SubmitHub – Page 212 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Neuland Charts the Path of Humanity’s Brighter Future Path on “Longing in Motion,” the Single From its Self-Titled Debut

Neuland2_sm — Neuland, photo courtesy the artists

“Longing in Motion,” the debut single from Neuland’s self-titled double LP due out October 25, is like the musical analogue of that moment when the human race takes the first trip through a functioning worm hole to a remote part of the universe dense with stars. The luminous elegance of that moment and the unprecedented emotional impact of the certain knowledge and direct experience of the realization of a peak of human imagination and intellect but of worlds beyond what we will have been able to see with our own eyes until that first contact. Maybe we will not have matured enough as a species to not have agendas of profit and exploitation of resources and the development of a weaponized use of that technology leading up to that time. But the sheer sense of wonder is something no one will be able to deny and in that moment there is hope. It is the same sense astronauts who have been to the moon and back have described and even a yearning to experience again but on a galactic and intergalactic and perhaps even interdimensional scale. The music hints at a knowledge of a new kind of liberation from former limitations and a hint that we can be more than the current ideologies and belief systems have limited our thinking and consciousness. The accompanying music video beautifully illustrates this sense of expanded view that the song expresses in sound.

The duo responsible for this music are no strangers to transcendent and mind-altering compositions. Peter Baumann was a keyboardist of pioneering synth and art rock band Tangerine Dream during the critical years 1971-1977 including working on the landmark 1974 release Phaedra and the soundtrack to the 1977 film Sorcerer. Paul Haslinger later played keyboards and guitar in Tangerine Dream from 1986-1990 and worked on the soundtracks to Near Dark and Three O’Clock High and the albums Canyon Dreams and Melrose, among other releases. With this collaboration broached three decades ago, the self-titled debut is not beholden to past accomplishments, having been impacted by groundbreaking modern masters of synth composition, rather it looks to soundtracking humankind’s inevitable brighter future. Listen to and watch the video for “Longing in Motion” on YouTube and follow Neuland at the links below.

soundcloud.com/neulandproject
youtube.com/channel/UCZTOabpxPCRPRkIIJWE–jg
facebook.com/neulandproject
instagram.com/neulandproject

The Stargazer Lilies Warp Forward and Back in Psychological Time on the Fuzzy, Mind-Bending New Single “Living Work of Art”

TheStargazerLilies1_sm — The Stargazer Lilies, photo courtesy the artists

The Stargazer Lilies’ “Living Work of Art” begins like an unmarked cassette found at a thrift store with some tape hiss and white noise the picks up into a fuzzy, warping, worn VHS collage of granulated, phasing melodic tone over which female vocals intone winsomely, occasionally glitching out. Though clearly a modern recording, the band has opted for the opposite of slick production but not quite lo-fi as the sounds are strong and clearly intentional if not 100% calculated. The track comes from the band’s forthcoming album Occabot, out on November 1 on Rad Cult. The latter is more than a clue that Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow is involved and in fact is the producer of the record. But this doesn’t sound like he took over the sound of the band, he just encouraged their natural instincts for going outside their own lines and rules and make an experience as much as individual, coherent songs. “Living Work of Art” seems to simultaneously go forward and backward in an entrancing loop and to evolve in organic ways much as the title suggests. Listen to the single on Soundcloud and follow the band from northeastern Pennsylvania at the links below.

open.spotify.com/artist/0BykdcTFMgGvvyySXL7yGI
twitter.com/TheStrgzrLilies
facebook.com/thestargazerlilies
instagram.com/thestargazerlilies

Tablefox Subverts the Bravado of 80s Action Movie Rock to Deliver a Tenderly Confessional Pop Song

Tablefox3_sm — Tablefox, photo courtesy the artists

One its new single “Always Always,” New Zealand’s Tablefox strikes triumphant tones with an epic upsweep of chords and rhythm. But this upbeat tone comes with a deeply confessional story of a person who admits to shortcomings in their relationships with a specific person. But wanting to make up for those failings by being present now and not running from admitting to an emotional connection that was always there. It’s an interesting piece of music considering the core message seems to be the singer admitting to pursuing nonsense that in their own minds seemed more exciting and important but that it was simply “My foolish paradise.” Musically it sounds like one of those badass pop anthems that might have appeared in a Sylvester Stallone movie crossed with one The Call’s spiritual power pop ballads. Except it subverts the macho bravado of the former and embraces the earnestness of the latter in delivering a song that is sweeping and heartfelt. Listen to “Always Always” on Soundcloud and follow Tablefox at the link below.

soundcloud.com/tablefox

Honey Creeper’s “Killer Gourmet Burgers” is the Sound of a Wise-Ass Coming to Terms With the Mortality of a Loved One

