SubmitHub – Page 185 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Rubén de Madame’s Pulsating Techno Track “Fuck Police” is a Cheeky Middle Finger to the Forces of Authoritarianism in the World and in Your Head

RubenDeMadam_FuckPolice2_crop — Rubén de Madame, “Fuck Police” cover (cropped)

Barcelona artist Rubén de Madame’s pulsating techno track “Fuck Police” and its music video is a playful yet direct dig at the police and the role law enforcement too often takes on in society. No words of analysis are offered just the simple statement of the title interspersed throughout a hypnotic beat like the soundtrack to evading and keeping the cops at bay. In the video there is imagery of police in riot gear serving as soldiers to keep order but for who? In the 1989 film Roger & Me a deputy sheriff evicts a family on Christmas Eve, protesters throughout the world are killed by agents of the government under the auspices of restoring order, officers of the law carry out extra-judicial killings with often no real consequences and the list goes on. Then the concept of the police state which is a way to permeate a mindset throughout society and a kind of informal or formal Panopticon in which personal liberties and the exercise thereof is a threat to authoritarianism including creative expression and activities that exist harmlessly outside the bounds of official sanction. This song is a cheeky middle finger to authoritarianism as embodied by the role police symbolize for so many people whether they know it or not and to the internalized cop that oppresses you from within. Even if you’re not into the implied political content, it is a slamming dance track. Listen to “Fuck Police” on Soundcloud, watch the video on YouTube and follow Rubén de Madame at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/rubendemadame/fuck-police
beatport.com/track/fuck-police-original-mix/12794228
open.spotify.com/artist/4L7Bj226758ItQctFNztaZ
instagram.com/rubendemadame
facebook.com/rubendemadame
twitter.com/rubendemadame

RadakBanu’s “666m” Incorporates Elements of Traditional Indonesian Music and Psychedelic Prog to Create Entrancing, Hypnotic Soundscapes

RadakBanu2_sm — RadakBanu, image courtesy the artists

The title of the song “666m” by Indonesian psychedelic band RadakBanu refers to the height of the volcano mountain in Banda Neira, an island in the east of Indonesia once the center of the spice trade. The song is grounded by a fluidly looping bass line and flowing guitar figure that serves as both melody and accent to the rhythm. If you’re a native English speaking person you probably won’t understand the vocals (perhaps in Bandanese Malay) but it hardly matters as they convey a strong sense of place and passionate reverence. The music is a mix of traditional Indonesian music and informed by Western progressive rock. Like a fusion of traditional music and something by Can in that it feels very spontaneous yet ritualized to put one’s mind in a space outside normal consciousness. The structure of the song is circular yet expansive, its blending of tone and rhythm mesmerizing. Fans of the more folk end of Japanese psych bands like Acid Mothers Temple, Ghost and Kikagaku Moyo as well as Tuareg guitar phenom Mdou Moctar should definitely spend some time with this band’s music as its rhythms, too, are in that kind of hypnotic compound time that allows well infinite iterations with infinite variation. Listen to “666m” on Spotify and follow RadakBanu at the links provided.

radakbanu.bandcamp.com/album/radakbanu-ep
instagram.com/radakbanu

No Room No Sweetener Perfectly Captures the Linger Post-Relationship Blues On “Two Days”

NoRoomNoSweetener_TwoDays1_crop — No Room No Sweetener “Two Days” cover (cropped)

With what sounds like an echoing Rhodes piano hitting two simple, lingering chords, the sparest of percussion, nearly whispered vocals and saxophone, “Two Days” by No Room No Sweetener uses simple elements to craft a downtempo track that sounds like late night or early morning contemplation. In this case of regret over a relationship that is recently no more. The singer lists the things he misses and asks himself what he’s done to make all of the good things about the relationship go away, his thoughts lingering on all the things that remind him of his former beloved. The sounds work as a spacious composition alone but together they have an unusual effect of weighing on your mind in subtle ways just like the mood from which the song is written. The piano ringing out drifts about as a constant presence haunting all the open spaces of the song where even the saxophone doesn’t hang about, where the percussion and even the vocals step out of immediate hearing even if for a few moments overall. And that makes that sound a metaphor for the post-relationship blues that can put you in a wistful funk unbidden, almost beyond your control and a feeling most people recognize even if they don’t spend a lot of time analyzing that mood, they just live through it. No Room No Sweetener articulated that frame of mind perfectly in the song. Listen to “Two Days” on Spotify.

