Queen City Sounds and Art

Marble Arch’s “Moonstruck” is a Song About Reconnecting With the Creative Magic and Joy of Childhood

MarbleArch3_sm — Marble Arch, photo courtesy the artists

Vinyl Williams’ video for the Marble Arch single “Moonstruck” is like an expanded universe of colors, imagery and shapes on a framework of sixteen bit video game graphics aesthetic. It suits the song which is a chill, downtempo song that sounds like time spent taking stock and contemplating the past through the emotional lens of childhood in order to recapture some of the magic and purity of going through life without having your perceptions and instincts shaped so much by the weight of a lifetime of mixed experiences. It’s a creative wiping away of life’s spiritual crust and rediscovering some of the magic and wonder of feeling and creating with unalloyed joy but one informed by the knowledge of how easy it is to let so many things in life let you get jaded and stunted in your natural development as a human and creative person. Pablo Picasso famously said something about taking a lifetime to learn to paint like a child, this song feels like a similar process of reconnecting with that energy in songwriter Yann Le Razavet’s life. Look for the full album Children of the Slump out on Géographie. Watch the remarkable video below and follow Marble Arch at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/6Oy6CwwhQqijvzAjpkoazG
facebook.com/marblearchmusic
instagram.com/marblearchband

“White Noise (Don’t Be a Winner)” Finds Indigo Bunting Time Travelling Down the Pop Vortex and the Post-Punk Collage Wall of Sound

IndigoBunting2_crop — Indigo Bunting, photo courtesy the artists

Austin’s Indigo Bunting is thankfully not taking cues from modern trends in pop music and its new single “White Noise (Don’t Be a Winner)” taps liberally across decades for musical ideas to inspire something decidedly different. The choruses have a classic melodic quality and large sonics akin to the songs produced by Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in the 1960s. But the palette of sound is an enchantingly disorienting mash-up of Siouxsie-esque post-punk, warping psychedelic reminiscent of the less noisy end of Indian Jewelry and a drums that sound like they were recorded while the drummer was sitting inside an echo chamber with curiously tight reverb so that beats cascade off each other in a manner that really compliments the subculture jamming composition generally. Nevertheless, this is an accessible song that is not a send-up of possible influences so much as some cool nods amid the band’s inspired, dancing, gyering collage of sound. Listen to the song on Soundcloud and follow Indigo Bunting at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/indigobuntingband
open.spotify.com/artist/6avshE7vAUgZHXmbU3AfFy
indigobuntingmusic.bandcamp.com/releases
twitter.com/_IndigoBunting
facebook.com/IndigoBuntingBand

Tacono Gates Defiantly Melancholic “It’ll All Come to Pass” is a Reminder That the Burdensome Situations in Our Lives Are Ephemeral

TaconoGate1_crop — Tacono Gate, image courtesy the artists

Tacono Gate gets “It’ll All Come to Pass” going with a grittily uplifting riff that soars into an evocative, anthemic verse. The synth compliments the elevated tone of the vocals in a way that syncs nicely with what comes to be an almost hypnotic melodic drone that flows and resolves throughout the song. Fans of The Chameleons and Comsat Angels will appreciate the defiant yet melancholic progressions. Like the band is struggling against the unacceptable inevitable. Like knowing you’re going to take that okay paying job because it’ll mean that you can afford to not just survive but have something for yourself to pursue what you really care about on the side until maybe it becomes your main gig. All while taking it on with a resigned spirit knowing that you, and really everyone, deserves better than what is on offer, that this contingent reality that benefits the few at the expense of the hopes and dreams of the majority is unsustainable but for now it is what it is. And yet, the song more than hints that this and other situations in life will come to pass in the end. While cold comfort in the moment, it beats utter despair. Listen on Soundcloud and follow Tacono Gate at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/taconogate
open.spotify.com/artist/2R72laeotc3lBpfYh4sLAz

frogi’s New Single “moonlight” Speaks to Importance of Nourishing Our Psyches By Holding Onto Our Best Dreams and Fantasies

