Ambient – Queen City Sounds and Art

Fumiro Kaneko’s Retro New Age Single “who is behind me” is Like Upbeat Theme Music For a Thriller Montage

Fumiro Kaneko evokes the sounds of late 80s New Age music on “who is behind me.” But with an update on the rhythms with low key trap beats providing some texture and solidity to the bright layers of electronics. Percussive crystalline tones carry the main ascending melody alongside some electronic flute. It could sound like some kind of corporate instructional video music except the title suggests a different interpretation like upbeat music to contrast with a sense of menace and surveillance in a thriller. It has the pacing of a montage scene in which the protagonist notices they’re being followed by someone but not sure who that is or what their intentions might be so a path is pursued to give time to pick up any identifying details before realizing maybe it was a coincidence and not a nefarious encounter. But the contrast between the title and the light and playful mood of the music and its almost retro New Age aesthetic lends it a complex emotional resonance one doesn’t often encounter. Listen to “who is behind me” on Spotify and follow Fumiro Kaneko on Instagram.

“FRISSON” by 1201770 is an Industrial Ambient Lament For a Fallen Civilization

The distorted streaming sounds echoing throughout “FRISSON” by 1201770 are like the voices of a forgotten subway bemoaning the neglect and seething in its accumulated environmental memory. Or the soundtrack to a near future urban exploration video in which intrepid urbexers travel through the tunnels and streets of cities abandoned in the wake of humanity’s folly and abuse of the environment resulting in mass depopulation of parts of the world once teeming with activity that can only be speculated about from accounts gleaned from still extant media artifacts. The industrial ambient sounds of the song have a melancholic menace and urgency that suggest a warning against the kinds of civilizational habits that lead to tragic widespread collapse. It’s a thought-provoking track that embodies a full expression though less than two minutes in length. Listen to “FRISSON” on Spotify and follow 1201770 on Instagram.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S6E10: Leila Abdul-Rauf

Leila Abdul-Rauf, photo by Gregory C. Hagan

Leila Abdul-Rauf is a multi-instrumentalist based in Oakland, California who re;eased her latest, and sixth, studio album Andros Insidium on April 17, 2026 via 20 Buck Spin. The record, with its cinematically resonant titles, is like a mythical and ritualistic exploration of themes of resistance to oppression, external and internalized, and the liberation of self from the patriarchy in culture, psychology and our conceptualization of the universe and an embrace of concepts of the divine feminine. Its songs cast in ambient, industrial, dark folk and post-punk like something that sounds like it has drawn some influence and inspiration from late 80s Dead Can Dance, Jarboe and Diamanda Galas. It’s also reminiscent of older musical forms like medieval choral music, Middle Eastern classical, devotional and folk. The effect is an album that feels like its outside normal time and space but anchored in sounds and rhythms that feel familiar yet mind-expanding. With imaginative poetry Abdul-Rauf comments on the cycle of societal pressure to strive for unrealistic expectations as goals defined by one’s utility to the machinery of capitalism. The songs feel like a story arc like something out of the initiation rites of ancient mystery cults but with the end including the cultivation of a consciousness of the world as it is and how it could be. It all sounds like it has to be a recording project only but Abdul-Rauf has performed the music live.

Listen to our interview with Leila Abdul-Rauf on Bandcamp and follow her at the links below. Andros Insidium is currently available on vinyl, CD, digital download and for streaming via 20 Buck Spin.

Leila Abdul-Rauf on Bandcamp

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Leila Abdul-Rauf on Instagram

Akiyoshi Yasuda’s Ambient Piece “day4 by memento” Induces the Listener Into a Deep and Transformative Environmental Awareness

Akiyoshi Yasuda, photo courtesy the artist

Akiyoshi Yasuda immediately puts us in a time and place that feels familiar yet enigmatic from the beginning of “day4 by memento.” The constantly present harmonic drone is like the background energy of an urban environment like a steady presence of the human collective. The layers of textural rhythm and resonating tones and swells of abstract sounds all interact to create a tapestry of noise that flows into your brain like becoming fully aware of the world around you that you normally take for granted which could be startling but Yasuda’s composition is more soothing and it causes you to pay attention to details you might not otherwise and notice things like the occasional processed piano work through the haze of closer sound sources mixing with all other sensory elements. The song is like a musical Zen experience in which one becomes present and accepting of what is around you without judgment or becoming overwhelmed by one’s hyper awareness. And then the sonic energy recedes seeming to have taken no time but in fact brought you along for that journey for over five minutes. The production on the piece itself is impressive for how Yasuda placed each sound component and orchestrated them all for a singular listening experience that conveyed experiences beyond what music often does. Listen to “day4 by memento” on Spotify and follow the Japanese composer at the links provided.

