slowcore – Queen City Sounds and Art

The video for Slow Mass’ elegant and tender “Freeze Frame” is a black and white collection of scenes from studio work with the band and it looks like something from another decade. The music itself with its layered rhythms, minimalist aesthetic, great delicacy of feeling and entrancing melodies is reminiscent of something from the later era of Unrest. Musically it has an increasing dynamism reminiscent of one of the early slowcore bands like Codeine and Low. The tension and the tranquility breaks toward the end with surges of guitar distortion and an opening up of the rhythm but it all shifts effortlessly into the quiet and heartbreaking outro. Its a master class of arrangements that work perfectly and smoothly together to deliver the emotional peaks and valleys in a way that makes you feel better in the end if with a touch of the bittersweet. Watch the video for “Freeze Frame” on YouTube and follow Chicago’s Slow Mass at the links below. The band’s new album Low on Foot released May 16, 2025 on Landland Colportage on limited edition colored vinyl and digital formats.

Slow Mass on Instagram

Slow Mass on Facebook

Slow Mass on Bandcamp

The hazy, cycling drone creates a dreamlike resonance throughout Errunhrd’s “Don’t Drink Chemicals.” It and the melancholic vocal processing is fitting for a song about how it feels to be in any kind of relationship that seeks to reign you in and smother your full dimensions as a human in a warped and unsustainable co-dependent dynamic with love engaged in as an act of control and possession. To be in that situation and to perhaps convince yourself that this person is the right one when the whole situation stifles you and prevents both people from developing. Noah Brown’s video for the song is reminiscent of the work of Phil Tippett and the way it is both intimate and haunting, perfect for this song that captures a headspace many people have found themselves within not allowing themselves the knowledge that they can aspire and have for themselves a life that nurtures joy and encourages growth. Yet being able to articulate these feelings means having a greater chance of overcoming the psychological blocks that oppress and repress. Musically it’s like hearing a more ambient, witch house-adjacent iteration of HEALTH and Crystal Castles collaborating on a hypnogogic pop track. Watch the video for “Don’t Drink Chemicals” on YouTube and follow Errunhrd at the links provided. The new Errunhrd album Everything I’ve Ever Known releases May 14, 2025 on all stream platforms and CD.