Saturday, July 2, 2016

Dirt City Chronicles podcast episode 40



Vision Quest
 The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world”

Hello Visionary! We now have the technology at our fingertips allowing us to better gauge the popularity of local artists. Two readily available yardsticks by which to measure the adoration of our hometown idols are Facebook and You Tube. Using this criteria, it's no contest.... Brokencyde (yes, those butt pirates are still out there) reps the Duke City better than anyone else. It's not even close, their FB page clocks in with over half a million likes. These standard bearers of bad taste also reign supreme on You Tube. Their video for “Freaxx” has over 10 million views, “Booty Call” w/E-40 claims over 4 million views. “Get Crunk” over 12 million views. “40oz.” over 3 million views.... etc.

How do you like them apples? Love 'em or hate 'em (I lean towards the latter, though I do begrudgingly tip my hat to them) Brokencyde have achieved a level of success matched by just one other band with Albuquerque roots... The Shins. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. This however isn't about the sultans of screamo. I'm just using them as a barometer by which other local bands can be measured by. With this in mind and with The Shins no longer associated with the land of enchantment, who comes in second? That would be Lindy Vision (formerly known as Black Natives) who are closing in on 4,000 FB likes, though on You Tube they lag far behind (just one video “Pink + Black” has pulled in over 1,000 views) That's a crying shame. 

 
You almost wouldn't expect Lindy Vision to hail from Albuquerque. Visually they present a stunning and exotic image not normally associated with 'Burque or New Mexico for that matter. The three Cuylear sisters, Dorothy (Dee-Dee) vocalist, songwriter, keyboards. Natasha (Na)- guitar,vocals and Carla - drums are strikingly beautiful in a head turning, jaw dropping sort-a-way. Equal parts K-pop divas and new wave rave queens. Raised in Southern New Mexico now making their homes in Albuquerque. Their mixed heritage (Native/African American) sets them apart.... but it's the music that seals the deal. Disco beats for millennial shoegazers. A soundtrack for the debauched rave set. Stripped down intelligent synth pop loaded with sex appeal and danceable rhythms.

I've got the white noise it drives me insane” Lindy Vision's name derives from a passage in Malcolm X's autobiography where he (along with co-author Alex Haley) describes the “Lindy Hop” dance culture (a predecessor of the modern dance club scene) “The spotlight would be turning pink, yellow, green and blue, picking up couples lindy-hopping as if they had gone mad” In this sense, using modern vernacular, Lindy can be defined as "turnt up " Positive/Negative... as the party rages on, we feed off the contradictory nature of a world divided into either fun or serious things... pink + black. Innocence pitted against the relentless need for a stimuli, be it sex, drugs, music. All the while, facing a dilemma: that eventually those turnt up must turnt down “You want the white horse to come save you now”

The Cuylear sisters are far from random, they have a vision. They've built a template for success and are now in the process of tearing shit up. Their presentation is slick, professional and visually stunning. Their fans, referred to as Visionary or Visionaries, (in the same manner in which Lady Gaga refers to her fans as Little Monsters) “You are a Visionary if you believe in us and what we are doing OR if you are doing what you believe in regardless if it is the norm or not” The key to simplicity is divine. Dorothy gets this “People think that we're going to sound like something, and we surprise them and sound like something completely different so I think that's kind of the beauty of being ethnic and being in this profession and being from New Mexico”


To be realistic today is to be visionary. To be realistic is to be starry-eyed” Lindy Vision's discography is short and sweet. All their music is self-released. “Pink + Black” a five song ep was released in 2014 followed by their debut album “Luck + Life” in 2015. On “Luck + Life” Lindy Vision jettisons the baggage that accompanies associations with genre tags and categories. Dee Dee skillfully navigates “the perils of contentedness and the possibilities within despair” as she guides us through a pulsating emotional landscape singing in a voice that betrays a weary young soul with time worn problems. “Daybreak, don't want to know about the mistakes, don't want to know where your hands have been” If you're a fan of local music, you can't do without it. Currently, the band has finished work on their second album, “Lindy + Vision” which will be available on July 22nd. 2016.

Dirt City Chronicles podcast episode 40, the second in a three part series spotlighting the women involved in Albuquerque's local music scene. Boy Howdy!

Meet in Air ~ The Glass Menageries
Resident ~ Bigawatt
Stop Moving ~ Lindy Vision
Wild Night ~ Lady Uranium
Disco ~ The Foxx
Orale ~ 5 Star Motelles
Get Away Smooth ~ The Jenny Clinkscale Band
Headache ~ The Eyeliners
Fort Surrounded ~ The Rondelles
Bastard Son of Medora ~ Hazeldine
Lake Havasu ~ The Grave of Nobody's Darling
Oh No ~ Jenny Wren Sounds
Holy Ghosts and Holy Smokes ~ Animals in the Dark
Secret Spy ~ The Eyeliners
Getting High Off the Lows ~ The Jenny Clinkscale Band