SubmitHub – Page 209 – Queen City Sounds and Art

“Landes” by Pétra is Like a Swim to a Mysterious Sub-aquatic Oasis

Petra1_lg — Pétra, photo courtesy the artists

“Landes,” the lead single from the recently released album Anunis (Injazero Records) by Pétra, a duo comprised of Anenon (Friends of Friends) and Chantal Chadwick is described by the artists as an “aquatic, immersive track.” And in fact the level of tonal and textural detail presented feels like you’re suspended in fluid and drifting toward a luminous destination, air bubbles floating past you, tangible in a way you take for granted when you’re not deep in the water. A phasing bell tone keeps the time, ethereal female vocals and a flowing low end give form to the currents of water that push you along to what sounds like an airlock admitting you to an improbably city street. The effect is not unlike the end of “Welcome to the Machine” by Pink Floyd and similarly, unexpectedly refreshing but after a period of soothing vibes and not the slow, melancholic catharsis of the Floyd song. Engulfing without being claustrophobic the song and its engrossing moods leaves you wanting to explore the album further. Listen to the track on Soundcloud and follow Anenon and Chantal Chadwick at the links provided.

injazerorecords.bandcamp.com/album/aunis
twitter.com/anenonmusic
facebook.com/anenon
instagram.com/chantalmichelle

Cassilda and Carcosa Soundtrack the Quest for Ancient Occult Wisdom on “Atlantis2 Test”

CassildaAndCarcosa2_crop — Cassilda and Carcosa, image courtesy the artist

Kudos to Cassilda and Carcosa for the reference to The King in Yellow in the name of the project. The allusion to a sinister and mysterious place and the tragic character are a nice analog to the music you’ll hear in the single “Atlantis2 Test.” It’s a lively electronic track but in the background lurks murky atmospheres and oscillating tones that decay into an ambient texture as the music progresses. It’s reminiscent of the neo-alien soundtracks of 90s IDM the way Future Sound of London’s Lifeforms and Dead Cities evoked another world without direct reference to previous electronic music that had provided the soundscape for so much science fiction and horror cinema. It was a break from the brilliant work Vangelis did for Blade Runner and Tangerine Dream did for numerous films beyond science fiction but whose music embodied a futuristic vision. This is a break from that and creates in your mind the imagery of delving into worlds as yet not fully explored within the confines of the earth. As the title suggests underwater environments, the textured white noise and bubbling tones express a journey into the watery dark in search of the secrets of the ancients. But rather than the menace of the proto-Lovecraftian references, Cassilda and Carcosa makes the unknown seem playful and fun. Listen to “Atlantis2 Test” on Soundcloud and check out the rest of the album On The Shores of Hali (another cool reference to the cursed play from the aforementioned story collection) on Spotify linked below.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/45ZZhnjk2a243ivXUijsIX

Ay Wing’s “Fortunes” Finds Its Dark Journey of the Heart Manifested in the Fascinating New Music Video

AyWing_crop — Ay Wing, photo courtesy the artist

The bluesy guitar and the pulsing synth with Ay Wing’s smoldering vocals over the top give the video for “Fortunes” its grounding in the beginning when it looks as though the band is performing on a floating platform in the dark, slowly approaching. But it becomes clear there is some light reflected on water that might have been the energy field holding some kind of UFO technology platform aloft. The effect is initially somewhat like one of those early 80s music videos where the limitations of video effects resulted in a mysterious, disconnected quality while the music, warm and dynamic, provided the emotional connection. Apparently this video was recorded in Lake Seelisberg in the Swiss mountains timed for when the night transitioned to day. The symbolism is perhaps layered as the song is about modern relationships and the inevitability of someone getting hurt and coming out the other side of of that time through the reflections on the good and the rough times into better times. Watch the visually fascinating video on YouTube and follow Ay Wing at the links below.

aywing.com
soundcloud.com/aywing
open.spotify.com/artist/7cjLa6AQcbH9XWQYmPNpX4
facebook.com/aywingmusic
instagram.com/aywingmusic

Pop Smear’s New Instrumental Single “Nuclear” Has the Surreal Mystery and Charm of Darkened Early 80s Video Game Arcades

