SubmitHub – Page 141 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Monikaze’s Live Video of “Laws of Distraction” With St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra is an Declaration of Vitality of Creativity in the Face of Humanity’s Bleak Future

Composer Monikaze aka Monika Zenkeviciute and the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra (both from Lithuania) look like they’ve filmed their live performance of “Laws of Distraction” from a post-human civilization era factory. The oddly elegant and beautiful industrial location isn’t grimy like you’d expect of an old factory, but it does look like it wasn’t designed for a musical performance or any other kind of creative performance yet it gives this nearly hour long performance an undeniable grit and unconventional visual style that contrasts well with the music that might be described as experimental chamber pop with the aforementioned Orchestra on board to fill out Monikaze’s spacious and ethereal compositions with an expansive sonic palette and a textured physicality that might not be otherwise possible. Equal parts re-interpretation and synthesis of musical ideas and impulses the video concert is over before you really notice it’s been going on for as long as it does. Monikaze brings a great deal of energy and enthusiasm to her vocal performance while St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra match that energy with a collective share of their own. Fans of Björk and Laurie Anderson will appreciate the fusion of musical styles and elements into a greater artistic statement than the component parts as well as the ambitious artistic vision behind this collaborative showcasing of the talents of everyone involved. It’s like seeing signs of life in the most unlikely of locales and that’s something we could all use of a bit of right now. Watch the video on YouTube and connect with Monikaze at the links below.

Monikaze on Facebook

Monkikaze on Instagram

Alighted’s “Fold” is Futuristic, Progressive Chillout Music For Humans and Cybernetic Beings Alike

Alighted is the solo project of composer/producer and creative technologist McLean Macionis who has been involved in the larger creative world of Los Angeles including work in film and television soundtracks. The title track of his late 2021 EP Fold certainly sounds like he has brought to bear a sound design approach to songwriting because the track actually unfolds in measured yet expansive paces. The repeating drones zip past in near slow motions later in the song before the drop out and re-engagement of the rhythm to give the impression of movement. Somehow along the way the song brings to mind what might have happened if the robots in Herbie Hancock’s video for “Rockit” went for a late morning cruise in a futuristic Los Angeles and chilled out for the ride to an ambient techno song. The cover of the EP features a chrome hand gripping the corner of a building like an image out of Heavy Metal magazine so maybe there is something to these odd notions and who’s to say what a cybernetic intelligence might find relaxing. But either way, Macionis has crafted a piece of music that combines elements of IDM, ambient and techno and feels like you’ve taken an emotional journey to a better place where the mind can relax and perhaps function more sharply. Humans and robots can get behind that kind of effect on the consciousness. Listen to “Fold” on Spotify where you can also hear the Plaid remix of the song. And follow Macionis’ music and other creative adventures at the links on his LinkTree.

Alighted and McLean Macionis LinkTree

Blushing Offer a Nuanced Take on Attraction and Heartbreak on “The Fires”

Blushing’s signature pairing of chiming guitar leads and swirling atmospheric guitars washing over and driven by strong rhythms is on full display on the single “The Fires.” The vocals start introspective and melancholy but like the rest of the song ramp up in energy until the warping, hazy, blissed out denouement. For a song seemingly about romantic ambivalence, emotional turmoil and the projections people put on each other and insist have to be the reality or the appeal is broken “The Fires” follows an emotional arc that begins in a tone of regret but ends in one of triumph and liberation from a person and a situation that benefited one person at the expense of the other’s sense of well being. This sets it apart from most songs about love and heartbreak by delving into a much more original and nuanced take on what sounds like a dramatic break-up and lets it sound like something cathartic without declaring one person the villain and the other victim. The raw, grittily ethereal soundscape and expansive dynamic of the song should have an immediate appeal to fans of bands like Beach Fossils, Slowdive and Tamaryn. Watch the video for “The Fires” on YouTube, connect with Blushing at the links below and look for the group’s new full-length Possessions out February 18, 2022 on Kanine Records.

Blushing on Twitter

Blushing on Facebook

Blushing on Instagram

RHYME Transform Superstition Into Personal Vision Through Poetry and Experimental Soundscapes on “初夢 HATSUYUME”

Japanese composer RHYME sets her single and sprawling poem of urban imagery and personal mythology “discontinuance of the dreamer 夢の中止” to broken/distorted autoharp and guitar strumming with processed vocals intruding periodically like an ancestral ghost. The track is less a song than an extended metaphor for a star crossed love that can’t be prevented by family or cultural tradition. But one’s internalization of these forces can exert their influence and the tortured male vocals and rapid, chaotic strumming near the end of the song feels like these negative energies both trying to hold you back and burning off from your psyche at the same time. The poem and the song has a dream logic to it that would be a mistake to interpret at pure face value. RHYME also recently released a long form video for the song cycle/poem “初夢 HATSUYUME” of which the aforementioned song is the final third, opening with a more hip-hop/industrial beat and noise soundscape. The title references the Japanese superstition that the dream you have after the first rising sun predicts your luck for the rest of the year. In that video and song the artists interprets the meaning of the dream in the form of musical poetry and imagery but both songs employ a type of free verse poetry as a vehicle to explore psychological spaces in a creative way through fusion with music to help heighten and express the emotional insights she garners from the process, thereby setting an example for those who take the time to listen in their own creative journeys through inner space. Listen to “discontinuance of the dreamer 夢の中止” separate from the larger work on Spotify, take in the fullness of “初夢 HATSUYUME” on YouTube and connect with RHYME at the links provided.

