SubmitHub – Page 30 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Stephen Becker Coaxes Us Out of Our Comfort Zone on the Beat-less, Ambient Pop Single “Range”

Stephen Becker, photo courtesy the artist

Stephen Becker employs a minimal, melancholic keyboard figure to introduce “Range” fitting the impressionistic lyrics seemingly built out of the mundane details of life that separately seem insignificant but together develop a vivid emotional portrait especially when his vocals join together with those of Alena Spanger and they seem to be reassuring presences for each other. Ghostly tones and textural tones give the otherwise fairly abstract song a tactile quality and one that’s gentle yet slightly unsettled. The lyrics toward the end of the song, “I’m not lost, I’m just outside my range/I’m not lost, I’m just a little spaced,” point to the overall mood of the song in its embodying an uncomfortable acceptance of unfamiliar experiences and settings and a slight feeling of being unmoored emphasized by the realization that the song has no standard percussion yet the rhythms have their own organic sense of order even if it’s unconventional in the realm of pop music. Listen to “Range” on Spotify and follow Stephen Becker at the links below. Becker’s new album, the existential and sonically daring Middle Child Syndrome released on October 25, 2024.

Stephen Becker on X

Stephen Becker on Facebook

Stephen Becker on Instagram

Stephen Becker on Bandcamp

Mystic Toad’s Bittersweet “Hyperreal” is a Lush Synthpop Song About Letting Go

The layered melodies in foreground and background throughout Mystic Toad’s synthpop single “Hyperreal” create a soothing dynamic as each is deeply rhythmic but gentle. In the music video the singer strolls about an incoming tide after sunset but looking and sounding like his is awash in a spirit of acceptance and letting any of the anxieties of life go out with the waves. There is a bitter sweet aspect of the song like that acceptance includes letting go of attachments and assumptions about the way things are and how they should be as building blocks of one’s identity because they’re getting in the way of living. Toward the end of the song the subtle bass line seems to become more accented and reveals itself to be the guiding force of the song’s drifty flow like it’s the lifeline that makes it possible to keep focused on the essentials without being tied to no longer useful notions of what those might be. Watch the video for “Hyperreal” on YouTube and follow Mystic Toad at the links below. The new Mystic Toad album World of Destruction dropped August 15, 2024.

Mystic Toad on Instagram

Mystic Toad on TikTok

Melissa Weikart’s “Easy” is a Delicately Crafted, Melancholic Song About Affection

Melissa Weikart, photo courtesy the artist

Melissa Weikart’s expressive vocals ride the subtle wave of shifting piano work between major and minor chords throughout “Easy,” the title track to her latest EP. In the video we see the singer-songwriter in black and white alternating between white line drawings on black in moments and household items that anchor one’s memories. Weikart seems to be singing about how we make space for others and do little things for those we love or wish loved us so that we are not difficult to have in their lives. But in Weikart’s resonant vocals we hear melancholic overtones that leave the unspoken impression that such gestures of quiet affection are not always extended to us when we need them. Without spelling anything out in granular emotional detail Weikart nevertheless articulates a nuanced personal headspace that isn’t often the subject of pop songs. Watch the video for “Easy” on YouTube and follow the French-American artist at the links provided.

Melissa Weikart on Facebook

Melissa Weikart on Instagram

Elori Saxl’s Ambient Track “Grows Along the River Fast” is a Mind-Cleansing Mini-Vacation From the Flood of Superficial Data of Modern Everyday Life

Like the song the video for Elori Saxl’s “Grows Along the River Fast” builds in tonal clarity with an impressionistic palette. Arpeggiated sequences in layered cycles establish a textural pattern that immerses the listener in a nearly hypnotic flow of sounds like rapidly falling yet gentle raindrops as a harmonic halo hangs in the background. The brisk pace of the song contrasts with its contemplative energy in a way that reinforces the tranquil aspect of the song akin to waking up early on a cross country train trip well rested and not having one’s brain clouded by the “content” to which we’re subjected upon the usual daily contact with human civilization. It is a mind-cleansing listen that is a welcome respite from the inundation of superficial data of modern life. Watch the video for “Grows Along the River Fast” on YouTube and follow Elori Saxl at the links below. The song is from Saxl’s score for the TV series Earth Focus due out on digital download and vinyl on November 15, 2024.

Elori Saxl on Twitter

Elori Saxl on Instagram

Vases’ Darkwave Pop Single “Contact” is a Resonant Portrait of Haunted Self-Alienation

Ty Baron invokes cinematic monsters across decades in the new Vases song “Contact” to convey a sense of haunted self-alienation. Stylistically it’s darker and more somber than we’ve come to expect from the songwriter whose gift for artful psychedelic pop is well established with the project. But with this song and its more darkwave flavor Baron brings to bear his ear for crafting rich melodies and mastery of the use of space. The song takes us through dense and up close moments and those seemingly more adrift in a darkened space like the songwriter is wandering around in his own, surrealistic nightmare, the kind where there is no immediate threat, just a sense of unease and dread. Yet Baron leaves us with a sense of closure from those feelings by the end of the song even as its captivating mood lingers on. Listen to “Contact” on Spotify and follow Vases on Instagram.