PopSmear2_crop — Pop Smear, photo courtesy the artists

Pop Smear’s latest single “Nuclear” finds the New York City-based duo crafting what sounds like an alternative soundtrack to The Atomic Café. It is playful throughout but with an undertone of urgency and brushes of menace. Unlike Pop Smear’s usually oeuvre, this is an instrumental reminiscent of something Fad Gadget might have done or Xeno & Oaklander might do now. Its sound is retrofuturistic like a soundtrack to a pinball machine, the beat and rhythm bouncy, the synth arpeggio’s rolling like clockwork, the splashes of slightly distorted synth as melody like hitting the flippers to send the ball rolling to trigger lights and an escalating score. All the while there is a sense of the otherworldly combined with a familiarity like you walked through a door into an early 1980s arcade with your knowledge of video game post 1979 wiped from your memory and how surreal, mysterious and magical it felt even knowing they were just games with the threat of nuclear holocaust pending as the Cold War was, perhaps unknowingly, coming to a close. Even if it wasn’t aiming for that vibe, that’s what “Nuclear” sounds like to anyone who might remember that era. Listen to “Nuclear” on YouTube and follow Pop Smear at their Facebook page linked below.

facebook.com/popsmearofficial

prettything’s Debut Single “Endless Blue” Takes Us to the Shores of Emotional Independence and Inner Tranquility

prettything1_crop — prettything, photo courtesy the artist

Bella Venutti from IV League has a solo project called prettything and the debut single “Endless Blue” is awash in the sample of the tide coming in like memories of another era of life, bring in the people who maybe held you back or held you down until you left their orbit. And who maybe prefer to treat you the way they remember rather than assume you’ve evolved as a human. When Venutti sings“You still see me as I am, now I’ve got nothing to prove ’til you see me as I am,” she draws that line for someone who wants to limit you to an era of your life you’ve outgrown, that you’ve moved beyond. The luminously ethereal melody and the easy flow of Venutti’s vocals ripple and glisten like the sun on the ocean and take the metaphor of the tides further by embodying the cycles that may bring back the past and familiar patterns but whose constant, if consistent flow, are in perpetual motion wearing down the rough edges and just as easily taking that burdensome past outside of your purview so that you can shine outside the influence of the forces that formerly tried to shape you in ways that eroded your sense of self and your own best notions for the direction of your life. Fans of Enya and early Beach House will appreciate the way Venutti composes her soundscapes conveying a sense of texture, mood and dream-like introspection. Listen to “Endless Blue” on Soundcloud and follow prettything at the links provided.

facebook.com/prettythingmusic
instagram.com/prettythingtings

Like A Villain Gives Harrowing and Riveting Form to the Collective Outrage Toward Violence Against Women and the Systematic Silencing of Victims Thereof on “Daughters”

LikeAVillain__EmilyKrause4 — Like A Villain, photo by Emily Krause

Holland Andrews’ clear, radiant voice comes in and soars over the blasts of white noise, murky synths and industrial beat of the new Like A Villain single “Daughters” from the new album What Makes Vulnerability Good. Andrews has been at making stirring and unsettling yet gripping soundscapes for several years at this point but this song is especially confrontational, it hits you with searing lines like “they listen, they see her but they don’t believe her, they’ve broken my daughter” uttered with nearly blinding outrage more than suggesting violence of some kind inflicted on a woman and the aftermath of denial of the events. Comparisons are often made between Andrews’ work and that of Diamanda Galas’ groundbreaking, heartrending exorcisms of industrial beats, soaring vocals and raw and challenging subject matter and Holly Herndon’s experiments in vocal processing and similarly psyche unmasking material. But for this song one might even reference Lingua Ignota’s new album Caligula and its uncompromising and moving critique of misogyny in modern culture and its pervasive effects on everyone’s lives. While a harrowing listen this song feels like it shakes off some of the rage and personal darkness it also embodies or at least gives it a coherent form that is impossible to ignore. Listen to “Daughters” on Soundcloud and follow Like A Villain at the links below.

facebook.com/likeavillain
likeavillain.bandcamp.com
http://hollandandrews.com

Hanna Ojala Evokes Melancholic Transmissions From a Distant World on “A Smoky Memory Of You”

HannaOjala1_crop — Hanna Ojala, photo courtesy the artist

Hanna Ojala sounds like she’s singing to us from an alternate reality on “A Smoky Memory Of You.” The phasing synth drone is like the rippling of a field that allows communications between dimensions, a quantum transmitter of sound and ideas, the vocals dopplering through space and time. Perhaps Ojala in this song is like the first person to use a new form of transportation to visit remote spots in the multiverse and has had to jury rig a way to send messages back but because of the heretofore impossible gap between locations she’s been stranded and missing her beloved with a poignant ache and the transmission we’re getting is meant for that person and the desolated tones of her voice not intended for our ears as the message isn’t all love and yearning. The synth drones are reminiscent of late 70s Tangerine Dream circa the Sorcerer soundtrack when the band was at its enigmatic and melancholic peak. Watch the video for “A Smoky Memory Of You” below.