Lucid Lynx’s Lushly Psychedelic “Nothing to Find” is a Chill Commentary on the Empty Rewards of Seemingly Endless Choices

LucidLynx2_sma — Lucid Lynx, photo courtesy the artists

The beginning of Lucid Lynx’s lushly psychedelic song “Nothing to Find” is a bit of a nod to Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” before the song uncoils into neon-dappled tonal territory with the synths and languid guitar swells. Chords are struck and dissipate like distant fireworks. All of which suits as the soundtrack to a song that sounds like it’s about being in a place in your life where maybe you feel a bit adrift about everything yet wondering what is next. Thus the title of the song which serves as a refrain following propositions like “We could get lost in each other, hold on for another, we could be looking for something” but “have nothing to find.” Like that notion that maybe we do get what we really want or think we want, no matter what that is, only to find the reality of that thing, that relationship, that opportunity isn’t really as fulfilling as we thought it would be, doesn’t get us to where we want to be. And do we really know any of what those things are if we don’t know ourselves? A heady thing for a chill psych pop song but those propositions run through the song like another one, “We could be running in circles and we could be looking for something and have nothing to find.” It sounds like a very modern dilemma where there seem to be all these options and if you’re fortunate enough to live in the American empire and aren’t on the bottom rung you don’t really have to choose one forever or commit to much. The song doesn’t critique that aspect of society so much as highlight the casualness with which we often approach such things not realizing it’s a massive luxury and how that mindset makes it easy for us to disassociate and get stuck. Listen to “Nothing to Find” on Soundcloud and follow Lucid Lynx at the links provided.

lucidlynxband.com

https://lucidlynx.bandcamp.com/merch

The Early Warnings Invite Us to Get Some Enjoyment in Life as a Necessary Part of Human Existence on “Waste Away”

TheEarlyWarnings_WasteAway_cover_crop — The Early Warnings “Waste Away” cover (cropped)

The Early Warnings somehow made a typically overcast day in Seattle seem upbeat and even joyful in its video for “Waste Away.” The song is an unabashed celebration of the little things in life that we’re told are a waste of time but are essential to our well being in a way that can’t be quantified in monetary terms. In fact, the lyrics in the song eschews commercial considerations and focuses on the experiences that we can share and embrace “wasting away” with friends doing the things that make everyday life not seem so drab or something to be endured. An important thing to remember at a time in American culture when most people are overworked and our priorities have been insidiously warped into tricking us into putting all our time in making ourselves “useful” to the economy for the sake of the economy and not make the economy serve us and liberate us to pursue and explore the things that give life meaning and a proper context and to enjoy it with the people we love. Without plenty of that no business matters. Quality of life does, the environment and other weighty issues do, but without the ability to nourish your spirit everything gets to be a real drag really quickly. Watch the video on YouTube of the band frolicking about in the Pacific Northwest including some choice footage of Gas Works Park in Seattle.

bandanna Bids Farewell to the Old You and Welcomes the New on “Epilogue”

bandanna_Epilogue_cover_crop — bandanna “Epilogue” cover, image courtesy the artists

“Epilogue” sounds like a farewell to something, to a period in one’s life, to a place where you made a lot of memories, to the ways of being and living that went along with that time and that context that seemed to anchor your existence but which can come apart so seemingly easy when life’s demands or unexpected circumstances provoke the change hit. The image in the lyrics “take down the drawings and pull out the tacks” is so poignant to anyone who has spent time being creative alone and harboring some of your work to yourself whether in college or living in some unglamorous apartment that served its purpose and seemed like home. The song by Tallahassee, Florida group bandanna begins in a wistful, introspective manner but in the last third or so of the song the energy amps up and the volume swells dramatically in a gesture of the final goodbye to your old life and outmoded attachments on your way to the next chapter and recognizing that what seemed to be the defining adventure and phase of your life for so long was exactly that. Listen to “Epilogue” on Spotify and look for bandanna’s album uncertain/ty to be released through Cat Family Records in 2020.