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Akiyoshi Yasuda on Instagram

Stray Theories Ambient, Post-Rock Single “Catalyst” is Like the Closing Music For a Science Fiction-Themed Cosmic Horror Film

Stray Theories, photo courtesy the artist

The atmospheric drift and flow of “Catalyst” by Stray Theories is anchored by a minimalist piano line and processional drums with a hovering guitar drone that traces the outer edges of where the tones expand outward. The project incorporates a touch of discordance in the decaying harmonics while bell tones warm the melancholic mood of the piece. All distinct musical elements dissolve into the slow-modulating haze of sounds peeking through white noise like the musical analog of the end of the universe in a uniform state of entropy. The track has a sense of unease yet soothing at the same time like an acceptance of the inevitable. Think the closing sequences of a science fiction/cosmic horror film. Although the song title suggests the ending of one thing or cycle and the beginning of another. Listen to “Catalyst” on YouTube and follow Stray Theories at the links provided.

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Stray Theories on Twitter

Stray Theories on Facebook

Stray Theories on Instagram

Stray Theories on Bandcamp

Ana Hausmann’s “nausea-stalgia” is an Organic Ambient Articulation of the Dark Mysteries of Nighttime Streets

In the organically immersive flow of Ana Hausmann’s “nausea-stalgia” one hears not just intermittent textures like hearing the detritus in the breeze of nighttime streets on the edges of an urban sprawl. The oddly harmonic scraping of hinges articulated by processed violin harmonics, the plinking of kalimba like sonically stylized droplets of rain and the low rumble of bowed guitar like the barely felt but always present thrum of aircraft from an airport in the distance. The field recordings of wind and environmental noise is used with such care it is impossible to fully tell the difference between that and an intentionally generated sound such is Hausmann’s care in the mix and layering of elements in the aim of crafting a unique listening experience. It is a “song” in an expanded understanding of the term as a composition that evokes emotion and provokes a psychological response. In this case it is a sense of mystery and distant menace, of a haunted landscape nearby whose tendrils of mood are in a constant drift to draw you in to something that might be fascinating if not dangerous. Listen to “nausea-stalgia” on YouTube and follow Ana Hausmann on Spotify.

Errunhrd’s Ambient Slowcore Single “Don’t Drink Chemicals” Vividly Sketches the Inner Edges of Romantic Dysfunction

The hazy, cycling drone creates a dreamlike resonance throughout Errunhrd’s “Don’t Drink Chemicals.” It and the melancholic vocal processing is fitting for a song about how it feels to be in any kind of relationship that seeks to reign you in and smother your full dimensions as a human in a warped and unsustainable co-dependent dynamic with love engaged in as an act of control and possession. To be in that situation and to perhaps convince yourself that this person is the right one when the whole situation stifles you and prevents both people from developing. Noah Brown’s video for the song is reminiscent of the work of Phil Tippett and the way it is both intimate and haunting, perfect for this song that captures a headspace many people have found themselves within not allowing themselves the knowledge that they can aspire and have for themselves a life that nurtures joy and encourages growth. Yet being able to articulate these feelings means having a greater chance of overcoming the psychological blocks that oppress and repress. Musically it’s like hearing a more ambient, witch house-adjacent iteration of HEALTH and Crystal Castles collaborating on a hypnogogic pop track. Watch the video for “Don’t Drink Chemicals” on YouTube and follow Errunhrd at the links provided. The new Errunhrd album Everything I’ve Ever Known releases May 14, 2025 on all stream platforms and CD.

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Ben Lukas Boysen’s Ambient Single “Alta Ripa” is the Sound of Easing Into a Time of Rest

Ben Lukas Boysen, photo courtesy the artist

“Alta Ripa” comes in like a slow moving snowstorm late at night. Ben Lukas Boysen’s arrangements of harmonic drones roil languidly and blanket the soundscape with cool, subtle layers that drift and flow, conveying a sense of settling in. The harmonies linger and dissolve into the generated mood. It’s like hearing distant horns signaling a time of rest and reflection in some distant future when the world is at rest and able to indulge some extended periods of inactivity imposed by the onset of winter at least for a night or a two. The sound can wax melancholic but ultimately it is one of ease into a headspace of peace. Listen to “Alta Ripa” on YouTube and follow Ben Lukas Boysen at the links below.