SubmitHub – Page 177 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Kin Capa’s “Rye” is a Lightly Psychedelic Blues Ditty About a Simple Life After the Fall of Civilization in the Wake of the Climate Crisis

KinCapa_Rye1_crop — Kin Capa, image courtesy the artist

On first listen Kin Capa’s single “Rye” is a fairly straight forward, shuffling blues rock ballad. Palm muted, clipped guitar riff, and a drum beat that sounds like it was tapped out by hand before translated to a minimal drum arrangement. The repeated lines echoing ever so slightly is like a hypnotic mantra rippling forth from some place in the subconscious mind. There’s just something slightly otherworldly about the track like there has been some phasing put on the guitar, the drum track and the vocals so the song sounds like it’s operating in some kind of mythical time and indeed the song is about the impending ecological collapse but also a hope for the survival of the human race if not for late capitalist civilization. The lyrics focus on the essential components of a future after modern civilization has fragmented and fallen under the weight of its own hubris and unsustainable economic model and the political systems perpetuating it that do little to address the so-called externalities that are outside the scope of the theoretical foundations of the ideas and principles of the world we know. And yet there is a jaunty quality to the song’s rhythm that finds some hope in the edifice of a corrupt and self-destructive civilization cracking and other opportunities for people to present themselves if only we can find a way to scramble out of the way of the fallout. The track is part one of nine of the forthcoming Kin Capa album THE AMERICAN OPERA: Act II. Listen to “Rye” on Spotify and follow Kin Capa at his website linked below.

kincapa.com

The Jazz-Inflected “Schisandra” by Dayspired is a Richly Textured Journey Toward Inner Tranquility

Dayspired2_crop — Dayspired, photo courtesy the artists

For “Schisandra,” Dayspired (Matthew Bejtlich and Neil Desai) brought on board Ashish Vyas, bassist for downtempo legends Thievery Corporation and Stephon Alexander, theoretical physicist and jazz saxophonist. Dayspired brought the playful percussion, textures and easy flowing structure and Vyas and Alexander brought the grounding for a song that in structure and composition was designed to reflect the schisandra berry, the “Five-flavor berry.” A keyboard melody sits in the background as an array of percussion sets the pace and bell tones course through the proceedings while the bass pulses the song along and Alexander’s expressive sax sits in the foreground of the mix. While the root of the song is a reflection of five components coming together to create a greater whole it also suggests movement like a day spent riding a train through an exotic landscape like the lands of Eastern Russia and Northern China where the aforementioned berry is most often found and the mix of cultures one would encounter along the way, it also suggests a period of reflection where maybe your body is at rest but the mind is active in taking in an experience and seeing it for where it fits into your life. The song doesn’t sound complex but the complexity rests in the way its diversity of detail assembled to make something unified. Listen to “Schisandra” on Spotify and follow Dayspired at the links below.

soundcloud.com/dayspired
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0sYDWVlEmrg05E7SgDc1mZ
instagram.com/dayspired
facebook.com/dayspired

Bled Tape Gets Us to Feel Both Headlong and Introspective on “Feels Better in the Morning”

BledTape_Tulip_cover2_crop — Bled Tape *Tulip* cover (cropped)

An urgent rhythm gets “Feels Better in the Morning” by Bled Tape off to headlong pace from the very beginning. The contrast between that rhythm and the sparkling, expansive, distorted guitar and ethereal melodies makes the song sound a bit like a Krautrock song. Think something like Neu! with dream pop instincts. The constant up-sweep dynamic makes the song feel like it’s constantly ramping up before it plateaus off into space only to catch that rapidly ascending tonal breeze again all while the song surges forward. The effect is one of both irresistible motion and introspection. Those two modes should be at odds yet Bled Tape reconciles the divergent impulses on this song. Listen to “Feel Better in the Morning” on Spotify.

