SubmitHub – Page 2 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Jupe Jupe’s Post-Punk New Wave Single “A Game of Wait and See” is a Song About the Downside of the Attention Economy

For the new single “A Game of Wait and See,” Seattle’s Jupe Jupe give us a video where it looks like the band has infiltrated an office building after hours to film in the backrooms (reference intended) where the industrial infrastructure of the building is maintained out of sight. At the beginning of the video the four members of the band check their phones before getting to it. Which is fitting for the subject matter of the song which seems to be a commentary on the attention economy seemingly mandatory for anyone trying to make more of their art or even of their own lives than simply sharing it with their immediate circle of friends. But for bands in the current era it’s not like anyone is trying to promote what you do unless you’ve already made it big outside of simply playing small venues or house shows. Which is fine enough in reality but there is a pressure to be on the grind to get attention for your efforts and how that can warp how you present yourself and think about what you’re doing in a way that prioritizes platforms and methods regardless of whether it actually resonates with people beyond a surface level.

The song itself is a moody and introspective with pulsing synth rhythms, spidery guitar, expressive saxophone and vocals that provide the emotional hook that questions the dynamic many of us in the modern world find ourselves drawn into as a matter of engaging with each other when we’re not connected by proximity. It addresses the whole issue of waiting to see if anyone has in fact engaged with your “content” and yearning for that low level affirmation and wondering if you’ve been buried by the algorithm or deemed not worthy of the moment it takes to acknowledge what you’re putting out there. And yet the song reminiscent of the more New Wave end of Giorgio Moroder and the pop side of The Sound feels like the hold of social media as pervasive as it is can also be elusive and unsatisfying and possibly something that loses its grip on one’s psyche. One can hope. Watch the video for “A Game of Wait and See” on YouTube and follow Jupe Jupe at the links provided.

jupejupemusic.com

Jupe Jupe on Twitter

Jupe Jupe on Facebook

Jupe Jupe on Instagram

Dustin O’Halloran’s Modern Classical Song “Fragile N.1” Conveys a Deep Sense of Gentleness and Warmth

Dustin O’Halloran, photo courtesy the artist

The expanded edition of the reissue of Dustin O’Halloran’s 2011 album Lumière will be released June 12, 2026 via Splinter Records. With that fifteenth anniversary expanded presentation there are three previously unheard tracks of that era including “Fragile N.1.” The latter features O’Halloran’s gift for compositions that combine organic sounds in a modern classical mode with electronic tones and production methods. The song is both quietly majestic and filled with a sense of wonder with a touch of melancholic tone. But the whole run time one feels a sense of hopefulness, the kind expressed in the title, and one worth preserving and taking into one’s psyche. The minimal piano, textural string sounds and warm synth melody combine to great cinematic effect, fitting for a piece whose ideas were explored while O’Halloran was working on the score to Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette. It may seem counter-intuitive to say the song has a palpable gentleness but that is the salient quality of song throughout. Listen to “Fragile N.1” on YouTube and follow Dustin O’Halloran at the links below.

Dustin O’Halloran on Twitter

Dustin O’Halloran on Facebook

Dustin O’Halloran on Instagram

Spices Peculiar and Sunswept Carry Us on a Soothing and Transcendental Journey Across Time on Ambient Jazz Improv Track “7/9/25”

Spices Peculiar, photo courtesy the artist

“7/9/25” is a collaborative composition between Spices Peculiar and Sunswept. The processed flute flows and perfectly swirl with the layers of synth, field recordings and textural samples to produce a singular aesthetic that evolves across the track’s twenty-five minutes. Shaken bells haunt the background, white noise wind, electronic bird sounds in the night, it feels like music designed to represent different parts of a single day, perhaps as the title suggests, a cool night in summer. Sounds echo and seem to tumble gently in the near distance and a low drone serves as a backdrop toward mid-song as the synth drifts into an eerie quality and shimmering noises resonate from an unknown source like a new type of bird resounding in the moonlit landscape. Breezes stir the surroundings and toward the fourteen minute mark we become aware of the flute back in the mix as a recognizable quantity like a signal of a more diurnal sound palette coming into aural frame and what feels like a string of shells and sparkling synth threads streak by and fade replaced by another stream of each. Clearly the product of careful production and sensitive improv the whole piece is experienced as an organic journey across time expressed in under half an hour but more fully than many days feel when you’re at the grind of a regular job and this song is much more soothing and worthy of one’s attention as an extended song that wouldn’t be out of place on a program like Hearts of Space but focused on pastoral sounds. The track is part of the Spices Pecular Ambulant that released May 1, 2026. Listen to “7/9/25” on Bandcamp and follow Spices Peculiar at the links provided.

