What a week! (and yes, I know it’s only Tuesday, Alec Baldwin). Yesterday, Pressing Concerns broke the 1,000-record barrier, and today we have the May 2024 playlist, two hours of absolutely stellar new music for you to peruse.
Ethan Beck & The Charlie Browns, Ahem, and Mopar Stars have multiple songs on this playlist.
Here is where you can listen to the playlist on various streaming services: Spotify, Tidal, BNDCMPR (missing one song). 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.
“Fear & Loathing in Gramercy”, Ethan Beck & The Charlie Browns
From Duck Hollow (2024, Douglas Street)
I’m not sure if I’ve heard a better start to a record this year than Pittsburgh group Ethan Beck & The Charlie Browns’ “Fear and Loathing in Gramercy”, which kicks off their debut album, Duck Hollow, with nothing less than the platonic ideal of a power pop song. “Fear and Loathing in Gramercy” balances a soaring, almost smirking confidence in its construction with the humble earnestness of Beck’s performance sitting in the middle of it all (and the chorus, which moves from a stumble to a steady strut, would guarantee this one sticking out even if the rest of the track was a clunker). Duck Hollow is able to live up to the promise that “Fear and Loathing in Gramercy” shows, even as The Charlie Browns start by raising the bar very high. Read more about Duck Hollow here.
“Waterlogged”, Ahem
From Avoider (2024, Forged Artifacts)
The latest album from Minneapolis trio Ahem, Avoider, is a massive collection of loud guitar-based pop music–you can call it power pop, pop punk, alt-rock, or college rock, but it’s got more than enough in its ten songs to please fans of any of those genres (the extended careers of The Replacements and Husker Du’s primary songwriters are a clear influence, among others). The band kick off Avoider with a pair of barnburners in frantic opener “Lapdog” and “Waterlogged”, a triumphant-sounding song that’s a pitch-perfect success from the blaring guitars that kick the song off to the roaring catharsis of the chorus (which is little more than the song’s title). Read more about Avoider here.
“Everything”, Aluminum
From Fully Beat (2024, Felte)
Fully Beat is a huge leap forward for San Francisco quartet Aluminum–on their debut full-length, they both sharpen and expand their sound from the promise of 2022’s Windowpane EP to create some of the most exciting, spirited, and downright fun music I’ve heard this year. The band display a commitment to loud, bursting-at-the-seams rock music throughout Fully Beat, including on album highlight “Everything”, which features a massive dream-pop-as-stadium-rock sound. The guitars are set to overdrive, surging forward with textured melodies above “Everything”’s fuzzed-out foundations, stealing the show from the song’s up-front, melodic vocals. Read more about Fully Beat here.
“No Dice”, Comprador
From Please Stay Off the Statue (2024)
An omnivorous record that nevertheless retains a strong personality, the latest record from Philadelphia’s Comprador sounds somewhat like Jon Brion fronting a post-grunge band, and Please Stay Off the Statue has moments that incorporate everything from pop punk to shoegaze. On the pop side of Please Stay Off the Statue, the record’s second song “No Dice” is a perfect power pop track that I really can’t get enough of. It actually took me awhile to get into the rest of the record because I just wanted to listen to its absurdly huge Brion-pop-punk-fuzz refrain over and over again. The rest of Please Stay Off the Statue is certainly worth a listen, but there’s nothing wrong with getting hung up on “No Dice” for a while first. Read more about Please Stay Off the Statue here.
“Burning Question”, Mopar Stars
From Burning Question (2024, Furo Bungy)
One of my favorite under-the-radar debut EPs of last year was Mopar Stars’ Shoot the Moon, an awesome record of fuzzed-out Philadelphia power pop helmed by Nao Demand (who also plays in Poison Ruïn and Zorn). Despite Demand’s other musical concerns, Mopar Stars (also featuring Bill Magger and Evan Campbell) is back a year later with Burning Question, a six-song EP every bit as catchy and smooth as their first one. My favorite song on Burning Question is probably the opening title track, which balances Demand’s earnest, steady vocals with a roaring rock and roll instrumental (the entire song is great, but when the band really goes for it in the chorus, it kicks everything up a notch entirely).
