Queen City Sounds and Art

Welsh Electro-Punks teehin Dismantle the Least Inspiring Aspects of Music and Popular Culture on Raging Single “LARA SCOFFED”

The single “LARA SCOFFED” by Welsh electronic-post-punks teethin is refreshing in its subversion of any expectations one might have using genre tags to give potential listeners a touchstone. The scathing lyrics are simultaneously vulnerable and delivered with a righteous outrage at how the way the way one is “supposed” to operate as an artist in order to get attention for your music or even to get it heard and how that’s intertwined with soft power engines of oppression and capitalist psychological warfare against actual culture is engulfing and cathartic. The songwriting fuses rock sounds with electronic production methods including dub so that the song pulls you along its its heady melange of big beat rhythms, whatever Underworld was doing in the first half of the 90s and post-hardcore thorniness and a dusky and caustic sound that is pure punk spirit without fitting into some neat box as too much punk of the past 40 years has seemed to want to fit. It’s ferocious and exhilarating and calls to task some of the least inspiring aspects of music and popular culture. Listen to “LARA SCOFFED” on Spotify.

Peter Martin Vividly Encapsulates the Challenging Climate of Trying to Be a Musical Artist Today on Indie Folk Single “Trying To Break A Band”

Peter Martin really delves into the the depressing end of trying to be a musician in the modern cultural milieu on his song “Trying To Break A Band.” The old formula, or so many people thought and still think, is you play a bunch of shows however you can and someone discovers your music either at a show or these days by stumbling across your music randomly somehow or on a playlist. Then maybe you have the social skills or contacts to get an opening slot for a cool gig and that raises your profile some except it never really does. The opening lines of the song will hit some as crushingly hard in their summation of reality for most: “If a tree falls down and nobody hears it/Did it really sound like my music career?/I’m bleeding myself white paying or PR/And on top of that my laptop packed up/Intonation’s fucked on all of my guitars.” Because you can pay for PR to hopefully get someone who will pay attention to your music that might have an audience with the right kinds of people who crave what you’re giving. Maybe someone will pick up on your music on TikTok and you’ll go viral. But probably not. And with music journalism and blogs in the gutter/all but non-existent since its early 2010s peak and little or no incentive for people to champion your work it can be pretty dispiriting. Martin expresses this ennui perfectly in his delicate melodies and fragile guitar work. That sense of hitting your head against the wall of apathy and neglect for creative work that is a feature of our culture today. Yet the ability to articulate this mood and state of mind so vividly and poetically sure has to count for something and Martin’s warmth of tone is compelling and fans of Owen Ashworth and Sparklehorse will appreciate the emotional notes Martin strikes throughout the song. Listen to “Trying To Break A Band” on Spotify and follow Peter Martin on Instagram.

The Frenetic Layers of Colorful Sound and Rhythm on A Place To Bury Strangers’ “Let It All Go” Has Perspective Altering Qualities Akin to Avant-Garde Cinema

A Place to Bury Strangers, photo by Ebru Yildiz

“Let It All Go” hits immediately with the crackling and headlong energy we’ve come to expect from A Place To Bury Strangers’ more frenetic offerings. But something about the mix and production conveys an almost visual sense experienced as music. The hyped up motorik beat is insistent but guitar tones flash and fade downward and sideways like the streaks in a post-impressionist painting style lending a sense of suspended time. Oliver Ackerman’s voice echoes rapidly like a dub ghost haunting the beat, the rapid fire guitar melody both pushes to the forefront of the track and then pulls back into the rhythmic and tonal maelstrom so that throughout the focus of sonic field shifts like the musical equivalent of a Stan Brakhage film. Listen to “Let It All Go” on Spotify and follow A Place To Bury Strangers at the links provided.

