Single Sentence Singles: Best of May 2025’s local tracks

Photo by Travis Young

In an effort to keep you all abreast of the latest local music that’s not album or music video related, we present the latest installment of our irregular feature, Single Sentence Singles. We take a listen to the latest local singles to hit Soundcloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, et al, and sum them up in one sentence.

Simple enough? Here we go.

Oxytoxin, “Inside Us All” 

Lawrence metal purveyors Oxytoxin take all of the stuff that’s great about early ’00s metal and remove all the problematic elements, resulting in music which feels familiar but goes new and weird places, such as what they’ve done with “Inside Us All,” which manages to groove along like jazz-funk while still providing headbang-worthy sick riffs.

She Said, “No Lines” 

“No Lines,” the second single from power-poppers She Said’s new LP, What!, bounces along like a country song, but with just enough heft to make it feel like a rocker (and those background harmonies are amazing!), which works out to the band being “Less of a fusion and more of a collection of tastes, their range of influences lends itself to an infectious mixtape full of their own original tunes.”

Zion Isaiah, “window seat” 

Kansas City’s Zion Isaiah’s new single, “window seat,” is loaded with big pop jam vibes, making for perfect warm weather tuneage, and it’s the kind of thing you want to listen to sitting in the sunshine because it gets me in the feels the same way as when I hear some once-popular, now-forgotten ’80s pop hit and am taken all the way back to listening to music when I was a little kid.

MoonShroom, “Party on the Moon”

Kansas City Americana outfit MoonShroom features the duo of Jake Keegan and Lily B Moonflower at its core, and if the first single from their upcoming debut album, Take a Trip, is any indication, the whole record is going to be one hell of an interstellar journey because it was recorded live at Element Recording and the “you’re there in the room as it happens” atmosphere makes me wanna boogie.

Scott Hrabko & the Rabbits, “Paint What Ain’t” 

The release of the Freedom Affair’s latest LP and the teases we’ve gotten of the new MoonShroom album, coupled with the guitar tone on this new single from Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits, makes me wonder whether we’re in the midst of a ’70s soul revival because the guitar tone on “Paint What Ain’t” might as well have come out of Muscle Shoals or Royal Studios, but I am not in any way complaining because I could listen to this all week long.

Markcus Sanders, “Give Me My Flowers” 

Hitting quick and leaving you shook, the latest from Markcus Sanders clocks in under two minutes, but rides a hook sure to soundtrack thousands of TikToks now that the musician has signed with Empire, the San Francisco-based independent music company behind early work from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B, and Anderson .Paak.

Flooding, “your silence is my favorite song” 

“Flooding can be extremely personal most of the time, but I like to explore the perspective of narcissistic villain archetypes sometimes, too,” says Flooding’s Rose Brown, continuing on to note, “It’s fun to pretend to be a piece of shit male rock idol for 4 minutes,” and the drone of this first song from the trio’s upcoming object 1 EP coupled with Brown’s declamatory vocals sounds like a denunciation even as Brown fully inhabits this persona.

Jared Dustin Griffin, “Broken Trail Survival Song” 

Topeka Americana singer-songwriter Jared Dustin Griffin never intended this song to be released, as it was written about Griffin ‘s mom, Nancy Jo, who took her own life in 2015, but, “It being the 10-year anniversary of her passing felt like a meaningful time to finally release it,” says the musician, and you can feel the weight of loss pouring from every note, with the final instrumental coda leaving me typing these words with tears in my eyes.

Kat King, “Somersaults” 

Says indie rocker Kat King of their newest single, “The sentiment of Somersaults is that life is short, so worry about yourself and let people live – literally,” as the singer-songwriter grapples with the concept of identity and how people might perceive you, starting off all lush and beautiful and then gradually layering vocals and guitars to a cacaophonous penultimate roar.

Tech N9ne feat. Kevin “Church” Johnson, “This I Know”

That horn line and that hook from Kevin “Church” Johnson elevate this song from something different to something special from Tech N9ne, in that it’s a smoother track than most of the KC legend’s catalog, with a reflective lyricism and quiet groove that screams crossover gem.

Ryan Manuel feat. Kierston White, “The Hammer Going Down”

Lawrence troubadour Ryan Manuel teams up with Oklahoma’s Kierston White for a haunting and catchy country love song about what it takes to get back home to the one you love, anchored by a truck-driving rhythm which begs you take this one out to the car and see what it sounds like as the highway unwinds.

Stephonne, “Forgive Me, Father (Sinead O’Connor)” 

We had to wait a little longer for this single than we wanted, but Stephonne went in and did a new mix and master with Joseph T Price, and as the musician says, it is “SO MUCH MORE sonically cohesive and in the pocket,” and how perfect is the timing of a an absolute banger taking on the Catholic church than hot on the heels of a new pope?

Champ, Summer of ’25 cassingle

Coming hot on the heels of their excellent Sampler release back in March, indie rockers Champ have a new two-song cassingle for their upcoming June tour with CoMo’s Highway Demon, and it showcases two sides of the band, with the rocking “Cardio” moving like Worriers and the Weakerthans in a jam sesh, and the moodier flip of “Elizabeth” droning like vintage Built to Spill.

Are you a local musician with a new single to share? Email nicholas.spacek@gmail.com