SubmitHub – Page 204 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Nia the Rapper’s Second Single “Hugs” Presents a Simple Plan to Turn Bullies Into Friends

NiaTheRapper1_sm — Nia the Rapper, photo courtesy the artist

Nia the Rapper is a seven-year-old artist from Florida and her second single “Hugs” is hopefully an indication of a bright future for Nia. Her message of giving bullies hugs and references to hugging bullies on the playground could only come from a kid. But the sentiment while simple and would be simplistic coming from an adult actually resonates in context. In the song Nia raps about how these bullies never got the love that everyone wants as a kid no matter their background. Rather than cast the bullies as monsters, Nia sees the hurting human in them and wants to give them what they need whether they know it or not and thus “turning hate into love.” Her delivery is strong and the beat built on minimal, accented piano and percussion and well-sculpted bass is spare but perfect. Listen to “Hugs” on Spotify and follow Nia the Rapper at the links below where you can also check out her debut single “Summer.”

hyperurl.co/streamsummer
twitter.com/niatherapper
facebook.com/niatherapper
instagram.com/niatherapper

Ronni Mardor’s “After May” is a Light-Hearted Examination of What It Means to Process Your Heartbreak Without Losing Yourself

RonniMardor_AfterMay_sm — Ronni Mardor, “After May” cover (cropped)

There is an odd quality to Ronni Mardor’s single “After May.” It sounds like a sort of folk pop song with expressive vocals and maybe we’re in for a song of heartbreak of some kind. And maybe we ultimately we are. But “after all I had to go to let my house catch fire, before you know I’ll be back home no flower leaves to die” is a bit reminiscent of Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” Except the tone isn’t detached so much as the attitude. But in the case of Mardor’s song it’s one celebrating a landmark anniversary of a relationship but without setting the bar too high, “We made it, honey, it’s after May.” It sounds as though Mardor is letting go of her attitudes about relationships and her identity in them as not serving her heart well in an era of casual attitudes toward being together. The lilting melody and start and stop cadence reflects taking those moments to consider where you head really is and if you are letting yourself get caught up in the same old habits. Listen to “After May” on Spotify and follow Mardor on her website (linked below).

ronnimardor.com

Robo Dukun’s Demented and Cartoonishly Funky “I Want My Dinner” is a Bizarrely Humorous Commentary on Mundane, Privileged Class Entitlement

RoboDukun_PlanetRubberneck_Cover_crop — Robo Dukun *Planet Rubberneck* cover (cropped)

Robo Dukun’s new single “I Want My Dinner” has a demented, cartoonishly funky vibe satirizing low rent entitled attitudes. In some ways it’s reminiscent of MC 900 Ft. Jesus’ “Adventures in Failure.” Just the sardonic tone and sense of irony and send-up of the way some people make the most mundane demands seem much more important and significant than they could ever really be. The tone bends and mixture of odd, blippy synth swells and lightly flangered and wah-inflected guitar and bass melody bring to the track an air of taking the piss out of misplaced values and a classic warped view of the world that is blind to the consequences and costs of your way of life. But more than anything it’s a fun and goofy song with some creative musical flow and detail that you can take as choice snark or surreal humor. Listen to “I Want My Dinner” on YouTube and follow Robo Dukun at the link below.

soundcloud.com/robodukun

Wish Master Encourages Us to Ride Life’s Waves as They Present Themselves to Us

WishMaster3_sm — Wish Master, photo courtesy the artist

Wish Master challenges himself and everyone to be prepared for the change that comes for us all eventually whether we’re ready or not on his new single “The Wave’s Coming.” But it’s not menacing so much, his tone is hopeful as in the inevitable flood of energy and events that bring about the forces in our life that we may not recognize as beneficial and which may not be 100% fun in the beginning but which forces out complacency and the norms we’ve come to lean on oftentimes when it is a detriment to our growth. Wish Master celebrates that growth as necessary to personal development. Joined by Buggsy and Tac, Wish Master’s song and its free-flow-y breezy sample beat awash in jazz beats and bits of song processed to give an expansive dynamic is a promise of better times ahead. It is an aspirational song with none of the overblown swagger, it instead highlights the benefits of building something and taking advantage of opportunities that come your way no matter what they look like rather than waiting for a miracle or savior. Watch the video on YouTube and follow Wish Master at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/wishmaster_or
twitter.com/wishmaster_or
facebook.com/wishmasterOR
instagram.com/wishmaster_or

“Dolphin Hotel” Finds The Pharcyde Drummer Point Lobo Crafting Genre-Bending Retro-Futuristic Art Pop

PointLobo1_crop — Point Lobo, photo courtesy the artist

Point Lobo, drummer for hip-hop legends The Pharcyde, initially envisioned “Dolphin Hotel” as the soundtrack to some video shorts in development. Its use of tones in reverse delay on top of sultry beats conveys a feeling of being outside normal time. Which is what gives the song a quality that transcends genre as well. The synth work is reminiscent of something out of a high production 80s pop song but inserted into a more modern context and sound design style. The effect is a song that has the lushness nostalgic tone of, say, Donald Fagen’s “New Frontier” but a more later art rock flavor like if 1980s Yes hooked up with William Orbit. The dynamic of the song takes the listener on a journey that stretches your mind to take in its beautifully resolving bend of a tonal shift throughout. Listen to “Dolphin Hotel” on Soundcloud and follow Point Lobo at the links below.

pointlobo.com
instagram.com/pointlobo

Carson C. Lee Captures the Melancholy, Poetry and Romance of Havana on “Cubanos”

