Song Review – Queen City Sounds and Art

Hour’s Cosmic Post-rock Jazz Single “Sky is Blue” Evokes a Sense of Introspection and Wonder

The minimal keyboard and intimate vocals in the beginning of “Sky is Blue” by Hour has a mysterious quality particularly as the vocals drop into minor chords in unexpected moments. The music video shows rain droplets hitting an outcropping of concrete and coursing down before the reflected lights take on an aspect like a clear night sky as the piano and clarinet come into the sound field but all contributing minimalist components that together build a mood that starts melancholic and rises in tone as the visuals turn to colored, abstract lights and solid drum beats and other horns come forth and a spare orchestral sound establishes itself bringing a complexity of emotional resonance that peaks right before the end. It’s like a post-rock jazz piece but one that evokes a sense of calm, introspection and wonder. Watch the video for “Sky is Blue” on YouTube and follow Philadelphia’s Hour at the links provided.

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Hour on Instagram

Peter Cat Sends Up Modern Social Dynamics on Lush Synth Pop Single “Peacocking”

“Peacocking” by Peter Cat sounds like the mutant spawn of David Bowie and Human League with the wry humor of Sparks. Its saturated synth sounds and R&B funk soundscapes immediately draws you into the song and the low, intimate vocals are somehow both conspiratorial and sinister. In moments they’re reminiscent of mid-90s Jarvis Cocker down to the spoken section in the second half of the song. The care in songwriting is not as common in this current era and the personal side of social critique is well executed. The song is anthemic yet self-aware which is also not usual for even an art pop song. Listen to “Peacocking” on YouTube and follow Glasgow, UK’s Peter Cat at the links below.

Peter Cat on Twitter

Peter Cat on Facebook

Peter Cat on Instagram

Peter Cat on Bandcamp

Rabie Houti’s Industrial Post-punk Single “Rokia” is Like and Algerian Laibach

“Rokia” by Rabie Houti fuses North African and Arabic musical ideas with techno aesthetics for a song that sounds like if Laibach was from Algeria. But the song doesn’t have an undercurrent of irony. Its polyrhythms support and anchor a variety of sounds from harmonic drones, chanting vocals and those more carrying the tale of a romance not approved by the family of one of the parties involved and untangling and coming to terms with that impasse. Think like an industrial post-punk song with some violin tracing the upper reaches of the melody. It’s a melange of sounds that unless you’re keyed into the music scenes of the Arabic world and North Africa you might find tonally and rhythmically exotic but the resonances cross cultures. Listen to “Rokia” on Spotify and follow Rabie Houti at the links below.

Rabie Houti on Facebook

Rabie Houti on Instagram

Acid Idiot’s Unsettling and Intense EBM Techno Single “Less Dead” is a Meditation on Extreme Actions to Feel Something Real

The accelerating, distorted synth line that runs through Acid Idiot’s “Less Dead” lends the track the appropriate psychotic mood. The minimal percussion in off beats with the main burbling electronic bass is nearly hypnotic as the lyrics seem to outline the intrusive thoughts of someone who is driven by an inner compulsion to harm a random person without it being personal to take out some kind of inner rage on someone but not out of passion or revenge. It’s like a dark, almost lo-fi EBM track but because of that both disturbing and exciting at once. Like the companion song to a Gaspar Noé film—unsettling yet compelling for its raw emotions. And the vocals in the song go from a kind of lunatic calm to a more distorted near yell. Does the title refer to a feeling of liberation from existential numbness brought on by modern life through extreme emotion? Judge for yourself. Listen to “Less Dead” on YouTube and follow Acid Idiot at the links below. The band’s new album New Dreams For You released July 31, 2026.

Acid Idiot on Apple Music

Acid Idiot on TikTok

Acid Idiot on Instagram

Acid Idiot on Bandcamp

Amiture Music and Eliana Glass Evoke an Intense Sense of Pending Existential Crisis on Avant Post-Punk Single “Idela”

Amiture Music teams up with experimental pop/jazz artist Eliana Glass for the song “Idela” and its accompanying music video. We see Hanna Gabbler on a patio in New York looking across the bay to downtown and making shapes with her hands toward the clouds and sun. The music begins minimal and builds to an urgent melody paired with a discordant part that suggests tension and an internal conflict. The view goes from Gabbler standing and walking around to a negative image of a hallway while the visuals seem to focus on angles, close-ups and long shots. Directed by both Jack Whitescarver of Amiture Music and Eliana Glass it is reminiscent of the kind of underlying menace present in the film version of High Rise where normalcy is surface level. But it never quite goes as dark except that the lyrics suggest skullduggery and the decay and fall of Western civilization. But that’s just on point for the time and place we’re living. If there’s a film version of Jim Di Bartolo’s 2026 graphic novel F*ck Billionaires this should probably be on the soundtrack. Watch the video for “Idela” on YouTube and follow Amiture Music at the links below. The new Amiture Music EP 2 Women releases October 30, 2026.

