Queen City Sounds and Art

SHIRAN Brings the Sound of the Cross-Cultural Dance Party of the Future with “La La – لا لا”

Ahead of the September 21, 2023 release of her new EP Electro Hafla (Hafla being the Arabic word for party), SHIRAN released a single from her 2022 record Fadaytak in “La La – لا لا.” It’s an especially representative example of the artist’s facility with bringing together traditional Arabic musical styles, tonalities and rhythms with modern electronic pop and dance music production in collaboration with her producer husband Ron Bakal. The song begins with the sound of a wind flute that expands into one more electronic before SHIRAN’s commanding vocals take center stage and then in a perfect interplay with the lively melodies. In the last third of the song the mood shifts to one more introspective and ethereal for lingering moments before we’re engaged again with the song’s strong rhythms and vibrant, percussive tones with elegantly placed string arrangements floating around SHIRAN’s voice and sitting a distance back in the mix like a memory haunting the present. It’s a futuristic sound that unites a classic sound palette with modern sensibilities and methods of composition with an emotional resonance and musical appeal that transcends any language or cultural barrier. Listen to “La La – لا لا” on Spotify where you can also find strikingly evocative dance pop of Electro Hafla. Connect with SHIRAN on Instagram.

Joy Guidry’s Ambient Jazz Composition “Almost There” Channels Negative Energy From the Self Int the Great Beyond

“Almost There” finds Joy Guidry in an ambient mode with warmly resonant bell tones floating over an unseen rippling stream. Ethereal bassoon drifts in among the distant sound of birds like a figure in an abstract, mystical jazz piece. The song exudes a sense of place in both physical reality and in the mind. The song begins as it ends as a passage in an ongoing journey but conveys a restful and healing energy in making no demands as a listener but providing a conduit for the sublimating of nervous, negative energy into an infinite beyond. Listen to “Almost There” on Spotify and follow Joy Guidry at the links below.

Joy Guidry on Bandcamp

guidrybassoon.com

Diane Arkenstone Takes Us to a Place of Teeming Life and Calming Spirits in the Video For New Age Ambient Single “Echoes of the Past Float Away”

Diane Arkenstone, photo courtesy the artist

Diane Arkenstone gives us a glimpse of her new album Aquaria II: Ascension out in early 2024 with the gorgeous video for “Echoes of the Past Float Away.” Arkenstone’s particular manifestation of ambient music for this single includes what sounds like electronic harp arpeggios, wordless vocals and processed sequenced tones that conjure in the mind a feeling of a faraway place of great peace and calm but imbued with a dynamic energy. In the video we see a part of the world surrounded by tranquil ocean, sea birds flying leisurely, turtles and fish swimmming by a coral reef, sea lions, dolphins and whales frolicking, beautiful waterside caverns carved by centuries of erosion, turquoise shores, distant coasts covered in clouds, verdant islands and in the end a lighthouse rendered ancient by weathering—all of it proof of life living in a harmony of equilibrium. The iridescent tones of the song and its gentle flow quickly make you forget your place in the world for moments at a time which everyone could benefit from experiencing. Watch the video for “Echoes of the Past Float Away” on YouTube and follow Diane Arkenstone at the links below.

Diane Arkenstone on TikTok

Diane Arkenstone on Facebook

Diane Arkenstone on Twitter

Diane Arkenstone on Bandcamp

Diane Arkenstone on Instagram

dianearkenstone.com

Mr. Limbis Upends the Grifter Influencer Game on Psychedelic Post-punk Song “Level Up”

Mr. Limbis’ psychedelic rock song “Level Up” is reminiscent of a time in music when there was a little less pressure to adhere to some trendy genre tropes. With colorful guitar work and driving rhythms the song brings in some exploratory saxophone work and the kind of vocals with a touch of grit you’d expect more out of a punk band. The song’s lyrics are an interesting commentary on the clout culture of the current era and how often people treat it like some game you can beat if you are enough of a sociopath to treat the lives of others and life itself as some challenge to overcome in your quest for power and influence and over what? Mr. Limbis doesn’t offer an answer to that question because that’s as varied as there are people who take that path like many politicians and grifter influencers but his depiction of that way of thinking and living is certainly on point. At times the song hits like a weird combination of The Psychedelic Furs and Hawkwind which is the kind of genre bending that doesn’t happen but listening to this song and watching its colorful music video one hopes it does more often. See for yourself and watch the video for “Level Up” on YouTube and follow Mr. Limbis at the links below.

