Welcome to 2024! We’re kicking off the new year with the December 2023 playlist, one last good, long, hard look at everything the previous year had to offer in terms of music. There’s some stuff from December and November of last year in here, some music from earlier in 2023 that I came to later, and a few miscellaneous things.
Bory and Sleeping Bag have multiple songs on this playlist (Earth Libraries strong!).
Here is where you can listen to the playlist on various streaming services: Spotify, Tidal, BNDCMPR. If you missed some of Rosy Overdrive’s late December posts (like, for example, our favorite reissues and compilations of 2023 or the results of the first annual Reader’s Poll), I highly recommend giving those a read. 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.
“Pour It on Lightly”, Half Catholic
From Art in Heaven (2023, Mostly Annoyed)
Alright, here’s a “band to watch” for you. Half Catholic are a four-piece power pop group from Rockford, Illinois (I know, right) who put out their debut EP Art in Heaven last August, and they kick it off with a bang in the giant-sounding “Pour It on Lightly”. John Tallman is an instantly compelling frontperson, singing with a thrown-against-the-wall desperate energy that apparently can only be learned by being from a mid-sized Midwestern city (see Mike Adams in Bloomington, Graham Hunt in Madison, Local Drags in Springfield…). Tallman sounds both damaged and nebulous in the lyrics of “Pour It on Lightly”–what to make of someone who sings “the Tik-Tok Taliban closets of skeletons” and makes it sound like the most natural thing in the world?
“Everyone in Town”, The Brights
From Oyster Rock! (2023, Meritorio/Stable)
The debut record from Sydney quintet The Brights is a late but strong entry in what has been a banner year for Australian indie pop. Oyster Rock! traffics in laid-back, wandering folk rock, although there’s plenty of classic jangly guitars on the record, too. Coming smack dab in the middle of the album, the swaggering power pop of “Everyone in Town” is Oyster Rock!’s one true no-holds-barred rocker, although its impossibly smooth alt-country-ish sound–splitting the difference between Lou Reed and early Wilco–isn’t a complete outlier among the rest of its tracks. Read more about Oyster Rock! here.
“Happy to Hide”, Pile of Love
From Super Sometimes (2023)
For the third year in a row, Los Angeles’ Pile of Love have offered up a record of hooky alt-rock/power pop in the waning hours before the calendar flips. The four-song Super Sometimes EP might even be their strongest one yet–at the very least, its massive opening track, “Happy to Hide”, probably became my favorite Pile of Love song within hours of hearing it. The group continues to draw inspiration from Super- bands (-chunk, -drag, -crush) as well as Sugar and Matthew Sweet–the way the pop punk edge of the verses gives way to the earnest power pop in the chorus is a late entry for “best music moment of 2023”.
“Blackfeet Death Eyes”, Friends of Cesar Romero
From Queen of All the Parliaments (2023, Doomed Babe)
South Dakota’s J. Waylon Porcupine has been reliably churning out hooky garage-power-pop for some time now, previously as part of The Reddmen and, for the past decade or so, as Friends of Cesar Romero. I’d recommend taking a deep breath before putting on his latest record, Queen of All the Parliaments–there aren’t many opportunities to catch a breath on it. A big part of that is due to its 40-second opening track–the Ramones-y first-wave pop punk of “Blackfeet Death Eyes” wastes absolutely zero time offering up loud, fast, and massive hooks. Read more about Queen of All the Parliaments here.
“The Recipe”, Gut Health
From Singles ‘23 (2023, Marthouse)
Melbourne’s Gut Health might win the “did the most with the least amount of music” award for 2023. They followed up last year’s Electric Party Chrome Girl EP with three different perfect pieces of sharp, garage-y post-punk, and then put them all on a 7-inch that snuck onto my best compilations/reissues of the year list. “The Recipe” is the EP’s hard-charging opening track–it’s fun, danceable new-wave-punk-rock that sets the tone for what to expect throughout the rest of Singles ‘23, which ends all too soon thereafter.
“We Both Won”, Bory
From Who’s a Good Boy (2023, Earth Worms/Earth Libraries)
Who’s a Good Boy reminds me of another great power pop/singer-songwriter record from this year, Rob I. Miller’s Companion Piece. Both deal with crumbling relationships with sharply-written pop hooks that manage to sound both depressing and bright all at once. Unlike “Our New Home” (appearing later in this playlist), “We Both Won” comes barreling out of the gate with its excellent melody and energy–it makes sense that this was the record’s lead single. Regardless of its veracity, “Don’t worry about me, because we both won,” is a particularly cutting sentiment for a breakup song. Read more about Who’s a Good Boy here.
