SubmitHub – Page 3 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Sara Diana’s Lushly Rendered “Is That Blood?” is a Dark Dream Pop Song About Passion and Trust

“Is That Blood?” begins with a spare but urgent piano line before Sara Diana’s strong and soulful vocals come in with a brooding backdrop of cycling low end and a minimalistic beats. The song seems to be about a romance that is deep and caught up in a mutual acceptance of aspects of those involved that they feel the need to keep secret or hidden from most people for fear of judgment. In the song’s orchestral arrangements the songwriter perfectly places the emotional beats of the song. Fans of the early music of Lorde will find something resonant here but in a darker dream pop vein yet both artists seem to draw upon inspiration from modern R&B production. Listen to “Is That Blood?” on Spotify and follow Sara Diana at the links provided.

Sara Diana on TikTok

Sara Diana onInstagram

Sara Diana on YouTube

First Day of Spring’s Art Rock Post-Punk Single “PARTYZEIT!” is a Song About Facing One’s Fears and Personal Failings With Integrity and Creativity

First Day of Spring, photo courtesy the artist

First Day of Spring on its driving and eclectic single “PARTYZEIT!” sounds a little like Happy Mondays if that band was inspired more by Krautrock. But the song’s music video and its seemingly joyous collage of aesthetics reflects a song that combines melody, strong rhythms and what might be described as urgent textures. The vocals echo ever so slightly like one’s voice being reflected back at one inside a small room in natural and immediate reverb. The two vocalists take passages and appear to occupy visual spaces in the video like they’re having to face the dark side of their own fantasies, dreams and aspirations as surreal and oddly benevolent nightmares. It wonderfully doesn’t fit in with a narrow genre of music with layers of Gary Numan-esque synth pop, Fall-esque left field funk and like they definitely listened to a bit of Parquet Courts. Watch the video for “PARTYZEIT!” on YouTube and follow First Day of Spring at the links below.

First Day of Spring on Instagram

Jupe Jupe’s Passionate Post-Punk Single “Cane” is a Call to Embracing One’s Vulnerability as a Path to Self-Liberation

Jupe Jupe is set to release its new album King of Sorrows on February 7, 2026 on vinyl, digital download and streaming. Ahead of that event the Seattle-based post-punk band released the single “Cane.” The song seems to be an account of being in a place in your life where you put up your defenses to avoid getting hurt emotionally but get caught up in a moment of vulnerability and realize that always being on the psychological defensive is a habit that limits your possibilities as a human. The icy synths, the soaring, passionate vocals, the slight edge to the moody guitar and urgent rhythm are reminiscent of both The Chameleons and Comsat Angels and how both bands could use dark atmospheres and bright melodies to craft a song that honored one’s sensitivity and hurt while inspiring oneself to risk the perils of the world and reach for fulfilling experiences. Watch the video for “Cane” on YouTube and follow Jupe Jupe at the links below.

jupejupemusic.com

Jupe Jupe on Twitter

Jupe Jupe on Facebook

Jupe Jupe on Instagram

DOMUS Conjure Feelings of Cosmic Uncertainty on Ambient IDM Single “Unavoidable Cycles”

Thobias Eidevald and Henrik Sunbring of DOMUS are not utility members of Sinoia Caves but the beautifully saturated synth tone on “Unavoidable Cycles” has a similarly fantastical quality. Like music for a dystopian, existential, retro-science fiction film. The song from the duo’s latest EP The Last Swan (released December 12, 2025) is accented by what sounds like a touch of bass guitar through reverb or light delay but the synth layers and the arrangement of the pacing is in the style of a classic IDM track from the late 90s and early 2000s like they had absorbed Boards of Canada circa Geogaddi as well as mid-to-late-2000s Black Moth Super Rainbow. The song is the last track of the EP and it indeed has a mood of accepting the end of a journey with an uncertain future ahead. Perfect for the times we’re in. Listen to “Unavoidable Cycles” on Spotify and follow DOMUS at the links below.

DOMUS on Facebook

DOMUS on Instagram

DOMUS on Bandcamp

“I will eternally miss you when the abyss finally disintegrates me” by the fear of death and the end of time is a Gutting Depiction of the Last Days of Humanity

“I will eternally miss you when the abyss finally disintegrates me” by the fear of death and the end of time is in fact not a song by an early 2000s emocore band nor is it post-rock. The sentence of the title captures the mood of a song that starts off sounding like it’s going to be a cool, lo-fi indiepop song before the distortion kicks in a little and ups the emotional intensity for a moment before transitioning to the end with the spoken word piece over the melancholic, harmonic drone. The nearly whispered words come across like the final page of a diary entry of someone who is living at the end of the world and regrets not having more time with their loved one and how cruel that that connection had to happen right when there is no escaping the eschatological disaster. Fans of Slint’s influential 1991 album Spiderland will appreciate the mood of this song and the rest of the album together we fade away though this music is more in the realm of noise and drone but the enigmatic tone of the song and the album resonates deeply with the mood of what Slint has done. Fans of They Are Gutting a Body of Water will find more than a little to like here too. One might think of the track as kind of a bummer but take a look at the world and the impending doom of climate collapse and socio-political disintegration in late stage capitalism and it hits as more poignant. Listen to “I will eternally miss you when the abyss finally disintegrates me” on YouTube and follow the fear of death and the end of time on Bandcamp.

SloNewsLife’s Lo-Fi Indiepop Single “Ansible” is a Tender Recollection of Loss and Connection With Memories of Family

The title track of SloNewsLife’s September 13, 2025 EP ansible has a fragile and lo-fi quality that sounds refreshing in an era of excessive production and when you’re not sure if you’re hearing something made by a human. The spare guitar work and vulnerable vocals in the beginning of the song gives way around the one minute fifteen mark to the sound of an organ like the song is conceptually entering a phase of deep reverie. The lyrics recall a memory of childhood that comes back to haunt you later in life. The line “you swore to me we were all going to die” followed by a bit about how in “three decades it turns out you were right, always right” suggests the loss of a loved family member who often offered sage observations that don’t hit the right way immediately. The title of the song possibly references a communication device created by Ursula K. Le Guin for some of her science fiction novels. The device allows for instantaneous communication across intergalactic distances. It seems for this song and possible as a theme of the EP the yearning for the ability to connect across a different type of distance in time and past barriers of interpersonal communication and as a poetic device it makes the song carry a little more weight. Fans of Owen Ashworth and his various projects will find a lot of resonance with what SloNewsLife has to offer. Listen to “Ansible” the song and the EP on Spotify.

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

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.