frogi1_crop — frogi, photo courtesy the artist

Frogi’s knack for bringing together musical elements in an unconventional manner is on fully display on her “moonlight” signal. With finger snaps and kick drum, the harmonizing between the lead and backing vocals suggest something that is rooted in a more African realm of music as manifested through some of what Talking Heads did and more recently the experimental songwriting and performances of Tune-Yards. And with this song frogi expresses the internal notion of the way the world we want to be contrasted with the world as it is. The refrain “Keep me in the moonlight” is an apt metaphor for the more idealized vision rather than that of the world in the harsh light of the sun. It evokes a desire to live in the more subconscious, intuitive, dreamlike realm at least a little to retain a bit of a world where not everything has to adhere to the mundane and where the wondrous, however personally defined, can live and flourish and in turn fill our hearts with moonlight. Listen to “moonlight” on Soundcloud and follow frogi’s fantastical, left field pop on Spotify.

The Sheer Alien Beauty of Outer Space Finds a Poetic Articulation in Drew Harris’ “Xeno”

DrewHarris1_crop — Drew Harris, photo courtesy the artist

Apparently the inspiration for Drew Harris’ song “Xeno” was pondering what it might feel like to be in space, as in outer space, for the first time. In the song his bell tones carrying the melody in soft but sometimes atonal sonic hues, the streaming, ethereal synth and incidental sounds indicates that Harris feels like the weightlessness would be the first striking feature and with it a wondrous tranquility. And that once you adjust to the unfamiliar sensation you would notice features of the environment alien to your experiences on earth. Night and day would be effectively meaningless outside of your internal clock so perhaps your sense of perceived time would be disorienting as expressed in the inventive ways Harris alters the tone and pace of the song and fades sounds in and out of the foreground of your hearing. Harris’ evocation of that first encounter with a world without an atmosphere and no real night and day would be alien to us in ways we have yet to fully take in right away because our species developed on the earth with our very reference points of existence stemming from that primordial collective origin as living creatures. And yet Harris makes that alienness hypnotic and beautiful the way astronauts have described looking back at the earth from orbit and from the moon. Listen to “Xeno” on Spotify and follow Harris at the links below.

soundcloud.com/drewche_bag
open.spotify.com/artist/2umxxgR6sAUDuVYDB1V5RM
drewharrismusic.bandcamp.com

Zaliza’s “Phoenix Rising” Takes You On a Journey of Personal and Creative Transformation

Zaliza2_crop — Zaliza, self-titled EP cover (cropped)

“Phoenix Rising” by Zaliza begins curiously with a saxophone figure that gives way to an introspective, minimalistic, downtempo song. Its spare guitar, piano accents on the warm, sonorous vocals, low frequency synth drone in the background and the aforementioned saxophone coming back in to punctuate each section of song gives the song a feeling of a procession of personal development. The slight processing of vocals to echo and shimmer at the end of a line gives a twinge of personal hauntedness like the ghost of your old self trying to creep back into your consciousness but which you have to remember to shake off as you enter a new phase of your life. When the song goes out with what sounds like synthesized flutes giving an ascending signal to the end of the day it feels as though you have joined the narrator of the song in effecting her casting off the raiments of her previous life and donning those more appropriate to the life she wants to lead. “Phoenix Rising” is from Zaliza’s self-titled 2019 EP released earlier this year and on August 2 she put out her new EP, Wicked Game. Listen to “Phoenix Rising” on Spotify and follow Zaliza at the link below.

open.spotify.com/artist/0z1LeTQVd6xe3FunzOFqbG

Valentine & The Regard’s “I’m Still a Stupid Kid” is an Ode to the Heart Warming Qualities of the Unrequited Loves of Youth

ValenttineAndTheRegard1_sm_crop — Valentine & The Regard, photo courtesy the artists

The mix for Valentine & the Regard’s “I’m Still a Stupid Kid” is very up close yet lo-fi but that perfectly suits a bittersweet and nostalgic song reminiscing about a time when maybe you had feelings for a special someone who didn’t share your affections. But listening to songs from a tape that you still have that maybe you used to tape songs from the local college station on A.M. radio off the specialty show that seemed to play the perfect blend of songs that reinforced your romantic fantasies and the unrequited mood that you can look back on now with some fondness for a time when you could feel that way about another person without it being creepy or weird, or not AS creepy and weird, because of the way it made your heart swell with some hope for something good ahead even if it never manifested the way you had hoped. There’s something to be said for that feeling and the way it can make life seem more upbeat and filled with light and holding onto that even knowing it isn’t based on something real can’t be all bad for you. Listen to “I’m Still a Stupid Kid” on Spotify and follow Valentine & the Regard at the links provided.

