Graffiti Welfare’s single “Just Follow” sits somewhere between gentle, drifty psychedelia and ambient IDM dream pop. Think a lo-fi and more chill Big Black Delta and Washed Out. Melody and texture flows through the song like water and wind, pooling in eddies of sound before dissolving into silence leaving the lightly echoing vocals which haunt the track like the voice of a lingering spirit. In moments it’s reminiscent of parts of The Helio Sequence circa Young Effectuals with the blissed out vocals and layers of hazy melody. Whatever the exact shape, impact and texture of the music the music video for the song is brimming with signifiers synced with what we’re hearing with vocals coming in paired with plants coming into bloom, the vocals represented by abstract fireworks float over the rippling texture of flowing water in a river. Guitar too accompany the burst of blooms and give way to percussion counting the moments as the whole takes a casual pace, dreamlike in a steady flow of soothing energy. It is like a dynamic collage of pop songcraft and symbolic imagery. As the title of the song suggests sometimes it’s best to go with a benevolent flow rather than overthink. Watch the video for “Just Follow” on YouTube, give the rest of the new album Revolving Shores when it releases to Spotify on June 17, 2002 and follow Graffiti Welface at the links provided.
“Hurt Forever” showcases theWorst’s ability to deliver blistering melodies as expressions of a sensitivity abused by bad faith actors far too many times. But also not being willing to lose that vulnerability that makes one open to oneself and others in spite the of the risk of running afoul of people who think you’ll just take their abuse without comment. Joshua James Hand’s video treatment for the song has Brooke Binion in a mental health facility with other people also often stuck in such places when family and society doesn’t know what to do with people who have hit some sort of breaking point often as a normal reaction to extraordinarily harmful situations. We see the stark conditions and the surreal quality of that experience until that imagery and that of being in a rock band is juxtaposed perhaps revealing how creative work and pursuing one’s non-destructive passions can be a way out of that state as a positive way to build the psychological infrastructure to sustain a functional existence. Maybe rock music as therapy is a bit on the nose but it really works here because there is no suggestion that having creative outlets for your psychic agony is going to solve all your problems or soothe the tender places where you still hurt from a lifetime of abuse, self-inflicted and otherwise. When the end of the song comes and Binion is cloaked in a plastic drape singing quietly with only an acoustic about a yearning for genuine connection after much of the rest of the song raging with channeled frustration at having no control over one’s life and no meaningful agency it hits perhaps hardest because it’s where the anger and furious energy are set aside to express what everyone wants and needs with the simplicity of an unvarnished truth. Watch the video for “Hurt Forever” on YouTube and follow theWorst at the links below where you can also listen to the rest of The Worst’s new album Yes Regrets with released on 6/2/22.
Lake Over Fire’s video for “The Devil Provides” looks like lost footage of the movie Tobe Hooper made on sixteen millimeter after the release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and discarded in a shed rediscovered nearly 50 years hence. Or the sequel to Antrum. The grainy image quality certainly looks like we’re seeing something forbidden and when the bikers head out into the desert with a cloaked figure, death-like in appearance, looking on the scene takes on a sinister aspect. The music itself is like a strange mix of post-punk, blues rock, crust punk and Dead Kennedys-esque dynamics with vocals that cut through to tell this story of a person who is afflicted with a mysterious condition and fascinated with the darker side of the psyche. Where it seems the pulp storytelling aspect and tongue in cheek seems obvious is in the subtitles that come later in the video separate from the proper lyrics when The Devil makes an appearance with a company of demons to enact a ritual and the dialogue is subtitled as well as the words “[epic guitar solo]” when there is in fact such a tasty performance. Humorous aspects aside there’s no doubting the song doesn’t sit neatly in some predictable genre niche and the aesthetics of the video as well as the production is as good as any of the better, more believable found footage horror films to have come out in the last thirty years. Watch the video for yourself on YouTube and connect with Maine-based Lake Over Fire on Instagram.
Making Movies lives up to its moniker with the video for “Sala De Los Pecadores.” Think like a Quentin Tarantino film with characters of questionable morals and character partying in a hotel room dimly lit with colored lights and at one point miniature versions of the band is playing from inside a microwave. The music is a lively hybrid of styles: cumbia, rock, salsa, blues and psychedelia. It’s reminiscent of a Latin and Afro-Cuban version of Gogol Bordello. The English meaning of the title of the song is “Hall of Sinners” and the video and energy of the song is a celebration of behavior that transgresses conventional morality and mores because most people engage in some form of sin while many don’t recognize the concept as a part of a rational human life and accept these indulgences as part of the broad spectrum of a life lived to the fullest whether or not they choose to participate in specific activities. Watch the video for “Sala De Los Pecadores” on YouTube.