“Emergency Contact”, Graham Hunt
From Try Not to Laugh (2023, Smoking Room)
The late 90s “alt-pop”-laced version of power pop practiced by Madison’s Graham Hunt is in full bloom throughout mid-December’s Try Not to Laugh, a late entry into the catchiest album of the year sweepstakes. “Emergency Contact” is a brilliant lost-pop-hit single just about packed with hooks in every aspect, a deceptively-laid-back-pop-dagger hidden right in the middle of a record full of songs like this. You, Rosy Overdrive readers, voted this as the co-song of the year, and it’s impossible to listen to “Emergency Contact” without thinking “god damn, that’s a great choice”. Read more about Try Not to Laugh here.
“New Year’s Reprieve”, Bad Moves
(2023, Don Giovanni)
When it’s all said and done, Bad Moves’ 2018 debut LP Tell No One is probably one of my favorite albums of the 2010s, and while 2020’s Untenable was a little less immediate, it’s still on the shortlist for the best record of that year. The Washington, D.C. power-pop-punk quartet has been pretty quiet as of late (aside from the two great singles that band member David Combs released as Dim Wizard last year), but “New Year’s Reprieve” is the first single from the third Bad Moves full-length, as of yet unnamed and due sometime in 2024. As far as I’m concerned, it’s an instant holiday classic–the song’s cheery, bouncy pop rock feels smoother than anything the band has done yet, but it’s perfect to counter some fairly dour lyrics. The band refer to it as a “pessimistic holiday song”, but really, it’s just a realistic and uncertain one. These are interesting feelings to explore, especially in the context of pop music and New Year’s, two arenas that reward and encourage certainty and strong pronouncements above all else.
“Higher Than Love”, Haint
From RZRGRL (2023)
On her latest album as Haint, Atlanta’s Stone Irvin is nothing if not adventurous. Instrumentally, RZRGRL is (loosely) poppy but unpredictable industrial pop, and there’s plenty of high-concept, heady, and even dystopian lyrical concerns going on throughout the record. After traversing through quite a bit over thirty minutes or so, Haint offers up something of a reward towards the record’s end: the sweet “Higher Than Love”, which, out of nowhere, gives RZRGRL a perfect, earnest pop song in the penultimate track slot. Read more about RZRGRL here.
“2008”, Natural Sway
From & the Squished Lilies (2023, Just Because)
Out of the way, out of the way, Columbus, Ohio indie rock lifers coming through. Natural Sway is closely associated with Delay, another Columbus band I wrote a bit about at the end of 2021–like that band, Natural Sway also quietly dropped a very good album as the year’s calendar ran out. Two-thirds of Delay feature on & the Squished Lilies–Ryan J. Eilbeck, who fronts Natural Sway, and Austin Eilbeck, who’s on the drums. There’s a bit more earnest, folk-ish rock here compared to Delay’s pop punk sound and (occasional) attitude, but when it comes together, as it does on “2008”, it’s the kind of stuff that’ll stop you in your tracks. Natural Sway absolutely soar through this one, Eilbeck giving it his all in the vocal take and getting plenty of help from the other Eilbeck and bassist Drew Cline in the chorus.
“It Was Easy”, Dowsing
From No One Said This Would Be Easy (2023, Asian Man/Storm Chasers LTD)
Chicago quartet Dowsing are a fourth-wave emo cult favorite band (alongside Kittyhawk, with whom they share at least one member) who quietly released their fourth full-length near the end of 2023. No One Said This Would Be Easy is the first Dowsing record I’d listened to in full, and I was surprised at how smooth and catchy these songs are, with highlights like “It Was Easy” basically offering up the band in power pop form. Like a lot of this kind of music, Dowsing excellently balance the weariness of a band who’s been at it for a while now with the energy of a group who still know how to really sell a song.
