Catch a Dinosaur captures that perfect moment as you’re drifting off into a nap and and your mind wanders mixing contemplative reflection and a dreamstate with its single “Maybe You Just Wait.” The shimmering tremolo sound of the guitar and the vocals are reminiscent of Luna’s more chill moments and the way Dean Wareham can say so much with a pithy observation that is neither self-deprecating or aggressive in its analysis of a situation. There is a bittersweet flavor to the song once it gets into the main groove but the mood doesn’t get stuck there and brief guitar solos flare up that propel the song back into its wistfully romantic mood and again before the outro. There are angry breakup songs, this is more a hey maybe things aren’t working now and we need a break sort of vibe. Follow Catch a Dinosaur on Spotify.
Wallfly’s “Bad Habits” Has a Title That Reflects its Constantly Evolving Weirdo Stream of Consciousness Avant Garde Jigsaw Pop-Rock
Wallfly’s album Somethings has been out since April 2018 but its’ single “Bad Habits” recently came to our attention which was welcome for such an unusual and sonically challenging rock song. You never have time to get to used to a sound or a dynamic across the song so calling it “Bad Habits” is genius. Like the band or its members spent some time making music that got stuck in a rut or conforming to some style that bored them. Like when young musicians in recent years think they discovered something new and exciting with the fifth or seventh wave of garage rock or psychedelia like so many do thinking it’s adequate to sound like “Anemone” by The Brian Jonestown Massacre and that simple reverb works to be trippy because delays are for pretentious “art” bands. Wallfly seems to disregard these considerations completely. Somewhere someone cited Deerhoof as a comparison or an influence which seems apt as that’s another band that doesn’t really sound like anyone else unless someone could be said to sound like Melt Banana collided with Alice Donut and Brainiac. The fact is that this song that melds together electronic sounds with rock sounds and an avant-garde sampling aesthetic while creating a song that at its heart speaks to and articulates a desire not to be hemmed in even by one’s own internal task master. If Guerilla Toss is touring through the band’s hometown of Provo, Utah, throw these people on the bill just for weirdo solidarity’s sake. Listen to the song on Spotify and follow Wallfly at the links below.
Calcedon’s new single and video “Ice in the Desert” is a View Into the Hubris of Humanity’s Presumptions About its Ability to Adapt to Anything
Canadian singer Calcedon’s new single “Ice in the Desert” is an ethereal meditation on what the future may hold for our species if current climate trends continue. The music video above is a harrowing, all-too-near future science fiction themed scenario set after the collapse of world civilization in the wake of dramatic climate change. It’s a peculiarly human hubris to think we can make the technology to solve all our problems and our ability to adapt to any and all change and that failure to do so is somehow a more failing as well. But, in fact, there are forces beyond our control at play all the time and we as humans often fail at dealing with our problems that seem obvious when other considerations take precedence like temporary benefits in the way of profit, national politics, ego and loyalty to outmoded ideas and ideals. The gently soaring melodies and billowing dynamic of the song, though, suggest not judgment so much as compassion for human folly but one informed by a firm knowledge that “thoughts and prayers” and “good intentions” won’t be enough to stave off our extinction. Rather that we must take action while also not forgetting the nurturing and benevolent side of our collective humanity. Fans of Zola Jesus and the more dreamy side of Myrkur will appreciate Calcedon’s use if vocal tonality and atmosphere to convey powerful emotions. follow Calcedon at the links provided.
soundcloud.com/calcedonmusic
open.spotify.com/artist/0vrPFzt9Jy9I9NV3XGDg3M
twitter.com/calcedonmusic
instagram.com/calcedonmusic
Bull’s Tapetown Sessions Live Video for “Eugene” Displays the Magic and Chemistry of the Left Field Rock Band
The Tapetown Sesssions recording of Bull’s “Eugene” demonstrates how the band crafts what seems like a simple melody and song from complex components showing in detail the level of attention and effort and care went into the song’s dynamic structure and atmosphere. Even more so than seeing a live gig, the way the video is put together highlights the way Bull pulls off the delicate moments and play off each other in sync with each other as they shift from the quiet and delicate to the more impassioned passages of song. That the band has great chemistry together contributing in seeming equal measure to the graceful power of “Eugene” is on clear display. Listening without seeing gives one a sense of a band with more than four members but that’s just a testament to the songwriting and band logistics in making a mini-orchestral piece with what might otherwise be standard rock band instrumentation. And there’s nothing standard about the song other than maybe some conventional pop structure. Its chord choices reflect a coming at music from a refreshingly different angle the way maybe Pavement or Built To Spill have done—classic rock and punk elements skewed decidedly differently enough to be fresh. Watch the video below and follow Bull at the links provided.
soundcloud.com/bulltheband
twitter.com/BullTheBand
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Dudley Benson’s “Matariki” and its Music Video Embodies the Concept of the Maori New Year, Staying Connected With Our Ancestors and Transcending Petty Attachments
Dudley Benson’s contemplative “Matariki” is named after the time of the year in the southern hemisphere when the constellation Pleides appears in the midwinter sky and signaling the Maori New Year. It is a time to think back on those who have passed on with the star formation as a conduit to communicate with them much. Benson’s melody is low key and almost functions as a piece of theater like a song written for a section of a charmingly eccentric musical about the presence of the spirits our loved ones who have died remaining in our consciousness long after they have left corporeal form. Benson takes the implication of these cosmic patterns to another level into blissed out sections of song and with the help of illustrator Emile Holmewood for the music video. Benson communicates how these things we imbue with so much essential meaning aren’t as significant in the grand scheme of things as we often imagine them to be. Heady stuff but with this way of manifesting the song is imaginative rather than pretentious. Watch the video below and follow Benson at the link provided.
