Pressing Concerns: Hilken Mancini Band, Hit, Onsloow, Miranda and the Beat

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On this Thursday Pressing Concerns, a bunch of new albums out tomorrow (October 25th) await us below: new LPs from Hilken Mancini Band, Hit, Onsloow, and Miranda and the Beat. It’s been an eventful week on Rosy Overdrive, so if you missed any of this week’s earlier posts (Monday looked at records from Langkamer, Seafoam Walls, Humdrum, and Ironic Hill, Tuesday’s post featured American Motors, The Low Field, Jealous Yellow, and Puddled, and on Wednesday I went long on St. Lenox’s Ten Modern American Work Songs), 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.

Hilken Mancini Band – Hilken Mancini Band

Release date: October 25th
Record label: Girlsville
Genre: Power pop, pop punk, fuzz rock
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Set My Sights

It’s certainly not uncommon these days to hear a new indie rock band that sounds like Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly, and that dog. The difference between your typical buzzy “bubblegrunge” group and the Hilken Mancini Band, however, is that the latter is fronted by someone who can count the aforementioned acts as peers rather than formative influences. In the mid-90s, Hilken Mancini co-led the Boston alt-rock/pop group Fuzzy, who toured with Buffalo Tom and Velocity Girl and released two albums for Atlantic before fizzling out before landing a “proper” radio hit at the end of the decade. Mancini never went away, though, playing in bands like Gramercy Arms, Shepherdess, and The Monsieurs, and most recently starting up a quasi-solo project backed by bassist Winston Braman (formerly of Fuzzy and a longtime Thalia Zedek Band member), drummer Luther Gray (Tsunami), and guitarist Melissa Gibbs (Heavy Stud). I admittedly haven’t kept up with all of Mancini’s output since the dissolution of her most well-known band, but the self-titled debut album from the Hilken Mancini Band arrives with a bang, embracing sugary, hooky, fuzzy guitar pop music like 1994 never fully left us. Although Boston indie rock veterans from J. Mascis to Chris Brokaw to Zedek to the majority of Buffalo Tom apparently guest on this record, Mancini is unambiguously the star of Hilken Mancini Band, and she excels in the role.

The ten songs of Hilken Mancini Band practically helicopter in with their loud, unmistakable catchiness front and center. Album opener “Set My Sights” would already be a classic just based on the strength of the verses and instrumental alone, but Mancini somehow finds a classic 90s alt-pop-rock chorus that nobody’d thought to use yet to really push the song over the top. “Set My Sights” is hard to top in terms of pure immediate energy, but that doesn’t mean the Hilken Mancini Band don’t try–punchy first half highlights “Up 2 11” and “Blackout” similarly violently beat their hooks into the listener with a club, and second half kickoff “Anniversary” leads with a riff that’s so huge-sounding that Mancini’s lyrical reference to You’re Living All Over Me is plenty justified (is that you squealing along, Mr. Mascis?). These are the most obvious head-turners on the record, but Hilken Mancini Band is just as catchy in the “album tracks”, too–right up until the album’s end, where the band surprisingly but welcomely try on a bit of acoustic-led post-Replacements, Lemonheads-y college rock/power pop for size with “Thru 2 U” and then bring it all together for a wobbly but full-throated conclusion in “Let U Go”. The latter song also has some fun and explosive guitar soloing, but whoever’s supplying the fireworks doesn’t interrupt the main show. (Bandcamp link)

Hit – Bestseller

Release date: October 25th
Record label: One Weird Trick
Genre: Experimental pop, noise pop, art rock, art punk, prog-pop, psych pop
Formats: CD, digital
Pull Track: Chumbox

Vocalist/guitarist Craig Heed and guitarist Justin Mayfield have spent the last ten years as one half of New York psychedelic/prog-pop quartet Miracle Sweepstakes, but earlier this decade, the duo joined with bassist Charles Mueller and drummer Cameron LeCrone to form a different quartet called Hit (not to be confused with Hits with an “s”, the Bay Area trio). Taking a page from Big Star, their debut album is called Bestseller, and it’s been in the works for a bit now–two songs from the album, “Vanderbilt” and “Great Conjunction”, came out back in 2022, and “Nu Jangle” showed up in February of this year. I enjoyed the layered, polished sound of Miracle Sweepstakes’ last record, Last Licks, but the chaotic pop rock of “Nu Jangle” and “Vanderbilt” felt fairly distinct from Hit’s sibling band, and it’s no less exciting to hear the group in a larger setting. The advance singles merged Brainiac-like noisy post-punk with snatches of heavenly guitar pop that worked well in short bursts–to translate this attitude to an LP, Hit have to get even more creative, pushing further into the depths of what their previous material had hinted at to turn Bestseller into something just as exhaustive and adventurous as Last Licks was in its own way.

“Arite” is a real, proper introductory track–four minutes long, but never quite letting go of its hesitant, tense “prelude” vibe, even when the refrain turns into a torrent as the song draws to a close. Bestseller provides plenty of release, of course–the three older singles all follow “Arite”, and get right to work at establishing Hit’s debut record as an ace pop album, and then some. In particular, “Nu Jangle”’s combination of a zany, bonkers prog-pop instrumental with some really sweet, arresting vocals from Heed is still one of the most thrilling things I’ve heard this year (is this what Ween sound like to people who like Ween?). The underwater-sounding “Chumbox” is an unlikely early Guided by Voices-esque psych-pop triumph, and “Inner Critic” marks the midpoint of Bestseller by going all-in on what I can only really describe as “jangle-prog”.  Bestseller never really gets “predictable”, but Hit at least sound a bit more comfortable in the second half, settling in to make offbeat but excellently-crafted pop music in a way not unlike Miracle Sweepstakes or peers like Curling. “The Spot” and–in particular–the sugary guitar pop of penultimate track “I Hadn’t Noticed” ensure that Bestseller actually leaves more shined-up and sparkly than it arrived. I’m not sure if there’s a side of Hit that I “prefer” over the other, and that’s entirely due to how smooth the band make the journey feel. (Bandcamp link)

