Queen City Sounds and Art

The Delicate Sensibility of Linda Gardens’ “New Year’s Day” Reveals a Tender and More Refined Side of Modern Darkwave

LindaGardens1_crop — Linda Gardens *Real Time* cover (cropped)

Linda Gardens’ “New Year’s Day” single from her 2019 EP Real Time sits poised between early 2000s electroclash and synth based post-punk for a sound akin to a lo-fi Adult. Unlike a lot of music out of the modern darkwave, this song has a lighter touch and shares more in common in some ways with twee and indie pop than the brooding intensity of much post-punk. The fluttery synth tone that opens has a quality like a trained firefly rapidly emitting indicator lights to count the fast cadence of the cycle of the sound. A spindly, slightly distorted synth sound swirls through while clear yet ethereal vocals haunt the song the way the narrator aims to leave an indelible mark on the psyche of the object of her attentions: “I’d drive all night just to stand in your mind.” At moments the way the song comes together and resolves is reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees circa Hyaena and that dynamic in which vocal lines trade off with shimmery and urgent instrumental passages before syncing up in counterpoint to the main melody. It sounds like a peek into an intimate world of private aspirations and cultivated dreams. Listen to “New Year’s Day” on YouTube and follow Linda Gardens at the links below.

songkick.com/artists/9891749-linda-gardens
soundcloud.com/lindagardens
lindagardens.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/linda_gardens

Qwiet Type Burns the Blues Away With the Hope of Good Times After a Bad Day on “My Friends are Coming Over”

QwietType1_sm — Qwiet Type, photo courtesy the artist

Qwiet Type’s new single “My Friends are Coming Over” shares some of the sonic qualities of the previous single I wrote up, “Shakedown,” like the Gary Numan-esque song structure, the great use of space in the mix and surreal pop sensibility of Harry Nilsson or Supertramp. A playful keyboard figure is counterpoint to syncopated, pounding low end and drums as the vocals tell a story about how it’s been a bad day but one to be salvaged by friends coming over to the rescue with a guaranteed good time. One imagines the songwriter coming home after work and slumping in his chair, staring at the ceiling, spent and then feeling the urge to purge the mood writing a song and while doing so decides to throw some horns into the mix to take over for the keyboards as the song progresses before all the sounds come together to dissolve those bad day vibes in the unusual dynamics like tricking yourself not to get bummed out by latching onto the hope of spending time with people that care about you. Listen to “My Friends are Coming Over” on Soundcloud.

Sam Wardlaw Maps Out the Cycle of Anxiety and Depression in Vivid and Emotionally Precise Detail on “I Try To Look Like You”

SamWardlaw1_crop — Sam Wardlaw, photo courtesy the artist

Saw Wardlaw’s “I Try To Look Like You” unfolds like he’s mapping out the progress of the experience of depression and social anxiety. From the seductive power of the messages swirling inside your head to self-isolation to shield yourself from the influence of insipid conversations. To the hope of having connected with someone and the frustration of not quite being able to be as consistent as you’d like while your brain is wreaking havoc on your ability to function in ways that would make it so much easier to get things done or even be happy. The latter, something so simple, yet so seemingly out of reach if not impossible when you’re in the throes of mental illness. The song begins simply and progresses into great volume giving the impression of complexity when really it’s just more electric and louder. Which is a perfect expression of and a metaphor for the way the mind amplifies emotions to the point where the stimulation is the same but the reception and processing are what causes the problems. That is what it feels like. It feels gentle at first and it creeps up on you until it is a roaring gulf of feeling that is difficult to unravel or swim out of. That Wardlaw is able to externalize this cycle into a song without really overthinking it with such emotional precision is remarkable and while it has all the hallmarks of a solid pop song it is one with depth of content. Watch the lyric video on YouTube.

