SubmitHub – Page 214 – Queen City Sounds and Art

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

Sinnet’s New Single “Lil’ Flicker” Helps Us to Hold On to the Fleeting Flashes of Sense Memory of People and Times That Have Passed

Sinnet1_sm — Sinnet, photo courtesy the artists

“Lil’ Flicker,” the first single from Sinnet’s new EP Tennis Elbow Club is about those flashes in life where you are taken out of the current moment and forget that someone you knew is gone and they remain a presence in your conscious mind. The lyrics of the song describe this experience like a psychological ghost mixed with a yearning of reconnecting. The line “just a break in the nothingness” captures well this desire within us to transcend the strictures of everyday mundane experience and to embrace the kind of nostalgia born of your living memory of someone or something that reminds you that life is more than a mundane ho hum existence. The gorgeous synth melody repeating like a hypnotic metronome of memory trickling in like the gentle pulse and flow of the Aurora Borealis draws you in a rhythm of mind in which you’re able to hold onto those better memories for longer than the fleeting moments captured so well in the song. Listen to “Lil’ Flicker” on Soundcloud and follow Sinnet at the links provided.

sinnetsongs.com
soundcloud.com/sinnet
sinnet.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/sinnetsongs

Jai Discord’s “All4wan” is a Potent Trip to a Place of Personal Darkness and Transcendence Through Feeling All Of It

JaiDiscord_Xamax_BlueBayou1_crop — Jai Discord *Why Lie?* cover (cropped)

Jai Discord’s track “All4wan” (working with Xamax and produced by and with contributions from BlueBayou) sounds like both a cry for help, a personal exorcism and the utter breakdown of the psyche once you’ve run yourself down through the prison of your own mind after self-medication has long since failed to salve the psychic pain. The vocals strain against the drag of personal darkness in the lyrics and the synth and beats set out a cadence like one might imagine being awake during an alien medical examination wherein even those advanced scientists schooled in more than purely physical medical science hit a conundrum in treatment, the background sounds of their instruments monitoring vitals and brainwaves counting time in tones and texture. The descending bass line mid-song is menacing and in perfect sync with the desperation of the tortured vocals that precede the slow warping that serves as the surreal outro. Fans of Doseone, Busdriver and Clipping. will find much to appreciate about the relentless and creative flow of ideas and sound and the experimental spirit of this song. But the whole of Jai Discord’s new EP Why Lie? Is rife with unusual sounds and wonderfully left field musical ideas, soundscapes and imagery. It’s the kind of record that puts you through some tough headspaces but by evoking them so well and pairing them with imaginative beats that mirror those feelings well you get the sense that no matter how bad a place you’ve been in your mind that you’re definitely not alone in being there and that you too can get through this time with the help of creativity and patience with yourself. Listen to “All4wan” on YouTube and check out the rest of Why Lie? on Spotify.

Charcoal Burners Tap Into a Fine Vein of Sardonic Humor and Melancholic Introspection of the Fuzz Pop Single “Time’s Informers”

CharcoalBurners4_sm — Charcoal Burners, image courtesy the artists

Charcoal Burners described their new single “Time’s Informers” as “an unlikely marriage of Hüsker Dü and Pet Shop Boys.” Fair enough considering the mix of distorted pop hooks and acerbic wit is actually like a latter day, more slackery “Could You Be The One.” But at times it also oddly reminds one of “Living After Midnight” by Judas Priest in its changes and dynamics. All this combines to make for a song that touches upon familiar places in your brain. But overall its sweet synth sheen and back beat-driven rhythm and introspective yet pointed lyrics delivered in laid back, almost disengaged, fashion give the single fascinating contrasts that add another dynamic dimension to the song but one more emotional than purely sonic. For a band that has a single called “The Verlaines and Hüsker Dü” name-checking its most obvious influences, this song isn’t as crackling with inspired cheek but it is informed by a similarly wonderful sardonic humor. Listen to “Time’s Informers” on Bandcamp and follow New Zeland’s Charcoal Burners at the links provided.

Time's Informers by Charcoal Burners

charcoalburners.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/charcoalburnersdunedin

Iñigo Montoya’s Video for “MDTG” is a Surreal Expression of Triumphs, Frustrations and Perversity of the Illusion of Choice in the Developed World

Iñigo Montoya’s animated video for “MDTG” traces the band’s journey since releasing its debut EP in 2015. The triumphs signified by green and frustrations by red. Natural disasters both benefit and throw stumbling blocks. Nuclear waste and warplanes represent the active and passive conflict that plagues everyone’s lives making them more dramatic than need be but also enervating at times that aren’t always obvious. All the while the playful yet sometimes frantic melody and almost sing-song-y vocals give the surreal imagery their emotional context as an expression of perversity of our lives in the developed world as we are encouraged to indulge our whims even in the face of impending global disaster. Follow Iñigo Montoya at the links below.

facebook.com/inigomontoyapark
instagram.com/inigomonto_ya

Fatima Al Qadiri’s Score for Atlantics Embodies the Complexity and Tragedy of the Film

FatimaAlQadiri_Atlantics_Soundtrack_crop — Fatima Al Qadiri *Atlantics* soundtrack cover (cropped)

