Wrené Reaches Out For Connection From a Place of Disconnection From Self on the Orchestral Majesty of “White Walls”

Wrené, photo courtesy the artist

Normally when an artist sounds like they’re putting distance between themselves and those that might encounter their work it can be off-putting. But with “White Walls” Wrené’s production invites a spirit of solidarity with feelings of isolation and the coping mechanism of emotional dissociation and a yearning to restore oneself to a more functional place in the heart and spirit. Her wide-ranging vocals brim with a strength of feeling even when it expresses a feeling of emptiness yet from a place of intuitively knowing that can’t and won’t last forever. The song starts of sounding a bit like Portishead broadcasting from space and later the orchestral swell of sounds and emotions is reminiscent of Chelsea Wolfe’s more folk and ambient work or that of Zola Jesus. Once the dramatic tension of the song peaks Wrené ends on a deeply melancholic and lingering note that doesn’t suggest that it’s easy to come back from a place where you feel like you’ve cut yourself off from the passionate drives of the heart you once knew. Surely a song that embodies a way of feeling and being many of us have experienced over the last few years. Listen to “White Walls” on YouTube and connect with Wrené on Spotify.

Jimmy Harry’s “Gummy” is Like an Alternative Soundtrack to Deckard’s Unicorn Dream

Jimmy Harry accomplishes some impressively nuanced depth of sound field on his song “Gummy.” In the foreground there is the minimal and impressionistically processional piano line ringing out while the sound of what seems to be cello lurking at the edges and touches of an otherworldly synth figure in the distance. Flares of distorted static occasionally crackles like you’re peaking in at the dreams of an ancient radio or those of Deckard as he dreams of the unicorn in that scene from Blade Runner. It’s a song that induces a spirit of reflection and cleansing of conscience to make room for a more peaceful emotional state once the mind is empty of the pressures to focus on the usual concerns. Though ambient it gently eases your mind into a different headspace in a welcome distraction from a mundane psychological mode. Fans of Harold Budd’s 1986 ambient classical masterpiece Lovely Thunder will certainly find much to like here. Listen to “Gummy” on YouTube and follow Jimmy Harry on Soundcloud and Spotify linked below.

“Alchemy” by indigos paradise is a Musical Vision of Creatively and Culturally Syncretic Future

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“Alchemy” is an entrancing showcase for indigos paradise’s eclectic and rich sound palette. Living up to the title, the track is built on a base of a hybrid of luminous IDM synth track and techno beat but processed with the kind of reverb to suggest a wide open space within which various other sounds launch and dissipate, where voices call cadence like an android announcing the arrival of trains in some futuristic station where a language based on some sort of then contemporary machine language is understood by all—machines, humans, visiting alien species. The blend of styles that indigos paradise brings to bear itself suggests a future where clear distinctions between artistic disciplines and genres are even less clear than they are now and creative work can more readily express an individual vision rather than reflect an internalized compliance with established modes and methods. Listen to “Alchemy” and the rest of the new indigos paradise album The Oasis on Bandcamp and connect with the artist at the links provided.

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bobsled team Channels the Musical Lineage of C86, 90s Indiepop and Sonic Youth on “Cool Waters”

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“Cool Waters” finds Belfast, Ireland’s bobsled team draws us in with a simple and strong bass line in the beginning of the song on a journey through sparkling guitar tones and unconventional counter melodies with vocals that stand out like a spirit working its way through a mist of noisy drones that somehow sit find in the mix of tonal imagery. The contrasting aesthetics remind one of a time in the mid-90s when a bunch of naff, ersatz alternative rock and tough guy aggro nü metal pushed aside more interesting sounds and tenderness and sensitivity out of mainstream music. So much was louder without saying a whole lot and the bravado then as now was insufferable. But in the underground there was indiepop of the variety that embraced strong songwriting and unconventional pop hooks as well as noise and a spirit of experimentation that operated without reference to popular trends: Felt Pilotes, Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Oliva Tremor Control—the whole Elephant 6 thing and its cousin scenes. There was also dream like noise and art rock like Unwound, Versus and Helium that resonated with the ways Sonic Youth took the avant-garde and made it accessible. The fusion of those lineages you can hear in the music of bobsled team and “Cool Water,” from the group’s fantastic full length The Colours Blur, is a fine example of those impulses and influences manifested in a new expression of a similar creative spirit. Listen to “Cool Water” on Bandcamp and connect with bobsled team at the links provided. Score a very limited edition vinyl version of the record on Bandcamp as well.

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“Sonic Winds” by Patrick Zelinski x Karl Edh x Ryan Dimmock is Gives Voice to the Empty Spaces of Earth After Humans

“Sonic Winds” is a collaborative track from the EP Dystopia by Patrick Zelinski, Karl Edh and Ryan Dimmock. Patrick Zelinski created all sounds on the track with a real analog eurorack synth witth production by Edh and for at least “Sonic Winds” Ryan Dimmock did overtones with violin later by Edh and Zelinski. In the context of the accompanying music video the doleful layers of sound give voice to a wind traveling through lonely, forgotten places in and on the edge of abandoned human civilization. The distorted synth swell brings a sense of ambient menace as an elegant and strong melody runs through in short emphatic passages that ring out, echoing off the walls of buildings and disappearing into the shadows, the only witness to this music a flock of birds startled from their perch on the rooftop. It evokes an eschatological mood, or more precisely, what it might be like to explore the world after humanity has moved on whether to its own destruction from plague, famine or war or off to outer space or other dimensions in search of greener spaces the likes of which it ruined in the cradle of the species. It’s a thought-provoking piece that is a fantastic soundtrack to urban decay. Watch the video for “Sonic Winds” on YouTube and connect with the creators of this song at the links below.