“Gus (Cockatiel)”, Sleeping Bag
From Pets 4: Obedience School Dropout (2023, Earth Libraries)
I first heard of Bloomington-originating, Seattle-based lo-fi rockers Sleeping Bag because they did a collaborative record with Rosy Overdrive favorite Rozwell Kid. Their latest album, Pets 4: Obedience School Dropout (featuring artwork by Rozwell Kid’s Jordan Hudkins), is going to appeal to people who like Rozwell Kid but think they 1) should be way more lo-fi, 2) should feature a lot more slide whistle, and 3) need to write songs exclusively about pets. The first two aspects of Pets 4 makes the eighteen-song album a bit hard for me to listen to in one sitting, but the best songs on the album, like “Gus (Cockatiel)”, rule. “I love my reflection / I look so handsome / Give me some affection / And I’ll give you back some”…brilliant stuff.
“Pour Un Instant”, Feeling Figures
From Migration Magic (2023, K/Perennial)
Migration Magic is the debut full-length from Montreal/New Brunswick quartet Feeling Figures, and it’s the work of a band steeped in several decades’ worth of underground indie rock–and one that doesn’t see why rock and roll, controlled chaos, and pop all can’t go together in one neat package. On this album, you’ll get psych pop, garage punk, and “Pour Un Instant”, a giddy piece of straight-up French-language power pop right in the middle of the record. The louder moments of Migration Magic are reflected in the muscle hiding underneath the hooks on this one, giving “Pour Un Instant” an extra punch. Read more about Migration Magic here.
“Shy of a Nurse”, Dari Bay
From Longest Day of the Year (2023, Dark Bay)
Longest Day of the Year came out in January 2023, which means that it stayed on my “I should check this out” pile for almost an entire year before I finally got to it. It got a little bit of year-end list attention, and that feels like a good call–yes, we’re in the 90s indie rock/alt-country/bedroom rock/folk arena here, there’s a ton of music like this out there, but Dari Bay (which is a guy from Brattleboro, Vermont named Zachary James) have the tunes to carry an entire album of this stuff. “Shy of a Nurse”, my favorite song from the album, is an excellent downcast guitar pop song, falling towards the more electric end of the Hovvdy/LVL UP/Peaer continuum. I won’t be waiting eleven months next time a Dari Bay full-length rolls around.
“I Don’t Wanna Make New Friends”, Little Oso
From Happy Songs (2023)
Just a nice little song from a nice little band. Little Oso hail from Portland, Maine, and they’ve been around since at least 2018–Happy Songs is the quartet’s third EP, and it’s exactly the kind of sturdy, subtly impressive collection of reverb-y, poppy indie rock tunes that I’d write more about on this blog if I had infinite hours to do this. I’ll instead offer up the EP’s opening track, “I Don’t Wanna Make New Friends”, to all of you–the hook here is especially catchy, as the vocals from Jeannette Berman (who co-writes the band’s songs with guitarist Ricky Lorenzo) let the melody speak for itself over top of a spirited instrumental.
“Uncle Disney”, Patterson Hood
From Killers and Stars (2004, New West)
Is “Uncle Disney”–the first song on Patterson Hood’s first solo album, Killers and Stars–just an amusing song about waking up the famed cartoonist from his cryogenic sleep and his subsequent wrath? The Pitchfork review of this album seems to think so, although there’s something about a few lines of the song that feel like they’ve got a double meaning to me. More than anything, it’s the way that Hood hangs on the refrain: “Someone will be held accounted / For forty years of decisions made” (it should be noted that Hood was born in 1964, which I believe is pretty relevant here). When I saw Hood live, he referred to it (presumably, to some degree, with tongue in cheek) as an “attempt at writing a children’s song”–where was “When they thaw out Uncle Disney” when I was a kid?
“Blue”, Dan Darrah & The Rain
From Rivers Bridges Trains (2023, Sunday Drive)
Rivers Bridges Trains is Toronto singer-songwriter Dan Darrah’s first with his backing band, a talented five-piece dubbed The Rain. The Rain dress Darrah’s songs up in a blissful and wistful version of power pop, drawing on the more melancholic side of Teenage Fanclub in a way that tapers some of the album’s grander moments and bolsters some of its quieter ones. The guitar melodies throughout Rivers Bridges Trains are some of the most captivating I’ve heard this year, particularly felt on highlights like “Blue”, where the guitarwork is the central piece of the track. Read more about Rivers Bridges Trains here.
