SubmitHub – Page 122 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Taleen Kali’s “Flower of Life” Fuses Post-Punk Darkness and Psych Garage Fire

Former TÜLIPS frontperson Taleen Kali’s latest single “Flower of Life” simmers and then blazes with an irresistible momentum. Since her former band’s split in 2016 Kali has been on different sonic trajectories than the inspired fusion of garage rock, psychedelia and riot grrrl-esque punk of TÜLIPS. This song has a focused urgency in the pace and rhythm that borders on the motorik and is hypnotic in the sense that you get swept up in its headlong energy and Kali’s commanding vocals, perhaps the only element that doesn’t distort with an incandescent heat. Immediate comparisons aren’t easy to make to give the potential listener an idea of what they’re in for other than something like Milemarker but with sonics more akin to The Beths. The cover art for the single (a portion above) looks like something out of a mysterious movie about radical politics by Olivier Assayas and that just adds to appealing aesthetic of the single. Listen to “Flower Of Life” on YouTube and follow the musically multi-faceted Taleen Kali at the links provided and perchance order the limited edition 7” lathe cut on transparent cherry red vinyl on Bandcamp which also includes the B-side “Crusher.”

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Bottled Up’s Glam Pop “Italo Love” Evokes a Bi-Coastal Romanticism and Celebration of West Coast Chill Vibes

The music video for Bottled Up’s “Italo Love” hits some surreal notes and not just in the music. The members of the band are depicted performing on the beach and frolicking in a beach town. And the lyrics make references to Los Angeles with houses that look like something you might see in Encinitas, California. Maybe it was filmed there or on a beach area nearer to the group’s home town of Washington, DC. The smooth jazz, funk and pop aesthetics blended together effortlessly in the song certainly gives the impression of something that might come from a band celebrating the good times and nostalgia of the laid back pace and energy of one of the California beach towns including Long Beach. When Nikhil Rao sings the line “I was born from memories of the drives through Beverly” one wonders if he had a connection to the Los Angeles area or fantasized about it from images on television and film and identifying with the vibe. The song and what has been release of the new Bottled Up album Grand Bizarre (due out May 27, 2022) has that quality of being outside usual time and geography while genre mashing in a way similar to that of King Krule and all the more interesting because of it. Fans of that final Abe Vigoda album Crush (2010) and its lush pop interpretation of glam rock will greatly appreciate this track and what Bottled Up has been going for throughout its career to date. Watch the video for “Italo Love” on YouTube and connect with Bottled Up at the links below.

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Bottled Up on Instagram

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Billy Nomates Turns the Melancholy of a Long Burning Breakup Into an Upbeat Pop Song of Acceptance on “Blue Bones”

When you hear Spencer Jones’s (Big Babies, Upstart Crow) character mutter something about a “twat” taking up both parking spaces as he comes back to his flat in the music video for “Blue Bones” you might be excused for thinking Billy Nomates’ lively indie rock single is about camaraderie in a relationship facing challenges. And to some extent it is. The upbeat guitar line and smoothly dynamic arrangements of the song are reminiscent of a mid-80s Talking Heads tune but the clever couplets and the resigned acceptance that the relationship is not just in trouble but has essentially faded away. When Nomates sings lines like “You just don’t turn me on like you used to” and how the bond over being miserable and downtrodden in life now simply lacks the sparkle with “Maybe we were both born blue but it just doesn’t turn me on like it used to,” the songwriter recalls some of Dolly Parton’s finer, more pointed yet somehow still classy moments. And touches like the coins on Jones’ eyes near the beginning of the interview speak to director Tia Salisbury’s gift for sprinkling scenes with poetic detail even as she depicts working class angst with such color and clarity. Watch the video for “Blue Bones” on YouTube and follow Nomates on Spotify.

State Fair’s “Sustain” Weds the Melancholic Delicacy of Dream Pop With Post-Rock Catharsis

“Sustain” begins with a simple guitar riff with the intimate physicality of pick on strings left intact. This textural element in this song by Denver’s State Fair grounds it even as the vocals come in hushed and the suggestion of a dreamlike atmospherics flow in the open spaces of the song. But as the song enters the last quarter, bombastic, distorted riffs burn through the comforting haze like a purging of the melancholic flavor and sentiments that informed what preceded. It hits the ears like a dream pop that picked up some strains of influence from classic indiepop and the more post-rock of the early 2000s posthardcore bands pairing an appealing delicacy with emotional heft. Listen to “Sustain” on Spotify, look for State Fair’s EP due out later in 2022 and connect with the band on Instagram.

