Tom Murphy (@tommurphy25) Bsky - nopzon.com

Bluesky Explorer

Posts by Tom Murphy

Velatine Injects Industrial Post-Punk Grit and Darkness Into “Whisper Park” and Its Exploration of Spiraling Inner Dialogues Velatine, photo courtesy the artists 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 …

8 hours ago 0 0 0 0

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E44: Best Local Albums of 2025 Downtown Denver by Night from Comedy Works Before the Phil Hanley Gig April 10, 2026, image by Tom Murphy The year 2025 was abundant with compelling music from Denver and Colorado and of all the pe…

Finally publishing this episode of the podcast I recorded a few months back.

1 day ago 0 0 0 0

Booma Bitz’s Cinematic Ambient Single “A Pufferfish About to Pop” is a Poetic Evocation of Hospital Bed Daydreaming Booma Bitz, photo courtesy the artist Listening to “A Pufferfish About to Pop” by Booma Bitz is like taking a departure from expected musical constructions and aesthetics and allowing oneself to fo…

3 days ago 0 0 0 0

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, photo by Laura Acton 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, …

6 days ago 0 0 0 0

Landroid’s Retro-Futurist Disco Synth Pop Single “Say My Name” is a Perfect Sound for Summer Rather than engulf you with synth melodies at the beginning of “Say My Name,” Landroid draws you in with a steady and strong bass line. But then the vocals come in with a beckoning quality with sat…

6 days ago 0 0 0 0

Two-Man Giant Squid’s Irreverent Post-Punk Dance Song “3 Hits” is a Sharp Commentary on the Pitfalls of Operating in Modern Music Culture Two-Man Giant Squid’s song “3 Hits” has such a driving bass line, enveloping synth melodies and wonderfully arch vocals in the vein on The Fall or early IDLES it might be easy to miss how it’s such…

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Eric Angelo Bessel’s Space Ambient Single “Upstate” Evokes the Mood of Seeing the Earth Revealed by Moonlight Eric Angelo Bessel, photo courtesy the artist With “Upstate,” Eric Angelo Bessel eases us in with a slightly distant shimmer of sound that is somehow both elusive and intimate. From this shimmer we…

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Advertisement

The Huntress and Holder of Hands Delve Into the Conflicted Human Condition on Doom Folk Song “Promethean” The Huntress and Holder of Hands, photo courtesy the artists “Promethean” finds The Huntress and Holder of Hands invoking the archetypal human struggle with akin to that of the mythological figure …

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Soft No’s Post-Punk Emo Single “Oxford Street” Is an Exuberant But Heartbreaking Portrait of Friendship and Loss Soft No, photo by Cecilia Orlando Soft No on “Oxford Street” sounds so exuberant and emotionally vibrant. The melancholic intro and the sweetly orchestral outro, though, frame the song about friend…

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Hissuae’s Cinematic, Intimate and Transcendent Art Pop Single “Guilty Pleasure” Mixes the Personal With the Mythical Hissuae, photo courtesy the artist Hissuae breathes a sense of the intimate and cinematic into “Guilty Pleasure” with her ethereal and vulnerable vocals. The song’s arrangements are orchestral and …

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Genre Is Death Savage Inauthentic Aspirations on No Wave Punk Single “Attractive People” Genre Is Death, photo courtesy the artists On “Attractive People” Genre Is Death sound like they took a time machine back to 1980s New York (their hometown) and got to experience bands like Live Sk…

2 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Tory Silver’s Wistful and Hopeful Indie Pop Single “Microwave” Comforts With Images of Reliably Necessary Daily Rituals Tory Silver, photo courtesy the artists Tory Silver mixes nostalgic wistfulness with hopefulness on “Microwave.” The crunchy yet melodic guitars have real grit and though reminiscent a bit of Pixie…

2 weeks ago 1 2 0 0

Best Shows in Denver April 2026 Light Asylum performs at The Oriental Theater on 4/3/26 with My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Devora, Die Sexual and Heavy Halo Cass McCombs, photo by Silvia Grav Wednesday | 04.01What: Cass McCo…

Just getting this going. It will be updated until complete.

3 weeks ago 1 0 0 0

The Empty Page Eviscerates the Destructive Anti-Aging Rhetoric of Our Society on Brooding Post-Punk Single “A Feminine Ending” The Empty Page, photo courtesy the artists The Empty Page sketches in vivid sonic images and lyrics the toxicity of anti-aging rhetoric in culture and media with “A Feminine Ending.” With almost ag…

3 weeks ago 1 0 0 0

Florence Dore Gives Voice to the Frustrations of Academic Bureaucracy on Rousing Americana Rock Song “Twelve Great Minds (Department Meeting)” Florence Dore, photo by Lindsay Metivier Florence Dore’s rousing “Twelve Great Minds (Department Meeting)” sounds like a gritty honky tonk rock song that might be about some hard living and the foi…

