New Playlist: September 2023

Hello! It sure is October now, which means we’re wrapping up September with a good, old-fashioned round-up post. You’ll notice a fair selection of songs from 1993 in this one; if that particular section of this post intrigues you, stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for more on music from that era. Otherwise, the stuff on here is new, hot, and sure to be enjoyed by you, the listener.

The artists who have multiple songs on this playlist are Robert Earl Keen and Coventry.

Here is where you can listen to the playlist on various streaming services: Spotify, Tidal (each missing one song), BNDCMPR (missing seven). Be sure to check out previous playlist posts if you’ve enjoyed this one, or visit the site directory. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.

“Sidewalk”, Touch Girl Apple Blossom
From EP (2023)

First of all, great band name. Touch Girl Apple Blossom are a new group that put out their four-song debut EP at the end of August–I don’t really know anything about the four-piece (“Olivia, Dustin, Daniel, John” according to their Bandcamp page), but they’ve been playing around their home city of Austin for a bit, I think. The Touch Girl Apple Blossom EP is vintage C86-inspired jangly guitar pop through and through–there’s just a bit of dreaminess, but it’s pretty peppy and uptempo as well. Statistically speaking, you’ll love it, especially opening track “Sidewalk”, a song that features one catchy section after another.

“Guitars”, Another Michael
From Wishes to Fulfill (2023, Run for Cover)

Another Michael! I liked-but-didn’t-love their 2021 debut album, New Music and Big Pop. I know some people freaked over it, and no disrespect to them, but Wishes to Fulfill is more my speed, I think. The highlights just pop out a little more to me, and opening track “Guitars” is a large part of that. It’s big, building folk rock that introduces the record perfectly, and almost every line that Michael Doherty delivers is memorable (the lyrics are also just so true. Guitars do get acoustic sometimes! And they get electric sometimes! And I do feel like a character sometimes, too, Michael!). One might get caught up in the acoustic/electric guitar-based musical cues to miss the handclap-featuring one, so I’ll point that one out too.

“Poor Boy”, Lydia Loveless
From Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again (2023, Bloodshot)

Unsurprisingly, the new Lydia Loveless has once again delivered the goods. Time will tell how Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again stacks up against their other albums, but “Poor Boy” is an instant classic as far as I’m concerned. Coming after the soft launch of “Song About You”, “Poor Boy” announces the return of Loveless in all their hard-charging glory, with the singer-songwriter dropping one Loveless-ism after another (“You’re the closest thing to normal that I’ll ever let go”, “Does this tattoo make it weird?”, and, of course, the title line). After the relatively subdued (but still very good) Daughter, “Poor Boy” also functions as a reminder that Loveless can do the barnburning roots rock thing as well as anyone.

“Chain Wallet”, Coventry
From Our Lady of Perpetual Health (2023, Septic Jukebox)

The debut album from Chicago duo Coventry, Our Lady of Perpetual Health, is an accessible but decidedly offbeat collection of excellently-penned pop songs. “Chain Wallet” is the record’s most immediate pop standout, a sharp showcase of the chemistry between singer-songwriters Jon Massey and Mike Fox. Bright, mid-tempo acoustic pop rock marks the majority of the song (“Had a bitter fight over Shugo Tokumaru / You lost your temper and took the aux cord from me” receives a shockingly beautiful delivery from Fox), and then Massey takes the bridges and they both launch into guitar heroics overdrive for a huge showy finish. Read more about Our Lady of Perpetual Health here.

“The Boy Who Knew Too Much”, Tobin Sprout
From Demos and Outtakes Two (2023, Persona Non Grata)

This Tobin Sprout guy sure knows how to write a song, huh? What a strange career it’s been for him–his most popular songs are the ones he did for a band in which he wasn’t even the primary songwriter, his solo career has been relatively sporadic but has slowly but surely grown to a respectable size over twenty-five years, and now he has two collections of demos and outtakes to his name. “The Boy Who Knew Too Much” (which as far as I can tell has never been released before, can any Sprout-heads confirm?) kicks off Demos and Outtakes Two with a triumphant Tobin Sprout classic–I’d recognize those vocals, that fuzzy melodic lead guitar, and the slightly off-sounding drumbeat anywhere.

