SubmitHub – Page 172 – Queen City Sounds and Art

neek’s Reluctant Love Anthem “i’ll choose u” is Tender Admission of Being Able to Love Again After Keeping Up One’s Walls For So Long

neek_illchooseyou3_sm — neek, photo courtesy the artist

Choosing to start off “i’ll choose u” in a lo-fi, AM radio production style with the track ever so slightly washed out until nearly a minute of the song makes neek’s choice to come in with the strong bass even more impactful. This is especially so since it it no way overpowers her creative vocal production both fairly natural and more processed. We’ve heard plenty of unimaginative vocal processing in modern pop music but neek gives us a treatment on her voice that blurs and pitches the shift in a way that enhances the gently romantic quality of the song. Even when she reluctantly admits her affection for the person to whom the song might be directed, because she’s had to be so guarded in life, it comes across as tender and sincere. The rhythm is like a hybrid of breakbeat and footwork and suits the overall flavor of the song. Listen to “i’ll choose u” on Soundcloud and follow neek there as well (linked below).

soundcloud.com/user-866591100/but-why/s-3Ztis

Ocoeur’s “Glow” is the Ambient Sound of Our Connected Society Comfortably Corroding in Mutually Assured Isolation

Ocoeur_Glow1_sm — Ocoeur, photo courtesy the artist

“Glow” by Bordeaux, France-based electronic music composer Ocoeur (Franck Zaragoza) evokes the sense of self-imposed isolation through technology that most people living in the modern world experience every day through increasingly using mobile devices channeled through platforms of interaction that run the gamut of human life from everyday communication with friends, relatives, one’s job to dating, ordering food, hailing transportation, watching entertainment, getting news and even remotely operating aspects of your house should you be connected that way. The irony of calling this state of things being “connected” is something that Ocoeur challenges on his new album Everything (out on Feb 28th on 180-gram ultra clear vinyl and digipak compact disc). “Glow” in particular has hazy synth sounds and sense of being shrouded in your own head and shielded from an outside world. It has a comfortably insular feel with soothing drones but underlying is a sense of darkness and unrest, of discomfort that is difficult to define but which creeps up on you while easing those sensations of dissatisfaction with a sort of soporific/hypnotic energy. Combining what seem like opposite purposes in crafting the track Ocoeur has manifested in sound the ambient mood, the background radiation if you will, of modern society and what we have come to accept because we feel it’s comfortable and we figure the benefits outweigh the costs even as it, in its current form, might be eroding us from the inside on an individual and collective level by catering to stasis rather than encouraging curiosity and growth beyond what you already know. Listen to “Glow” on Soundcloud and follow Ocoeur at the links provided.

ocoeur-music.com
soundcloud.com/ocoeur
open.spotify.com/artist/4lybctGarwN1hdctv433Js
facebook.com/pages/Ocoeur/207260895983189

BUHU’s Use of Acoustic, Electric and Electronic Tones and Textures Makes “Bend (Wisconsin)” an Entrancing and Enveloping Listening Experience

BUHU_Bend1_crop — BUHU “Bend (Wisconsin)” cover (cropped)

BUHU’s single “Bend (Wisconsin)” is interesting in its unfolding of a song with a first and second act. Beginning like a a John Fahey-esque, tender acoustic guitar figure with processed vocals to draw out the tones ever so slightly like a wind through trees. At the one minute eleven seconds mark the song shifts into a different gear with the sound of an accelerating breeze before settling back down into a gentle saunter of uplifting melodies accented by electronic synth tones like ethereal bells. The guitar work less of a textured filigree and a more impressionistic strum to count out the time of the lines of lyrics. The falsetto vocals in the chorus join the song in harmonically blissful territory as the singer reminisces about the place he grew up with memories of what made it so significant to his life as a human and as an artist. Fans of The Verve and Grizzly Bear will appreciate the eclectic blend of sounds and rhythms BUHU employs to craft such an entrancing composition. Listen to “Bend (Wisconsin)” on Spotify and look for the Providence EP due out later in 2020.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3WWA3voVuTi2Mvc1BxEJV5

yourbuhuband.com
soundcloud.com/yourbuhuband
open.spotify.com/artist/76DYBFEsZpW0tZW27ifZAK
buhu.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/YourBUHUbanD
facebook.com/YourBUHUbanD
instagram.com/yourbuhuband

