Queen City Sounds and Art

K C Q’s Gritty and Urgent Trip Hop Single “If You Can Make It” is Like a Mantra on Persistence and Self Patience

K C Q strikes defiant yet vulnerable tones on the single “If You Can Make It” from her Former Teen Model EP (released on March 5, 2024). The song has an emotional urgency in both word and music. An echoing tone over syncopated rhythms as the vocalist drops alternately rhyming couplets and free verse statements of observation and intent. K C Q’s portraits of striving for a good and vital life are not mere bravado. Not with lines like “daily struggle comes with daily pain.” The song has a dreaminess and heavy rhythm like a trip hop song but there is an aspect of noisy industrial beats that gives the song as well as the other tracks on the EP a compelling intensity, darkness and grittiness that draws you into the songs because it feels like something vital, raw and new. It speaks to persistent everyday frustrations and the pressure to constantly prove yourself while remind oneself to believe in yourself and the knowledge that if you get through these most trying of times maybe you’ll attain the level of success and achievement that will make what you’ve endured worth it. Listen to “If You Can Make It” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the EP as well.

Boko Yout and boerd Deliver “Sooky Sooky” a Downtempo Hip-Hop Song About Heartbreak, Affection and Compassion

Boko Yout and boerd (R-L), photo courtesy the artists

Boko Yout and boerd team up again for “Sooky Sooky,” a downtempo hip-hop song that expresses a nuanced and emotional complexity in word and its deeply evocative music. Boko Yout’s distinctive soulful vocals shift in and out of various styles of processing that lend shadings of resonance that complement the vocalist’s already rich tonal range as he seems to experience the feelings in real time of heartbreak and trying to understand what happened in a relationship that is experiencing some turmoil. The line “Sooky Sooky let me down/never let me go” gets to that place in your heart where you would rather someone let you down because that’s human and everyone does it but wanting to keep a special connection going. In the rest of the song we hear a voice weary of misunderstandings and conflict and of being sad but left with feelings of compassion and affection that remain. Throughout the song there is a spare guitar line and a touch of piano that closes out the song on a hopeful, upward note. Listen to “Sooky Sooky” on Spotify and follow the multi-faceted songwriter and singer Boko Yout at the links below. The new Boko Yout and boerd EP Griot released on March 15, 2024.

Boko Yout on TikTok

Boko Yout on Instagram

Ana Hausmann’s Ambient and Modern Classic Song “come on, I’ll catch you” is a Poetic Evocation on Isolation

Analise Hausmann, photo courtesy the artist

Ana Hausmann establishes a strong sense of mood and place from the beginning of “come on, I’ll catch you.” Icy violin stretches out over the sound of splashing water as a slow roiling drone serves as a backdrop like a constant presence, like a haze at sunset. Wordless vocals resound in the latter half of the song like someone commenting on a time and place that seems quiet and all but abandoned. The song comes from Hausmann’s album seminary which is a little like a musical diary capturing slices out of life and the landscape and evoking time spent meditating on small details that can be otherwise missed in the rush of life spent catering to the relentless demands of commerce and finding poetry and a deeper meaning in those moments of observant contemplation. The who track feels like an expression of the essence of isolation as an opportunity for reflection and cultivating deeper and nuanced understandings. Musically the piece and many of those on the album blends ambient composition, modern classical attention to tone as texture and processed field recordings as a foundation of songcraft. Listen to “come on, I’ll catch you” on Soundcloud and if you like what you hear the rest of the album is on Bandcamp. Follow Hausmann’s further adventures in soundscaping at the links below.

Analise Hausmann on YouTube

Immortal Wound’s Sweet and Noisy Shoegaze Single “burnt out star” Exudes Feelings of Heartbreak and a Yearning for Reconciliation

Immortal Wound, photo courtesy the artists

The reverse delay noises in the opening of “burnt out star” by Immortal Wound is like the opening credits for a short film and contrasts with the song proper with its gently processed percussion and circular guitar strumming and vocals hazy in the mix. But all of this allows the song to seem much more voluminous than it is. In fact its economy of songwriting is impressive on its own at two minutes thirty-seven the song goes through a variety of moods, textures and atmospheric dynamics as the singers speak to a love that has broken but not for good and a desire for reconnection and reconciliation. With the reverse delay noises reprising at the end and the lyric “and leaves me loveless” one wonders if it’s a tiny bit of an homage to My Bloody Valentine and that band’s own disregard for conventional song structure and use of sounds in a rock context. But this song is clearly not a direct and obvious descendant of that most hallowed of shoegaze bands. The dissonance in this song paired with the melody creates a sweetness of mood that’s undeniable and imbues its yearning for romantic satisfaction with a spirit of hope. Listen to “burnt out star” on Spotify and follow Immortal Wound at the links below.

Immortal Wound on Twitter

Immortal Wound on Instagram

Immortal Wound on Bandcamp

Immortal Wound on YouTube

Joyer’s “Fall Apart” is a Noise Pop Ode to a Impulse to Self-Liberation Through Leaning Into Chaos

Listening to Joyer’s “Fall Apart” it’s perhaps easy to imagine it’s like a Yo La Tengo song sped up but layered with a catastrophic noise partway through. The latter pairs well with the lyrics about an impulse to do things that make one fall apart. Why? Maybe the things that feel like everything is all together feels like you’re too bound up with limitations that come from social conditioning and conforming to a society where a certain kind of order is valued that can feel like oppression. Maybe the song is about mountain anxiety the release from which can only be indulging in what feels like you’re not clinging so tightly a way of being and living that don’t suit you. It’s a song that seems to acknowledge mental health struggles and a will to be free of them even that means yearning for acting in ways that are counter to what you’ve been told is well and good when part of you is aware that those words were not completely valid all along. Listen to “Fall Apart” on Spotify and follow Joyer at the links below. The group’s new album Night Songs drops April 26, 2024 via North Records/Julia’s War Records on digital and limited edition vinyl.

