Los Angeles has an image to most of the world that doesn’t live there or has limited exposure, mostly from television, movies and misinformation about the City of Angels, as an affluent, pristine place where wealthy, attractive people with no problems in the world live and work in the entertainment industry. But like most cities of size in America and elsewhere it has long been and is increasingly an expensive place to live with dire consequences for people who are, in fact, not moneyed meaning rising homelessness. Karima Francis chose this as the subject for her song “Shelf Life.” Struck by the stark disparity between the rich and the poor, Francis wrote a song depicting the day in the life of a homeless man and the everyday struggles that would probably seem impossible and alien to anyone who hasn’t been there or close to there or at least allowed their imaginations and hearts to expand enough to try to glimpse what it must be like to have no security and really nothing and vilified by society at large, treated largely as moral failures who deserve to be there with no need to see about addressing the causes of homelessness. Rather than let herself off the hook like most people, Francis wrote the song with a delicacy of feeling, sung with an aim to illuminate and understand on a basic human level and in doing so her hushed and warm treatment on “Shelf Life” is resonant and vivid without coming off exploitative or condescending. It is about capturing the experiences rather than imposing analysis and opinions and that makes all the difference. Listen to “Shelf Life” on Spotify and watch the official music video on YouTube.
The Accidental Allies track “Still Waters (Run Deep)” sits in your mind like an overlapping memory of early 90s trance and IDM. Like if Paul Oakenfold teamed up with Autechre or Future Sound of London to make something chill but with some texture to keep the song grounded. A sound like a bell being gently and insistently struck starts the teack off as a spiraling, echoing tone slowly manifests in the foreground and fades, coming back in throughout the song as tightly rhythmic sequences push the song along like echoing arpeggios. The pace remains the same and thus perhaps explaining part of the title of the song as the movement of the piece takes place deeper in the mix so that the overall impression is a tranquil, peaceful song with a great deal of dynamism in its paces. Listen to “Still Waters (Run Deep)” on Soundcloud and follow Accidental Allies at the links provided.
Electric Capablanca leaves few touchstones as to intent or obvious influences on “Giuoco Piano” to suggest genre or rooting. Which of course leaves the song open to interpretation and taking it in as an experience rather than something to be shaped by expectation. Like benevolent, disembodied spirits, vocals like echoes from another room in a vast mansion float through the track in the distance, airy, melodic drones waft along to provide an informal pace by virtue of tonal shift rather than formal rhythm. The sound of an electronic harp languidly plucked provides a parallel meter. The title of the piece refers to an opening move in chess, also known as the “Italian Opening,” and this song in its way feels like the introduction to a piece of orchestration or cinema with the elements coming together to pull us into a larger narrative stratagem through relaxing the mind. The instrumental composition defies easy categorization but is also not challenging to take in. Fans of ambient and modern classical and minimal techno will find much to like here and it’s rare that a song at over nine minutes feels like a third of that time. Listen to “Giunoco Piano” on Spotify.
Treasure’s new single “Feelings” uses a gently subtle mix of sounds that allow for featured vocalist Maggy Lee’s vocals to shine and resonate. The mix on the percussion is so tasteful in how it sits in the mix and seems so unobtrusive but unmistakable in setting the pace as lingering synth notes set a contemplative mood as Lee’s voice tells the story of uncertainty about the title of the song by asserting she has various feelings and wondering if the object of the song shares them or even has them. But there’s no judgment in her tone, she seems to be looking back on her encounters with the subject of the song in the third person and observing that those feelings are there but that she is often left wondering. The song ends with the implied questioned unanswered or resolved but it also doesn’t require a resolution. It speaks to a spirit of knowing something is there but not wanting to pressure a deep commitment so early on. Listen to “Feelings” featuring Maggy Lee on Soundcloud and follow Treasure at the links provided.
