Rosy Overdrive’s Top 25 EPs of 2024

Hot on the heels of Rosy Overdrive’s Top 100 Albums of 2024 last week, the next year-end list on the blog gives the little guy some attention. And by “little guy”, I mean EPs, obviously. This is the EP list. Putting together 100 LPs is the most time-consuming part of the year-end list season for me, so I’m probably most “proud of” that list, but the EP list might be my favorite one to do for the blog, because it typically results in highlighting the smallest and least-praised acts of any of RO’s lists.

Here are links to the EPs on this list that are on streaming services: Spotify, Tidal. Look for a Best Compilations/Reissues of 2024 list and a couple more Pressing Concerns before the year’s out. To read about much more music beyond what’s on this list, check out the site directory, and if you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here. Thank you for reading, and, last but not least: don’t forget to vote in the 2024 Rosy Overdrive Reader’s Poll!

25. Mei Semones – Kabutomushi

Release date: April 5^thRecord label: Bayonet
Genre: Jazz-pop, indie pop, bossa nova, orchestral pop
Formats: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital

I hadn’t been familiar with Mei Semones before hearing Kabutomushi, but the Michigan-originating, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter has been putting out singles and EPs for a couple of years and seems to have gotten a bit of buzz despite no full-length albums as of yet. It’s hard not to like her after hearing her latest five-song EP, however–Kabutomushi offers up superb indie pop music with bits of jazz, J-pop, bossa nova, folk, indie rock, and orchestral pop. It’s certainly “pop music from somebody who studied guitar at Berklee”, but the writing of Semones (who sings in both English and Japanese) is simply too warm and vibrant to fall into the potential pitfalls that come with such a designation.

24. Fold Paper – 4TO

Release date: July 12^thRecord label: Royal Mountain
Genre: Math rock, post-punk, noise rock
Formats: Digital

Recorded by Electrical Audio’s Greg Norman and mastered by Stuck’s Greg Obis, 4TO finds Winnipeg’s Fold Paper declaring themselves to be part of the burgeoning scene of noisy North American post-punk and math rock made up of bands like Pardoner and their tourmates Pile. Although 4TO only has four tracks, each of them stretches past four minutes, and they all contain intriguing and kinetic moments of inspired experimental rock music, ensuring that it’s a memorable first statement from Fold Paper. 4TO does a lot in its brief runtime (from hypnotic instrumental math rock to fiery garage rock to blunt-object post-punk), hinting at several exciting directions in which Fold Paper could expand themselves from here. (Read more)

23. Rotundos – Fragments

Release date: January 12^thRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Garage rock, post-punk, art punk
Formats: Digital

Chicago group Rotundos have been pretty active as of late (not to mention a recent solo album from one of their members, Jose Israel), but I’m going all the way back to January for their four-song EP Fragments. Fragments introduces the band in a brief but quite variable package–it covers art punk, garage rock, post-punk, and maybe even a bit of mathy post-hardcore, all in under a dozen minutes. It’s hard to get a handle on Rotundos here; one minute, they’re firing off the ragged power poppy-punk rock of “Maybe”, another one and they’re plowing through the furious garage punk of “I’m on the Run from Your Heart”. It’s certainly exciting to try and figure them out on Fragments, though.

22. Dazy – IT’S ONLY A SECRET (If You Repeat It) / I GET LOST (When I Try to Get Found)

Release date: October 25^th/December 5^th
Record label: Lame-O
Genre: Power pop, fuzz rock, fuzz pop, pop punk, alt-dance, Madchester
Formats: Digital

I have no problem combining these two Dazy EPs, since they’re still only fifteen minutes long (and thus shorter than several other entries on this list) when taken together. Brief three-song EPs were important in the early days of James Goodson’s one-man fuzzy-power-pop project, and he’s returned to the format for the most substantial new Dazy music since 2022’s OUTOFBODY and its companion EP OTHERBODY. The trick that Dazy pulls on IT’S ONLY A SECRET (If You Repeat It) and I GET LOST (When I Try to Get Found) is remarkable–it’s a clear sonic evolution, leaning more than ever on electronic and dance music, but it still only sounds like Dazy. (Read more – IT’S ONLY A SECRET)

21. Citric Dummies – Trapped in a Parking Garage

Release date: August 9^thRecord label: Feel It/Saalepower 2
Genre: Garage punk, punk rock, hardcore punk
Formats: Vinyl, digital

