SubmitHub – Page 162 – Queen City Sounds and Art

“Pocari Sweat” is an Imaginative, Culture and Style Jamming Amalgam of Trap, Lo-Fi Glitch and IDM

Still from the video for “Pocari Sweat” by RHYTCH

RHYTCH perfectly blends trap production with lo-fi glitch electronica and IDM on “Pocari Sweat.” In the context of the music video which looks like something that had to have been captured on either a camcorder or early generation phone video the warping rap and heavily processed vocals it feels like you’ve entered the world of a soft drink commercial in slow motion except part of the sampling is to take out the elements in which a product is being sold to you but the lifestyle content is intact. Albeit one that exists in some kind of post-modern, post-current-civilization existence where the art is to unmoor cultural signifiers from their original referents. After all naming your song, as a German artist, after a kind of unusual Japanese soft drink that you can find in vending machines all over Japan and parts of Asia and Australia but usually only at an Asian market elsewhere, is a way of recontextualizing that bit of popular culture. Though production-wise the song is a product of the current musical climate it has much in common with underground electronic music of the late 2000s, The Art of Noise and turn of the century IDM in the creative use of samples as a compositional element to craft accessible yet imaginative music to take you out of everyday life. Watch the video for “Pocari Sweat” on YouTube and connect with RHYTCH through the link tree linked below.

https://linktr.ee/rhytch

Autow Nite Superstore’s “Sharp, Sharp Blade” Invites You Into a Journey of Late Night Intrigue

Autow Nite Superstore, photo courtesy the artist

The name Autow Nite Superstore brings to mind the image of a twenty-four hour petrol station in the middle of nowhere or at least on the edge of town that is also part video rental store department store, coffee shop and dance club. The video for the group’s song “Sharp, Sharp Blade” made with the help of collaborators all around the world since the regular shooting of the video was interrupted by the global pandemic of 2019-2020. The result is a short film that is reminiscent of a Nicolas Winding Refn project and Run Lola Run with tonally rich techno score that is spacious and urgent. The standout bass line in the song expands and thins out in a fluid dynamic with the phased synth arpeggio and wordless vocals for a song that soothes the mind and brings you along for a journey into late night intrigue. Watch the video on YouTube, connect with the Greek techno project at the links below and check out for the full length album Conversations on Bandcamp.

www.autownitesuperstore.com
https://soundcloud.com/autownitesuperstore
https://www.youtube.com/autownitesuperstore
https://www.facebook.com/autownitesuperstore
https://www.instagram.com/autownitesuperstore

The Ragged Nonchalance of Lethe’s “Easy” Shows How You Can Leave a Bad Situation With Your Dignity Intact

The lively and jagged riff that runs through “Easy” by Lethe combined with the distorted vocals, borderline clipping in the mix,conveys perfectly that feeling of being at the end of your tolerance of someone’s nonsense and you’re ready to exit the scene, the relationship, the friendship, the situation entirely while trying to preserve some sense of dignity. The latter represented by the line that closes each set of lyrics “Excuse me while I light a cigarette…” The spare melody might recall to some a kind of lower fi The Strokes but the off the cuff delivery and edge of the song is perhaps more reminiscent of the likes of Nouns-period No Age and Eat Skull circa Sick To Death. This song similarly conveys an attitude that commands acceptance of the raw display of emotional honesty channeled through what might be described as a ragged nonchalance. Whatever the influences and impulses behind the song there’s no denying its wiry hook and rough-edged tunefulness. Listen to “Easy” on Spotify and connect with the Croatian band Lethe at the links provided.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0OQauRV0REGtOizVb6YTf5
https://soundcloud.com/lethe-cro
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsgSxwgR_3rycS0CUofUCtA
https://www.facebook.com/Lethecro
https://www.instagram.com/letheband

The Introspective and Nostalgic Tones of the Title Track of Latvian Indie Pop Band Stūrī Zēvele’s New Album Labvakar Both Soothe and Stir the Heart