“No Cigarettes / Stay Monkey”, Brontez Purnell
From Confirmed Bachelor (2023, Upset the Rhythm)

Well, this certainly sounds like a Brontez Purnell song (and, to the uninitiated, that’s a very good thing). After the electronic detour of No Jack Swing earlier this year, the Younger Lovers frontman has once again picked up the garage rock-y power pop thread of his previous release, 2020’s White Boy Music EP. “No Cigarettes / Stay Monkey” is the first single from the upcoming Confirmed Bachelor LP (out on November 10th), and while a song that’s actually two songs mashed together might seem like an odd lead-off choice, when they’re as good as “No Cigarettes” and “Stay Monkey” are, I’ve got no complaints. The sharp, pop-punky former part shifts into the smoking glam rock of the latter with a skill only a veteran like Purnell could pull off.

“Into You”, The Jean Paul Sartre Experience
From Bleeding Star (1993, Matador)

Bleeding Star, the third and final album from New Zealand’s Jean Paul Sartre Experience/JPS Experience, is far from my favorite album to come out of the Flying Nun/Dunedin-adjacent scene, but it does contain a song that’s as good as “Into You”, which is something 99% of albums just can’t claim. “Into You” kicks off the record with nearly four minutes of perfect fuzz-pop bliss, shoegaze-y indie rock gliding across sweet verses into that perfect underground-pop chorus. 

“Pretty Pictures”, Cub
From Betti Cola (1993, Mint)

“If I had a dog, he’d be my best friend / Once I thought it was you but now you’re gone again”. Ah, I love this song. It’s so beautiful. Absolutely ace twee/indie pop/whatever from Vancouver’s Cub, off of a record that’s full of the stuff. “Pretty Pictures” just does something to my mood; it captures a moment of zen after being let down and mistreated by someone, looking at the stars and the clouds and just having everything lock into place. “Everything will be okay, I’ll see you some other day”.

“Whenever Kindness Fails”, Robert Earl Keen
From A Bigger Piece of Sky (1993, Sugar Hill/Koch)

Robert Earl Keen…one of the best to ever do it. I’ve been a fan of his for quite a while now, but I’m on team Keen even stronger than before after listening to A Bigger Piece of Sky, his best album. The entire first side of the album (going off the 2004 resequenced version) is perfect; hard to choose just one highlight from it, but the dark roots rock of “Whenever Kindness Fails” is as good a choice as any. “I only use my gun whenever kindness fails,” goes the chorus, as Keen’s narrator racks up a body count for every slight and hesitation directed towards him. Keen typically loves a bit of humor in his writing, but we’re on our own on this one.

“Float Away”, Slaughter Beach, Dog
From Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling (2023, Lame-O)

Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling feels like Slaughter Beach, Dog’s most band-centric album yet, with a solidified five-piece lineup working subtly in lockstep to dress singer-songwriter Jake Ewald’s songs with a bit more refinement. The starry guitar pop of “Float Away” is one of the most instantly infectious moments I’ve heard on a Slaughter Beach, Dog album, and that’s aided both by Ewald’s increasingly-comfortable-sounding vocals and the band’s deft additions of guitar and keyboard accents to a typically wonderful Ewald lyric. Read more about Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling here.

“Kill Me”, Al Menne
From Freak Accident (2023, Double Double Whammy)

I love that band Great Grandpa. They are, to me, among the most underrated indie rock bands of the past decade. So I was slightly disappointed that we got an indie folk solo album from Al Menne, Great Grandpa’s lead singer, instead of a proper follow-up from the Seattle group. This disappointment lasted about fifteen seconds into “Kill Me”, the excellent opening track to Freak Accident, Menne’s first solo album. Honestly–and I can get away with this because I’m not naming any names–Menne’s writing makes almost every “big name” in the festival/Best New Music-core folky-indie-circuit look like chumps. I’m not sure where I’ll be when the chorus to this song (“Do you remember saying, ‘It’d scare you to death to know how much I love you?’ / Kill me now, please, plеase, please”) pops into my head in a relevant way, but I’m sure I’ll want to be somewhere else.

“Stupid Ape”, Brian Damage
From Previous Episodes (2023, Just Because)

Brian Damage is the latest project from Columbus’ Brian Baker, who leads the underrated group Brat Curse and previously played with the also-appearing-on-this-playlist Smug Brothers. Previous Episodes is the third Brian Damage album in as many years, and it contains a bit of the underdog, dreamy power pop Brat Curse sound, but with a bit more focus on synths. My favorite track from Previous Episodes is “Stupid Ape”, a driving tune that rolls out a winning combination of Baker’s earnest vocals, a big and bright synth hook, and a brisk, prominent bassline. In and out in under three minutes, but it feels like it could go on forever.

