Queen City Sounds and Art

Live Show Review: Cautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 2/18/22

Cautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 02/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy

Cautious Clay brought a bit of a package tour for his performance at The Bluebird Theater no Friday, February 19, 2022. With the 2021 release of his debut full-length album Deadpan Love, Clay revealed a songwriter who has come into his own with a strong and coherent creative aesthetic that spans and transcends narrow genres and the show beginning to end broke with obvious expectations.

Julius Rodriguez at Bluebird Theater 2/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy

The opening act was Julius Rodriguez on keyboards with drummer Brian Richburg Jr and bassist Philip Norris. It was jazz in that moody yet lively mode that seemed to draw on the mid-to-late 60s NYC jazz vibe. The energy and fluidity of the ensemble felt like classic post-hard bop improv with modern sensibilities in the electronics so a blend of the classic with the accessibly avant-garde. A lot of jazz in the last 40 years is boringly academic in approach and feel but Rodriguez is not cut from that cloth, his blending of almost lounge jazz style, funk and pop was compelling and captivating the entire time his trio was on stage.

Cautious Clay took the stage with a calm and chill charisma and exuded an ease and level of comfort that also didn’t mask how happy he was to see so many people coming out to support this run of shows in Colorado where he had three dates including on in Aspen. Julius Rodriguez took the role of keyboardist, utility percussionist and second guitar. The band rounded out with a bassist, a lead guitarist and a drummer whose names I didn’t catch (sorry, guys) while Cautious Clay (Joshua Karpeh) performed on guitar, flute and saxophone as well as provided the softly yet strongly soulful vocals. Across nearly twenty songs, including the encore, the band showcased why Clay is rapidly gathering a strong fan base with many people seeming to know the words to pretty much every song.

Was the music we got to see hip-hop? Is it R&B? Is it a smooth kind of funk? Is it jazz? It’s all of that and presented in an immediately accessible way due to Clay’s charismatic and relatable energy with words that are capable of articulating challenging feelings and experiences with a rare poetic clarity without offering hackneyed premises. His stories and sentiments hit as real but manifested creatively into song. This wasn’t Clay’s first time in Denver and he related how he had played, perhaps even at the Bluebird Theater then, in 2019 and had had a good time then too and the crowd for this show was certainly enthusiastic. I had only heard the studio material prior to the show but Clay exceeded any expectations I could have had. You might have been excused for thinking he might have performed solo with tracks and maybe one other musician but this performance was proof of his ability to sync with other musicians for the kind of musical alchemy that presents as much stronger and more visceral and vibrant especially when the musicians click and Clay brought with him some people familiar with his material who swung well into the music together with a spontaneity that makes for a striking show. Also the singer’s intelligence and basic human compassion was obvious in his banter with the audience and among his bandmates which makes a subtle but important difference for any artist and how their personality connects with people as fellow humans. If Cautious Clay isn’t playing bigger rooms on his next tour it would be surprising as word gets out.

The Wistful and Melancholic Tones of don’t get lemon’s “D.I.E.I.N.T.H.E.U.S.A.” is the Sound of Accepting a Dim Future That Hopefully Never Quite Arrives

don’t get lemon, photo by Anthony Flores

The second single from don’t get lemon’s album Hyper Hollow Heaven (out March 26, 2022 on à La Carte Records) has the rather dire title “D.I.E.I.N.T.H.E.U.S.A.” and the lyrics hit with the resigned nihilism born of an accurate assessment of where human civilization is trending. But the music is a special kind of lush, synth pop like bedroom production style Roxy Music or Crush-period Abe Vigoda. In the video Austin Curtis, the band’s singer, seems to party privately in the few creature comforts available in late capitalism before the utter collapse: oddly plentiful, Asian grocery items that seem like a cruel and surreal joke, karaoke night lighting and equipment, late night Vegas lounge aesthetic. This while the audio equivalent of VHS video fidelity and visuals to match has Curtis singing about basically being ready for the end of the world or at least the world as we know it and knowing that it’s kind of too late to do anything to stop it. One imagines if synth pop had existed in the fourth century Roman empire it would take on a tone like this between climate change, widespread political corruption and fiscal malfeasance, deep social divisions, international strife, pandemics and other crises that ended up rendering the most powerful economic and political entity the world had ever seen unable to rally to address the many built in ills that were contributing to its downfall. Many perceptive people had to have seen it coming and had there been a popular art form that survived we might have seen the ancient equivalent of a song like this born out of similar struggles, pressures and a sense that it’s all worse than a recession or political partisanship gone wild. This band personalizes the ambient anxiety of the time with a soothing song that commiserates with us a downer mood. But contained within it is the seed that we could turn this whole thing at least partly around but do you see anyone overthrowing the oligarchic power and economic structure in the next five to twenty years? Seems unlikely so while perhaps hoping and working for the best may as well enjoy some of the small joys of life before it’s completely over. Watch the video for “D.I.E.I.N.T.H.E.U.S.A.” on YouTube and connect with don’t get lemon at the links below.

