New Music – Page 4 – Queen City Sounds and Art

The Body and Cel Genesis Alchemize an Urgent Industrial Doom on “Candy Crush”

The Body and Cel Genesis, photo by Chris Danko

In its tradition of unique collaborations, experimental heavy duo The Body teams up with Oakland’s Cel Genesis for Whole Wide World (out November 13, 2026 via Thrill Jockey). Lead track “Candy Crush” doesn’t sound like an alternative soundtrack to the video game so much as a haunted, menacing environment of texture, pointillist simmering sounds in the dark with The Body’s Chip King’s high pitched, alien wail in the beginning before the song engages into a sustained eruption of industrial beats and seething distortion through which King and Cal Genesis’ Pauline Poreroso with her feral and urgent vocals seem to call and response through torrents of sound and into a period of the song that sounds like an evacuation alarm pulses. It comes off like an especially intense and heavy digital hardcore song that fans of Realicide and Machine Girl would appreciate if not already great appreciators of how The Body seems to be able to adapt their sonic imagination to every one of its many collaborative albums and songs. The true fusion of classic The Body’s industrialized doom and a more electronic aesthetic one saw not so long ago in their album with Dis Fig (Orchards of a Futile Heaven, 2024) but this is as inspired as that and a challenge to The Body to expand into territory is hadn’t been previously in working with Cel Genesis. Listen to “Candy Crush” on Spotify and follow The Body on Instagram.

Fumiro Kaneko’s Retro New Age Single “who is behind me” is Like Upbeat Theme Music For a Thriller Montage

Fumiro Kaneko evokes the sounds of late 80s New Age music on “who is behind me.” But with an update on the rhythms with low key trap beats providing some texture and solidity to the bright layers of electronics. Percussive crystalline tones carry the main ascending melody alongside some electronic flute. It could sound like some kind of corporate instructional video music except the title suggests a different interpretation like upbeat music to contrast with a sense of menace and surveillance in a thriller. It has the pacing of a montage scene in which the protagonist notices they’re being followed by someone but not sure who that is or what their intentions might be so a path is pursued to give time to pick up any identifying details before realizing maybe it was a coincidence and not a nefarious encounter. But the contrast between the title and the light and playful mood of the music and its almost retro New Age aesthetic lends it a complex emotional resonance one doesn’t often encounter. Listen to “who is behind me” on Spotify and follow Fumiro Kaneko on Instagram.

Badjokes’ Fusion of UK Garage and IDM on “I Know U” Pulls You in With Melancholic Urgency

With “I Know U” Badjokes blends of classic UK garage melody and fast-paced rhythms, chopped and processed vocals and a dark, moody atmospheric elements. The combined sounds with distorted bass that flares out of the central flow and warping drones lend the song a sense of melancholic urgency and the energy to pull oneself out of a low point of mood. The diversity of the rhythmic arrangements may remind a keen listener of early IDM like those early Future Sound of London tracks and late 90s trance. Or more recent artists like the first couple of Disclosure records or Dirty Vegas but with a more frenetic and complex beat structure. Whatever touchstones seem apt the song is immediately captivating, ends at just the right time and all but demands a re-listen. Check out the song for yourself on Spotify and follow Badjokes at the links below.

Badjokes on Twitter

Badjokes on Facebook

Badjokes on Instagram

A Very Special Episode Captures the Moment of Clarity After Fulfilling One’s Desires on Fuzz Punk Single “Too Cool”

A Very Special Episode, photo courtesy the artists

“Too Cool” by A Very Special Episode begins with a lightly distorted bass line and hushed vocals and a sense of menace but at the same time reminiscent of Wet Leg in its playfulness. Once the song gets off the ground with every element in direct motion it’s like a wall of sound of singular irresistible hook. All appropriate for a song that seems to be about fulfillment of desires, the heated anticipation of that next connection and the comedown and moments spent reflecting on the significance of it all. Fans of obvious touchstones like the aforementioned as well as fuzzed out psychedelic rock bands like Death Valley Girls will appreciate the band’s edge paired with uplifting melodies. Listen to “Too Cool” on Spotify and follow A Very Special Episode at the links below. The group’s EP AVSE released July 31, 2026.

A Very Special Episode website

A Very Special Episode on Twitter

A Very Special Episode on Facebook

A Very Special Episode on Tik Tok

A Very Special Episode on Instagram

A Very Special Episode on Bandcamp

Nice Boat Delivers a Short and Acerbic Dismissal on Minimal Fuzz Punk Single “SICK”

“SICK” is a song that shouldn’t work. Yet Nice Boat finds a way. Electronic clap sounds for percussion with some programmed cymbals later in, minimal fuzzed out bass carrying the dynamic rhythm and vocals that have enough reverb to quaver a tiny bit so that the lo-fi aesthetic works and the lyrics “the sicker you get the better I feel” delivered with a bit of a sneer is reminiscent of the attitude of Deborah Iyall on her old band Romeo Void’s stone classic “Never Say Never.” Just enough emotive inflection to a dismissive casualness that is playful and hilariously devastating if you’re on the delivery end of the put down. This song is like punk done stripped of stylistic cliches and returned to an accessibility that is immediate. It would have been a good fit for 2000s K Records or Kill Rock Stars. Listen to “SICK” on Spotify and follow Nice Boat at the links provided. The album I DON’T HAVE THE BANDWIDTH is out 9/26/26 via Slouch Records.