ampl.ink/dZ13X
valentineandtheregard.bandcamp.com

CocoRosie Release First New Music in Two Years With the Socially Aware, Genre Bending Dub Pop Song “Lamb & the Wolf”

CocoRosie_NathanCasady_sm_crop — CocoRosie, photo by Nathan Casady

CocoRosie’s latest single “Lamb & the Wolf” doesn’t disappoint for those familiar with the band’s unique vision somewhere betwixt hip-hop, dub, lo-fi rock and synth pop. Laying out a story of modern America where people who are a little different or perceived as other, however that manifests for certain people, are targeted for various forms of harassment. The lyrics, “He’s jealous of my piece of paradise” is so poignant as in the song it refers to the “weird” guy at the grocery store who needs to have a socially regressive opinion about others who are enjoying their lives and hurting no one no more and maybe acting on it. But CocoRosie is having none of that singing “No more Mr. Nice Guy they’re trying to Britney Spears me.”At times the song is reminiscent of Beastie Boys gone more surreal at others and at once like Peaking Lights in the fully integrated dub and lo-fi electro the ways the band uses sound to disorient and stretch the boundaries of expectation and to go beyond. “Lamb & the Wolf” in all its strangeness is nevertheless accessible while having something powerful and poignant to say about the fractious cultural landscape and a great reminder that pop music need not lack for being boldly and unapologetically imaginative in its genre-bending. Listen on Spotify and follow CocoRosie, who famously recently collaborated with Chance the Rapper, at the link below.

cocorosiemusic.com/news

“Bora Bora” is ImButcher’s Summer Action Adventure Blockbuster Soundtrack Made for the Dance Floor

ImButcher2_sm_crop — ImButcher, photo courtesy the artist

ImButcher perfectly balances the minimal, textured percussion track, the ethereal keyboard work, the nearly whispered vocal samples and a broad spectrum of tonal range and rhythms in the synth parts for his new track “Bora Bora,” In its depth of field you can hear the plane ride and the sun on the beaches, the waves and the sense of being carried along to an exotic locale where an unexpected adventure awaits. It’s like the music for the prologue of a summer action adventure blockbuster but meant for the dance floor. If only the Michael Mann movie of the series he directed in the 80s, Miami Vice, ended up being a movie like this song presages it would have fared better with critics and audiences alike. Listen to “Bora Bora” on Soundcloud and follow the Canadian artist at the links provided.

imbutcher.com
soundcloud.com/imbutcher
open.spotify.com/artist/7ISudeOdyC7sXu8prYHtIP
youtube.com/c/ImButcher
facebook.com/ImButcherMusic
instagram.com/imbutchermusic

“Ampulex compressa” is Dj Scape Ripper’s Techno Industrial Soundtrack to a Menacing Future

DjScaleRipper2_crop — Dj Scale Ripper, “Ampulex Trails” cover

“Ampulex compressa” sounds like what it would be like to be stationed on an orbital platform tasked with scanning the upper atmosphere with long range sensors for hostile cyborgs looking to get off world to wreak havoc in the colonies where their activities are far less circumscribed. The mechanical percussion sounds, the afterburn white noise of vehicle launch and the urgent industrial pacing speak to a moment of hot pursuit of. The distant tone is like getting a read on the objective while also being reminiscent of Meat Beat Manifesto’s “Paradise Now.” Perhaps a nod to Jack Dangers maybe more obliquely to the oscillations of Phaedra-period Tangerine Dream. The song conveys a sense of the otherworldly and menacing conveying an air of technology having grown beyond our capacity to manipulate it in the fundamentals ways we do now. Listen to Dj Scaleripper’s “Ampulex compressa” on Spotify and follow the artist at the links below.

soundcloud.com/djscaleripper
youtube.com/user/darkmindproject
twitter.com/DarkMindProject
facebook.com/DjScaleRipper