SubmitHub – Page 9 – Queen City Sounds and Art

CATBEAR Evokes a Deep Sense of Regret and Yearning in the Immersive, Soulful Synthpop of “Darkness”

CATBEAR just released its new full-length For Now, For Ever (out on vinyl, CD, download and streaming) and for a taste of what the record has to offer you can listen to the single “Darkness.” The song begins with some white noise like the waves washing ashore in the nighttime distance. But then the duo’s immersive and rich synth melodies and soulfully melancholic vocals take over seeming to slow dance and sway over the pulsing and accented rhythms. The song seems to be one about people who were in love and parted ways thinking they found someone more suitable and maybe they did but unable to fully shake that earlier connection. It strikes the perfect tone for late night reflection in a certain kind of mood that takes you when you wonder if you’ve messed up but resigned to your choices like an adult. And yet sometimes someone stays in some dark corner of your heart possibly forever and maybe life will bring you back together. The song seems to honor these complex feelings with its emotional atmospherics and intensely evocative melodies. Listen to “Darkness” on Spotify and follow CATBEAR at the links below.

Ehsan Matoori’s “Fountain of Eternity” Sets Rumi’s Mystic Poetry to Dance Choreography and Stirring Modern Persian Classical Music

Ehsan Matoori, photo courtesy the artist

“Fountain of Eternity” by Ehsan Matoori is inspired by the work of 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic Rumi with lyrics from a poem of the same. The song features vocalists Maliheh Moradi and Tamir Hargana meaning more traditional melodic singing and Mongolian throat singing in the same song with both contributing in seemingly synergistic fashion to the subject of reconciliation of the self with spiritual and practical truths about our place in the great progression of a universe in which we can take solace in knowing that everything is connected by and made up of the same stuff, the same energy even if it manifests as subjectively experienced consciousness that can forget for a moment its specific limitations. The poem reads a little like a Zen koan in its simple but effective communication of existential and poetic truths. But it is the energetic aspect of the music and the orchestration of vocals, piano, strings and percussion that allows the words to affect you even if you aren’t watching the lyrics in the beautifully choreographed video with dance arranged by Miriam Peretz and Carson Brooks. Altogether it unites ancient creative work with modern methods and sensibilities for a work that synthesizes past and present modes of expression. Watch the video for “Fountain of Eternity” on YouTube and follow Ehsan Matoori at the links below.

Ehsan Matoori on Instagram

Peter Litvin’s Don’t Break It” is a Humorous and Dramatic, Psychedelic Breakup Song

The video for Peter Litvin’s “Don’t Break It” finds the singer and songwriter wandering a lonely, under-maintenanced (so it could be almost anywhere in America) highway cast in psychedelic colors from what looks like an in-camera effect from DV camera but too vivid and intentional to be just that. Yet the aesthetic suits the song about a breakup that leaves you confused because at least on your end you were putting what you thought was your all into the relationship. The song beckons the loved one not to break things off in what seems like a cavalier fashion. He fiery guitar solo in the last third of the song is an outburst of feeling that is like a dramatic mourning of what’s lost and fighting for what should still be. And yet the imagery asking the difference between a coffin and casket tells you how things played out in the end but if you can have humor about it and show that you tried, that your feelings were genuine and intense that you can preserve your dignity even if other people might think you’re being ridiculous. Watch the video for “Don’t Break It” on YouTube and follow the prolific artist at the links provided.

Peter Litvin on Facebook

Peter Litvin on Instagram

Pictureplane’s Introspective “Weeping Sky” is a Slow Jam For the Late Night Dance Floor

Pictureplane turns in an introspective club song for slow dancing with “Weeping Sky.” In the music video co-directed by Chris Burden we see Travis Egedy dancing on a basketball court while night scenes of New York City including images from dance clubs are layered over him for an aesthetic reminiscent of early 2000s video editing techniques like one would expect from some vintage underground hip-hop music videos with in-camera editing and effects. Egedy’s vocals are lower than one is used to from his earlier work but paired with the nearly downtempo beats and moody atmospheric flourishes as well as the bright, glitch-pop backing vocals it’s the perfect evocation of immediacy mixed with nostalgia and coming to terms with one’s own desires as a human with physical and emotional needs that can be separated by culture and social conditioning. The song is both a reconnecting of Pictureplane as an artist with his early experimental electronic pop songcraft rooted in hip-hop that resonates even today and moving forward into a different direction that feels more mature in approach without compromising a spark of the joy of life and of living and savoring authentic experiences that recharge and restore you. Watch the video for “Weeping Sky” on YouTube and follow Pictureplane at the links provided. The new Pictureplane album Sex Distortion drops October 31, 2025 on vinyl and digital via Music Website.

Pictureplane on Twitter

Pictureplane on Facebook

Pictureplane on TikTok

Pictureplane on Instagram

music-website.com

Slouching’s “Medialyte” is an Ambient Coldwave Song Evocative of Retro Science Fiction Noir

“Medialyte” begins with a minimal beat setting a framing of spaciousness before the voice sample comes in with the layers of synth and textural tones. Slouching’s use of these layers is cinematic in a way that sounds like a moody, fiction noir set in the 1980s might look like. Think like a downtempo IDM track influenced by early Gary Numan and late 80s coldwave soundtracking a lost Michael Mann film. Listening you can see the darkened streets and long drives, neon lights, street lights providing a hazy respite from a late night fog. The extended melodies are hypnotic and the voice like some lecture on existential subjects received on a shortwave radio adds more than a touch of compelling mystery without being the centerpiece. Listen to “Medialyte” on Bandcamp and follow Slouching there and on Spotify. The duo’s self-titled EP released August 18, 2025.