“All the Ghosts of Evening”, Misophone
From A Floodplain Mind (2023, Another Record/Galaxy Train)
A Floodplain Mind is certainly a lot to take in at once–it’s a massive 120-minute, thirty-song double cassette/CD–but Misophone’s sense of pop songwriting makes it just about as “digestible” as something of this size can be. “All the Ghosts of Evening” is the first proper song (following an instrumental introduction track), and it ease us into the album with a pleasing mix of chamber pop, orchestral psych pop, and earnest folk rock. The band cites Elephant 6 as an influence, and “All the Ghosts of Evening” (like many of the album’s highlights) comes off as something like a more-put-together older sibling of that scene’s scattered psychedelia. Read more about A Floodplain Mind here.
“Daisy”, Silvis
From White Pocket (2023)
This is just another really fun Midwest guitar pop song. “Daisy” is the standout track from White Pocket, a brief three-song dispatch from Columbus quartet Silvis, and while penning something like this isn’t exactly a ticket to the big time these days, it’s no less impressive of a hook-fest. It’s got an earnestness and a “whatever choices that will make this song the catchiest” approach that reminds me of Mike Adams at His Honest Weight’s Graphic Blandishment, and it’s got plenty of “Whoa-oh”s and melodic bass work to the point where it takes a while before one realizes just how difficult to parse the song’s chorus is (“Searching lucidity”, “The artist’s enemy”, and “My heart, my head, to be as one” are all phrases in it).
“Our New Home”, Bory
From Who’s a Good Boy (2023, Earth Worms/Earth Libraries)
The Bory album has only continued to grow in my esteem in the weeks since its release (including a December album on a year-end list is always something of guesswork, but it’s looking more and more like my only mistake was having it too low). “Our New Home” is a bunch of the strengths of Who’s a Good Boy distilled into a single track–it starts off subtle, kind of chilly, but still quite melodic underneath its surface (with appropriately dour lyrics to match, though Brenden Ramirez’s delivery is hardly restrained by them). Then, the song just explodes in the chorus, a stunning anthem to disintegration and uneasiness. Read more about Who’s a Good Boy here.
“Crashing Waves”, Fastener
From Fastener (2023, Anything Bagel)
Everyone knows mid-to-late December is a dead zone for new albums, but it’s hard to imagine a better time for Fastener’s self-titled debut album to introduce itself. The Olympia, Washington emo/punk/PNW lo-fi rock quartet features a couple of members of Pigeon Pit–singer/guitarist Jim Rhian (who co-founded and co-leads the band with Sam Costello) and bassist Josh Hoey (who comprises the rhythm section along with drummer Ian Francis). Fastener is messy, all-over-the-place emo-rock–my favorite song on the record, “Crashing Waves”, is a wobbly pop song that builds to the thundering conclusion of Rhian and Costello singing “Sorry mom, sorry dad” over top of each other. I hope nobody asks how their holidays were when they go back to work!
“Spoonful of Peanut Butter”, The Michael Character
From Patti in the Dining Car (2023, Dollhouse Lightning)
I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of Boston’s The Michael Character before now. Patti in the Dining Car is apparently the project’s sixteenth album, and bandleader James Ikeda seems to be a pretty tireless musician across the northeastern U.S., trucking his Emperor X-ish “acoustic punk” straight into your “combination kitchen/laundry room”. “Spoonful of Peanut Butter” speedruns through a breathless diatribe and a careening full band arrangement (featuring Lonesome Joan’s Amanda Lozada on guitar, among others) in under two minutes. “I’ll eat a spoonful of peanut butter / So I have the energy to sit on the couch,” spills Ikeda in the song’s climax, sounding like he has enough energy to do significantly more than that.
“Hardcore Maps”, Axis: Sova
From Blinded by Oblivion (2023, GOD?/Drag City)
On Axis: Sova’s fifth album and first in a half-decade, the Chicago trio cruise through loose psychedelic rock and vintage glam-inspired fare in a way that’s heavy, fun, and lively enough to never get stuck in neutral. After a relatively subdued opening number, “Hardcore Maps” is the subsequent payoff, a blistering behemoth of glam-garage sporting a riff worthy of labelmate Cory Hanson or Ty Segall, who produced the record and put it out on his GOD? imprint. Read more about Blinded by Oblivion here.