“Surprises”, Hell Trash
From Surprises / Gold Little Things (2023, Rocket to Heaven)

Following their debut EP Live at Home, the Philadelphia duo Hell Trash have released their debut single of recorded material with “Surprises” backed with “Gold Little Things” (a nice piece of skeletal folk that appeared on Live at Home). The single’s previously-unheard A-side is a co-write between Rowan Horton and Noah Roth (who are also one-half of fuzz rock supergroup Mt. Worry). I remember a quote that I can’t find now where Roth told Horton they wanted the song to “sound like ‘Range Life’ [by Pavement]”, and the jangly country-rock that undergirds Horton’s vocals certainly feels like they were able to figure out how to do that, and it balances nicely with Horton’s singing, which sounds like they’re trying to shake off uncertainty by the “Can I trust in fortune now? / Can we leave surprises?” closing line. 

“You Choose”, Hypnolovewheel
From Altered States (1993, Alias)

Great, great album from the undersung New York-area indie rockers (bassist/vocalist Dan Cuddy plays in The Special Pillow now). Altered States is a record that pulls from both New Zealand indie rock and American stuff (I hear Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and their contemporaries in Yo La Tengo here), and, most importantly, it’s a big old, loud pop album. “You Choose” is an underground indie rock anthem to be sure, fuzz pop at its most immediate. 

“Water – Temperature Controlled Mix”, Natural Palace
From Change of Atmosphere (2023, Sound As Language)

There’s just something about “Water – Temperature Controlled Mix”, to me. Natural Palace are an intriguing new synthpop/post-punk quartet who’ve just released their debut EP, Change of Atmosphere, on the typically-ambient-centric Sound As Language label. The song’s elemental but wordy title is pure Wire, and there’s definitely come Ideal Copy-era stuff going on here–there’s some melodic bass, there’s pretty lead vocals and weird backing vocals, but it’s also pretty aggressively synth-forward in its construction and its attitude. It’s water, it’s water, it’s temperature-controlled water!

“I Should’ve Known”, Aimee Mann
From Whatever (1993, Geffen/UMG)

Aimee Mann is just so great, isn’t she? “I Should’ve Known” was her debut solo single, and the opening track to Whatever, her first solo album. It kicks off one of the most consistently successful singer-songwriter discographies excellently–it’s a perfect piece of power pop that actually has a little bit of bite to it but is still recognizably Mann. Of course, Jon Brion’s touches are recognizable here and all over the record to, even beyond his backing vocals on this track (at this point, Mann and Brion’s sounds are so interconnected to me it’s hard to say who’s responsible for what).

“Either Way”, Patio
From Collection (2023, Fire Talk)

I admittedly have a terrible track record at predicting these things, but if you told me that Collection was going to launch Patio into the stratosphere, I’d believe you wholeheartedly. Just listening to something like “Either Way”, a track that offers up increasingly affecting vocals, welcome pockets of earnest rolling indie rock and whoa-nelly, jerk-stop moments, and writing that reflects said push and pull (“I don’t need to know everything you’ve thought” on one end, “How can I do this right? How can I take your side?” on the other). It hits immediately, but gives us all plenty on which to chew after this first impact. What’s not to like here? Read more about Collection here.

“Sometimes”, Buzz Zeemer
From Lost and Found (2023, MSM)

Philadelphia’s Buzz Zeemer released two records in the second half of the 1990s–1996’s Play Thing and 1998’s Delusions of Grandeur–before the quartet of Frank Brown, Ken Buono, ​​Tommy Conwell, and Dave McElroy faded away. The material from Lost and Found comes from recordings that largely predate those two albums, as the band was transitioning from Flight of Mavis, a 1980s group that featured the majority of Buzz Zeemer’s lineup. It’s an intriguing piece of college rock and power pop (the bio mentions NRBQ, which will get my attention), placing the band as contemporaries (if not forebearers) of groups like the Gin Blossoms and Counting Crows. The accordion and mandolin of “Sometimes”, as well as Brown’s rootsy vocals, transports us all back to this pre-grunge era of “alternative” music in the best way.