Amiture Music on Facebook

Amiture Music on Instagram

Eric Angel Bessel Expresses the Convergence of Natural Patterns on Cosmic Ambient Single “Book of Astrology”

Eric Angelo Bessel utilizes a more low key production style on “Book of Astrology” from his forthcoming new album Illusion of an Inland Ocean (out October 30, 2026 on double LP vinyl, digital download and streaming). Often Bessel’s compositions are immediately immersive but this time it’s a little in the distance but this works with layers of harmonic sounds flowing together and bell tone sounds resonating within that evolving ambient convergence of frequencies. In the music video we see waters like the incoming tide rippling in elegant active motion creating physical distortion and the manifestation of standing waves. Bessel orchestrating this with his music is the perfect expression of a natural phenomenon and making it comprehensible in a different way than just scientific terms and numbers much as the title of the song attempts to make sense of patterns in the universe. Fans of Brian Eno’s early 80s ambient works will likely find this track to be in line with what Eno was attempting to express with Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks and Ambient 4: On Land. Watch the video for “Book of Astrology” on YouTube and follow Eric Angelo Bessel at the links below.

lorecitymusic.com

Eric Angelo Bessel on Twitter

Dis Fig’s “The Snake You Built” is a Processional, Ritualistic Fusion of the Organic and Electronic

“The Snake You Built” creeps in with distorted drones and processed strings with the hint of vocals in the beginning. It’s like the opening sequence of an existential, cosmic science fiction horror film and when the drums join the mix of sounds the song takes on the character of a slow, ritual procession. But it’s a slow build until into the three minute mark when distorted motes burst forth and Felicia Chen’s vocals are more beckoning and intense expressing what sounds like an appeal to the universe for justice, for relief from oppression and for transcendence. Chen has collaborated with the heaviest of bands (for example The Body whose Lee Buford contributes to this track) and other experimental artists like Diana Miron (who also collaborated on the song) and this feels like a true fusion of the organic and the electronic. Fans of Jenny Hval and the more recent Jarboe solo albums will find great resonance here. Listen to “The Snake You Built” on YouTube and follow Dis Fig at the links below. The new album What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is out October 23, 2026 via Thrill Jockey Records on vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming.

Dis Fig on Instagram

The Jet Black Berries’ Psychedelic Rockabilly Song “Masked Astronaut” Re-Imagines The Lone Ranger as a Space Faring Hero For the People

The Jet Black Berries, photo by Sarah Davidson

The Jet Black Berries were one of the noteworthy bands of the 1980s in milieu of psychedelic garage rock of that decade with the song “Love Under Will” appearing on the soundtrack to The Return of the Living Dead (1985). The group returns to celebrate the release of Sundown On Venus [Definitive Edition] via Propeller Records, the remastered reissue of its ferocious 1985 debut album. Preceded by the release of a new song “Rocketfire Sex66” the new edition of the album sounds like it could have come out in the 2010s during the new garage rock explosion or now and hit like something fresh tapping into the group’s peers in The Cramps, The Scientists and The Gun Club. The single “Masked Astronaut” is a fine example of how the record sounds as intended like stories of short movies right out of B science fiction and horror movie cinema of the 1950s and 1960s. The lyrics seem to imagine the Lone Ranger as a space traveling hero for the people. There is some rockabilly surf rock attitude in the song with the hooks and grit that any of the best of that music has aplenty. Through from New York, The Jet Black Berries sound like they could have been part of the Los Angeles scene of the 1980s where countrified psychedelia, post-punk, retro rock and punk attitude fused together was in its heyday. Listen to “Masked Astronaut” on YouTube and follow The Jet Black Berries at the links provided.

Jet Black Berries on Instagram

Jet Black Berries on Apple Music

Eventually Flowers’ Melodically Uplifting Dream Pop Single “Chasing Time” is a Song About Moving On to Your Better Horizons

Eventually Flowers, photo courtesy the artists

Eventually Flowers’ expansive and melodically vibrant single “Chasing Time” is a song about not wasting time chasing after what we think we should be doing with our time when we could make the most of what is in front of us. The song was originally written by vocalist Janise Lazart a decade ago but developed now and then into its current form where it has an exuberant spirit and urgency aimed at brushing aside the tendency to hyperfixate as a creative person when it’s best to move on and, often enough, come back to a song or a pursuit when your skill set, sensibilities and psychology is better equipped to make the most of something that was ahead of its time in your own life. Or in the moment be willing to let go whatever that means or looks like because some things, situations or people can ultimately be a complete diversion from your best path. Musically the song is reminiscent of early Drop 19s and early Pale Saints and the way that music had an uplifting quality with free-flowing atmospheric melodies. Listen to “Chasing Time” on YouTube and follow Eventually Flowers at the links provided.

Eventually Flowers on Instagram

Travel Kit’s Playful Indietronica Ambient Single “Anywhere” is Like Hearing Timeless Moments Strung Together

Travel Kit returns with its first extended release in a handful of years with the album Anywhere (released September 17, 2026). The title track hearkens back to an era when lo-fi DIY electronic music and indie rock crossed paths for a refreshing and playful sound. The sampled/programmed drums are steady and gentle and the sequenced melodies layered with wordless vocals lilting from a seeming near distance like someone calling out to sea for the sunrise in the early morning. The spoken word samples ending in an echoing “Anywhere” when the song drifts off beatless for some countless moments feels like holding on to a timeless memory that won’t end before the beat comes back in to carry us further into the song. Musically it resonates with the dreamlike and retrofuturist sounds of Boards of Canada but also the spiritual ambient haze of the self-titled Burial album. Co-produced by Jack Truax from the band and Chris Bowers-Castillo of Kiltro fame, the song and album has a truly entrancing effect Listen to “Anywhere” on YouTube and follow Travel Kit at the links below.

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Travel Kit on Instagram