Song Review – Queen City Sounds and Art

AUTORHYTHM’s Retrofuturist Krautrock Pop Single “Symmetry” is Imbued With an Intense Sense of Hope

AUTORHYTHM in bed making music. New album Self Help Manual out 2026.

Joakim Forsgren as AUTORHYTHM appears to have tapped simultaneously into the explorative end of 1970s electronic Krautrock and late 70s power-pop on “Symmetry.” Tones zip by, resonate, fade out, zip in and flare and trace a sonic landscape anchored by a minimal electronic percussion rhythm that resonates in the brain with both “Autobahn” and “My Sharona” and that’s a combination that shouldn’t work but it does. It feels playful and like the soundtrack to a Rudy Rucker novel in that it sounds both retro and futuristic like its channeling the energy of a utopian future as imagined in the 1970s that actually manifested in the present rather than the dystopian, oligarch dominated global order we’re experiencing now. In that fashion it’s an intensely hopeful work. Listen to “Symmetry” on Spotify and follow AUTORHYTHM at the links provided. The project’s sophomore album Self Help Manual released May 29, 2026.

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applied communications Deftly Weaves Sly Cultural References Into Surreal Indie Pop Single “cowboy bebop & eric’s trip” to Cathartic Effect

applied communications, photo courtesy the artist

Prepare for some colorful and inspired weirdness before watching the video for applied communications’ single “cowboy bebop & eric’s trip.” It looks like something that was imagined in a part of the 80s before the artist was born but with image references that could only come from the 90s to now with the proper video tools to produce something that intentionally looks retro in a way that hasn’t been done a million times since the late 2000s. The music too is like something that absorbed Why? and late 2000s indie pop including post-punk weirdos The Mathematicians through the lens of late 90s Modest Mouse. But none of those comparisons does justice to the appeal of the song that seems to reference going to ambient shows which is not something many other artists seem to do and for anyone that does go to those kinds of performances, much less plays them, this feels like a real nod to that rarified reality. He also mentions “geologist’s bag” – a reference to the member of Animal Collective who does sound manipulation and provides many of the samples for the band? Nevermind the title name checking a beloved animated series and both an obscure, underground alternative rock band (whose membership included later indie rock darling Julie Doiron) and the Sonic Youth song after which it was named. Even if not, the potential triple entendre fits the vibe of the song which feels like someone coming out of a place of psychological and emotional stasis and climbing the ladder through familiar cultural reference points to a place of being ready to embrace new experiences which doesn’t happen nearly often enough in music much less with something so individual in sound and visual presentation as this. Watch the video for “cowboy bebop * eric’s trip” on YouTube and follow applied communications at the links below.

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Tugboat Captain’s Moody Dream Pop Single “Us & The Moon” is Brimming With a Palpable Sense of Affection and Vulnerability

Tugboat Captain, photo courtesy the artists

“Us & The Moon” by Tugboat Captain is in fact not a liminal zones song, at least not overtly, despite its fantastic music video including lyrics over what looks like video taped or 90s digital video footage of wandering around south London at night. And yet the visuals fit a song about missing someone with whom one may have recently split or there is a needed separation for the best psychological space of both people involved. But the song and its luminous keyboard line and minimal percussion like a pop song incorporating IDM sounds and pacing and putting forth a palpable vulnerability as the vocals express tender sentiments and a fear of loss and wondering if the other person is thinking and feeling similar things in the same setting because of the emotional connection that was or still is there. The low key romantic sensibility and gentle energy of the song really draws you in and keeps you with the song to the end and hoping things work out because it’s obvious there’s plenty of affection there. Watch the video for “Us & The Moon” on YouTube and follow Tugboat Captain at the links provided.

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Layer Cake’s Jangle Pop Single “numb” Lends Heartbreak and Heartache a Cathartic Sense of Hope

Brisbane, Australia’s Layer Cake channel a bit of 1980s UK and New Zealand indie pop on “numb.” The bright guitar melody with winsome lead vocals that deliver a tale of heartbreak and heartache and how one can feel both too much and, yes, numb when the moment hits you and it feels amplified in your brain but your reaction becomes unpredictable and complicated when you’ve invested so much of your heart in someone and suddenly, or seemingly abruptly, it’s over whether one knew that was coming and it’s difficult to just let go. Fans of C86, Flying Nun, Sarah Records and Slumberland bands would do well to give Layer Cake try. Listen to “numb” on Spotify and follow Layer Cake at the links below.

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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.

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The Bodies Obtained Take Us on a Headlong Tour Through Liminal Moods on Zero Chill IDM Post-Punk Single “Utmost”

Detroit’s The Bodies Obtained have long blurred any lines between post-punk and more experimental electronic music and its new album Bouncing Off The Curb (released May 15, 2026) offers some reprieve from the wave of toxic and destructive mundanity that plagues the world right now. The single “Utmost” comes in with a pulsing beat and maximalist layers of flowing sound and texture. It’s like mid-90s Aphex Twin processed through a modern version of techno and Big Beat. But the tonal shimmers that thread through the beat and the slightly echoing vocals lend it a sound like the more recent music from Sextile but more sinister. It’s zero chill IDM and more rewarding a listening experience because of it. The pace is urgent and insistent until the last third of the song where that energy clears up a little but the grit and the hauntedness remains until the rapid sputter out in the end like we’ve been on some kind of tour of liminal spaces and let out after some therapeutic disorientation. Listen to “Utmost” on Spotify.