niceboatband.com

Nice Boat on TikTok

Nice Boat on Instagram

Nice Boat on Bandcamp

“Funeral in my Brain” by Black Duck Featuring Elena Setién Has a Song Arc From Dark Cabaret to Gospel Jazz

Black Duck and Elena Setién, photo by Mike Boyd

Chicago-based trio Black Duck teamed up with Basque vocalist Elena Setién for their new album Black Duck with Elena Setién (out August 28, 2026 via Thrill Jockey). The final single before the album release was “Funeral in my Brain.” With Setién singing like someone in a post-techno-apocalypse cabaret and hushed synth and percussion accompaniment and hovering drones floating through in cycling resonances the song takes on the character of late 60s Peggy Lee doing a song for a David Lynch film. There is something elegan and mysterious about the song and in the end it takes on the warmth of a modern jazz pop song with what sounds like a Wurlitzer electric piano adding a lightly psychedelic touch to the outro so that the strangeness of the first part of the song gives way to a comforting almost gospel denouement. Listen to “Funeral in my Brain” on Spotify and follow Black Duck on Instagram.

Koen Holtkamp Orchestrates a Perfect Synthesis of Visuals and Sound on Post-Rock Jazz Single “Slow Fox Run”

Koen Holtkamp, photo courtesy the artist

The music video for Koen Holtkamp’s “Slow Fox Run” is like a visual representation of the rhythm and tonal vectors of a song slowly developing from percussive tones later joined by minimal, brushed drums and introspective saxophone. The complexity of the sounds slowly develops along with the streaking motes of colored lights in the video at times bursting as the dynamics of the song do. It’s a seamless blend of visuals and sound and musical ideas that complement each other perfectly like the fusion of jazz, post-rock and electronic composition aesthetics that seem to underpin the song itself. Fans of Chicago post-rock groups like Tortoise and Sea and The Sea and Cake will appreciate the creative detail and flow of sounds present here. Watch the video for “Slow Fox Run” on YouTube and follow Koen Holtkamp at the links below. His new album Nightlife is out October 9, 2026 via Western Vinyl.

Koen Holtkamp on Instagram

Koen Holtkamp on Bandcamp

Jules Reidy’s “Clerestory Windows V” is a Masterful Arc of Guitar Maximalism to Sheer Minimalism

Jules Reidy imbued “Clerestory Windows V” with a unique intricacy of tone utilizing a hex electric guitar. The Euclidean sequencing with some pitch shifting on single notes and tones lends the piece the quality of something that sounds like it was composed and then programmed into an electronic device. But in fact it is guitar technique and that sound that gives this mathematically precise song a feel like something that had to come from the expression of an analog creature especially evident later in the song when the sustains linger and the pauses feel less calculated and more intuitive. To the point where the feedback oscillates slowly as not a singular note so much as a pulsing frequency that is opposite of the rich tapestry of guitar work and sounds performed with great energy. If the beginning of the song could be said to be the analog of a star being born, the end of the song is like the pulsar at the end of that stars life. It’s a fascinating piece that may initially have you thinking it’s a weird math rock song but the built in deconstruction happening in real time disabuses those notions before the halfway point as the song shifts from maximalism to utter minimalism. Listen to “Clerestory Windows V” on Spotify and follow Jules Reidy on Instagram.

“FRISSON” by 1201770 is an Industrial Ambient Lament For a Fallen Civilization

The distorted streaming sounds echoing throughout “FRISSON” by 1201770 are like the voices of a forgotten subway bemoaning the neglect and seething in its accumulated environmental memory. Or the soundtrack to a near future urban exploration video in which intrepid urbexers travel through the tunnels and streets of cities abandoned in the wake of humanity’s folly and abuse of the environment resulting in mass depopulation of parts of the world once teeming with activity that can only be speculated about from accounts gleaned from still extant media artifacts. The industrial ambient sounds of the song have a melancholic menace and urgency that suggest a warning against the kinds of civilizational habits that lead to tragic widespread collapse. It’s a thought-provoking track that embodies a full expression though less than two minutes in length. Listen to “FRISSON” on Spotify and follow 1201770 on Instagram.

Jason Matu’s Psychedelic Country Rock Single “The Returning of the Leaves” is a Song About Human Frailty and the Preciousness of the Limited Time We Have on Earth

Jason Matu packs a great deal of existential introspection and commentary on aging and yearning into “The Returning of the Leaves.” On the surface its a countrified rock song but with a wash of melancholic synth throughout that lends the song an expansive mood that pushes the song out of a limited genre. The mood of the song comes across like someone who is missing some or something that is going away for now but will hopefully return just like the cycles of nature. But these days these things aren’t so certain or predictable as they had been for most of living memory. In a later stanza of the song Matu sings about someone going on some kind of mythical journey, an epic adventure of some kind, from the perspective of someone who maybe knows these kinds of escapades himself and the perils involved, drawing upon allusions to The Odyssey and how none of us has forever and only so many more of the returnings of the leaves in this life. Yet it’s not a sad song, just one about inevitabilities and human frailty and the preciousness of the time we have on earth. Listen to “The Returning of the Leaves” on Spotify and follow Jason Matu at the links provided.

Jason Matu on Facebook

Jason Matu on TikTok

Jason Matu on Instagram