Onsloow – Full Speed Anywhere Else

Release date: October 25th
Record label: Tiny Engines
Genre: Power pop, emo, pop punk
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Taxi

Onsloow are an emo-tinged indie rock, power pop, and punk group from Scandinavia, the unofficial homeland for modern emo-tinged indie rock, power pop, and punk groups (more specifically, they’re from Trondheim, Norway). I was drawn in by Onsloow’s self-titled debut album that showed up at the beginning of 2022, and I wasn’t the only one, as the band caught the attention of Tiny Engines (the unofficial home label for modern emo-tinged indie rock, power pop, and punk groups from Scandinavia). Before putting together what would become their sophomore album, Full Speed Anywhere Else, though, Onsloow faced a problem–their lead singer, Johanne Rimul, was too busy pursuing a master’s degree and a “growing family” to continue to front the group. Guitarist Mathias Nylenna, drummer Morten Samdal, and bassist Lasse Berg recruited Helene Brunæs (of Lille Venn) to take her place–while Onsloow are admittedly far from a household name, Brunæs nonetheless had some large shoes to fill, as Rimul’s strong, confident pop vocals were a huge part of Onsloow’s appeal. Brunæs is close enough to her predecessor for Onsloow to pick up right where they left off on Full Speed Anywhere Else, but distinct enough that she doesn’t fall into the trap of just doing a less-impressive imitation of Rimul’s vocals, either.

There’s still a shift from S/T to Full Speed Anywhere Else–the songs have less of a serious, torrential emo-rock tinge and more of a power pop warmth to them. Whether that’s a change brought on by the new vocalist or from the songwriting level seems impossible to pinpoint–regardless, it’s a sheen that feels just as natural on the band as their previous record’s did. The mid-tempo, four-minute opening track “Riding on Lies” wrings just about every bit of catchiness it can from its ingredients, from Brunæs’s ascendent power pop vocals to the shimmering guitar leads to heavy-duty power chords. As the quartet wistfully bounce through the synth-colored “Taxi”, they feel closer to Dutch indie pop group Snow Coats or even a more electric version of Fuvk’s bedroom pop than their louder peers in Spielbergs. Although there are a few real-deal “rock” moments on Full Speed Anywhere Else, the emotional heart of the album to me feels more visible in the less breakneck, more thoughtful pop tunes like “Body Parts”, or the closing duo of “Muscle Memory” and “Now I Get It”. It’s been a couple of years since their first album, Onsloow have weathered a major lineup change, and landed with a label that potentially gives them a wider audience. Full Speed Anywhere Else isn’t a step down (or even a tonedown), but it does sound like a band that allows themselves a breath every once in a while. (Bandcamp link)

Miranda and the Beat – Can’t Take It

Release date: October 25th
Record label: Ernest Jenning/Khannibalism
Genre: Garage rock, punk rock
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Can’t Take It

After years of putting out standalone singles, New York/New Orleans quartet Miranda and the Beat finally dropped their self-titled debut album last year via Ernest Jenning and Khannibalism. Thanks to everything from frontperson Miranda Zipse’s vocals to Dylan Fernandez’s Farfisa organ to the group’s propensity for strong grooves, Miranda and the Beat was an impressive collection of Detroit-style soulful garage punk with bits of classic pop music and new wave in the mix, too. Since that album’s release in May of last year, Miranda and the Beat have toured it extensively, dropped down to a trio (Zipse on guitar and vocals, Fernandez on Farfisa and guitar, and Alvin Jackson on bass), and put an entire second album, Can’t Take It, to tape. Written and recorded in just a few days at King Khan’s Moon Studios Rock n Roll Vortex in Germany, Can’t Take It is the lean, immediate, punk rock counterpart to Miranda and the Beat’s more measured, restrained take on rock and roll. Not that there aren’t subtler moments on this album, but Miranda and the Beat are more laser-focused than ever on their garage-punk bread and butter and getting just about everything they can out of it over the record’s dozen songs. 

The opening title track does an incredible job of setting the stage for what to expect on Can’t Take It–the guitars, Zipse’s voice, and the Farfisa are given roughly equal weight, all working together to create something satisfying yet slightly unnerving-sounding in its dead-serious rock and roll attitude. Don’t mistake “streamlined” for one-note, though–there’s plenty to differentiate songs like the ninety-second deranged garage-pop of “Earthquake Water” from the three-minute over-the-top breakdown of “Anxiety” and the Return of the Groove in “El Lobo Negro”. If there’s a “chill” section of Can’t Take It, it’s probably the middle–that’s where we get the record’s sole acoustic track, “The Last Time”, an inspired take on Dead Moon’s “I Tried” that introduces a bit of noir to the mid-tempo garage rock, and the relatively contemplative retro-pop of “In My Life”. The momentum of Can’t Take It is such that the trio can dip into these reserves and come out the other side in basically a single motion, picking up the garage rocking thread with “New York Video” and “Manipulate Me” like it’s no one’s business. The spectre of 1980s goth-infused rock and roll has always hovered over Miranda and the Beat’s music, but the trio make it as explicit as ever in the dramatic closing track “The Secrets”, writhing and skulking for four electric minutes before the record comes to a close. It’s a fitting wrap on a successful sophomore album, one that retains the signature of its group while doing something palpably different. (Bandcamp link)

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  1. Pingback: Pressing Concerns: Mike Frazier, JPW & Dad Weed, Chris Brokaw, Blue Cactus – Rosy Overdrive

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