Queen City Sounds and Art

Pocket Of Lollipop’s “Be Your Own Detective” is an Art Pop Song Crafted From the Wonderful Weirdness of Dream Logic

Pocket Of Lollipops, photo courtesy the artists

Pocket Of Lollipop’s enigmatically titled EP Number 2990 (out January 11, 2026) ends with the deliciously unusual track “Be Your Own Detective.” It sounds a little like a Tav Falco and Lydia Lunch formed an indiepop band that discarded that sound and went full weirdo psychedelic rock. But even that tortured description is only a hint at the way the song completely transforms rhythms throughout the song so that its pacing is never fully predictable even with repeating elements that characterize the song in any given moment like the repeated guitar riffs and twinkling keyboard sounds echoing ever so slightly with whimsical vocals that saunter through the first part of the song outlining games people might play and a demented bit about playing games and being put through the wringer and no cheating. It’s surreal and operates according a kind of dream logic so enjoy it for the wonderful weirdness it is and the way it demands taking it according to its own musical rules rather than the ones you’re used to in standard pop, rock or even too much of experimental music. Listen to “Be Your Own Detective” on Spotify and follow Miami’s Pocket Of Lollipops at the links below.

Pocket Of Lollipops on Facebook

Pocket Of Lollipops on Instagram

Mary Ocher’s “The Dance” From Forthcoming Album Weimar is a Song Mourning the Specter of Modern Fascism

Ahead of the March 13, 2026 release of her new album Weimar, Mary Ocher offers a peek into what we’re in for with the video for the single “The Dance.” Stylistically divergent from her previous album’s eclectic, experimental pop flavor, “The Dance” is another kind of avant-garde suggestive of the title of the record. It has the artist singing in pop operatic fashion over orchestral and lingering piano work in a spotlight, black dress with sequins shimmering. It immediately brings to mind the obvious reference to the 1972 film Cabaret set in 1931 Berlin of the Weimar Republic era on the eve of the Nazi takeover of Germany and the air of oppression and menace that cloaks a place that had once been (and would again be) a place known for cosmopolitan culture, intellectual openness and forward thinking art. Ocher identifies that climate today in the world and seems to speak to the anxieties, fears and sadness at the prospect of fascist times again before the world can hopefully cast it aside and heal again and perchance establish something better and more enduring. Ocher’s refined and elegant performance hearkens back to Bohemian Berlin the way maybe someone today would almost yearn for a time of relative normalcy in America when you could at least barely scrape by on a low income and do your thing and live life a little without having to overwork yourself to do it and not worry too much about the government murdering you on the street or actively funding a genocide and threatening to ignite World War III because a dementia-addled lunatic is in the White House. But here we are and Mary Ocher speaks eloquently to a will to not just return to a better time in our collective culture but looking to a time when there can be one again. Watch the video for “The Dance” on YouTube and follow Mary Ocher at the links provided.

Mary Ocher on Facebook

Mary Ocher on TikTok

Mary Ocher on Instagram

Mary Ocher on Bandcamp

Pullman’s “Bray” is a Cinematic, Uplifting and Gently Urgent Flow of Invigorating Tonal Textures

Pullman released its new album III via Western Vinyl on January 9, 2026 (vinyl, digital download, streaming). The group comprised of Ken Brown (Tortoise/Directions in Music), Curtis Harvey (Rex), Chris Brokaw (Come/Codeine), Doug McCombs (Tortoise/Eleventh Dream Day) and Tim Barnes released albums in the late 90s and early 2000s before going on extended hiatus. The new record is the result of a collaboration that ran from 2016-2023 continuing after Barnes’ public announcement of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2021. The completed album is a development of the group’s signature cinematic sound. The single “Bray” and its collage of footage from nature including plants and geological formations has a hazy and uplifting aesthetic that is visceral in its washing through your brain with its rapid and distorted shimmer. Rhythmic lines linger and outline where the higher pitch tones flow freely and with an energetic inner urgency for a mixed dynamic that generates a sense of well-being. Watch the video for “Bray” on YouTube and follow Pullman at the links below.