Joyer on Twitter

Joyer on Facebook

Joyer on Instagram

Night Sins’ Darkwave Single “The Lowest Places You’ll Go” is an Industrial Dance Journey Through One’s Personal Hell and Beyond It

Night Sins is scheduled to release its latest offering A Silver Blade in the Shadow on May 17, 2024 via Born Losers Records. The lead single from the record is “The Lowest Places You’ll Go” and it has the hallmarks of modern darkwave with a strong rhythm and pulsing bass line all of which sound like they could be purely electronic but rather than embrace subpar production and tones, Night Sins sound like the kind of band that came out of the 1980s EBM underground but with more of an ear for pop sensibilities. There is something vulnerable and human about the music that sets it apart from a lot of current darkwave songwriting The expressive vocals don’t hide behind production and a wall of sound but are almost confrontational in being as forward as they are in the mix. The music video for the song showcases the band live on stage and presumably Kyle Kimball (who some may know as the former drummer for NOTHING) sitting at a table singing about the way you can walk your way into your own personal hell without even being fully aware that’s what you’re doing and come to romanticize the process. Implicit in the energy and momentum of the song is the will to break out of that self-destructive spiral. Watch the video for “The Lowest Places You’ll Go” on YouTube and follow Night Sins at the links provided.

Night Sins on Instagram

Robert Ouyang Rusli’s Layering of Choral Vocals, Synth and Organic Percussion Lends “Elizabeth’s Voicemail” a Surreal Yet Fateful Tone

Robert Ouyang Rusli, photo by Acudus Aranyian

Composer Robert Ouyang Rusli recently provided the score for write-director Julio Torres’ new A24 comedy film Problemista. The film is about an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador who brings his unorthodox ideas to NYC and takes on a job assisting an eccentric art world figure as a path to keeping his visa and take aim at his dream. From that score comes “Elizabeth’s Voicemail” and its enigmatic, melancholic yet playful sounds between ethereal, choral vocals and what sounds like a harp tracing a scale, dramatic strings lending an element of classical pathos and textural percussive tones including a lonely piano figure around halfway through that grounds the song with a sense of forward motion. All while preserving a delicacy and sensitivity to the piece that pairs well with a film that has an aspect of a fairy tale storybook. The title itself separate from its context in the film suggests hearing a fateful message that propels one into a significant shift in one’s life direction for the better. Listen to “Elizabeth’s Voicemail” on Spotify and follow Robert Ouyang Rusli at the links below.

Robert Ouyang Rusli on Apple Music

Robert Ouyang Rusli on Instagram

Lala Salama Conjure Bright Memories of Summer Adventures on the Effervescent Shoegaze Single “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään”

Lala Salama’s latest single ahead of its anticipated debut album release is the “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään” (in English “The Sun Melts My Head”). The up tempo shoegaze ballad and its colorfully dramatic and fantastical video featuring animation and alternating images of the band performing live and frolicking while shape shifting into dogs, snakes, older versions of themselves and back while playing the song on a conventional stage and during a storm with lighting strikes all around (as projections and as effects directly on the musicians) has all the hallmarks of the kind of song destined for a celebratory action sequence in a film. The circular guitar solo and its fast strumming alongside Rosa Jules’ anthemic and emotionally charged vocals recall memories of summer adventures just in time for making more after what has felt like an extended winter. Effervescent and uplifting, “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään” is a song for fans of the irrepressible energy of bands like Blushing and Asobi Seksu. Watch the video for the song on YouTube and follow Lala Salama at the links provided.

Lala Salama on Facebook

Lala Salama on Instagram

Theo Fried’s Irreverently Surreal Disco Pop Single “Fuggs” is a Wry Commentary on Priorities and Living Within Your Means

Theo Fried celebrates her status as a single mom on limited budget in the playfully self-aware and irreverent disco of “Fuggs,” The title refers to fake Uggs because the real version is out of her income range in any practical sense. The sultry, funky keyboard sounds and the almost spoken lyrics paired together is a bit surreal but the imagery and the sentiments are a level of reality most people can appreciate down to how her daughter has real Uggs but not Fried. But that’s okay, Fried says that if you think she’s going to pay full price for the real ones you’re crazy. And if she moved to a warmer climate she’d change her spending habits on footwear to fake Tory Burch sandals because what else are you going to do when presented similar choices and priorities? And it is that wry humor that informs the rest of the songs on Theo Fried’s latest album of humorous but finely crafted pop confections Cake For Breakfast (because Theo Fried is an adult and can go ahead and make those kinds of choices) released, when else, but Valentine’s Day 2024 Perfect. Listen to “Fuggs” on Spotify where you can listen to the rest of the album and follow Fried at the links below.

Theo Fried on TikTok

Theo Fried on Instagram

Kid Tigrrr’s Ambient Shoegaze Single “Shapes of Water” Entrances in Dappled Musical and Emotional Tones

Kid Tigrrr guitar figures flow into languid eddys of sound in the beginning of “Shapes of Water” and as the musician layers the guitar we hear a hint of electronic percussion counting out the paces. Hushed, breathy vocals reminiscent of Fever Ray circa The Knife’s more tender moments or of Jenny Hval add a dreamlike and reflective tone to the song the effect multiplied by deeply evocative imagery of the music video. We see projections of colors and of light reflected on rippling water, of abstract environments in which Kid Tigrrr sways and gestures when not actively executing the music. And in the end there is a touch of reverse delay in the guitar loop concluding the song on a lingeringly entrancing note. Watch the video for “Shapes of Water” on YouTube and follow Kid Tigrrr at the links below.