“Depends”, Thanks for Coming
From What Is My Capacity to Love? (2023, Danger Collective)

What Is My Capacity to Love? comes against the backdrop of a disintegrated romantic relationship as well as the rise of Rachel Brown’s other band, Water from Your Eyes. The eight-song EP feels like a necessary step back for the always-busy Brown–the stripped-down “Depends” is both immediately “raw” and pensive, with the singer-songwriter turning over lyrics like “I swore we were meant to be, like raindrops on a car windshield in spring” over top of nothing more than a slightly-distorted electric guitar. Read more about What Is My Capacity to Love? here.

“Falling Down the Stars”, Even As We Speak
From Feral Pop Frenzy (1993, Sarah)

Up until 2020, Feral Pop Frenzy was the only full-length album from Australian indie poppers Even As We Speak. If you were expecting some perfect twee-ish guitar pop from this Sarah Records-released album, you’d be right on the money, although the record also contains some weirder, offbeat moments. “Falling Down the Stairs” is, nevertheless, Even As We Speak at their most pop-pleasing, with a positively bouncy chorus being bashed out in gleeful jangle pop fashion.

“Sanity in the Asylum”, Matt Keating
From Tell It to Yourself (1993, Alias)

This is a track that I initially heard after reading about it in Scott Miller’s Music: What Happened? (it’s gone in and out of print, but I highly recommend reading that book if you enjoy music writing and you can find it). I remembered it as an excellent piece of post-college rock power pop, and after listening to Tell It to Yourself as a whole for the first time, I can confirm that it holds up excellently. Bizarrely memorable lyric: “Someone said ‘go with the flow’; last I’d heard they’d drowned / But you never know, they might’ve been found”.

“Newest Thing”, Christopher Alan Durham & The Peacetime Consumers
From Kicks or Macabre (2023, Soft Abuse)

I was unfamiliar with Detroit’s Christopher Alan Durham until recently, but the singer-songwriter’s latest album with his group The Peacetime Consumers caught my attention last month. Kicks or Macabre is a nice and sloppy Midwestern garage rock/country-fuzz album–it can rock, sure, but it’s also pretty laid-back, especially on opening track “Newest Thing”. It’s got this dug-up basement Americana feel that hits the same notes as David Nance does for me, even as it’s a bit woozier than Nance’s typical garage rock. Durham’s electric guitar touches give the song an alt-country edge, and his vocals are low in the mix but not too low that they’re unmemorable. 

“Dagdream”, Dagwood
From Everything Turned Out Alright (2023, Model City Music)

The Everything Turned Out Alright EP is a brief but quite strong statement from New Haven’s Dagwood. The power-pop-punk quartet puts together a half-dozen variable but coherent pop songs here, and even the “album tracks” hold their own against the previously-released singles. “Dagdream” is one of two songs here not to be given the single treatment, but it’s one of the most interesting and captivating things on the entire EP. It’s at the other end of the spectrum from Dagwood’s slick, clean side–vocalist Grady Hearn’s voice gets pushed to the background as the band explore swirling, almost shoegaze-y space rock, and there’s also some strangely interesting self-referential stuff going on here. Really catchy, also. Read more about Everything Turned Out Alright here.

“Sigalert”, Flat Worms
From Witness Marks (2023, GOD?/Drag City)

For a band that put out two albums and two EPs in a four-year period, going over three years between albums is a pretty notable gap, but Flat Worms’ Witness Marks sounds like a group that hasn’t lost a step. The record particularly has a “back in the saddle” feeling, intently laser-focused on rolling through sharp garage rock as a single, in-lockstep unit. Opening track “Sigalert” is Flat Worms’ version of a raveup–careening guitars, fuzzed-out bass guitar, and barked but subtly malleable vocals all combine to make what I’d consider to be an excellent two-point-five minute pop song. Read more about Witness Marks here.

“Have a Bad Time”, Deady
From Deady (2023, Never Nervous)

“Do you wanna go out with me tonight / Drink Vodka Sprite, have a bad time?” That’s the question that Mandy Keathley poses in the chorus of “Have a Bad Time”, the fiery piece of garage-punk that opens Deady’s self-titled debut EP (if Miller Lite is your drink of choice, she subs in that one in the refrain too). The chaotic, taunting guitar-carnival instrumental fits Keathley’s vocals so well that it’s surprising to learn that she was actually the last member to join the five-piece, Louisville-centered Deady–but it’s clear from the opening notes of the track that she’s the final piece locking everything into place. Read more about Deady here.

