SubmitHub – Page 195 – Queen City Sounds and Art

DefByMisadventure’s “rabbit” Captures the Oddly Tranquil Beauty of a Moment of Great Terror in Slow Motion

DefByMisadventure2 — DefByMisadventure, image courtesy the artist (cropped)

There is an elegance of style in DefByMisadventure’s “rabbit.” The project’s preferred image is a Goya and the cosmic/existential/spiritual terror that may imply. And the image for the song itself is of the titular rabbit escaping the jaws of a greyhound by a pace. The implied tension in that creative background is perhaps reflected in how the song, though downtempo and essentially chill, brings together textural beats and organic string sounds accented by pounding bass reminiscent of an MPC. And the sonic forces are balanced, none dominating over the other, giving the song a taught yet fluid quality. The guitar/string sounds and background synth work give the mood an uplifting sonic architecture while the rest grounds it to an irresistible groove. If it has indeed been assembled by samples backed with drum machines and electronic bass, it is in the vein of DJ Shadow in that it sounds like samples recontextualized and used as a compositional element to make something fresh and original. The track implies the visual grace of movement captured in slow motion as though the image of that rabbit and the hound slowed down shows us some of the beauty of what is spurred on by the instincts of a carnivore toward its prey and how that prey’s own instincts and abilities gives it a hope of escaping death. The beauty of that interplay outside the context of having to be there is almost undeniable. A metaphor for entirely too much of life. Listen to “rabbit” on Soundcloud.

“Black Truck” by Q-bizm has the Swagger and Cool of a Song Opening a Guy Ritchie Film

Q-bizm1_sm — Q-bizm, photo courtesy the artists

Q-bizm’s “Black Truck” sounds like something that should launch the opening scene of a Guy Ritchie movie. It sounds like some hybrid of futuristic funk and Madchester cool. The song established a momentum and groove with a heady mood. The fluid bass line ripples up and down the scale as guitar accents stretched at times by wah and free-jazz style sax takes the song into outer space. One can imagine some plot afoot carried about by charming scoundrels who are confident in the efficacy of their plans looking like they consulted with style coaches before meeting up to discuss the details. This music is the montage to their individual days leading up to that momentous occasion. Listen to “Black Truck” on Soundcloud and follow Q-bizm at the links provided.

qbizm.net
facebook.com/pg/qbizmmusic
instagram.com/qbizmmusic

People Person’s “Bound” is the Sound of Someone on the Verge of Their Personal Breakthrough

PeoplePerson_LookOutsideWatchClosely_cover_crop — People Person *Look Outside, Watch Closely* cover (cropped)

“Bound,” the debut single from People Person sounds like it was conceived on a long walk on a sunny yet cold winter day in the middle of January. The chorus of “I’m ready” sounds like the mantra of a person who has been endlessly preparing for a big personal feat. The Bjork-esque vocals, the spare, ethereal guitar work, the low key but very present bass and the pull and push dynamic is reminiscent of early 2000s dream pop group Denali. The song’s dynamic has a great and subtle momentum like a slow moving river. But the vibe of the song, as mentioned before, is of someone who has spent long enough incubating her own life and ideas and is ready to unfurl them now. The whole song feels like a long build up to something without feeling incomplete. In the context of the whole 2019 People Person album Look Outside, Watch Closely (which was released on November 1, 2019) it is the second step of a grand journey of self discovery that challenges notions of constant progression that stand at the core of the American psyche but stands well on its own. Listen to and watch the video for “Bound” on YouTube and follow People Person at the links below.

peoplepersonca.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/peoplepersonca
open.spotify.com/artist/7iyh9UD70SUjrLRBpugcB0

Alvinos Zavlis Takes Us to a Journey Through an Avant-Garde Jazz Club in an 8-Bit World on “Falling”

AlvinosZavlis_TimeTravels_crop — Alvinos Zavlis *Time Travels* cover (cropped)

