Queen City Sounds and Art

Mwahaha Returns With the Lush and Brooding Cyber Funk Anthem “Sundown”

Mwahaha1_crop — Mwahaha, photo courtesy the artists

You’ll have to wait until September 6 to hear Lovers, the new album from Oakland quartet Mwahaha. But for now you can give a listen to its brooding yet progressively syncopated song “Sundown.” If Clark, Robert Alfons and LCD Soundsystem circa “Starry Eyes” wanted to make a track that would fit a science fiction noir soundtrack driven by the music itself. A story about in the classic mold of passion and betrayal, reconciliation and justice but with an ending that isn’t as neatly resolved as a cheesy mainstream movie. Something more like life where you have to continue on with the mundane tasks of life once the adventure and crisis has passed. That the record was started before former member Cyrus Tilton passed away from cancer in 2017 perhaps gives context for its heavy and somber tone. But that the band could come back to the material and imbue it with life and an inventive low end architecture is truly a tribute to the band’s lost comrade who worked on the music through his illness. Even without that context the track has enormous momentum carried across by all the performances and Ross Peacock’s relatively stripped down vocals. Very promising stuff from one of the most promising bands of recent years. Listen below and follow Mwahaha at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/3Qj0Sos2RvizJ6GmB8FIxz
youtube.com/channel/UCGLcDA_Vtz_ingcT8yQJzMA
twitter.com/mwahahamusic
facebook.com/Mwahahamusic

“Tremolo” by White Elephant Orchestra is an Anthem to Emotional and Creative Awakening and Independence

WhiteElephantOrchestra_Tremolo_crop — White Elephant Orchestra “Tremolo” single cover, image courtesy the artist (cropped)

The distorted, cycling synth that introduces White Elephant Orchestra’s “Tremolo” sounds like the title of the song as though a streaming synth were put through a hard panning tremolo effect so that it comes out the other end almost echoing. But the song quickly sweeps up into an anthemic realization of the need to shake up outmoded patterns and habits and training picked up from others to reconnect with one’s natural way of being and the genuine core of one’s creativity and passion. Songwriter Andy Stochansky certainly spent several years as a sideman and drummer for Ani DiFranco where his chops as a musician and performer got a workout. But with White Elephant Orchestra he’s getting to more fully explore his own musical voice and “Tremolo” is sort of a signature song for that process of discovery and the sense of awakening in the song is unmistakable. Expect his new album with the project, aptly titled Debut, out soon. For now listen to “Tremolo” below.

VIETNAMINGO$ Splice Cowboy and Outlaw Urban Culture With Swagger and Humor on “Khmer Krom Kowboyz”

Vietnamingos1_crop — VIETNAMINGO$, image courtesy the artists

VIETNAMINGO$ display plenty of swagger on “Khmer Krom Kowboyz” splicing cultural references with a sly disregard for time frames and geography. Bookending the track with samples from Marty Robbins’ “Prairie Fire,” the the duo names the song by transforming the spelling of “cowboys” and imbue that with the kind of rebel/outlaw attitude of the present and giving it an alliteration using the term for the part of Vietnam that was once part of the southeastern part of the Khmer empire. The lyrics are about authenticity and hustling how you must to get by when no matter where you are your cultural status might be in question even as you’re making music in a country where there isn’t nearly enough Asian public representation in the arts. You know, a country where Joel Grey played a Korean in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, for starters. In adopting the gangster stance VIETNAMINGO$ is calling bullshit on all of that and asserting the ability of people of Asian extraction to draw on the stories and mythology both ancestral and urban American culture to create music that is informed fully by both.

soundcloud.com/vietnamigos
instagram.com/vietnamigos

Lindsey Stirling’s Colorful Video for “Underground” is a Science Fiction Fantasy Extravaganza For the Senses

