Now Hear This: Cody Muraro on the best new goth, post-hardcore and indie-rock

Hey, guys! I’m excited to be talking about new music with you. Before I shout-out some new bands, though, I wanted to highlight a couple of acts from my local scene in Vancouver who have now split-up, but whose music deserves your attention.

The first is A Textbook Tragedy, who were the first metal band I got into. They were a band of incredibly talented musicians and they’ve all gone on to great things; their guitarist Adam Christianson plays in Architects, while bassist Bill Crook is now in Spiritbox. The other old Vancouver band I wanted to mention is Living With Lions – their last record, Island, was in my opinion their best, but it never got the attention it deserved despite it being so good.

Now, onto the new bands…

My first new band pick is Now, Now, who’ve got a great cult following, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community. This is a band everybody should be listening to – they’re so cool. Now, Now have a great live show, and, in particular, I’d recommend their album Threads, which has a spacey indie-meets-emo vibe. Their most recent album, Saved, is great too, and it’s a goal of mine to tour with them one day – I’d love for Real Friends to take them out.

These guys are a screamo/emo band from California. They dropped an album called Clairvoyant recently that was pretty cool, but my favourite release of theirs is the previous LP, Resonate/Desperate. They’ve got a real classic screamo sound and they tour super hard. State Faults’ following still seems pretty small despite them having been around for a while, but they’re on the rise, and I’m excited at the prospect of more people hearing them.

This one is a little different. Koresma makes chill beats with guitars and drum loops – it’s all instrumental, and I really like listening to it when I’m skateboarding or driving around late at night. I love all the reverb that’s in the music, and Koresma, like Now, Now, is one of my go-to artists when I can’t think what to put on. Fans of Tycho should check this out.

Another great new act is Little Tybee. I don’t know how to describe them apart from to say they’re super talented musicians. There’s a bit of indie in there and some math-rock too, while the vocalist reminds me of alt-J because he’s got a really good, high-pitched voice. They’re an awesome band, and after touring with some big acts like Polyphia, I believe they’re about to release a new record, which should be great. Little Tybee are awesome, and very unique in their approach to genre.

This band is from Canada and used to be known as Courage My Love, but they’ve now changed from a three-piece to a duo. They used to make pop-punk, but they’re promoting this new incarnation as ‘mall goth’ music, and they’re getting some hype behind them. It’s like emo with a pop heart – I’d call it pop-goth. Real Friends wanted to tour with them, but unfortunately things didn’t line up. Softcult are a cool band, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next.

Real Friends’ EP Torn In Two is out September 17 via Pure Noise.

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