One has to imagine that Evil Gima conceived of the song and video for “IT/AM” in some sort of creative tandem. The sounds themselves suggest spaciousness and texture like the snow and water droplets depicted in the video. The piano figure drifts while plinks of metallic sounds like processed windchimes or stringed instrument plucking and slowly resolving drones convey a languid atmosphere. It’s like the analog of natural processes unfolding like the accumulation of snow depicted in the video as it forms and melts into water and fills into ponds then evaporates and the cycle begins again. It’s a little like an orchestral piece Anthony Braxton might have written around the turn of the 70s if he had access to a robust electronic palette of sounds. That organic improvisational way of arranging noises in abstract, conceptual fashion that made him a rebel then and a style outside orthodox music making that ambient music and abstract free jazz aficionados appreciate now. Watch the video for “IT/AM” on YouTube and follow Evil Gima on the project’s website linked below.
Joshua Creek’s economy of composition on “Thrill,” a track from his new album Phenomena which released April 22, 2022, serves well his aim in the writing and production of the song. He wanted to capture the excitement and anticipation of going out into the dark and night time adventures. His energetic yet light and lively piano figure paired with a shuffling percussion line that is joined by other electronic drum sounds to fill out the texture and some light delay on the bass line that sits deep yet evocatively in the mix. In a song that lasts two minutes twenty it stirs the imagination with recursive compositional structure that brings themes in and out of the song so that it feels like a pleasant and memory looped to remind one of a feeling that is difficult to convey with as much precision and quiet power as Creek does here. In moments it may remind one of one of Coil’s more upbeat and classically-inspired pieces or that of producer William Orbit. Listen to “Thrill” on YouTube and follow Joshua Creek on Spotify below.
The gently percussive guitar melody that opens GoGo Penguin’s “Badeep” is the perfect intro into the elegant piano composition to follow. The introspective piano figure evolves into urgent passages that parallel the increase in pace of the percussion and then the introduction of muted horns. The effect is like a fusion of post-rock sensibilities and jazz arrangements of cinematic scope suggesting sweeping movement toward a future time when the angst of the present has melted away and there is ample time to delve into the fine nuances of our emotional lives and inner aspirations and dreams as carried along by the energy many of us have had to channel into mere survival and staving off the despair that comes from having to carry the weight of so many challenges to daily life from which we’ve had little to no reprieve for years. This song imagines that future time and thus suggests we can create that space for ourselves in the present as a precursor to better times. Watch the visualizer for “Badeep” on YouTube and connect with GoGo Penguin at the links below.
Alex Fischel and Britt Daniel of Spoon at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Nearly 30 years into its career, Spoon could be one of those bands that is doing fan service with a live show. But fortunately most bands of its era haven’t exactly done that and its show at the Mission Ballroom in Denver seemed both a celebration of being able to do live shows again, for now, and still proving itself touring for Lucifer on the Sofa, a rock and roll follow up to the luminously moody Hot Thoughts.
Geese at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom Murphy
When Geese opened the show it seemed as though more than a few people found it to be a bit of a head scratcher. The performance was somehow both focused and shambolic, driven by a jazz quintet’s dynamic precision and a jam band’s free flowing aesthetic, part punk, part prog. Almost always within the same song. Vocalist Cameron Winter strode about the stage like wandering around, bemused, relating unusual stories with a free association improv flair. Pretty much the whole set was comprised of tracks from the group’s extraordinary 2021 debut album Projector but seeing this presentation of the music added another dimension to Geese’s widely expressive aesthetic. The energy felt like seeing some friends rehearse for their big stage debut for mutual acquaintances with no pressure and the freedom of that and seeming to be unmindful and not overly conscious of playing to a crowd mostly there to see a band with a fairly lengthy legacy. If you’re going to the UMS in 2022 this band will perform on some stage and likely in a smaller venue setting.
Geese at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom MurphyJim Eno and Britt Daniel of Spoon at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Spoon has probably played thousands of shows across three decades and in a wide variety of settings. The last time this writer saw Spoon was somehow in the fall of 2002 at Tulagi’s in Boulder during the touring cycle for Kill the Moonlight. The group then was impressive enough in a small club with songs that seemed so sophisticated and well crafted for a band playing a venue that often then featured music much more raw and noisy. Fast forward some twenty years and Spoon seems to have injected its current performance style and songwriting with some raw edge without losing its elegantly arranged songwriting. You could tell that everyone seemed happy with not just being there but with the crowd response. Britt Daniels regularly interacted with people in the front row directly and with people further back from the stage by making eye contact and acknowledging people who were giving back the energy Spoon was putting forth. Bassist Ben Trokan looked genuinely in awe of what the band was doing collectively and the mutual emotional dynamic between the crowd and the performers. He looked a little like a young Scott Baio with a wardrobe choice seeming to come right out of an 80s movie. It made for an interesting aesthetic like we were seeing a band that had some consciousness of how they were dressed but let the rock theater of the musical performance speak loudest.
