All right, this is cheating a little bit, but QUEENS dropped these tracks when I was in the middle of the actual Checking Up mode, and then yeah, I kind of forgot to close this loop. Ain’t a whole lot else happening, so let’s do it!

Hey, QUEENS! Remember them? Good fun, usually a lot more idol than rock but often plenty enough rock to be worth mentioning. Sister group to and technically kind of a follow-up from PIIIIIIIN. Good times. They released an album back in June, and it was worth a few spins. A couple of weeks ago, with no real fanfare, they dropped a couple of tracks onto Soundcloud, and I think you should listen to them because, well, you should listen to them. It’s good for the soul.

To add some degree of commentary, that thing that I was saying a little while back, about how even most “idol rock” has become this very cookie-cutter, low-effort lure that’s more a signal to wota of a particular type? This is part of the exceptions that I extolled! Yes, there’s less outright rocking than you’ll find in a lot of examples. Yes, this is more “idols intersecting with rock sounds” than “your face being rocked off by idols.” It’s also perfectly solid material that we should be happy to have!

Again, I see no mention of an upcoming release on their feed, so I’m going to with “these were released because they could be,” which is an excellent artistic flex. Also a good way to keep a seat warm while you work on the things that you very much plan to make hay of down the road!