SubmitHub – Page 17 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Variety Hour’s Electro-Post-Punk Pop Single “I’m On Fire” is the Sound of Someone Who Has Chosen to Break With a Stifling Status Quo

Variety Hour, photo courtesy the artists

“I’m On Fire” by Variety Hour sounds on the surface like a moody indie rock song with a minimal rhythm guitar riff at the beginning of the song. But as it all progresses it dawns on you that the guitar part might be looped as well as the possibly electronic or sampled drums. And then the rhythm drops out as does the guitar and the melancholic vocals drift through a soundscape of birds, insect sounds, echoing guitar plinking before the sound of a soft explosion signals the song going into its final passages and a whorling drone courses as the backdrop of the vocals and sometimes in the foreground. It doesn’t draw immediate comparisons to other artists except maybe the vibe is reminiscent of JOHN or Panchiko with the genre-blurring aspect of the latter. The lyrics follow a similar theme as the rest of the EP of needing to break free of the constraints of a mode of living that seems stifling and no longer serves you and the music for this song feels like a person the verge of making that break because the spirit to do so is already there. Listen to “I’m On Fire” on Spotify and follow Variety Hour at the links below. The band’s new EP Need a Change released on October 31, 2025.

Variety Hour on TikTok

Variety Hour on Instagram

GUMDROP Subverts the Process of Keeping Up With Beauty Standards in Late Stage Capitalism on New Wave Hyperpop Single “EYE CANDY”

GUMDROP’s winning blend of 80s New Wave and hyperpop is fully realized on the “EYE CANDY” single. Warping and lingering guitar riffs drip like the confections that serve as a central symbol in the song. The song’s lyrics are a playful and sometimes surreal exploration of keeping up with the quickly shifting beauty standards in late stage capitalism and the absurdity of the situation that wasn’t designed for actual, analog humans to successfully navigate without some psychological consequences. In the song the band subverts what those values need to be and for whom those standards need to serve. All the way the lyrics deftly talk about how arbitrary aesthetic standards can cling to your psyche and rot your mind from within if you don’t have a well-established sense of self. But when various standards permeate the ways we’re encouraged to engage with the outside world ironically through digital means it amplifies the general deleterious effect of this insidious stage of capitalism is having on us all and how we’ve come to adapt to its dictates whether we’re consciously aware of it or not. But GUMDROP identifies that pain and has some fun with subverting the interweaving, dominant paradigms. Watch the charming video for “EYE CANDY” on YouTube and follow GUMDROP at the links below. The group’s self-titled album dropped December 25, 2025.

GUMDROP on Instagram

GUMDROP on Bandcamp

Dax References Forrest Gump in the Video for “Diary Of A Trying Man” is a Vehicle for Processing Deep Heartache

The video treatment for Dax’s new single “Diary Of A Trying Man” deftly borrows the scene from the Forrest Gump as a visual reference point. And the song with its looped guitar and tasteful trap beat help to enhance a melancholic sense of loss. The song is the narrative of a man who is still haunted by memories of a love lost when meeting her at the wrong time in both of their lives. He talks about having moved on but his words speak to how he hasn’t let go of his feelings or perhaps more accurately his sense of who he was and is as tied to his ability to keep that relationship together with someone who wasn’t at the same place as him then. But when you listen further into the song it seems obvious also that the narrator hasn’t allowed himself to grow emotionally because he’s still stuck with the memory and idea of how things were supposed to be. Which is understandable when you grow up and have to move on in life, you look back and wonder how and why things went wrong with various things especially relationships that felt so vibrant and significant earlier in your life in a way that only new experiences fully can for most people. Yet move on you must and the song with its obvious sense of deep heartache at least expresses that pain and honors it instead of keeping it buried which itself is a way to process and open up your life to something better. Watch the video for “Diary of a Trying Man” including the humorous ending on YouTube and follow Canadian rapper/producer Dax at the links provided.

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Trip Tease’s Synthwave Single “Acapulco Wave” Evokes Stylish 80s and 90s Cinema Thrillers

Trip Tease’s “Acapulco Wave” sounds like the opposite mood of winter and its bright, saturated synthwave tones are a welcome bit of musical warmth during the colder months of this writing. The upbeat piano melody and accented electronic drums brings to mind a scene from a 1980s action movie or thriller during a period of celebration or leisure between the darker and more menacing scenes. Or perhaps more accurately it is like music for a Mexican, police procedural version of Miami Vice created today but set in the 1980s and the music was the perfect companion to scenes in which our heroes are about the business of investigating. But all cinematic considerations aside it’s a fine song for the dance floor on the DJ nights catering to modern synthwave with its sensuous tones and expertly syncopated rhythms. Listen to “Acapulco Wave” on Spotify and follow Trip Tease at the links below.

Trip Tease on Instagram

Daniel Avery Brings a Moody Sonic Focus to the Remix of Woomb’s Dream Pop Downtempo Single “Powerless”

Daniel Avery’s remix of Woomb’s single “Powerless” reworks the moody, dream pop original and turns it into a dark downtempo track. The guitars echo further into the dark and Hristo Yordanov’s vocals seem to preserve a good deal of the warmth and light of the song with Gueorgui Linev’s guitar swarming and saturating the song at various points with a luminous energy. The drums also resonate with greater depth of tone and overall Avery highlights the both the low end and the mid-range with a touch on the high end so that the most distinctive lines reach forth most strongly lending what feels like a greater sonic focus to an already strong piece of music. Listen to Daniel Avery’s remix of Woomb’s “Powerless” on Spotify and follow Woomb on Instagram.

