Pressing Concerns: The Bug Club, Oceanator, Dominic Angelella, Mint Field

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The Thursday Pressing Concerns is a big one, featuring four records that shall be coming out tomorrow, August 30th (new albums from The Bug Club, Oceanator, and Dominic Angelella, plus an EP/mini-LP from Mint Field). If you’ve missed either of this eventful week’s earlier blog posts (Monday’s featured Chime School, Melt-Banana, Edie McKenna, and Giant Day, and Tuesday’s had Norm Archer, New Math, Hits, and Kevin Robertson), check those out, too.

If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.

The Bug Club – On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System

Release date: August 30th
Record label: Sub Pop
Genre: Power pop, garage rock, pop punk
Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital
Pull Track: On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System

Rosy Overdrive has been supporting the rise of Welsh indie-garage-power-pop group The Bug Club for a couple of years now–their 2022 full-length Green Dream in #F was one of my favorite albums of that year, and 2023’s double LP Rare Birds: Hour of Song was even better. The prolific group–co-led by the duo of Sam Willmett and Tilly Harris–kept putting out music even beyond their “one proper album a year” pace last year with a reissue of 2021’s “mini-LP” Pure Particles, a live album of all-new material called Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits Perform! One Foot in Bethlehem, and the non-album Picture This single. Even with all their accomplishments, it was a bit surprising that a band combining the simple melodies of The Modern Lovers, fuzzed-out power pop, and droll British guitar pop was picked up by Sub Pop Records–but The Bug Club haven’t kept us waiting for their debut release on their new home, putting together a brand-new full-length called On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System by Means of Popular Music or the Contemplation of Pretty Faces, Tinned Bubbles and Strife (or merely On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System if you’ve got somewhere to be). Rising to the indie rock big leagues doesn’t seem to have changed The Bug Club one bit–the eleven-song, twenty-eight minute record contains all the hallmarks that have made the group such a recognizable and distinct act despite cooking their songs up with well-worn ingredients.

All of the singles from On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System are classic Bug Club–we get Willmett ranting and raving (“Quality Pints”), dryly opining (“Lonsdale Slipons”), and cracking a bit of a smirk (“A Bit Like James Bond”) accompanied by Harris racing to catch up, all over catchy, electric rock and roll music. If there’s anything separating On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System from previous Bug Club records, it might be a heavier, more stoic instrumental sound–between the blunt opening track “War Movies” and the snaking six-string of “Actual Pain”, there’s perhaps a bit less in terms of musical whimsy on this LP. Of course, this is all relative–there’s probably no other band I’d feel comfortable describing like that while still making songs like “Pop Single”, “Cold. Hard. Love.”, and (especially) “Best Looking Strangers in the Cemetery” (“We’re not dead, we’re just dead gorgeous!”). “Better Than Good” also contains a lot of great Bug Club-isms, and in the midst of a hard-charging album, it draws attention to itself by dialing up a simple drum machine beat for a Jonathan Richman/Lou Reed laid-back guitar pop presentation. The blissed-out zen of that song (“Nothing’s really, really good / Because you can’t get better than good”) is almost the inverse of the other ear-catching tune towards the end of the record, the ninety-second fret-fest of the title track. A pissed-off, angry shrug of a closer in the vein of Guided by Voices’ “An Unmarketed Product”, “On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System” suggests something substantial at the root of The Bug Club’s carefree, flippant attitude. It’s just a suggestion, though–they’re too busy to spell it out for us. (Bandcamp link)

Oceanator – Everything Is Love and Death

Release date: August 30th
Record label: Polyvinyl
Genre: Alt-rock, punk rock, fuzz rock, emo, power pop
Formats: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital
Pull Track: First Time