“Over My Head”, VANCAMP
From Camper Van (2023, Sandy Floor)

“Over My Head” by VANCAMP is one of those songs that just works. Calvin Bakelaar is a singer-songwriter that falls somewhere between earnest indie folk rock and post-grunge/post-Westerberg “adult alternative” rock (Bakelaar is from Peterborough, Ontario, which feels right). “Over My Head” is my favorite song from his latest EP as VANCAMP, Camper Van–in the quieter verses, Bakelaar reminds me a bit of Mark Mulcahy, and in the big, big chorus…I can’t quite put my finger on who I’m thinking of there. Either way, it sounds great. “I got carried away last night” over top of Gin Blossoms chords…that’s a recipe for success.

“The Owl Presents…”, Circus Devils
From Squeeze the Needle (2023, Guided by Voices, Inc.)

I never thought I’d see the day that Circus Devils would return to us. I guess I just didn’t learn from Guided by Voices’ “farewell tour”; if Robert Pollard wants any of his projects back, all he has to do is snap his fingers. Circus Devils have always been the most misunderstood and underappreciated of Pollard’s projects, something that he and the Tobias brothers (who generally make the instrumentals for Circus Devils) seemed hell-bent on keeping this way by releasing the abrasive “Here We Are” a day before the much friendlier “The Owl Presents…” Not that this is “Game of Pricks, part two”, mind you, but it’s a relatively straightforward piece of prog-pop that even has something of a melody to it. I was already excited for Squeeze the Needle; “The Owl Presents…” is confirmation that there’s still plenty of magic between Pollard and the Tobiases.

“Kind Ghosts”, Sparklehorse
From Bird Machine (2023, Anti-)

What a treat! A new Sparklehorse album in 2023! And it’s pretty good, too! I haven’t spent as much time with it as I’ve meant to (me circa sophomore year of college would be ashamed of myself), but “Kind Ghosts” stuck out to me immediately as one of the biggest highlights of Bird Machine (“It Will Never Stop”, another such highlight, I wrote about last year when it first surfaced). The chorus is vintage Mark Linkous, the bittersweetly beautiful melody and lyrics exemplifying everything great about Sparklehorse, a band that still sounds as fresh as ever over a decade after Linkous’ death.

“Saint Guy”, Saint Black
From Saint November (2023, Semi-Permanent)

Saint Black’s Saint November EP is one of these bedroom, lo-fi curiosities that I’d love to give more attention to if I had more resources to expand the output of Rosy Overdrive. Who is Saint Black? My guess is that whoever runs New Jersey’s Semi-Permanent Records is also the person who makes music under the name Saint Black, as the label has only released Saint Black material (an EP in 2017, an album in 2019, and now the six-song Saint November CD EP last month). Other than that I couldn’t tell you, although I can offer you “Saint Guy”, my favorite song on the Saint November EP. Like most of the record, it’s a wobbly piece of Beat Happening-esque deep-voiced indie pop, but this acoustic-based song feels a little more fully-realized that the rest of the EP. Of course, it still has the “found sound” kind of feeling, which, I imagine, is kind of the point. Not streaming, get it on Bandcamp.

“Pebbles to Throw”, Melancolony
From Qualia Problems (2023, Louder Than Milk)

Santa Cruz’s Melancolony (the project of one Justin Loudermilk) quietly dropped Qualia Problems at the beginning of September, but its charms are immediate to anyone who’s heard it. It’s an immersive 80s indie pop-inspired experience, with Loudermilk pulling from the music of his youth (naming The Cure, The Church, and R.E.M. among others as inspiration) on the fifty-minute album. The brisk “Pebbles to Throw” incorporates synthpop and jangle pop in equal measure, using both to dress up what’s probably the most hummable melody on the record’s first side. Read more about Qualia Problems here.