RHYME on Bandcamp

RHYME on YouTube

Young Prisms’ “Honeydew” is a Bittersweet Shoegaze Ballad of Conflicted Love

Young Prisms channel a great deal of The La’s 1990 hit “There She Goes” on the song “Honeydew” in its romantic whimsy, loose yet focused rhythmic structure and irresistible melody. But Young Prisms’ imbue their song with gloriously incandescent guitar swirl that gives the sentiments a dusky haze suggesting a sense of dreamlike nostalgia to match the black and white, hyper realistic imagery of the music video of a woman walking, dancing down darkened streets and parking lots toward her car where…there’s a body in the trunk and instantly casting a different emotional flavor to the song and lines like “I believe in you, Honeydew.” Here you are thinking maybe this song reminds you of the hazy melodies and oh-so poignant vocals you love in music by Black Tambourine and Drop Nineteens and things take a turn for the darker. Perhaps there was a perversely humorous intention behind this video treatment but it also points toward the cinematic quality of Young Prisms’ music and the ways some filmmakers expert in musical placement will use a gorgeous song in contrast to some of the bleakest moments in the film or a precursor thereof. All soundtrack free associations aside, “Honeydew” is a bittersweet song of conflicted love. You can watch the video on YouTube and the song also appears on the album Drifter out digitally March 25, 2022, on vinyl July 1, 2022 on Fire Talk. Follow Young Prisms at the links provided.

Young Prisms on Instagram

GATEFOLDE’s Video For “slit scan” is a Stop Motion Model of the Ravages of Late Capitalism on the Collective Human Psyche

Don’t be thrown by the title of the video “meet jeff,” it’s a video for the song “slit scan” from the forthcoming GATEFOLDE album O due out January 22, 2022. “Jeff” is songwriter M. Fanuzzi’s name for the dystopia of late capitalism. The video is a depiction of three figures mutated and mutilated by the current state of the world as are many of us to varying degrees even if “only” psychologically. The song employs analog synth and other electronic instruments to convey the background sound of post-industrial white noise that represents the elements of our current civilization that seem impossible to escape including the constant demand of late capitalism of our participation in it whether by increasingly drawing our time and energy into it directly or indirectly with marketing/advertising which has permeated nearly all realms of life and, perhaps just as if not more insidiously, social media which has become the vehicle for keeping in touch with friends and family in aggregate and putting a barrier between people through the illusion of connection. The music of the song goes from a fairly playful and chill electronic free jazz with saxophones into something more chaotic and disorienting to parallel the disruption in our lives and alienation from self. The DIY stop motion animation/claymation visuals while perfect for expressing these ideas also contains an element of nostalgia and humanity because it is inherently imperfect and wouldn’t be effective if rendered in a more finely digital form. In casting this symbolic drama of the dysfunction of the modern era, the video and the song is a reminder of how even connecting to the uncomfortable aspects of our existence is proof of our humanity and that everyone knows deep down that late capitalism is a failure that serves no one’s interests and is inherently destructive to the environment and basic human institutions and relationships that we value whether we consciously take them into account in the abstraction of our economic lives separate from context and consequences beyond those slender considerations that define the modern capitalist system. Maybe the GATEFOLDE video and song is a minor act of resistance by holding up a creative mirror to the system that is eroding and destroying our lives but it is one that rewards indulging. Watch the video for “slit scan” on YouTube and follow GATEFOLDE at the links below where a cassette of the album O is available to order on Bandcamp on January 22, 2002 in a limited edition of 100.