A Place To Bury Strangers on Twitter

A Place To Bury Strangers on Facebook

A Place To Bury Strangers on Instagram

A Place To Bury Strangers on Bandcamp

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Public Health’s Noise Rock Single “Goblets” Begins With Angular Moodiness and Ends in an Explosion of Sonic Catharsis

Public Health, photo courtesy the artists

Listening to the angular rhythms and harmonic motes of tone over the main riff in Public Health’s vibrant post-punk/noise rock single “Goblets” will remind some of DC post-hardcore, Efficies and even that band’s Chicago hardcore rivals Articles of Faith. The driving bass and the abstract guitar hanging off it while vocals hang slightly in the background When the cleaner lines in the beginning of the song head into more chaotic and intense territory you can’t help but be swept along into that catharsis. In the end the song is more reminiscent of the gnarly yet disciplined dissonance of Chicago noise rock bands of the 90s but with the dynamic swing and moodiness of a Dischord band. Listen to “Goblets” on Spotify and follow Hamilton, Ontario’s Public Health on Instagram.

LunaLight’s “Tranquility” Embodies the Calming Spirit of the Title With Layers of Luminous Atmosphere

Julia Thomsen aka LunaLight, photo courtesy the artist

The subtle depths of soothing ambiance of LunaLight’s “Tranquility” feels like easing into a universe of open spaces and gentle energy. The sound of water flowing and luminous breezes of tone alongside the minimalist keyboard melody softened into the sense of lingering, fond memories without the need for language to express that immediate human feeling is sustained throughout the song. It’s only two and a half minutes but doesn’t seem to short and the arrangement is the sort of thing you could listen to on a loop until any anxieties in your brain loosen out of your psyche. Listen to “Tranquility” on Spotify and follow composer Julia Thomsen and her projects Calm Senses and LunaLight below.

Julia Thomsen on Instagram

Julia Thomsen on YouTube

Johnny Falloon’s Furious Post-Punk Song “Circumcision” is a Surreal and Absurdist Treatment of the Curious Practice

Johnny Falloon from Athens, Georgia deliver a musical body horror song in “Circumcision.” It launches with fury and intensity like a post-hardcore noise rock song that fans of Amphetamine Reptile and Touch and Go bands will immediately find resonates with that realm of music well. And in the last third of the song the Jesus Lizard-esque madness gives way to a calm passage that is nearly spoken word as the singer sounds like an even more deranged Jim Morrison going on in fever dream fashion about his foreskin to some odd yet amusing free jazz that fit the subject matter perfectly. The song takes aim at a “health practice” that is very common in the Western world and even a tradition even though it’s not biologically necessary or even advantageous. The song’s lyrics depict the foreskin as a character that becomes a replacement for our narrator in his own life. It’s an absurdist treatment of honestly a curious practice which is probably the only way to treat what for many will be an uncomfortable subject. Listen to “Circumcision” on Spotify and follow Johnny Falloon on Instagram. The band’s new album Tell Hell I’m Not Coming dropped on May 30, 2025.

Tom O C Wilson’s Spectral Pop Single “Better Off” is a Song About Reconnecting With Oneself

Tom O C Wilson, photo courtesy the artist

Tom O C Wilson takes a fascinatingly left field turn with his experimental, electronic pop single “Better Off.” Bringing in Australian singer-songwriter The Magic Lantern on vocals, the song’s tones echo rapidly and convey a sense of being out of phrase with normal reality. The melodic shimmer of bell tones with crystal clear vocals and minimalist percussion manages to somehow be surreal and intimate and accessible at the same time. And the song seems to be about a person coming to terms with breaking up with someone whose influence forced them to bury or otherwise subsume parts of themselves to adapt to their particular and likely peculiar demands. It’s ultimately a song about reclaiming one’s psyche and making sense of what happened and how one can and should exist outside of an oppressive social context even if one was willing to enter into that situation to begin with because of a sense of affection that might have worked at one time and the early phases of which one is often willing to overlook how one is diminished and truncated in the attempt to be part of someone’s life. The song sounds like something spooky from the Warp Records catalog and it pushes the notion of what pop music can sound like just a little further afield. Listen to “Better Off” on Spotify and follow Tom O C Wilson at the links below.