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Lukka’s Synth-Infused Dream Pop Single “Fabric of the Cosmos” is a Ballad of Acceptance of a Universe in a Constant State of Flux Lukka, photo courtesy the artists A sense of constant expansion flows through the psychedelic harmonies of Lukka’s “Fabric of the Cosmos.” The song seems to be an extended reflection on the concept…

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Unwed Sailor’s Brisk and Warm “West Coast Prism” is the Soundtrack to the Anticipation of a Future Road Trip Unwed Sailor, photo by Charles Elmore The summery mood and guitar shimmer in forward motion on Unwed Sailor’s “West Coast Prism” is the right sound for the beginning of a road trip. The music video…

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Advertisement

Field Hospitals’s Romantically Nostalgic “Everyfire” is a Jangle Pop Post-Punk Ballad About Reconnecting With One’s Passions Field Hospitals from Minneapolis offer an expansion of its jangle pop sound on new single “Everyfire.” Sonically it resonates with the kind of mood and melodies of mid-to-late 80s New Order and The…

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Lucille Two’s “What’s In My Mind” is a Hazy Slowcore Song About Moving on From a Relationship That Has Already Crumbled There is a gentle sense of resignation in the mood of Lucille Two’s “What’s In My Mind.” The lyrics seem to outline the words of someone who has long since realized the relationship is over and emo…

3 weeks ago 1 0 0 0

Fugue State’s “Dark” is an Ambient Jazz Dream Pop Song That Soothes and Stirs the Imagination Dan Langa of Fugue State, photo by Alex SK Brown “Dark” has an iterative quality to its arrangements with subtle changes in the repeated sequences. For the song Fugue State brings together elements…

3 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Blvckhndz Boosts Community Protection on Darkwave Hip-Hop Single “I Am Your Neighbor” Blvckhndz, photo courtesy the artist Blvckhndz pairs a spectral melodic synth line with an urgent beat on “I Am Your Neighbor” that complements well rapid but expertly sequenced bars about life in …

4 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Mindy Gledhill Inspires Finding Everyday Wonders Around You on Dream Folk Single “Hidden Pictures” Mindy Gledhill, photo courtesy the artist The almost layered guitar work under Mindy Gledhill’s vocals, doubled now and then to great yet subtle effect, in “Hidden Pictures” are like a musical embo…

4 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

“Places, Everyone” by Halou is a Sensuous, Industrial Downtempo Portrait of Messianic Egomania. “Places, Everyone” by Halou has a downtempo industrial menace and alluring brooding quality that serves a song about delusional manipulation. The words seem to come from the perspective of a narcis…

queencitysounds.org/2026/03/22/p...

4 weeks ago 0 0 0 0

Oski XD Doski’s “Bonny Wraith” is a Culture Jamming Collage of Post-Punk Psychedelic Folk Oski XD Doski, photo courtesy the artists “Bonny Wraith” by Oski XD Doski sounds like it was assembled from glitched out fragments of songs almost collage style to form a song that is at turns lo-f…

1 month ago 0 0 0 0

Advertisement

Madeline Goldstein’s Darkwave Single “One Star One Body” is a Synthpop Song of Personal Liberation From Personal and Social Limitations Madeline Goldstein, photo courtesy the artist Madeline Goldstein introduces “One Star One Body” with a harmonic, spectral washes over minimal percussion and establishes the dreamlike mood that perm…

1 month ago 0 0 0 0

“Spin Glass” by storyinsoil is an Ambient IDM Piece That Sounds Like the Score of a Utopian, Existential Science Fiction Drama From the ‘70s storyinsoil, photo courtesy the artist The rapid-cycling, almost iterative aspect of storyinsoil’s “Spin Glass” with the intro has a minimalistic quality of early synthesizer music but as the track…

1 month ago 0 0 0 0

International Druglords Are Ready to Breach the Everyday Pernicious Fictions We Maintain Too Long on Psychedelic Electro Pop Single “White Lie” International Druglords, photo courtesy the artist International Druglords is the latest project from Vega Blackwell who has been a musician and collaborator with numerous artists including Trent R…

1 month ago 0 0 0 0

Jacob The Horse Give the Communist Resistance to the Ruling Class a Power Pop Party Punk Anthem With “The Black Hand” Jacob The Horse, photo by Heather McAlpin Jacob The Horse sound like they popped into the current era from the dawn of power pop in the 1970s on “The Black Hand.” But this celebratory-sounding song…

1 month ago 0 0 0 0

Otracami’s Ethereal Folk Pop Single “Perfect Reach” Embraces Uncertainty and Complex Feelings Otracami, photo courtesy the artist Otracami was taking Adrianne Lenker’s School of Song class one winter while also reading Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez when the ideas and methods of son…

1 month ago 1 2 0 0

Piotr Michałowski’s Textural Ambient Composition “Something Good” Combines the Sublime and the Unsettling Piotr Michałowski puts a good deal of texture and percussive qualities in the layers of “Something Good.” Its bright, harmonics over pulsing drones in the beginning sounds like the rapid flow of cl…

1 month ago 0 0 0 0