Penniless Cove’s “River Lea” is a Breakup Song Imbued With Creativity and Poetic Wit

PennilessCove1_crop — Penniless Cove, photo courtesy the artist

“River Lea” by Penniless Cove begins with what promises to be an unusual story of a brief romance colored by deceit and interpersonal intrigue accompanied by impressionistic strums of acoustic guitar or ukulele. But as the song develops, the narrative swells accompanied by keyboards, drums and piano and then back to voice and guitar as details of the story emerge. The metaphor of a voyage and by boat and a day out on the riverbanks as the course of a relationship and the very end when the narrator tells us “No the tide is not right, nor the chemistry.” The latter is a poetic way of saying, in brief, that the relationship wasn’t going any place she wanted to, that it wasn’t oriented in a way that felt right and that ultimately there was nothing really there even if it seemed so at the outset. Most break-up songs are a bit more blunt but, if indeed this is one, “River Lea” conveys such so-over-it-let’s-move-on disdain with a creative flourish. Listen to “River Lea” on Soundcloud and follow Penniless Cove at the links provided.

pennilesscove.com
facebook.com/PennilessCove
instagram.com/pennilesscove

Catch a Dinosaur’s Ambient Instrumental Jam “Minor Details” Takes the Imagination to Unexpected Places

CatchADinosaur_ElevatorMusic_cover2_crop — Catch a Dinosaur, *Elevator Music* cover (cropped)

Catch a Dinosaur’s instrumental ambient jam “Minor Details” has almost a progressive jazz fusion guitar line that runs throughout but it is paired with a swirling synth drone that gives the whole song an expansive, dreamlike quality. That the song comes from an album called Elevator Music could give one the impression of it being way cooler than average music for your elevator ride up a tall office building with walls displaying images of sunset at the beach. But it also suggests a montage of fun, easy times between more action oriented set pieces in a film. Say, for instance, Al Pacino’s character in Scarface, Tony Montana, never was in the army in Cuba, didn’t fall in with drug dealers and a cartel and didn’t go out in a flurry of bullets after alienating and killing people in his life that he loved. Instead, the Tony Montana of this song grew up maybe struggling but made his way through college and started his own, successful, legitimate business and discovered his joy in life in entertaining friends and family and lived for making positive, fun memories with creativity and a loving spirit. Those changes in Tony’s background and reaction to life are, after all, minor details but significant enough to make for a completely different life. Maybe Catch a Dinosaur had that sort of meaning in mind, making adjustments to your own thinking and approach to thinks, but the little details of tone, rhythm and melody of this song and the sound palette make it a more interesting than the individual elements alone. Listen to “Minor Details” on Spotify.

Dax Takes On The Triple Role of Self, Santa and The Grinch in the Absurdly Humorous Video For “Dear Santa”

Dax_DearSanta1_lg — Dax, still from “Dear Santa” video

Dax takes the premise of writing a Santa letter on “Dear Santa” as a launching point to both asses his life up to now, put forth aspirational bravado and a comically disappointed diss. The video tells this story with Dax playing himself and Santa at once. Both writing the letter and responding. And bringing the Grinch into the mix from the beginning, and as a rapper later, Dax ups the ante on the absurd with the demands reaching cartoonish proportions including a death threat to Santa once he says he might not be able to come through on some of those items on the wish list but he knows someone who can “help out,” that being the Grinch, who in this scenario is a big of a gangster. Apparently in the world of this song, Santa and The Grinch are in the same universe and have each other’s numbers. Although we’re finally getting around to writing up the single well after Christmas, it’s the kind of video and song that works regardless of season because a good, weird premise transcends such considerations. Watch the video for “Dear Santa” on YouTube and follow Dax at the links below.

soundcloud.com/thatsdax
instagram.com/thatsdax

Richard String Lets Worries Over Daily Mistakes Float Away In Psychedelic, Soulful Bubbles on “Pocket/Same”

richard-string-2_crop — Richard String, photo courtesy the artist

Gavin Shea has been sitting on several songs in the past five years of producing other artists in Nashville. But now he’s releasing songs as Richard String including the single “Pocket/Same.” Its blend of neo soul and psychedelia is a touch reminiscent of Toro Y Moi but with a softer tone. The way the synth melody bubbles up and the melodic drones swirl about suggests a playfulness and free spirited quality reflected in the lyrics in which Shea seems amused by having worked “hard on my mistakes” and trying to make up for them but never quite being able to catch up, considering how he’ll have left undoing those mistakes after he’s already passed on. Shea’s vocals make it seem like it’s no big deal, the weight of that legacy, because in the end its folly to try to keep up with that plan and that you can only hope you haven’t messed anything up so badly. Listen to “Pocket/Same on Spotify.

