Just like 2025 and 2024 before it, we are eschewing a "classic", big ol' list of albums we liked from 2026 so far. Lists are fun, but they make no sense ("this album is number 12 and this album is number 9" are words uttered by the insane). Instead, we will be using the next few weeks to highlight our favorite trends, releases, shows, cover art, experiences, and more from the first half of this (musically) excellent year.
YHWH Nailgun have been one of the most forward-thinking noise rock bands of the last few years, incorporating tropicalia influences, heavy use of rototoms, and an otherworldly, effects-heavy approach to guitar playing. The band’s debut full-length, 45 Pounds, was one of our top noise rock albums of 2025. However, I seem to be in the minority regarding YHWH Nailgun’s newest release, Magazine. The praise showered upon Magazine confuses me. The album mix is murky at best; the songs seem like half-baked B-sides from the 45 Pounds recording sessions; some tracks end abruptly; and the total running time of the 10-track album is 11 minutes (for reference, 45 Pounds was 10 tracks but nearly twice as long). I am no stranger to these types of antics, given that lo-fi heroes Guided by Voices employ all of these components and are one of my all-time favorite rock bands. But, relative to YHWH Nailgun’s previous work, it all seems like a rather odd choice coming off the heels of a critically acclaimed debut.
One topic that has come up in the online discourse regarding Magazine is the TikTokification of music. Music critics and commenters alike are openly questioning the extent to which the brevity of these tracks is meant to appeal to our decreasing attention spans at the hands of social media platforms. More cynically, some wonder whether these tracks were simply meant to be the background music for time-constrained TikToks or Instagram reels. A user on Rate Your Music went so far as starting their Magazine review by writing, “TikTok for music listeners.” Admittedly, I haven’t read too much about the album or the band’s motivation behind it. So, for all I know, the whole concept behind the album could be a critique of the TikTokification of music and our short attention spans. Perhaps the whole point of the album is to problematize the “traditional” song structure in favor of the snippets of songs that we have become accustomed to on social media. But even if any of that is the case, it still demonstrates the extent to which social media is affecting music.
I recently saw an Instagram reel (the irony is not lost on me, I assure you) on the TikTokification of the music industry. The author of the reel analyzed a more specific element of the phenomenon I described: the way that “viral” moments are allegedly intentionally integrated into songs. These are parts of songs that seem tailor-made for social media trends. Think of the sudden jump cuts in before-and-after makeup tutorials or fashion makeovers and the music that might accompany them. The author cites different examples of these “viral” musical moments: counting/listing, forced pauses, sudden shifts in sound, and lots of speaking. In terms of heavy music, the example that immediately springs to mind is Knocked Loose’s now-infamous “arf arf” in “Counting Worms”. However, considering that the song is 10 years old, I think it’s fair to assume it wasn’t intended to soundtrack a viral social media trend. To be fair, the author doesn’t present evidence that these “viral” moments are intentionally placed in songs she cites, but it is clear that some of these songs become inextricably linked to the social media trends that they soundtrack.
A separate but related TikTokification-of-music phenomenon I’ve noticed is the gap between artists’ online musical content and their recorded material. I have followed several musicians on Instagram based solely on the clips of interesting, often experimental, ideas they have presented in their reels or stories. However, more often than not, when I locate the artists’ recorded material, it’s night and day compared with the musical ideas they have expressed via social media. Their recorded material is often more accessible or even poppy, and most certainly geared to a wider audience. It’s been disappointing in every case. From a more generous perspective, it could be that social media is the artists’ testing ground for new material or directions. If a clip of experimental music gets traction, perhaps an artist would be encouraged to pursue that style in their recorded material. From a cynical perspective, it seems like the whole point of being more experimental on social media is to gain more traction.
Simply put, doing something bizarre, like playing guitar through a boombox or karaoke machine, likely has a higher potential of going viral than performing a “normal” song in a “normal” way. In this sense, it makes sense as a marketing tool to gain more followers. But there is still that disconnect between their online artistry and their recorded artistry. Perhaps the artists think that social media users who come across their content will be intrigued enough to give a “like” and a “follow,” which will eventually lead those users to become fans through the more accessible recorded material. But for those of us who were intrigued by the experimental material and want more of it, artists seem to be doing a disservice to themselves and us.
The way that music is consumed has always shaped the music itself. We can consider the limits placed on album sequencing in the vinyl-only era, as well as all the fluff added to CDs in the 90s, when artists (often at the behest of their labels) were taking advantage of the 70+ minutes afforded to them in that medium. As younger audiences increasingly find and listen to new music on TikTok and Instagram (to say nothing of the social media marketing that musicians engage in), music has become inseparably entangled with social media. All we can do is wait and see how much more music transforms as a result.