Queen City Sounds and Art

Sleepwalker Conjures a Sense of Expansive Darkness on the Cosmic Ambient Single “Call of Ashes II”

“Call of Ashes II” sounds like it came out of a vision quest to one of the secret mystical places in Sleepwalker’s home in remote depths of Siberia. Who can say what instruments are used. You hear what sound like cosmic deep drones possibly made by synth, possibly by a processed industrial hum, you hear what sounds like prayer bowels, struck bits of resonant metal, urgent spans of streaming, processed guitar. The effect is of traveling through immense places in the dark whether underground or in the arctic winter twilight. While stark and mysterious there is an undeniable beauty to the spacious composition that one hopes finds its way into a science fiction or horror movie worthy of its scope of sonic detail and undeniably engaging, emotional momentum. The cinema of Panos Cosmatos, Anthony Scott Burns and the Safdie Brothers would be a good match of moods and cosmic darkness. Listen to “Call of Ashes II” on Spotify and if you like what you hear you can listen to the 2021 split with Fen on Bandcamp. Connect with Sleepwalker at Instagram linked below.

Sleepwalker on Instagram

The Howard Hughes Suite’s Aptly Titled “Transcendental Medication” is a Sonic Salve For the Restless Mind and Troubled Heart

The beginning of “Transcendental Medication” sounds like we’re peeking into the end of a movie with the final credits rolling. But it reprises with a sound almost like white noise but with a touch of melody that stretches into an infinite horizon, a sonic canvass upon which the drawn out pedal steel notes cast tones that enter that sonic stream in parallel. Like a previous track we reviewed for this site, “Lake of Dreams,” this song recalls Brian Eno’s “Deep Blue Day” from the 1983 album Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks for which Daniel Lanois contributed his own iconic lap steel work that unified a grounded Americana quality with cosmic ambient music to transport the mind to tranquil spaces free of the rat race of regular human life. The elegance and subtlety of the performance leaves no edges yet draws you in with a deep sense of peace with which you want to connect. Listen to “Transcendental Medication” on YouTube and connect with The Howard Hughes Suite at the links provided.

The Howard Hughes Suite on Bandcamp

The Howard Hughes Suite on Twitter

The Howard Hughes Suite on Instagram

JOYFULTALK Replicates the Audio Experience of the Deep Jungle With Sampled Sewing Machines and Electronic Sound Processing on “Rare Earth”

JOYFULTALK used sampled sewing machines as part of the soundscape for it’s song “Rare Earth,” a piece commissioned for the Everyseeker festival. But the effect with what sounds like sampled bird sound and processed beats is more like a prepared environment so that listening to the collage and amalgam of sounds is more akin to walking blindfolded into an indoor bird sanctuary designed to replicate an exotic environment with flowing water around as expressed by the aforementioned sewing machines. It somehow sounds like the tribute sequel to the more unusual sound experiments on Brian Eno and David Byrne’s album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. But no human voices. Jay Crocker and Johanna Hayes in recontextualizing the sounds to convey a deep sense of place but a place no one has actually been through such unconventional methods and samples brought together makes this not a song in any conventional sense but music in the realm of ambient and the broader spectrum of noise. Yet it doesn’t come off as random, or chaotic, but rather reflecting a sound experience you might have in a jungle or a bird sanctuary and because of the intentionality that had to go into its composition it is curiously soothing. Listen to “Rare Earth” on Bandcamp and follow JOYFULTALK at the links provided.

JOYFULTALK Listening Links for “Rare Earth”

joyfultalk.com

JOYFULTALK on Facebook

JOYFULTALK on Instagram

PICTURES Reignites the Fires of the Heart in the Ruins of Late Capitalism on “Who Took The Soul”

PICTURES, photo by Christian Bardenhorst

PICTURES sounds a bit like a more punky Stone Roses on “Who Took The Soul” the fourth single from it’s new album IT’S OK (out now on Clouds Hill Music linked below). Like the German rock band injected early Britpop with the rawness of recent garage rock with guitar riffs that sync up with its melodic vocals for a sonic fusion into psychedelic territory. The music video for the song looks like a band playing a remote gig in the ruins of an old civilization being repurposed for a new society and embodying that vitality as a will to move toward something better. Yes, the song asks “Who took the soul of of my life?” but also out of our lives in general and the arc of the song suggests a reigniting of the same on a reinvigorated basis. Watch the video on YouTube, give a listen to IT’S OK on Spotify and connect with PICTURES and Clouds Hill Music below.