Stūrī Zēvele, phot by Oupenieks Ilguciems

The title track to Stūrī Zēvele’s new album Labvakar (“Good Evening” in Latvian) sounds like something written by friends who are getting together in their personal retreat free to enjoy each other’s company while indulging the time to let their creativity flow where it will, trusting in their personal chemistry to refine their songwriting on the fly. The music video for the song displays the band in a home lit by candlelight while they bring out instruments and try out ideas but not like it’s a job. Like it’s something fun that they do that sometimes results in a song they can share with other people and often enough it’s something that was just fun on its own that may inspire ideas to explore further. That spirit infuses the easy and affectionately introspective tone of the song. Like it’s written from the perspective of a band taking stock of where they’ve been and appreciating the process that has kept their band around for fourteen years. The group, originally from the small town of Kuldiga, Latvia, is now based out of the capital city Riga, is perhaps hinting at its origins of small town life where they learned not to put too much pressure on their art and to keep it something they love doing together. Musically the song, and the rest of the record for that matter, has much in common with American indie pop from the 90s in that its sophistication of composition and creativity in the use of unconventional instruments as well as synths/keyboards and standard rock instruments creates a world of sound and storytelling that is easy to get lost in even if, like this author, you do not speak Latvian. It would be facile to compare the group to a famous alternative rock band like Mumiy Troll, post-punks Kino, psychedelic folk legends Akvarium, progressive synth pop group Zodiak but to American ears there will be some sonic kindship there. Comparisons aside, fans of Elephant 6 artists will appreciate what Stūrī Zēvele has to offer. Listen to “Labvakar” on Soundcloud, watch the video on Vimeo and connect with the group on Bandcamp where you can order a limited edition vinyl of the record.

https://sturizevele.bandcamp.com/album/labvakar

The Grace and Quiet Wisdom of Wales Finds Expression in Shawn Kerr’s Ambient Piano Piece “Fluke”

Shawn Kerr was inspired for “Fluke” by the calm motion of a humpback whale as it swam by him when he was working along the Antarctic Peninsula. The drifting piano line resolves organically, swells, flows into minimal introspection and follows a naturally elegant and seemingly informal line of melody. In the background and drone of bright melodies resonates in the distance capturing the ineffable beauty of the moment. Kerr says the song is about opportunities in the larger sense as in one can be open to powerful moments and be struck by something outside your self-conditioned sense of the world and thus moved into a different state of awareness and thus consciousness without that experience having been planned or commodified and sold to you in some fashion. Whales remain mysterious to us because we know they’re intelligent and humpbacks certainly have a greater emotional capacity than humans. Kerr seems to suggest that being open to learning from a whale without needing to impose our limited understanding upon them might expand, to the extent possible, our understanding of ourselves in the broader context of the world. Certainly his composition takes us out of a life of linear logic for a few moments and leave us to wonder and experience a quiet awe at creatures motivated by impulses we may never fully understand and should, thus, respect. Listen to “Fluke” on Spotify and connect with Shawn Kerr at the links below.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0SxCkzmGHNlJI0FDnlYfrz
https://soundcloud.com/shawnkerrmusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5i1tJJZT4oAgOlcgbjtLLQ?
https://shawnkerr.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/shawnkerrmusic

Provoker’s “Since Then” is a Celebration of the Idiosyncratic Glory of Authentic Living

Provoker’s video for “Since Then” (directed by Carl Raymond Hansen) looks like a collage of live performance footage and selections from a box of home movies found at a thrift store. Musically it sits between a grimy surf rock reminiscent of pro-Bossanova Pixies and Mac DeMarco and thus a perfect aesthetic pairing. Like plumbing what some might consider cultural detritus and offhand documentation of odd moments of life and making it into something resonant through raw, creative recontextualization. If there was a West Coast version of Siltbreeze it would embrace this band’s sound that is as much lo-fi pop as it is a commentary on the nature of memory and holding on to those bits of your past and the past generally that enrich your life even if, especially when, a lot of other people don’t get it. It’s what makes us a unique amalgam of roots and experiences and cultivation of feelings, ideas and notions rather than the pre-planned product a corporate oligarchy would like us to embody. Human life, real life, exists outside standard lines of marketability when lived authentically and this song and video is a celebration of that. Watch the video for “Since Then” on YouTube and connect with Provoker at the links provided.

https://www.provoker.zone
https://soundcloud.com/provokerzone
https://provoker.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/provoker.zone
https://www.instagram.com/provoker.zone

Mt. Wolf Untangles the Knots in Your Consciousness With the Dream Folk Single “Tayrona”

There is the quality of hearing something on a sleepy morning on AM radio to Mt. Wolf’s single “Tayrona.” The UK-based band has been away for a few years and this song, featuring Tamsin Wilson of Wilsen (the first single from a forthcoming collaborative project to be released through Akira Records), sounds like something on the beginning, the opening, of something new. A new day, a new chapter in life, a new era for the band. No strangers to delicate textures that suggest space and atmosphere, Mt. Wolf brings a good deal of that to “Tayrona.” But the vibe is more like imagining the soundtrack of looking at old Polaroids of a life you had a decade ago but have enough life experience to appreciate what you did not fully at the time but can glean from the imagery that stirs memories and emotional associations. But rather than make you sad it allows you to reconnect with a time when things seemed more new and magical and bringing that energy into the present to suffuse your present endeavors with a sense of freshness and gentle flows of inspiration. Though soothing in its effervescent soundscapes the song also goes through your mind like it untangled the knots in your consciousness. Listen to “Tayrona” on Soundcloud and connect with Mt. Wolf at the links below.