Marella’s Nostalgic “Dancing In Parking Lots” Celebrates Those Magical Moments in Youth That Stay With You For a Lifetime

Marella1_crop — Marella, photo courtesy the artist

“Dancing In Parking Lots” by Marella refers to a time the songwriter looks back on fondly when you’re in high school and old enough to feel the future out of high school approaching but at which it’s probably felt like forever that you’ve been there and you’re reveling with your friends in celebration of some kind of victory and feeling that sense of freedom. But the song also refers to first meeting someone he would fall in love with. Both experiences are way stations in life that are significant in the moment and after which things won’t be quite the same again once life takes you beyond that specific time but flashing back to those experiences you can capture for yourself memories of when things seemed for just a little while a little brighter and more magical. Friendships change when people go to college, move away or get jobs after high school and your bonds born of having to be in the same place almost everyday, your romantic notions face being involved with an actual human being and you change too the same way everyone else does. But there’s no denying the times in our lives that Marella celebrates so evocatively on this song. Musically it’s reminiscent of late 90s pop punk and, in the guitar and rhythm, of The Clean. Perhaps because Marella is a drummer the rhythms are so tight, creative and dynamic but whatever the reason, “Dancing In Parking Lots” manages to be a nostalgic summer time anthem without being overly sentimental. Listen to the song on Soundcloud and follow Marella at his Instagram account linked below.

instagram.com/danmarel

talker Finds Her Inner Power and Self-Confidence on the Triumphant “Learning the Feeling”

talker_LearningTheFeeling1_crop_Sm — talker, photo courtesy the artist

“Learning the Feeling” begins with talker talking about how time gets away from us when every day seems the same and echoing how habits can become their own kind of prison until we decide to change them. The song’s dark undertones paired with Suzanne Vega-esque vocals, elegantly moody guitar figure give the a nice contrast to when everything kicks into more blustery emotional spaces crossing over into the realm of modern pop. It reflects the emotional journey of the song that transitions with the line “I’ve been keeping quiet, what has silence done for me?” From thre our narrator breaks free of her old habits and finally feels like she can breathe, a metaphor for living, by not keeping in her feelings, in fact “learning the feeling” of what it’s like to be able to come into one’s full truth and not having to suppress it at long last, to learn to embrace and trust her feelings rather than give heed to any gaslighting. Listen to “Learning the Feeling” on Soundcloud and follow talker at the links below.

soundcloud.com/talkerceleste
twitter.com/talkerceleste
facebook.com/talkerceleste
instagram.com/talkerceleste

VYKS’ Production on “Night” Stimulates Both Spheres of the Brain Toward Resolving Those Late Night Internal Struggles

VYKS1_sm — VYKS, photo courtesy the artist

“Night,”the third song from VYKS’ debut album, sounds like a chapter of a story arc by the late French comic legend Moebius. There is a sense of the far flung future but one that also feels familiar. The sound design on the song making extensive use of hard, rapid panning to alternate in stimulating both sides of your brain could be disorienting if it wasn’t also employed in a way that seems to reconcile opposites. The mechanistic percussive elements ground the ethereal vocals in the conflicted emotions that run through the narrative and a story of wanting to be free of the control and oppression of a mysterious “they.” As the song is part of a concept album that sounds like it has some footing in experimental, electronic industrial music it hearkens one to Battle Angel Alita as she awakens to her own identity and independence beyond that programmed into her design. This song is like the inner dialogue one might engage in late at night while sorting out your real feelings and how you want to act on them if at all. Listen to “Night” on Spotify.