“2009”, Carb on Carb
From Take Time (2024, Salinas)
Mom, come pick me up, they’re getting nostalgic about 2009 and I’m scared. However, if beaming us all back to the early Obama administration (or whatever the New Zealand equivalent of that is) sounds as good as Carb on Carb make it, I can’t really protest too much. Salinas Records have found another winner in the Whanganui-based duo, whose Take Time appears to be their third album since 2015. “2009” opens the record with a devastating wistful power pop anthem–if its only innovation was the choppy power chord-led verses, it’d be a success, but between the “uh oh” giant chorus and the lyrics (comprised of a bit of self-aware nostalgia, among other vignettes) ensure that it’s even more.
“Canada Water”, ME REX
From Smilodon (2024)
The latest four-song dispatch from ME REX is the independently-released Smilodon EP. If it’s supposed to be a “lower-key” ME REX release, the songs didn’t get the memo–closing track “Canada Water” comes out of the gate roaring with its roller-rink synth hook and full-band lurch. The band keep the energy at this high opening level until the second half of the song, which slows down into an exercise of handclaps, restrained synths, and a call and response from lead singer Myles McCabe to the rest of the band (Phoebe Cross and Rich Mandell’s Greek chorus “We cannot wait!” response is a reminder that, even though ME REX began as a McCabe solo project, the tightness of the full band is their secret weapon). Read more about Smilodon here.
“To Art Bell”, Canyons and Locusts
From The Red Angel (2024)
“When the aliens send word to space rock clash / God save it to the grave it’s to Art Bell,” I gotta say I have no idea what Canyons and Locusts mean when they sing that, but it sounds great. The Red Angel is a punchy thirteen-minute EP from the Boston/Phoenix-based duo of Justin Keane (vocals/guitar) and Amy Young (drums), and it’s some concise, noisy punk rock music. Canyons and Locusts’ power is particularly felt in its opening transmission, “To Art Bell”–some of its lyrics might sound like garbled translations, but Keane and Young deliver the song with a precise, sober clarity. Around the world in two minutes and fourteen seconds.
“Decider”, Motorists
From Touched by the Stuff (2024, Bobo Integral/We Are Time)
When you’ve got a song like “Decider” in your pocket, that’s a no-brainer for Side A, track 1, and Toronto power pop quartet Motorists don’t miss the layup to kick Touched by the Stuff off. The song’s all-in power pop fervor is straight out of the 1970s, a slight 90s alt-rock kick to it being the only thing marking it as something more recent (and evidence of influence from one of the band’s likely biggest influences, Sloan). Motorists embrace being a straight-up, rollicking power pop group more than ever across Touched by the Stuff’s dozen tracks, incorporating their post-punk side a bit more seamlessly and subtly–and “Decider” is the perfect track to reintroduce the band. Read more about Touched by the Stuff here.
“PS1”, Magic Fig
From Magic Fig (2024, Silver Current)
Featuring an overwhelming blanket of all-in, overstuffed psychedelia, the self-titled debut from San Francisco group Magic Fig merges pop and excess in a way that skips the current wave of Bay Area indie pop and goes all the way back to 1960s San Francisco psych rock (the Canterbury scene and the busier end of classic Elephant 6 albums are other touchstones for Magic Fig, a self-described “progressive psychedelic pop” group). Album highlight “PS1” openly incorporates jangly indie pop while still keeping one foot in psychedelia, resulting in a careening, ballooning six-minute pop behemoth that never loses its foundation. Read more about Magic Fig here.