The Effusive Momentum of Blushing’s “Sour Punch” is an Irresistible Mood Booster

Blushing packs multiple strands of sound into the fuzzily expansive and urgent “Sour Punch.” Contrasted with more laid back vocals the song seethes, whorls and swoops upwards as though in a dynamic of endless ascent. UK shoegaze legends Lush are an obvious touchstone with the twin guitars pursuing separate ends in the rhythmic scheme and the effervescent quality of the main melody of the song and the instinct toward putting fairly melancholic themes into an upbeat pop context. Although the song has a fairly simple structure its components work in complexly complementary ways as the vocals soar in the chorus the guitar progressions flare at a different angle so that each seems to highlight the other with the rhythm section driving the whole thing forward with the result being a song that seems somehow so bright yet hazy and electrifyingly expansive. It’s a triumph over the blue mood that seems to have inspired the song’s words. Listen to “Sour Punch” on Soundcloud, watch the video on YouTube, follow Blushing at the links provided and look for the upcoming album Possessions out February 18, 2022 on Kanine Records.

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Neil Foster Evokes a Landscape Cloaked by Snow and Fog With the Enigmatic Ambient Soundscape of “Western Line”

“Western Line” might well be the signature song of Neil Foster’s new album Stormlight. Its spare soundscape suggests a snow covered landscape traversed via rail and peering out the window, marking time by the towers and the steady shuffle of wheels on tracks and the mechanisms driving motion in the distance, the rest of the world obscured by the falling snow. Soft pulses of tone accenting stages of the journey and ethereal, all but wordless female vocals courtesy Utasvi Jha giving voice to memories and passing thoughts as you wend toward a mysterious destination. Listen to “Western Line” on Bandcamp and follow the link to give a listen to the rest of Stormlight. Connect with Neil Foster at the links provided below.

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Dark Romance of a Midnight Wanderer by The Christmas Bride is a Hardcore Pop Punk is a Testament to the Enduring Power of Youthful Disenchantment Post Adolescence

Is the sprawling collection of The Offspring CDs in the background image of the Bandcamp page for this album a big hint of what’s in store when you listen to this album from Chicago’s The Christmas Bride? Yes and no. Is there some irony involved with that presentation? Probably and a quick look through the track listing (“Kajagoogoo Head” and “Manic Pixie Dream Boy” come readily to mind) it’s obvious a healthy sense of humor in general and about life’s most absurd and unfortunate moments and situations informs the songwriting. Pop punk’s transmutation of pain and disappointment into self-deprecating poetry set to energetic music is the genre at its best and that dynamic runs throughout this album. It’s essentially a master class in pop punk with distorted melodies akin to what you’d hear on a Hüsker Dü record as on “Cereal Monogamist,” itself a send-up of the concept by taking the title literally for the lyrics. “The Rock & Roll Hippies of Love” is reminiscent of an Alice Donut song in turning an unusual concept into a surreal power pop song. “Kajagoogoo Head” is curiously a hardcore song in the middle of the album that is the mutant child of later Black Flag and JFA. The band’s signature song, “The Christmas Bride,” traces in miniature the un-glamorous origin story of the band working shitty jobs and aiming to do something with more meaning. And despite the deep and playful irreverence of the subject matter and attitude toward most of these songs there is an earnestness and solid sense of song craft that renders it a worthwhile listen beginning to end like an album of solidarity for real human existence and experiences born of genuine feelings that infuse each song with an unexpected vitality. Listen to Dark Romance of a Midnight Wanderer on Bandcamp.

The Dark Dream Logic of Lunar Noon’s “Peregine” Leads to Down a Non-Linear Path to Emotional Reconciliation

Luna Noon, photo courtesy the artist

“Peregrine” shimmers into your ear and takes you with soaring tones to an otherworldly realm as depicted in the Michelle Zheng-directed music video. The dream logic of the song and the video complement each other well. Luna Noon’s crystalline percussion muted bass ground the ethereal vocals and playful, ghostly synth melodies. The confused and disorienting, vaguely menacing interaction between the characters in the video before they reconcile and the lyrics of the song describe the way one can become lost in your own head swept up in a mood of the moment cast adrift on a sea of your own emotions. The song is reminiscent of Laurel Halo’s willingness to go off standard tonal structures and Holly Herndon’s surreal, percussive compositions and that artist’s own penchant for working in uncomfortable emotional spaces as a vehicle to explore one’s own lived psychological dynamics. Watch the video for “Peregrine” on YouTube and connect with Lunar Noon at the links provided.

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Orchestral Ambient Track “volt” by Icelandic Duo Hugar is the Sound of Focused Solitude

Hugar, photo by Inga & Lilja Birgisdottir

Hugar processed multiple sound sources for their new single “volt.” Synth, piano and trombone all processed to a point of near abstraction and pure mood and channeled as a soothing flow of soft tones. It seems to replicate a time of thoughtful isolation while snowed in with memories of a sunny day drifting into your consciousness in contrast to the sound of winter wind outside heard faintly while your mind is focused on a neglected passion project that is best completed without distractions. The song itself while quietly commanding also hangs well in the background as a resonant set of tones that calm the mind and nudge your brain back on track. Watch the video directed by Blair Alexander Massie on YouTube and connect with Hugar at the links provided. Look for Hugar’s album Rift due out January 21, 2022 on XXIM Records/Sony.

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