New Playlist: May 2025

Hey folks! Below we have the May 2025 playlist here for you, featuring a bunch of great new music that’s either recently been featured on the blog or is appearing on the website for the first time. No matter what, everything here is quality and has that “Rosy Overdrive seal of approval”.

Labrador, Pacing, Friendship, The High Water Marks, and Now have two songs apiece on this playlist.

Here is where you can listen to the playlist on various streaming services: Spotify, Tidal (missing a song), BNDCMPR. 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.

“Dogs”, Cash Langdon
From Dogs (2025, Seasick/Well Kept Secret)

Some really solid stuff from Cash Langdon, Birmingham, Alabama’s finest purveyor of fuzzy alt-country rock with classic power pop sensibilities baked into the mix as well. “Dogs” is the title track to his latest album (which follows up 2022’s sublime Sinister Feeling), and what an introduction it is–nearly a minute of droning, clanging guitars and train horns, and another thirty seconds before Langdon’s voice jumps into the fray. In the wrong hands this could all be tedious, but there’s just enough of the ragged melodicism that marks the meat of “Dogs” to be found in this introduction to make it engaging and just the right amount of anticipatory.

“Changes”, Alien Boy
From You Wanna Fade? (2025, Get Better)

The people who love Alien Boy seem to really love Alien Boy. I can’t say that has ever described my relationship with the fuzzed-out Portland pop rock group, but their most recent album, You Wanna Fade?, is my favorite of theirs thus far, and songs like “Changes” certainly help me to understand their appeal. In some ways, “Changes” peaks right at the beginning–the reverb-y, dream poppy guitars and Sonia Weber’s earnest vocals kick things off before the full band kicks in to take us the rest of the way. Combine that with a few other admitted bangers (check out “Pictures of You”) and–well, while I’m not exactly on the Alien Boy train yet, I’m looking up routes and ticket prices.

“Dry Out in June”, Labrador
From My Version of Desire (2025, No Way of Knowing/Safe Suburban Home)

The latest album from Philadelphia alt-country concern Labrador, My Version of Desire, just casually has an all-time power pop song sitting pretty in the number two slot. Apparently  “Dry Out in June” has been kicking around for the better part of the decade, but Labrador finally fully realize it here–they turn frontperson Pat King’s frantic, fumbling reaches towards sobriety into maximum pop rock and roll gold with everybody on handclaps, Kris Hayes on squealing lead guitar, and Ther’s Heather Jones delivering a knockout massive keyboard hook (it’s, like, the midpoint between Jason Isbell and Perennial that I probably wouldn’t expect anyone other than Labrador to hit). Read more about My Version of Desire here.

“Nothing! (I Wanna Do)”, Pacing
From Pl*net F*tness (2025, Asian Man)

Another month, another great new Pacing single. “Nothing! (I Wanna Do)” was released (alongside another good one called “Uno!”) as part of the official announcement for the group’s Asian Man Records debut album, PL*NET F*TNESS, and it continues Katie McTigue and company’s ascent into a more polished and full-band-focused sound. It’s not as much of a blunt-force punch of the album’s first single and title track, but “Nothing! (I Wanna Do)” (a “classic upbeat depression banger” according to McTigue) might actually be the catchier one. That’s Pacing’s version of a surf rock riff at the start of the song, and the pounding, brisk drum machine keeps McTigue hurrying along in her vocals even as the song trudges through (or perhaps revels in) monotony. 

“Things I Do”, Pretty Rude
From Ripe (2025, SideOneDummy)

James Palko and Matt Cook are Pretty Rude, a new duo from New York who embrace power pop and catchy radio-ready alt-rock quite readily on their first album. Fuzzed-out power chords and hooky riffs, suave vocals, and even some classic rock guitar heroics mark Ripe, a record that, at its most immediate, is right up there with Supercrush and The Trend in terms of modern Weezer-inspired giant power pop. Sometimes their version of catchy rock music is limber and targeted, other times it’s a wall of sound that leans on some of Pretty Rude’s less “punk” influences, but Ripe establishes its own language soon enough. “Things I Do” comes cruising into the picture in the track number two slot, and its windows-down collapsing euphoria harbors what’s actually the sneakily best hook on Ripe (not that there isn’t quite a bit of competition). Read more about Ripe here.