CarsonCLee1_Crop — Carson C. Lee, “Cubanos” still, image courtesy the artist

Carson C. Lee has written a modern take on the sound of Havana on his new single “Cubanos.” Mixing traditional Cuban instrumentation with downtempo electronic production, Lee captures a certain sense of melancholy, acceptance and peace. The horns provide an uplifting dynamic amid lingering electronic tones and lightly strummed guitar and electro-organic percussion in a relaxed calypso style. Given the companion music video, it seems as though Lee sought to capture the more leisurely pace of life he experienced in Cuba, it’s almost poetic cadence, and the sense of history and its mix of tragedy and romance. Lee captures it all in a modern interpretation of a classic sound. Listen to “Cubanos” on Spotify, watch the music video which includes footage from Cuba and follow Carson C. Lee at the various links out from the URL provided.

linktr.ee/carsonclee

On “Keep Me Safe” talker Examines the Moments in Our Lives When We Feel Like We’re Losing Our Emotional Anchors

talker2_lg — talker, photo courtesy the artist

“Keep Me Safe,” the debut single from talker’s new EP puts a calm face on a place of deep uncertainty and anxiety. The song begins with a gentle melody and transitions to a moment of intense tranquility like the calm before one’s own storm, and back before the song erupts into fiery passages in which the fears blossom and the root of those fears manifests strongly—the painful recognition of inevitable change and the terror of being cast adrift. It’s something we’ve all experienced, the important relationships in our lives changing or ending for whatever reason they do and even in relationships with a complex dynamic we adapt to the situation and it represents the stability in our lives upon which we build the rest. The contrast with the first two thirds of the song and the final third or so is dramatic and breaks with standard song structure in a way that really amplifies the emotional impact of the song by also showing how allowing ourselves to feel and articulate that fear and pain can be cathartic and essential to our ability to cope and move on from that moment. Listen to “Keep Me Safe” on Soundcloud, watch the music video and follow talker at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/talkerceleste
twitter.com/talkerceleste
facebook.com/talkerceleste
instagram.com/talkerceleste

“Death Row” by “Funeral Pop” Duo MXMS is the Portrait of a Colorful Nihilist Antiheroine With Attitude

MXMS3_lg — MXMS, photo courtesy the artist

“Funeral Pop” duo MXMS (aka Me and My Shadow) display a gift for genre bending on its new single “Death Row.” The dark soundscape with samples, vocals delivered with an almost brash attitude, swagger even, is reminiscent of the way that, in another era, Curve or more contemporaneously Sleigh Bells mixed hip-hop and downtempo production with an industrial sound palette. It’s brooding yet upbeat, menacing yet enticing. The character in the song presents a tough stance steeped in bravado with a casual disregard for personal safety. The chorus of “Death row, motherfucker, and I’m wild and free” says it all in this story as the narrator catalogs her nihilistic exploits. The song doesn’t celebrate these adventures so much as provide a character study of a fun character the way an actor relishes playing a complex or at least colorful villain. You can listen to “Death Row” on Soundcloud and follow MXMS at the links below.

soundcloud.com/mxmsisdead
facebook.com/mxmsisdead
instagram.com/mxmsisdead

“Dead Air Zone” by SONICONOCLASM is the Sound of the Psyche Coaxing Itself Out of the Pit of Despair

SONICICONOCLASM1_Crop — SONICONOCLASM, image courtesy the artists

SONICONOCLASM starts off its new single “Dead Air Zone,” the third from its forthcoming album, with sentiments of disassociation and references to different aspects of oneself in the third person and of being a fainting memory, repeated , as though convincing oneself to stay emotionally paralyzed. The vocals at times almost synthesized as befitting the aforementioned but also expressively emotional like the voice resisting the feelings of depersonalization like the side of your brain that isn’t stuck but has empathy for the side that is. Musically its within the realm of downtempo with the beautiful low end tones, brooding pace and sense of echoing space and motion. But it’s sonic lines are a little too clear and stark to be trip-hop. Though moody and brimming with emotional murk there is a clarity of tempo and tonality and even though the song doesn’t come to clean cut conclusions there is a sense that a will to go somewhere out of the mental stasis suggested in the song is very much present and gives the piece its languid momentum. Listen to “Dead Air Zone,” an apt title for a song if ever there was one to suggest a sense of stasis and stark dissatisfaction, on Soundcloud and follow SONICONOCLASM at the links below.

soniconoclasm.net
soundcloud.com/soniconoclasm
facebook.com/soniconoclasm

Heather Grey Teams Up With Rakaa Iriscience on “Saltwater,” a Downtempo Journey About What Keeps the Mind Inspired

HeatherGrey_Saltwater2_crop — Heather Grey “Saltwater” cover (cropped)

On his new single “Saltwater” Salt Lake City based hip-hop artist Heather Grey recruited Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated peoples to rap and therein there are references to Bob Ross and Skin Walker Ranch in lyrics that sound like musings offered during a stroll through the neighborhood, reflecting on recent journeys to the coast with the concept of salt water as a trigger for memory and reflection, something tangible that can take you out of a moment or transport you to another. The song with its offhand delivery speaks to the things in our everyday lives that keep us inspired and nourish our imaginations. The shifting tones of Heather Grey’s production and Rakaa’s cadence are at times reminiscent of Cannibal Ox but the mood and vibe are hazier and dreamy perhaps hinting at the melding of styles with DJ Juggy throwing some scratching for texture on the edges. West Coast imagery alongside SLC references give the track a unique flavor that is chill but not lacking in a casual swagger. The music video features choice graffiti that seem to obliquely narrate the journey outlined in the song and enhances a sense of complimentary aesthetic between Rakaa’s Los Angeles roots and Heather Grey’s own from the middle of the country. Listen to the song and check out the video on YouTube and follow Heather Grey at the links provided.

heathergreyy.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/HeatherGreyMusic
instagram.com/_heather.grey