Pullman on Bandcamp

Western Vinyl on Facebook

Western Vinyl on Instagram

Silver Liz’s Trip-Hop Glitch Pop Single “Trixie’s Crying” is an Affectionate and Playful Song About Helping to Uplift a Struggling Friend

Silver Liz’s third album appropriate titled III comes out January 30, 2026 (very limited edition vinyl, digital download and streaming) and its string of singles so far point toward an entrancing and genre-blurring listen. “Trixie’s Crying” has a melodic bass line akin to something from The Cure but forward is a panoply of bright tones, shimmering and warping guitar washes and Carrie Wagner’s vocals processed slightly to enhance an ethereal and effervescent quality to suit a song about someone trying her best to help a friend struggling with whatever existential and persistent emotional woes that plague her. The music video with the flickering, almost stop-motion 16-bit visuals of a cat frolicking behind the lyrics captures the affectionate, playful and uplifting mood of the song. Stylistically it traverses trip-hop, dream pop and glitch and for those tuned in might hit a little like later era Curve with a touch of Cocteau Twins circa Heaven or Las Vegas. Watch the video for “Trixie’s Crying” on YouTube and connect with Silver Liz at the links below.

Silver Liz on Facebook

Silver Liz on Instagram

Silver Liz on Bandcamp

La LEURENTOP’s Percussion-Driven Avant-Pop Single “The Darkness” is a Song About Embracing the Shadow Side of Ourselves to Come Into Our True Bloom

La LEURENTOP uses a spare, tribal drum pattern to establish a rooted rhythm for “The Darkness.” The song feels and sounds like a personal ritual, a repeating yet generative narrative exploring the parts of our lives that may seem like a mystery, elusive to us when we’re caught up in what we have come to accept as our lives and perhaps our identities yet knowing there’s more possible to us if we’re willing to connect with the parts of ourselves we’ve been denying. When the doubled vocals come in and the acoustic guitar and other percussion the song almost seems to remind us that we’re not alone in trying to expand our personal horizons and that we’re not the only ones. What genre is this? That seems irrelevant to enjoying and garnering benefit from taking in this song that also expands what a pop song can be, what a folk song can be, what an “indie” song can sound like. Listen to “The Darkness” on Spotify and follow La LEURENTOP at the links below.

La LEURENTOP on Apple Music

La LEURENTOP on Instagram

La LEURENTOP on Bandcamp

La LEURENTOP on YouTube

Chris Canipe Notes the Absurd Elements of Societal Collapse While Mourning the Destruction on Jangle Pop Single “Barely Stitched”

Chris Canipe and band, photo courtesy the artist

Chris Canipe has penned a song to encompass the state of the American body politic at this moment. “Barely Stitched” lists examples of the crassness, the fragmentation, the division, dysfunction, climate change and the dystopian and impersonal technological permeation of our lives. In the jangle-y melodies and wryly melancholic vocals you can hear almost a resignation to the way complete disaster and dissolution seems to have trickled into and inundated society. You get a sense that the songwriter knows that so much of this feels like we have collectively let go of the wheel and not attended to the things that make society functional and how it can feel completely overwhelming if you haven’t learned a coping mechanism or five like disassociating a little to get some distance from the chaos. In that sense it’s reminiscent of the attitude one heard in some of those 1980s Camper Van Beethoven songs wherein it’s clear the songwriters are taking the subject matter seriously while noting the absurdity of the situation. Listen to “Barely Stitched” on Bandcamp. Canipe’s new album Monuments released January 9, 2026.

Sasha & The Bear Create a Space to Lean Into One’s Feelings of Emotional Abandonment on Downtempo Dream Pop Single “Peaches”

Sasha & The Bear, photo courtesy the artists

Sasha & The Bear display a command of mood and pace on “Peaches.” The warm and intimate vocals are reflective and soulfully melancholic are framed initially by a soft synth melody before the minimal beat comes in and backing vocals augment the sense of loss and emotional pain at feeling left abandoned by someone with whom you felt you had a connection and a bond stronger than something casual. The confusion and hurt in the final lines of the song “you said it wasn’t me/but I watched you choose” is familiar to anyone that has ever experienced being abruptly dumped without fully knowing why by someone who may have their own demons to tangle with but who is lacking the psychological self-awareness and appropriate language to articulate why they have to leave a relationship that doesn’t seem to be toxic. The masterful use of texture, the tonal richness and the duo’s expert crafting or rhythm feels like processing a deep sadness and giving oneself the psychic space to really lean into one’s feelings without having to hold back or be overwhelmed by them. Listen to “Peaches” on Spotify and follow Sasha & The Bear at the links provided.

