That first video from Surfaces, “Keep It Gold”, sums up a lot of feelings out there: we all have a thirst for adventure right about now, even if it’s just getting out our front door. Whether or not you had the spirit of freedom before, you certainly have it now.
Recent efforts to create mixes have been a pursuit in the path of least resistance. It’s been easy to find which direction to go – I am reaching for light. Too vague? Alright, I want sounds that feel like impending Spring, bubbling with energy and promise, maybe some youthful hope and optimism. I doubt many folks out there are looking for sad, detached, or morbid types of music right now. I don’t know what to say to that mopey Goth kid listening to The Cure right now, or that oddball crying face down into a pillow while This Mortal Coil douses the bedroom in tears. That sounds like doubling down on the conviction the darker cavern at the fork leads to the outside. In these times, I need a ready injection of happiness and unbridled enthusiasm every day and am sure that’s also the general feeling of others out there in the homes currently made makeshift, all-encompassing spheres of existence.
Music is pivotal right now for mood, and at least for me, maintaining some semblance of quarantine sanity. Mixes and playlists I’ve made recently are almost exclusively upbeat, soaked in a sound reminiscent of Spring and Summer. So rather effortlessly Comfort Rock Volumes 4 & 5 have emerged (to be shared in a future post), along with a Cailfornia-centric Modern Soulness Vol. 11, oozing with the glittering Funk, ocean breeze vocals, and sun-drenched guitars of the West Coast R&B sound contingents. However, the second ‘Tunnelgazing’ emerged first during the era of WFH because this is undoubtedly one of my favorite genres of music right now. It’s hard to get a read on how popular the genre is at this moment, despite the abundance of new music being released in what many would call Lo-Fi Soul or Bedroom Soul or DIY R&B. Irrespective of whether its a niche or not, many of the more “Indie-fied” Soul acts have been coming through Denver like Yellow Days, Still Woozy, Zack Villere, and Jaden and Willow. So that tells me there is at least demand from a small devoted group, or limited interest from the masses, if not a groundswell rising up through the cracks of Pop Culture. Some of the latest offering of bands on tour were unsurprisingly cancelled or postponed, however, I was able to see Yellow Days, Yeek, and 070 Shake before things changed. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for comfortable crowds to appear again, or how long social separation will linger as a residual public sentiment.
The first Tunnelgazing mix was made last year on the outset of Summer and has a similar construction to this second mix. Tunnelgazing Vol. 02, however, is certainly more upbeat and centered around the concept of the “optimist’s high”. Both have strong representation from British artists (or American artists trying to sound British as you will see), who are simply making fantastic, innovative music in Soul, Jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop and all the fusions and derivations of these genres. I’m often still awestruck at the thought this smallish island nation often produces half of the popular output in certain forms of music. Scandinavia has also been on the vanguard in these genres, along with a decent American faction just to give us some balance. The upper-echelon acts of the day like Orion Sun, Arlo Parks, Monsune, Omar Apollo, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra have appeared on both mixes. Many of these artists are very prolific, and if they aren’t releasing proper full-length albums, they are following the most current method of releasing small EPs or singles on digital streaming platforms immediately after good material is produced.
The more I think about it, the more I retract my statement about being uncertain of whether this mix represents a niche or underground contingency. These genres are rising in popularity, and you see the artists of these “Indie” genres bleeding around the edges of mainstream music all the time. Choker and Blood Orange were both featured on the soundtrack of last year’s hit film Queen & Slim, and artists like Orion Sun, Omar Apollo, and Steve Lacy continue to pop-up as collaborators on more and more albums from the mainstream artists like Kendrick Lamar, Vampire Weekend, and SZA. Indie Pop, Soul, and R&B have been drifting towards the washed production of Lo-Fi and Bedroom Pop ever since Frank Ocean, Grimes, and Bon Iver made music way back during the aught years of last decade proving the intrigue and mass appeal contained in intimate headphone-space recordings.