Vases on Instagram

Kaput’s No Wave Post-punk Single “High Wire” is a Nightmarish Portrait of the Perils of Attention Seeking and Toxic Fandom

Chicago’s Kaput takes on the tensions between fandom and fame and the demands and expectations that exist mutually in the dark, post-punk song “High Wire.” The synths glisten ominously as percussion thuds splays with a seeming finality and the driving bass pairs with the electronic melody while Nadia Garofalo sings with what might be described as tense resignation. The chorus of “Caution is boring/We came for blood/If you tell me no one’s watching/Was it even worth your time” and later in the song with urgency “Give us everything, everything you’ve got” Garofalo swimming in the rhythmic cacophony and clatter at the end of the song captures the perverse and often toxic dependency of a certain way artists are encouraged to seek out attention at all times while their audience is conditioned to expect more and more with greater cost to the artist psychically and personally. It’s a way of things that has really extended to all areas of our lives to varying degrees as the barrier between ourselves and the commodification of our time and identity channeled into social media and the tendrils jobs and other realms of the economy get their grips into more of your time until you feel like you have nothing left because everything given isn’t enough. It is indeed as the song title suggests, a precarious balance with the potential to end badly. Kaput’s song dramatizes something that many of us feel in everyday life to varying degrees in music that’s harrowing, nightmarish and in the end cathartic. Listen to “High Wire” on Spotify and follow Kaput at the links below. Expect the debut album from Garofalo (ex-Ganser) and Brian Fox (Electrical Audio studio) in early 2025.

Kaput on Instagram

Kaput on Bandcamp

Kaput on YouTube

Orchid Mantis and Cathedral Bells Evoke the Poignancy of Romantic Existential Panic in an Elegant Tapestry of Guitar Pop Melancholia

The intermingling guitar layers in “Dead Malls” by Orchid Mantis with Cathedral Bells enhance its introspective mood. In scarcely more than two minutes the song spans a good degree of emotional and psychological territory of memories and how they resonate with your present experiences in peak moments, in this case seemingly those more melancholic, and the way malls represent for many people an important part of their lives where they met with friends in their youth and perhaps their romantic partners and in that way can be an anchoring memory when you hit a space in your head of uncertainty. In the song’s lyrics we hear a touch about the early romance and the present and thoughts of wondering “if we’ll make it to the end” or if what was built together will disappear without a trace like so many malls. It’s a deep metaphor wrapped in delicately atmospheric guitar pop in which both musicians play off each other with an elegantly intuitive ease. It feels like a good swath of a lifetime experienced in miniature but losing none of the emotional weight. Listen to “Dead Malls” on Spotify and follow Orchid Mantis at the links provided.

Orchid Mantis on Instagram

Orchid Mantis on Facebook

Orchid Mantis on Twitter

“recipes” by tttc is Like Hearing a Friendly Conversation Between Marimba, Kalimba and Analog Clocks

“recipes” from tttc (aka trang trai trai cay aka Angry Bambi aka Mai Giang Tran) layers rhythmic textures and melodic percussive tones. The piece has an organic structure with every iteration a different specific expression of utilizing similar tools to explore the possibilities of those sounds to evoke a mood. In this case it has a soothing, almost hypnotic effect like listening to a kalimba and a marimba having a conversation with analog clocks with gears. Because of that it has an alien yet familiar quality like everyday objects having a way to communicate with each other and you with no agenda other than to provide a stimulating yet calming atmosphere. Listen to “recipes” on Bandcamp and follow tttc at the links below. The album milky smell armpits released September 19, 2024 via the artist’s Fruit Exports imprint.

tttc on Instagram

High Marks’ “In Twilight” is Awash in Transcendent, Psychedelic, Industrial Haze

“In Twilight” by High Marks comes on like Jack Dangers producing a Front 242 track but in lo-fi mode that quickly transitions into pulsing, industrial noise rock. Think Godflesh on a diet of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and The Jesus and Mary Chain. The rapid, caustic shimmer of guitar atmosphere riding on a subtle wave of low end with cryptic vocals floating over it all and all but overwhelmed by the haze conveys a sense of emotional transcendence especially when the flood of scorching guitar gives way to reveal a pulsing, distorted synth anchoring the song to a linear rhythm rather than the semi-organized chaos that made the rest of the song so appealing in its maximalist sonics. Listen to “In Twilight” on Spotify and follow High Marks at the links below. The band’s new album Soured released October 18, 2024 via Propitious Artifacts on digital download, streaming and limited edition cassette and CDR.

High Marks on Instagram

High Marks on Facebook

Kareem Rahma’s “Time” is a Passionate, Motorik, Psychedelic Post-punk Song About Devoted Love

Kareem Rahma pairs a strong, melodic bass line with motorik beats on “Time.” Its a romantic song about patterns and rhythms that bring two people together and it indulges some expected sentiments as you do when you’re swept up in it but words also wax into the complexities of romance as well. When the song takes off it’s like Yo La Tengo embracing their Neu! Influence with fiery, psychedelic guitar flourishes but with Rahma being passionately in the moment as he sings “I got nothin’ but time!” in the outro chorus and it feels like someone expressing their devotion with no concessions to the limitations of a world and a life overly defined by obligations to work and responsibilities. It sounds like where you want to be with matters of the heart more significant than one’s utility to the economy. Listen to “Time” on Spotify and follow Kareem Rahma at the links below. Kareem Rahma & Tiny Gun’s new EP No Worries If Not released on September 20, 2024.

Kareem Rahma on Instagram

Kareem Rahma on TikTok