Song Review – Page 9 – Queen City Sounds and Art

“Afrika” Showcases the Wildly Creative Fusion of Krautrock and Art Punk of Chromosome’s Reissued 1981 self-titled EP

Fog & Co recently reissued the self-titled, 1981 debut EP by Chromosome on limited 12” vinyl and digitally. The post-punk/art rock/Krautrock band were innovators in the Tel Aviv underground from a time globally when the freeing energy of punk blended with experimentation in music generally and using various methods and modes of expression to create something new. The band’s EP is multilingual traversing English, Arabic and words that don’t fall into a discernible language which suits well its stylistic diversity. The improvisational single “Afrika” showcases synth player Rona Vered’s skills providing a ghostly melody and sparkling flourishes while angular guitar provides texture and sketches of spidery rhythm and imploring almost desperate vocals. At the time one would have had to have been plugged into California’s art punk world with bands such as Savage Republic and Monitor and stuff like Malaria in Germany. It’s the kind of song that captures a certain ambient tension of the early 80s and the creative freedom that many artists of the era were indulging to great effect. Listen to “Afrika” on YouTube and follow Fog & Co at the links below.

Fog & Co on Instagram

Fog & Co on Bandcamp

Drum & Lace Soundtracks a Future Science Fiction Body Horror Classic on IDM Ambient Single “Lichen”

Drum & Lace, photo by Priscilla C. Scott

“Lichen,” the lead single from Drum & Lace’s forthcoming EP Terra (out March 13, 2026 via Mesh), is brimming with richly saturated synth tone in the foreground and layers of well-crafted percussion/textures and rhythmic bass coursing through the song. The music video looks like a kind of video from an alien scientist examining a biological specimen through a high tech imaging method that links observable phenomena with boxes and lines as a graphic interrelational tool. The sound design approach of the composition and arrangement immediately puts your mind into a state of curiosity and wonder and wanting more of where this music and the visuals are leading without a word having to be spoken or lyrics providing a narrative. Alex Garland, David Cronenberg, Flying Lotus should tap the cleverly named Drum & Lace for soundtrack work in upcoming films because Sofia degli Alessandri-Hultquist clearly has a keen ear for futuristic vibes and a command of combining IDM, ambient and dubtechno aesthetics. Watch the video for “Lichen” on YouTube and follow Drum & Lace at the links below.

drumeandlacemusic.com

Drum & Lace on Instagram

Drum & Lace on Bandcamp

Norwegian Punk Band Poor Bambi Demands to Be Heard in the Oligarchic Twilight on the Spirited “Let Me Speak”

Norwegian punk band Poor Bambi recently released its debut album Skyscrapers Soaring, Yet We’re Drowning (out February 6, 2026 on Apollon Records) filled with songs that have eclectic musical roots but a coherent and emotionally charged sound. The new single “Let Me Speak” seems to echo the sentiments of the title of the album and the title track itself. Soaring guitar lines and charging rhythms are punctuated by spirited vocals that deliver words coming from a place of someone who has felt ignored by the powerful and privileged but the social/economic/political climate for that status quo is coming to an end as people seem to be waking up to the possibilities of not settling for the bare minimum while a corrupt and grossly debauched elite treat other people and the planet itself as disposable and not worthy of respect with a long held expectation that the non-powerful should be quiet and take what’s given. But like most things in the world of society and politics that’s a contingent reality that can change abruptly when a mass of people refuse to go along with the oppressing narrative and seize what’s rightfully theirs. The song has that kind of energy. Fans of Cheap Perfume and Sweeping Promises will appreciate the sounds and attitudes Poor Bambi is offering. Listen to “Let Me Speak” on YouTube and follow Poor Bambi at the links below.

Poor Bambi on Facebook

Poor Bambi o TikTok

Poor Bambi on Instagram

JOMOON Alchemically Combines Sonic Darkness and Transcendence on Experimental Downtempo Track “Her Veins”

“Her Veins” by JOMOON begins with a menace like standing next to a portal to a dark and mysterious dimension. The distorted pulse and swirl that is in the foreground early in the song is reminiscent of Geoff Barrow’s and Ben Salisbury’s soundtrack work for Annihilation. It conveys a deep sense of an otherworldly presence offset by the introspectively soulful vocals that shine in a different manner at the halfway mark when the melodies shimmer in and through the track with bright, ethereal tones like a soothing breeze providing an emotional uplift. Fans of HIDE and Church Fire will appreciate the creative soundscaping and almost sound design approach to the composition of the song and how it employs both musical darkness and psychic transcendence as emotional colorings in blurring the line between rhythm and tone. Listen to “Her Veins” on Bandcamp and follow the Rome, Italy-based artist JOMOON at the links below. The full-length album Sugar released on January 30, 2026 via NOISEBERRY.

