Queen City Sounds and Art

The People Versus’ Video for “Ocean Family” is Like a Sophistipop Segment in an A24 Supernatural Thriller Musical Yet to Be

The People Versus, photo courtesy the artists

If not for the Alice Edwards’ melodious vocals and the upbeat and even bouncy jangle pop song in which they frolic one might get a very different impression of The People Versus song “Ocean Family” based on the music video. The band is awash in turquoise light and mostly looking like they’re in a trance performing music like an unlikely band that survived the sinking of a ship and cursed to perform lilting folk sophistipop for all eternity at the bottom of the ocean. Given prospects for the world now that may not be such a horrible fate. And the lyrics seem like a love song of a sort or certainly loving but it waxes sinister and reveals itself as a possessive love song as conceived from the perspective of a long-lived or immortal being whether a ghost haunting the aforementioned wreck or a goddess or a similarly appointed being. The music video along with the lyrics and music provide contrasting layers of meaning that you might expect from an A24 short film or a segment in an unlikely, supernatural musical greenlit by that production company. Perhaps it will be and maybe The People Versus will be brought on board. But whatever the potential of the whole concept of this song and video it’s a kind of ear worm that pushes the UK folk band past its presumed wheelhouse into the realm of art pop music and fans of Swing Out Sister and Rubblebucket will probably find the track to their liking. Watch the video on YouTube and follow The People Versus at the links provided.

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The Polyphonic Spree Nudges Us Toward Living Rather Than Existing on the Uplifting “Got Down To The Soul”

The Polyphonic Spree, photo by Marisa Halbach

The Polyphonic Spree is rightfully known for the orchestral spectacle of its shows featuring sometimes dozens of people on stage including locals when the band tours. What can get lost in that completely unique live show presentation is the impressive songwriting and heartfelt observations on life and the way it can yes hit you with heartbreak but also the ways you can seemingly find emotional and spiritual fortification and uplift in unexpected places and thoughts that strike you at exactly the right time. And that’s at the core of its single “Got Down To The Soul” in which singer and band director Tim DeLaughter describes a personal process of “breaking the spell, feeling the light inside” by connecting with your core instead of being weighed down and held back by focusing on the superfluous things that don’t serve us but which we are told to value. DeLaughter and what becomes a chorus of voices in the gentle flow of uplifting, bright melodies encourages us to find our future “by design” and “by the light” and that in trusting in some inner sense of authentic self the world around us tends to support our efforts. One hopes that nefarious types would have more doubt about the rightness of their actions but too often everyone else is filled with doubt and falls into a life more mundane and unfulfilling conforming to a standard of aspiration and living that doesn’t suit them and this song seems aimed at giving a boost to anyone down on life and going through the motions when they know deep down even modest mediocrity is a choice and its more inspirational to be at least somewhat on the path you’d prefer. Listen to “Got Down To The Soul” on YouTube and follow The Polyphonic Spree at the links provided.

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The Tracks Take Us to the Edge of the Emotional Abyss and Back on the Swampy Post-punk of “Your Bike”

Dylan Dixon’s video treatment for The Tracks’ song “Your Bike” seems to tap into cultural touchstones like the Circle Jerks’ lounge scene in Repo Man and late 80s Love and Rockets comics with the foggy, dark basement noir menace of Green Room. The music an amalgam of bluesy post-punk with psychedelic saxophone in the latter half of the song adding to a sense of escalating disorder is difficult to compare to much else except for maybe The Dirtbombs and Ty Segall. It has that grit and a touch of the otherworldly. But The Tracks are more dusky and more atmospheric overall on this song and on the rest of its recently released full length Paredón Blanco (out July 29, 2022).In the video we see the band playing in a basement club where some conflict is about to go down and that tense energy permeates the scene and crackles in the vibe of the song as well. For a perhaps more contemporary comparison in terms of mood and aesthetic one might say there’s a touch of the lurid and decayed that one hears in more recent offerings from Iceage. Whatever the ingredients to the band’s music might be “Your Bike” stretches out and sways in its fluid progressions and tinged with a soulful darkness that is missing from too much modern music and a willingness to go to the edge of emotional breakdown and peer over before pulling back to give us some of that otherside spirit. Watch the video on YouTube and follow The Tracks, based out of Los Angeles, at the links below.