“Nothing”, First Rodeo
From Rode Hard and Put Away Wet (2025, Bud Tapes)

Their new label Bud Tapes boasts that alt-country duo First Rodeo have “moved beyond genre constraints to explore collaborative songwriting and arranging” on their second album, Rode Hard and Put Away Wet–I’m not entirely sure what they mean by that, but there’s a song on this album where they’re basically rapping, so I can see from where they’re coming. “Nothing” is that song, coming out of nowhere with drum loops, “Steal My Sunshine”-esque guitars, and sung-spoken (very nearly rapped) vocals from Nathan Tucker and Tim Howe. It took me a bit of time to adjust to it, but I’m fairly certain that this nearly six-minute journey is a masterpiece and exactly what First Rodeo should be doing (in particular, the switch from Howe narrating the later verses to Tucker singing the hook is very inspired). Read more about Rode Hard and Put Away Wet here.

“Left That Party”, Grant Pavol
From Left That Party (2025, Sonder House)

January’s College was a foray into stripped-down, quiet folk music featuring viola from Sloppy Jane’s Isabella Bustanoby, but Left That Party–Grant Pavol’s second EP out of four planned ones for 2025–switches gears towards power pop and the hooky side of guitar-driven indie rock. The title track is worth the price of admission alone–Pavol and his rhythm section announce their new sound with fuzzed-out guitars, surf-rock backing vocals, handclaps, and a tractor trailer truck of a melody and hook. Pavol’s tale of an unfortunate night out (with the song’s title referring to what he should’ve done, with you) is the one that really earns the Tony Molina and Weezer references in the record’s bio, and Pavol does the power pop balancing act as a frontperson who’s in shit-eating-grin, out-of-his-depth mode thematically but suavely in command of the tight pop song at the same time. Read more about Left That Party here.

“Similar”, Push Puppets
From Tethered Together (2025, Flowering Tree)

I really like this one, and I’m not entirely sure why. Push Puppets are a group from Chicago, and frontperson Erich Specht says that their latest album, Tethered Together, takes inspiration from “the artistic excesses of the 70s”. “Similar” certainly does that–it sounds huge, an expansive orchestral indie-power-pop type thing with a killer refrain that the band don’t overuse. I think that Specht’s unusual writing is what makes this one so memorable–it’s not that strange for a songwriter to write about “universal connections”, but to turn the phrase “We’re similar / But not the same” into a huge anthemic refrain? There’s something weirdly religious about “Similar”, and Specht is always gesturing at something that he’s sure we’ll understand but I’m not sure we do (at least, not in a literal sense). 

“Tree of Heaven”, Friendship
From Caveman Wakes Up (2025, Merge)

The more “anthemic”, immediately-gripping songs of 2022’s Love the Stranger are gone on Caveman Wakes Up, the latest album from Philadelphia supergroup Friendship–they’ve been replaced with ambient, vibes-based music, and the skills of Peter Gill, Jon Samuels, and Michael Cormier-O’Leary are put to a different kind of use. I’m not sure if Friendship ever quite “get it together” on Caveman Wakes Up, but there’s some livelier moments that do a little more damage on first glance–“Tree of Heaven” is one of those, relying on a pained, worried guitar riff and clipped lyrics from frontperson Dan Wriggins, daring to look backwards for seconds at a time before coming up for air (“You know you changed me, babe” sums it all up). The hardiness of the titular tree has made it both the bane of countless arborists and landscapers as well as inspiring A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; like the memories hovering in the song, it’s a blessing and a curse. Read more about Caveman Wakes Up here.