Honey Creeper’s catalog up to now is a surreally nightmarish songs throwing up the more unsavory side of the American psyche for display in an absurd and humorous, if sometimes edgy, fashion. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say some of the artwork and song titles and songs themselves are within the realm of “NSF.” But think more in the spirit of early Ween than something like Brainbombs. This song, “Killer Gourmet Burgers,” submitted to us from an EP that seems to have emerged in 2017, is actually a short song as a testimony to a parent, a grandparent, a mentor missed deeply. It’s a tender ode to someone you took for granted in your life who is suddenly gone and you don’t quite know how to deal with it so you write a weary song with a warped jangle and your voice slowed down to enhance the sense of poignantly confused loss. It’s a song that sounds like someone used to poking fun at and laughing at everything with no sacred cows finally has to come to terms with the mortality of someone they care about and there’s no glossing over the hurt with humor. Follow Honey Creeper at the links below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-177357622
https://www.facebook.com/pg/honeycreeperfuxsquad

daisy’s Debut single “BLEACH” is a Song About How Starting Over Sometimes Takes Extreme Measures

daisy1_sm_crop — daisy, photo courtesy the artists

The throbbing distortion of daisy’s new single “BLEACH” is reminiscent of the era of music represented on the Amphetamine Reptile imprint at its peak from the 80s through the 90s. Its pounding beat and atonal noise hooks with just shy of tortured vocals create a disorienting haze well complemented by the music video. The plot of the latter seems to be of young women, disillusioned with the hypocrisy, abuse and warped cult-like nature of their evangelical upbringing turn to what seems the opposite in occult practices inspired by what they’ve seen in movies depicting Satanism. The video is even more low budget than Ti West’s chilling 2009 early 80s inspired horror film The House of the Devil. But that’s what gives it an unsettling authenticity. Once the women walk up a sinister looking set of poorly lit stairs to a secluded apartment the visuals are blown out in smoky orange that settles into a candlelit circle and they are welcomed to the other side as in video footage of faith healers and phone numbers to call to donate run on screen like memories being expunged from consciousness as the repeating, pins and needles guitar figure, like an amp picking up cel signal, takes us out of the song. Though perhaps not explicit the song with the video suggests that personal darkness can come from anywhere inside us as we’ve internalized what’s outside of us and that to rebuild the kind of authentic self we need maybe a little psychic bleach will help. Watch the video on YouTube and follow daisy, which includes members of Bleached and Warpaint, at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/2LAyBWkYdMBf6VfrT8HSZn
instagram.com/daisydaisyofficial

Shore Drive’s New Single “Chaser (feat. Stella in the Clouds)” is Like Listening to a Poetic and Refreshing Dream

ShoreDrive_Chaser_cover_crop — Shore Drive “Chaser” cover (cropped)

The finger picking on Shore Drive’s “Chaser (featuring Stella in the Clouds” creates a hypnotic loop of texture that serves as a kind of canvas for the emotional impressions and storytelling ahead, cast in impressionistic couplets. The tight vocal harmonies are just above hushed and conjure cherished sense memories tied to poignant details of the kinds of experiences that define an especially significant era of one’s life. The vivid snapshots paired with their emotional context in the song is an effective technique that makes the song stick with you long after it’s done as though you’ve been given some of your own memories back after years of neglecting them in some dusty corner of your brain maybe discarded as a painful time but Shore Drive has shone a light on what was beautiful about those chapters of your life’s story. As the song is on its way to ending, the music seems to swim through the cycling glimmer of synth drone and ethereal vocals like a pleasant dream fading out while you wake up refreshed. Listen for yourself on Soundcloud and follow Shore Drive at the links provided.

shoredrivemusic.com
soundcloud.com/shoredr
youtube.com/user/shoredrmusic
shoredrive.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/Shore_Drive
facebook.com/shoredr
instagram.com/terliz9

Joanna McGowan’s “Wasteland” is a Song About Conflicted Feelings About the Places that Raised You

JoannaMcGowan1_crop — Joanna McGowan, photo courtesy the artist

Joanna McGowan sounds like she’s walking through a fog-enshrouded setting on her new single “Wasteland.” Ethereal melodies, hazy synths and minimalistic rhythms swirl around her incandescent voice until the tempo picks up giving the impression that McGowan is running through the fog to get free of the memories of a place that has changed beyond recognition but whose influence has left an indelible impression on her mind. One hears a tone of bittersweet affection for the “wasteland” of the song and she sings of feel of comfort in being there because it reminds her of how far she has come even if she’s experiencing a setback in life. Like going back to your hometown, which many of us think of as a cultural wasteland, or the environment in which you were raised after you’ve had a taste of something that nourishes your spirit a little more than the rustic familiarity of a place you’ve outgrown but which know all too well. The line “Nothing changes in the wasteland, time moves but the stillness remains” is telling because who hasn’t felt stuck somewhere in life only to go out into the bigger world in search of the stimulation you’re not getting where you came from? McGowan, though, in the song deftly explores the conflicted feelings while choosing liberation and giving those parts of the song the dramatic up-sweep in tempo and emotional richness. Listen to “Wasteland” on Spotify. The single is the first of four songs on McGowan’s forthcoming EP.