“I’m driving a piece of shit, because I’m a piece of shit”. “Look out world, I’m eating Arby’s”. And, of course, “I’m trapped in a parking garage”. These are but a few of the Citric Dummies’ proclamations on Trapped in a Parking Garage. Just a few months after the Minneapolis trio bravely took on their hometown heroes in Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass, the Wesley Willises of Midwestern garage punk returned with a four-song 7” assault that continues their steamrolling balance of raw rock aggression and an irreverent, charmingly goofy side. There’s hardly a shortage of hardcore and garage-infused punk bands across these United States at the moment, but few are doing it with as much personality as the Citric Dummies.

20. Various – CYLS Split Series #5

Release date: November 22^ndRecord label: Count Your Lucky Stars
Genre: Power pop, pop punk, emo, alt-rock, indie pop, slowcore
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Nearly a decade after the fourth entry in their split 7” series, key fourth-wave emo label Count Your Lucky Stars Records is experiencing a renaissance of its own, with both new bands and familiar faces releasing great music on the label over the past few years. It seemed like a perfect time to renew the series, and label head Keith Latinen didn’t have to look far to find worthy contributors. The four bands on CYLS Split Series #5 have all released great albums on Count Your Lucky Stars within the past two years and change, and the exclusive tracks they bring to this EP are all just-as-strong entries into these acts’ relative discographies. Regardless of one’s previous relationship (or lack thereof) with Camp Trash, Expert Timing, Mt. Oriander, and Thank You, I’m Sorry, this is a great place to begin familiarizing one’s self with them. (Read more)

19. Podcasts – Supreme Auctions

Release date: September 13^thRecord label: Omegn Plateproduksjon
Genre: Jangle pop, post-punk, power pop
Formats: Digital

The first Podcasts release since their 2023 self-titled debut LP is a brief but welcome EP called Supreme Auctions, which zips through “3.5 songs” in about eight minutes. It’s the Oslo quartet at their most laconic yet–nothing on this EP is longer than three minutes, and the first song (an instrumental introduction that I’ll assume is the “.5” track) comes in at under a minute. More than just the song lengths, though, Supreme Auctions contains some of the band’s most unvarnished pop songwriting yet–the odd, tricky detours in Podcasts’ jangly power pop haven’t vanished exactly, but with little time to spare, they’re kept more towards the margins, giving these tracks a bit more runway with which to take off. (Read more)

18. Tulpa – Dismantler

Release date: February 7^thRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Indie pop, fuzz pop, power pop, dream pop
Formats: Cassette, digital

Leeds’ Tulpa have already played shows with some bands I like (Lightheaded, 2nd Grade), so I suppose it’s not a huge surprise that the band’s debut EP, Dismantler, is right up my alley. It’s a very strong indie pop record of several stripes–the polished side of Tulpa is up front via the slick power pop group of the title track and the punchy twee-punk of “Danse Macabre”, while the other four tracks on Dismantler show off Tulpa’s ability to make noisier, more mussed-up guitar pop music. Tulpa deploy distortion expertly (see “Hellbound” and “Echo Maker”) but they aren’t wedded to it, leading to a pleasingly varied first statement.

17. Surrealistic Pillhead – Surrealistic Pillhead

Release date: May 8^thRecord label: Future Shock
Genre: Garage rock, art punk, garage punk
Formats: Cassette, digital

Surrealistic Pillhead are a new band from Philadelphia featuring a few notable musicians (guitarist Ian Corrigan plays in Star Party, bassist Hart Seely in Sheer Mag), and their debut EP is out via legendary Cincinnati garage rock imprint Future Shock. Surrealistic Pillhead is a fairly hard-to-categorize rock record–there’s a garage rock and punk attitude, yes, and “Angora Branch” is snotty enough for the entire four-song EP, but there’s power pop, classic rock, and a bit of glam in EP’s more accessible moments (like my favorite track, “It’s Over”). Right up until the wild synths wiggle throughout closing track “Sense of Things”, one gets the sense that Surrealistic Pillhead are already pretty good at several different things, and I’d certainly be interested in hearing more from them.