“Peonies”, Rodeo Boys
From Junior (2025, Don Giovanni)

Coming not so long after their debut album, 2023’s Home Movies, Junior is the classic leveling-up sophomore LP–Rodeo Boys enlisted The Menzingers’ Tom May to record it, and it’s hard to argue with what the Midwestern punks put to tape with him. Junior balances “polished” with “ragged”–frontperson Tiff Hannay’s impactful vocals (they’re always “giving their all” in that department) collide with huge-sounding, shined-up guitars, initiating some sort of chemical reaction the final product of which is a forty-minute cathartic punk rock record. My favorite track on the album, “Peonies”, kicks itself off with just Hannay delivering a dark and huge melody over electric guitar chords, which is a big “hell yes” moment in my book–and the rest of the song lives up to that exciting beginning. Read more about Junior here.

“The Works”, The High Water Marks
From Consult the Oracle (2025, Meritorio)

Consult the Oracle is business as usual at this point–a dozen indie power pop songs recalling both co-leader Hilarie Sidney’s previous band (The Apples in Stereo) and early High Water Marks material completed in a little over half an hour, featuring cameos from notable names like Rebecca Cole (Wild Flag, Pavement, The Minders) and Jennifer Baron (The Ladybug Transistor, The Garment District), among others. I don’t take Consult the Oracle for granted, though. After all, how could I do such a thing with an album that has highs as high as “The Works”, which is an absolute masterclass in the usage of power pop guitar riffs and handclaps? Read more about Consult the Oracle here.

“Grey to Green”, Strange Devotion
From A Demonstration of Devotion (2025, Fabulous Things)

The debut EP from London’s Strange Devotion is a well-informed and trickily-difficult-to-categorize record; there’s certainly a post-punk and even goth darkness hovering over these four songs, but it’s still a guitar-led experience and the six-strings feel equally informed by jangle pop and C86-associated indie pop as by these greyer areas. The single most thrilling moment on A Demonstration of Devotion for me is the beginning of the second song, “Grey to Green”–out of nowhere, Strange Devotion begin to sound like a classic Flying Nun/Dunedin Sound guitar pop group, the guitars running in a melodic circle and the synths taking on a Clean-like organ quality. “Grey to Green” resolves back into synth-y post-punk eventually, but the jangly catchiness is still there. Read more about A Demonstration of Devotion here.

“Stop Lion 2”, Mourning [A] BLKstar featuring Lee Bains III
From Flowers for the Living (2025, Don Giovanni)

Seven-piece Cleveland “Afrofuturist collective” Mourning [A] BLKstar are a little more sprawling and slow-moving on the forty-five minute Flowers for the Living than on their last LP. “Stop Lion 2” is, on its surface, quite simple, but the first song on Flowers for the Living is (perhaps appropriately) hard to categorize. There’s a drum machine beat, gospel ambience, funk bass, and piercing trumpet–it’s not particularly busy, but it doesn’t slot neatly into any of the boxes evoked by those pieces. Oh, and there’s guest vocals from Lee Bains III of the great southern rock group Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires (who’ve toured with Mourning [A] BLKstar and share a label with them); the southern rocker really pushes his vocals to fit in on the track, but something tells me that he didn’t have to try that hard given his background. Read more about Flowers for the Living here.

“Circles”, Artificial Go
From Musical Chairs (2025, Feel It)

Musical Chairs recalls plenty of offbeat, strange guitar pop artists of previous decades, from Flying Nun Records in New Zealand to The Raincoats in England to the general vibe of Athens, Georgia in the early 1980s. Angie Willcutt, Artificial Go’s vocalist and lyricist, is pretty clearly one of a kind–not content to simply compliment the tuneful instrumentals that the trio whip up, her cutting remarks, non-sequiturs, and frequently…unique delivery are the defining features of Musical Chairs. That isn’t to denigrate the rest of the band–her performances would be wasted without the talents of a group that can turn “Circles” into fluffy, bounding jangly indie pop (the way Willcutt says various dog breeds in the verses is the first thing that stuck with me in this one, but that chorus is the real gem of the song). Read more about Musical Chairs here.