So to be all literal with this branch of the Mix Master series, I am indeed gazing down the length of that tunnel, looking for the light. Like so many other people out there, I’m using music like this Lo-Fi Soul as the push to make that future on the horizon come sooner. Or at the very least, trick me into the perception everything is better than it seems (and that we should all feel a bit more optimistic). Spring is here, the days grow longer after each and every one, weather is warming, and there is still great music in the world. Maybe Tunnelgazing Vol. 02 reflects some notion of all these things, wrapped-up in a smiley, humble, and earnestly pacifying 25-track mix.
the players of tunnelgazing Vol. 02
It seemed only natural to start off the mix with a Surfaces song, and especially “Keep It Gold” for its great opening build. From the colorful album artwork (all of the art attached to their music is comprised of bright pastel colors and simple upbeat landscapes or cartoonish objects) to the positive messaging in their songs, which most would call Indie Electronica with Soul/R&B crossover appeal, the Texas duo deliver an eclectic brand of music flirting with Pop. I recognize this is less a Lo-Fi group and may feel a bit more accessible than the majority of tracks on the mix, however, this one does well to espouse the whole idea that R&B is blending into other streams of music and influencing so many different musicians. These two white guys from suburbia Texas have embraced the textures of Soul and the softer croon of the vocals to deliver an interesting hybrid sound.
I kept with this spirit of faintly nostalgic and more accessible with the second track, “Summertime in Paris” by Jaden (Smith), featuring his sister. I may have “Jaden goggles” on (and “Willow goggles” by extension) and am missing some tacky and derivative connotations to their music, but personally I really have enjoyed most of the music both of Will Smith’s kids have released. Although Willow appears to be a bit stronger of a songwriter (which isn’t saying much relative to her brother), the appeal is not in the lyrics but in the types of sounds they are drawn to. Surprisingly, they lean more towards a Lo-Fi sound than to Pop, and seem to be pretty good students of underground trends. Both seem to embrace production styles that incorporate washed and subtle sounds over big hooks. In “Summertime in Paris”, for example , there’s this wayward clang of guitar in the background and heavy distortion on most of the instruments that reinforces the idea of the song, which is like a reverie of glorious days gone by. Yes, the lyrics do reek of upper-class privilege, but again I really enjoy the Lo-Fi mood of the song. WILLOW leans more psychedelic, which I really enjoy, especially a track like “Time Machine.”
DLG. and his infectious track “Lil’ Mama” kicks off the truly Indie Lo-Fi section of the mix at track three. When that bristling drum kicks in within those first few seconds of the track, your getting a bit of the primordial element shared in much of the Indie Soul music being made these days; an interest in grabbing one’s attention with crisper or sharper sounds in what is an otherwise washed sound. This element is used to properly jolt us to attention and to also call attention to shifts in the composition of a track. “Lil’ Mama” is a slice of bliss from a relatively unknown artist from Austin, Texas who seems as DIY as they come.
One of my favorite artists in the genre, Yellow Days is the moniker of George van den Broek, a Soul-Pop musician from Manchester, England. Van den Broek is an elusive and strange fellow for sure – his voice isn’t smooth or elegant or beautiful, but it is powerful and full of passion. He basically wills his way into a Soul sound without the traditional sterling vocals most come to expect of a Soul singer. Yellow Days is also unorthodox in sound and song composition. There are often many ballads on his albums and songs with slower tempo or long drawn-out builds – a rise reflected in his throaty voice becoming even more strained and plaintive. “That Easy” is one of my favorite cuts from him because it is up-tempo from beginning to end, and has this echoing sound chamber of guitars perfectly suited to his equally echoey and powerful vocals.
You’ll notice a trend with even the music videos for many of the artist featured on this mix: they mostly feature picturesque landscapes, or sun-drenched summer days outside doing fun “summery” things. There is revelry and nostalgia as a foundation in many of the videos, which only serves to support the whole posit that this mix is made of upbeat, nostalgic, spring and summer sorts of sentiments. Bakar’s hook in “Hell N Back” is that whistle, which is this gleaming element sitting front and center in the song, along with his thick British accent and charmingly candid lyrical style. Also from Britain, Bakar is a young artist clearly with a unique voice and songwriting style that may do wonders for him as he continues (hopefully) his ascension as a musician. He’s taken all the strongest elements of fellow musicians like King Krule and Bloc Party and combined with his Punk and Indie leanings to create an erratic yet intriguing style.
