Curated Artist Library
Forge Brief
Turnstile
2010-present; commercial peak 2021-present (GLOW ON, NEVER ENOUGH)
Sunshine hardcore — hardcore-punk energy but the songs want to make you happy.
Genres
hardcore punkalternative rockpost-hardcoreexperimental rock
Vocal character
Brendan Yates: mid-range melodic hardcore — equal parts shouted hardcore vocal and melodic clean delivery. Surfaces between Bad Brains-style energy and dream-pop softness within songs.
Production markers
Brendan Yates / band self-production (with Mike Elizondo collaborations)hardcore guitar tones bent into shoegaze and dream-pop textureselectronic interludes and synth layers (Mystery of Love, Endless)D.C.-Baltimore hardcore lineage with sunshine-pop sensibilityRoadrunner Records sonicmid-fi warm production — never sterilecollaboration-feature heavy (Blood Orange, Faye Webster)
Lyrical themes
joy as resistance (T.L.C., Mystery)human connection in late-capitalismself-discovery and growth (Holiday, Underwater Boi)finding light through hardcore-scene gritpresent-tense gratitudelove against the noise
Signature moves
shoegaze guitar wash inside hardcore songelectronic-pop bridge mid-hardcore trackgenre-blurring collaboration featuresshort songs (90-180s) stitched together as one continuous experience
Avoid — off-brand for this artist
traditional metalcore aggression posturingstandard verse-chorus-verse pop structurelyrical despair-modelong song durationsscreamed-only vocal delivery
More like Turnstile
- Imagine Dragons
2008-present
alternative rockpop rockelectronic rock - Knocked Loose
2013-present
hardcore punkmetalcorebeatdown hardcore - Coldplay
1996-present
alternative rockpop rockarena rock - Counting Crows
1991-present
alternative rockroots rockjangle pop-adjacent - Foo Fighters
1994-present
alternative rockpost-grungearena rock
Ranked by genre overlap + era proximity. Browse the full library →