Mr. Limbis on Instagram

Crewless’ Soulfully Downtempo Track “Elevator (going down)” is Like an Entrancing Mantra Against Emotional Exhaustion

Crewless experimented with the format of its song “Elevator” with one version, the“(going up)” iteration, being more upbeat, brash and dramatic. But it is the lush and downtempo “(going down)” incarnation of the song that will appeal to anyone looking for something more moody and atmospheric. The song appears to be about getting to your own truth relative to the emotional turmoil of someone for whom you care deeply and taking the time out to sort through one’s own level of comfort with the device of an elevator being an adjustable setting of emotional states but desiring to keep things at level that can work for everyone so as to not dip into burnout. The vocals are ethereal yet soulful and reminiscent of Martina Topley-Bird’s on those classic 90s Tricky records. The effect is one of a calming mantra and though melancholic resonant with a spirit of acceptance. Listen to “Elevator (going down)” on Spotify and connect with Crewless at the links provided.

Crewless on Instagram

crewlessmusic.com

“No Grand Gesture” is the Cinematic and Tranquil Ambient Conclusion to Guava’s Album Out of Nowhere

“No Grand Gesture,” the concluding track to Guava’s 2023 dream pop album Out of Nowhere, is like the peaceful exit out of an album that was like a journey through emotional exploration of relationships and aspirations. Rather than the more pop mixed with deep house format of the songwriting of the rest of the album, this song utilizes the softly incandescent tonality of the record to craft an ambient cloak of soothing drones that blend and roil together and fade into abstract environmental sounds like a long drive through some light fog at the end of night of new experiences and adventure to the tranquility of a home outside the active energy of a city center. It’s an appropriately meditative end to an uncommonly thoughtful album and a track that though instrumental and ultra chill lingers with you. Listen to “No Grand Gesture” on Spotify and follow Guava at the links below.

Guava on Facebook

Guava on Instagram

Solbore’s Organic Ambient Single “We Forget” and Its Deeply Resonant Music Video Evoke a Sense of the Long Cycles of Human Civilization

Solbore’s release of the ambient single “We Forget” (from the November 3, 2023 album Never Alone, Often Lonely) found the composer collaborating with Michael Gasco (Badieh, Orontes) who filmed the music video in the Iranian province of Khorasan Razavi where one finds Iran’s second-largest city Mashhad where you can find countless ruins of abandoned villages, some for decades due to modernization or lack of water. The juxtaposition of urban landscapes with those left behind and shots of nearby nature pairs well with a track that weaves together synth drones, Afghan rabab from Lachlan R. (Hashshashin) and choral contributions from Becki Whitton (Aphir). But it all evokes the grandeur of the visuals and how human civilizations will build collective settlements in various locales that serve a purpose at a time that can become forgotten and no longer rendered sustainable with the march of development and changes in the environment. The use of organic sounds as they come and as processed to lend a circular dynamic with the flowing of abstract tones suggests the cyclical nature of human engagement with our surroundings and large patterns we don’t or refuse to recognize even when the impacts are obvious to anyone without an investment into the status quo imposed on perceived human need. The song communicates a sense of long time the way the Mayans and other civilizations considered a long calendar through recognizing trends that often seem beyond the perception of many people steeped in the cognitive framing of the exigencies of modern economic systems. The title of the song speaks to this disconnect with simple poetry. Watch the video for “We Forget” on YouTube and listen to more Solbore on Spotify linked below.