I’ve had a strong feeling that Elise Okusami is going to become a bona fide indie rock star ever since I heard Things I Never Said, her 2020 debut as Oceanator (not that I was alone in thinking this–that LP was slated to come out on tastemaking indie label Tiny Engines before their extended hiatus, and I remember Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan being a huge booster of her music around the same time). Linking up with A-list label Polyvinyl, 2022’s Nothing’s Ever Fine should’ve been Oceanator’s breakout album on paper–but as great as I think that album is, it’s not surprising that that LP, which emphasized the moody and insular sides of Okusami’s still-fiery alt-rock writing, largely kept the band to those of us “in the know”. With the third Oceanator album, Everything Is Love and Death, however, there’s no excuse for the rest of you. In a move that makes too much sense, Okusami has linked up with renowned Philadelphia producer Will Yip, and Yip (who also plays drums and keys on the record) helps Oceanator (here, Elise and her brother Mike, alongside guest musicians Andrew Whitehurst, Eric Sherman, David Haik, and Megan Siebe) accentuate the anthemic, immediate aspects of their sound–hard to categorize, but containing a distinct mix of emo, power pop, and even grunge-y 90s alt-rock.

Opening track “First Time” pulls no punches–Okusami’s occasional tendency to favor big, bursting chord progressions pays off big time here, as the band pound through an undeniably huge power pop starting punch that should get everyone’s full attention trained on Everything Is Love and Death. Oceanator are a hard-hitting rock band throughout the first half of Everything Is Love and Death, even as they don’t quite repeat themselves in how they do it–“Lullaby” is the thorny, tricky jungle of guitar riffs and percussion, “Cut String” is the fast-paced but chilly one that tries to outrun the feelings at its heart with briskness, “Happy New Year” is a mid-tempo ballad brought to the next level with its power pop trappings, “Get Out” the fuzzed-out, dead-serious indie punk rager. Apparently, Okusami and Yip spent a month in the studio working on Everything Is Love and Death–with that in mind, it’s impressive how streamlined the album sounds, containing few moments of the lengthy rock journeys found on Things I Never Said. Even as the record gets a little more exploratory in its second half, it’s still offering up concise pop and rock tunes (“Be Here” and “All the Same”), and the most experimental moments (the tension of “Drain the Well”, the distorted, stoner rock-esque “Drift Away”) are relatively brief. The only song on Everything Is Love and Death longer than five minutes is closing track “Won’t Someone”, which starts out with just Okusami and her guitar before building slowly. The sparse beginning is a rare moment on Everything Is Love and Death, but Oceanator let it longer just long enough before initiating their grand finale. (Bandcamp link)

Dominic Angelella – God Loves a Scammer

Release date: August 30th
Record label: Dumb Solitaire
Genre: Folk rock, power pop, alt-country, country rock, singer-songwriter
Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital
Pull Track: Lace Monitor

It’s people like Dominic Angelella who form the backbone of “indie rock”. While staying largely under the radar, he’s played supporting roles in two different canonical Philadelphia bands (Hop Along and mewithoutYou), as well as making his own music as Lithuania (with Dr. Dog’s Eric Slick), Drgn King, and under his own name over the past decade. As of late, Angelella’s primary creative output seems to be his solo career–from 2017 to 2022, he put out four albums through Philly institution Lame-O Records, and it took him less than two years from his last one to produce a fifth LP, the independently-released God Loves a Scammer. Angelella wrote a lot of God Loves a Scammer while he was busy being indie rock (playing in Lucy Dacus’ band, touring with Foxing side project Smidley) and summoned a handful of like-minded ringers to realize what he’d put together (the core of the record’s music comes from Jacob Blizard, Sarah Goldstone, Lilah Larson, and Noah Hecht, who have credits for Boygenius, Dacus, Illuminati Hotties, and Cassandra Jenkins between them). For an album made by a group of people who could reach out and touch the zeitgeist if they wanted to, God Loves a Scammer is a refreshingly timeless-sounding record, one that balances a predilection for offbeat, attention-grabbing songwriting from its frontperson with a casual, laid-back vibe from its players.