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JOMOON on Instagram

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

Half Shadow’s New Psychedelic Folk Single “Fruit” is a Song About Savoring the Grounding Experiences of the Lived Existence

Half Shadow, photo courtesy Jesse Carsten

The touch of reverse delay on the guitar at the beginning of Half Shadow’s “Fruit” gives it the proper sonic entryway to a song about reflecting on the good things one has cultivated in life. And of the things that bring a grounding meaning to one’s everyday existence. It celebrates the details that are often missed and taken for granted and the cycles that give the context to the lived experience. The gentle acoustic guitar running through the song pair well with the minimal percussion as well as with Jesse Carsten’s warmly sensitive vocals. It is a layered rhythm that functions as a texture that lends the song a comfortingly tactile quality. Musically it is reminiscent of early 70s psychedelic pop, like a softer side of Cat Stevens, or early Devendra Banhart. Whatever actual stylistic touchstones the song and the rest of the Wind Inside 7” (out March 6, 2026 via Antiquated Future Records) has, “Fruit” is one of the finest recent songs written about savoring life and personal growth and accepting and embracing that which grounds you in the vitality of existence. Watch the video for “Fruit” on YouTube and follow Half Shadow at the links below.

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Half Shadow on Facebook

Half Shadow on Instagram

Half Shadow on Bandcamp

Paula T’s Hyperpop Single “Sugar Tits” Examines the Contradictions of Preserving One’s Identity and a Yearning to Be Desired

Paula T’s second single “Sugar Tits” (following “Canary”) begins with a bit of a statement of intention in a spoken word intro. But then the song with its surreal and at times whimsical melodies is couched in a driving beat that lends it the quality of a more straightforward pop song. But the whole thing is more than a bit subversive as the singer’s lyrics explore the contradictions of wanting to be desired and adored but also not wanting to be defined by what someone else desires and what they want you to be rather than who and even what you really are as a human that is never always completely one thing or another in the grand scheme of a lifetime. And how if you’re just human with genuine feelings that you don’t’ always express in a way that fits into some kind of commodified identity you might face rejection. Nevermind how you can’t be all things to anyone and how often you’re not enough for other people in the ways they expect. It’s a short song at two minutes eleven but Paula T seems to bake a lot of commentary and personal insight into a song that is also an undeniably fun and boundary-pushing hyperpop dance song. Listen to “Sugar Tits” on Spotify and follow Paula T on Instagram.

Old Man of the Woods Conjures a Deep Sense of the Beautifully Otherworldly in the Looped Vocals of “Edges of Pleasure”

Old Man of the Woods, photo by Ian Lowell

Old Man of the Woods is the project of Miranda Elliott. The songwriter, producer and singer has an album called Cape Perpetua due out March 10, 2026. But for now you can get lost in the ambient vocal collage of “Edges of Pleasure.” For the music video we see scenes from a stained glass projected against images of branches at dusk. The layers of vocals are arranged to complement and build into an almost iterative field of sound and conveying a sense of the otherworldly. Accompanying the looped and lightly processed vocals is perhaps a touch of a harmonic background but the focus is certainly on the way a human voice can be its own instrument and utilized in a musical way that goes beyond what we’re used to in anything resembling mainstream music. Fans of Lucky Dragons and Married in Berdichev will feel an immediate connection to this music using unconventional methods to create something of undeniable beauty and evocative power. Watch the video for “Edges of Pleasure” on YouTube and follow Old Man of the Woods at the links provided.

oldmanofthewoods.rocks

Old Man of the Woods on Twitter

Old Man of the Woods on Instagram

Old Man of the Woods on Bandcamp

Trio Pussit’s Live Performance of “Vermo” is a Churning and Inspired Headlong Exercise in Improvised Noise Rock Funk

Trio Pussit released its latest album NPC EXODUS LIVE via Ototomy Records on December 5, 2025. The album captures the improvisational elements of a live set recorded at Lepakkomies bar in Helsinki, Finland in summer 2025. The trio with bass, vocals, drums and guitar sounds like a mutant, noise rock-inflected and demented Primus at its most unhinged peak in the early days when that band sounded its most unpredictable. For the song “Vermo” the lyrics are essentially nonsensical having to do with a horse getting oats, laughing, running about and defecating with attendant words indicating the expected sounds. The song swerves, comes undone, goes back into direct motion, indulges in sonic side quests between all the musicians and kicks up an inspired clangor and in the end resembles not much else but fans of The Locust and Lightning Bolt as well as the aforementioned might appreciate its experiments and wild dynamics best. Listen to “Vermo on Spotify and follow Trio Pussit at the links below.

Trio Pussit on Facebook

Trio Pussit on Instagram

Trio Pussit on Ototomy Records Bandcamp

Taroug Reflects on Early Childhood Memories of Tunisia on Ambient Art Pop Single “1995”

Taroug will releases his new album Chott on March 27, 2026 via Denovali. The album’s ten tracks explore personal history and identity through blending traditional instrumentation and aesthetics and current experimental electronic music and production for a layered effect illuminating and connecting past and present. The song “1995” is a reflection on childhood memories of Tunisia. It features vocals resonating in a large, open space as percussion and rhythmic elements pulse around the poetic words. The effect is meditative, even hypnotic, and as the music unfolds densely built atmospheres give way to minimal piano melodies that seem to embody an emotional opening and forward momentum. Distorted sweeps of synth are like sandy desert winds and a sense of isolation and reflection is conveyed that is conveyed so deeply it is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine” and Brian Eno’s 2016 album The Ship. Listen to “1995” on Spotify and follow Taroug at the links below.