Alvinos Zavlis’ “Falling” rewards your attention as it goes from low end pulse to distorted drone framing gently soaring vocals. Elements come in like percussive, syncopated tones that become rapid arpeggios, electronic strings, synth washes, rapidly ascending sounds and then silence as the song takes a very different turn around the two and a half minute mark. Then you feel like you’ve entered a realm of 8-bit video game music like you’ve been transported to some kind of arcade in the 80s but you’re in the game navigating some digital landscape guided by articulated blips and rhythms. Then the tones become muted and blur the line between that 8-bit aesthetic and techno. Near the four minute thirty second mark you exit that realm into one incorporating elements of jazz structure in the low end but surrounded by 8-bit sonic figures to dodge as you travel with Zavlis through an abstract realm drawn along by the haunting vocals at one point pitched high into a childlike falsetto before the fadeout. Impossible to categorize genre-wise but a fascinating listen whether being drawn into the strange, fanciful world of the song or as something in the background to chase away the mundanity of everyday life. Listen to and watch the music video for “Falling” on YouTube and follow Alvinos Zavlis on Soundcloud. Look for the full-length album Time Travels due out in 2020.

soundcloud.com/alvinos-zavlis

With its New Single “Unselected” New Wolves Evokes the Unease and Uncertainty at the Current Rising of Authoritarianism in the World

NewWolves6_crop — New Wolves, photo courtesy the artist

The latest New Wolves single “Unselected” seems far too poignant for the current moment with the utter defeat of Labour in the recent UK elections as the lyrics deal with the current rise of the right wing in that country and everywhere, really. The song is melancholy but not despairing. Its beats sound weary but still strong. The distorted synth melody ascends and resolves in a way suggesting uncertainty commensurate with the general mood in the world of late for those who have the luxury of merely feeling uncertain but there is a quality to the sound of the song that gives the impression of bracing for the blows to come regardless of how much you think you’ve prepared to weather the coming storm when during the reign of authoritarian regimes you can become, in a word, unselected for the benefits of citizenship and being part of society. By casting the layers of melody and rhythm in this way New Wolves puts the mood of the song into an aspect of the hazy and dreamlike as though it’s something from which we might one day awake and cast off the dire spirit. It offers no hopeful bravado but also doesn’t offer up hard, fatalistic realism. Could the mood be described as cautious ambivalence? However it might be characterized, it’s an interesting mix of moods and sounds and captures accurately how many of us feel in this current moment as the world seems to be wending in a scary direction. Listen to “Unselected” on Soundcloud and follow New Wolves at the links below. Look for a full length album from the band in 2020.

soundcloud.com/new-wolves
twitter.com/wolves_new

Mothica Bids Farewell to the Intoxicated Party Lifestyle on “Hungover”

Mothica1_sm — Mothica, photo courtesy the artist

Mothica’s new electronic pop single “Hungover” flows with vibrant tones and melodies laid out in pulses of thought and contemplation. Like a map of how songwriter McKenzie Ellis came to realize she was caught up in a cycle of self-destruction and undermining her ability to gauge what really mattered to her not to mention how to achieve anything worthwhile. It’s a rare person who in the throes of the culture of intoxication and romanticizing that lifestyle who can step back and see things for how they are and to decide to walk away before hitting the absolute bottom even with help and support. Many don’t walk away even then. But it’s not a song of judgment, but of couplets of her own illumination of the dark places of her own psyche. Ellis sings of making friends with her nightmares, fake friends and cheap gin, being a danger to herself and how should could let herself think being in that place was viable much less sustainable but now she sings goodbye to that life singing “I’ll pour one for everyone I’ve been.” In saying goodbye to the comedown of those dubious highs, Ellis welcomes a new chapter in her life with introspective decisiveness. Watch the video for “Hungover” on YouTube and follow Mothica at the links below.

facebook.com/mothicamusic
twitter.com/dearmothica
instagram.com/mothica
open.spotify.com/artist/1JhiIIXT9DWqEU3BYFZwGA
music.apple.com/us/artist/mothica/939909127

Carla Conrad’s Soaring and Sweeping “Master of Time” Encourages Us to Pursue Our Best Dreams Against the Discouragement From Within and From Without

