SubmitHub – Page 11 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Pynch Speaks Eloquently to the Anxiety of an Era of Endless Choices on Genre Eclectic Single “Post-Punk/New-Wave”

London-based post-punk band Pynch will release its new album Beautiful Noise October 3, 2025 on vinyl, digital download and streaming. Its lead singles promise something more sonically rich and diverse than one might expect with any genre tagging and the cheekily titled yet endearingly rendered song “Post-Punk/New-Wave” speaks to that. In the current era it seems like every musical idea has been tried and every combination and trying to get a hook into a potential listener while remaining true to an idiosyncratic, and thus truly valuable, artistic vision and sensibility can be challenging. There is simply so much out there to cater to tastes but when those tastes are not necessarily cultivated either one can get caught up in trying to appeal to too much. But instead of trying too much the song has a simple melody and rhythm with lyrics that are just dead honest about the way all the possible options and the multitude of distractions and demands on your life and time can pull you apart into a state of perpetual existential crisis without committing to anything because doing so might mean you’ll miss out, be out of date and seem quaint by being about anything. The opening lyric spells this dilemma out nicely: “It’s post-punk, it’s new wave with a little bit of shoegaze, I want it all.” And don’t we all want to have options? And yet infinite options is exhausting and corrosive to a sense of self. Ironically, perhaps, the song does have an identity as an eclectic, jangly song with undeniable hooks that is all it aims to be while evoking modern angst in an era of social media and endless access to often meaningless choices. Watch the video for “Post-Punk/New-Wave” on YouTube and follow Pynch at the links provided.

“Tarha” is Bombino’s Uplifting, Tuareg Guitar Folk Tribute to Love, Friendship and the Beautiful Tranquility of the Desert

“Tarha” came about when Greatg Big Warm House invited Grammy nominated Tuareg artist Bombino into their space Villa Lala in Vienna to record. It’s a song about love, friendship and the desert but one doesn’t need to speak Tamasheq to feel the warmth and affection in the music. The intricate, fluid and energetic guitar work intertwines with the Bombino’s soft yet finely inflected vocals that rise above the rhythmic guitar leads and spare drones that serve as a narrative backdrop and emotional context to the music. It has the sound of tranquil journeys over sand to visit those closest to your heart and the yearning for that connection that gives you the peace of mind to endure the heat and exertion to reunite and share in the company of the people that help to fill your heart with meaning. Listen to “Tarha” on Spotify and follow Bombino at the links below.

Bombino on Facebook

Bombino on Instagram

Doc No’s Live Modular Piece “Q-41_QV_050325a” is Charged With the Playful Percussive Tones and Bright, Sustained Harmonics

“Q-41_QV_050325a” sure does look like one of those file names that Aphex Twin uses for titles for tracks on some of his own releases. But it is part of Doc No’s latest collection Quimby Variations, Vol. 1 (released June 20, 2025). Its spacious resonances and vivid tonal quality sounds like the musical equivalent of a slow moving pinball machine with the ball hitting various objects as it bounces gently off walls as it’s guided through a gauntlet of widgets that change its trajectory and triggering unique sounds that are both percussive and rhythmic. All while swelling and fading drones give the foreground music a contrasting context of sustained harmonics. That the piece was part of a larger set performed through modular synths and recorded straight to tape makes it an even more impressive achievement of all but spontaneous composition. Listen to “Q-41_QV_050325a” on YouTube and follow Doc No aka Noah Davis at the links below.

Doc No on Instagram

Madeline Goldstein’s Darkwave Synth Pop Single “Apogee” is a Deeply Evocative Song About Embracing the Energy of Complicated Feelings

Madeline Goldstein, photo by Aleckz Picha

“Apogee” is the second single from Madeline Goldstein’s forthcoming full-length album set for release in fall 2025. It is the first and only co-written song with Matia Simovich (a producer on releases from Them Are Us Too, SRSQ, Riki, Houses of Heaven, Inhalt and others). The song has the hallmarks of Goldstein’s songwriting and vocal that have made her work today some of the most entrancing and sonically rich modern synth pop and darkwave happening. Goldstein’s 2023 EP Other World was a short release to get lost in with the noir storytelling and saturated synth melodies paired with Goldstein’s soaring, melodious and evocative vocals. “Apogee” has all of that but a step further in development with unconventional percussive elements that include field recordings of wrenches dragged across chain link fences and even more layers of synth and electronic drums.

All in all this deeply personal song that seems to be about being in that liminal space in your heart where you wonder if the situation you’re in with someone is reaching a high point or if it’s some kind of yearning that blurs the line between connection and something deeper. The dramatic bursts of crystalline synth tone and pulsing rhythm is engulfing and hypnotic like a melancholic dance song written to induce the crying out of confused and complicated emotions while stuck between feeling so strongly and not knowing if it’s reciprocated or if it’s all been in your head yet not being able to deny your own depth of feeling. And sometimes the best way to process that state of being is to write and hear a song that speaks so directly to an emotional state that is common enough but not often written about with such elegance and tonal precision. Listen to “Apogee” on YouTube and follow Madeline Goldstein at the links below.