spicespeculiar.com

Spices Peculiar on Facebook

Spices Peculiar on Instagram

Twin Court Fuses Javanese Gamelan Aesthetic and Pastoral Folk Post-Rock for New Single “Wildfires”

The new Twin Court EP Ithakarta was released on May 15, 2026 and for this outing the group melds its pastoral folk post-rock style with Javanese gamelan sounds and sensibilities. For the track “Wildfires” we hear the Suling (Javanese flute) flowing through and helping in establishing a unique flavor of musical melancholy with visceral, textural elements that ground what might be perceived as ethereal and drifting into direct sensory experience. The various percussive bell tones work as a chorus of sounds through Suling twirls and winds joining the rhythm in its urgency as the song concludes suggesting a need for action and to be in the moment focused on events at hand as interconnected with the forces that shape them. Listen to “Wildfires” on Spotify and follow Twin Court on Instagram.

Alden Hellmuth Leans Into Hard Bop Free Jazz Entropy on “Face the Wall”

Alden Hellmuth, photo courtesy the artist

NYC-based saxophonist Alden Hellmuth is set to release her new album Tether on June 26, 2026 via Nils Frahm’s LEITER imprint. The song “Face the Wall” includes percussion from Justin Brown who some may know from playing with Thundercat. The song has a syncopated rhythm that sometimes also feels like it could go off the edge in any moment. Hellmuth accents the percussion line at first and then plays over while the bass maintains a tonal presence before it seems to come apart in time for Hellmuth to come back in with more insistent saxophone tracing a scale with extended technique. All the instruments indulge in passages that in another piece of music might be a solo but here they all contribute to a sense of heading into musical entropy yet reeling it in for something coherent if building toward a conclusion that maximizes the intensity of pace. The net effect is punk energy channeled into what often sounds like hard bob free jazz expert technical chops allowed to roam freer than musicians with such skillsets often do. Listen to “Face the Wall” on YouTube and follow Alden Hellmuth at the links below.

Alden Hellmuth on Instagram

Alden Hellmuth on Apple Music

Alden Hellmuth on Bandcamp

Jennie Gillespie Mason Presents Human Love as a Path to Higher Consciousness on Psychedelic Folk Song “Rungs of Love”

Jennie Gillespie Mason, photo courtesy the artist

Jennie Gillespie Mason weaves together an entrancing tapestry of sounds on her single “Rungs of Love.” The track from her forthcoming new album Safety of the Light (out 6/12/26 via Native Cat Recordings) has as its root a kind of folk vocals and guitars sound in the classic mode but more inspired by more experimental leaning practitioners of the art like Bert Jansch and Vashti Bunyan. Mason also puts electronic sounds into the song and orchestral strings so that it feels like you’re listening in on entire other world. Blips shimmer and spark off like a lightning bug into the night or a shooting star suddenly bursting overhead and fading out. The song is about love as a path to higher consciousness and one to be savored in the moment. As gentle and romantic a spirit as one hears in the song it also dares to veer off into psychedelic sounds without losing sight of its core emotional resonance and that itself serves well the song’s message of being grounded in human experience while in pursuit of personal transformation. Listen to “Rungs of Love” on Spotify at follow Jenny Gillespie Mason on Instagram.