PICTUES LinkTree

PICTURES on Facebook

PICTURES on Instagram

Clouds Hill Music on Facebook

Clouds Hill Music on Instagram

Vicious Dunk Lovingly Lampoons Chicago Theater Kid Bohemia on “Please Try To Leave Something There”

When a band from Chicago calls itself Vicious Dunk you have to assume there’s some primo, brutally self-deprecating humor of the Midwestern vintage informing the music. So in the video for “Please Try To Leave Something There” filmed in one take at the Edge Theater in Chicago you get that and much more. The song is a gentle indie pop song that takes digs the evolution of the urban Bohemian creative and never once is the dreaded designation of “hipster” employed. And maybe because despite the dry sarcasm and irreverent sentiments it’s a tender song about an affection for the experiences and the people along the way and how they shape your perspective. With just vocals, acoustic guitar, drums and bass with a touch of synth in the background to give parts of the song a surreal atmosphere that perfectly suits the whimsical and humorous yet meaningful tenor of the whole presentation. Chicago has long had an overlap with theater and music (Maestro Subgum and The Whole as an older example) and clearly songwriter Jake Pollock (bassist of the late, great indie folk weirdos Friends of the Bog) and Preserve Records label founder Patrick Budde have some experience with being or being around theater kids and that gives the vibe here an authenticity that prevents the pointed humor from being too much of a, yes, vicious dunk. Hard to compare this odd indie pop song to anyone else and best just to watch the video on YouTube or visit the project’s Bandcamp linked below to get a taste of how clever and inventive Vicious Dunk has been as a songwriting duo but fans of They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Richman and Dead Milkmen might greatly appreciate what these guys have to offer.

Vicious Dunk on Bandcamp

“Heavenly” by Shiny Darkly is That Rare Song About Conflicted Emotional Malaise

Shiny Darkly, photo by Jonathan Svante-Hjorth

Shiny Darkly lead us gently into “Heavenly” with a hazy, contemplative synth and a simple shimmery guitar riff. It’s a song about falling in love and then falling into a sustained complacency in the relationship. Though tones bloom, there is a momentum in the song, it all serves a mood of resigned acceptance of things basically being over without an actual break-up. Melancholy songs usually sound more anguished, this song sounds like things are beyond that basic level of pain. Unless the lyrics were misheard the chorus of “You and I can drift in our own charade” spells it all out. The earlier part of the song with words about being ecstatic and that it’s hard to come down from that triggered by the way someone holds your hand and anticipation of great things. But then in the next part of the song there is talk about the “way we lose our shit” and other troubles mentioned matter of factly, almost casually. That just makes the chorus hit harder because you’re in a place where the word charade suggests that maybe you feel like you wonder if you have anything anymore but you don’t yet want to let go. It’s an emotional complexity that the early part of the song and its romantic notions might not lead you to believe is going to manifest the longer you listen. Musically it’s reminiscent of a song by The Church pre-Starfish but with a fractured rhythm but with a similar complexity and poetry of sentiment or a more brooding Iceage song. Whatever the roots, the song is moving and thought-provoking at once. Listen to “Heavenly” on Spotify, look for the EP HEAVY out February 4, 2022 on Crunchy Frog Recordings and connect with Shiny Darkly at the links provided.

Shiny Darkly on Facebook

Shiny Darkly on Instagram

lil busy Contemplates the Existential Challenges of a Creative Life on Darkwave IDM Track “thumbdrive”

“thumbdrive” by lil busy isn’t a long song at one minute fifteen but it packs a lot of ideas musically and in terms of sentiments and feelings expressed. There is a sense of menace in the low end synth line that draws out with a tone like the electronic version of a brass instrument. This contrasted with the vocoder and the contemplative string part, urgent background wail and bursts of white noise conveys a sense of pressure from inside the songwriter’s head and from the expectations of others. Singing about he’s putting lots of dreams on a thumb drive reveals he has learned to operate through slender means in order to realize aspirations and holding on to his work not even on a portable hard drive but a thumb drive. One imagines working on the music at a friend’s place, at the library, at a college computer lab, wherever he can put in some focused time while keeping his mind on the end goal and hoping it’s going to take him places in a world that up to now has only offered challenges, stumbling blocks and discouragement yet what do you do when you have a creative or personal vision you’re pursuing? Give up? This song isn’t about the “grind,” it’s about that impetus that some people have to work on their art when it’s not easy, when it’s not convenient and under severe limitations on their chosen art form and doing the best they can with what’s available. The production is hip-hop style but the sound palette has more in common with a darkwave or IDM yet this song doesn’t fit into a narrow, established genre and its cross genre aesthetic is part of its appeal. Listen to “thumbdrive” on Spotify and connect with lil busy on Instagram linked below.