Tom O C Wilson on Twitter

Tom O C Wilson on Instagram

Tom O C Wilson on Bandcamp

TV FACE Scorches the Sociopathy of Oligarchs on Noisy Post-Punk Single “Boots Pocket Coffin”

Lancaster, UK’s TV FACE is back with another ferocious, noisy and scathing dig at the economic elite with “Boots Pocket Coffin.” The song as wonderfully pointed as it is has an undeniable dance beat punctuated by spirals of hysterical guitar sounds and angular rhythms. The song builds a heady momentum from the beginning and pulls you into its catharsis immediately as well. There is a playfully mocking tone to the lyrics that suits well its depiction of the dire fate to which the ultra-wealthy seeming casually willing to throw the bulk of humanity as disposable bits of paving on their highway to pointless economic excess and for what? Sane civilizations do not suffer billionaires and hundred millionaires to exist. But here we are and TV FACE spell out so well how everything is not enough to sociopaths who live only for accumulating wealth and doing nothing positive or even really visionary or interesting with their unjust theft of the public good. Look for the new TV FACE album Wolf Rents Bark due out September 2025. Fans of stuff like mclusky and Viagra Boys will definitely find a great deal of appreciations for the rhetoric and headlong pace of this band’s output generally. Watch the video for “Boots Pocket Coffin” (warning on strobe effects) and follow TV FACE at the links below.

TV FACE on Instagram

TV FACE on Facebook

TV FACE on Twitter

Tim Carr’s Hypnogogic Pop Single “Looking at Houses” is a Meditation on the Effect of Digital Existence on the Human Psyche

The saturated synth melodies and crystalline percussion sounds in Tim Carr’s “Looking at Houses” puts you in an immediately reflective mood. But there is an underlying sense of what might be called low-key urgency. The song seems to be a meditation on how we live and conduct our business so much in the digital world that the line between analog life as lived in one’s body and the psychological significance of needing to adapt to how the digital realm functions and the relative convenience of it that is really a way for corporations to force us further into their dictates by making us dependent on their systems. Carr’s song as soothing as it is with a mood and vibe that is undeniable late night drive soundtrack material speaks to our dependence on computers from yes looking at houses we might buy or fantasize about occupying and the seductive ability to book a flight to distant places we might like to visit. And it’s just that, the dullened yearning this mode of living has conditioned us to experiencing and finding satisfying enough. Carr tows the line between that complacency and self-awareness in his lyrics and in the lush, hypnotic pop songwriting. The song will draw you into its loop but it’s one you don’t mind being stuck within. Listen to “Looking at Houses” on Spotify and follow Tim Carr at the links provided. Look for Carr’s new album Pleasure Drives out soon.

Tim Carr on Twitter

Tim Carr on Facebook

Tim Carr on Instagram

TYGERMYLK’s Psychedelic Dream Pop Single “Natali” Combines Tragedy and Humor Into Personal Insight

“Natali” opens up with an ethereal, impressionistic melody that drifts and builds. The song by TYGERMYLK deftly combines ideas and sentiments that are tragic and humorous as the singer sketches a time in life that symbolized and embodied a kind of felix culpa, no pun intended, in which the seeming loss reveals the reality of the situation and a revelatory truth that changes the course of one’s life or in the case with the song a relationship that might have gone on causing more heartbreak if not for a freak accident instigating a short form Rube Goldberg wrecking machine of personal realizations one might not have otherwise seen as quickly. Songwriter Hayley Harland’s vocals float through hanging harmonics and harmonic swells in a song that is reminiscent somehow of both Actor-period St. Vincent and Radiohead’s “Subterranean Homesick Alien” yet very much with its own emotional resonances speaking to the skills of an artist gifted with turning a humorous phrase with sharp psychological insight. Watch the video for “Natali” on YouTube and follow TYGERMYLK at the links below.