Helga Luzhnikova and Anastasia Kriazhevskaia Collaborate to Capture a Sense of Tranquility and Rest Following the Bustle of the Holiday Season on Ambient Composition “The New Year Tree Sisters”

Helga Luzhnikova and Anastasia Kriazhevskaia, photo courtesy the artists

“The New Year Tree Sisters” is a collaborative track between Helga Luzhnikova and Anastasia Kriazhevskaia, experimental electronic composers from the country of Georgia. The song sounds like it’s assembled from various percussion samples and field recordings of weather, chimes, sequenced beats and spectral synth melodies coming together as a kind of sound collage procession. Amid the layers of sound one hears distinct themes coursing through with processed drones peeking through and what sounds like processed xylophone and other tonal percussive noises keeping a loose melody aside from that provided by the synth while wordless vocals drift in to haunt the piece a little. It is intended to embody a time of the world when the holiday activity has settled down some and one has the time and space to observe and reflect upon the world as it is and how it has been. As the track progresses toward the end the sheer details of activity slows down and the distorted signal lines trail off and the ethereal harmonics ascend into the distance. It’s a unique listening experience that actually captures a sense of easing off from intense activity and having one’s attention demanded to a time of rest and tranquility. The composers intended it as a kind of “story about a shamanic journey on a magical New Year’s Eve” and truly sounds like exactly that. Listen to “The New Year Tree Sisters” on Soundcloud and follow Helga Luzhnikova on Spotify.

Sylvia Black Poetically Rejects the Advances of a Philandering Ex on Ethereal and Brooding Post-Punk Single “Long Gone Gardens”

“Long Gone Gardens” has Sylvia Black’s moody and distinct bass playing occupies front and center at the beginning of the song and grounding the ethereal sparkle of the synths and minimal guitar lines. The songwriter’s vocals are similarly strong and sultry. Altogether the song with the visual aspect of the video, shot by Zander Feischko and edited by Sylvia Black, sounds like the missing link between Siouxsie & The Banshees, early Dead Can Dance and darkwave, like a lost classic of the late 80s and early 90s. The kind of band one would hope to catch on a double bill with Q Lazzarus. Haunting and alluring the song captures the mood of someone who was neglected and abandoned by a lover who seems to want to be back in good graces long after failing to cultivate something genuine in pursuit of surface level amorous encounters. Watch the video for “Long Gone Gardens” on YouTube and follow Sylvia Black at the links below. The new album Shadowtime is out January 16, 2026.

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Stray Theories Ambient, Post-Rock Single “Catalyst” is Like the Closing Music For a Science Fiction-Themed Cosmic Horror Film

Stray Theories, photo courtesy the artist

The atmospheric drift and flow of “Catalyst” by Stray Theories is anchored by a minimalist piano line and processional drums with a hovering guitar drone that traces the outer edges of where the tones expand outward. The project incorporates a touch of discordance in the decaying harmonics while bell tones warm the melancholic mood of the piece. All distinct musical elements dissolve into the slow-modulating haze of sounds peeking through white noise like the musical analog of the end of the universe in a uniform state of entropy. The track has a sense of unease yet soothing at the same time like an acceptance of the inevitable. Think the closing sequences of a science fiction/cosmic horror film. Although the song title suggests the ending of one thing or cycle and the beginning of another. Listen to “Catalyst” on YouTube and follow Stray Theories at the links provided.

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Stray Theories on Bandcamp

Springworks Shows How Living Your Authentic Life is More Sustainable Than a Facade of Toxic Positivity on Jangle Pop Single “Hollow”

In its typical fashion, Springworks has paired some vintage footage with its music. But rather than industrial video and the like, the scenes for the music video for “Hollow” looks like some stuff that has fall into public domain status depicting a man who has fallen down due to psychological pressures and institutionalized but the color sections show a woman flying off to a fantastical place including a futuristic kitchen as well as attendees at a play. The music itself features some of the band’s finest production to date with guitar that is reminiscent of a later period Beat Happening song with some more unconventional percussion elements as well as minimal drums. The vocal harmonies are reminiscent of the kind of jangle pop one heard out of Flying Nun bands of the 80s and the lyrics seem to be an observant portrait of the way many people feel the need to put on a happy and confident facade so to not appear weak or lacking but can’t hide it so well. Not when someone is paying attention. Much less how maintaining that fiction when you’re not feeling can indeed hollow you out because actually feeling things gives one more emotional fortitude than glazing over one’s real feelings all the time. It’s a feature of too much of modern life and Springworks sings about it in a way that encourages being authentic without having to get stuck in the darkness. Watch the video for “Hollow” on YouTube and follow Springworks at the links provided.

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Springworks on Twitter

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Ones Loved’s “Fate by Design” is an IDM Dream Pop Song Imbued With Warmth and Sensitivity For a Relationship in the Process of Reconciling

Ones Loved combine a kind of dream pop sound palette with an IDM sensibility on its single “Fate by Design.” Meditative beats, intimate vocals seemingly sequenced, lingering bass lines and impressionistic guitar work conspire to convey the impression of a relationship in the process of reconciling. The music video has hazy images that match the layered atmospherics of the song and imagery that seems drawn from afternoon reveries and late night musings and in general a bit like one of those fan videos people have made for Boards of Canada with the mysterious footage stitched together but capturing the mood of the songs perfectly. The words without the clumsiness of being explicit and also without intellectualizing feelings express a depth of appreciation and understanding of another person while acknowledging how and where things might have broken down is something not so common in the realm of pop music and hits an affecting note here. Watch the video for “Fate by Design” on YouTube and follow Ones Loved at the links below.

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