Scene: Summer 2010, the Montgomery County Fair in suburban Washington, D.C. I graduated from high school only a month or two ago, and my friend Dave just threw up a Wendy’s Triple Baconator on the swinging ship ride. I win a goldfish whom I name Waffles (sOoOoo random!!) and am carrying him around in a plastic bag when my other buddy Ian suggests that instead of buying more tickets to ride rides and play games, we pool our remaining money and score some shrooms from our former classmate Colin. We eat the shrooms and watch 2001: A Space Odyssey in my parents’ living room. I forget all about Waffles. By morning, he is dead.

Waffles has been on my mind lately, ever since six-piece NYC post-punk outfit TVOD dropped their single “Goldfish” late last year. The track opens with a dense bass riff before some ominous drums drop in and vocalist Tyler Wright recounts a tale of woe: “Ted killed my goldfish, fed her too many pills.” The tension builds as they send the goldfish to her porcelain grave, exploding into a punishing chorus that nods to traditional post-punk bands like the Pixies but also newer ones like Dry Cleaning. I love this 2020s-on-a-late-20th-century sound, same as I love a frock designed in the ’90s to make it look like it’s from the ’60s. It’s revitalized and fun.

TVOD have been steadily dropping singles since their 2021 full-length record Victory Garden, assembling a strong set list of weighty-sounding songs with often wryly humorous subject matter, though the June release “Poppies” b/w “Since You’ve Been Away” deals with some darker themes. More than anything else, their sound is engineered to make you move. They have enough for another album, they just need the capital to lay it down—I know some record label A&R folks must be reading this, so why are you snoozing on them?