“Coach House”, Coventry
From Our Lady of Perpetual Health (2023, Septic Jukebox)

“Chain Wallet”, discussed earlier, probably gets the nod for single best moment of Our Lady of Perpetual Health, but the sub-two-minute, zippy “Coach House” is the one that comes closest to giving it a run for its money. It’s a piece of lo-fi fuzzy pop that also features excellent trade-offs between Fox and Massey in the lead vocals. There’s a nervous, almost paranoid impatience going on in the lyrics (“Two black eyes and blue out in the country / Data streams above me in the stark bright blue sky” is the superb opening line), which are game to zigzag with the music. Read more about Our Lady of Perpetual Health here.

“Swim”, Madder Rose
From Bring It Down (1993, Seed/Big Beat)

Second month in a row Madder Rose gets on here. I thought they were more of a slowcore, dream-folk band but turns out they’re a lot closer to Belly-ish fuzz pop (still somewhat dreamy) on Bring It Down, or like if Mazzy Star were trying to be more power pop. That is to say, they’re not a band you’d expect to have a theme song, but “Swim” off of their debut album features a chorus that goes “Hey Rose! Hey Madder! Hey Rose, do I make you sadder?” If you’re gonna do something like that, you’d best bring your A-game, and Madder Rose inject their quasi-title song with an infectious pop energy.

“Gull”, Connie Lovatt
From Coconut Mirror (2023, Enchanté US)

Coconut Mirror is Connie Lovatt’s debut solo album, but the singer-songwriter is an indie rock veteran, playing in 90s groups Alkaline, Containe, and The Pacific Ocean and contributing to multiple records by Smog (whose Bill Callahan sings on at least one song on Coconut Mirror). The breezy, deceptively deep folk rock of “Gull” opens the album–like the rest of the record, it’s only grown on me with time. The song, which features Yo La Tengo’s James McNew on bass and indie ringer Jim White on drums, is a bright pop song that rambles but never travels too far in its three minutes.

“Carry On, Young Cadavers”, Soft Screams
From Life’s Labours Lost (2023, Corrupted TV)

From its Shakesphere-inspired title to the musings on capitalism and work culture contained therein, Life’s Labours Lost is perhaps Soft Screams’ most thematically heavy record yet–although, thankfully, it’s also one of sole member Connor Mac’s best as a pop songwriter. Mac’s love of chunky riffs helps build “Carry On, Young Cadavers” into one of the best pop moments on the album, and its chorus of “Carry on, you young cadavers / Got caught up in a dead man’s game” is one of the record’s best-sounding rebukes. Read more about Life’s Labours Lost here.

“Rainbow Flag”, Puppy Problems
From Winter in Fruitland (2023, Anything Bagel)

At a brisk fifteen minutes, Winter in Fruitland’s eight songs make their points succinctly, but Puppy Problems’ Sami Martasian still has plenty to say on their second album. Early highlight “Rainbow Flag” features lyrics about the titular object above a record store where “they don’t let us [work] anymore”, listening to Harvard kids get drunk and play “the songs that our friends wrote back in 2016”, a line about circular nostalgia, and ending with “I don’t wanna look back until there is / Nothing left to look forward to,” accompanied by Bradford Krieger’s pedal steel–all in under two minutes. Read more about Winter in Fruitland here.

“Monochrome Rainbow”, Seablite
From Lemon Lights (2023, Mt.St.Mtn.)

The second album from San Francisco’s Seablite offers up a sharp collection of fuzzed-out pop songs–some of them are more directly indebted to shoegaze than others, but everything on Lemon Lights reflects the band’s ability to pull off substantial pieces of indie pop. “Monochrome Rainbow” comes on the record’s second side, and it shows off the quartet’s dreamy jangle pop side–although the rest of the record is more devoted to conjuring up walls of sound, this track (as well as a couple of others, namely “Smudge Was a Fly” and “Faded”) reveal that the band is quite effective in this mode as well. Read more about Lemon Lights here.

“Winter Is Melting Away”, Single Bullet Theory
From C. ‘79 (2023, Feel It)

Richmond, Virginia’s Single Bullet Theory emerged in the mid-1970s as a sharp power pop four-piece that could hang with the burgeoning punk rock scene happening a bit further north (they opened for the Talking Heads and Patti Smith in Richmond and even went so far as to tour with the Ramones). They never “broke”, but they were able to get an album and some singles out before breaking up in the mid-80s. Four solid Single Bullet Theory songs recorded in 1979, however, stayed locked up and unreleased for over forty years before being resuscitated by Feel It Records as an EP this year. “Winter Is Melting Away” is my favorite of the four tracks on C. ’79, a power pop tune that splits the difference between “polished” and “edgy”, with the band putting 110% effort into selling this piece of pop rock.