Sasha & The Bear on Apple Music

Sasha & The Bear on Twitter

Sasha & The Bear on TikTok

Sasha & The Bear on Instagram

Sasha & The Bear on YouTube

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E42: Turning Jewels Into Water

Turning Jewels Into Water, photo by Ed Marshall

Turning Jewels Into Water is a project with composer/percussionist/turntablist Val Jeanty and percussionist/composer/electronic musician Ravish Momin. Formed around 2017 when the two met at a jam session at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York. Recognizing a shared affinity for crafting unique rhythms and soundscapes and compatible methods of working the two artists have since worked together to explore the ways in which new technologies can be used to blend electronic and acoustic instruments in creating music that reflects the diverse cultural heritages and musical interests in common. The name of the project is a commentary on access to natural resources and howthat has been politicized in human struggles for power especially in the capitalist era increasingly so with the rise in climate change impacts. A casual listen to any of the duo’s three albums reveals a mastery of rhythmic arrangements and patterned tones for a sound that is ambient adjacent but more akin to the kind of early industrial beat-making and culture jamming sounds heard in a band like Cabaret Voltaire but steeped in modern sensibilities and production methods.

Listen to our interview with Ravish Momin on Bandcamp and follow Turning Jewels Into Water at their website linked below. See the project live at The Bug Theater presented by Creative Music Works on Saturday, January 24, 2026. There is an artist discussion and Q&A for premium ticket holders at 6pm with the performance after (doors 7, show 7:30).

Turning Jewels Into Water website

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E41: babybaby4ever

Over the last handful of years discerning fans of synth pop in Denver that have been fortunate enough to witness a babybaby4ever show have an artist worthy of her influences. Lily Conrad grew up in Golden, Colorado and started playing music at a young age getting into playing guitar and then cello by her middle school and teen years. In 2016 in college Conrad started making music and performed her first show as babybaby but in the past couple of years she changed the project name so that it was more findable via internet search engines. Early on playing out in and around Denver Conrad was part of the local DIY scene playing house shows and underground venues like the now defunct Posh House. Around that time she started playing keyboards in the live version of psychedelic garage rock band Rose Variety with her friend Becc Perez. The pandemic era stretched time in weird directions but since the world opened up again Conrad started playing around more often in her solo project at venues that could better represent her developing sound and its highly developed, rich synth tone and production. The show now includes props and aspects of performance art from Conrad making a babybaby4ever show memorable both visually as well as for the finely crafted songs that have the spontaneity and vulnerability of classic indiepop and the robust and enveloping melodic tonality of 80s New Wave. In 2026 babybaby4ever releases the new album 4ever is a long time via Denver-based imprint Witchcat Records. The nine songs are loosely a kind of breakup album as breakthrough. The lyrics and moods honor the heartache and the will to move forward by embracing vital experiences and the roots of who were are and what makes our lives feel vibrant.

Listen to our interview with Lily Conrad of babybaby4ever on Bandcamp and follow the artist at the links below. The album release show happens on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at Hi-Dive with Pleasure Prince, Xenon Thief and DJ WNGDU, doors 7pm, show 8pm, $12.

babybaby4ever on TikTok

babybaby4ever on Instagram

babybaby4ever on YouTube

Wishing Well Divers’ “Water Magic” is an IDM Psychedelic Ambient Jazz Trek Into a State of Inner Calm

Wishing Well Diverse, photo by Steven Mizener

“Water Magic” from the new Wishing Well Divers album home sick home (released January 8, 2026) immediately launches into an eclectic stream of interweaving musical ideas. IDM jazz rhythms, swirling harmonics, vocals processed beyond identifiable words and all seeming to flow into an ethereal world of faintly luminous tones. When the twin guitar lines , one distorted and crunchy another bright, come the whole punctuated by horns the energy kicks up a notch before the song floats down through crackling white noise drift and slow descending organ chords through resonating and lingering hazy pitches it’s like we’ve been through a ceremony of mysterious purposes and came out the other side into a realm of inner calm. Listen to “Water Magic” on Spotify and follow Wishing Well Divers at the links below.