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Floyd Zion’s Industrial Hip-Hop Song “Black Hoodie” is a Vivid Peek Into Urban Nihilism

Floyd Zion finds the resonant nexus of introspective synth pop, industrial gangster rap and minimalist lo-fi production on the “Black Hoodie” single. In the track’s one minute nineteen seconds it is so concise in telling the story of a young man perhaps doomed by his circumstances because “I was raised just to never give a fuck.” At a young age learning to use a gun, violence and attitude to get what he’s been conditioned to want and to garner the symbols of success through a channel so dysfunctional and abusive yet brutally effective that it’s a self-reinforcing lifestyle that perpetuates the victimization of self and others. The production on the song is somehow both so intimate and stark it draws you in to a deep understanding of the worldview depicted and how it’s just a natural consequence of a world that denies you your core human needs and dignity from a young age and how adapting to surviving and feeling like one has power and the ability to satiate one’s desires immediately is more than simply seductive. The song is completely lean and is somehow imbued with mood and atmosphere. Listen to “Black Hoodie” on YouTube and follow Floyd Zion on Instagram.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S2E2: Grayson of i.O. Underground

Boulder-based i.O. Underground is a modern rock trio that formed in 2018 and released its debut EP The Wonderside in 2020 around the time when all bands had their career in most meaningful senses put on pause much less a fairly new act like i.O. Underground. But the group came together among a group of veteran musicians looking to branch out of musical styles that had defined and limited their range of creative expression and the shutdowns of live music during the early part of the pandemic allowed for some woodshedding of songwriting and development of ideas and material for the 2022 EP The Underside. Lead singer/guitarist/bassist Grayson had come up through the New York underground blues and jazz scenes of the 1990s and 2000s having played the subways before one needed a permit to do so. Guitarist/keyboard player/bassist/vocalist Casey Kannenberg was part of the Chicago music scene before moving to Colorado and drummer/vocalist Beau Harding, from Boulder, was a touring musician with singer-songwriters like Jeff Brinkman and Lee Nestor. There is coherence to the way the musicians work together that speaks well to their use of cultivated chops in crafting affecting atmospheric rock songs that are clearly as informed by current sensibilities and production techniques as they are classic pop songwriting. There is some grit and some dark moods on the new EP as suggested by the title but it never gets mired in melancholic angst, more a catharsis after a prolonged period of feeling hemmed in by circumstances beyond one’s control and otherwise. The group has a practice space and occasionally performs at non-profit arts space Roots Music Project in Boulder where it had the EP release in July 2022, a fortunate circumstance these days when practice spaces aren’t so easy to come by and for Boulder having a place to showcase your music.

Listen to our interview with Grayson on Bandcamp linked below the video for “What U Do” and for more information on i.O. Underground and to give is music a listen please visit iounderground.com.

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Doo Crowder’s Tenderly Heartbreaking “Goodbye My Favorite” Is a Direct and Powerful Evocation of Loss and Love

Doo Crowder sounds so close and holding on by fragile threads on “Goodbye My Favorite.” He seems to be singing a song to a recently lost loved one. With just his clear and emotionally ragged voice gently delivering words so tender and heartbreaking it’s easy forget the elegant and spare guitar work that sets the perfect timbre to what might be described as a desolated yet loving tribute. When Crowder sings “So I pray we might reunite/As teardrops fall/Each one a memory/Of what you shared with me/May I cry them all” it’s so simple and direct and devastating that it slips past your defenses because it has no agenda other than communicating a feeling we hope we never have to experience but we all have or we all will someday. In giving voice to that pure expression of loss Crowder honors all the feelings and memories around those words without melodrama and with no more than the absolute essential elements of songwriting. Crowder has been writing songs for years in bands like indiepop band The Dinnermints, with the sprawling indie folk orchestra Pee Pee and on his own in various incarnations of his experiments in sound including electronic, avant-garde pop but the through line is a disarming sincerity and sensitivity to his subjects and that is in full force with this song. Listen to “Goodbye My Favorite” on Spotify and connect with Crowder at the links below.

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Syzygy’s Electroclash Synth Pop Song “Justice of Mercy” Questions the Folly of Believing One’s Own Virtue has the Power to Change Anyone But Yourself

Australian electronic pop Syzygy was formed in 2019 in Melbourne when former Spotting members Rebecca Maher and Gus Kenny started to explore a more pure electronic pop sound. Going to the roots of that style of music Maher and Kenny have been deep into the aesthetics of 80s synth pop but with a more modern production style. And yet the music video for the single “Justice or Mercy” and its fantastic use of letters as pixels forming Maher’s image dancing really touches on memories of Yaz videos, the music of Human League and certainly Phil Oakey’s collaboration with Giorgio Moroder on the title song for 1984 science fiction film Electric Dreams, “Together in Electric Dreams,” and add in a touch of early Depeche Mode. The arrangements bring to mind Ladytron’s 604 album and the way the bass line is accented with the percussion. All comparisons and dissection of possible influence aside Maher’s vocals shine through with an emotional power and her minor chord shifts here and there truly help to set the track apart from a lot of other music in a similar style. They lyrics also explore a nuanced take on relationships and the folly of hoping someone will change even given consequences if they don’t feel they’ve done anything wrong. The synth melodies intertwine with the percussion and rhythm after the manner of modern electroclash and fans of Boy Harsher and Electric Youth may find this track what they’re looking for to branch out into new music. Watch the video for “Justice or Mercy” on YouTube and follow Syzygy at the links below. Look for the album Justice or Mercy due out later in 2022.