lil busy on Instagram

Xena Glas’ “Feet” from the Body EP is a Tonal Mantra for Staying Focused in Life’s Most Challenging Phases

Xena Glas begins hew new EP Body with the short song “Feet.” With delicately plucked and strummed guitar Glas sets a tone of delicate textures flowing through her ethereal vocals. In the background one hears what sounds like samples of wind and running water. At one point she counts off paces that feel like an internal system of timing rather than something that regulates the organic meter of the ambient layers of the song proper. In the notes to the EP, Glas says this song as well as the track “Hand” represent the aspect of her “lived experience with autism” referred to as “stimming in situations of sensory overload” with counting, tapping fingers and pacing. But one need not have experience with autism on any end of the spectrum to be able to relate to this neurological phenomenon in moments of extreme boredom. Stimming just sounds like good, easy and pragmatic practice for keeping the mind active when things feel overwhelming and when it might be helpful to stay focused on something to derail what we’re supposed to think of as a normal reaction when we have no choice but to deal with a challenging situation. Glas’ composition is a model for calming the mind with simple layers of sound that provide a sonic mantra to help weather a passage of peak stress. With obvious guitar loops, vocals, reverse delay and signal processing, Glas’ spectral introductory song to an EP equally inventive throughout sets the stage for a chill yet engrossing listen. Fans of Phew, Laurel Halo, Loraine James and Alice Coltrane will appreciate the transcendent moods achieved by Glas across the five songs and the undeniable and expansive sense of the possible that permeates each song executed with elegant performances and a keen ear for subtle details and dynamics that the dreamlike quality of the music conveys. Listen to “Feet” on Bandcamp where you can also listen to the Body EP in its entirety. Follow Glas at the links provided.

xenaglas.com

Xena Glas on Twitter

Xena Glas on Instagram

Overnight’s Emo Dream Pop “Whittier” is a Break-Up Song That Dissolves a Cycle of Abuse

Overnight packs a lot of feelings and thoughts into its song “Whittier.” It’s reminiscent of the more introspective end of late 90s emo made by people who were also into slowcore and Elliott Smith. The structure of the song starts things off with an urgency to match the intensity of the conflicted feelings expressed. The lyrics recount the romantic niceties of someone who isn’t being completely up front with the object of their affections, or one of them, the kind of person who uses their empathic capacities and sensitivity to manipulate other people to get what they want as long as the illusion lasts. But halfway through the song the tone shifts to more ethereal tones and guitar work and the lyrics recounts the realization of how it’s not one’s responsibility to make sure someone that treats one shabbily feels good and supported in their low key emotional abuse and that not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings doesn’t mean you need to be a doormat. What unites the two parts of the song is an overall mood of what one might call melancholic exuberance meaning you allow yourself to get swept up in a will to both feel all the pain of a breakup and all the confusion, disappointment and anger at yourself for allowing yourself to be in a bad situation, that sort of transmuted guilt, and the psychic energy to exit the situation even if it seems like you’re being mean to certain people. Abusers depend on that social pressure among your friends and family to get hooked back in to a codependent interpersonal dynamic. This song is about having enough self love to declare that someone else’s warped psychology doesn’t have to be a part of your life anymore even if part of you is still in the habit of thinking so. Most break-up songs are informed by too much bravado but “Whittier” is a gorgeously crafted example of of raw vulnerability and honesty with all the edges worn off. Listen to “Whittier” on YouTube and connect with Overnight at the links below.

Overnight on Bandcamp

Overnight on Instagram

Overnight on YouTube

Key Seeyen’s Ambient Jazz Hip-Hop Track “You’re Mine You” is a Beautifully Stylistic Time Travel Experience

Kay Seeyen sounds like the songwriter spent a good deal of quality time watching 40s and 50s cinema and listened to a lot of jazz music of that era as well as classic hip-hop samples as channeled through the lens of J. Dilla. At least on the song “You’re Mine You” there is such an eclectic blend of sounds in the beat that it sounds like you’re getting a cut up tour through time in music to create something that could really only have been made in recent years in this cohesive and smooth a way but demonstrates an appreciation for the compositional skills and ear for melody of another era. The vibe is jazz and classic pop but the style is underground hip-hop and its free associating sonic palette. There’s even a tastefully expressive, echoing guitar riff mid-song that sounds like a nod to dub. Because the song doesn’t sound like it owes allegiance to a narrow aesthetic it actually has an almost orchestral ability to stir emotions by touching those places in your brain where the memory of many good but neglected sounds reside. Listen to “You’re Mine You” on Soundcloud and connect with Kay Seeyen at the links provided.

Kay Seeyen on Twitter

Kay Seeyen on Instagram