Norwegian band Remington super 60 has been releasing left field pop songs since the late 90s and its latest single “Fake Crush” sounds like it bridges decades. Its exquisitely gentle guitar work and subtle bass line sit between 60s French pop and 90s downtempo with a tonal change in the verses that resolves in a way that transports the listener to some kind of exotic lounge in a cosmopolitan city as the vocals describes confused feelings about a love that feels in some senses real but with the certainty that it isn’t because a crush isn’t truly built to last, it’s just a fantasy as fragile and as delicate as the song’s melody. And this isn’t even a true crush but a fake crush like a feeling someone wants to have and thinks she should have but upon closer examination it’s better as a fantasy than as a reality. And yet it’s these thoughts that spark the imagination some and give one a sense of something to look forward to, which is sometimes all we need to get out of an emotional rut. Listen to “Fake Crush” on Soundcloud and follow the enigmatically named Remington super 60 at the links. Look for a new EP from the project due out January 24, 2020.
“Lovesick,” the final track from Maude Latour’s 2019 EP Starsick, is a song about a very real phenomenon that most people have experienced at some point in their lives. Using the vocabulary of a pop song and her knowledge of the way ancient Greek and Roman poets like Sappho and Virgil wrote about love as a disease to be treated, once diagnosed by doctors (perhaps figures like Hippocrates and Galen), Latour cleverly fuses suffering from being heartsick and the age old attempt to overcome it by figuring out a cure or something you can do that adheres to principles of reason and science. She describes those feelings with her vocals sitting in the mix in a way that sounds like she’s telling the listener these things in confidence with the listener sitting in for the object of that love. The song blossoms like a cherished memories of the best times of that love that sounds like might be gone and terribly missed by the end of the song. It’s a song that conveys heartsickness but it has a bit of a different feel because Latour doesn’t adhere to the usual song structures, rather the arc of the song is the arc of the course of the romance in miniature that, while it makes sense at the time is guided more by natural rhythms and intuition rather than an imposed framework. Listen to “Lovesick” on Soundcloud and watch the video for the song filmed by Fergus Campbell below.
Secret Shame “Haunter Remix by SKNQTR)” cover (cropped)
Secret Shame’s September 2019 release of Dark Synthetics introduced the world to a promising new post-punk band whose lushly moody tones, delicately evocative guitar work and duskily ethereal vocals was informed by a haunted grittiness. This remix by Skinquarter of “Haunter” emphasizes the way the band has crafted an emotional experience that can fit into a more electronic dance side of darkwave as much as it does the more rock aspect of its music. The synths are already part of the band’s music, Skinquarter (a side project of Ricky Olson with whom Secret Shame recorded Dark Synthetics) emphasized that and extrapolated that potential into different shapes so that the track’s dynamics bottom out and swell as if rippling through time in and out of phase. What was a beautifully introspective post-punk song thus had its potential tweaked for becoming a darkwave EBM and Goth club dance track. Listen to the Skinquarter remix of “Haunter” on Soundcloud and follow Secret Shame at the links below. Look for new music by Secret Shame in early 2020.
Hanna Ojala’s new single “Incantation” embodies the concept as she uses layers of vocals processed and bleeding around the edges as she implores an outside power or her inner self to transform her and illuminate her consciousness. “Carve out my demons, set them free / Burn my mind, and burn my past” she cries out calling down a purifying fire to purge her being of those elements that no longer serve her and a force to come in and forcefully remove her baser and self-destructive behaviors that seem so firmly anchored in her spirit like a possession, like a psychic cancer. It’s less a song, per se, and more like a ceremony of personal mythology designed to cast out the detritus of spirit in an effort to move into a new phase of evolution. But without the naivete that this fix is permanent but knowing that from time to time we need to cast off off the shackles of our outmoded habits and ways of being. Listen to “Incantation” on YouTube.
Angel Olsen performs at Gothic Theatre December 14and 15, photo by Cameron McCool
Friday | December 13
Tourist, photo by David Ellis
What:Tourist w/Matthew Dear and Swim Mountain When: Friday, 12.13, 8 p.m. Where: Globe Hall Why: English electronic musician Tourist aka William Phillips is currently touring in support of his 2019 album Wild. Though known for his production and remixing work for higher profile pop artists, his own music is becoming known for his spacious and emotionally luminous compositions. His mastery of sculpting the sound in the mix and crafting vivid soundscapes that take you out of mundane life into a realm of bright colors and tranquil, uplifting moods is impressive. Also on the bill is aesthetically like-minded musician and producer like Matthew Dear whose 2018 album Bunny is imbued with its own head-space-shifting energy.
