[ local music ] uses of the genre to date. Two tracks – “Calandrinia” and “Jack in the Pulpit” – are currently available on the Glass Hive Bandcamp, and they’re well worth a listen.
The Pauses launch Quarantunes video singles series
TOUCHING FROM A DISTANCE
Catching up with Orlando’s music community BY MATTHEW MOYER
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stirring work yet as a way of keeping it together during these troubled times. Eschewing the harsh soundscapes of his main gig Ootheca, Phillips recently began composing lush, meditative, ambient tracks to try and help lull stressed family members to sleep. He then decided to make it public under the pseudonym Glass Hive. “Recently, my 12-year old had trouble sleeping and wanted to listen to white noise to drown out any worrisome thoughts or distracting sounds. I said, ‘Hey, I’ll make something for you like that but it will also have some calm music in it.’” remembers Phillips. “Working on this forced me to focus and stop excessively checking the news. And listening to it ended up helping to calm my catastrophic thoughts long enough to aid my own sleep as well. With any luck, the music might help other people in the Glass Hive makes music for a same way.” peaceful sleep Ambient music was conceptualized by Longtime local musician Brian Phillips (Discovery of Magnetic North, Ootheca) Brian Eno many years back to be utilitarian, managed to create his most emotionally and this is perhaps one of the most tender here are days where I don’t even listen to music now. Sometimes it doesn’t sound the same, doesn’t feel the same. But deep down I know as a certainty that music still has an incredibly important place in our hearts and in our heads, and I respect musicians who are able and willing to practice their craft at this point in time wholeheartedly. Even with venues closed and every event canceled for the foreseeable future and a constant buzz of dread and bad news, there is a slowly building pulse of activity (all online, for safety and social distancing’s sake) amongst our local music community. These are a few that happened last week, and they’re all beautiful attempts at connection in their own way.
“It’s both freeing and exciting to have all of this extra time to be creative, but at the same time, it wears you down because you’re in limbo and are carrying this existential dread around all day, wondering where you’ll be in the next couple of months,” reflects Pauses leader Tierney Tough, candidly summing up the headspace of quite a few of us these days. And yet, the local indie maestros and OW cover stars managed to rally virtually last weekend for a raucous, rousing and life-affirming cover of the 197 Harvey Danger nugget “Flagpole Sitta,” the first of a video series they’ve dubbed Quarantunes. “This Harvey Danger song seemed like the perfect way to start off the series and kind of describes our current mental state fairly well,” says Tough. “It’s also just such a fun one to play.” Tough isn’t joking about the relevance of the song. the perversely hummable chorus of “I’m not sick but I’m not well/ and I’m so hot because I’m in hell” is almost too on-thenose, but energetic performances (distance be damned) and flourishes of humor like costumes and backup vocals courtesy a Pee-wee Herman doll keep things good and weird. “Pee-wee was very gracious with his time,” laughs Tough. Give this one a watch.
Southern Fried Sunday launches weekly virtual #StayHome Fest series
On Sunday, March 29, local roots music showcase Southern Fried Sunday (headed up by Jessica Pawli) loudly returned, albeit online, with #StayHome Fest, a valiant attempt to chase the quarantine blues away. Over the course of a long afternoon, a phalanx of performers including Hannah Harber and Thomas Wynn, Kaleigh Baker and Matt Walker, Matt Woods and more streamed in with full, heartfelt sets of toplevel country, folk and Americana – to say nothing of the official curbside catering, courtesy of the New Standard. An installment is promised every weekend, with the next on Sunday, April 12. The tight camaraderie of the SFS extended musical family endures despite the gulf of physical (and social) distance. “I’m lucky to have a strong network of talented musicians I’ve been working with for the past 14 years of Southern Fried Sunday,” says the indefatigable Pauli. “They are all amazing people who jump at the chance to play for a good cause, and help orlandoweekly.com
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bring joy to people in tough times.”
Notable noise from local musicians and labels: Auto Chlor, Alien Witch, Tape Studies
Respect due to anyone who can get it together enough to put new music out into the world right now. On Tuesday, March 31, local noise/ darkwave solo project Alien Witch released a new mini-album, Retrogression of a Dram, on their Bandcamp. The six tracks really mirror our recent moods, full of nervous, hypnotic, electronic grooves. Big-time Martin Rev influence on Retrogression, pretty timely given Rev’s penchant for finding hope and love in a dystopia. Te fulllength Seasonless World dropped the very next day. It’s more urgent and immediate, with some dark-synth anthems hidden in there. Local post-rock trio Tape Studies – previously seen in the Weekly in a glowing This Little Underground review – released their surging debut single, “Hearts Are Low,” on Friday, April 3. And a blast from the (recent) past sure to please scene lifers, Central Florida tape label Illuminated Paths delved deep into their vaults last week and unleashed a cassette (with digital counterpart) of archival recordings from Moon Jelly-affiliated project Auto Chlor. It’s a sprawling, messy delight.
Local venues stream live sets old and new
The Timucua Arts Foundation are streaming shows from their vast archive regularly from their Facebook page. An upcoming highlight is Duo Beaux Arts on Friday, April 10. Winter Park’s the New Standard is moving forward with ambitious nightly Facebook Live streams of local artists playing on their stage with full sound system, lighting – the works. Keep an eye on their respective websites (as well as the Blue Bamboo Center, which is also releasing videos regularly) for more streamed shows.
Virtual dance nights feature major local DJs
Local DJs are also performing live on various social media platforms. Notably, the DJs of queer club night Yaasss are continuing their Wednesdays at Elixir on Instagram Live instead. And on Saturday, April 11, an all-star cadre of veteran house music DJs will “form like Voltron” for “The Orlando House Music Party, Vol. 7” live stream. Keep an eye on the Facebook event page for more details on the platform. Dancing is important, especially now. music@orlandoweekly.com
APRIL 8-14, 2020 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY
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