16. Rip Van Winkle – The Grand Rapids

Release date: February 23^rdRecord label: Splendid Research
Genre: Post-punk, experimental rock, lo-fi indie rock
Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital

I liked the one Guided by Voices album that came out this year (June’s Strut of Kings), but my favorite Robert Pollard release of 2024 was the debut from his new Rip Van Winkle side project. For those of us who believe Pollard is always at his most brilliant with a little bit of unpredictability and weirdness thrown into the mix, The Grand Rapids EP is a breath of fresh air, a throwback to early Guided by Voices grab-bag EPs where huge pop songs sit side by side with clanging basement post-punk. The triumphant lo-fi “The Metal Clip That Goes Over” and the acoustic fragment of “Storage” have to share space with the freaky instrumental “Images from a Dead Planet” and the raving “He Did the Clock”, and everything feels all the more vital for it.

15. The Gabys – The Gabys

Release date: September 6^thRecord label: Fruits & Flowers
Genre: Dream pop, indie pop, lo-fi pop, slowcore
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Though they may be across the globe in Britain, The Gabys fit very well among the quieter side of the current guitar pop revival happening in the San Francisco Bay Area–if that’s your speed, you will find The Gabys’ ability to make timeless-sounding, wistful indie pop songs from the most basic of ingredients quite impressive as well. The Gabys has a few hallmarks–simple chord progressions delivered with as much feeling as possible, wispy, gazing-out-the-window dream pop-style vocals, unobtrusive drum machines, classic rock and roll slowed to a crawl. It’s an EP that’s gotten the art of giving us exactly what’s needed and nothing more down pat. (Read more)

14. Honeypuppy – Nymphet

Release date: January 24^thRecord label: Indecent Artistry
Genre: Indie pop, twee, fuzz rock, power pop
Formats: Cassette, digital

Honeypuppy are a new group from Athens, Georgia featuring four-fifths of the lo-fi indie rock group Telemarket. Nymphet is our first glimpse of Honeypuppy, and they seem more like straight shooters than Telemarket–bandleader Josie Callahan is an excellent pop songwriter, as all of these songs boast big hooks. And yet, Honeypuppy still find time to break out some noisy, speedy, guitar-freakout indie rock in their opening statement, almost certainly benefiting from the quartet’s previous experience playing together. Nymphet is always a pop record, whether it’s via girl-group-on-Kill Rock Stars vibes, subtle toe-tappers, or laid-back sunny flower-garden pop. (Read more)

13. Apollo Ghosts – Amethyst

Release date: February 23^rdRecord label: You’ve Changed
Genre: Jangle pop, guitar pop, power pop, college rock
Formats: Vinyl, digital

Apollo Ghosts are a Vancouver-based college rock/jangle pop quartet who I was surprised to learn have been around since at least the late 2000s. I’d seen some raving about the group (guitarist/vocalist Adrian Teacher, bassist Amanda Panda, guitarist Hasan Li, and drummer Dustin Bromley) around the time of the 2022 double album Pink Tiger–it passed me by, but I caught February’s Amethyst, and it hooked me. On the seven-song record, Apollo Ghosts fall somewhere in between fellow Canadian guitar poppers Kiwi Jr. (the sardonic, Pavement-fluent side) and Ducks Ltd. (the casual, flowing melodic side); sometimes Teacher comes off as more serious, sometimes fairly goofy, but regardless of that, Amethyst is always on some fully-developed, all-in New Zealand-style guitar pop.

12. Fast Execution – Menses Music

Release date: August 8^thRecord label: Dandy Boy
Genre: Punk rock, pop punk, fuzz rock, riot grrl
Formats: Vinyl, digital

From the title on down, it’s not hard to gather that Oakland’s Fast Execution are drawing from classic riot grrl on Menses Music, although the punk trio’s debut release is firmly on the more polished and tuneful side of the subgenre; their brief but memorable first impression is made to the tune of garage rock, power pop, and West Coast pop punk. As a frontperson, Alex Velasquez does indeed pull off riot-punk sloganeering, but for a record whose press bio says it was inspired by “ire” (at the male-dominated nature of rock music) and “hatred” (of “patriarchal machinations in rock music/modern society at large”), she displays range beyond the anger one would expect across the sub-fifteen minute EP. (Read more)

11. Dagwood – Pollyanna Visions

Release date: September 3^rdRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Power pop, slacker rock, pop punk
Formats: CD, cassette, VHS, digital

