post-punk – Queen City Sounds and Art

Subaqua’s Urgent Post-Punk Single “What a Bliss” Imagines a Future When the Psychic Weight of Patriarchal Culture is Gone

Subaqua imbues “What a Bliss” with a great sense of urgency and exhausted frustration at the inequality of society as we know it. The title refers to how it must be wonderful to not have to walk at night and having to be extra cautious, to be out in public in general and not draw unwanted attention immediately just for being female. And to have one’s natural personality and authentic self being picked apart for its arbitrary value in a patriarchal cultural conception of gender and the “proper” role of anyone and everyone. After decades of so-called progress it’s an ambient weight on the psyche for women and female-presenting people even today and with the upswing of the normalization of misogyny operating completely in the open of recent years it certainly has to be something that anyone with a sense of humanity hopes we can outgrow sooner than later. Musically the guitar and tenor of the vocals are reminiscent of Sonic Youth’s embrace of melody and discordant sounds equally and of Versus whose gift for the left field change-up in pace and tone can be heard here as well. Listen to “What a Bliss” on Spotify and follow Subaqua at the links below.

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J’cuuzi’s Genre Bursting Psychedelic Post-Punk Single “Greasy Comb” Fuses the Ominous and the Otherworldly

When “Greasy Comb” starts you might think J’cuuzi is doing a lo-fi cover of “Edge of Seventeen” mixed with Sparks. But both impressions fade when the song picks up speed and the bass line waxes more funky and the vocals come in with ominous tones and a second set of vocals, or the first, processed as though through a vocoder. As the song progresses like a mutant post-punk song born of a mix of !!! and Black Moth Super Rainbow it swings into a nearly industrial beat with tracers of distorted, glitched out, melodic vocals as notes. Then the song’s layers of sound drop out into the creeping vocals spare percussion for a moment. The effect is psychedelic and like the band listened to a lot of Tran Am’s 2000 album Red Line. Live the band makes its own outfits and makes a performance art presentation of the music and even the recorded output is an embodiment of a willingness to push beyond genre limitations and standard music forms and structures. Listen to “Greasy Comb” on YouTube and follow J’cuuzi at the links below.

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The Dark Urgency of Kallsup’s “Kino” Reflects the Impetus to Exit a Situation Outgrown

The urgent and melancholic guitar melodies in Kallsup’s “Kino” layered with sustained rhythm guitar distortion sets the mood for when the vocals come in with a passionate energy that suggests a will to break free from a situation one has outgrown. The lyrics are in Swedish but the emotions come across with an immediacy that brings you along for a journey through personal struggle. The music video is set in a dark space but with vivid, cool colors that lend the presentation of the song a dreamlike aspect that contrasts well with its headlong pace. Fans of Ladytron will appreciate the moods Kallsup strikes in the song and its fusion of personal darkness and uplifting rhythms. Watch the video for “Kino” on YouTube and follow Kallsup at the links provided. The band’s album Alldeles för nära is set for release in fall 2026.

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Saint Kitten’s Moody Yet Liberating “Stay” is a Song About Casting Off the Comforts of Familiarity and Misplaced Nostalgia and Pursing the Fulfillment of Your Dreams

Saint Kitten’s “Stay” begins murky and creeping with a spare and resonant bass line accenting her vocal lines that seem to be about taking an assessment about a place and a life one is leaving for new opportunities and and the life you want rather than the one you have settled a bit into even when as it doesn’t serve your dreams. The song addresses the way comfort in familiarity can have a seductive effect on your mind coaxing you into a world and life you already know. The past can be a mixed influence as something that shapes us and perhaps puts a limit on our potential if we let it. The lens of nostalgia can cause us to view situations and experiences more romantically than is warranted. The song itself picks up pace and the fogginess of reverie clears and the words become simpler and repeat as though pushing through the tendrils of one’s old life to something perhaps uncertain but with more potential to fulfill dreams buried or smudged over by habit, routine and self-imposed sense of tradition. At turns minimalist and moody and orchestral the song doesn’t bear immediate comparisons to other artists but fans of late 90s Einstürzende Neubauten and Jenny Hval may appreciate the tones and moods of the song. Listen to “Stay” on YouTube and follow Saint Kitten at the links below.

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Bank Myna’s Live Video of “No Ocean of Thoughts” and “The Shadowed Body” is Darkly Cosmic, Heavy Post-Rock Evocation of Spiritual Catharsis

The live video for Bank Myna’s performance of “No Ocean Of Thoughts” and “The Shadowed Body” was filmed at Chapelle des Petits Augustins in Paris, France on February 4, 2026. The setting with the old art pieces along the walls and subtle lighting plaster casts and bas-reliefs line the walls with a replication of Michaelangelo’s Last Judgment, images of French Renaissance monuments and other sculptural images enhances the majestic sound of the music that is a fusion of heavy post-rock and moody post-punk reminiscent of late 80s Dead Can Dance. During the second piece the band strikes upon an urgently menacing section halfway through that juxtaposes dynamic footage of the band with the classical statuary invoking and channeling some kind of ancient energy that predates classical music and reaches something more Gothic, even tribal and the band builds the tension expertly that fans of Swans, Museum of Light, SUMAC and SOM would appreciate. When that build breaks into more ethereal moments, bass thrumming from being struck by drum mallets, the group escalates the sound into an even more intense build that is sustained through a noisy and hypnotic repetition that tumbles into a crushing processional outro and intensely cathartic release. Watch the video of Bank Myna performing live at Beaux-Arts de Paris on YouTube and follow Bank Myna 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.