The Wheel Workers’ Brightly Atmospheric Indie Pop Single “Rainbows” is a Song About Reclaiming Joy From an Oppressive Culture

The Wheel Workers, photo by Daniel Jackson

Maybe titling he song “Rainbows” The Wheel Workers are giving away that the tender sentiments of the love song is one also about LGBTQ+ identity and self-acceptance. It is also a completely apt name for the song. Its gentle melodies in a sort of psychedelic pop mode are also reminiscent of the exquisite melodies of early 80s Ultravox and the earnestness of The Alarm’s more anthemic songs. The lead guitar melody paired with the vocal harmonies feels like a collective collective uplift like the band has written a song that goes beyond expressing deep affection and a sense of liberation and resistance to oppression for one person but a statement for everyone that has felt the boot of a conservative cultural orientation that denies many people their basic humanity and the ability to be who they are without judgment. Watch the live performance video for “Rainbow” on YouTube and follow The Wheel Workers at the links provided.

The Wheel Workers on Facebook

The Wheel Workers on TikTok

The Wheel Workers on Instagram

The Wheel Workers on Bandcamp

Mock Media Sheds Light on the Narratives Working Against One’s Happiness on Power Pop Single “Rat Bastard”

Mock Media’s title track to its new album Rat Bastard (out now via Mac’s Record Label) sounds like the band is tapping into a combination of early 80s power pop and a bit of The Clash with the anthemic choruses. The clear melodies and crisp rhythms help the song’s story of low self esteem and issues of class getting in the way of love and genuine connection and how one’s life narratives can blind you to possibilities and chances to get out of a situation you resent and so you act out those frustrations on the people who might be good for you and work against your own potential joy. It’s a complicated dynamic in real life and it’s been the subject of rock and roll songs going back decades but here Mock Media brings clarity to a messy reality that many people know with a simple song that honors the conflicted feelings. Listen to “Rat Bastard” on YouTube and follow Mock Media at the links below.

Mock Media on Instagram

Mock Media on Bandcamp

Mock Media on Apple Music

NESYA’s “PUT THE FRIES IN THE BAG” Should be the R&B Darkwave Electronic Dance Club Hit of the Summer

NESYA’s “PUT THE FRIES IN THE BAG” dissolves any lines between pop R&B, darkwave, post-punk and electronic dance music. The video shows the artist looking like a subversive figure broadcasting with equipment that intentionally distorts and partly vertically pixellates her image. It’s the perfect aesthetic for a song that turns attempts at oppression and narrow othering on their head while point out truths about how attempting to erase the inconvenient doesn’t eliminate them or really push them into the background except as a presence that erodes the illusion of power. Musically at times it’s reminiscent of Boy Harsher, Alice Glass and the newer era of Sextile. But NESYA’s vocals are uniquely her own, soulful and even a little spooky in a way that boosts the emotional resonance of the music. It’s a song that should appear on the playlist of every Goth night this summer and beyond. Watch the video for “PUT THE FRIES IN THE BAG” on YouTube and follow NESYA at the links below.

NESYA on TikTok

NESYA on Instagram

NESYA on Apple Music

Fan Girl’s Noisy Slowcore Single “Worth It?” is a Song About Emotional Disconnect and Quiet Devatation

Fan Girl released the 8HRS EP (out April 24, 2026) marking its more extended offering since reconvening several years back in the wake of the tragic 2018 death of founding member Jack Wood. The lead single “Worth It?” begins somber with quiet but emotional vocals, a simple piano figure and harmonic drones in the background like distant city lights to accompany the existential sentiments expressed in the song. The song sounds like someone going over a moment of disconnect with a loved one where it feels like it might be through or is in serious danger and our narrator is not ready to just let go and looking for some kind of confirmation. Musically the song begins in a melancholic, slowcore mode but ramps up to a noisier piece in the final quarter to reflect some of the anguish that lead up to the soul weary part in the beginning but perhaps most interesting the last ten seconds or so of the song we hear a sound like static sputtering out from a radio station that is going off broadcasting status for good. It speaks volumes in a way that makes the rest of the song sound hopeful, a quiet bit of devastation that not many bands would attempt. Listen to “Worth It?” on Spotify and follow the Australian band Fan Girl at the links below.

Fan Girl on Facebook

Fan Girl on Instagram