LindseyStirling1_crop — Lindsey Stirling, image courtesy the artist

Lindsey Stirling is rightfully known for bringing violin to electronic music and mixing a classical set of chops with a popular musical form without pretension. On her new single and video “Underground” Stirling conjures a sense of the fantastical and futuristic at once and that aesthetic compliments her eclectic style. Yes, the sort of hybrid of the aforementioned classical music and hip-hop and EDM, but also an expressiveness that crosses over into an amalgam of progressive rock and pop. Her precision as a player coupled with a fluidity and creativity that allows for a wide dynamic range is what truly sets this song apart from anything that defines itself by genre considerations. If Stirling merely had chops and if it was merely a gimmick to combine a broad musical palette with violin it wouldn’t be interesting. But Stirling’s cultivated imagination has long served her well. Look for her new record out in September through BMG. Watch the video below and follow Stirling at the links provided.

lindseystirling.com
soundcloud.com/lindseystomp
open.spotify.com/artist/378dH6EszOLFShpRzAQkVM
twitter.com/LindseyStirling
facebook.com/lindseystirlingmusic
instagram.com/lindseystirling

The Enigmatic “Ancestor” by Unseen Echo Evokes Remote Places of the World Where Humans Rarely Visit

UnseenEcho1_crop — Unseen Echo, image courtesy the artist

“Ancestor” draws you into a deep soundscape of far horizons lightly shrouded in mist. Its streaming melodies and distant low end gives the track a sense of vastness into which the more fiery guitar line and tribal drumming can resonate out into. It works as an ambient track but has too many concrete sonic figures to fully work as background. Rather, as a soundtrack to life in the remote islands of the South Pacific rarely visited by humans, a companion soundtrack to Hans Zimmer’s score for Blue Planet II. Or of a documentary about the life cycle of the albatross with the songs elegant dynamics and a sense of comfortable solitude. The mixture of fluidity and heat in the composition is a bit like a New Age progressive rock song but way more introspective and far less busy than much of that music.

unseenecho.com
instagram.com/unseenecho
facebook.com/Unseen-Echo-441519976255141

Lil Primo’s “Ignorant” is a Critique of Willful Ignorance as a Tool of Internalized Oppression

“Ignorant” is a critique of willful state of mind despite all the negative, violent stuff going on around you and in your own life from gun shots in the neighborhood, vulture developers, lack of self-accountability to making excuses for self-destructive and generally destructive behavior. It calls for an awareness and a conscious reaction to these things so the real conversations to address the roots of social and psychological issues rather than a passive acceptance of things as they are. Too often in America we accept not a status quo but a stasis that keeps us from challenging power whether from a corrupt presidential administration, a power tripping supervisor, our own position of power over others or others over us used to coerce and manipulate or a “system” that benefits the very few at the expense of the many based on lines of ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality or legal or economic status. “Ignorant” by hip-hop artist Lil Primo reminds us that to keep ignoring those pressures on an everyday basis means we will probably ignore it on the macro scale that more than a few people worldwide have been feeling so poignantly. The beat is haunting yet urgent and the emotional tenor of Lil Primo’s vocals compassionately concerned. Follow Lil Primo at the links below.

soundcloud.com/wessidelilprimo
open.spotify.com/artist/66bTiXhV6mBQT6ws1yuQdZ
instagram.com/wesside_lil_primo

Mystery Friends’ “See Right Through” is a Jaunty Anthem of Vulnerability and Personal Resilience

MysteryFriends_PastAndFutureSelf_crop — Mystery Friends, *Past & Future Self* album cover (cropped)

The jaunty pace of “See Right Through,” the lead track from Mystery Friends’ debut album Past & Future Self, lends the song a freshness and charm that made all those C86-era and Sarah Records songs endlessly listenable. Combining a breeziness of tone with introspective and confessional lyrics, “See Right Through” reveals a vulnerability and personal resilience that is always a winning alchemy in pop music because everyone feels sensitive about so much in life and we get hurt or feel exposed and yet we have to find our peace with it and, if the situation calls for it, the strength to work through our insecurities and failings. Less synth-driven than some of the other songs on the record, this composition is given some of its dynamic buoyancy by Robbie Lee’s treble-y and melodic bass line that is the ideal counterpoint to Abby Sevcik’s luminous vocals. Listen to the single below and follow the DC band at the links provided.