“All That You Want”, Zero Point Energy
From Tilted Planet (2024, Danger Collective)
Tilted Planet represents the reunion of Genesis Edenfield and Ben Jackson, two former members of Atlanta post-punk group Warehouse who now co-lead the band Zero Point Energy in Brooklyn. Warehouse’s American post-punk and garage rock still abound, but Zero Point Energy also adopt a mellow pop rock attitude that puts them towards the jammier end of classic college rock. Tilted Planet is discernible as a well-crafted, sharply-honed indie rock record–it’s immediate and it’s not at the same time, inviting further listening to figure out just what Zero Point Energy are on about here. Edenfield sings the majority of the record’s songs, but Jackson makes the most of his turns up front–mid-record standout “All That You Want” is a wobbly but assured-sounding college rock hit that’s the best pop moment on the album. Read more about Tilted Planet here.
“So Triangular”, Birdfeeder
From Woodstock (2024, Soul Selects)
Miracle Legion: great band! The New Haven college rock legends were helmed by Mark Mulcahy, a national treasure, and while Mulcahy has never completely gone away, even casual Miracle Legion fans who haven’t kept abreast of his solo career would do well to check out his latest project, Birdfeeder (with Chris Harford of Three Colors and Dumptruck’s Kevin Salem). Supposedly written in the mid-90s but recorded years later, Woodstock feels like vintage Mulcahy (although he largely credits the other members for how it sounds). In any case, it’s great to hear his voice sing something like “So Triangular”, an opaquely beautiful piece of folk rock, sounding lost yet completely sure of itself.
“Get Rich Quick”, Micah Schnabel
From The Clown Watches the Clock (2024)
“I am rural American trash, and it’s not funny or cute like a country song,” Micah Schnabel sings in “Get Rich Quick”, an early highlight from the Two Cow Garage leader’s latest solo album, The Clown Watches the Clock. It’s a track that gets to the heart of Schnabel’s writing on the album (and, really, his career as a Midwestern country punk troubadour in general), which is about the ambient sights and sounds of middle America: guns, Jesus, and debilitating, humiliating, irritating poverty. It’s the first of several songs on the record that explicitly grapple with having hardly a dollar to one’s name–Schnabel’s narrator, a rebel without a dental plan, declares “I don’t wanna die a victim of my aw-shucks humility,” and makes a perfectly coherent argument for petty crime in doing so. Read more about The Clown Watches the Clock here.
“Everybody’s Finding Out”, Lane
From Receiver (2024, Illegally Blind)
Boston’s Lane consciously sought to make a streamlined, “interplay-heavy” version of math rock on Receiver, which can be felt in how happy it is to embrace a simple “power-trio” setup and how these songs feel balanced, without one aspect of them overpowering the other. “Everybody’s Finding Out” is a laid-back, XTC-evoking math-prog-pop tune that it’s an early highlight of the record, with all of its one-minute-and-thirteen-seconds feeling necessary–it reminds me of an even more streamlined version of this Exploding in Sound-adjacent sound practiced by bands like Pet Fox and Hammer No More the Fingers. Read more about Receiver here.
“All Along”, Jacob Freddy
From Songs from a Quiet Aliso Viejo Wasteland (2024)
Recorded “with the speakers of an old Mazda CX5” (hence the album’s cover painting), Songs from a Quiet Aliso Viejo Wasteland is a pleasingly lively and pop-forward take on the “lo-fi bedroom indie rock record” subgenre. Beneath the fuzz, distortion, and frequently mumbled vocals, there’s a singer-songwriter (Jacob Frericks, aka Jacob Freddy) with a knack for classic power pop, a Teenage Fanclub/Elliott Smith/Big Star devotee with the reverb turned up high. Frericks kicks the record off with “All Along”, a gorgeous Bandwagonesque-esque steady fuzz-power-pop song whose core melody only seems to be strengthened by its humble dressing. Read more about Songs from a Quiet Aliso Viejo Wasteland here.
