Song Review – Page 3 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Jeki’s Sultry Neo Soul Single “Hold On” Coaxes Us to Be Kind To Ourselves and Live Rather Than Strive

Jeki’s lush and sultry single “Hold On” taps into the sonic realms of neo-soul with a touch of downtempo. Her vocals are vibrant and establish a leisurely pace as she sings with affectionate compassion for a loved one who is struggling with how treacherous life can seem when everything feels frustrating and there is no clear path to doing what you want with your life and not enough experiences confirming which path is best. But Jeki’s lyrics gently point out that sometimes it just takes time and we can’t always know what is for us and where we fit in with the world right away and sometimes it just takes patience and not trying to force what we think we know. The bass line is understated in a jazz style and the keyboard melodies swirl and drift off and echo ever so slightly while Jeki’s voice anchors the song in a direct human experience with a warm confidence that really does hit like everything is going to be okay if we don’t succumb to the accelerated pace of living forced on us by our society and often our culture. Jeki seems to suggest that living is more important than striving. Listen to “Hold On” on Spotify and follow Jeki at the links provided.

The Dead Century Offers a Refreshing Take on the Breakup Song on Impassioned Power Pop Single “Hey Chicago”

The Dead Century, photo courtesy the artists

The Dead Century on “Hey Chicago” sound like a classic power pop band in the 80s vein. Fortunately that also means crisp guitar sound, great clarity of tone, sonically and emotionally. The song uses the conceit of referring to someone by the city they’re from rather than have to denigrate a specific name or even assign gender. It’s a different take on the breakup song in which our narrator seems to have come to the conclusion that it’s over but doesn’t want to make an assumption that things are finished even if in it’s not officially so. The seemingly endless moments when everything threatened to collapse but didn’t as embodied so well by the lines “And for a minute we can both pretend/We’ve been counting down the seconds to a second chance/To sift through the requisite waiting/For something more stable.” Sometimes something so combustible can seem exciting but in the end can be so exhausting. But our narrator seems to want the decision to draw the relationship to a conclusion to be a mutual thing. The song has great momentum and an sweeping melody until the last minute six when things go quiet for tranquil moments of contemplation before ramping back up and back down to a quick outro of ghostly feedback. The songcraft is impressive and the sentiments don’t demonize anyone which can be rare in this subgenre of pop music. Listen to “Hey Chicago” on Spotify and follow Minneapolis, Minnesota’s The Dead Century at the links provided.

thedeadcentury.com

The Dead Century on Facebook

The Dead Century on Instagram

“After the Masquerade (Refashioned)” Casts Shaela Miller’s Americana Synth Pop Original Into a Vibrant Dark Wave Mode

The remix of Shaela Miller’s “After the Masquerade (Refashioned)” (the title track of her 2024 album) re-imagines the more synth pop song in a darker, almost industrial mode. The beats hit heavier, the vocals echo into more open spaces. Swirls of drone spiral out in slow motion giving a touch of menace to the song but preserved is how Miller’s melodic vocals shine through the cinematic layers of sound. The music video is like a dark cabaret in a cyberpunk future with warm and cool colored layered to dramatic effect book-ended with a clear image of Miller cleaning up the aftermath of a celebration like the messes and only half regrets of one’s life while still being able to look back with a certain romantic fondness for a time despite its mix of memories. If the original was a step toward dark wave from the Americana of her earlier work, this remix even more so. Watch the video for “After the Masquerade” on YouTube and follow Shaela Miller at the links provided. The song is from Refashioned Selex, a five-song remix EP out May 14, 2026 with tracks originally released on the 2024 album After the Masquerade.

shaelamiller.com

Shaela Miller on Facebook

Shaela Miller on Instagram

“Behold!” by Radium88 is Like the Avant-Garde Synthpop Soundtrack to a Retro-Futurist Dystopian Novel

“Behold!” the opening track of Radium88’s new album Beauty is Lies (released April 4, 2026) feels like a trip back to an alternative dimension where turn of the 80s Hawkwind, early Eurhythmics and Legendary Pink Dots are the soundtrack to children’s shows and public television documentaries. The song brings together analog percussion sounds, bell tones, measured drum machine rhythms and dream like synth drone melodies in a manner that is transporting and soothing to the mind. The vocals are like a spoken piece from book of poetry crafted for a lost classic of retro-futurist science fiction. The song indeed feels like the intro to music for such a work that would bear comparison to the output of Alan Moore and Gene Wolfe. In general the song hits like finding a time capsule with a message for the future during a time of oppression and widespread, imposed austerity. The rest of the album does not disappoint in the richness of tone and a sustained sense of wonder. Listen to “Behold!” on YouTube and follow Nottingham, UK’s Radium88 at the links below.

Radium88 on Twitter

Radium88 on Facebook

Radium88 on Instagram

Radium88 on Bandcamp

Unwed Sailor’s Instrumental Post-Rock Single “Don’t Let Go” is a Buoyant Celebration of Personal Connection

Unwed Sailor, photo by Alejandro Martinez

In the music video for Unwed Sailor’s “Don’t Let Go” we see images of hands being drawn and hands in action through what appears to be the filter of an old VHS tape with the visual glitches like the video equivalent of developing old film or a series of Polaroids that have had some time to age into the images looking like an artifact from another era. The song itself has a joyous and upbeat mood with an expansive melody that feels like a spirit of anticipation and hopefulness. Sometimes the band’s music can seem introspective and this is not the opposite so much in that what reflection one can hear in this song is projected forward to what lies ahead and the celebration of the personal connection inherent to the song title. Watch the video for “Don’t Let Go” on YouTube and follow Unwed Sailor at the links provided below. The new Unwed Sailor album Heavy Age released on May 3, 2026.