It’s incredibly bold to claim to be inspired by David Berman and John Darnielle as Angelella does with God Loves a Scammer, but he’s wise enough to understand that these writers can’t be emulated and the lessons to be gleaned from them are primarily attitudinal. Like early Mountain Goats and Silver Jews records before it, God Loves a Scammer comes from an artist steeped in a world where indie rock is supposed to “sound” a certain way (Pavement then, P. Bridgers now) but who is able to fully uncouple himself from that. Angelella makes the decision to put his vocals high and clear in the mix, a confident choice in line with fellow iconoclastic singer-songwriters from Fred Thomas to David Dondero (it also reminds me a bit of the most recent Slaughter Beach, Dog album, whose Jake Ewald is well on his way to joining that list). The Dominic Angelella band are far from an afterthought even as their frontperson wisely emphasizes his writing–whether they’re rambling alt-country slingers (“Satellite Telephone”, “Dirty Mattress”), unrestrained rockers (“Short End of the Stick”, Babylon Working”), or quiet and tasteful (“Analog Circuit”, “Paul Schrader”), the musicians are more than up to the task of fleshing out these dozen songs so that they’re ready to fly. Two of my favorite songs on the album are “Lace Monitor” and “Headway”, both of which keep things deceptively simple to disparate ends (suave, steady insanity in the former, ragged, messy peace in the latter, which subsequently ends the record). God Loves a Scammer does an impeccable job of keeping us hanging on the line. (Bandcamp link)

Mint Field – Aprender a Ser: Extended

Release date: August 30th
Record label: Felte
Genre: Dream pop, psych pop, ambient pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Sensibilidad dormida

Last year, I wrote about Aprender a Ser, the third LP from Mexico City dream pop/shoegaze trio Mint Field. The ten-song album ranged from quiet dreamy psychedelia to loud distorted guitar-driven pop music–really, it covered just about everything you’d want in a modern dream pop record. Given how fruitful the sessions for Aprender a Ser were, I suppose it isn’t surprising to learn that the trio (co-leaders Estrella del Sol and Sebastian Neyra, plus drummer Callum Brown) recorded more than enough material for one album when putting it together. Mint Field decided that these songs would best be served as two separate releases, and the second of those is a seven-song EP (or “mini-LP”) christened Aprender a Ser: Extended which arrives ten months after its sibling record. Although the first Aprender a Ser cast a wide net sonically, Aprender a Ser: Extended feels more cohesively mellow and insular, zeroing in on hazy, even minimalist dream pop, psychedelia, and ambient pop. Shoegaze guitars still factor in the equation, but they’re fairly sidelined, appearing as distinct moments in a couple of these songs rather than overpowering them, and allowing Mint Field to probe different territory.

From its title to its relatively quick release, Mint Field don’t shy from encouraging us to fold Aprender a Ser: Extended into its predecessor, either as an appendix or a sequel. The twenty-two minute record is strong enough to stand on its own, however, and one doesn’t need to already be a fan of Mint Field to get something out of these tracks. One does, however, need to be something of a patient consumer of indie rock, as “Hasta el anochecer” sets the stage with four minutes of exquisite but spaced-out layering, displaying Mint Field’s cavernous approach to pop music immediately. “Sensibilidad dormida” introduces a constant, grounding bassline into the mix, but its fuzzed-out guitars only show up for a few seconds–as they also do in “Recuerdo de los días”, which is nonetheless still doing enough to be the most upbeat moment on the EP thus far. Between the amped-up drone rock of the second half of “Una flor sin interior” and the shy but firm first half of “Ve hacia la ventana”, there’s about one full shoegaze song on Aprender a Ser: Extended total, although the record closes with a more accurate summation of its sound in “El mar me veía”. Mint Field enlist cellist Mabe Fratti to soundtrack a piece of ambient pop that morphs into something more concrete but still subtle by its conclusion–by now, it’s a familiar destination, but it’s still welcome. (Bandcamp link)

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