“I Can’t Have It All”, Yea-Ming and the Rumours
From I Can’t Have It All (2024, Dandy Boy)
The latest record from Yea-Ming Chen and her band, The Rumours, doesn’t reinvent their sound–Chen is still a sharp, 60s pop-inspired songwriter and a striking vocalist, and the band give these songs a polished but utilitarian, classic college rock reading. What makes I Can’t Have It All feel so full-sounding and like a step forward is the well-earned, quiet but palpable confidence Yea-Ming and the Rumors display throughout the entire record. I Can’t Have It All’s title track is my favorite song on the record–its refrain has an especially gorgeous simplicity in its recalling of the softer end of Yo La Tengo, and its plainspoken verses are just as rewarding in their own way. Read more about I Can’t Have It All here.
“Survive”, American Culture
From Hey Brother, It’s Been a While (2024, Convulse)
Denver quartet American Culture’s sound has a lot of familiar ingredients, but it’s a unique and captivating blend that’s found on Hey Brother, It’s Been a While–they’re “punk rock” in a loose sense, yes, although in the older underground version of the term, while also leaving room for indie rock and pop of several different stripes (mid-to-late Replacements jangly power pop, and even some psychedelic Madchester influences). The band features two primary songwriters, Chris Adolf and Michael Stein, and it’s the latter’s “Survive” I’ve chosen here. It’s catchy punk-pop as hooky as anything else on the record, showcasing how in tune the songwriters are with each other (the refrain, “I still don’t wanna live forever, but I think I’d like to survive,” is a reference to the depths of a drug addiction that informed a lot of the record, and is Stein’s biggest mark on the track). Read more about Hey Brother, It’s Been a While here.
“Default Parody”, Drahla
From Angeltape (2024, Captured Tracks)
I get it–there’s too many damn U.K. post-punk bands to keep track of these days. Maybe I can sell you on Leeds’ Drahla, though, who to my ears are a step ahead of the majority of their peers. A little bit goth, a little bit no wave, a little bit garage-y, Angeltape just sounds so much more alive and fiery than a lot of this stuff, particularly on highlights like opening track “Under the Glass” and “Default Parody”, my personal favorite track on the record. Vocalist Luciel Brown nails the beginning of the track, pulling off the “robotic but dynamic” speak-singing style that is an incredibly strong hook in its own way, and–oh, did I mention that this band has a full time saxophone player (Chris Duffin)? Because you’re going to notice it in “Default Parody”.
“Reveal”, Amy O
From Mirror, Reflect (2024, Winspear)
I’ve always thought Amy Oelsner (aka Amy O) was underrated–particularly the Arkansas-originating, Bloomington, Indiana-based musician’s 2017 record Elastic, but her 2019 album Shell is really solid, too. I’ve only listened to her latest record, Mirror, Reflect, a bit so far, but there’s plenty to like on it–the low-key but bouncy indie pop of “Reveal” is an early favorite that caught my ear just about immediately. It’s a pretty barebones-sounding track, and it almost feels like it’s going to collapse in its first half before settling into a deft bedroom pop sweep that makes me feel like the best of the Frankie Cosmos/Gabby’s World era of indie rock does.
“Purgatory (Summer Swim)”, Nihiloceros
From Dark Ice Balloons (2024, Totally Real)
Dark Ice Balloons is a beast of a pop album about death–Nihiloceros stack their record with huge melodic punk/pop punk hooks strong enough to stay intact as the band crank up the loudness and drama. “Purgatory (Summer Swim)”, the last and best song on the record, sounds like a lost radio-ready punk single from the 90s, from the way the melody and electric guitar spill out at the beginning of the song to the basketball dribble beat to the esoteric fist-pump of the chorus. Nihiloceros try on natural disasters and weapon-fellating for size, but it’s the open-ended question in the song’s refrain that defines the primary subject matter of Dark Ice Balloons. Read more about Dark Ice Balloons here.