Wettworker’s Lyric Video for His Remix of Cubbiebear’s “Are You Okay?” is a Powerful Testament to a Rich Creative Legacy

Wettworker2_sm — Wettworker, photo courtesy the artist

Wettworker remixed the title track of Cubbiebear’s 2015 album Are You Okay? after asking the Baltimore-based MC 2015 for permission to do do so Joshua Bailey aka Cubbiebear sent Wettworker the vocal track and six months later the MC passed away from an aggressive form of brain cancer. In 2020 Wettworker released a dynamic lyric video for the remix that highlights Cubbiebear’s facility with poetic expression in the context of a song and his willingness to go beyond the tropes of the hip-hop genre and its prevailing trends of the moment to make the beat serve the emotional content of the lyrics. The use of pages with the bars of lyrics like a nod to Bob Dylan’s film for “Subterranean Homesick Blues” but with each page burning and re-manifesting with different words and repeating laying out choice cultural references to frame a fierce adherence to one’s vision, creative life, friendships and radical vulnerability as the guiding beacon of one’s life. Laying bare fears, insecurities, flaws and psychological scars while a borderline black metal guitar riff runs through over a techno synth line and spare drums, the song paired with the visual representation of the song is a powerful manifestation of the essence of Cubbiebear’s artistic legacy. Watch the video on YouTube and follow Wettworker at the links provided.

soundcloud.com/wettworker
wettworker.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/Wettworker
facebook.com/wettworker
instagram.com/thewettworker

Stephen Caulfield Evokes the Mystery and Allure of Coastal Iceland on “Field of View”

StephenCaulfield_FieldOfView1_crop — Stephen Caulfield, photo courtesy the artist

Inspired by the landscapes of Iceland, “Field of View” by Stephen Caulfield comes in with a spectral drone with slight distortions in the tone like sun winking off ice in the distance before the landmass looms into view. A copse of trees gives a hint that the promontory jutting out from the fog is not an iceberg but the sometimes otherworldly land of ice and fire that the Vikings colonized centuries ago. As an up close, rapid cycling, distorted stream of sound gives way to a more spacious and ambient softly drifting melodic noise it conjures visions of the low lying clouds and fog clearing to reveal the jagged inlets and high cliffs, the majestic and silent vistas of Iceland before you that must have captivated the first humans to set foot there as well as modern travelers to the island nation. Listen to “Field of View” on Spotify and follow Stephen Caulfield at the links provided.

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

Glassio Captures That State of Being Confused and Lost When Your Long Term Relationship Falls Apart on “Are You Having Fun Without Me?”

Glassio_AreYouHavingFunWithoutMe1_crop — Glassio “Are You Having Fun Without Me?” cover (cropped)

Glassio’s “Are You Having Fun Without Me?” was inspired by the dissolution of a long term relationship and the endless pondering to salve one’s heartbreak that goes on for longer than we imagine it can. The upbeat rhythm and melody contain a deep wistfulness that seems to come from a place of pain, vulnerability and confusion, almost as though in denial that things are over or at least hoping they aren’t. The chorus is “Are you having fun without me? Are you having fun without my love?” It is childlike in its conceptualization of how the adult relationships work but when you’ve invested so much of yourself and your life with someone for what you assume will be the long haul, when it ends it can leave you lost and not sure of your place in the world so you cling to what you knew and have a hard time coping with it being over, wondering what the other person is up to and if they’re feeling as desolate as you. Listen to “Are You Having Fun Without Me?” on Soundcloud where you can also find more of Glassio’s music (linked below).

soundcloud.com/glassiomusic

lynx 196.9’s “triangular warfare” is a Dub-Inflected Cautionary Tale of Trying to Juggle Relationships

lynx196_9_1_crop — lynx 196.9, photo courtesy the artist

“triangular warfare” by lynx 196.9 gets off the ground with a sample like the recording of one side of an emotionally fragile conversation, a confession, an apology for hurting someone. The beat is a downtempo dub mélange of meditative percussion, piano, keyboard samples and backing vocal samples in a jazz style like a lo-fi Blockhead. The vocals tell in short a sexually frank story of a love triangle that has progressed to the phase when people want more or want something different out of the relationship and communication has broken down and the conflict avoided earlier by balancing time and maybe being willing to set aside the usual demands and keeping ego in check. What makes the track surreal is how chill our narrator is throughout as though relating someone else’s story or a snippet of an experience from long ago and able to maintain a sense of distance. A lot to load into a song under two minutes that manages to establish an entrancing vibe immediately. Listen to “triangular warfare” on Spotify and follow lynx 196.9 at the links below.