“Dumb Luck”, BAT BOY
From Fun Machine (2023, Asian Man)
Fun Machine by Richmond’s Bat Boy is a big, fun, emotional Asian Man Records pop punk record done very well; it really could’ve been on my year-end list if I’d spent more time with it. When it was time to choose which songs went on this playlist, my favorite song from the album was “Dumb Luck”, a pick that holds up well to my ears now. It feels incredibly short but it’s almost three minutes long–it’s a very zippy track, to be sure–and that chorus (“It feels like summer ended, I’m not cold at all..”) is pure precision. Is there a half-time, dramatic bridge? You bet. Is there some showy melodic bass stuff going on throughout the track? Well, of course.
“Run, Run, Run”, McKinley Dixon
From Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (2023, City Slang)
I was planning on checking out McKinley Dixon’s Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? even before you all voted it one of the best albums of 2023 in the Rosy Overdrive Reader’s Poll. Dixon is a jazzy rapper from Virginia who’s slowly been gaining in popularity over the past couple of years–the brief Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? is too fun and busy to burden itself with being the breakout album, offering up excellent jazz-rap-pop songs like “Run, Run, Run” at a steady clip. Dixon balances the jaunty instrumental (pianos? horns? flute!?) with verses of a decidedly darker shade that give the song its name.
“Everyday Sunshine”, The Bevis Frond
From It Just Is (1993, Woronzow/Fire)
It Just Is is perhaps not the most essential Bevis Frond record around, but, like just about any album from Nick Salomon’s project that I’ve heard, it’s got plenty of strong numbers, and none grabbed me more heavily than “Everyday Sunshine” did. It Just Is is one of Salomon’s more streamlined efforts, which turns out to be a good vehicle for delivering three-minute, all-hook power pop anthems like this one, which certainly doesn’t need any extra bells and whistles to succeed more than it already does.
“Tumbleweed”, Wish Kit
From Guitars Take Flight (2023, Chillwavve)
Wish Kit started 2023 by contributing the excellent “Buhd” to the Rock Against Bush split EP and ended the year with Guitars Take Flight, my favorite record of theirs yet (and one of my 25 favorite EPs of 2023). The Denton power pop/alt-rockers offer up both high-energy pop punk and some more restrained moments on their latest release–my favorite song on Guitars Take Flight, “Tumbleweed”, splits the difference by featuring some airborne six-string but also giving the lyrics (“I’m a little bit tired, I’m a little bit sore…I’m in my later twenties, and I know how dumb this sounds”) space to breathe.
“The Grifter”, Flat Mary Road
From Little Realities (2023, Whatever’s Clever)
The fourth album from Philadelphia quartet Flat Mary Road is familiar-sounding in a welcome way. Little Realities is one part folk rock and alt-country, another part jangly power pop–but there’s also an almost-psychedelic, Paisley Underground-like fullness to the album, and lead singer Steve Teare’s distinct vocals help the band land somewhere in the midst of Miracle Legion-like college rock as well. In the record’s second slot, the laid-back, relatively straightforward “The Grifter” feels like a vintage college rock radio hit. Read more about Little Realities here.
“Black Cloud”, The Make Three
From You, Me & The Make Three (2023, Mint 400)
The Make Three is a collaboration between a few power pop lifers–bassist Peter Horvath plays in The Anderson Council and guitarist Jerry Lardieri in The Brixton Riot–and last year they teamed up with drummer Chris Ryan (who also played in The Anderson Council at one point) to record a rock-solid album as a trio. You, Me & The Make Three has a bit more bite to it than you’d expect from long-in-the-tooth power poppers–it sounds great, with a 90s rock edge that they attribute to mastering from Dan Coutant (who’s also mastered J. Robbins and Jawbox). “Black Cloud” is a tight rocker, with edges that don’t dampen its pop hooks in a very Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, or even major-label-era Dinosaur Jr. way.
“Time”, Almost Lovers
From EP #2 (2023, Howlin Banana)
Who are Almost Lovers? I’m not entirely sure, but they appear to be from some combination of France and Belgium, and they’ve put out two EPs on French label Howlin Banana–the first one back in 2021, the second this December. The six songs of EP #2 are high-energy, garage-y, punk-y power pop done quite well–the entire first half of this EP was in the running to get put on this playlist–and opening track “Time” does an impeccable job of hooking us all right off the bat with a somewhat bratty-sounding yet impressive vocal performance and no-nonsense rock and roll from the rest of the band.