“Don’t Worry”, Poppy Patica
From Sea Wrack (2024, Cows at the Edge of the Earth)
Poppy Patica released one of my favorite albums of last year–Black Cat Back Stage, an overstuffed, artsy pop rock record inspired by frontperson Peter Hartmann’s hometown of Washington, D.C. Hartmann (now based in Oakland) apparently had an entire other Poppy Patica album up his sleeve–Sea Wrack is more stripped down and low-key-sounding, recorded in New York by a different lineup than Black Cat Back Stage (largely just Hartmann, Paco Cathcart of Climax Landers and The Cradle, and previous collaborator Owen Wuerker). It’s tempting to treat Sea Wrack as comparatively “minor”, but even though it’s only 22 minutes long, it still has one of the best pop songs I’ve heard this year in “Don’t Worry”. Pulled from the Elliott Smith/Jon Brion school of deceptively simple pop music, Hartmann rides a huge-sounding acoustic guitar and keyboard accents across a sublime, incredibly catchy playground.
“Monk Eric”, Ethan Beck & The Charlie Browns
From Duck Hollow (2024, Douglas Street)
The second half of an incredible one-two punch beginning with ”Fear and Loathing in Gramercy” continues on with “Monk Eric”, yet another excellent highlight from Ethan Beck & The Charlie Browns’ Duck Hollow. “Monk Eric” is a pure sugar rush, with The Charlie Browns skipping along to Beck’s sympathetic but unfailingly honest character sketch. Beck takes a step back in the chorus and looks at the titular Eric through a partner of some sort (“She waits up every night / She hopes he’ll come to her side / She waits for him but he won’t come back”), a break from the rollicking verses where Eric tries various lives on for size. Read more about Duck Hollow here.
“I Bet You Know Karate”, Aerial
From Activities of Daily Living (2024, Signalsongs/Flake Music)
Activities of Daily Living is the third album from Scottish group Aerial–who’ve been around since the late 90s–and it’s a collection of best-foot-forward, eager-to-please power pop, full of energy and eagerly-delivered hooks. A bit of Teenage Fanclub, some synth touches, Matthew Sweet moves–there’s a lot to love on this record, particularly on highlight “I Bet You Know Karate”, whose central metaphor doesn’t even have to be as weirdly memorable as it is given the amount of other great stuff going on in it (did you hear those handclaps?). Read more about Activities of Daily Living here.
“The Iron That Never Swung”, Neutrals
From New Town Dream (2024, Slumberand/Static Shock)
Glasgow native Allan McNaughton’s background is in post-punk, but his current band Neutrals has a more indie pop/C86 sound fits well on their current label (Slumberland) and the Bay Area scene (where McNaughton is now based). McNaughton’s plainspoken Scottish-accented vocals contrast with the jangly and melodic (although sometimes messy in a punk-pop way) instrumentals, and McNaughton’s writing is primarily inspired by the plight of postwar “New Towns” in the U.K. and those who lived in them. McNaughton’s thematic preoccupations explicitly shade “The Iron That Never Swung”, but they’re smoothly integrated into indie pop–its brisk but melancholic undertones make it one of the best songs on the album. Read more about New Town Dream here.
“Nightmare”, Adeem the Artist
From Anniversary (2024, Four Quarters)
Adeem the Artist: great musician! Great songwriter! One of the most exciting alt-country faces in recent memory! They put out an album called White Trash Revelry in 2022 that I really enjoyed, and–though I find a lot of these Americana phenoms kind of flame out after getting some buzz–their latest, Anniversary, is even better than that one. If the idea of “queer country” music is interesting at all to you, Anniversary is the album for you (and it doesn’t really matter if you’re not interested in that, because you are interested in good music), and for those of us already on board, Adeem the Artist takes several steps forward and outward in their writing. “Nightmare” isn’t exactly my favorite song lyrically on the album–not that its blunt metaphor isn’t effective in an earnest, pleading way, much like Tyler Childers’ “Long Violent History”. What vaults it ahead of everything else is Adeem’s embrace of polished, confident country rock here–if they’re shooting for the stars, it’s a good look on them.
“Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy”, The Foreign Correspondents
From Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy (2024, Outer Battery)
Imagine a supergroup featuring Ted Leo, Brendan Canty (Fugazi), Sohrab Habibion (Savak, Edsel), and Michael Hampton (The Faith, Fake Names). Sounds great, right? Now, imagine them covering Michel Pagliaro, an obscure (outside of Canada, at least) Quebecois singer-songwriter from the 1970s. If that still sounds great, then you’ve come to the right place, as The Foreign Correspondents’ debut 7” single features two versions of Pagliaro’s songs. I’m not familiar with the originals at all whatsoever, but I love their take on “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy”–led by laid-back acoustic guitar strumming and sharpness from the rest of the instruments, it’s got a nice early power pop feel to it, and Leo’s incredibly smooth lead vocals (always welcome) seal the deal.
“Scabby the Rat”, Shellac
From To All Trains (2024, Touch & Go)
Plenty of people have said it better than I have, but To All Trains is more than a worthy final statement from arguably the single most important person with regards to the kind of music I write about on this blog. Now, Shellac was always an equilateral triangle, and Todd Trainer’s drums and Bob Weston’s bass are absolutely essential to their sound, but (even though I didn’t really intend it as such when I chose it for this playlist) “Scabby the Rat” is such a great sub-two-minute encapsulation of the best of Steve Albini, from the metallic snaking guitar playing to his unique sing-speaking to his humor (“Pow! You’re pregnant!”) to his commitment to ethics (of course there’s a Shellac song about the titular pro-labor mascot) to a matter-of-fact sentimentality (the shouting out of Rob Warmowski, a punk lifer and friend of Albini’s who ran the @ScabbytheRat Twitter account and passed away in 2019). There’s nothing that’s ever going to take the place of stuff like this.
“I’m Yours, You’re Mine”, Lunchbox
From Pop and Circumstance (2024, Slumberland)
The dozen pop songs on Pop and Circumstance were clearly authored by people devoted enough to the music of the 1960s and 70s to be able to pull several different stripes of it together. But while their influences might be worn a little more on their sleeves than those of their C86/twee/indie pop peers, Lunchbox avoid coming off as stiff genre reenactors by nailing pop hook after pop hook and using their knowledge to deliver them smartly. Early on in Pop and Circumstance, Lunchbox pull out all the stops with the sugary, horn-laden hit “I’m Yours, You’re Mine”–it’s quite charming from the get-go, and even more so when they break out the organ and handclaps. Read more about Pop and Circumstance here.
“My Love, Let’s Take the Stage Tonight”, Kiran Leonard
From Real Home (2024, Memorials of Distinction)
There are bands where I like all of their songs. There are bands where I don’t like any of their songs. And then there’s musicians like Kiran Leonard, a London-based singer-songwriter who’s been making experimental, orchestral pop music for over a decade now. I’ve heard bits and pieces of his music before, and I’ve listened to his latest album, Real Home, in its entirety, and I can fairly confidently say that “My Love, Let’s Take the Stage Tonight” is the one song of his that really stands out to me–but it really works for me. It’s such a confident and beautiful song, a string-laden romantic piece of college-folk rock that reminds me a bit of The Waterboys and Miracle Legion but doesn’t quite sound like anything but itself.
“Ratbike”, 2070
From Stay in the Ranch (2024, Free World Vessel)
Despite its similarities with more than a few “bedroom pop” projects, 2070’s Stay in the Ranch has plenty of moments where an honest-to-god rock band emerges from the static. The Los Angeles group plow through sixteen songs in 35 minutes, throwing out experimental shoegaze, fuzz rock, and noisy lo-fi pop like it’s nobody’s business. After an intro track, “Ratbike” kicks off Stay in the Ranch properly with a blown-out piece of tuneful, almost post-punk racket, absolutely brimming with melodic guitars and pleasant agitation. Read more about Stay in the Ranch here.
