SubmitHub – Page 166 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Jessica Genius Dives Into the Depths of Delusional Obsession on Synth Pop Funk Song “You Don’t Belong Here”

JessicaGenius_YouDontBelongHere1_Crop — Jessica Genius, image courtesy the artist

Jessica Genius sets the stage for us at the beginning of “You Don’t Belong Here” with the sound of the street outside a mall shop window before a minimal, effervescent synth stream accompanies the words of a guy who imagines himself falling in love with someone in the window who he’s never spoken to but, in typical creep fashion, projects a whole romance behind that momentary, yet obsessive, attraction. The line “You don’t belong here, neither do I” offers a peek into the depths of the delusional projection. Halfway through the song it turns from ethereal pop song to something with wilder beats and dynamics like the synth funk soundtrack to a scene in which the creep and the object of his obsession are entwined in scenarios you’d see in a typical romantic comedy of the montage of dates and activities, dancing. But the warped fantasy fades out without a return to the glimmering, misty-eyed infatuation from the first part of the song. What happened? Did the creep get caught and hauled off, slapped with a restraining order? Hit by a bus? Is this the first part of a larger narrative? One can only speculate but the dual sides of the song provide an interesting and unconventional structural and tonal contrast. Listen to “You Don’t Belong Here” on Soundcloud.

Ion Stream’s “New Rhea” is Melodiously Ambient Soundtrack to the Exploration of Star Systems Beyond Those We Already Know

IonStream_NewRhea2_crop — Ion Stream *Outer Worlds* cover (cropped)

“New Rhea” by Ion Stream is flowing with twinkling, arcing melodic tones like the analog of a journey into star dense space. Rhea was the mother of the gods in Greek mythology after which the second largest moon of Saturn was named after being discovered by Giovanni Cassini in 1672. The title is perhaps not a reference to but suggests the exploration of another solar system populated by planets in homage to children of Rhea after which the planets of our own were largely named. The track opens with sweeping drones like solar wind and a melody reminiscent of the main theme to Profondo Russo by Goblin. But that melody expands into a spacious plain of sound. A dual melody carried both by strings and bright and ethereal synth tones trace the journey with impressionistic pulses of sound in drifty arpeggios while the aforementioned white noise of solar breezes washing through intermittently to give accent to the impression of movement and wonder into new vistas of human exploration and knowledge. Fans of the Hearts of Space program will find much to like here. Listen to “New Rhea” on Spotify and follow Ion Stream at the links below.

soundcloud.com/ionstreamuk
open.spotify.com/artist/69zgYsdMF1uLEN3TLhCedN
ionstream.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/ionstream
instagram.com/ionstreamuk

Jess Chalker Captures the Way Modern Life Demands of us a Brisk Pace and an Upbeat Attitude Even When We’re Not Feeling it on Her Second Single “Secrets”

JessChalker_Secrets1_sm — Jess Chalker, photo courtesy the artist

With her second single “Secrets,” Jess Chalker channels a bit of mid-80s synth pop but through a modern production lens and with a self-awareness reminiscent of Lower Dens. The electronic drums are straight out of 1985 as are the spare, clipped, clean guitar work and the bouncy dynamic and the declarations of forever love. But Chalker mixes those elements with a song structure more in line with songwriting from the current era with a moment of clarity mid-song. What this format helps to highlight is the way perhaps an 80s song, sounding shiny and upbeat, concealed an emotional nuance, complexity and ambivalence. Like you’re feeling everything at once and having to juggle it all and try to process it all with integrity. Chalker sings about how everyone has secrets but some act innocent while concealing a “monster in the back yard.” The brisk pace of the song and its bright melody reflects how these days you’re expected to put on a positive face despite dealing with a lot of stimulation and expectations even when you feel like you can’t–that we all have to maintain a secret in modern life or seem like failures, a state that feeds into one’s dark side on the regular. Listen to “Secrets” on Soundcloud, connect with Chalker on Spotify and look out for her LP due out late 2020.

open.spotify.com/artist/3fBjKfBNe9rqMlg2juMryM

Anna Belle’s “Tokyo” is a Lush Piano Pop Song is a Meditation on Inspiring Yourself Out of Your Current Malaise

AnnaBelle_Tokyo1_crop — Anna Belle “Tokyo” cover (cropped)