Lot Lizard’s “Ice” From Its Self-Titled Debut is the Sound of Internal Resistance to a No Future Present

LotLizard1_sm — Lot Lizard, photo courtesy the artists

Lot Lizard from Sioux Falls, South Dakota recently released its self-titled full length album on Different Folk Records. The single “Ice” is an example of how the post-punk quartet isn’t taking its cues from the most predictable influences. It’s noisy guitar work, disaffected and loping vocal style and urgent rhythms have as much in common with Iceage and Protomartyr as Scratch Acid and bands from the Amphetamine Reptile imprint. The song’s cutting, screaming guitar line is reminiscent of Rikk Agnew’s work on Only Theatre of Pain the way it spirals and incandesces. The vocals border on snotty but come off more resigned yet desperate. Maybe it’s because of the relative geographic isolation and the resultant different set of immediate cultural and musical influences on hand but Lot Lizard while bearing the hallmarks of classic, arty post-punk, doesn’t sound like it’s trying to mimic something from the 80s so much as serving as an expression of the internal resistance to the crushing social and political pressures of a culture that seems so dead set on having no future. Listen to “Ice” on Spotify and follow Lot Lizard at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/album/0GHYXpN7RQkMrkI02JY5yd?highlight=spotify:track:7LIE2Ls88YgaAE5XnKf8qt

facebook.com/Lotlizardd
lotlizardz.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/lotlizard_sf
differentfolkrecords.com

Valley of the Crow’s Effervescent Yet Reflective “Smile” is the Sound of Nostalgia for the Good Times Ahead

ValleyOfTheCrow_Smile_cover_crop — Valley of the Crow “Smile” cover (cropped)

The name Valley of the Crow gives the impression that maybe you’re in for some kind of dark folk or Americana. But it’s a trio of artists from the realm of electronic music in the UK comprised of vocalist Charlotte Little, DJ Ben Potter and producer Adam Williams. The group’s single “Smile” and its attendant music video is a lush and upbeat number that looks like something one might have seen on children’s television in the late 70s or early 80s. That aesthetic matches the music to some degree as its phased arpeggios and smooth, ethereal vocals are reminiscent of the way Broadcast, Boards of Canada and Black Moth Super Rainbow tap into earlier musical ideas and aesthetics to rearrange and recontextualize to create transporting music in a unique style that seems unmoored from prevailing trends of the day. The effervescent quality of the melody and the tonal accents suggests a carefree yet reflective tone on a day of rest when you can look back on some good times recently had that you are looking forward to again soon. Watch the video and listen to the song on YouTube and follow Valley of the Crow at the links below.

valleyofthecrow.co.uk
soundcloud.com/valleyofthecrowband
twitter.com/votc_band
instagram.com/valleyofthecrow

Yasuyuki Uesugi’s Analog Synthesizer-generated “Dusty Cellar” is the Sonic Equivalent of a Creepy Urban Exploration Video

YasuyukiUesugi_DustyCellar_cover1_crop — Yasuyuki Uesugi “Dusty Cellar” cover (cropped)

“Dusty Cellar,” the song by Yasuyuki Uesugi, sounds like exploration of an old building using a drone with a camera. Echoing blips like sonar as the drone works its way through the room, the green light of a night vision camera revealing eddying motes and the cultural detritus, old magazines, old clothes that may never again see the light of day, boxes of indeterminate contents. The way white noise and sound generated by the artist’s handmade synthesizers, courtesy JMT SYNTH, there is a mysterious psychological headspace conveyed like House of Leaves in miniature where the journey seems endless but there is a subtly tantalizing quality that draws you deeper in and in the case of this song, it keeps you listening to the end waiting for the dramatic conclusion that may never come. In effect it is like the Zen proverb, “The journey is the reward.” With this song that reward is getting to experience some moments of dark, urban mystery by going along for the ride of the song as it outros to a washout of grey noise. Listen to “Dusty Cellar” on Soundcloud and follow Yasuyuki Uesugi at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/yasuyuki_uesugi
twitter.com/yasuyuki_uesugi

Venture Palace’s “Salt” is a Chill, Verbally Creative Hip-Hop Funk Song With a Dementedly Humorous Music Video