don’t get lemon on Bandcamp

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Dot Allison’s “Love Died In Our Arms” as Remixed by Lee “Scratch” Perry is Overflowing With Richly Emotional Seductive Energy

Having first come to prominence as the frontperson for One Dove Dot Allison has had a long and distinguished career with numerous collaborations and an acclaimed solo career. Now Allison has the distinction of having been part of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s final work: his remix of her song “Love Died In Our Arms.” The songwriter and vocalist has long had a gift for imbuing her work with a lush warmth and an enveloping quality informed by great emotional nuance. The almost undulating structure of “Love Died In Our Arms” lends itself well to Perry’s dub treatment as the breathy vocals float through reggae style instrumentation, echoing tones, a vibrant keyboard mid song like a non-linear, cinematic presentation of film slides from a person’s life projected in slow motion animation. It’s the kind of song in which it would be easy to get lost especially when played on a powerful sound system embraced by its alchemy of layered sounds and exquisite sound design coupled with its richly emotional seductive energy. The remix is part of Allison’s forthcoming Entangled Remix EP but for now you can listen to the single on Spotify and follow Dot Allison at the links provided.

dotallison.com

Dot Allison on Twitter

Dot Allison on Instagram

Elodie Rêverie Elicits the Spirit of a Great and Transformative Romance on “Casa I Don’t Know”

Elodie Rêverie, photo courtesy the artist

Elodie Rêverie brings a great deal of mood and atmosphere to her new track “Casa I Don’t Know.” With her usual sultry and widely expressive voice, Rêverie sings about a love that can and should happen and one that contains an element of mystery because they two people don’t necessarily know each other well or if they do that element of fantasy and purity of feeling toward one another hasn’t evaporated with familiarity. The music video for the song shows Rêverie, looking a little like a young Natalie Wood, frolicking around a private pool and giving attention to an unseen figure capturing intimate but not lurid moments in their life together. In black and white with footage either from or made to look like taken from an old camcorder with the “PLAY” indicater and the rightward pointing triangle in the upper left of the screen and the “SP” in the lower left letting us know it’s being recorded at the speed that produced the best image fidelity on that old technology. This touch and the small video glitches enhance a sense of nostalgia and old fashioned romance perfect for the tenor of this song. The piano melody, the whispery production on parts of the vocals, the slowly sweeping synth tones, it all gives the song a beautifully hazy aspect that lends the sense of romance an appropriately dreamlike quality as something it could all be and putting that intentionality into the songwriting. Many love songs are hackneyed but Rêverie’s ear for classic pop songcraft and imaginative yet sincere emotional performances with attention to dynamic nuances has consistently meant her songs are instantly affecting and durably appealing. Watch the video for “Casa I Don’t Know” on YouTube and follow Elodie Rêverie at the links below.