After a decade of home recording their sharp, hooky alt-rock, power pop, and punk, New Haven’s Dagwood decided it was time to make a record in a proper studio. None other than go-to indie punk engineer Justin Pizzofferato was enlisted for the task, and the band traversed up to his Easthampton studio, Sonelab, to record the six-song Pollyanna Visions EP. Perhaps a tinge more laid-back than last year’s Everything Turned Out Alright, Dagwood on the whole lose little of their charm in a formal recording setting and continue to deliver hook-heavy, punk-influenced power pop effortlessly. I thought home-recorded Dagwood sounded just fine, but if the studio helped continue the band’s hot streak, then I’m all for it. (Read more)

10. Slake/Thirst – Hunting Dust

Release date: March 2^ndRecord label: Self-released
Genre: 90s indie rock, slowcore, lo-fi indie rock
Formats: Digital

Slake/Thirst made a joke about “beat[ing] the ‘sounds like Pavement’ allegations” upon sending their debut EP, Hunting Dust, to me, and while that band is definitely an ingredient in Hunting Dust (vocalist Bobby Cardos does sound a bit like Stephen Malkmus, yes) as well as several of their contemporaries, it impresses me just how confident Slake/Thirst are in their explorations of 90s-inspired indie rock. The Brooklyn trio microgenre-hop across the 22-minute EP, stretching their sound into the cosmos and truncating it for quick hitting, but they find melody in just about everything they do. Slake/Thirst really sound like they’ve hit on something already–I even wish the long songs went on a bit longer here. (Read more)

9. Loto – A Year in Review

Release date: January 12^thRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, experimental rock, bedroom pop, folk rock
Formats: Digital

A Year in Review is a four-song EP that came out at the beginning of this year and, according to Loto’s Lautaro Akira Martinez-Satoh, sums up their 2023 (“It sucked”). Despite such a dour point of origin, A Year in Review is a quite beautiful record, even as a close reading of Loto’s lyrics reveal images of torment, despair, and pain among their lo-fi but full-sounding pop music. Loto pull together a small but substantial collection of music that’s surprising and all-over-the-place but quite accessible when it wants to be–about half of it is lo-fi and folk/rock based, while the other half leans a bit more into experimental music and “art pop”. As good as A Year in Review is, I do still hope that Loto had a better 2024. (Read more)

8. Mealworm – Mealworm

Release date: February 9^thRecord label: Mealworm
Genre: Singer-songwriter, indie pop, bedroom pop, folk
Formats: Digital

I’ve heard a decent amount of Portland-based singer-songwriter Colleen Dow’s solo material and their main band, Thank You, I’m Sorry, but the debut EP from their latest project Mealworm is the best thing front-to-back that I’ve heard from them yet. The Mealworm EP is brief–three songs, less than nine minutes–but it’s a heavy listen as Dow immerses themself fully in writing about people formerly in their life who’ve since passed away. Dow sounds lucid and clear moving through the jaunty pop and bedroom folk rock of “Stick n Poke” and “Meal Plans”, respectively, while the dramatic, synth-colored “Takeout Receipts” is the one track where the haziness of Dow’s remembrances starts to be reflected in the music.

7. ME REX – Smilodon

Release date: May 1^stRecord label: Self-released
Genre: Indie pop, synthpop, folktronica(?)
Formats: Digital

After releasing a rare proper full-length last year, 2024 saw ME REX make a triumph return to their preferred format–the four-song EP. The digital-only, self-released Smilodon feels like ME REX’s conscious attempt at a “lower-key” release–only, the songs didn’t seem to get the memo. If you’ve enjoyed the London trio’s unique sound on previous records–smartly-written indie folk rock in the vein of the Mountain Goats or Frightened Rabbit but with a wholehearted embrace of synths and sparkling pop music–you will find plenty to enjoy on Smilodon, an EP that does everything you’d want a ME REX record to do in ten minutes and change. (Read more)

6. Sailor Down – Maybe We Should Call It a Night

Release date: August 16^thRecord label: Relief Map
Genre: Midwest emo, indie folk
Formats: Cassette, digital

Chloe Deeley began Sailor Down as a solo bedroom folk project, and its second EP is its first as a proper quartet. On Maybe We Should Call It a Night, Sailor Down already have a distinct sound down as a unit on the record; its six songs pull together 90s Midwest emo, no-frills indie rock, and the more melancholic sides of twee and indie pop for a nostalgic, accessible, but hardly surface-level record. Maybe We Should Call It a Night is disproportionately full of memorable lyrics and lines for a small release; the writing in these songs feels drawn from imagined conversations and late-night pacing sessions, which makes the realizations and punchlines feel stumbled-upon and thus land even harder. (Read more)