Unwed Sailor on Twitter

Unwed Sailor on Facebook

Unwed Sailor on Instagram

Unwed Sailor on Bandcamp

Forever Factory’s Darkly Humorous and Surreal Post-Punk Single “Never Boring” Weighs the Options of Social Activities and Self-Isolating

Forever Factory, photo courtesy the artist

Forever Factory sounds like a long lost, experimental post-punk band from Scotland on the “Never Boring” single. It has a downcast and surreal energy that nevertheless draws you in. Its hypnotic beat is akin to something out of mid-80s The Fall and its gloomy guitar melody and spoken, almost whispered vocals have the intensity of a repeated mantra. The intro to the song going into the song proper brings to mind a bizarre mix of The Residents, Cabaret Voltaire and a minimalistic, spooky Viagra Boys. The lyrics sound like the words of a self-isolating person of misanthropic tendencies contemplating coming out of the comfortable confines of his own sanctum sanctorum because that’s what you’re supposed to do on a Saturday night even if you don’t really want to be in artificial social situations with the deep potential of dull interactions. Why bother when you can stay home where it’s, apparently, never boring. The song’s menace suggests a self-spiraling habit of isolating oneself and finding justifications for how not having at least some stimulation and human contact is not boring, “not if you have something to do it with.” The track is a rare modern post-punk song that doesn’t rely on trendy sounds and dares to go off the deep end into uncommon subject matter with honesty and a touch of dark humor. Listen to “Never Boring” on Spotify and follow Forever Factory at the links provided. Forever Factory’s debut EP Violence Is Everywhere But Not Here released March 27, 2026.

Forever Factory on Instagram

Lukka Celebrates the Multitudes Within Each of Us on Psychedelic Synth Pop Single “Tomboi”

Lukka perfectly accents the rhythms of synth pop single “Tomboi.” The melodious and breathy vocals seem to invoke the embrace of different sides of oneself within and the virtues and unique qualities attendant to them. In particular the unification of masculine and feminine inside everyone as a product of superficially disparate elements coming together to produce a new human entity. The song’s effervescent and vibrant energy feels like a celebration of that acknowledgment and acceptance of how each of us contains multitudes that conventional culture conditions us to separate out as if that’s even possible without great effort at suppressing the manifest truth that need not be resisted. The song has some cool funk beats while fully psychedelic in its crafting experimental sounds into a pop song that makes its heady ideas accessible. Listen to “Tomboi” on Spotify and follow Lukka at the links provided.

Madrid Exit’s Dark R&B Pop Single “July” (ft. Delachute) is Like Deep Mood Music For an Elevated Found Footage Horror Film

Delachute and Madrid Exit (L-R), photo by Orhan Aydin

The music video for Madrid Exit’s “July” (featuring Delachute, courtesy videographer Orhan Aydin) is a little like watching a strange found footage horror short. The song itself his ethereal and hazy yet beat driven. A human figure (Madrid Exit) is in the first part of the video and when he walks off screen we see another with some kind of white mask and what looks like a baseball bat (this is Delachute in the usual garb). Both are walking along a path flanked by lush greenery and the song with elements of background drone and slow, heavy processed percussion is simultaneously haunting and soothing. Think pop music for a Curry Baker film. Watch the video for “July” on YouTube and follow Madrid Exit at the links below. Look out for his debut album out in Fall 2026.

Madrid Exit on Instagram

Kid Sistr Makes an Exuberant Case for Dropping the Egotistical Gaslighter Out of Your Life on Epic Grunge Folk Single “Maniac”

Kid Sistr look exuberant in the music video for “Maniac.” And the song itself has that kind of cathartic energy that feels like a cause for celebration. While the band sings and plays in a field and play about in the shade of a graffiti-covered underpass it’s instantly easy to get caught up in the song’s infectious, fuzzy melody. The lyrics are about finally breaking it off with the person that seems to gaslight you every chance they get initially drawing you in with flattering words but repelling you with emotionally abusive and manipulative behavior and when you have a normal if dramatic response you get to be the “crazy” person and the villain in their story. And that’s what it too often is, you’re a character in their story and not someone whose own feelings actually matter. Fans of Bully and Weakened Friends will appreciate how Kid Sistr draws from both 90s grunge and emo. Watch the video for “Maniac” on YouTube and follow Kid Sistr at the links below. The trio’s new EP American Teenage Prophecy is due May 13, 2026 via Giant Music.

Kid Sistr on Facebook

Kid Sistr on Instagram

Macro/micro Taps Into the Dark IDM and Thriller Soundtracks for the Beat-Driven Menace of “Paperclip Maximizer”

Macro/mico has a new album A.fter I.ntelligence out June 23, 2026. Ahead of the occasion of its release you can give a listen to “Paperclip Maximizer.” The title alone might resonate widely in meaning and references with various listeners. The song itself sounds like the soundtrack to a retro, dystopian science fiction thriller. Its deeply textural beat with mechanical sounds, layered percussive sounds and what hits the ears like cybernetic beings communicating with one another in rapid bursts and echoing in a giant, darkened space whether in dimensions humans can experience directly or those of digital networks connecting. There is just a palpable sense of menace that in the brain unites the feelings one got from watching the intro credits to Seven and a darker Squarepusher track. Listen to “Paperclip Maximizer” on YouTube and follow Macro/micro at the links below.