Ben Trokan of Spoon at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom Murphy
And we were certainly treated to selections from a wide swath of Spoon’s career with a slight emphasis on the new record at roughly a third of the set of twenty-one songs (including the encore). “My Mathematical Mind” was a standout of the night with its reworking into a song that expanded into epic proportions giving the musicians some space to stretch the song out without spilling over into gross self-indulgence. For a band with such tight songwriting and sensibilities that always seem to put exactly the right touches on songs so as to not waste a moment in the listening it was a welcome change into a different side of Spoon’s collective musicianship and one that allowed for variations in arrangements and to go off the established map of the original song to that degree. The whole set seemed like hit after hit even when it was lesser known songs. Something about the forcefulness of the show like an inner emotional momentum was pushing the band into giving it an extra push into cutting loose around the edges while coming back together in perfect sync. It all proved why Spoon has maintained more than a simple cult following and with its new batch of songs, some of the best and most immediately appealing of its long career maybe it’ll garner a new generation of fans.
Gerardo Larios of Spoon at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Spoon Set List for the Mission Ballroom 5/24/22
Held
Small Stakes
Don’t You Evah
Do You
The Beast and Dragon, Adored
The Hardest Cut
Satellite
The Underdog
My Babe
I Summon You
Lucifer on the Sofa
Don’t Make Me A Target
My Mathematical Mind
Inside Out
I Turn My Camera On
Got Nuffin Encore
Wild
The Way We Get By
The Fitted Shirt
Black Like Me
Rent I Pay
Britt Daniel of Spoon at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom MurphyBritt Daniel and Ben Trokan of Spoon at Mission Ballroom 5/24/22, photo by Tom Murphy
Everclear is a band that emerged in Portland, Oregon in 1991 in time for the first wave of alternative rock that decade. Main songwriter and frontman Art Alexakis had grown up in southern California and relocated to San Francisco for a time in the late 80s with his first wife where he established his music imprint Shindig Records. None of his musical projects at the time broke through and to get a fresh start, having not so then long ago got off drugs and newly a father, he moved to Portland, Oregon with his family where his wife had family and an important support system that makes life in a new city easier. Alexakis had a solo project turned band in Colorfinger and some songs he wrote during that period would make it into his next band’s repertoire. With Everclear, Alexakis would use his tumultuous life, challenging youth and great personal loss as the subject matter for especially raw and affecting songs. Everclear’s debut album 1993’s World of Noise was raw and real and recorded for a few hundred dollars. 2022 sees the remaster of the album for digital in June and for vinyl in the fall 2022 and its songwriting strikes as still relevant, poignant and powerful. By the time of the 1995 follow up Alexakis and company had a major label contract and a budget so that the resultant record Sparkle and Fade had much more professional production but the songwriter’s knack for pairing meaningful and deeply personal lyrics with solid hooks rooted in classic pop songcraft and Alexakis’ own eclectic background as an artist whose appreciation for country music melodies informed some of the most memorable songs of the decade including “Santa Monica,” “Father of Mine,” “I Will Buy You A New Life” and “Everything to Everyone.” After three platinum albums throughout the latter half of the 90s the musical landscape had changed some even if Everclear kept writing quality material and the band disappeared from the world of mainstream music.
In 2014 Everclear announced its Summerland tour which brought together alternative rock bands popular in the mid-to-late 90s. Though a bit of a nostalgia tour it also proved there was still an appetite for that music even if it wasn’t dominating the commercial charts. All through the ups and downs of popularity Alexakis has been an insightful observer of humanity and culture with a pragmatic streak born of being a music industry veteran who has always had to advocate for himself and who has long advocated for other artists and humanitarian causes. In his music you hear the words of someone who projects vulnerability and sensitivity backed with a grit and strength that was necessary to make a life in rock and roll. Look for his autobiography in the coming years where you can read a plethora of a great stories from a colorful and eventful life.
The artwork for Anthony Menzia’s single “The Witch” sets the mysterious mood for a song that doesn’t fit neatly in any single genre designation. It’s a design suggesting simultaneously a face, a sword, a caduceus as an image like stained glass in the chapel of the mystic of a forgotten spiritual faith.The song itself is a journey from darkly shimmering electronic shimmers over a an organic beat seemingly tapped out with sticks on wood while pulses of distorted sound establish a rhythm before processed vocals come in reminiscent of Barry Andrews of Shriekback circa 1986 and Big Night Music. It’s hushed and sits in the mix, ghost-like. Tones hover brightly and dissolve like swarms of luminous insects coming together like a temporary colony and dispersing. The lyrics are a bit enigmatic making references to not having to guess what’s on someone’s mind and directions to swivel one’s hips if under the spell of the person singing. Is it an inducement to dance or an attempt at seduction of the carnal and/or spiritual kind. Difficult to say but the song sounds like something you’d hear in one of those elevated horror movies in a scene where more mundane characters are introduced to a secret society or a clandestine subculture that promises a more interesting life. Listen to “The Witch” on YouTube and follow Anthony Menzia at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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