Madeline Goldstein on Instagram

Madeline Goldstein on Bandcamp

Ava Della Pietra Reclaims Her Power by Turning The Tables on a Shady Lover on Alt-Pop Single “2 can play”

Ava Della Pietra, image courtesy the artist

Ava Della Pietra’s confident and sassy “2 can play” is a song about how sometimes we can all think we’re into someone who is bad for us and is bad news in general. In the song Della Pietra takes on a two faced lover or would be lover who seems to think it’s fine to play the field among her friends like they wouldn’t talk. There’s a term for this kind of man that includes the word “boi” but it’s not mentioned in the song because this guy doesn’t even rate that. Della Pietra reclaims her dignity by walking away after first feeling a little hurt as you do and turns the tables on the fool who probably won’t be able to handle it. The playful rhythms arranged with the pace of the story and how it sketches out the sitch lends the song some unconventional structure that reflects the lived of experience of being done wrong and then finding a way to turn that shady behavior sideways on the perpetrator. Watch the video for “2 can play” on YouTube and follow Ava Della Pietra at the links below.

avadellapietra.com

Ava Della Pietra on Twitter

Ava Della Pietra on Facebook

Ava Della Pietra on Instagram

Trentemøller’s Rework and Remix of Tan Cologne’s Shoegaze Single “In Resin” Sounds Like a Daydream of Itself

The Trentemøller rework and remix of Tan Cologne’s dream pop single “In Resin” renders it all but unrecognizable beyond the entrancing melody. Rather than centered on guitar the driving sound is a simple piano figure underneath vocals that seem to appear and dissolve in the mix only to reappear later like clouds in the late spring daytime. The minimal percussion accents provide a grounding textural element that guides rather than anchors the song which seems to be flowing and drifting where it will but with a soothing and hypnotic quality like getting lost in a daydream of the original composition. Listen to “In Resin (Trentemøller Rework)” as remixed by Trentemøller as well on YouTube and follow north New Mexico duo Tan Cologne at the links below.

Tan Cologne on Instagram

Fletcher Tucker’s Organic Ritual Drone Track “To Light a Fire” is a Mystical Rite of Birth and Renewal

Fletcher Tucker, photo courtesy the artist

The enigmatic, slowly evolving harmonics of the drone that introduces Fletcher Tucker’s “To Light a Fire” from his new album Kin (out August 15, 2025 via Gnome Life Records) complements well the video footage of a fire burning in a pile of grass and other dried vegetation. The way a fire is in variation of form as influenced by the flow of oxygen around it but of uniform character. Then the voice comes in talking about building a bonfire in the snow far from the nearest road to commune with ancient human existence in a ritual surrounded by nature. The words speak to connecting with one’s ancestors and the generations to come. At the halfway point flute-like Mellotron figures and resound across the field of sound with minimal percussion (provided by Phil Elverum) accenting and brushing about like it is embodying the crackle of branches breaking down in the fire and the gentle sound of flames consuming wood. In the end of the song it becomes obvious that the song has been a kind of birth rite welcoming new life into the world in a way that would have been familiar to humans millennia ago and imbuing it with a mystic power often missing from human experiences in the present. Watch the video for “To Light a Fire” on YouTube and follow Fletcher Tucker at the links below.

fletchertucker.com

Fletcher Tucker on Instagram

Gnome Life Bandcamp

Minus the Bear Evokes a Yearning For True Intimacy and Connection on the Demo Version of “The Pig War”

Minus the Bear, photo courtesy the artists

Minus the Bear released the twentieth anniversary deluxe reissue of its beloved 2005 album Menos el Oso on August 22, 2025 ahead of its reunion tour performing those songs throughout October and November in the USA. With the deluxe edition of the math/indie rock classic are demos of various tracks including “The Pig War.” The demo of that song has a slower pace in the textural beat and a more spacious and melancholic cast. The vocals are more to the front and the demo has a wider open sound like the aim was to reflect the kinds of thoughts that trail off and merge with new memories that come to you when you’re allowing yourself to just feel and remember and not impose assumptions and ego-tinged interpretations. It makes it more obvious that the song is one about yearning for real intimacy and connection rather than the idea of either. Listen to “The Pig War (demo)” on YouTube and follow Minus the Bear at the links below.

Minus the Bear on Facebook

Minus the Bear on Instagram

Angel T33th Moody Dream Pop Single “Mika 2000” is a Tale of Unlikely Love in the Isolated Corners of the Human Intergalactic Diaspora

Angel T33th seems to channel Dazzle Ships-period OMD and the manifestation of those sounds in Future Islands in the expansive and lush “Mika 2000.” The sound has an energy that feels explorative and reflecting on what wonders may be ahead. The steady pulse of harmonic distortion and hand clap percussion and the more more insistent synth melodies convey a sense of romance and tragedy that the vocalist in her breathy turns of phrase seems to sketch a story of interacting with a person, an entity who is always around but exasperating but whom one comes to appreciate on a level that can only really happen when familiarity turns to affection. Overall the song feels like a piece of a futuristic story of isolation in the far flung corners of the human intergalactic diaspora. Listen to “Mika 2000” on YouTube and follow Angel T33th at the links below. The debut album A Message to Myself dropped on August 11, 2025.

Angel T33th on Instagram

Elly Kace’s Baroque Pop Single “Even with the lights on” is a Gentle Goodbye to the Lingering Attachments to a Former Love

Elly Kace evokes strong feelings of being haunted by a former love on “Even with the light on.” The hushed piano work carries the rhythm as a harmonic guitar figure floats forward in the background to accompany Kace’s breathy and melancholic vocals. The song is like an attempt to help these lingering feelings move on like a ghost that clings to you with unresolved attachments. With gentle words and affectionate resonances Kace acknowledges these feelings as a presence and encourages both herself and the persistent feelings to move on so that a health psychological balance can be encouraged to grow. Kace’s song has a bit of a baroque pop flavor like something from decades ago but her sound palette is entirely modern and striking that balance of contrasting yet complementary styles and musical ideas lends the song a timeless quality that brings you back for a re-visit. Listen to “Even with the light on” on YouTube and follow Elly Kace at the links below.