Talk Talk – Queen City Sounds and Art

Sea Glass and Misty Boyce Transform Soul Pop Classic “Get Ready” Into an Otherworldly Downtempo Ode to Desire

Sea Glass completely transforms the 1966 hit song by The Temptations “Get Ready” with vocals from Misty Boyce. There is a lurking bass line in the background that swims in the shimmery synths and simmering percussion and soft-shuffling beats. Touches of lingering guitar haunt the edges of the melody. It might even be a borderline creepy song but Boyce’s sweetly melodic vocals sit in the mix to elevate the mood a bit. At times the synth drone recalls the underlying sultry and mysterious sound of Talk Talk’s music from The Colour of Spring (1986). Overall this treatment taps into the core melodic vibes of the original but rather than earthy affection of the original this one offers an ethereal and otherworldly expression of desire that suits its more downtempo aesthetic. But in the end it reaffirms the high quality of the songwriting that Smokey Robinson put forth some six decades ago with an clear resonance with the sensibilities of the present. Listen to “Get Ready” on YouTube and follow Sea Glass at the links provided.

Sea Glass on Facebook

Sea Glass on Instagram

Macro/micro’s “All Possible Worlds” is Like the Opening Music to a Future David Fincher Tech Noir

Macro/micro’s “All Possible Worlds” sounds like a more deep house inflected, futuristic take on Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer (Precursor).” Its quivering, hovering tones and rhythms changing in texture and tone as though put through a very controlled bit of phasing so that it can pulse into full high definition sound or muted and blurred out in the background out of focus, switching places with a flurry of distorted white noise as a lonely piano figure draws out in lingering chords like something from a late period Talk Talk album recontextualized to preserve the stark mood but enhancing the sense of isolation. It’s the kind of track that makes one think this is what it might sound like if Demdike Stare was convinced to write opening music for a David Fincher noir much as the aforementioned NIN song appeared on the soundtrack to Se7en. Listen to “All Possible Worlds” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the Things Will Never Be The Same Again with other fascinatingly dark techno material and follow Macro/micro at the links below.

Macro/micro on Instagram

Macro/micro aka Tommy Simpson on IMDB

Sam Rosenzweig Edges Closer to Reconciling a Conflicted Psychology on “Conqueror”

Sam Rosenzweig, photo courtesy the artist

Sam Rosenzweig’s “Conqueror” casts a great internal struggle in terms of a conflict between the self one most closely, consciously identifies and an aspect of one’s psychology that often seems at odds with who we think we are and want to be. Bringing together hazy, distorted synths with acoustic guitars, the songwriter is able to create a highly expressive palette of sounds to give emotional resonant nuance to the almost mythical narrative. Rosenzweig depicts undertones of the reconciliation of internal tensions, impulses and instincts in terms of how the titular conqueror gives him “a light [he] could not see” as in illuminating and providing comprehension of things that he otherwise might never consider. The line “Throw me to the desert, take away the key, I’ll wait until the rocks here begin to speak to me” indicates a willingness to be transformed by this conflict as part of a struggle to becoming a more fully realized human through actual growth and psychological expansion even if it seems like a mysterious process whose outcome your current mindset can’t completely process in this moment. Rosenzweig in effect personalizes this core dynamic of the human mind with accessible lyrics that convey the message in vivid images. Though more a dark Americana song with synths that has more in common with Smog and Talk Talk than some other music that might fall under that broad category, fans of Rome and Angels of Light will appreciate Rosenzweig’s sensitive yet steady and intense vocal delivery and the blend of deeply introspective mood and gritty textures. Listen to “Conqueror” on Spotify and connect with Sam Rosenzweig at the links below.

Sam Rosenzweig on Instagram