“Stars (Twilight Mix)”, Hydroplane
From Selected Songs 1997-2003 (2023, World of Echo)
I’d been into the succinct guitar-based indie pop of The Cat’s Miaow for awhile now, but this year I began to fully appreciate the group that Andrew Withycombe, Bart Cummings, and Kerrie Bolton formed after that band’s dissolution in the mid-nineties. The Selected Songs 1997-2003 compilation makes a strong argument for the more experimental, ambient, and synth-based textures that Hydroplane would go on to explore, and the friendlier tracks like the faded retro pop ballad of “Stars (Twilight Mix)” are key to “getting” the band.
“Don’t Say Goodbye”, The Age of Colored Lizards
From Diver (2023, Sotron)
Oslo’s The Age of Colored Lizards are a classic “prolific lo-fi jangle pop project”–the band is led by singer/guitarist Christian Dam, sometimes with a backing band, sometimes on his own, and they put out three full-length albums in 2023. Diver, the third of them, found Dam, Anders Bøe, and Håvard Berstad offering up deliberate, delicate pop songs of both the slower and distorted variety. One of the most upbeat moments on Diver is found in the record’s second slot–“Don’t Say Goodbye” is a sleepy but fuzzy piece of jangle pop with a hook that perhaps cements it as the album’s “hit”. Read more about Diver here.
“15 Minute City”, Hygiene
From 15 Minute City (2023, Static Shock)
I am, regrettably, fluent enough in right-wing conspiracy theories to be aware that the “15 Minute City” has become a buzzword in their braindead circles as of late. I don’t want to get to into why conservatives believe that walkable cities are a Satanist, Stalinist plot–perhaps the correct response is to repurpose all that junk and make some great nervy, panic-y egg punk inhabiting the mindset, as it were. That’s what London’s Hygiene have done–this is a good punk band that I don’t think I’d heard of before, and we all know I love a good song about urban planning and transportation.
“Holly Garland”, Dot Dash
From 16 Again (2023, Country Mile)
First seen on Rosy Overdrive around the release of last year’s Madman in the Rain, Washington D.C. jangly power pop/post-punk/new wave trio Dot Dash made their vinyl debut back in October with the 16 Again compilation. Pulling from seven previously-CD-only full-lengths, it’s “a ‘greatest hits’ album by a band with no hits” (per the band), but by Rosy Overdrive’s standards, there’s nothing but hits. “Holly Garland” is the only selection from 2016’s Searchlights to turn up on 16 Again, but the two-minute, melodic-bass-boosted track packs enough energy for several songs. Read more about 16 Again here.
“Black Snake”, Tali & The Arms
From Tali & The Arms (2023, Marthouse)
Rosy Overdrive is notably a fan of snakes, but then again, I don’t live in Australia, so I can certainly understand how Tali & The Arms might come across the nervous metaphor at the center of “Black Snake” differently. Tali & The Arms is the new project of Melbourne’s Tali Harding-Hone, who’s also played in labelmates Dr. Sure’s Unusual Practice (they’re both on Marthouse, who also just put out an excellent EP from Gut Health). Harding-Hone’s vocals–dramatic but restrained when the song calls for it–ensure that Tali & The Arms doesn’t slot neatly into the “garage-y post punk” template of her other band, instead sounding like the work of a smoldering, unpredictable indie rock group.
“Slipping”, Ambulanz
From II (2023, It’s Eleven)
Ambulanz open their second record with “Slipping”, which perhaps perfectly distills the Leipzig quartet down into two minutes. The song begins as your typical shouty egg-post-punk-garage workout, but then the synth lines begin to make themselves known quite early on, functioning in a new wave-y, hook-delivering way, fighting against the runaway six-string tide. The drums slip off beat in the chorus, but it doesn’t come off as an accident, but rather a clever way for the band to punctuate frontperson Felix Bodenstein’s lyrics (“Reality is slipping!” he barks in the chorus–I can’t make out every line, but he’s a compelling enough lead singer that I can get the gist). Read more about II here.
“Forgettable Guy”, The Terminal Buildings
From Coming to Terms with The Terminal Buildings: Best Ones 2021-2023 (2023)
“Forgettable Guy” should’ve been on the November playlist, but I…forgot about it (“Never had to tone it down, I’m a forgettable guy / Just floating by”). Coming to Terms with The Terminal Buildings is certainly not a forgettable compilation, though, mind you–it’s fifteen songs and twenty-eight minutes of guitar pop of many, many stripes. The propulsive, swinging “Forgettable Guy” stands out among a bunch of other good songs–one of the Terminal Buildings’ biggest influences is Ovens/Tony Molina, and if you stick around past the two-minute mark on this one, you’ll be gifted with an unforgettable guitar solo reminiscent of Molina’s. Read more about Coming to Terms with The Terminal Buildings: Best Ones 2021-2023 here.