Sandkamper’s Majestic “Ohne Erinnering” is a Metallic Art Punk Ode to Living Your Best Life

Sandkamper1_crop — Sandkamper, photo courtesy the artist

The way the guitar distorts and rings out throughout Sandkamper’s “Ohne Erinnerung” is reminiscent of the grit, shimmer, melodic weightiness and energy of Les Thugs in the late 90s. In particular the song “Magic Hour” from that band’s 1998 album Nineteen Something. But it also buzzes and hums in a way more suggestive of a rooting in heavy metal like early Smashing Pumpkins the way the melody floats with an unexpected elegance given how the tone is almost cutting. The minor chord progressions and fiery drive and the way the song seems to have a dynamic of everything coming crashing down in a way that bears some comparison with Failure as well. But the guitar solo toward the end of the song is like something out of 1970s heavy metal in that it is a display of technical prowess but it also serves the song and what it’s about, in this case “friendship and dementia,” and the spirit of triumphing over what ails you even if the best you can hope for is leading as good a life as you can with the time you have left. Listen to “Ohne Erinnerung” on Bandcamp and follow Sandkamper at the links below.

soundcloud.com/sandkamper
twitter.com/sandkamper
facebook.com/sandkamper
instagram.com/mauriziomenendez

Kin Capa’s “Rye” is a Lightly Psychedelic Blues Ditty About a Simple Life After the Fall of Civilization in the Wake of the Climate Crisis

KinCapa_Rye1_crop — Kin Capa, image courtesy the artist

On first listen Kin Capa’s single “Rye” is a fairly straight forward, shuffling blues rock ballad. Palm muted, clipped guitar riff, and a drum beat that sounds like it was tapped out by hand before translated to a minimal drum arrangement. The repeated lines echoing ever so slightly is like a hypnotic mantra rippling forth from some place in the subconscious mind. There’s just something slightly otherworldly about the track like there has been some phasing put on the guitar, the drum track and the vocals so the song sounds like it’s operating in some kind of mythical time and indeed the song is about the impending ecological collapse but also a hope for the survival of the human race if not for late capitalist civilization. The lyrics focus on the essential components of a future after modern civilization has fragmented and fallen under the weight of its own hubris and unsustainable economic model and the political systems perpetuating it that do little to address the so-called externalities that are outside the scope of the theoretical foundations of the ideas and principles of the world we know. And yet there is a jaunty quality to the song’s rhythm that finds some hope in the edifice of a corrupt and self-destructive civilization cracking and other opportunities for people to present themselves if only we can find a way to scramble out of the way of the fallout. The track is part one of nine of the forthcoming Kin Capa album THE AMERICAN OPERA: Act II. Listen to “Rye” on Spotify and follow Kin Capa at his website linked below.

kincapa.com

The Jazz-Inflected “Schisandra” by Dayspired is a Richly Textured Journey Toward Inner Tranquility

Dayspired2_crop — Dayspired, photo courtesy the artists

For “Schisandra,” Dayspired (Matthew Bejtlich and Neil Desai) brought on board Ashish Vyas, bassist for downtempo legends Thievery Corporation and Stephon Alexander, theoretical physicist and jazz saxophonist. Dayspired brought the playful percussion, textures and easy flowing structure and Vyas and Alexander brought the grounding for a song that in structure and composition was designed to reflect the schisandra berry, the “Five-flavor berry.” A keyboard melody sits in the background as an array of percussion sets the pace and bell tones course through the proceedings while the bass pulses the song along and Alexander’s expressive sax sits in the foreground of the mix. While the root of the song is a reflection of five components coming together to create a greater whole it also suggests movement like a day spent riding a train through an exotic landscape like the lands of Eastern Russia and Northern China where the aforementioned berry is most often found and the mix of cultures one would encounter along the way, it also suggests a period of reflection where maybe your body is at rest but the mind is active in taking in an experience and seeing it for where it fits into your life. The song doesn’t sound complex but the complexity rests in the way its diversity of detail assembled to make something unified. Listen to “Schisandra” on Spotify and follow Dayspired at the links below.

soundcloud.com/dayspired
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0sYDWVlEmrg05E7SgDc1mZ
instagram.com/dayspired
facebook.com/dayspired

Bled Tape Gets Us to Feel Both Headlong and Introspective on “Feels Better in the Morning”

BledTape_Tulip_cover2_crop — Bled Tape *Tulip* cover (cropped)

An urgent rhythm gets “Feels Better in the Morning” by Bled Tape off to headlong pace from the very beginning. The contrast between that rhythm and the sparkling, expansive, distorted guitar and ethereal melodies makes the song sound a bit like a Krautrock song. Think something like Neu! with dream pop instincts. The constant up-sweep dynamic makes the song feel like it’s constantly ramping up before it plateaus off into space only to catch that rapidly ascending tonal breeze again all while the song surges forward. The effect is one of both irresistible motion and introspection. Those two modes should be at odds yet Bled Tape reconciles the divergent impulses on this song. Listen to “Feel Better in the Morning” on Spotify.