“Little Bird” is talker’s Self Care Song About Breaking the Cycle of Psychic Death By a Thousand Cuts

is the new EP from talker and her songwriting experiments in expressing a set of feelings and experiences with great poignancy and invention is obvious across the whole release. The song “Little Bird,” though, finds talker centering her warmly luminous vocals to relate a memory of being in a place in life where you feel like someone else or yourself conditioned by what you’ve learned to expect out of life is chipping your dignity and identity away. With your self-respect thus eroded it feels difficult to break away from that cycle of dysfunction and yet awareness of that state of affairs is a message to your psyche in itself. The song doesn’t promise some miracle rescue or some throwaway line about how things are going to get better and no cheesy sentiments about triumphing over this time in life it suggests that you have within yourself the ability to move beyond that head space simply by seeing things for what they are and sometimes hearing that in a song or, heck, writing the song is the catalyst. Which is a more creative and practical approach to conveying that content. Listen to “Little Bird” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the EP and follow talker at the links provided.

The Soft, Psychedelic Soundscapes of A Beacon School’s “Dot” Are a Map of the Evolution of Our Creativity and Consciousness

“Dot” is A Beacon School’s first release in three years and its free flowing swirl of colorful tones promise some deeply imaginative soundscaping in the forthcoming album due out sometime in the hopefully non-too distant future. Its gentle psychedelia and expansive dynamic is an interesting choice for a song that blends a contemplation on creating a work of art and a reflection on one’s own life. The way one creates say a visual work or a song from conceptualization stage to execution in sketches and stages, parts and passages and going through life considering what paths to take, small choices that establish an overall pattern that you hope you can consciously guide or set in motion in ways that unfold to one’s satisfaction. In both cases imagining you’ve discovered a new method, a new aesthetic, a dramatic breakthrough in one’s creative work and life only to discover patterns that emerge from the character you’ve made for yourself. And yet in that realization is the consciousness of ways to work with instincts and habits and break or transform them in ways that seem viable and sustainable. And ideally through multiple iterations of these attempts we can establish more rewarding patterns in art and in life. Musically the layers of synth and flow of textures is reminiscent of the dream pop of Sound of Ceres and the main melodic line in the song strongly resonates with that of Stereolab’s “Blue Milk” so that an unconventional free jazz element provides an informal structure to the way the song organically resolves in a way that keeps your attention to the end. Listen to “Dot” on YouTube and follow A Beacon School at the links provided.

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A Beacon School on Instagram

Graffiti Welfare’s “Volume” is a Hypnogogic Pop Song for Insomniacs Everywhere

Graffiti Welfare, photo courtesy the artist

Graffiti Welfare are on to a very real personal phenomenon with the song “Volume.” It’s something that could only happen from the late Twentieth Century onward but reflects an aspect of human psychology and culture that goes back to our most ancient of days. The shimmering tone and ethereal vocals with some fairly funky bass, synth drone and expressive percussion cast a dreamlike quality on the song and the lines “Turn the television on while I get some sleep/Leave the volume up, man it’s the same to me” that open the song expresses how familiar sounds and energies can soothe our minds so that we can get adequate rest. Not everyone but the kinds of people who maybe in ancient times had the habits of being aware of environmental sounds and when those sounds and sense of movement remain familiar their nerves could relax some but when that normalcy is interrupted they shock to awareness. “I’m scared the volume will cut out/While I’m asleep/Next day no voice on the street” speaks to that ancient mindset adapted to a modern context. Even when a television station will broadcast different programs there is a kind of constancy and predictability to the sound level and dynamics that is not unlike the fires going on, the sound of wind in grass, the regularity of water lapping at the shore and so on. On another level the song articulates what it’s like to have a survival mentality where maybe you feel like you have to be hyper vigilant and pin your ability to relax on these unconventional cultural tools that might actually agitate people not saddled with those sensitive instincts. Musically it’s like a psychedelic, moody synth pop song that fans of Nation of Language and Lake Trout might enjoy. Listen to “Volume” on Spotify and follow Graffiti Welfare at the links below.