“Sparkle”, Labasheeda
From Blueprints (2023, Drums & Wires/Presto Chango)
On Blueprints, Amsterdam’s Labasheeda make “for the love of the game” indie rock, with hints of noise rock, post-punk, and even a bit of post-rock, but without neatly slotting into any clearly defined subgenre. “Sparkle” is an immediate highlight in the album’s first half, transforming the band into high-flying, Archers of Loaf/Sebadoh-ish indie rock anthem writers with relative ease. The song has a firm foundation, and frontperson Saskia van der Giessen’s vocals prowl around said platform remarkably. Read more about Blueprint here.
“For the Home”, Guided by Voices
From Nowhere to Go But Up (2023, GBV, Inc.)
I mean, it’s another classic Guided by Voices song. Like a lot of my favorite songs from the band’s recent output, “For the Home” was a single but it didn’t really click for me until I heard it as part of the full album. Nowhere to Go But Up is far from my favorite GBV album (of 2023, even), but Robert Pollard is always good for at least one song that’ll stop me in my tracks every now and again, and that’s what the swinging, bouncing “For the Home” is to me. It’s got a bit of that August by Cake-ish carnival energy, played with the sweeping rough-prog energy of Sweating the Plague and…well, of most of the rest of this album. Worth a listen, but then, aren’t they all.
“Mr. Reynolds (Cat)”, Sleeping Bag
From Pets 4: Obedience School Dropout (2023, Earth Libraries)
I had to dip back into the Sleeping Bag album because there’s some really, really good animal-based lo-fi power pop on this one. “Mr. Reynolds (Cat)” is short and sweet ode to the titular feline (“a sophisticate who loves chasing flies”) that lasts barely a minute. However, that’s enough time for Sleeping Bag’s Dave Segedy to deliver the lines “I’m working on my doctorate in meowthropology / I hold a masters in, guess what, meowsic therapy” as well as “Here we are, dust of the stars / All we are are animals”. Huh.
“Laughing – Melt Banana Remix”, Coffin Prick
From Energy Crisis (2023, Laughing Digital)
Coffin Prick is Ryan Weinstein, a Los Angeles-based musician who put out an all-over-the-map record called Laughing on Sophomore Lounge last June. Weinstein then chose to cap off his 2023 with the Energy Crisis EP, a four-song record that’s shorter than Laughing but no less unpredictable. It opens with a remix of the title track from his last record provided by Japanese noise rock group Melt Banana, and the result is a post-punk-y piece of indie rock sped up and punched up by the remixing band’s traditionally bonkers tempos and percussion. Weinstein is apparently planning a full-on remix album for 2024–as a preview, this remix of “Laughing” is pretty enticing.
“Six Falcon”, All Structures Align
From Cut the Engines (2023, Wrong Speed)
There’s always a slow-crawling, Quarterstick/Touch & Go-indebted band that shows up towards the end of the year for me, I swear. All Structures Align are a British group that aren’t exactly a “playlist band”, but I just kept coming back to “Six Falcon”, the second track from their latest album, Cut the Engines. Apparently the members of the band have been making this kind of music for a long time–Tim and Adam Ineson played in a group called Nub that I hadn’t heard of back in the 90s, where they made Slint and Mogwai-inspired music. There’s a bit of the subtle end of Dischord Records in “Six Falcon”, too–it’s got an edge, but the song is too busy tiptoeing around itself to ever do any stabbing.
“Love Me Again This Summer”, The Woods
From So Long Before Now (2023, Dot Matrix)
The Woods were an underground New York band from the 1980s who only ever released a single during their original time as a band (and also featured Linda Smith, who went on to have a notable solo career); a recent reissue campaign collects both that and some songs that were supposed to be on an album that never came together. “Love Me Again This Summer” is from the latter camp–it’s a hypnotic, nearly six-minute piece of folky psychedelia that’s similar to contemporaries like The Feelies (post-Crazy Rhythms) and The Trypes, although it feels more indebted to straight-up folk rock than those other bands’ more post-punk-laced material.
Rosy Overdrive 