Calcou’s “Colors on Screen (feat. GRIP TIGHT)” is Like the Soundtrack to the Awakening Wonder in an Artificial Intelligence to the Phenomenon of Creativity

Calcou_ColorsOnScreen_cover_crop — Calcou, “Colors on Screen” cover (cropped)

The bell tones that carry the melody on Calcou’s “Colors on Screen (featuring GRIP TIGHT)” bring a seemingly random and organic element to a steady, mathematical beat and paradoxically emotional robotic vocals. Like an A.I. contemplating the very fact of pixels on a screen and what went into making that happen and the concept of what informed the choice of those colors or, if not so chosen, the design behind making those patterns of color manifest as they do. Rather than take for granted that we can merely program a somewhat randomizing set of color sequences as in an old dynamic screensaver or use a computer to design visual art or even merely a flyer, the newly aware artificial intelligence expresses wonder at what is behind what humans might think of as calculated and mathematical on one level because to us it is but as humans sometimes wonder at what the primary forces behind existence and how it manifests and why, an intelligent being we designed by accident might wonder at similar things coming from an angle that can’t be our own. This song may not be about that but it would make a good soundtrack to a story about this happening and how artificial intelligences might not be homicidal robots destroying us for our inefficiency but beings of great empathy who share a wonder at existence and creativity in a way we could never have predicted. Listen to “Colors on Screen” on Soundcloud and follow Calcou at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/calcou
youtube.com/channel/UCEaA-2F0XdS1Kmqi1Oq_mFg
instagram.com/calcou.music

Manon’s Mysterious “Girls” Gives us a Vivid Sense Memory of an Unusual Childhood Experience

Manon1_crop — Manon, photo courtesy the artist

The texture of cello creating dynamic low end drones on “Girls,” the latest single from Iceland’s Manon, are like deep wells into which the milkily luminescent melodies on piano and vocals swirl and disappear into infinity. The song is about two girls trying to put out of their minds an experience that would leave its mark on their psyches for a lifetime the way an emotionally traumatic can haunt you with contemplating their meaning, even if there are no interpretations or answers that will ever satisfy you, seemingly endlessly. Manon sings of the romance of being curious and dangerous and a chance encounter on an adventure together. The strange and mysterious event is one worth sussing out for yourself but the classical sensibilities of Manon’s songwriting is reminiscent of the avant-garde pop stylings of Kate Bush whose own songwriting brings together musical elements in a way to craft personal myth enshrouded by evocative sounds that themselves stir the imagination. Though short, at two minutes twenty-two seconds, “Girls” feels like you’re getting a poignant sense memory of something Manon will never forget. Listen to “Girls” on Soundcloud and follow Manon at the links below.

musicmanon.com
open.spotify.com/artist/3sb9YxHMKqnzyLM89FzoWf
facebook.com/musicmanon
instagram.com/p/BueI81Egmgq

Best Mann Reflects on a More Nuanced Approach to Romance on the Lush and Hypnotic Single “MCO”

BEST_MANN_GEORGIA_TEENSMA-sm — Best Mann, photo by Georgia Teensma

The mellotron loop that runs throughout Best Mann’s single “MCO” keeps up back drop of dreamlike abstract melody upon which songwriter and producer Nate Mondschein places percussion, bass, minimal guitar and a story of some people’s tendency to need to have one’s romantic experiences and relationships to be like something out of a movie and overdoing everything in a way that could never be sustained by mere mortals long term. And the expectations placed on oneself and others that puts undue pressure on the association before it can really start or solidify and work to erode it from the start with the heaviness of it all. Everyone wants their love relationships to be imbued with some magic and passion but life isn’t always peak moments and if we let in some breathing room we might have more of that if we don’t always expect it of ourselves and our loved ones. Or out of any situation in life. The down times and those times we might think of as boring or dull are as important to our psychology as those that are the opposite. Joseph Campbell might have implied something like that in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. At any rate, the lush atmospheres and slow dynamic wave of the song is a recognition of this reality and attempt to honor the impulse of connection without shame as well as the human emotional limitations that often go unacknowledged. Best Mann’s new album …And the Sky is due out on October 25, 2019. Listen to “MCO” on Soundcloud and follow Best Mann at the links below.

bestmannmusic.com/epk
soundcloud.com/bestmannmusic
twitter.com/BestMannMusic
instagram.com/bestmannmusic