Skinny Dippers’ Cosmic Folk Song “When You Were It” Evokes a Warmly Reflective Immediacy

Skinny Dippers, photo courtesy the artists

Skinny Dippers stride fully into a paradoxical mood of deep reflection and emotional immediacy on hazy folk single “When You Were It.” The accented beat anchors the motes of melodic tone that illuminate and haunt the song throughout as well as the spare rhythm guitar, whistles and the tenderly wistful vocals as we’re invited into vivid memories but more so the lingering feelings of peak moments of a relationship. The title refers to the chorus “I’ll forget what you said/I’ll forget what you did/But I’ll never forget how it felt/When you were it” and how that succinctly captures one’s ability to not focus on the negatives but the essential resonance of connection. Everyone has down times in any relationship and maybe the developments and events that cause them to come apart but the feelings that drew you together and the strength of those emotions can stay with you long after without make it so that you’re stuck in the past. The song captures those moments with a precision that mere words are inadequate to on their own. The textural synth passages and the gentle flow of the song is reminiscent of Wilco’s most poetic songs that draw you back in immediately. Listen to “When You Were It” on Spotify and follow Skinny Dippers at the links below. The When You Were It EP released May 15, 2026.

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Young Allies Debut Single “Fingers Entwined” is an Infectious New Wave Power Pop Song About the Joys and Pitfalls of Human Relationships

Young Allies, photo courtesy the artists

Young Allies has a debut EP coming out in the near future and the lead single “Fingers Entwined” sounds like the kind of 1980s power pop that has given that music a longer shelf life than expected. The music video with its colorful characters and fantastical settings has an aesthetic like something from the 90s before too many modern digital effects became a normal thing so there is a really analog effect of the visuals that match the song’s essential appeal like a fusion of The Cars and Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians with an immediately catchy hook and lyrics that deftly depict the joys and pitfalls of relationships. And like those bands its obvious that Young Allies, the new project from Fritz Michel, are able to write upbeat and hopeful songs about emotionally complex subjects with seeming ease. Watch the video for “Fingers Entwined” on YouTube and follow Young Allies at the links provided.

Young Allies Website

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Brooklyn Doran’s Melancholic and Expansive “Heavy Hurt” is a Song About Mourning Irreconcilable Differences

Brooklyn Doran, photo courtesy the artist

Brooklyn Doran sure did pick a perfect title for “Heavy Hurt.” The song is written about being on a long tour where the parallel of the tour van breaking down and the breakdown of a relation coincided in a way that maybe makes everything feel like it could be closing in. The expansive, distorted melodic sparkle of the song with Doran’s vulnerable vocal delivery and steady, strong rhythms open up feelings that could sink your spirit if they were locked up inside your heart being denied their truth airing out. And throughout the song we get hints of how it seems obvious that the dissolution of the relationship was there all along with two people wanting different things out of their lives in a way that could never be mutually compatible and the song doesn’t try to cast anyone as a villain. It just honors the hurt on both sides and the honest acceptance of that hurt before healing and moving forward can begin. Listen to “Heavy Hurt” on Spotify and follow Brooklyn Doran at the links below.

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Josaleigh Pollett Examines Seeing and Being Truly Seen By Others on Shoegaze Infused Pop Single “The Witness”

Josaleigh Pollett grounds her single “The Witness” in a spare guitar line and her warmly intimate vocals but all of it is awash in streaming drones and hazy atmospheres that seem to be in a headlong rush over a steady beat. The layered sound suits a song that seems to navigate social dynamics in the modern era of overstimulation, casual digital overexposure and endless demands on our time and our very psyches. The song’s lyrics express the desire for being present and being seen and truly seeing others when we can break free of distractions and actually connect without the leech on our energy and attention trying to fit expectations of mediated existence and the psychology that feeds it. The song’s sounds spiral upward and outward without losing an emotional core and an intuitive essence of self that anchors where the song lands with the realization that too many things are artificial and a template we may impose on ourselves that doesn’t really suit us even if it may be functional in some ways in our lives. Its a modern take on embracing one’s true self and authentic experiences. To sonically augment this mood the songwriting and soundscaping blurs the line between experimental indie pop and shoegaze. Fans of Japanese Breakfast and the more psychedelic end of Cat Power will appreciate the single and the forthcoming album If I Let It Quiet out 7/24/2026 on vinyl, digital download and streaming via Audio Antihero. Listen to “The Witness” on Bandcamp and follow Josaleigh Pollett at the links below. Josaleigh Pollett is on tour starting July 28.

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