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The ttypes’ “73 78 Honey” is a Blissful Reimagining of Beck’s Remix of Philip Glass Compositions “NYC 73-78”

Perhaps it’s as much a commentary of the modern era of electronic music as it is an interesting experiment but ttypes doing “73 78 Honey” as a reworking of Beck’s remix of Philip Glass compositions as “NYC 73-78” is not merely meta. Adding vocals, processing others, changing the focus and tenor of the music but not the expansive spirit the elements of the song are brought into focus and rendered into the kind of psychedelic pop song one might have expected out of the Beach Boys at their most experimental or Animal Collective when aiming at a more classical sonic architecture. The repeated choruses swim in musical sunlight and in the end fade out blissfully into the infinite distance like a flight home into the rising sun. Listen to “73 78 Honey” on YouTube and follow ttypes at the links below.

Live Show Review: Sunflower Bean at Bluebird Theater 6/11/22

Sunflower Bean at Bluebird Theater 6/11/2022, photo by Tom Murphy

Sunflower Bean has garnered some criticism for being icons of indie music rather than a genuine indie band from early on. But live its eclectic, multi-genre approach to songwriting somehow works even though it hasn’t exactly translated into a break into the mainstream. What this date in the support tour for its new album Headful of Sugar showcased the idiosyncratic band dynamic beyond the broad range of sounds and songwriting styles that spans the group’s catalog. The way each member had turns to shine throughout the set and within songs and the interplay like a handing off of the spotlight and sharing support roles seemingly effortlessly and without anyone seeming to push their ego into the mix unless the moment called for it.

Opening act Big J Beats, one of the great Denver hip-hop artists/producers, photo by Tom Murphy

Shifting between styles across the set wouldn’t be possible if the trio didn’t have a command of a range of aesthetics from shoegaze, post-punk, psych, garage rock, R&B and electronic dance music. At times it could come across as a new band still finding its own sound but with songs developed to a high degree and maybe it’s intentional but this aspect of the band, there from its early tours, brings to the show a built in quality of the uncalculated, something most bands shed often by the time of their first album and certainly by the second, settling into a sound and sensibility that can feel limiting but also provides a coherence that points to stronger creative development. For now it seems Sunflower Bean realizes that the period of a band still figuring itself out can be personally rewarding. Rather than rushing to nailing what it’s about, Sunflower Bean streamlined its performances yet for this show we got to see the band bursting off the rails of its own disciplined presentation and it is in those moments that point to the group’s possibilities and creativity. Much of the set list came from the new record including opening with the title track but plenty of the highlights from earlier albums like the title track of Human Ceremony, “I Was a Fool,” “Twentytwo” and non-album track “Moment In The Sun.” Somehow none of it seemed dated because maybe, as has been pointed by various critics, this band reflected indie trends at every point in its career it also didn’t get tethered to one in following its own instincts in songwriting and the material took on the shape of the energy put into it the playing of it which felt somewhat off the cuff and in the moment even if obviously well practiced.

Turquoise Delivers a Thrilling Dream Pop Call to Cultivating One’s Better, More Vital Instincts on “Le Bruit”

“Le Bruit,” the companion single to “Lumio,” by Belgian shoegaze/dream pop band Turquoise combines a brisk pace with hazy melodies and a defiant spirit. The lyrics seem to outline rediscovering something within oneself, an irresistible noise, thus the song title, that represents a more spirited part of our personality that has until now been buried and obscured by social conditioning and the ways in which we make a habit of departing from what is at the core of our being and which drive us to do something worthwhile in life rather than simply fit in with the dictates of a society and economic system that needs compliance rather than people connected to their humanity and living a life that has a personal connected with a community. The lyrics are in French but plugging the words into a translation site on a search engine reveals to the English speaker the lyrics suggesting speaking about these things rather than burying them can be cathartic and a way not to be isolated and despairing. Even if you don’t subscribe to any ideological thinking even in these times when authoritarianism and its culture is operating completely in the open anyone can relate to the desire to live free, to speak our truths and to live in a world where basic human rights are the bottom rung and not an aspiration. Musically it is reminiscent of Stereolab in a more pop mode with that always appealing fusion of forceful yet playful and expansive energy and for that matter in melding that with socially uplifting content. Listen to “Le Bruit” on YouTube and follow Turquoise at the links provided.