mysteryfriendsmusic.com
soundcloud.com/mysteryfriendsband
open.spotify.com/artist/1nkamhZ86zDvuB1HB3Wq8y
mysteryfriends.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/MysteryFriends
facebook.com/mysteryfriendsband
instagram.com/mysteryfriends

Hunnid Evokes the Spirit of Chicago’s Southside in “Drip Too Hard”

Hunnid1_sm — Hunnid, photo courtesy the artist

With a relentless flow of references and imagery, “Drip Too Hard (CCG Mix)” by Hunnid draws for us in rich detail life coming up on the Chicago’s Southside. The gangs, the grind, the struggles, striving for self-improvement and ultimately keeping your head above water and the poetry that comes out of those experiences. The video for the song features Hunnid rapping with a brisk cadence and packing so much content into each line with an impressive economy. The insistent, dreamlike beat, a sample of warping guitar, shuffled claps and clicks like drum sticks on a wooden block, accents Hunnid’s storytelling perfectly. Throughout the song there isn’t some kind of tough pose, rather an attempt at preserving sensitivity and not being inured to hardship by becoming hard oneself. The music video is vibrant, urban scenery, graffiti and all, with Hunnid and his colleagues representing the kinds of people you might see every day in the Windy City. And of course a crane or two in the backdrop just like every rapidly gentrifying city of size in recent years. See the video below and check out Hunnid’s other musical adventures at the links following.

keepit1oo.com/home
soundcloud.com/hunnid-2
open.spotify.com/artist/2fA2gTgVlYNhArTuXvHwy0
youtube.com/channel/UCkIiLVOUS_yNjNPYMKTxq5A
twitter.com/Hunnid_CCG
facebook.com/HunnidCCG
instagram.com/hunnid_ccg

“Come Set Me Free” is Miles Monroe’s Psych Grunge Dub Noise Punk Cut-Up Extravaganza

MilesMonroe1_crop — Miles Monroe, photo courtesy the artist

“Come Set Me Free” finds Miles Monroe getting things going with what might be described as a psych grunge dub of echoing vocals and riffs. As though he’d listened to a whole lot of Adrian Sherwood laying down the bizarro remix on a Siltbreeze noise punk cut-up tape. Something which the producer never did. But that’s the kind of strange Monroe brings to the first half of the song. Then it becomes some kind of lo-fi Alice Donut inspired stream-of-consciousness warped raga akin to early Butthole Surfers or Flaming Lips. If Eat Skull, Psychedelic Horseshit and Pink Reason decided to record with more conventional clarity they might be making something like this now. Take a big draught of the song below and follow Miles Monroe’s adventures to sonic outer space at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/7EwexDVQiIuQ9ZUAFijmJP
twitter.com/blank_monroe
instagram.com/blank_monroe

Tsägä’s “Tuuleen” is a Downtempo Krautrock Post-Punk Song Brimming With Melancholic Urgency

Tsaga1_sm — Tsägä, photo courtesy the artists

Tsägä’s “Tuuleen” builds with some unconventional percussion reminiscent of Can into a chill soundscape with expressive vocals floating into ethereal heights. The lyrics are in Finnish so if you don’t understand Finnish don’t worry. It is, after all just a relatively short song and not The Kalevala if you’re trying to figure out the actual lyrics. At any rate, plenty of us listened to Sigur Ros and had no clue what those songs were about especially when the claim was it was in “Hopelandish,” a made-up language. But the music was moving and Jónsi such a gifted vocalist he conveyed an emotional truth that could resonate with anyone. As with that band the tone of the singing here communicates the mood powerfully as well with a melancholic urgency. Musically it sounds like something that could have come out of Bristol in the 90s combined with the more organic Krautrock of the 1970s—manipulation of textural tones and all. If a post-punk band skipped three or four decades of obvious influence and took in not only what influenced the likes of Bauhaus and Joy Division but also 90s and 2000s downtempo, deep house and minimal synth it would sound as wonderfully unusual and haunting as “Tuuleen.” Listen below and follow the band from Vallila, Finland on their Facebook page.

facebook.com/tsagaband