MINNESOTA SOUND REVIEWS - 5/7/2025
Reviews by: Alexandra Haynes, Writer @xalexonlinex
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner/Editor @PlaylistTC
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Sophie Hiroko "ashes"
Sophie Hiroko’s Spotify & Instagram bios describe her sound as “bubblegum grunge,” which I think is totally apt. This single, released in March 2025, is gorgeous work - snarly but sparkling, there’s plenty of grit in the guitar tones, but tambourine bells accent what would otherwise be a heavier rhythm section. Partnered with Hiroko’s charming vocals, this track has an enchanting lightness despite its serious instrumentation and dark subject matter (“I am a pile of ashes / I am your father’s glasses / Your mother’s lashes…” “My hands are soaked in sorrows, and my tongue is soaked in gin / I know there’s no tomorrow, I won’t be seeing you again.”) This tender angst is an addictive combination for me.
Stellala Bea "Misty Meadows"
The mystical atmosphere at work in “Misty Meadows” evokes exactly what its title suggests — it conjures images of hazy wildflowers bending in the wind with some sort visage translating through a layer of fog. I feel as though I’m witnessing a troubled expression forming in the passing shadows, flickering in and out of being over deep waves of grass. Stellala Bea has a sonic consistency across the Playing for Tips EP (released in January 2025,) on which, “Misty Meadow” is track 2 of 3. It’s vaguely haunting, yet beautiful, with strings accentuating this song’s fantastical folk essence. The vocals have a raw charisma as they cast their gentle spell over the gazey composition. It’s easy to get lost in this one.
Kyrie Nova & the Defiant "Bullets”
“Bullets” is infectious punk rock from Kyrie Nova & the Defiant, released as track 7 of 8 on their latest release, the short album Learn to Love Something (January 2025.) The vocal melodies are playfully aggressive, exorcising political strife powerfully (“You demonize my humanity! … You dare to ask of my aggravation / While you advance my subjugation!”) The rhyming bars and clever lyrics are top notch, making the flow immediately ‘catchy’ to my ear. I can feel Nova’s righteous anger as she cries each chorus, “You would never take a bullet for me / Because you won’t take a ballot for me.” Intense in all the ways that need to be shared with the world, especially now, “Bullets” makes for an ever-relevant and brilliant generational protest song.
Zwaremachine "Waking The Night - Planktoon Remix”
The Planktoon remix of “Waking The Night” picks up the pace of the original track and adds a clubby, thumping concoction of drum machine beats and synth bass lines, which greatly appeals to my own EBM biases. Where Zwaremachine’s original is a class act of its own, oozing its dark industrial fetishism over you and lingering on the relationship between slower, heavy, stompy beats and shimmering, spacious synth lines — the Planktoon Remix takes those rivethead bones and refashions them away from their sloping gothicism, molding them instead into a more contemporary blood rave beat/Songs to Drive Irresponsibly Fast At Night To kinda situation. I love both versions, but the Planktoon Remix just edged out on my personal preference for tempo this week. There are three other remixes on the EP of the same name for your enjoyment - how fun it is to compare them to each other and see this brilliant track in different lighting.
Portside Dive "Different Kind of Me"
Portside Dive lean into their pop punk tendencies on “Different Kind of Me,” a brand new single which dropped in April 2025. This project harnesses kicking melodies and quirky additions, like jester-coded keyboard jingles which match the vibe of theatrical analogies found in the lyrics: “Hey! All the world’s a stage when I’m in pain!” Off-kilter riffs appear, but melt away as soon as they pop up to allow choruses to burst forth in full swing. The combination of keyboard chord progressions and snazzy electric guitar motion with party-tempo percussion makes for full-bodied sound that invites you to dance. The lyrics are uninhibited and vulnerable, contradicting what feels like easy-go-lucky vocal intonations, one of the hallmarks of Midwest Emo that Portside Dive draw from, too. All their alt-rock anxieties are fully expressed, served to us on a platter shaped like fun despite how dark this song truly gets (“Find myself still wondering / What I gotta do to feel okay!”)
Knife Emoji "Eastern Wind Pt. 1"
“Eastern Wind Pt. 1” has a rich and concentrated psychedelia to it, its composition progressive and expansive. Knife Emoji blend electronic elements with traditional instrumentation in a way that feels otherworldly, yet completely organic. Each tempo change is a crashing wave of trippy satisfaction that really wowed me - I ate it up every time. This song is equal parts strange and beautiful, with my only complaint being that I wish it were doubly as long so I could truly be absorbed by its spaced-out atmosphere. This track, released first as a single in April 2025, is one for fans of King Gizz/Grateful Dead and the like. The mix and master here are so clean, with the vocals front and center to lead the listener’s journey into the full scope of their trance-inducing story. As a noteworthy aside, their website is really awesome, serving as a link aggregate without relying on Linktree.