GATEFOLDE website

Delorca and Turner of Wheels Bring Us on a Journey Through the World’s Pain on Our Way to Better Places on “Misery Tourist (Part One)”

Delorca and Turner of Wheels linked up their computers during this ongoing pandemic to collaborate remotely on an extended piece of music called “Misery Tourist.” The ebbs and flows of textures, melodies, moods and concepts take on a cinematic quality and convey a narrative about grief and empathy and the importance of creative work and experiences in times of crisis. The first part of “Misery Tourist” draws us in with sounds that take on the shapes of physical objects in our imagination, of streams running over rocks, wind in trees, clouds streaming overhead. When the vocals come in like a spirit its reminiscent of Everything But the Girl but commenting on a desolate world wracked by conflict, suffering, deprivation and neglect. One might say it’s about the pandemic but any honest person sensitive to the reality of the world knows how the pandemic highlighted already stressed and strained human social structures and relationships and the widespread destructive impact of human civilization as we’ve known it on the environment. The soaring vocals feel like they’ve taken on this pain and channeled it into a coherent expression that gives this gentle and fluid composition a cathartic aspect without downplaying our collective erosion of life nurturing existence unbolstered by a non-existent wise stewardship by most political entities on the planet. And yet it’s not a downer. It is merely melancholy and because of its natural and subtle forward momentum simulating life and the course of history outside of human impact there is a built in sense of hope for an unraveling of the deadlock somehow in ways we can’t predict. The title seems to imply that to address our maladies we must first look upon them honestly and dare not to be completely overwhelmed by the extent of the destruction but rather see it as an opportunity to act boldly and not get stuck in the stasis of the status quo that made it all possible and inevitable. Listen to “Misery Tourist (Part One)” on Bandcamp and connect with the artists at the links below.

Delorca website

Slim Noir’s Jazz Lounge-Inflected “Traffic” is the Story of a Man Trying to Woo a Jaded Heart

Slim Noir uses a cool jazz, downtempo beat to give his song “Traffic” a mood like a late 1950s Hitchcock adventure thriller, lush tones and an air of romance. The lyrics are like a call and response style beginning with a cocky male using his verbal creativity, wit and bravado to let a woman know how and why he admires her including how she’s wild, dangerous and glamorous and for her part the woman responds to this attention with an all but dismissive casualness mentioning the matters that have her attention and focus and it’s not her would be suitor. Not discouraged by this response the guy acknowledges how she had to have heard it all, the litany of flattery from trifling wannabes but to give him a chance. And yet he never sounds pathetic and the song ends with this discussion unresolved. It’s a slice of life and like a bit of cinema reminiscent of some late 90s Tricky capturing a moment in time rather than trying to solve or resolve the disconnect because in those moments of hopefulness of romance is where people are often at their best. Listen to “Traffic” on Spotify and follow Slim Noir at the links below.

Slim Noir on Instagram

Binker & Moses Process Maximalist Free Jazz Into Minimalist New Dub Ambient on “Accelerometer Overdose”

Binker & Moses, band photo from Bandcamp

“Accelerometer Overdose” finds London-based jazz duo Binker & Moses not only laying out some kosmische free jazz instrumental interplay but the processing of the performances throughout sends you even further out. Loops of sax and some processing on drum signal and low end brought back in as processed samples both makes you wonder where you are in the music but also engaged to want to follow where it goes before it fades into space. The process transforms maximalism into minimalism, tangible concrete and organic musical forms into an electronic ghost of those living on like a crumbling fractal hologram and giving the meaning of the music a different dimension of meaning than when it first starts out as though saying that the illusion of perfection, of virtuoso performance can be cooler when it is built to break down in ways not entirely under anyone’s control into the chaos of infinite decay. It is the free jazz equivalent of when Mission of Burma would perform live and Martin Swope would take part of the live show into a tape machine and feed it back through the P.A. and warped dub style including an echo of the final notes into analog signal slow burnout taking the audience out of regular time. Listen to “Accelerometer Overdose” on YouTube and connect with Binker & Moses at the links provided. Look for the new album Feeding The Machine due February 25, 2022 via Gearbox Records.

Binker & Moses on Bandcamp

Binker & Moses on Facebook

Binker & Moses on Instagram

Last Name X Utilizes Hip-hop Beats and Sublime Ambient Dream Pop Soundscaping To Untangle Psychic Trauma on “Fade to White”

When “Fade To White” by Last Name X begins it brings such a blissed out yet melancholic mood with a guitar loop that propels the song forward and processed vocals in angelic vocoder tones deliver lines like notes written on tissue paper sent aloft in a breeze. It is this part of the song at the first and last third of the song that expresses a sense of the higher self sensitive to frustrations, struggles and pain that intermingle and help to keep us trapped in a bad place. The middle part of the song with the more human sounding rap gives us some context with words that spell out where things are wrong in a relationship that has fractured and the anger and hurt lingers as a raw feeling. But when the vocoder-processed singing returns the uplifting atmosphere returns to help dissolve and resolve that psychic wound to perhaps enable some healing and moving on through acknowledging the harm and bad blood without a typically dismissive urging someone to move on with a bravado that doesn’t address the knot of darkness that can get stuck in your head for years or a lifetime. The mix of ambient, dream pop and hip-hop on the track makes its impact especially effective tonally but also in the fact of it also not being stuck in a narrow musical identity of its own. Listen to “Fade to White” on Spotify.