soundcloud.com/lynx1969
open.spotify.com/artist/1LuNMKI03ynJJQMvBGJFfl
youtube.com/user/DamionLynx1981
lynx1969.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/lynx196.nine

Franko Elvis’ Tenderly Melodramatic “I Worry All The Time” is a Dream Pop Exploration of Our Mixed Emotions and Anxieties

FrankoElvis2_sm — Franko Elvis, photo courtesy the artist

Franko Elvis minces no words with the title of his song “I Worry All The Time.” With shades of tone and delivery reminiscent of Viva Hate-period Morrissey or Magnetic Fields this song waxes tenderly melodramatic and makes use of sound elements beyond the obvious synth, guitar, bass, drums and vocals. The reverb on the vocals and the female backing vocals paired with the cadence of the song share similar influences from the Gold Star Studios production style of the 1960s giving the song a sense of being out of normal time. It’s a heartfelt/heartbroken appeal to one’s love to be allowed to stay and have some relief from the worry and insecurities arising therefrom. Is the song a bit of a dream? It does end with the sounds of birds tweeting in the end like something you’d hear in the morning on a spring day so maybe this song informed by being on the fence about sadness and happiness if neither is genuine ends on a hopeful note. Listen to “I Worry All The Time” on Spotify and follow Franko Elvis at the links provided.

open.spotify.com/artist/5TMotqPzzBLNmPLObz7P7Q
instagram.com/franko.elvis

Sterile Cuckoo Evokes a Waking Dream State With “Details in Feathers”

SterileCuckoo1_crop — Sterile Cuckoo, photo courtesy the artist

Sterile Cuckoo’s music is designed to be the soundtrack for the hypnagogic state, that state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness. The hazy composition of “Details in Feathers” with lightly echoing sounds seeming to drift down upon one another in a flow of organic melody. Even the vocals sound like bits of consciousness caught in the fractal of long term memory given voice and swirling with the other leaves, the other motes, of sonic presence that gently synergize with the spare guitar melody as the through line, accented by electronic bass and luminous, impressionistic keyboard work. Though short, the song is something that your head can get lost in taking in the dream logic of its flow of tone and mood. Listen to “Details in Feathers” on YouTube, follow Sterile Cuckoo at the links provided and, should you be so inclined, listen to the rest of the album Elysian on Bandcamp.

sterilecuckoo.tumblr.com
soundcloud.com/sterile-cuckoo
youtube.com/channel/UCZoyjIKnLrX3XMG0VHb9GWA
sterilecuckoo.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/sterilecuckoo

The Agony of Loss and Lack of Closure is Embodied in Alex Henry Foster’s Harrowing “Summertime Departures”

AlexHenryFoster3_crop — Alex Henry Foster, photo courtesy the artist

“Summertime Departures,” the title, sounds like you’re in for a melancholic pop song but Alex Henry Foster has written a song that immediately draws you in to an emotional experience as much as a song with spoken lyrics and almost sound effects for music before it enters somewhat more conventional song territory nearly halfway through it’s over five minute length. It’s reminiscent of Slint in the beginning with its desolation and emotional fragility and in a like fashion the sounds escalate into whorling howls of controlled guitar feedback and splaying percussion to enhance a sense of one’s own mental breakdown. It’s not enough for Foster to write a song about what sounds like someone trying to come to terms with the death of a close friend, family member or other loved one and struggling painfully with that fact, the memories, the regrets of the things you wish you had said or done rather than taken for granted that there would be time to find closure. The song is the sound of the pain of that open psychological and emotional wound that persists despite your best attempts to heal. It’s a harrowing listen but one that honors the experience and emotional agony of the loss. Listen to “Summertime Departures” on YouTube and follow Alex Henry Foster at the links below. Look out for the new album Windows in the Sky, on which you can hear the single in context, out May 1.

soundcloud.com/alex-henry-foster
open.spotify.com/artist/3xxV7Humr8VBXGhNNbyWoY
youtube.com/channel/UCPJ9svra9xkqsC0ZIKZdZ0w
twitter.com/umitohanasuhito
facebook.com/alexhenryfosterofficial
instagram.com/alexhenryfoster