Jupe Jupe’s Post-Punk New Wave Single “A Game of Wait and See” is a Song About the Downside of the Attention Economy

For the new single “A Game of Wait and See,” Seattle’s Jupe Jupe give us a video where it looks like the band has infiltrated an office building after hours to film in the backrooms (reference intended) where the industrial infrastructure of the building is maintained out of sight. At the beginning of the video the four members of the band check their phones before getting to it. Which is fitting for the subject matter of the song which seems to be a commentary on the attention economy seemingly mandatory for anyone trying to make more of their art or even of their own lives than simply sharing it with their immediate circle of friends. But for bands in the current era it’s not like anyone is trying to promote what you do unless you’ve already made it big outside of simply playing small venues or house shows. Which is fine enough in reality but there is a pressure to be on the grind to get attention for your efforts and how that can warp how you present yourself and think about what you’re doing in a way that prioritizes platforms and methods regardless of whether it actually resonates with people beyond a surface level.

The song itself is a moody and introspective with pulsing synth rhythms, spidery guitar, expressive saxophone and vocals that provide the emotional hook that questions the dynamic many of us in the modern world find ourselves drawn into as a matter of engaging with each other when we’re not connected by proximity. It addresses the whole issue of waiting to see if anyone has in fact engaged with your “content” and yearning for that low level affirmation and wondering if you’ve been buried by the algorithm or deemed not worthy of the moment it takes to acknowledge what you’re putting out there. And yet the song reminiscent of the more New Wave end of Giorgio Moroder and the pop side of The Sound feels like the hold of social media as pervasive as it is can also be elusive and unsatisfying and possibly something that loses its grip on one’s psyche. One can hope. Watch the video for “A Game of Wait and See” on YouTube and follow Jupe Jupe at the links provided.

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Forever Factory’s Darkly Humorous and Surreal Post-Punk Single “Never Boring” Weighs the Options of Social Activities and Self-Isolating

Forever Factory, photo courtesy the artist

Forever Factory sounds like a long lost, experimental post-punk band from Scotland on the “Never Boring” single. It has a downcast and surreal energy that nevertheless draws you in. Its hypnotic beat is akin to something out of mid-80s The Fall and its gloomy guitar melody and spoken, almost whispered vocals have the intensity of a repeated mantra. The intro to the song going into the song proper brings to mind a bizarre mix of The Residents, Cabaret Voltaire and a minimalistic, spooky Viagra Boys. The lyrics sound like the words of a self-isolating person of misanthropic tendencies contemplating coming out of the comfortable confines of his own sanctum sanctorum because that’s what you’re supposed to do on a Saturday night even if you don’t really want to be in artificial social situations with the deep potential of dull interactions. Why bother when you can stay home where it’s, apparently, never boring. The song’s menace suggests a self-spiraling habit of isolating oneself and finding justifications for how not having at least some stimulation and human contact is not boring, “not if you have something to do it with.” The track is a rare modern post-punk song that doesn’t rely on trendy sounds and dares to go off the deep end into uncommon subject matter with honesty and a touch of dark humor. Listen to “Never Boring” on Spotify and follow Forever Factory at the links provided. Forever Factory’s debut EP Violence Is Everywhere But Not Here released March 27, 2026.

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Velatine Injects Industrial Post-Punk Grit and Darkness Into “Whisper Park” and Its Exploration of Spiraling Inner Dialogues

Melbourne’s Velatine returns with the more industrial-tinged single “Whisper Park.” In the music video the band looks like they’re hanging out in an Australian equivalent hideout that Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston from Only Lovers Left Alive would have fled to for a sequel. The guitars are darkly gritty and the slight echo on the vocals lend them a haunting and haunted quality even as they bridge moods introspective and declarative in its words about being trapped by your own personal demons and inner monologue, an experience that anyone with any sensitivity and ability to reflect deeply has likely had.. It’s like the band took the industrial darkness and moody attitude of Sisters of Mercy, mixed it with a touch of the griminess of The Birthday Party and infused that into a unique flavor of modern post-punk. It’s an update of the original 2022 iteration of the song that was more darkwave to give it more presence and physicality and a truly inspired rework. Watch the video for “Whisper Park” on YouTube and follow Velatine at the links below.

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The Poor Luckies Deliver Tales of Getting Through Life’s Dull and Rough Patches on Ferocious Garage Punk Single “Time’s Not Your Friend”

The Poor Luckies have been at it since 2008 when they formed in San Francisco. After a 2012 debut EP the band was on a bit of a hiatus, though not a breakup, while frrontman Danny Cuts focused on raising his son and finally in 2025 the band recorded its debut album Wrong Way which dropped on March 20, 2026. Lead single “Time’s Not Your Friend” is just one of the ten stories on the record and one that seems to tell an overarching theme for the band’s existence and music about striving through adversity and meeting it with some attitude and maybe sometimes just through sheer inertia. The line “Just keep on living, just keep on burning the candle” might sound quaint but sometimes that’s all you can do to get through to the times in life that don’t feel completely devoid of inspiration and like too much static is coming down on you. Musically it’s reminiscent of the kind of garage punk of the 90s like maybe The Fluid, New Bomb Turks and Murder City Devils—emotionally often rough around the edges but honest and imbued with a rebellious spirit and willingness to break with narrow conventions. The record itself has plenty of ACAB rhetoric that comes out of being on the delivery end of abuse for looking and being different and, well, not presenting like some middle class or rich person. It may sound like borderline unhinged garage rock from another era but doesn’t come off like it’s worshiping at the altar of another band and that makes a big difference. Listen to “Time’s Not Your Friend” on Spotify.