“Sanity’s Sake”, Vacation
From Rare Earth (2024, Feel It)
Vacation are a veteran Midwestern, blue-collar power pop/punk group whose latest album, Rare Earth, displays a mid-period Guided by Voices-ish “meaty but hooky” attitude that works really well–my favorite song on the album, the earnest, chugging “Sanity’s Sake”, captures Robert Pollard’s ability to imbue his lyrics and vocals with both triumph and melancholy. “Sanity’s Sake” is an obvious success as a pop song, and it’s no small feat that Vacation turn a song with lyrics like “Corrosion of a paradise / A patina that shines / Let your theories oxidize” into not only a hit, but a deeply felt one, too. Read more about Rare Earth here.
“Severed Head”, Mopar Stars
From Burning Question (2024, Furo Bungy)
We’re doing two songs from the Mopar Stars EP because this thing is great, let me tell you. I think I like “Burning Question” a little more than “Severed Head”, but it’s very close. The former song has a sheer desperation to it, while this one is the “cool” end of the power pop spectrum. You thought I could ever get tired of choppy power chords? No, the verses to this one absolutely need them. You thought I’d get tired of cranked-up rock-and-roll chord progressions as interpreted by basement indie rock groups? No–I mean, just listen to the chorus of “Severed Head”.
“Sway”, Cast of Thousands
(2024)
Mr. President, a seventh Cast of Thousands song has materialized on Bandcamp and other streaming services. The Austin-based quartet released a cassette last year entitled First Six Songs, which was a shining example of both truth in advertising and in superb garage-y power pop (frontperson Maxwell Vandever’s previous band, Flesh Lights, had already proven that he knew his way around this kind of music). Cast of Thousands’ first new music since then is the one-off “Sway”, and it’s familiar-sounding in the best way. It’s just a little muddy and distorted, in a way that’s able to still spotlight just about everything great about this band–the scene-stealing melodic bass, the slightly rootsy, wistful tone of Vandever’s vocals, and catchy but economical guitarplay.
“Impatient”, Kill Gosling
From Waster (2024, We’re Trying)
Columbus emo pop punk band Kill Gosling pack a bunch of stuff into less than ten minutes with Waster, their latest EP; the dramatic punk showtune “Impatient” is second-half-of-Worry.-worthy, showcasing some of Kill Gosling’s best writing. “What’s the point in learning something I know / Where’s the joy if you can never let go?” goes the chorus, and I enjoy how the refrain takes on a different meaning between the first time around (in euphoria at a show) and the next one (at home, crashing and expelling alcohol from one’s body involuntarily). Read more about Waster here.
“Better”, Ahem
From Avoider (2024, Forged Artifacts)
There’s just too many great pop songs on Avoider to choose from, but I’m happy with my selection of “Better” for this playlist. Compared to the blaring barnburners that open the record, “Better” shows off Ahem’s lighter and breezier side–up to a point, at least. It starts in that kind of territory, but the huge, starry-eyed power pop core of the song is impossible to restrain, with the “Yeah!”s in the cautious-but-giant refrain blooming among the traded-off vocals and melodic guitars. Read more about Avoider here.
“Pretty Blue 108”, Alice Kat
From Around the World & Back to You (2024, Subjangle)
“Pretty Blue 108”, the opening track to Alice Kat’s Around the World & Back to You, is a strong introduction to a side of Alice Katugampola that I didn’t really see in her work with indie pop duo fine.. Around the World & Back to You is a collection of relatively punchy, slick alt-rock, with a concept that roughly divides the record into huge-sounding power pop (“day time”) and chillier indie rock (“night time”). “Pretty Blue 108” does its job admirably, shooting for the stars and landing a giant hook that’s more than enough on which to hang a statement track. Read more about Around the World & Back to You here.
“Go Away”, The Wendy Darlings
From Lipstick Fire (2024, Lunadélia/Influenza)
The Wendy Darlings’ third LP, Lipstick Fire, is a portrait of a band devoted to both vintage indie pop and the genres from which it was initially derived. The French trio attack a classic bubblegum pop sound with the twee and punk-pop energy of a band absolutely thrilled to be making music together. My favorite song on the record, “Go Away”, is an early, smooth highlight that saunters up to its cathartic, shout-along chorus with just enough confidence to pull it off. Read more about Lipstick Fire here.