The First Eloi’s Shoegaze Song “Last Days of Summer” is the Sound of the Mind’s Transition From a Time of Adventures to a Season of Reflection

The First Eloi, photo courtesy the artists

The First Eloi’s single “Last Days of Summer” resonates with that feeling that many of us recognize as the long days of the late spring and summer and the hot days and warm nights transition to sunny days and cooler evenings. It’s a mood that for can trigger memories of summer vacations being over and being back in school whether elementary or secondary or university and a time of adventures and good times give way to getting into the swing of regular life and colder temperatures, a shift into introspective moods and taking stock and getting the work of life done. But for a brief time those recent memories are so vivid even if they seem to be so recently far into the past and beyond reach except as moments to warm your mind when they come back to you. The wintry guitar tones and ethereal vocals along with the more textured riff give these feelings an almost tactile quality in the song like a resurrection of what energy My Bloody Valentine tapped into and embodied when Loveless dropped in November of 1991 and seemed to infuse the season with a dense layers and dreamlike atmospheres. The First Eloi tends to wax a little more dream pop than that but “Last Days of Summer” and a good deal of the rest of the Low Glow the group released on September 13, 2023 is reminiscent of the early shoegaze classic and its true fusion of texture, tone and organic rhythms. Listen to “Last Days of Summer” on Spotify and follow The First Eloi at the links below.

The First Eloi on YouTube

The First Eloi on Bandcamp

The First El oi on Instagram

Beryl’s Post-punk Single “Bad Joke” is a Mantra of Reclaiming Your Time From Dwelling on Regrets

Beryl tangles with personal regrets with one’s life choices and choices in relationships in “Bad Joke.” The song begins with a spacious and open sound, percussive guitar chiming and with an impressive subtlety of layering and shifting dynamics the song progresses into a more full sound as the lyrics get to thoughts of feeling trapped by a flood of thoughts and memories in a way that will happen to you when the crush of your regrets pile up in your mind and the realization of all the wasted time you wish you could get back from pursuing things and people that didn’t make your life more fulfilling but rather left you feeling empty and confused in the end. At the end of the song the vocals repeat “Take it back” in rapid succession amid a wave of distorted sounds in a recursive loop like a mantra to oneself to not be defeated so much by your ghosts but cast them aside and reclaim the time you have left rather than give it away to the things you regret and spend it on experiences and situations that nurture your spirit. Beryl released its new EP Paint the Walls on October 25, 2023.

Beryl on TikTok

Beryl on Facebook

Beryl on Instagram

Patrick Shiroishi’s Saxophone-Driven Ambient Composition “how will we get back to life again?” is a Zen-like Meditation on the Eternally Resonant Mysteries and Allure of Nature

Patrick Shiroishi, photo by Vincent Guilbert

In the music video for Patrick Shiroishi’s “how will we get back to life again?” directed by Nancy Kwon we see a cloudscape of whites, shades of gray and blue sky in the elegant, flowing dynamism of weather patterns. It parallels Shiroishi’s composition of his new album I was too young to hear silence (which dropped November 10, 2023 on streaming, digital and vinyl) in which he employs the Japanese concept of Ma or negative space or the spaces in between as a positive entity rather than simple absence, giving the composition an effective balance. Recording the album with his signature saxophone, a glockenspiel, two microphones and a Zoom digital recorder in a parking structure below a hot pot restaurant in Monterey Park around 1:30 am, Shiroishi made use of the natural reverb to assemble a truly unique type of ambient album. We hear the ebb and flow of his improvisational and intuitive rhythms and textures across the record and for “how will we get back to life again?” in particular the a kind of natural distortion that amplifies an expression of the interactions between clouds and how haunting and moving simply observing the eternal movements of natural patterns largely beyond our ability to control with its endless variations and which offer no inherent meaning the way a work of art might. But that emotional resonance in witnessing these phenomena Shiroishi seems to capture so articulately though not bearing witness to these events in the video in real time making the pairing inspired in how one form of art can find a cognate in another through the power of imagination. Fans of Philip Glass’s collaborations with Godfrey Reggio and Ron Fricke will appreciate what Shiroishi has accomplished here. Watch the video for “how will we get back to life again?” on YouTube and follow Patrick Shiroishi at the links below.

Patrick Shiroishi on Instagram