“The Time Has Come” is Mat Creedon’s Song About Interstellar Travel as a Metaphor for Motivating Yourself to Attain Your Dreams
Mat Creedon’s “The Time Has Come” references “Space Oddity” in the first section of the song with a nod to Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls” for the Heart of the Sun” in the next section as part of the chorus. And the synth pop song has a bit of a now retro-futurist feel with pulsing, distorted synth lines and vocals processed to sound like they’re coming from the kind of A.I. that might be running an interstellar spaceship except for that bit about voices in its head and other refinements that one would most expect from an organic being. This space ship metaphor also serves as a message about getting on with the momentous events of one’s life rather than put them off and getting swept in the forward motion of your personal destiny. Listen to the song on Soundcloud and follow Creedon on Spotify.
Sal Dulu’s Single “Tyko” is The Expression of Pure Feeling and the Ghosts of Pleasant Memories in song
On “Tyko” Sal Dulu demonstrates how one can take familiar and established musical ideas and transform them into something fresh and stirring to the imagination. Structurally and sonically saunters into your brain like a downtempo track with the lush atmospheres, introspective soundscapes and a sense of depth. The bright synth shimmer that cycles in an out is like a reminder that the real world awaits your return from this trip into dreamlike reverie. The vocals are used as a sampled mantra more than conscious wording. At times the song is reminiscent of Moby’s most blissed out moments, at others like a mid-90s trip hop act going fully abstract and expressing pure feeling and the ghosts of pleasant memories in sound. Listen to “Tyko” on Soundcloud and follow Sal Dulu at the links provided.
Hypnotic and Meditative, “Asura” by Acado and Elias Doré is a Mind-Altering Electronic Dance Track
“Asura,” a collaboration between German electronic music duo Acado and producer Elias Doré takes us on a journey to sacred spaces as suggested by the title. Asuras are divine beings from Hindu mythology that often do battle with the deities. It’s also a word that means “powerful” or “mighty.” It’s the latter that might be used to describe the slow but steady forward momentum of the track’s low end. Subtle but inescapable and giving context to the organic feel of the complex and finely syncopated percussion and a foundation on which the the tracks numerous sound experiments and melodies can come to the fore and shine like characters in some tonal version of shadow puppet theater moving and expressing themselves with grace and nuance. Appropriately the closing end of the track begins with a spoken mantra that ushers in a period in the song featuring what sounds like processed dulcimer and an electronic version of a highly processed steel drum. Hypnotic and meditative, “Asura” is a mind-altering electronic dance track. Listen on Soundcloud and follow Acado at the links provided.
soundcloud.com/acado_musik
open.spotify.com/artist/1z6fgjuCMlbaHSM0xqApwM
youtube.com/acado_musik
facebook.com/acado.musik
instagram.com/acado_musik
DOXA’s New Single “Hypnogogia” Taps Into the Unconscious and the Intellect to Craft its Deeply Emotional Experience
DOXA’s new track from it’s newly released EP2 “Hypnogogia” is appropriately titled because its mixture of melody, synth drones and organic textures as rhythms flows in a way that feels like coming in and out of conscious and the state between. Calling it “dreamlike” wouldn’t be quite accurate as it has a quite vivid character that doesn’t feel like you’re lost in a haze so much as hyper aware of your surroundings yet able to relax and let the mind function at a higher level. The video for the song and its time lapse visual pace fits perfectly with the electronic percussion and its accents, cutting out the inessential stuff like speed reading reality. Fans of Boards of Canada and Seefeel will find much to like with DOXA’s work as it shares that spirit of tapping into and engaging both the unconscious and the intellect to stir emotional responses. Watch the video for “Hypnogogia” on YouTube and follow DOXA on the project’s Facebook page linked below.
“Lifetimes” is a Synthwave Anthem for an Anti-Dystopian Future
A lot of synthwave sounds like it’s reflecting the dystopian end of 80s science fiction and crime drama, as it should, as the 80s had more post-apocalyptic cinema per capita than any other decade unless you count the whole zombie thing. But “Lifetimes” by Zaxcess, the fourth track from its new The Takeover EP, sounds like what a sequel to Blade Runner soundtrack might be like if things worked out with Deckard and Rachael. Roy Batty’s expiration date turned out to be a false alarm and they all hung out in a tropical paradise with Gaff who decorated the landscape with even more elaborate and fanciful origami creatures. The melodies are bright and effervescent, the dynamic expansive and filled with a sense of joy and wonder. And hope, which is the antithesis of the cynicism that informs the dystopian aesthetic. Now that we live in fairly dystopian times, Zaxcess is offering the sound for a divergent vision of our future. Listen to “Lifetimes” on Soundcloud and follow Zaxcess at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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