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House of Light’s “House of Love” is a Darkwave Synth Pop Fusion of Nostalgic Yearning and Rediscovering Romantic Ecstasy

House of Light, photo courtesy the artists

House of Light orchestrates multiple streams of tone on “House of Love” to give the song its bright and urgent yet melancholic vibrance. The lead single from the group’s new album 21st Century Prayer (out soon on Bandcamp) is reminiscent of that strain of modern darkwave that taps into the better end of the first wave of Gene Loves Jezebel and The Mission UK. Except that House of Light seem more keen on delivering classic pop hooks more in the vein of synth pop of that era as well for a sound that reconciles that tonal darkness and spirit with an upbeat dynamic. Fans of Actors, Bootblacks and Wingtips will find a lot to like about the way House of Light uses guitar tone to cut a scintillating figure through the soundscape in sync with the rhythm. Is the potential nod to Sisters of Mercy’s “Temple of Love”? Possibly but either way another touchstone for House of Light, surely. Whatever is in the mix, it’s an aesthetic that recalls an earlier era of music while imbuing it with a modern resonance and sensibility. The music video for the song shows the group seemingly performing in a repurposed church with projections of luminous washes and the surrounding architecture looking like some music video only seen on a public access music video program and thus adding a layer of mystery to the song’s impact. Watch “House of Love” on YouTube and follow House of Light at the links provided.

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The Big Sway’s “Almost Home” is Like a Love Letter to Life on the Road in a Touring Band

“Almost Home” is The Big Sway’s first single from it’s forthcoming album We Made This For You (due out Summer 2022) and its frantic pace story finds a manifestation in the unusual music video. It depicts a dashboard hula dancer with a ukulele “dancing” in time with cross country road trips juxtaposed with images of monstrous driver and passenger in the car, time lapse traffic to exaggerate the chaotic nature of of traveling by car and interstate maps. Musically it’s a cousin to for much of the song to Zen Arcade-period Hüsker Dü but then in the last section of the song things slow down to a tranquil and echoing melody with Polaroids of the trip scrolling across the screen. It’s a lot like touring in a band. A lot of hurrying up and packing in a lot of shows and other action into a compressed period of time and not having a lot of time to think and unexpected periods of having time away from the focus of the tour which is getting to the venues and playing and loading out and finding a place to sleep before hitting the road again. It can be frustrating and fraught but there is a certain excitement to it even when you run into a less than idea situation at a venue, with a particular show with the outcome thereof and so on—it’s all a part of the adventure that seems over so soon. Then at the end that sensation of getting home after a long drive and how surreal and tranquil it feels and comforting and then taking the time out to reflect before returning to regular life seems to take on greater significance than merely coming home after a vacation. The Big Sway captures those emotions perfectly in this song and whether it’s sort of a love letter to the life of a band on tour it sure sounds like it and Damon Bishop’s music video a fantastic visual representation of that time as well. Watch “Almost Home” on YouTube and follow The Big Sway at the links below.

The Big Sway on Instagram

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“Don’t Talk” Finds moodring Charting the Poetry of a Messy Breakup With Elegant Soundscapes

“Don’t Talk” by moodring is one of those songs that sounds so sunny it’s like a musical manifestation of a TV version of California. But like the actual California there’s a real version with all the regular human challenges and this tune sounds like the kind of song that delves into a nuance of human relationships and interior life that can wash by you if you don’t take the time to think and feel it through. It’s a beyond break-up song. But sung from a melancholic perspective of a person who is ready to move on from a situation that became intolerable but the other party keeps wanting to re-enter her life by lingering around the edges of her life. Singer Charli Smith somehow makes the chorus of “Don’t talk through nothing if you’re not just gonna walk back” work with Brandon Brewer’s careful production and rhythm. And in doing so makes a very heavy sentiment seem to float away like the wearied anxiety the situation must produce. Fans of Japanese Breakfast will appreciate the palette of sounds and the way the duo writes bright and moody melodies in a dream pop/bedroom pop style that linger with you. Listen to “Don’t Talk” on Spotify and follow moodring at the links below.

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