https://www.facebook.com/MtWolfOfficial
https://twitter.com/MtWolfOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/mtwolfofficial

Leire’s “What We’ve Got” is an Elegant Reminder That Our Normally Busy Lives Rarely Give Us the Time for Much-Needed Self-Reflection

There are going to be a lot of songs coming out of the pandemic that started in 2019 and bloomed in full in 2020 that fall back on songwriting tropes filled with hollow platitudes. But Leire gives us “What We’ve Got.” Every line of the song offers a creative take on learning to appreciate what she and her loved one have even when they can’t be together and planning for the future when the “nightmare’s over.” There is a disarming sincerity in the song that lacks melodramatic preciousness and Leire’s vocals strike the perfect balance of tender, affectionate, hopeful yet resigned to things being on hold for the moment as frustrating as that can be. The tenor of Leire’s delivery is one that suggests that the patience and appreciating what’s good about your relationship despite the challenges will be worth it in the long run. She acknowledges moments of weakness and her own limitations as a person throughout the song and the things she’s taken for granted and letting that knowledge make her a better person by putting her energy there rather than letting it fester into something negative. The spare melody and guitar accents simple help to convey an elegance and emotional refinement that makes the song especially effective as it is a reminder to oneself that regular life rarely affords us time to reflect and grow as people. Listen to “What We’ve Got” on Soundcloud and connect with Leire at the links provided.

leiremusic.com
https://www.youtube.com/leiremusic
https://www.facebook.com/leire.music
https://www.instagram.com/leire.music

The Resonant Elegance of Spirit Informing Alara’s “Demons” Enhances its Message of Mutual Recognition of the Trauma That Exists in All of Us

Alara’s “Demons” is a deep take on how pretty much everyone you will ever meet has some trauma in their past that hangs on their present and affects how they move through the world and relate to others. But Alara suggests we can reduce the power of this ambient trauma by acknowledging its existence and rather than be guided by any of its negative influences, choose to use it as a way to connect with people and foster understanding without the need to compare who has suffered worse or more. The production on the song with its subtle dynamics almost makes you forget there’s music other than Alara’s resonant yet soothing vocals but it’s this graciousness of composition and its expert use of space and atmosphere that draws you further into the song so that what could be a fairly heavy subject seem accessible in a way that directly confronting it wouldn’t. The elegance of the songwriting and the spirit with which it is executed enhances the impact of the song and its creative approach to fostering dialogue in an organic and compassionate way is striking. Listen to “Demons” on Soundcloud and connect with Alara at the links provided.

https://twitter.com/hernameisalara
https://www.facebook.com/hernameisalara
https://www.instagram.com/hernameisalara

Zac Jr Dispenses With Foolish Illusions and Conventional Wisdom on the Anti-Advice Song “Don’t Listen To Me”

Zac Jr takes on a sardonic, self-deprecating tone on “Don’t Listen To Me.” The keyboard melody though subdued gives an undeniable air of whimsical daydreaminess that flows well throughout the song riding the crest of finely accented percussion All the while the vocals are like a monologue that suggest taking some advice while offering the opposite of advice with every line. One gets the impression that Zac is singing to his younger self or singing to his current self from the future words that could really benefit anyone who is clinging to foolish illusions and conventional wisdoms that you sometimes take the better part of a lifetime are arbitrary and not useful in real life. And the pushing forward with aspirations conditioned by social expectations rather than your actual drems. There’s the line about “Alone you’ll turn weak” taking aim at the way so many of us seem to think that individual achievement and effort is the only kind that’s legitimate and which defines our dignity as humans in western psyche. But the best line comes near the end of the song with “Faith won’t lead the fervent to mountains of god, but/Lean on your dreams when the ground starts to fall” because every foundation upon which you place your whole world will fail you at some point and living with the flexibility of being comfortable with doubt while not psychologically satisfying in a conventional and traditional value system and Western metaphysics might actually better prepare you for rolling with what may come your way. Fans of Get Lost period Magnetic Fields will appreciate Zac Jr’s command of unconventional pop songcraft in assembling the simple elements of this composition to express complex ideas in a way accessible and thought-provoking. Listen to “Don’t Listen To Me” on Soundcloud and connect with Zack Jr at the links below.

https://soundcloud.com/zacjr
https://zacjr.bandcamp.com
https://twitter.com/ZacJr
https://www.facebook.com/ZacJrJr