Philly’s Holotypes Should Be on Your Radar

Philadelphia’s Holotypes are a new band made up of old hands, and their debut album, The Second Arrow, coming this fall via Bad Catt Records, is one of the coolest records we've heard in 2026.

Their songs are layered with moving parts: guitars that come out of emo and twist into mathy shapes, inventive drumming, bass lines that snake through the gaps. What keeps it from turning into a puzzle is Faisal Rashed, a commanding frontman who gives all that motion a center.

The band came together after the pandemic, when brothers Ed and Cassidy McGrath (guitars), drummer Nick Holdorf, and bassist Dave Esterman, all veterans of the Greater Philadelphia underground, reunited. Rashed joined in 2023 and brought a hard rock edge to their post-punk roots. They recorded much of the album in a cabin they built themselves in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains.

For a crew of Philly lifers, it’s a second act worth watching, and a natural fit for Bad Catt, a Bucks County label built on artist-first deals that let bands keep ownership of their work.

Lead single “The World Is Survived” opens the album and puts their raw emotional side front and center.

The Second Arrow is out Nov. 19 via Bad Catt Records.