Orion Sun, aka Tiffany Majette, sounds like she could be another one of those enchanting British Soul singers, yet she’s rather unexpectedly a Philly-based musician. Therein lies one of the many contradictions about her; she has this deft touch with her songwriting and production techniques that feels so apart from the gritty and brash city she hails from. She’s like a dove in a demilitarized zone, crafting hushed yet complex Indie Soul music with some Jazz-centric leanings, but in a style uniquely her own. She is also very quickly gaining notoriety for being a prolific musician typifying the purest cross of Indie and Soul/R&B. She just released her sophomore album Hold Space for Me, which is receiving many accolades. This follows what was an incredibly strong debut of DIY pastiche called A Collection of Fleeting Moments and Daydreams (2018). That album title does well to evince the intent for this mix, which was to create a collection of glowingly warm tracks that some would say feel like musical versions of daydreams, or those happy fleeting moments.
As you can see from the sweet and endearing video above for MyKey’s “Was It Something I Said”, this is a very young lovelorn artist who has clearly embraced the same genre-mashing form of music of other Indie singer-songwriters. You also come to see a prevalent theme on this mix, which is many of these artists come out of nowhere, crafting Bedroom Pop albums or EPs, or singles, and release them on Soundcloud and Spotify. The music is released to little fanfare, but the artists know the music will be incorporated into playlists and mixes and the online community will grasp onto the sound if it is any good. MyKey is the project of Maryland’s Mikey Ambrosino, who has a nice collection of songs on his Spotify profile, however, “Was It Something I Said” stands out for having those reverb-heavy vocals, dreamily and lazily sung. The lyrics are so interesting you seem to find yourself squinting to hear what is being said through all that distortion. It really is a great song, especially for those lyrics that so perfectly match the tone of the song. By the same token, Zack Villere actually uses his given name in his version of DIY Soul and has created his own “Little World” around it. He is the poster boy for maybe the all-encompassing idea of this mix, which is underground artists self-producing soulified Indie, gobbled-up for the idyllic imagery accompanying the sound and the intriguing personality behind the idiosyncratic style. Zack really is creating a dream world all his own out of his small bedside Soul, and its endearing him to a larger public. “Bloo” really is a song that is all smiley nostalgia and happiness.
As mentioned in my previous Tunnelgazing post, Monsune (Scott Zhang) is more interested in sampling and cut & paste styles of Lo-Fi Soul than others on this mix. He calls it “plunderphonics”, a term often associated with groups like The Avalanches and Boards of Canada. His sound certainly feels more low-key, but those parallels are there nonetheless. He seems to have a knack for taking soundbites from old Motown and Soul artists of the 60’s and 70’s, chopping them up, and washing them in a distortion to craft his own version of an Indie sound. I chose to pair “Clouds” with a similar cut from the artist Beshken (and Halima) called “Holding Me”. Much like Monsune, Beshken is known for using DIY production techniques to craft his sound. He has moved between LA and New York, DJ’ing just as much as producing his own work as a multi-instrumentalist, but also making it known his penchant for sampling and cut & paste. Both Monsune and Beshken have made themselves a niche out of eclectic sampling and innovative production techniques that gravitate more towards Lo-Fi than to the Techno, House, and EDM of many of their contemporaries.
No Suits and their track “Blue Jeans” worked well as a segue from the computer-aided sound of “Clouds” and “Holding Me” because as they describe themselves, “No Suits lies between a band and a production group.” Unlike most of the other music on the mix, No Suits isn’t the work of one person (or two) using a moniker in lieu of real names, this is an actual group of four guys from LA who live and make music together in what I imagine is a home studio. Much like their music, the group is very diverse. It’s four ethnically-mixed producer-musicians who have found a really interesting fusion of Dance, Funk, Rock, and R&B in their shapeshifting sound, which is much indicative of the array of influences they have cited.