“Rat Man”, Festiva
From Everything in Moderation (2025, Repeating Cloud)

A few members of Portland, Maine’s Festiva have played in Rory Strong’s band, and the most recent Festiva album, Everything in Moderation, might be the missing link between the emo-punk-tinged songwriting of Rory Strong and the guitar pop that more frequently characterizes their label Repeating Cloud’s roster. Carter Arena-Bruce is certainly an interesting writer, but the punchy garage rock instrumentals ensure that the vocals and lyrics don’t have to carry the entire record anyway. The trio clean up their sound just enough on “Rat Man” to pull off something a little dynamic and post-punk-influenced–there’s, like, fucked up Elvis Costello and surf rock in this one. It’s definitely a highlight. Read more about Everything in Moderation here.

“The Ballad of Joy Bang”, Now
From Now Does the Trick (2025, K/Perennial)

The second album from the difficultly-named Bay Area trio Now and their debut for their new label is called Now Does the Trick, and it’s a different beast than their debut but no less strong of an LP. The psychedelic, kraut-y mud of 2023’s And Blue Space Is Burning Noon is turned down and the jangle pop guitars and hooks are turned up–Now sounds like they’re aiming for the little big-time here, hitting the same highs as their now-labelmates Sharp Pins and The Smashing Times. Plenty of these hits are right up front–the lurching acoustic guitar and pop rock charms of “The Ballad of Joy Bang” are quite exuberant, serving as the perfect opener for the next chapter of Now. Read more about Now Does the Trick here.

“It’s Been a Landline Kind of Winter”, Hamlet
From Light Under Repair (2025, Subjangle)

Hamlet’s Chris Wales emailed me his latest EP and mentioned that he found my blog through my writing about lo-fi power pop group Mythical Motors; judging from Light Under Repair, that seems about right. Wales leads a trio from Cincinnati (if you doubt their southern Ohio credentials, let me tell you that Kate Wakefield from Lung plays cello on a song on their new record and Wales plays in a Guided by Voices tribute band) with jangle pop and power pop coursing through its veins; my favorite song from Light Under Repair is “It’s Been a Landline Kind of Winter”, which lets the choppy power chords lead the way in the verses and brings bright “jangle pop” guitars in the refrain (sample lyric: “It’s been a four-track kind of winter / My drum machine lost one arm”).

“Disney Girls”, Kilynn Lunsford
From Promiscuous Genes (2025, Feel It)

Promiscuous Genes is on the more oddball side of the Feel It Records spectrum, choosing to roll with a rank mix of skronky no wave, primordial funk crawling, creepy spoken-word, unusual synth odysseys, rhythmic art punk, and, well, more. Promiscuous Genes is hardly the kind of record that those looking for catchy, pop-fluent rock music would gravitate towards, but those willing to listen in on what Kilynn Lunsford (with the help of longtime collaborator Donald Bruno) is attempting to communicate will find something striking nonetheless. I have chosen Lunsford’s version of “Disney Girls” by The Beach Boys for this playlist, and how could I not–the two of them turn the piano ballad into a nervous post-punk toe-tapper featuring prominent use of some kind of referee whistle. Read more about Promiscuous Genes here.