“Blow You Away”, Robert Earl Keen
From A Bigger Piece of Sky (1993, Sugar Hill/Koch)

Somewhere else I described A Bigger Piece of Sky as if Richard Thompson was from Texas–a cover of Terry Allen’s “Amarillo Highway” is a key text in this interpretation, as is the Keen original “Blow You Away”. A beautiful, polished piece of mandolin-heavy country-folk, “Blow You Away” should be an American standard as far as I’m concerned, from Keen’s repetitive dagger-lyrics, striking guest vocals from Michael Snow and Maura O’Connell, and the gun-driven paranoia at the song’s core that’s as American as apple pie.

“Star Starter”, DAIISTAR
From Good Time (2023, Fuzz Club)

“Star Starter” does what its title suggests–it opens the debut DAIISTAR album, Good Time, with a massive song that could’ve been a lost college rock hit from 1989, putting its best foot forward with a dancing beat, cruising guitars, and lead singer Alex Capistran’s melodic vocals. It’s a straight-up “alternative dance” anthem–DAIISTAR leans into Primal Scream/Loop/Spacemen 3-esque roaring psychedelic space-fuzz with their sound throughout Good Time, but these song that opens the record particularly lives up to the album’s title. Read more about Good Time here.

“Mistaken for Stars”, Smug Brothers
From In the Book of Bad Ideas (2023, Anyway)

The newest album from Smug Brothers, In the Book of Bad Ideas, is yet another collection of distorted, hooky fare from the long-running Columbus lo-fi indie rock lifers. The Kyle Melton-led group makes a brand of Robert Pollard-indebted guitar pop that recalls a lot of music I touch on here on the blog, although they’ve been doing it for longer than most and with great consistency. Take something like “Mistaken for Stars”–it’s a sub-two-minute one, but there’s a ton of beauty in its brief, grainy lifespan, shining before winking out just like, oh, I don’t know, a shooting star. Read more about In the Book of Bad Ideas here.

“Enter the Sky”, Iceblynk
(2023, 5BC)

Iceblynk are a Queens-based four-piece band who released their self-titled debut EP last year, a five-song collection of chilly shoegaze-influenced indie rock. Their first new material since Iceblynk is the “Enter the Sky” single, a near-five minute track that embraces the band’s brighter side, zeroing in on jangly dream pop that surprisingly veers into orchestral territory as well. Lead singer Andrea Lynn is a natural dream pop vocalist, injecting both mystery and emotion into the song’s melodies (I hear a bit of Bjork in Lynn’s vocals, in addition to a bunch of the more “classic” dream pop singers). There’s an intriguing, anonymous, humble quality to Iceblynk that I enjoyed, but, if the band are going to evolve as a unit, something as confident as “Enter the Sky” is the way to do it.

“Big Talk”, Lost Film
From Keep It Together (2023, Relief Map)

Keep It Together is Lost Film’s version of a polished guitar-pop album. The Massachusetts group, led by Relief Map Records’ Jim Hewitt, have put together a record indebted to both 1980s post-punk/indie pop and 2010s greyscale bedroom pop, always hovering towards the “pop” side of these genres. The shining “Big Talk” emphasizes the pleasing push-and-pull that marks the record as a whole between the soaring, wide-eyed instrumentals and Hewitt’s warm, subtle melodic vocals. Read more about Keep It Together here.

“There Must Be a Pill for This”, The Reds, Pinks & Purples
From Build Love (2023, Burundi Cloud)

There’s just so much new music from Glenn Donaldson as of late. There are, of course, proper albums from The Reds Pinks & Purples and Helpful People (his duo with Carly Putnam), as well as a steady trickle of quietly self-released EPs running parallel to these. The four-song Build Love EP is a humble one–half the songs are dreamy-ambient-pop instrumentals, and both of the songs with vocals are understated offerings from Donaldson. It’s a record that is not going out of its way to grab you, but I threw it on on a whim one morning at work and loved it immediately. “There Must Be a Pill for This” is stripped-down even in comparison to the rest of the EP, featuring Donaldson picking an acoustic guitar without other accompaniment. “There must be a pill for this / That only makes things worse,” is one of those lyrics that just rattles around in your head over and over again.