For the next track I circled the wagons back to the British-based Lo-Fi Soul sound with Yves Tumor’s new track “Gospel for a New Century”. The sound is nothing like gospel, and is a bit more aggressive than the rest of the tracks on the mix. I considered it a palette-cleanser to cut the ubiquitous sound of the rest of the mix. The brash horns and choppy beats are jarring, and do well to display the trademark noise of Yves Tumor’s music – a sound that is both in your face like Dance and Noise Rock, however can reflect some softer textures of Jazz and Shoegaze. He’s an interesting character, and although I said I went back to a British sound for this track, he is actually not British, but his vocal style completely is. That’s another unexpected part of Sean Bowie’s strange identity that adds a layer of complexity to both the music and his personality – he is from Middle America, yet born is Miami, and now lives in of all places Italy, but sounds like he’s based in London. Trying to keep with themes, the next track “Sea Sick” sounds much like it could also come from Bakar, and is a sibling track to “Hell N’ Back”. Binki also sounds British, both in parlance and intonation although he’s actually from North Carolina and seems drawn to outside musical influences from Europe as well as stateside sounds in Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Funk, and Hip-Hop. No matter the sound comparisons, his strongest qualities as a musician are the tendencies towards quirky and light-hearted lyrics and songwriting, which made strong parallels with other artists on the mix.
I sandwiched “Playground”, by my current favorite artist Steve Lacy, between two upbeat, infectious tracks by young ladies (ladies you should keep your eye on). I have said all I need to say about Steve Lacy in previous posts, both one dedicated just to a conversation about his music, and one where I mention his underrated sophomore album Apollo XXI from last year (which I thought was one of the Top 5 from last year). But back to the tracks “Glitter” by BENEE and “Moody” by Maye. Although these two young female singer-songwriters are from opposite sides of the world, they are both in the nascent parts of their careers, and are worth watching for future “stardom” (or its equivalent in today’s fragmented world of music). BENEE has already captured many hearts in her homeland of New Zealand, winning all sorts of national music awards. She is only 20 years old, and seems already to have acquired a strong voice and songwriting style. Maye is a little more under the radar. Her roots are in Venezuela but she resides in Miami. You can hear it in her sound, which is certainly genre-evading yet always makes gestures to the Caribbean as well as the R&B scene of a beachside setting. “Moody” is more Pop/accessible than her other tracks, and I recommend taking a listen to the sultry track “Tú” she released in 2019 for more of a sense her inclinations. That track is a mellow and seductive take on Calypso and Spanish-speaking R&B.
Following “Moody”, I used a track from another one of my favorite Lo-Fi Soul artists, Omar Apollo, and his track “Ugotme”, which seemed to be a nice transition in tone and mood from the previous track. Similar to Steve Lacy, BENEE, and Maye, he is an unfathomably young artist for the level of success already attained. All of these artists are in their early twenties and most likely have the Internet to thank for accelerated success. You can simply bypass the record companies, A&R people, and can jumpstart a career in music by posting to Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and Spotify. Omar Apollo has done the same thing and made quick success. It helps he has one of the most soulful voices around, a voice that may have been left undiscovered in rural Indiana if not for those interwebs. I wrote about his music in a previous From the Blinds post.
There’s no doubt Billy Lemos is a young guy from that baby face in the music video above. Many of the American artists on the mix are from California, and this makes sense because I was gravitating towards that warm sun-soaked inclination in Soul sound when pulling together the mix. These California artists are certainly inspired by their environment on the West Coast. “Wait” is a charming little slice of Bedroom Pop featuring one of my favorite British sounding Lo-Fi artists, the Bay Area group Still Woozy (song also features Blake Saint David, who I know nothing about). We segue to a more Hip-Hop leaning artist, but another LA-based musician, with Dijon Duenas and his track “Crybaby”. Duenas simply goes by Dijon as an artist, and seems to also be placed in that category of “ones to watch”. “Crybaby” is an excellent showcase of his whimsical approach to beats. He reminds me of JPEGMAFIA in only the regard his sound can be shifty and cut & paste in the most unpredictable of ways. Much like Billy Lemos, Dijon represents Gen Z and all of its short attention span qualities. The songs are always moving around, oscillating all over the place but somehow delivering a universal concept in an inexplicably cohesive manner.