“You’re Just Jealous”, Crumbs
From You’re Just Jealous (2024, Skep Wax)
You’re Just Jealous equally combines the danceability of 80s post-punk, the hooks of classic indie pop, and the sharp edges of 90s Kill Rock Stars indie rock groups. The sophomore record from the Leeds quartet took six years to come about, but Crumbs sound incredibly fresh throughout their Skep Wax Records debut. You’re Just Jealous has a “locked-in” sound from the get-go, with the punchy rhythms of the opening title track providing the runway for vocalist Ruth Gilmore’s vocals to put on a show. “You’re Just Jealous” is essential in sketching out Crumbs’ philosophy–that post-punk can and should be catchy and fun to listen to. Read more about You’re Just Jealous here.
“Key to the Universe”, The Lousy Hitchhikers
From Key to the Universe (2024)
Multiple punk songs about aliens on this playlist, I don’t know. This one comes courtesy of The Lousy Hitchhikers, a Winston-Salem-based band (quite possibly the first time I’ve covered something from there before) led by Mike Koivisto and assisted by Scotty Sandwich and Alex Kirkpatrick. The four-song, seven-minute Keys to the City EP is the group’s first record made in a proper studio after years of home recording, but they certainly don’t have any “over-production” problems here, especially on the opening title track. “Key to the Universe” (an “extremely ridiculous song”, per its Bandcamp page) is a two-minute cannonball of power-pop-punk about how it’s not only humans that can’t get enough of The Lousy Hitchhikers’ music, but also those “crazy gray dudes” from outer space. Sure, why not?
“Found and Lost”, Sylvia
(2024)
Sylvia is a new-ish quartet from Melbourne made up of people from Australian bands I haven’t heard of (Earache, No Sister, Red Hell, Hygiene–maybe if you’re from Down Under you know them?) and who put out a self-titled debut EP in 2022. “Found and Lost” is apparently the first single from their upcoming second EP, and it sounds pretty good to me! Sylvia cite modern shoegaze and fuzz rock acts as influences, but “Found and Lost” is an indie pop song at its core–the end result is something that sounds like a Slumberland/Sarah Records band with the distortion cranked up and the drums played as forcefully as one can for this kind of music.
“Play It Cool”, Climax Landers
From Zenith No Effects (2024, Gentle Reminder/Home Late/Intellectual Birds)
Zenith No Effects is an offbeat but sincere guitar pop album at its core, with classic pop rock and college rock (aided by Paco Cathcart’s violin and Ani Ivry-Block’s accordion) shading the record, and Climax Landers’ ringleader, vocalist Will Moloney, ups his game to match. One of Zenith No Effects‘ biggest and most immediate moments is “Play It Cool”, a swooning pop song whose looseness and stream-of-consciousness feeling reminds me of the effortless-sounding pop music of Nate Amos’ This Is Lorelei and My Idea. Moloney seems to ramble on about the idea of “coolness”, namechecking music that, depending on one’s level of irony, is either the epitome of it or of the lack thereof (Staind, Styx, Rob Thomas and Santana, 311). Read more about Zenith No Effects here.
“Severance”, Female Gaze
From Tender Futures (2024, Fort Lowell/Totally Real)
The latest album from Tucson trio Female Gaze, Tender Futures, intentionally evokes haziness and disorientation and, according to the band, can be started from any song and played “on a loop”. Stretching five songs across thirty-two minutes, Tender Futures is an expansive, vast record that embodies the American southwest. By the end of the album, the disorientation is at a high, as we’re feeling lost out in no-man’s land somewhere–but the last song on Tender Futures is its clearest olive branch. “Severance” is not a departure from the rest of the album, but it’s where everything snaps into focus, as the trio set their sights on fluttering guitar pop for six minutes. Read more about Tender Futures here.
Rosy Overdrive 