5. Friends of Cesar Romero – Last Summer a Year from Now

Release date: June 13^thRecord label: Doomed Babe
Genre: Power pop, garage rock, pop punk
Formats: Digital

South Dakota’s J. Waylon Porcupine once again had a busy year releasing strong power pop and garage rock as Friends of Cesar Romero–the two song “More Like Norman Fucking Mailer” single deserves a mention, but Porcupine’s most substantial release of 2024 was the five-song, nine-minute Last Summer a Year from Now EP. Last Summer a Year from Now is Friends of Cesar Romero in the lightning round, with only one track breaking the two-minute mark, but every song on here is a reminder that this is one of the most consistently strong power pop projects going. It’s hook after hook after hook here, with even the token punk track (“Kinetic Threat”) getting its fair share in.

4. Mt. Worry – Die Happy

Release date: February 2^ndRecord label: Mountain of Worry
Genre: Shoegaze, fuzz rock, lo-fi indie rock, noise pop
Formats: Digital

Philadelphia-originating fuzz rock supergroup Mt. Worry have an impressive pedigree, but last year’s debut EP A Mountain of Fucking Worry developed a sound distinct from the members’ various other projects, one that fits in well with their city of origin’s shoegaze/noise pop scene. Now with its members evenly split between Philly and Chicago, Mt. Worry are thankfully still going strong, with Die Happy arriving almost exactly a year after their first EP. Die Happy is brief–it’s ten-minutes long, and features only four songs–but it’s incredibly strong nonetheless, retaining the loose, “anything goes” energy of the debut but while also feeling like the work of a more cohesive unit. Explosive power pop, lumbering fuzz rock, and mutant, heavily-distorted bedroom pop all work in tandem with each other here. (Read more)

3. Mister Data – Missing the Metaphor

Release date: September 13^thRecord label: Little Lifeforms
Genre: Folk rock, power pop, indie pop
Formats: CD, digital

Mister Data’s latest, a five-song EP called Missing the Metaphor, is a pretty big departure for the Houston group. Much of this can be chalked up to some major lineup changes since last year’s Pleasure in a Fast Void, including dropping down to a trio from a quintet. Missing the Metaphor is the sound of a band soldiering forward nonetheless, finding a new sound that emphasizes the songwriting and lyricism–and in the process, creating their strongest work yet. Intentionally or otherwise, Missing the Metaphor’s writing touches on stumbling forward uncertainly but bravely, dealing with the agony and ecstasy in trying to live for something–anything–bigger than one’s self. Missing the Metaphor is remarkable in its unflinching, cohesive cosmic ugliness, reaching for interstellar utopianism but still suffering from the indignity of life on Earth nonetheless. (Read more)

2. Mopar Stars – Burning Question

Release date: May 3^rdRecord label: Furo Bungy
Genre: Power pop, fuzz rock, alt-rock
Formats: Digital

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. The opening title track and “Severed Head” are two of the best power pop songs you’ll hear this year easily, and that’s not to diminish the rest of Burning Question either–the cranked-up rock and roll of the middle two tracks and the more sprawling final two songs ensure that we’re given Mopar Stars’ strongest single statement yet.

1. Wavers – Wavers

Release date: May 21^stRecord label: Musical Fanzine
Genre: 90s indie rock, fuzz rock, lo-fi indie rock, lo-fi pop
Formats: CD, cassette, digital

Wavers are a new Pacific Northwest quartet who proudly declare their love of Discount, J Church, and Versus on their Bandcamp page (with “any of the emo stuff that NUMERO GROUP has reissued” helpfully added on for those of you who aren’t familiar with those could’ve-been-canonical-indie-rock groups). Their first release is a self-titled cassette EP, which finds Wavers sketching out their sound–a little bit of emo, some 90s indie rock, lo-fi indie pop, and even a bit of punk attitude in between the cracks–in under ten minutes. There’s no cover or shelter of any kind on such a short release–every moment of the EP counts, and Wavers deliver nothing less than five massive, economical indie rock songs in it. I’ve got a very good feeling about this band–get on the Wavers train early with me right now, and thank me later. (Read more)

Honorable mentions: