SubmitHub – Page 19 – Queen City Sounds and Art

2MX2’s Stirring Hip-Hop Single “Por Aqui Por Alla” is a Song About the Excitement of Organizing the People

2MX2’s new single “Por Aqui Por Alla” is a stirring call for community unity and cultural solidarity. Utilizing orchestral strings, soaring horns, perfectly accented percussion alongside commanding vocals the Denver-based group makes the prospect of getting people organized seem exciting and inevitable. The lyrics use extended lines in Spanish as one would hope but also in English like when we hear the great line “What the problem is we need to stop and get all our people united like Corky always said” invoking the name of the late, great Chicano movement activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales. The production on the song enhances the sheer presence of the performances and captures some of the power of the live show. Listen to “Por Aqui Por Alla” on Soundcloud and follow 2MX2 at the links provided.

Springworks’ Psychedelic Pop Single “Bradbury” is a Retrofuturist Commentary on the Nature of Humanity’s Space Exploration

Canadian duo Springworks in their usual fashion pair vintage footage and film clips with their increasingly eclectic songwriting as manifested on “Bradbury.” It’s a fond look back at a time when things like going to Mars felt like something that might be a scientific and civilizational achievement for humanity broadly and not a narcissistic, oligarchic power/money grab at the expense of everyone else and everything on earth. Yet the way Springworks composes its layers of sound it’s obvious they’re aware of how even with the best of intentions, our species has a habit of doing perhaps unintentional damage or damage in service to prevailing political and economic ideologies. The piano work flows from melancholic to urgent, guitar provides atmospheric swells, synth a touch of tonal coloring and minimal percussion a textured pacing to the song. It’s lo-fi in a way that fits the aesthetic of repurposing the neglected and forgotten. The keyboard melody later in the song sounds like something out of a Procol Harum song before transforming into a sparkling, cycling shimmer of a sound that fades into an outro that is both abstract and intimate as we see images of a landing craft leave the spacecraft and the worried alien beings there to meet them. They can hardly be blamed. We know how humans can be. The science fiction author invoked in the title had his doubts too. Watch the video for “Bradbury” on YouTube and follow Springworks at the links below.

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Lula Asplund’s Ambient Drone Composition “Awaken In The Marsh” is Like an Earworm From a David Lynch-ian Universe

The sense of enigmatic foreboding is unsettling and strong in Lula Asplund’s aptly titled “Awaken In The Marsh.” The energy is reminiscent of the vibe of old forgotten places. The slow cycling drones in subtle layers that interweave and complement one another in a background, ambient sound that creeps into your consciousness is undeniably engaging the way the sheer atmosphere of films like Carnival of Souls (1962) or the aesthetics of German Expressionist films. It sticks with you and lingers like a sound you’ve heard your whole life and which has settled into your consciousness that when gone, and when the song ends, you feel like something is missing until your brain re-adjusts. Think something like an earworm from a David Lynch-ian universe. Listen to “Awaken In The Marsh” on Spotify and follow Chicago-based artist Lula Asplund on Instagram.

J. Eka Suggests Letting Your Creative Success Speak For Itself on Bold Yet Introspective Hip-Hop Single “Talk Less”

On the single “Talk Less” South East London rapper J. Eka delivers a bold message about self-confidence without the performative and endless boasting in plenty of hip-hop. With bars from Jatz and production by ETRNL the track and its attendant video is an example of the message in practice. Surrounded by creative beats that deftly interweave texture and atmosphere into the masterful wordplay the lyrics about people who are chasing being a spectacle rather than speaking from a place of integrity and knowledge hit a little harder but without malice. The tone is both direct and introspective and the underlying vulnerability expressed by both J. Eka and Jatz is striking from jump. Watch the video for “Talk Less” on YouTube and follow J. Eka at the links provided.

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Cleo Handler Walks Away From a Relationship With Too Many Granular Demands on Indie Pop Single “rules”

Cleo Handler released her new album compare & contrast on April 4, 2025 and it’s full of songs that contemplate aspects of ourselves when we are in relationships and how we are by ourselves and the way our intuition speaks to us that we can ignore at our peril in pursuit of what we think will make us happy or fulfilled with someone else. The single “rules” is a wry yet lively song that seems to come from a place of being involved with someone who has a lot of rules for their life that they don’t always adhere to themselves in ways that are growth oriented but don’t always extend to accommodating the needs of others. The song doesn’t strike a regretful tone, just one noting the ways in which the relationship with its restrictions would never work out long term and just embracing coming to that realization without rancor. Essentially the song is one that asks oneself what compromises and accommodations you’re willing to make to be in someone’s life and if it’s what you want for yourself and if that relationship is worth it for those restrictions and that it’s okay to decide that it’s not. Which is a major theme throughout the record. Listen to “rules” on Spotify and follow Cleo Handler at the links below.

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Dream Bodies’ Krautrock Infused Gothic Rock Single “Eclipse” is a Song of Personal Transformation and Transcendence

The motorik beat driving Dream Bodies’ “Eclipse” is hypnotic even before the ethereal, Chameleons-esque guitar work comes in to shimmer with introspective melodies. It seems to be a tale of someone transforming in ways he doesn’t fully understand and absorbing influences from the natural world and the cosmos as he travels toward a mysterious fate with references to oblique occult initiation experiences and/or pagan mystery rituals like the Eleusinian Mysteries and attaining a connection to the world that expands one’s consciousness. But all set to beautifully spectral tones and in moments reminiscent of Giorgio Moroder’s soundtrack work for Midnight Express had he reworked that with the help of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. The tonal shimmer in the synths alongside robust low end and commanding vocals in the song make it a standout from the increasingly standardized modern post-punk and darkwave milieu. Listen to “Eclipse” on Spotify and follow Dream Bodies at the links provided.

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Baby Grendel Embrace the Madness of Living the Creative Life on Art Punk Single “Hatching”

Baby Grendel, photo courtesy the artists

Baby Grendel’s “Hatching” sounds like one of those better late 90s punk bands from the Pacific Northwest that discovered that punk was an attitude and not a genre. And then took that sense of creative liberation and applied it to the kind of sound that combines wry self-awareness akin to Superchunk with the dark and incisive humor of the likes of Alice Donut. The fractured guitar solo in the middle of the song is a refreshing bit of chops in a realm of music that often eschews such things but fits what seems to be the cracked perspective of the song with lyrics like “I’m psycho, knew it all along though, so shallow, deeper than a year ago.” And then talk of hatching a plan of losing one’s brain and asking “Am I going down like this?” These musings aside the song seems like an oblique exploration of personal integrity and the precarious balance of trying to do something creative in a world that almost requires mental illness to be involved. More than one person that has become involved in music has made similar observations but Baby Grendel gives it an unabashed expression in embracing the madness. Listen to “Hatching” on Spotify and follow the band at the links below. It’s new EP Hatch(l)ing dropped February 10, 2025 on streaming and digital download.

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Frally’s Slowcore Reinvention of Yazoo’s “Only You” Gives it a Heartfelt, Pastoral Resonance

Frally’s reinvent Yazoo’s 1982 debut single “Only You” completely as a pastoral and introspective pop song imbued with rich tones and a gorgeous vocal duet between Teddy Thompson and Frally. It turns the emotionally resonant mood of the original and imbues it with a majestic grace and deep mood. It’s like a slowcore Americana song with delicate piano work providing the framing melodies, texture and rhythm with a touch of elegiac guitar around the edges courtesy of The War On Drugs’ Charly Hall. But the commanding vocals are the star here and Thompson and Frally complement each other perfectly to deliver a vulnerable yet quietly passionate love song worthy of its source material. Listen to “Only You” on Spotify and follow Frally at the links below. Her new EP Message from the Future dropped March 28, 2025.

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Joseph Salazar Builds a Cosmic Sense of Wonder on Hazy Ambient Synth Track “Everything Is Information”

Joseph Salazar, photo by Ishmael Quintanilla

The title of Joseph Salazar’s song “Everything Is Information” is simple enough and a bare statement of fact like Boards of Canada’s “Music is Math.” It can deconstruct some of the magic of the effect of the music as well as make it attainable for anyone willing to put in the time to connect with it. Salazar’s ambient sprawl starts out quiet and builds in almost pointillist fashion an evolving and growing soundscape of evocative drones, spare melodies and hazy flares of tone reminiscent of the cosmic, late night sounds and excursions of 1980s Steve Roach. But Salazar’s song also sounds like something that should be in a modern science fiction film that goes beyond mere adventure fantasy and action into something more struck by a sense of wonder as Salazar elicits in the listening to this song. The rich tones build and converge and wash away in the flow of gentle white noise in the end as it fades into silence. Listen to “Everything Is Information” on YouTube and follow Joseph Salazar at the links provided.

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Lucille Two’s Richly Melodic Synth Pop Single “Seasons” is a Soothing Song About the Art of Letting Go

Lucille Two’s vivid tones enhance the emotional complexity of the synth pop single “Seasons.” The sequenced melodies and guitar accents provide a sort of gently uplifting context for Trudy Bennett’s introspective vocals as she sings about a situation in which she’s let go of a relationship in which she now sees is long in the rearview and the processing the potential painful memories involved required a touch of disassociation to have the proper perspective. To embrace not knowing fully how you feel about the other person or about why it all eventually went sideways or dissolved. But knowing that you don’t want to go back and that any appeal that was once there is gone and you’re better in your head and in life because of it. The orchestration of melody and rhythm is reminiscent of a certain era of chillwave and how that music was the perfect vehicle for nuanced emotional expression but Lucille Two here doesn’t tap into feelings of nostalgia so much as a sense of moving forward out of the temptation of fond memories that can get us to gloss over when things weren’t so glowing. Listen to “Seasons” on Spotify and follow Lucille Two at the links below.