What:Lot Lizard w/No Gossip in Braille, Old Soul Dies Young and more When: Saturday, 12.14, 7 p.m. Where: Seventh Circle Music Collective Why: Lot Lizard is a post-punk band from Sioux Falls, South Dakota whose debut full-length released on December 6, 2019 and made it as a late entry into our Year End Best List (to be published over six weeks soon). Rather than take cues from the current darkwave movement, Lot Lizard’s noisy, moody songs have more in common with the likes of Iceage, Pere Ubu and bands on the Amphetamine Reptile imprint than the usual suspects. Yet its songs are accessibly melodic and rooted in songwriting rather than bludgeoning volume while also indulging in plenty of noisescaping when the moment strikes right. Denver-based post-punk band No Gossip In Braille recently released its own album in 2019 called Bend Toward Perfect Light, capturing the overpowering despair and sorrow of the past few years in the American psyche, especially in the realm of underground music and art and among those not favored by a system seeming to only boost the interests of the economic elite. Rather than wallow in despair No Gossip in Braille channeled those feelings into a hopeful energy that honors the hurt.
What:Angel Olsen w/Vagabon When: Saturday, 12.14, 8 p.m. Where: Gothic Theatre Why: Angel Olsen has consistently written fascinating music that pushes her own frontiers as an artist and as a vehicle to challenge cultural norms. Her 2019 album All Mirrors is a “[poignantly] dreamlike examination of identity in an age of universal scrutiny” (from our year end best albums coverage). It is a lush sound environment in which to get lost and rediscover yourself.
What:Harry Tuft w/Rich Moore, Glenn Taylor, Bill Rich, Ed Contreras, John Magnie When: Saturday, 12.14, 7 p.m. Where: Swallow Hill Daniels Hall Why: Harry Tuft is the godfather of all folk from Denver and the Front Range since the early 60s and founding the Denver Folklore Center as well as Swallow Hill Music in the 70s. He’s been performing his own music in the last few years and proving he’s a gifted artist as well as interpreter of the work of others.
What:Plaid w/Nasty Nachos and Xoxford When: Sunday, 12.15, 7 p.m. Where: Larimer Lounge Why: Plaid is one of the foundational projects of IDM and modern experimental electronic music. Since 1991 the group has helped to redefine and evolve beat-driven synthesizer music while mixing in live instruments and samples. Its 2019 album Polymer which has as its subject the examination of the nature of technology and our use of resources and the myriad ways in which they benefit and potentially harm us.
What:Empath w/American Culture and Reposer When: Tuesday, 12.17, 7 p.m. Where: Bluebird Theater Why: Psychedelic noise punk band Empath put out its debut full length in 2019—Active Listening: Night on Earth. But the Philadelphia-based group has been making waves in the underground for the past few years for its creative take on punk as not just as a sound but as an attitude and ethos. And yet its spirited performances are pure punk—a catharsis of emotion and inspiration.
When Vesperwynd’s “Breathe in the Blood” begins it leads you to believe it’s going to be an able and slightly different black metal track with the feral vocals and grinding guitar sound. But as the song progresses an almost symphonic keyboard progression comes in to help the guitar trace expanding, caustic figures like tendrils of smoke. Then near the three minute mark the song takes a markedly different direction into the realm of darkwave like an unusual mixture of early Christian Death and Wolves in the Throne Room. The song hangs suspended for a moment in guitar drone before coming crashing back in with that majestic blend of cutting guitar sound, ethereal synth and processional rhythms into the outro. The song defies expectations beginning to end with where it’s coming from or where it’s going beyond the tone of the epic like a White Light From the Mouth of Infinity-period Swans song cast in black metal and ethereal post-punk tones. Listen to “Breathe in the Blood” on Spotify and follow Vesperwynd on its Facebook page and Instagram account linked below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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