“Steady” is Sleepy Gonzales’ Melancholic and Witty Gloom Folk Song About Modern Malaise

SleepyGonzales2_lg — Sleepy Gonzales, photo courtesy the artists

Sleepy Gonzales uses a simple, melancholic piano melody, strings and intermittent sounds, like sound effects in a movie to set a sense of place, as the backdrop to “Steady,” a song seemingly about modern malaise. The song unfolds like a series seemingly mundane yet poetic and thoughtful diary entries rich in detail and an almost eerie catalog of one’s disassociation from one’s own life with the music reinforcing a sense of resignation to a lesser life. Is it supposed to be funny in a maudlin way? Certainly lines speaking of one being “serotonin in human form” and collecting all the money one bets against oneself, the barista knowing your name but spelling it wrong and a billion candles “one for every time you let me down” and how “disappointment comes as easily as another breath” are dramatic enough to seem absurd and thus humorous. But that humor also comes from a place of deep pain the kind that seems impossible to fully soothe except maybe through writing a song and laying those thoughts out before you like you might in a journal so that it’s not those thoughts that become the truth but, rather, a sketch of the patterns of your thinking so that you can wallow further or to at least know you’re not like that all the time. Both have their uses and this song vividly captures that time, however long it lasts, a night, a few years, long stretches of one’s lifetime, when your sadness seems like it will never end yet you somehow keep going because this mood isn’t so abrupt and disruptive to your life would be a reason to despair and you know you’ll survive it, SOMEHOW. Fans of Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis will appreciate the wit and dry humor that runs throughout the song. Listen to “Steady” on Spotify and follow the Vancouver, British Columbia-based band at the links below.

sleepyfuckinggonzales.com
open.spotify.com/artist/4aOXTZ1hY3VhWkqnJhFn2u
sleepygonzales.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/sleepyg123
instagram.com/sleepygonzales

Mieko Shimizu Soothes the Spirits in the Forest Outside Her Window and in Her Own Psyche on “Me My Ghost”

MiekoShimizu2_crop — Mieko Shimizu, photo courtesy the artist

In the video for “Me My Ghost,” as in the song itself, Mieko Shimizu haunts the koto loop and luminous and subtle synth line attempting to communicate with the ghosts outside her window. The image glitches and warps slightly with Mieko’s face floating in the dark in triple form at times, in silver party mask at others, in others, the face blown out in black and white. In her words, Mieko is trying to soothe the fears and trying to comprehend the anxieties of those aforementioned ghosts reminiscent of a kinder, gentler version of the plot to the 2001 ghost movie classic Kairo. The delicate, spare melody and textured rhythms weave together with Mieko’s all but whispered vocals in an organically ritualistic and inviting fashion that might actually calm disturbed spirits but also reconcile the unsettled parts of Shimizu’s own consciousness. The single is part of Mieko’s forthcoming 2020 album I Bloom and if “Me My Ghost” is any indication, the record will take us on a dark but necessary journey toward personal illumination and transcendence.

“Sarah and Ludo” is Astronaut 9’s Heartrending and Deeply Evocative Homage to a Departed Friend

Astronaut9_2_crop — Astronaut 9, image courtesy the artist (cropped)

Astronaut 9 recently released the album Everything Like It’s the Last Time, a fusion of post-rock and spoken word poetry. The track “Sarah and Ludo CW: Sexual Assault, Suicide, Self-Harm, Eating Disorders” is an emotionally bracing and raw portrait of a friend that challenges you, whose insight, sensitivity and strength could not spare her the psychic ravages of a life hostile to her very existence. The content warning given previously is because the piece dives deep into the reality of that friend’s life and death and how nothing will ever fully fill the hole in your life left by that friend’s absence. As the song progresses it becomes a celebration of that friend and their impact on you and others because the only way to honor such people is to honor that impact and what it is about them that made them dear and special to you. The music goes from spare and almost stark to full and luminous. Listen to the track on Soundcloud.