I put another Zack on the mix, this one goes by Farache or Verzache, and from all the material on the Internet, looks to be about 12 years old – even more of a baby-face than Billy Lemos. There isn’t much information on this artist other than he is Canadian producer-musician exemplifying DIY production of Bedroom Pop. “Naive Unprepared Child” might be a cheeky nod to himself, I don’t know, what I do know is its a really lovely instrumental piece I wanted to use as an interlude on the back half of the mix to connect the third and fourth segments. I used the more “dancey” and Funk-based Omar Apollo track (with collaborators Dominic Fike and Kenny Beats) as a pace changer for the final stretch of the mix. I couldn’t help but put “Hit Me Up” on for its very catchy rhythm and the inherit energy within that seems to propel the mix into those final stages. The next track was another I had in mind to use from the start. Along with No Suits’ “Blue Jeans”, I was instantly taken by Jim E. Stacks’ track “Good Enough” for being this heady concoction of white-boy Soul fused with 80’s synth beats. “Good Enough” has a darker mood/tone than most of the mix, but I felt it was a nice track to display what might feel like a late-night West Coast vibe, and more specifically the vibe of driving down a dark highway late at night grooving out with the waves on one side and the hills on the other. Jim E. Stack is more of a Dance/Electronic artist, but this one feels more Indie than some of his other material.
Continuing in the darker vein, Unknown Mortal Orchestra is almost a prerequisite for any Tunnelgazing Lo-Fi Soul mix. The growth of this band, from the straight-up Garage Psychedelia of their self-titled debut back in 2011, to their latest Sex & Food in 2018, has been a lovely little ride. Their sound continues to evolve, but has never strayed from at least a base of distorted psychedelic and trashcan / garage Soul that defined their origins. Within the genre, this is probably the most successful and well-known of Lo-Fi bands, and for good reason. Having seen them in concert a few times, this is certainly a professional band with a unique aesthetic and vision for the sound.
Along with Orion Sun, Arlo Parks is one of the most promising young black women in the Soul and singer-songwriter camps. Hailing from South London, she may be another one of those up and coming artists that needs to be featured on all of the Tunnelgazing mixes. She keeps growing in confidence as a songwriter and it definitely shows in a track like “Paperbacks”, a haunting song that seems entrenched in a deep-seeded reverie. Much like “Good Enough” and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s “Not in Love We’re Just High”, “Paperbacks” embraces a less sunny aesthetic, and seems to be more late night enchanting than daytime rollick. However, it contains some form of winsome nostalgia under those powerful words and reverb-heavy vocals.
I had to close the mix with a track I have been obsessed with for some time. “Bernal Heights”, by yet another LA artist, Duckwrth, had to close because it just feels like a dramatic swan song. Duckwrth is Jared Lee, a talented artist from the southside of LA, who from all accounts lived a very sheltered childhood absorbed in cartoons, art, and his headphones. It really does show in the many styles of his deeply personal music. Duckwrth deserves his very own From the Blinds post, as he is one of the more prolific and intriguing artists in mainstream American rap right now. He has the ability to move between groove-based R&B and Hip-Hop and the more abrasive and noisier forms of Rap rather effortlessly. His catalogue of music is incredibly diverse and pops-up all over the place on Spotify. The fact he jumps between genres probably helps proliferate his material on vastly different Spotify channels and playlists. All of the music is quality, and he is becoming one of my favorite modern artists very quickly. One of the reasons is a track like “Bernal Heights”, which feels like a tribute song to his childhood, with that lilting piano and inflection in voice that is replete with fondness and nostalgia. The second-half of the song shifts tone yet continues to have the feeling of an impending climax. Some ineffable quality of the song made it feel like a bookend. Whereas “Keep It Gold” by Surfaces contains a spirit of voyage, or the outset of a journey into a bright future, “Bernal Heights” feels like you have arrived and are basking in the glow of a sunset; the journey of a single day has just been completed and it was one of those better days you’ll remark upon in the future as being worth the trouble. Hopefully we can say the same about our present world when we have the chance to enjoy a picturesque sunset from some great vantage point in a freer future.
Spotify Playlist Link:
spotify:playlist:5E4vxzb5p33ttOSMOVQtWM
