Philadelphia siblings Cold Court just dropped a double single and announced their debut EP, and yeah — it’s exactly as chaotic and brilliant as you’d hope.
Cold Court — the Philadelphia-based sibling duo of Mini Serrano (she/her) and Jojo Lavina-Maldonado (he/him) — have announced their debut EP ‘\ (^_^) /’ (aka HANDS UP), set to drop June 19th, 2026. To mark the occasion, they’ve shared a thrilling double single: the glitched-out new track Burn, paired with the previously released Nina.
The Burn video — self-directed by the band — premiered via FLOOD, who had this to say:
“Philadelphia has been a hotbed for hard-hitting experimental music as of late, and Cold Court are just the latest among the city’s tradition of churning out unclassifiable noise-makers.“
Before any of this, the duo made their debut on Apple Radio’s The Zane Lowe Show — not a bad way to introduce yourself to the world. Nina had already been turning heads and earning early praise from The FADER (Songs You Need In Your Life), Stereogum, Alternative Press, and Brooklyn Vegan, plus opening slots with black midi, Geese, and Deerhoof. The pedigree is real.
About ‘Burn’
In Burn, Mini buries her voice deep in gravelly digital noise while the band contorts circuit-bent verses into a dance-punk chorus that could’ve been ripped straight from the Lower East Side ca. 2002. It’s a lot — in the best possible way. Mini breaks it down:
“‘Burn’ is our Frankenstein’s Monster. When Jojo moved out to go to college, we had been listening to and bonding over a lot of french house/sample-based stuff. Over winter break Jojo made a beat and we freestyled over it, since then we sent remixes of the idea back and forth over email. The song became an outlet for us to be in touch with each other, and an opportunity to try and impress one another by learning Ableton and ‘producing.’ We were always super excited by the idea of it being dubstep or electro because it really reminded us of our childhood and it didn’t sound like any of the songs we’ve worked on before. Bringing it to life–adding guitars and live drums and turning it into something unrecognizable–the song kind of took us in its own direction. When we listen back and perform it now, we’re reminded of the naivety that led to its creation from elements that maybe shouldn’t work, but also represents both of us in a song.”
About ‘\ (^_^) /’ (HANDS UP)
It’s tempting to say you’ve never heard anything quite like this EP — but that’s not exactly right. You’ve probably heard a lot of the music that makes up Cold Court’s DNA. You just haven’t heard it all at once: sideways rhythms, approximations of salsa, grungy garage rock riffs, organ runs from the feathered-hair era, The Mars Volta, prog one-hit wonders Focus, Death Grips, glitchy Aphex Twin filters, radio emo, splashy jazz drums à la Elvin Jones, uncomfortable time signatures, dubstep-style interventions. And that’s just in the first song.
Since coming up in Philly’s DIY scene as no-wave noisemakers, Cold Court have built an idiosyncratic sound that flaunts its influences and demolishes any listener’s taste hierarchies. Jojo puts it plainly:
“We grew up on Skrillex and 100 Gecs. It’s hard for me to think that something like Skrillex could be less valuable or less intellectual than something like Talking Heads. For me, it was intentional to emphasize the contradictions that exist in genres.”
The EP has a hyperkinetic, coiled energy — like it’s been packed into a tight space and just sprung free. Songs that constantly crest, build after build, powered by scribbling guitar and percussion that snaps like a drum corps on a dead sprint. Jojo again:
“When we’re together, we’re just chasing whatever feels good. Mini and I always know when there’s something there, even if it’s something that no one else would understand.”
A lot of that fearlessness was shaped by Jojo’s years in Philadelphia at Drexel, going to house shows, seeing bands with unusual instrumentation, weird hair, and a real anything-goes energy. Mini reflects:
“It changed my life, the way that it was a place that you could be yourself — you could be anything. We knew as long as we fully show up as ourselves, we know that people will get into it. We had a violinist; we had a percussion player; we had a synth player and saxophonist.”
You enter ‘HANDS UP’ thinking Cold Court are a prog-influenced noise band. You leave it thinking they might have a Top 40 hit in them. What matters is they’re both of those things — and much more — all at once.
‘\ (^_^) /’ EP track list
- Nina
- Backslang
- Burn
- Cola
- Glass
- Eighty1
- Light
Live Dates
- 04/30 — Philadelphia — Philly Style Pizza
- 06/16 — New York — Night Club 101 (Early Show)
- 06/17 — Washington — Songbyrd
- 06/23 — Boston — Middle East Upstairs
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