synthpop – Queen City Sounds and Art

Reindeer Flotilla’s Synth Pop Single “Chef’s Knife” is a Vibrant Song About Navigating Challenging Situations

Reindeer Flotilla, photo courtesy the artists

With its new EP Studio City (out May 12, 2026), Reindeer Flotilla seem to have fused an inspirations from 80s synth pop and Animal Collective. This is especially effective on lead single “Chef’s Knife” where the band seems to have written a song about how one can take the poor treatment of others one has chosen to endure or had imposed upon you by a situation that may have been necessary and use that to focus one’s capacity to process and handle the static that comes your way. The way the band crafts pacing with tone and layers of rhythmic and percussive sounds and pairs it with a melancholic melody really draws you in and keeps you in the song and its evolving moods and shifts in tone through to the end. It hits the ears like something from another era but the production is fully modern in a more sound design mode with expert placing of and processing of electronic and analog sources. Listen to “Chef’s Knife” on Spotify and follow Los Angeles-based group Reindeer Flotilla at the links below.

reindeerflotillaband.com

Reindeer Flotilla on Facebook

Reindeer Flotilla on Instagram

“Behold!” by Radium88 is Like the Avant-Garde Synthpop Soundtrack to a Retro-Futurist Dystopian Novel

“Behold!” the opening track of Radium88’s new album Beauty is Lies (released April 4, 2026) feels like a trip back to an alternative dimension where turn of the 80s Hawkwind, early Eurhythmics and Legendary Pink Dots are the soundtrack to children’s shows and public television documentaries. The song brings together analog percussion sounds, bell tones, measured drum machine rhythms and dream like synth drone melodies in a manner that is transporting and soothing to the mind. The vocals are like a spoken piece from book of poetry crafted for a lost classic of retro-futurist science fiction. The song indeed feels like the intro to music for such a work that would bear comparison to the output of Alan Moore and Gene Wolfe. In general the song hits like finding a time capsule with a message for the future during a time of oppression and widespread, imposed austerity. The rest of the album does not disappoint in the richness of tone and a sustained sense of wonder. Listen to “Behold!” on YouTube and follow Nottingham, UK’s Radium88 at the links below.

Radium88 on Twitter

Radium88 on Facebook

Radium88 on Instagram

Radium88 on Bandcamp

Lukka Celebrates the Multitudes Within Each of Us on Psychedelic Synth Pop Single “Tomboi”

Lukka perfectly accents the rhythms of synth pop single “Tomboi.” The melodious and breathy vocals seem to invoke the embrace of different sides of oneself within and the virtues and unique qualities attendant to them. In particular the unification of masculine and feminine inside everyone as a product of superficially disparate elements coming together to produce a new human entity. The song’s effervescent and vibrant energy feels like a celebration of that acknowledgment and acceptance of how each of us contains multitudes that conventional culture conditions us to separate out as if that’s even possible without great effort at suppressing the manifest truth that need not be resisted. The song has some cool funk beats while fully psychedelic in its crafting experimental sounds into a pop song that makes its heady ideas accessible. Listen to “Tomboi” on Spotify and follow Lukka at the links provided.

Madeline Goldstein Entrancing Darkwave Synthpop Single “Dream 2 Die” is a Song About Personal Liminal Spaces and Transcending Stasis

At the beginning of Madeline Goldstein’s new single “Dream 2 Die,” it’ obvious that the songwriter has mastered the art of the percussive bass synth line. It’s a sound reminiscent of the better end of the Pet Shop Boys and New Order catalogs. The shimmering synth melody over the top and Goldstein’s signature soulful/evocatively ethereal vocals get into your head for a song about the lingering impact of a time we all went through when many of us were isolated and the world seemed to have changed forever. For some people this sense of isolation was a familiar experience that continued and for Goldstein it is clearly a source of inspiration in articulating so well a psychological liminal space where things can feel in a constant state of flux and of becoming without quite reaching an endpoint. The echoing vocals and the quickly resolving icy synth line on hypnotic repeat frame a song that is captivating and mysterious and feels simultaneously like comforting the feelings of anyone that has felt stuck and a will to move forward into the uncharted and unknown. Listen to “Dream 2 Die” on YouTube and follow Madeline Goldstein at the links below. The songwriter/singer’s new album Speaking to the Body is out April 10, 2026 via Artoffact Records on translucent red vinyl, digital download and streaming.

Madeline Goldstein on Instagram

Madeline Goldstein on Bandcamp

Forever Factory’s Moody Synthpop Single “Absence” is a Song About the Complexities of Romantic Devotion

Forever Factory, photo courtesy the artist

Forever Factory is set to release the EP Violence Is Everywhere But Not Here in March 2026. Ahead of that the project offers “Absence.” The subdued, melodic bass line running through the song is reminiscent of something Peter Hook was doing in the later period Joy Division and early New Order as an anchoring, yet driving presence. Alexander Zen’s dramatic vocals are the perfect vehicle for a song that seems to be expressing conflicted and complex feelings of devotion for a loved one and being willing to get through rough patches and even times when one feels hollowed out because the connection is more enduring than some temporary emotional turmoil. It also articulates an unspoken acknowledgment of one’s own passionate and sensitive nature maybe hitting some low points as well and yearning to not be discarded for feeling poignantly and deeply. Fans of the aforementioned as well as Madeleine Goldstein and Model/Actriz will appreciate what Forever Factory demonstrates with this single. Listen to “Abscence” on Spotify and follow Forever Factory on Instagram.

MAKEUP Breathes Otherworldly and Fantastical Melodies Into the Ethereal Synthpop of “Finger Driver”

The swirls of ethereal harmonics and melodies in the hazy synths of MAKEUP’s “Finger Driver” pair well with a background of icy tones and a spare electronic beat. The artist’s processed vocals offer an emotional uplift in a song that could otherwise be melancholic. The mood is reminiscent of lightly fogged DIY skate parties in the late 2010s and like a soundtrack for a more hopeful indie science fiction thriller. Fans of Chromatics and Electric Youth will find some strong resonance in MAKEUP’s mastery of tone and organic yet otherworldly and fantastical melodies. Listen to “Finger Driver” on Spotify.