“Marina pt. 2” is an Ambient Jazz Fusion Portrait of Leisure Times in the Coastal Subtropics

Shrunken Elvis, photo courtesy the artists

“Marina pt. 2” has a steady clip of a beat with sunny, impressionistic guitar work sketching melodies over shimmering fades. The song by the curiously named Shrunken Elvis sounds like something written from the memories of being near a subtropical coast in latter half of spring between school breaks and summer vacation when the weather is nice and when the crowds are not as active. It’s a time when one can relax and let the days stretch out some while engaged in relaxing activity. The song builds so that the guitar is more distorted and playful. Like some of Brian Eno’s collaborations that include Robert Fripp cutting loose and then reigning it in. One imagines perhaps leisurely boat ride out of the marina into choppy waters and then into more tranquil parts of the bay and returning once again to dock with the sunset. Listen to “Marina pt. 2” on YouTube and follow Shrunken Elvis at the links provided. The trio’s self-titled album released September 5, 2025 on Western Vinyl.

Shrunken Elvis on Western Vinyl

Spencer Cullum on Instagram

Birdie Swann Sisters & King Black Acid Embrace the Messy Aspects of Being a Passionate Person in Love on “Hurricane”

Birdie Swann Sisters & King Black Acid, photo courtesy the artists

“Hurricane” by Birdie Swann Sisters & King Black Acid in its Birdie Swann Mix iteration lends the song a softer quality. The animated video with collaged images of imperiled and infamous women in a band playing the song (Squeaky Fromme, Shelley Duvall, Judy Garland, Jayne Mansfield and Sharon Tate) and a figure with a large, papier mache head frolicking in he forest in a kind of manic delirium playing guitar and dancing while a psychedelic world and all its contents continue to swirl. In the end we see the papier mache head in flames. The psychedelic pop song is an embrace of having a tumultuous heart and a passionate and highly emotional nature, being a little volatile, even unhinged, at times and in generally not being able to give less than everything, which is more than you get from a lot of people. Despite the lyrics depicting chaos the song is catchy and itself sounds more celebratory than menacing perhaps proving that sometimes what you see isn’t fully the essence of what you get with someone. Watch the video for “Hurricane” on YouTube and follow King Black Acid on Bandcamp.

King Black Acid on Bandcamp

Carmine Francis Reconciles His Dreams and Existential Anxieties on Tender Psychedelic Folk Pop Single “Too Much”

Carmine Francis, photo courtesy the artist

An ethereal harmonic hovers as the backdrop to Carmine Francis’s single “Too Much” and truly lends his vocals and the spare instrumentation an intimate quality and immediacy. The song is like a meditation on life’s ups and downs and perennial yearnings and anxieties and trying to find a way to turn it all into something that liberates you from that cycle of seemingly endless little struggles that long term can feel like they’re dragging you down. We commiserate with the songwriter as he relates how his own previous efforts and goals may have contributed to staying on the existential rat race rather than aiming to dream differently and take in the fears he once avoided and reconcile them with a better headspace. Fans of Silver Jews and the more psychedelic folk side of Wilco will appreciate the fine inflections of tone and rhythmic nuance that make this song something you want to hear again immediately. Listen to “Too Much” on Bandcamp where you can hear the rest of the Surrender EP which released August 21, 2025.

SAADI Highlights the Strange and Irrational Aspects of Faith on Synthpop Single “Gotcha!”

SAADI’s single “Gotcha!” is a playful send-up of the concept of putting too much stake into articles of religious faith and the superstitious mindset that convinces some people they have more control over their world than they do. Utilizing minimal synth layers, even more minimal guitar riffs and
electronic percussion the songwriter brings a sense of the pristine and otherworldly which is at times reminiscent of a Talking Heads song in the use of polyrhythms and non-Western tonal palettes. It sets the perfect mood for discussing the absurdities of holding the purely mythical and odd stories as part of some eternal and universal truth. Fans of The Knife and Tune-Yards will appreciate SAADI’s masterful arrangement of layered moods and cultural reference points. Listen to “Gotcha!” on Spotify and follow SAADI at the links below. The artist’s new album Birds of Paradise released September 4, 2025 on limited edition vinyl, digital download and streaming.

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SAADI on Instagram

SAADI on Bandcamp

Springworks’ “Ultraviolet Lullabies” is Like a Psychedelic Garage Folk Theme Song to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy

Springworks surprises us with a different mood and sound palette for “Ultraviolet Lullabies.” It’s structured around an ascending chord structure that feels like it keeps climbing upward throughout the song even though it starts the cycle over. It sounds like theme music for a science fiction series set on frontier world that is settled enough to have some culture and political intrigue. The melodies and arrangements are like a psychedelic garage folk song but with a retro-futurist feel like some late 60s band writing music for Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. Watch the video for “Ultraviolet Lullabies” on YouTube and follow Springworks at the links provided.