King in Yellow hail from Kingston, NY which is in my neck of the woods in the Hudson Valley of New York which makes this review all the more exciting because I get to really dig into a song of a local band that I’m gonna do my best to catch live in the near future.

The song opens with a great guitar riff that is soon joined by another guitar that interplays and adds complexity to the riff, and thumping bassline and an extended drum roll that all builds into powerful sonic tour de force.

It’s always the hardest to nail down the sound of an indie rock or post punk/hardcore band as these bands tend to bring in extensive influences from multiple genres, and King in Yellow is no different. I could make some comparison to 80’s gothic-ish vocals of the Smiths and some musicality that might derive its influences from bands like The Pixies, Sonic Youth and the Afghan Wigs, but even that doesn’t give you a clear sound because each of those bands have different albums and songs that demonstrate different sounds.

What I can tell you is that with each listen, I enjoy the song more and more, and find more aspects to focus on. The two guitar parts consistently work together to both keep the framework of the song while also interacting to hit you with nuances and unique moments that fit the song while also adding flavor—that special sauce if you will. And as a drummer, I locked in hard to the bass and the drums, and really appreciated how both were content to keep it relatively simple and create the bottom needed to allow the guitars to weave their mix of garage rock, grunge, and psychedelic, all wrapped into a existential burrito topped off with quandary and a dash of what the fuck.

Clocking in at over 4 minutes, which is way past my normal time for my preferred punk inspired song length of less than 2 minutes, this song never has me losing interest; in fact, it’s more reminiscent of waiting for the next release of a serial story or even, God I hate myself for saying this, waiting for the next part of a TikTok series. In other words, I’m just waiting to hear what comes next. When the song finally ends, it’s at it’s most phrenetic, and leaves you wishing there was more, and I could see myself at their show ,beer in hand, dancing to this song and then hoping that they give me just one more hit after it’s over.

Check them out on their Spotify or on my own indie/garage rock playlist

Follow them on their Internet stuff too: IG, YT, Bandcamp, Soundcloud

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No tapes and no CDs, I can’t play either of them.