Anna Belle is based in Nashville but her song “Tokyo” is about how she hasn’t felt like she fits in or is accepted by the local music world. The lonely, introspective piano line compliments well her fantasizing about Tokyo perhaps being a place where she would find a place. The lush production of the song imbues the song with a dreamlike quality that rims one’s fantasies that distract one from one’s place in life at the moment that dwelling on about might bring you down and make doing what’s important more challenging. There’s nothing wrong with a little fantasy to get you through a period of self doubt or other struggles and anyone that’s been a musician in any local scene or in the underground knows what it feels like to not be appreciated or understood. What makes the song especially poignant and interesting is that isn’t written to sound what Tokyo might be like and it doesn’t come off quite like someone who thinks moving to a place so culturally exotic will fix all her issues with feeling like a musical misfit. It’s the idea of that being a potential option and imagining what it might be like to be in a place like Tokyo. The reality of Tokyo, though, is that it is not a city of the future no matter what you’ve seen on TV. It moves at a fast pace but has rustic parts of the city as well. There are distinct districts and it is connected to a massively sprawling metropolitan area where an American would be shocked by how un-futuristic it is while also seeing phenomena that doesn’t often happen in America like a Denny’s being on the third floor of a tall building, quality and even healthy food at a convenience store, masses of people dressed like they’re going to an office job and then the occasional person dressed like they’re from a live action animated movie headed to Harajuku. But it all seems surrealistically mundane, just as can be seen in the movie Lost in Translation. Anna Belle apparently hasn’t been to Tokyo but in a roundabout way has intuited that Tokyo while an amazing place to visit is not indeed the land of her dream fulfillment. But, instead, it’s a place that can guide her out of a period of malaise and inspire a song that can perhaps guide you out of one of your own. Listen to “Tokyo” on Spotify and connect with Anna Belle at the links below.

up.live/profile/base/26537841
youtube.com/channel/UCuUlPcU9rYpccJ0RHh3bs4Q
facebook.com/annabelle1138
instagram.com/anna_belle_music

The Sense of Mystery and Movement on Stephen Caulfield’s “Everything is Remembered” is Driven by the Lingering Effervescence of its Omnichord Melody

StephenCaulfield_ToTheLighthouseA1_crop — Stephen Caulfield *To The Lighthouse* cover (cropped)

The lingering effervescence of the Omnichord that carries the melody of Stephen Caulfield’s “Everything Is Remembered” gives the song a constant, nearly even flow. When the drum loops ease in, its soothing, almost hypnotic quality is reminiscent of early 2000s IDM. Like the song “Passing Through the Town” from Caulfield’s excellent 2019 album To The Lighthouse, a deep dive into various flavors and textures of ambient music, there is a sense of movement to a mysterious destination here, perhaps as suggested by the title of the release. But that mystery is something welcoming to which you are drawn by a promise of emotional fulfillment. Not the dramatic kind after a long period of struggle, but the kind where after long searching you find a space, a place, in your mind where you can experience a deep solace before wanting to or needing to be on to the next chapter of life. Listen to “Everything Is Remembered” on Spotify and connect with Stephen Caulfield at the links below.

music.apple.com/gb/artist/stephen-caulfield/373965991
soundcloud.com/stephencaulfield
open.spotify.com/artist/195QIuEghR5Q1Sw9YaRd80
youtube.com/channel/UCx91H6ozB4oFSfQHJfjhyXQ
twitter.com/scaulfield
facebook.com/stephencaulfieldmusic
instagram.com/scaulfield

BELORUSIA Takes Us Out of a Conscious Linear Sense of Time in the Collage Drones of “Non Era”

BELORUSIA_NonEra1_crop — BELORUSIA “Non Era” cover

In naming this song “Non Era” BELORUSIA perhaps gives us a lens by which to interpret its layers of streaming drone. There is a great sense of space but one conveyed as if a collage of projected visuals with layers taking on different degrees of opacity. We hear an underlying drone bordering on a hazy wind of a sound, other drones flood in and hop back and forth between a higher and lower frequency, giving a bright tone with two different frequencies perhaps the difference between a bright blue and a luminescent violet. It sounds like what a time lapse film of an overnight flight through banks of clouds into the dawn looks like. It conveys a sense of time but one not tied to the utility of time as we often impose on time in our everyday lives to give it the contexual meaning that connotes such things as an era. Fans of the less guitar-oriented compositions by The Sight Below, Labradford and Stars of the Lid will find some of the same kind of mystery and sense of psychological vistas here. Listen to “Non Era” on Spotify and follow BELORUSIA at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/4XzWLXrWu2BI6bwSOUYvbq
belorusia.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/belorusia

Broughton’s Earthy Yet Ethereal “Neptune” is a Shy, Sly and Gentle Enticement to Love

Broughton_Neptune1_crop — Broughton “Neptune” cover

Broughton raps with a sense of affection and hopefulness on “Neptune.” It’s a simple request and appeal, an invitation to come over and hang out and watch a movie and maybe more, listen to “The Neptunes.” The sentiments are direct but not crass, and in the song you hear the words of a person who may not have a lot materially but offers what little he does have and none of the burning intensity that might be too much to deal with. There is a gentleness of spirit at the root of the song. Musically it sounds nothing like the jazz funk of the production style one often associates with the work of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes. Rather, it has an ethereal, intimate feel composed of simple, echoing, chill tones accented by a spare rhythm that wraps itself around and compliments well the vocals giving the use of the word “Neptune” a dual meaning of the aforementioned musical reference as well as having an experience out of this world. Emotionally it echoes the shyly come hither dynamic of the words and a fine pairing of music and vocals. Listen to “Neptune” on Spotify and follow Broughton at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/nqh-x-dbds
open.spotify.com/artist/1ZgfHlEOqu1zHd3PoK14aa
youtube.com/channel/UCFJKu3mvFZ3Pz1XeRXK2u0w
twitter.com/BroughtonNQH
instagram.com/broughtonnqh

