Song Review – Page 2 – Queen City Sounds and Art

New Wolves’ Vulnerable and Intimate Downtempo Pop Single “Boiling Up” is a Song About Embracing Analog Experiences Away From the Demands of a Monetized World

“Boiling Up” has a palpable textural quality in the minimal guitar and rhythm and the way the vocals sit in the mix like something up close. The tone of the song is appropriately intimate and it conjures the ambient energy of another time when your brain wasn’t being tapped for attention from a constant flow of data like being advertised to in an attempt to monetize every moment of every day. Everyone knows somewhere in their heart this isn’t an authentic engagement and the song is a dive away from that whole dynamic in search of real experiences and feelings that haven’t been optimized for economic efficiency. The orchestral arrangements and the way the song utilizes melancholic chord progressions to swing into a mood of hope, genuine wonder and possibly even joy is something we don’t hear enough and it is a clear attempt to avoid gaming the algorithm, which is the point. Listen to “Boiling Up” on Spotify and follow New Wolves at the links provided.

New Wolves on Twitter

New Wolves on Facebook

New Wolves on TikTok

New Wolves on Instagram

New Wolves on YouTube

King-Mob’s Industrial Noise Rock Single “Pendulum Days” is the Sonic Equivalent of a Movie Played in Reverse

King-Mob’s “Pendulum Days” sounds like a movie played in reverse. One imagines hearing hammered dulcimer creating tonal textural rhythms, steady and accented cymbal strikes and guitar squalling and sustaining urgent sounds while in the background vocals sound almost as if coming from a trance state. As the song progresses the band takes some chances in more conventional rhythms for a few moments rising in a run for volume before dropping back into what can be described as post-industrial noise jazz. What do you compare this to as a frame of reference? This Heat? Dazzling Killmen? The algorithm recommendations suggest Sightings and Morgan Garrett for more modern references which are apt enough. It’s not quite like that but if you’re into those bands you may find a lot to like in King-Mob’s uniquely creative and strange compositions. Listen to “Pendulum Days” on Spotify and follow King-Mob at the links below. The group’s new EP Arabesque is available now.

King-Mob on Facebook

King-Mob on Instagram

King-Mob on Bandcamp

Mark Weatherley Finds the Essential Beauty in the Constant Flow of Stimuli of Everyday Life on Maximalist Downtempo Track “Around me”

“Around me” finds Mark Weatherley seeming to tape into both the realm of electro-soul-tinged dance music and sound design. Layered rhythms guide the flow of smooth, atmospheric melodies and harmonic vocals that sound like conversations that happen all around you in a large public space until about halfway through the song when the impressionistic arrangement of voices like a tonal placement in a hip-hop beat have a moment of absolute clarity of intention and an expression of affection expressed by one person for another with the rush of rhythms and tone falling away except for a minimal forward momentum slice of minimal percussion. Then back to the mosaic of sounds that reflect the sense of the time and the constant stimuli we’re bombarded with daily. It’s as if Weatherley finds beauty in the seeming chaos and almost accidental intersections of rhythm and to remind us that if we take a chance to slow down and focus we can find a gem in everyday life if we have the will to not be distracted by everything potentially demanding our attention. Listen to “Around me” on Spotify and follow UK-based producer and songwriter Mark Weatherley at the links below.

Mark Weatherley on Facebook

Mark Weatherley on Instagram

This House Embodies Perfectly Modern Anxiety Over Civilizational Dissolution in the Fractured Melodies and Urgency of Post-Punk Single “Burned House”

This House is the full band version of music the had its roots in the collaboration between former The Ex frontman G.W. Sok and Ignacio Córdoba. Joined by drummer Søren Høj and synthesist Kristian Tangvik the full-fledged group will release its debut album Soft Rains Will Come on March 20, 2026 on vinyl, digital download and streaming via Pink Cotton Candy Records. The lead single “Burned House” pulses with nervous tension and clipped guitar keeping time with guitar in the beginning with Sok vocalizing about a modern set of anxieties and dread with the symbol of the burned house standing in for the unraveling of our current civilization while so many insist that things are just slightly uncomfortable like the frog in cooking pot with the heat on low and increasing. The guitars get more intense, distorted, menacing and fragmented, raw noise enters the field of sound, the rhythms are steady but splayed ever so slightly and Sok’s vocals break up a little too while flames appear on the screen to obscure the musicians. It’s a perfect depiction of the state of the world, one which is already in shambles and accelerating into the point of return but we’re all encouraged to dissociate while the world burns even more except so many people can’t ignore it and many more don’t have the luxury to pretend otherwise. Indubitably a song for today. Watch the video for “Burned House” on YouTube and follow This House on Instagram.

Eric Angelo Bessel’s “Double Helix” is a Cosmic Ambient Journey Into Deep Inner Space

Eric Angelo Bessel, photo courtesy the artist

Eric Angelo Bessel will release Mirror at Night B-Sides on March 27, 2026 (7” vinyl, digital download, streaming), a companion EP to the fantastic 2025 full-length ambient record Mirror at Night. The lead single from the EP is “Double Helix.” The song shimmers and roils with bright tones suggestive of the image conjured by the title. It feels like a constantly shifting iteration of sounds like a cycle drawn from the mechanics of the life and the universe itself and expressed in sound. A deep listen reveals that Bessel has put into the track actual movements and shifts in tone that ensure it has a fresh resonance the next time the more amplified sound swirls back into the foreground. Fans of Robert Rich and Steven Roach will appreciate how Bessel imbues his tonal composition with a textural element that anchors the music in a tactile aspect of sound. Listen to “Double Helix” on YouTube and follow Eric Angelo Bessel at the links below.