CarlaConrad2_crop — Carla Conrad “Master of Time” cover (cropped)

Carla Conrad jumped through some hoops in order to see her single “Master of Time” through to completion beyond merely writing the song. She completed an online course with Berklee called Production Fundamentals for Singer-Songwriters on Ableton. She worked in Qatar for five months to save the funds to record the single and worked with producer Ben Ludik. None of which would mean much if the quality of the song wasn’t there. But “Master of Time” is a sonically rich pop song of grand, sweeping dynamics that augment her own commanding vocals. It’s arc is one of humble beginnings almost like the story of her own process in the journey of making the song but couched in the narrative of a relationship parallel to personal development. Through the song Conrad sheds the limitations that held her back, psychological, interpersonal, relational, to embrace her own power as a human unsullied by habits of mind and feeling that no longer serve her development as a human being who encourages others to follow their own paths against the odds of discouragement and stumbling blocks that all of us adopt at some point avoiding the “tall poppy syndrome” that so often stunts our progress as a species toward a world that cultivates everyone. Listen to the soaring and expansive “Master of Time” on YouTube and follow Conrad at the links below.

carlaconradmusic.com
instagram.com/carlaconradmusic

Dumb’s “Content Jungle” is the Missing Link Between Post-Punk, Garage Rock and the Avant-Garde

On its Tapetown Sessions recording of “Content Jungle,” Vancouver, BC-based band Dumb sounds like the missing link between Sonic Youth, Parquet Courts and the Reatards. Its brash guitar riffs indulge beautifully odd bends and fragmented melodies. The shout along vocals do little to undermine the clever lyrics that cite dated cultural references that take us out of the current era (Kool Aid and cathode rays?) while injecting more contemporary cultural artifacts like Netflix to comment on the way so much of our documented history has been plumbed and gives people the impression that it’s all accessible and understood sans proper context simply because you can pick and choose and find anything on the internet for which the title of the song, “Content Jungle,” could be another name. The lyrics neither condemn nor glorify this feature of the world now but does highlight the absurdity of thinking mediated access to culture and the world is the same thing as direct experience.

MRPHY’s Admission of Regret Over a Love Lost on “Hey Love” Demonstrates a Vulnerability and Strength That the Bravado at Claiming No Regrets Does Not

MRPHY_HeyLove2_crop — MRPHY, “Hey Love” cover (cropped)

Gabrielle Murphy aka MRPHY demonstrates gift for emotive phrasing on her debut single “Hey Love.” A simple piano line and strings frame and highlight her voice throughout the song, following her organic pacing as she sings about heartsickness at being separated from the person she loves, expressing her fears and insecurities with a tenderness and strength of feeling with an economy of style that makes her lyrics all the more striking when it becomes apparent that the sense of emotional ache comes from the fact that the relationship is over but still affects her deeply even though she is resigned to the fact that it can never be again but not without regret. At a time when too many people think they’re strong because they have no regrets, MRPHY is strong enough to admit to vulnerability and having some regrets of her own. Listen to “Hey Love” on Soundcloud and watch the song’s music video on YouTube.

WRENN’s Powerfully Expressive Vocals and Dynamic Range Are on Full Display on the Introspective and Cathartic “Craigslist Personals”

WRENN_CraigslistPersonals2_crop — WRENN “Craigslist Personals” cover (cropped)

WRENN’s vocals on “Craigslist Personals” demonstrates great range and versatility in tone and texture from the delicate on the border of fragmenting to the expansively vibrant. The songwriting matches her vocal line perfectly going from minimal, ghostly synth and spare guitar to bombastic guitar riff flourishes and pounding drums as if shifting from contemplative, hopeful musings to the intensity of disappointed emotions finally purged after finally processing and identifying the complexities of a relationship and boiling them down to the essential grievances. But WRENN somehow conveys those feelings without pointed blaming. Rather, she is deft at expressing the hurt and the healing that comes from being able to sing about the situation with honesty and conviction. Listen to “Craigslist Personals” on Soundcloud.