Elodie Rêverie on Instagram

Seven Layer Piano Cakes Captures the Uncertainties, Insecurities and Urgencies of Parenthood on “Remy”

Seven Layer Piano Cakes, photo courtesy the artist

Through his musical project Seven Layer Piano Cakes, Justin Hoyt offers us his single “Remy” about his young son. Plenty of artists have written songs about and/or for their children to the point where it’s all but a subgenre. But Hoyt begins with “Hey little man, the clothes I bought don’t seem to fit” and later “did your growing up have anything to do with me” and for a moment you may think there was some kind of separation but it’s really about how quickly your kids can grow up and you as a parent are usually just doing the best you can without much in the way of having a map for doing things right and never certain if what you’re doing is adequate or appropriate or helpful or nurturing the way maybe you should be or which would be optimal. Hoyt ponders these insecurities while hinting that being concerned about all of these things probably means you’re at least trying to do things the way you should and that will always mean more and be more effective than giving up and not trying to be at least a halfway decent parent. The melancholic tone of the song matches the uncertainty Hoyt expresses so well and the dynamic of the song shifting from slow moments of contemplation to urgent passages marking the seemingly impossibly rapid passage of time is a great evocation of how the pace of being a parent feels in the living it. Watch the luminously beautiful visualizer video for “Remy” on YouTube and connect with Seven Layer Piano Cakes at the links provided.

Seven Layer Piano Cakes on Instagram

Duchamp-Killer Created a Self-Decomposing Sonic Collage Automaton for “Live in the sounds”

Duchamp-Killer’s new single “Life in the sounds” is a bit like taking a journey through the composer’s usual Rube Goldberg-esque soundscape: looped, introspective guitar, sampled bubbles, various percussive sounds, rain stick, processed bird sounds echoing. All with a sense of motion and at one point the whole thing sounds like it’s being played in reverse order with some signal processing indicating the same. Like an ever evolving collage of sounds suggesting a tropical setting at twilight. It is as mysterious as it is playful, as simple as its aggregate of sounds reveals an expressive complexity that never seems overwhelming. And then toward the end this song that seems to be its own sonic ecosystem starts to unravel in organic fashion and dissolve into its component parts. Listen to “Life in the sounds” on Soundcloud and connect with Duchamp-Killer at the links below.

Duchamp-Killer Website

Duchamp-Killer on YouTube

Tablefox Honors the Struggle of the Modern Social Rat Race on “Keep Them Guessing”

Although from New Zealand, Tablefox channels strands of 90s Britpop on its new single “Keep Them Guessing.” The driving, atmospheric melodies and soaring yet grounded vocals and searing guitar work brought to bear also seem to evoke a sense of running ahead of a brooding menace and escaping just in time. What that threat might be doesn’t matter as much as the energy of that sort of motivation and eventual triumph gives the song an irresistible momentum. The song seems to be about that old chestnut about faking it until you make it and that elusive quality today in the age of social media accessibility of maintaining a mystique about oneself so that can be an asset even if it’s essentially a pose as much as projecting an image of glamour and all good times all the time. But hey if you’re one step ahead of your troubles and of people figuring out you’re not as cool as you’d like them to think or that they might initially think of you when they don’t see the real person maybe you’ll be alright. But is that a worthy goal and use of your time and energy in life? The song doesn’t answer the question but it does express some sympathy with the social rat race forced on most people these days in one way or another and in doing so the song honors the struggle even if it doesn’t quite celebrate it. Watch the video for “Keep Them Guessing” on YouTube and connect with Tablefox at the links below.

Tablefox on Facebook

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Queen City Sounds Podcast Ep. 15: Adam Sherburne of Consolidated on Free Music

Consolidated, image courtesy Adam Sherburne

Adam Sherburne is perhaps best known as the charismatic frontman and guitarist for industrial/hip-hop group Consolidated. Known for its radical activist political stances focused on human and animal rights, ecology and a sustainable civilization including advocacy for vegetarianism and the perils of capitalism and nationalistic chauvinism. Listen to any Consolidated album and there are no bones made, no vague mincing of words and yet all informed by a sharply observed statements and a playful sense of humor that is as inviting as it might put off those who for whatever reasons oppose a more progressive political worldview aimed toward making the lives of all and not just humans better.

