar riffs of Parallel’s single “Drench” from its 2022 self-titled album hits the ear with shades of Slowdive and A Shoreline Dream with a hint of more lo-fi production. Its drifty structure and dual vocal melodies are at times reminiscent of The Prids or Molchat Doma especially in the way the performances feel elegant and intuitive. Guitar melodies strike high and descend to land in a hypnotic loop that carries you through a bittersweet memory that haunts you from a significant and transitional point in your life when memories made have real resonance and endurance for the long term and become part of your identity. There’s something about these kinds of memories that feel special and significant in often elusive ways yet Parallel captures the emotional energy of them well. Listen to “Drench” on YouTube and follow the Oakland-based band at the links below.

Parallel on Instagram