VenturePalace1_sm_crop — Venture Palace, photo courtesy the artists

Recently, Nashville-based hip-hop crew Venture Palace treat us to an odd and irony-infused video for their “Salt” single. Plenty of bands in the late 90s through now have borrowed a bit from Sublime to wack effect. Venture Palace, though, is so different that they’ve made the kind of laid back presentation of hard reality that Sublime did so well seem fresh and interesting. The guitar arpeggio loop and dub/funk bass line and shuffling beat with a video in which mannequins stand in as victims of street violence and exploitation interspersed with images of the band playing and a backyard barbecue in summer is certainly surreal. The tone is playful but it works in the context of maybe some social commentary on how society can normalize violence if it happens to those we don’t see as human or who we perceive to exist in the abstract. Minus the video, though, the song is a fascinating mixture of styles that recall mid-to-late 90s alternative pop bands like Len and Primitive Radio Gods and their own perhaps not fully acknowledged mix of hip-hop and alternative rock at a time when rap rock meant something more regressive and aggressive. “Salt” is chill and fun with creative wordplay. Look for a full length album in early 2020. Listen to “Salt” on Spotify, watch the video on YouTube and follow Venture Palace at their website linked below.

venturepalacemusic.com

Mielo’s “Lonely Game (featuring Dafna)” is a Cinematic Pop Song About the Woes of an Inconstant Lover

Mielo_LonelyGame_cover1_crop — Mielo “Lonely Game (featuring Dafna” cover (cropped)

Brett Stogsdill aka Mielo made a name for himself with his breakout single “Surreal” (featured in the Netlix series Atypical). With “Lonely Game” featuring vocalist Dafna, Stogsdill demonstrates a mastery of production outside the realm of electronic dance music. The song itself is a lush, dynamic electronic pop song with Dafna’s versatile vocals tell the story of loneliness in a relationship with someone who is a little flighty or not present, physically or emotionally and the ups and downs of all of that before the decision to end the partnership is made. What makes Stogsdill’s production stand out is the use of space and layers of sound in perfect balance. The elements support the emotional impact of the song and the songwriting. The bass is robust but not overwhelming, the main synth melody is vibrant but not omnipresent and Dafna’s vocals sit in the mix in a way that has the effect of a well set scene in a movie where the characters are in the foreground and important but in which the other elements provide the context in which the story unfolds. Listen to “Lonely Game” on Soundcloud and follow Mielo at the links provided.

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soundcloud.com/mielomusic
twitter.com/mielomusic
facebook.com/mielomusic
instagram.com/mielomusic

DOOUX’s Darkly Enigmatic Music Video For “Gri45to” Transcends Barriers of Language and Words in Expressing Feelings Directly

DOOUX1_sm — DOOUX, photo courtesy the artists

In the video for its new single “Gri45to,” Barcelona-based duo DOOUX appear to have filmed from some night club set in the world of Beyond the Black Rainbow or the home planet of Scarlett Johansson’s character from Under the Skin. Disorienting darkness, cool colors and shifting lights with figures disembodied from distinct context as though avatars of pure emotions generating the distorted, shimmery melodies and brooding atmospheres. But there’s something immediate about the two vocals together and the way DOOUX arrange the rhythms in the beat and with the arpeggios. Even though the song is about the inadequacy of language to fully convey or discuss emotions it manages to express how those feelings are recognizable and expressible through the medium of music when combined with voices capable of communicating feelings directly. Which is why even if you don’t speak Spanish, this Spanish language song is still quite effective. Watch the video on YouTube and follow DOOUX at the links provided.

dooux.bandcamp.com/releases
facebook.com/d00ux
instagram.com/d00ux

“Rene” by Gastel Conjures Visions of a Robotic Dance Contest to Determine the Course of the Cybernetic Future

“Rene” begins like the intro them to

Gastel1_lg — Gastel, image courtesy the artist

gone sinister. The single by Gastel goes on to a hard driving dance rhythm like a synthesis of The Prodigy at their most dance abstract techno and modern EDM. But instead of a bass drop, Gastel drops out into a distorted white noise haze before dropping back in with a beat of swarming tones and that hard arpeggiation that borders on synthwave style except its dynamics are more supple and the sounds more distorted and jagged. The song’s cybernetic pulse and sense of menace makes it sound like the theme music to a robotic dance competition undertaken to determine which iteration of artificial beings will triumph into the next generation of existence. Listen to “Rene” on Soundcloud.