Haruhisa Tanaka’s Ambient Track “Still” is the Aural Equivalent of Meditating at the Bottom of a Mountain Pond in Summer

HaruhisaTanaka_Still1_crop — Haruhisa Tanaka, photo courtesy the artist

Imagine yourself able to rest at the bottom of a clear, mountain pond, the liquid flowing over you in its endless variety of textures yet consistent in its calming tactile quality. Sunlight refracted through the water warming your surfaces, the intermittent interruptions in illumination from the aquatic insects skittering atop the water, fish swimming by, plants shifting in currents. Your mind mixes the natural, ambient sounds and abstracts some to tones as textural flow, melodic drones that follow no meter but resonate with its own fractal logic, soothing in the way those sounds chart natural processes with the mathematics that govern the chaos and order of the universe. Haruhisa Tanaka’s “Still” sounds like it was composed imagining that likely impossible scenario and in so doing creates a tranquil audio analog of the experience perfect for letting one’s anxieties dissolve into eternity. Listen to “Still” on Bandcamp and follow Haruhisa Tanaka at the links provided. Tanaka’s latest EP Yusura was released February 13, 2020.

purre-goohn.com/haruhisa-tanaka
soundcloud.com/haruhisatanaka
open.spotify.com/artist/4ZTlbJ3KHGs7wuvdtouuIw
haruhisatanaka.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/hhtk0
ja-jp.facebook.com/haruhisa.tanaka.758
instagram.com/haruhisa_tanaka

Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Composition of “Dance – Ambient Version” Was Informed by the Tactile Sound of Valentino Fabric to Craft its Sense of Deep Mystery

RyuichiSakamoto_Dance_AmbientVersion1_crop — Ryuichi Sakamoto, photo courtesy the artist

In scoring the soundtrack to Luca Guadagnino’s (the director of the 2018 Suspiria remake) The Staggering Girl, Ryuchi Sakamoto wanted to incorporate the physicality of the sound of Valentino fabrics. He experimented with using fabric samples and, according to the composer, “utilizing special sensitive microphones, I experimented ‘playing the fabrics. I love the sound and how it forces one’s attention to a sound all round us, yet almost entirely ignored.” The latter quality is captured well on the song “Dance – Ambient Version.” With minimalist piano lines shifting up and down as string figures entwine their way through and background drones bring a nearly intangible lushness to a song that sounds like it would fit a 1960s period piece with underlying tones of mystery as with the beginning of an Alfred Hitchcock film with the menace not yet arrived but lurking in the hints of melancholy and introspection and a sense of new beginnings heard in the theme music foreshadowing the tragedy to come. Listen to “Dance – Ambient Version” on YouTube and follow the renowned composer at the links below. The Staggering Girl Original Soundtrack was released February 14 on Milan Records.

soundcloud.com/ryuichi_sakamoto
open.spotify.com/artist/1tcgfoMTT1szjUeaikxRjA
http://www.sitesakamoto.com
https://twitter.com/ryuichisakamoto
https://www.facebook.com/ryuichisakamoto

Lonely Gimmick’s Enigmatic Video for “BEAT 1” is a Reflection of the Collage Sonics of the Song’s IDM/Hip-Hop Synthesis

LonelyGimmick_BEAT1_A_crop — Lonely Gimmick logo

“BEAT 1” by the enigmatic Lonely Gimmick sounds like a meeting of lo-fi aesthetics and modern production methods. The lightly distorted synth, the minimal, warped, slightly clipping guitar sound and the layers of electronic percussion sounds for an effect like something that could have come out of 90s IDM, a collage of sounds and styles bridging decades of hip-hop, techno and early electronic post-punk. The music video shows a dark figure putting a seven inch on a Bush portable record player with figures intertwined sitting in the middle holding the disc down. The background is a dilapidated room in what could be a dilapidated part of the city. The visual parallels the sound of the song and finding the treasures in one’s sonic odds and ends and making it all move and dance in ways it hadn’t before. The video honestly has the same vibe as some of the stranger YouTube channels where something strange and mysterious but simple is going on and which stirs the imagination enough to draw you in but gives away little. Watch for yourself on YouTube and follow Lonely Gimmick at the links provided.

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lonelygimmick
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/lonelygimmick
SoundCloud – https://soundcloud.com/lonelygimmick
Twitter – https://twitter.com/LonelyGimmick