Senegal born, Kuwaiti raised composer Fatima Al Qadiri brings the gravity of her experience with war and post-colonial history to her darkly evocative soundtrack for the critically acclaimed 2019 movie Atlantics. The movie, marking the directorial debut of Mati Diop, is the story of a woman in a suburb of Dakar, Senegal who falls in love with one of the construction workers that have been building a futuristic-looking tower although she is betrothed to another man. The track “Boys in the Mirror” is imbued with that sense of melancholic longing, conflicted emotions and portents of tragic endings. The linger keyboard melody is reminiscent of Eduard Artemiev’s beautifully brooding and desolate work for Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) and Stalker (1979). The depth of tone, the suggestion of texture and an organic flow that courses through your mind, haunting it long after. Listen to “Boys in the Mirror” on YouTube, stream Atlantics on Netflix from November 29 onward and follow Al Qadiri at the links provided.

twitter.com/FatimaAlQadiri
facebook.com/FatimaAlQadiri

“Stranded” is a Chilling Taste of Mark Korven’s Unsettling Score for The Lighthouse

MarkKorven_TheLighthouse_Soundtrack_crop — Mark Korven *The Lighthouse* soundtrack cover (cropped)

Mark Korven’s score for the 2019 supernatural horror film The Lighthouse is well represented by the track “Stranded.” The swell of menacing horns like a sudden stormy wind giving way to a tense calm only for the horns to weft their way into the sonic frame again with portents of cosmic horror on the horizon. Director Robert Eggers worked with Korven for his chilling and moody score for Eggers’ previous horror masterpiece, 2015’s The Witch, and brings a similar sensibility employing textures and interweaving, dynamic layers of brass instruments to give voice to the forces of darkness waiting outside normal space to drive humans mad and feed on their fear. Like his work for The Witch, Korven’s composition on “Stranded” gets under your skin with its deeply unsettling moods by masterful use of tone, texture and dynamics. Listen to “Stranded” on YouTube and follow Korven on Twitter.

twitter.com/KorvenMark

ARCHE Demonstrates Peak DGAF Attitude in the Video For Its Evocatively Breezy Single “Back to the Sun”

Arche1_crop — ARCHE, photo courtesy the artists

The music video for ARCHE’s single “Back to the Sun” suggests a certain disregard for conventional style and in subtle ways a willingness to look silly and absurd. Like when one of the members of the band looks into the camera nonchalantly as a shower rains down on him in the background. Musically it’s a bit like if Duran Duran had come up in the period after chillwave and summery post-punk like Beach Fossils happened. Glistening synth melodies and swirl around as you see the guys wearing terrible sandals, intentionally mis-matching outfits and a mix of personal styles that a conventional manager trying to guide a band to commercial success would advise against. But it works so well for the song and speaks to a wonderfully carefree spirit in the music itself. It is a level of self-awareness that embraces ones imperfections in a real attitude of not caring about superficial nonsense when its the transporting emotional quality of the music that matters. A lot of videos where bands are looking like they’re relaxing and having fun it looks like they’re also trying too hard. ARCHE is having none of that try harditude. The subtext of the video and the song is be yourself especially when no one is watching. Check out the video on YouTube and follow the band at the links below.

open.spotify.com/artist/0HSZWleTsKOcWUQuDXizYk
facebook.com/Archeband
instagram.com/archeband

Hollowlove’s Brooding “River of Crows” is the Soundtrack to a Grand Adventure Fraught With Peril

HOLLOWLOVE-ALBUM-COVER_crop — Hollowlove, self-titled cover (cropped)

The throbbing hum of low end coursing through “River of Crows” by Hollowlove as misty synths float over top alongside the sound of the titular birds cawing in the distance sounds like the soundtrack to a long lost 80s science fiction or fantasy movie. The music video suggests a mythical take on urban decay and hazy imagery akin to Children of Men or, in a lighter mood, the next Dash Shaw film. The track meanders with menace and dark promise of the mysterious path ahead with the crows as harbingers of something approaching out of sight. At times it’s reminiscent, moodwise, of the part of Apocalypse Now when Willard and crew reach the haven of Kurtz but have not yet met the Colonel. As crows are both a symbol of ill fortune and intelligence and destiny it’s perfect for a song that sounds like we’re in for a great adventure fraught with peril. Listen to the instrumental track on Soundcloud, watch the video and follow Hollowlove at the links below where you can listen to the rest of the project’s entrancing self-titled album.

hollowlove.com
soundcloud.com/hollowlove
open.spotify.com/artist/6yP391zvvWkwjlUnBqkt2N
youtube.com/channel/UCA00NrDsgpVPevF_BEKo1Sw
hollowlove.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/hollowlovemusic
facebook.com/hollowlovemusic
instagram.com/hollowlovemusic

KIN CAPA’s “Queen of the ‘Niles” is a Brilliant Use of the Metaphor of Human Civilization as Celebrity Diva on the Subject Ducking Addressing Climate Change

KIN_CAPA2_crop — KIN CAPA, photo courtesy Lee Capa

The new KIN CAPA single “Queen of the ‘Niles” from The American Opera: Act II might be too clever for its own good. Couched in a sort of sound design production style, the song feels like an experience presented as much as well-crafted pop song with no short measure of creative ambition. The rousing choruses outline the various ways our civilization has failed to grow up (the “Queen of Juveniles”) and the multiple ways its been in denial about its direct role in the destruction of the planet and the consequences that have been crashing into our lives for more than a few years now while America and other world powers are busy telling themselves how great they are and that they can put off the impending disaster for some future date that never seems to come. Capa’s use of the diva, the kind that can’t be bothered with the petty, everyday concerns of “regular” people lacking extreme privilege, as metaphor for the attitude our societies take toward Mother Nature’s not so gentle warnings is brilliant and clever taking what could be a bluntly topical song about climate change to the level of art without blunting the message. Listen to “Queen of the ‘Niles” on Spotify and follow KIN CAPA at his website linked below.

kincapa.com