lorecitymusic.com

Lore City Music on Twitter

Lore City Music on Bandcamp

RO Navigates the Tricky Waters of Allowing Yourself to Hurt and to Let Go on Trip Hop Single “stranger”

RO layers mood and texture on “stranger.” The minimal, organic beat, the ever so slightly echoing guitar, the vocals shifting smoothly between a rap style and more soul voicings sound like an update of trip hop with modern sensibilities and production methods. A touch of dub in the drums and quivering harmonic backdrops like electronic strings in the middle of the song shifts up the song’s already core appeal while not breaking style. It sounds like something new but with a resonance with something familiar and classic. The songwriting thus suits a song about the complexity of feeling inherent to feeling like one took a chance with one’s heart and being vulnerable with someone who feels promising only to end up feeling like you betrayed yourself by trusting your emotions with someone who doesn’t feel the same way and certainly not with a similar level of commitment. Yet knowing it’s not a failing, just something you have to let yourself feel without shame and let go of the hurt and let go of the associations that anchor you to the memory of disappointing and even painful experiences because with any luck your life is going to go on a lot longer than a temporary relationship. Fans of P.M. Dawn and early Massive Attack will find a lot to like in the emotional and sonic chords RO strikes on this song. Listen to “stranger” on Spotify and follow RO at the links provided.

RO on Apple Music

RO on Instagram

RO on YouTube

Lindsay Kay’s “Don’t Tease Me” is a Song About Yearning For Genuine and Committed Love

Lindsay Kay’s luminously delicate “Don’t Tease Me” spent a lot of time in perhaps unintentional development before taking its current form. The song had existed in numerous nascent forms across more than a decade and now has an English and a French version both with spare and elegant guitar work from Benjamin Longman. The intimate production allows the vocals to carry the melody with its finely nuanced emotional resonances. The song aches with the yearning for a loved one whose affections feel elusive. Kay seems to sing from the perspective of someone who loves very much and capable of a great deal but who doesn’t want her own emotions to be treated as something casual. Kay’s words lend those feelings a tactile immediacy and you hope with her too to not have her heart trifled with by someone whose intentions lack seriousness. Listen to “Don’t Tease Me” on Spotify and follow Linday Kay at the links below.

lindsaykaymusic.com

Lindsay Kay on Instagram

Lindsay Kay on Bandcamp

Lindsay Kay on YouTube

Charm School Sends Up Music Scene Gatekeeper of Privilege on Noise Punk Single “Scene Queen”

Charm School, photo courtesy the artists

Charm School seems to be accelerating the pace the entire length of its single “Scene Queen.” The relentless energy of the song suits its subject matter of the kind of person who is in most music scenes that can be a bit sanctimonious and plays like they’re poor but has a trust fund that they don’t always necessarily try to keep secret but works in restaurants yet is able to pay rent on a warehouse and then move to an expensive city or another county seemingly on a whim once they’ve long outlived their welcome and alienated so many people in the community and leaving mediocre art in their wake. It happens. If you’ve been in any creative community of size there are people that can exert an influence because they have money and thus access to spaces to dangle as important places or the funds to “make things happen” for a little while, sometimes for more than a short bit and seem important but once they’re gone it’s like their significance was way overblown. The song embodies the frustration of dealing with that dynamic with a furious run of noisy, almost abrasive, post-punk that is the band’s signature sound that fans of Drive Like Jehu, mclusky and Angel Hair will appreciate. The group’s new EP Schadenfreude Ploy released February 20, 2026 on cassette, digital download and streaming. Listen to “Scene Queen” on Spotify and follow Charm School below.

Charm School on Instagram

Charm School on Bandcamp

La Sécurité’s Art Punk Single “Bingo” Satirizes the Way Life is Presented as a Game No One Can Really Win Under Late Capitalism

La Sécurité’s new single “Bingo” sounds like it got dropped out of the early 80s No Wave scene with strong, funk-adjacent bass lines and guitar that sounds as much like a textural tone as minimal riff. Keyboards have a quality like something out music for an old video game and the lyrics are delivered in short couplets to build a surreal impressionistic narrative. The words seem to utilize the seemingly random quality of the game Bingo and the disconnected quality of modern life and how it can be like a game you’re forced to play with distinct but arbitrary rules and in which few actually get to win as if winning could possibly be everything or fully satisfying for an actual, analog human being. But in the video directed by Philippe Beauséjour there is a refreshing use of images seemingly cut out and animated like a collage that both enhances the impression of disconnection and the visual aesthetics of another era. There is something undeniably fascinating and thrilling about the mix of styles and moods that makes the song immediately relistenable. Watch the video for “Bingo” on YouTube and follow La Sécurité’ at the links below. The band’s new album Bingo! will become available on June 11, 2026 for digital download and streaming with a vinyl pre-order that ships in December.

La Sécurité on Facebook

La Sécurité on Instagram

Asian Cowboy Perfectly Balances Melody and Raw Noise on Posthardcore Single “Varmint”

Asian Cowboy’s “Varmint” doesn’t let up from the start of the song until the middle where it takes some time to wind back up into its urgent pace and reflect on how modern life and existence seems to take it out of you with constant demands on your time and attention no matter your level of fatigue. It’s no time to be a human (when has there ever been such a time in the modern era) and the arc of human civilization at the moment seems to be at a point of unsustainability in the toll on people and the planet. The song voices that desperation and existential exhaustion with the intensity it deserves. Fans of Hot Snakes will appreciate the way Asian Cowboy balances melody and raw noise to craft songs that challenge and captivate at once. Listen to “Varmint” no Spotify and follow Swedish post-hardcore/noise rock band Asian Cowboy on Instagram.