I listen to a lot of music. No, really. If I’m not catching up on what my dudes recommend with The Indie Inspection and Ska Punk & Other Junk, or doing homework for the Crushed Monocle Podcast, I’ve got my ear to the ground for what’s next. There’s so much music out there that it’s hard to keep a cohesive list. While the podcast is a great way to discuss a few records each month, I feel I’m undercutting some of the other records that got repeated spins. What’s the remedy? This column! This is The Showcase.
Bleary Eyed – Easy
With Easy, Bleary Eyed condenses haze into something sharper and more luminous than your standard-issue shoegaze. These four songs move from distortion-heavy catharsis to soft, self-aware intimacy. “Run” reclaims identity through pop hooks, “Wreck” spits at someone’s self-inflicted wreckage, and by the time “Mean” closes the EP, we’ve threaded a surprising elegance through fuzz and frustration. This brief but complete arc proves that the band is refining their chaos into something deliberate. Have I mentioned how much I love shoegaze?
Fantasma Negra – L.U.S.T.
Obligatory local Chicago band in The Showcase alert!
Somewhere between the loose swagger of The Walkmen and the razor-sharp pulse of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs lives Fantasma Negra. The guitars slash and shimmer, the bass struts like it owns the night, and the drums hit with an arrogant precision that makes your chest rattle. On the surface, it’s dance rock with a glam sneer, all the stuff you think you’ve heard before. But underneath? This uneasy shadow crawls through every groove. Sure, you can move to it, but you never feel safe.
Crypt Sermon – Saturnian Appendices
This EP laughs in the face of that tired “sequels are never as good” trope, as Crypt Sermon lands as a lean, all-muscle companion to The Stygian Rose. The four tracks of Saturnian Appendices (including a Mayhem cover) prove the band isn’t just padding their catalog, but actively rewriting what epic doom can be. It’s ambitious without the bloat, reverent without recycling, and further proof that Crypt Sermon’s crown gets heavier with every release.
Primitive Impulse – Piss It Away
Some people like to listen to music as a way to unwind after dealing with the perils of modern-day society. Primitive Impulse is NOT one of those artists, and Piss It Away is NOT one of those records. Somewhere between Poison Idea and Napalm Death, this Cincinnati-based hardcore gang feels like getting robbed while getting your head ripped off. You know, rest and relaxation!
Soft Surface – Blue Dream
Led by Cameron Wisch of Porches and Dust Star, Soft Surface delivers Blue Dream like a burst of sun-soaked power pop. Sure, you can catch flashes of Superdrag or Teenage Fan Club, but this isn’t nostalgia cosplay. It’s a full-on celebration of everything that made vintage alt-rock radio golden without getting stuck in the past. The Wilco-tinged standout, “What Love Is,” featuring Frankie Cosmos, seals the deal. Summer might be fading, but this album makes a solid case that rock doesn’t have to get moody just because the days are shorter.
Blessings – Blodstrangen
The third album by Blessings, Blodstrangen takes the chaos of hardcore, sludge, noise rock, and post-metal and creates a living, breathing ecosystem entirely its own. Percussion provides the architecture, and guitars splinter into jagged colors, as synths smear across the edges, while vocals shapeshift from snarls to whispers without losing bite. It’s textured, suffocating, strangely catchy, and never collapses under its own weight. The band has refined influences like Converge, Cult of Luna, and Mastodon into something that sounds like Blessings and no one else. Heavy, harsh, immersive, and perversely rewarding.
Hexenmoon – Hexenmoon
It wouldn’t be an installment of The Showcase without some atmospheric goth rock, right? This time, we’re talking about a little more atmosphere and a little less rock. Hexenmoon is yet another act with almost no social media footprint whatsoever. This self-titled EP delivers mostly organ-driven dirges reminiscent of 1960s horror movies, though the second half offers a black metal plot twist. Played with zero camp, Hexenmoon is horrifically mesmerizing. It’s not even September, and I’m already ready for spooky season!
Nearless – You Loved Me As If I Were Real
Speaking of atmospheric goth rock, Nearless is yet another band with no social media presence. But unlike the previous token goth rock segment of The Showcase, Nearless swaps out “hammer horror” for beautifully tragic and heartbreakingly beautiful. This melodic metal EP unfolds like a three-part passion play of love, loss, and pain. Admittedly, I can’t understand a single word sung in any of the songs, but my own heart tells me it’s sad and romantic. To be fair, does one’s heart really know the difference?
Kianja – Chapter Four
I stumbled upon the music Kianja on this, her fourth album. I haven’t gone back to check out her previous releases because I’m stuck on this one! Chapter Four is a journey through womanhood, healing, and resilience. Blending R&B, Afrobeat, and modern soul, this London-based singer-songwriter moves between sunlit grooves and intimate storytelling while never shying away from vulnerability or confrontation. The record balances boldness with tenderness, weaving personal evolution into every lyric. Despite knowing very little about her, I’m awed by her ability to transform pain into art without ever losing her voice.
Panopticon – Laurentian Blue and Songs of Hiraeth
Austin Lunn has always made Panopticon feel like a collision between worlds that should repel each other. Black metal’s icy roar crashes against Appalachian campfire warmth. But that tension creates the spark. With this year’s dual release, he splits the elements: Laurentian Blue strips everything down to raw, aching folk confessionals, while Songs of Hiraeth digs up old black metal tracks and shapes them into something sprawling and savage, yet cathartic. Both stand strong on their own, but, surprisingly, the folk record hits me harder. Then again, Panopticon was never built for comfort; it’s always thrived on contradictions.
The Showcase August 2025: Further Listening (classics, essentials, standards, and revisits)
Delinquent Habits – Delinquent Habits
Even 30 years after its release, Delinquent Habits’ debut is pure fire. It’s raw, swaggering, and alive with a Latin-infused West Coast bounce that still feels untouchable. The lo-fi, less-than-polished production makes it feel more like a block party manifesto than a standard-issue classic. Hearing “Tres Delinquentes” will always take me back to playing this album on my Walkman while riding my bike back and forth on my driveway. I may have been a fat white kid in the Chicago suburbs, but with this album in my ears, I felt like I was cruising the streets of Cali.
The Strokes – Angles
As a straight white guy over 40 writing about music, yeah, I had my “Strokes phase.” But their fourth record, Angles, rarely gets the love it deserves. Released in 2011, it initially received some quiet admiration, yet I can’t recall ever hearing a track on the radio or out in the world. But when “Two Kinds of Happiness” recently landed on my playlist, it hit me: Wow, this record was ahead of its time. So, I revisited the whole thing and was floored, not just by how much I enjoyed it, but by how much of it I’d completely forgotten. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean I’ll go through another “Strokes phase,” and I promise to never turn The Showcase into a nostalgia pit. Wait – Is the band still a thing?