Early on in the live Consolidated live performances the group passed microphones to people in the audience to discuss and comment on the songs as part of a process of “inter-active democracy” (according to an article in Trouser Press penned by j. poet and Ira Robbins). This attempt to blur the line between band and “audience” with a paticipatory approach has been part of what has made Consolidated different from many of its peers. And in recent years Sherburne has come up with a concept he calls Free Music that takes that concept to another and deeper level as a way to deconstruct and transform the way music is made, shared and distributed as a collective, culture project rather than simply a commodity. Below is his chart of “Music Industry Vs. Free Music” plotted out with a direct simplicity that, whether you agree with him or not, is easily accessible and easy to implement. It may not be an approach for everyone but anyone who has been part of the music world in recent years or really for decades the industry, such as it is, has been largely dysfunctional, predatory and anti-art and culture in the end. Seeing one’s way past the context of one’s existence in the capitalist paradigm can be challenging and tricky but once you can conceptualize a path out of that and being defined in terms directly relatable to that paradigm it’s not so tricky to understand that your whole life can be liberated in ways you had perhaps not thought of before. Even if you have to keep participating in that system to survive or even to function as a musician and artist you need not have your aspirations and imagination colonized by it to the level of your identity and system of values. Should anyone’s life and all things in the world really defined by your temporary utility to the dictates of an arbitrary and far from benevolent economic system? Whether or not you end up subscribing to the ideas of Free Music it’s a question implicitly posed by its theoretical foundation in praxis.

Back in December we were able to discuss these concepts with Sherburne at length and a bit about his development as an artist and activist in the wake of seeing Consolidated live with Front 242 in September. Consolidated released its latest album We’re Already There in 2021. You can listen to the interview on Bandcamp below the chart and also linked are the new album as well as the group’s active Facebook page.

Consolidated on Facebook

Prospector Sound Manifests a Sense of Mystery and Awe in the Presence of Majestic Natural Phenomena on “Nord View”

Richard Talbot aka Prospector Sound, photo courtesy the artist

The visualizer video fro “Nord View” by Prospector Sound (aka Richard Talbot) gives some context to the track’s gentle sweeps of white noise like a distant wind and winding tonal blends that convey a sense of translucent layers of color and sound. The title too hints at a possible inspiration being that of witnessing the Aurora Borealis in the middle of a clear night with no distractions from the ambient light of cities and human-made noise. Even if you’ve not been privy to such an experience this track delivers that feeling to you and a sense of mystery, wonder and tranquility that washes into and through you in moments when you get to be around as natural wonders manifest that you don’t see every day or take for granted until you’re in the proper setting and can forget the intrusions of demands on your psyche placed by your life in the context of your participation in socially constructed economic relationships that did not exist when humans were first exposed to these things and took time out to let their imaginations ponder their beauty and conjure from within their creative interpretations of the significance of the various phenomena of the world. The song is one track from Prospector Sound’s new album Red Sargasso out April 29, 2022 through The Ambient Zone. But for now watch the video for the song on YouTube and follow Prospector Sound at the links provided.

Prospector Sound on Twitter

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The Live Performance Video for Wave 21’s “Way Far Back” Reveals the Rocking Side of its Warmly Sensitive Songwriting

Wave 21’s live performance video for “Way Far Back” she’s the group in fine and lively form. Rather than it’s usual storytelling mode, the song is more like an anthem that connects other songs together while also being able to stand on its own. Vocalist Mary-Lynn Doroschuk brings great energy and presence to the performance as she sings about “going way far back to where it all started and even further than that.” What that exactly means it’s hard to say but the song sounds like a compelling blend of power pop and country and so that song might be thought of as embracing roots in songwriting and perhaps the kinds of places you play live when you’re starting out as a way to get back to where you want to be. Doroschuk’s father Stefan was a member of well-known Canadian New Wave band Men Without Hats and he and his brothers had a band called Wave 21 that was the precursor to the band that earned them some degree of fame. But Mary-Lynn Doroschuk isn’t musically tapping into her father’s style or accomplishments as a musician so much as having forged her own creative identity and one that has been going on long enough where she and her bandmates have a sense of their own history the celebration of which in the fashion of this song is a way to utilize current musical chops and sophistication to revisit the spark that got them going to where they are now as a source of inspiration. The rest of the album Brace Yourself is sonically more intricate and atmospheric. But “Way Far Back” with some great, fiery solo work by Steve Hill is raw and brash and a vehicle to showcase how the band rocks as much as it is capable of delivering thoughtful and sophisticated, folk-inflected pop songs. Fans of Lone Justice will appreciate the songwriting acumen and warm sensitivity Wave 21 has to offer. Watch the video for “Way Far Back” on YouTube and connect with Wave 21 at the links below.

Wave 21 on Facebook

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