“Unpopular Parts of a Pig”, Mclusky
From The World Is Still Here and So Are We (2025, Ipecac)

Well, yeah, of course I love Mclusky Do Dallas (The Difference Between Me and You Is That I’m Not on Fire might actually be slightly better, but we’re not here to have this conversation today). I don’t subscribe to the train of thought that reunion albums are a serious threat to a “band’s legacy”, but I do find myself susceptible to the idea of unrealistic expectations and subsequent disappointment. This is all to say–I did my best to approach the first Mclusky album in over twenty years, The World Is Still Here and So Are We, on its own terms and not try to expect another Do Dallas. “Unpopular Parts of a Pig”, the opening track on the album, is a really great garage rock song that kind of sounds like Mclusky but doesn’t sound like a band trying too hard to retrace their steps. It’s still all kind of fucked, of course.

“Wilt”, Press Club
From To All the Ones That I Love (2025)

New to me, Press Club are a Melbourne-based quartet (vocalist Natalie Foster, guitarist Greg Rietwyk, bassist Iain Macrae, and drummer Frank Lees) who’ve toured their home country and Europe extensively and have just put out their fourth album, To All the Ones That I Love. I’ve seen Press Club referred to as a “punk band”, and maybe they were at first, but To All the Ones That I Love is something different–heart-on-sleeve, wide-open, power pop, heartland rock, Big Indie, “The Beths-core”, whatever you want to call it. “Wilt”, my favorite song on the album, just flat-out rules–it’s sparkling, soaring, ambitious guitar pop with a chorus that goes for it and lands it.

“1997, the End or the Beginning”, Thanks for Coming
From The IRS No Longer Has My Address, and Neither Do I (2025)

I don’t care anymore. I’m fully and loudly proclaiming that Thanks for Coming is my favorite Rachel Brown project. I’m aware that I might be alone in preferring them over indie darlings Water from Your Eyes (I don’t even think Brown themself would agree with me), but there’s just something to Brown’s less-frequent-these-days but always-welcome missives in the form of quick, earnest, and typically oddly catchy bedroom pop. A new EP entitled The IRS No Longer Has My Address, and Neither Do I was a nice surprise, and my favorite track on it, “1997, the End or the Beginning” needs little more than some frantically-strummed guitar, Brown backing themself on vocals, and some well-timed angst to work. 

“Super Dilla Cancer Killah”, Alex Orange Drink
From Victory Lap (#23) (2025, Million Stars)

Alex Zarou Levine didn’t choose to pigeonhole himself as the punk rock musician who writes about his experiences living with and battling various medical ailments; he’s just attempting to live his life, I think. 2021’s Everything Is Broken, Maybe That’s O.K. is about Levine’s long-term metabolic genetic disorder homocystinuria, and this year’s Victory Lap (#23) came about after the So So Glos frontperson was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma and subsequently went through intense chemotherapy and radiation treatments. As it happens, Levine’s stepmother was also being treated for cancer at the same time, and this leads to my favorite moment on the record, “Super Dilla Cancer Killah”. I didn’t quite understand this song until I did a bit more research; Levine writes that he was listening to 90s gangster rap while undergoing treatment and that “Super Dilla Cancer Killah” conveys the necessary defiant optimism in an “almost cartoon-like fashion”; his stepmother, Sadhis Rivas, sings the chorus with Levine and the outro in her native Spanish. 

“Mist (Surrounds Me)”, Living Dream
From Absolute Devotion (2025, Inscrutable)

Living Dream are keeping the dream of hazy, dreamy guitar pop alive in none other than Indianapolis, Indiana. While their peers in Good Flying Birds got a bit of attention at the beginning of this year, Living Dream seems determined to continue to fly under the radar with their psychedelic, murky take on jangle pop, as heard on their brand-new EP Absolute Devotion. And yet, “Mist (Surrounds Me)” is an undeniable pop song, and I think you all should hear it. The mysterious group honestly might even be a little more accessible here than on their 2023 self-titled debut album (which snuck onto my year-end list and has only risen in my esteem since), so now’s a great time to get on board the Living Dream train. 

“Resident Evil”, Friendship
From Caveman Wakes Up (2025, Merge)

Half of Caveman Wakes Up feels like it could be the “climax” of the album, and “Resident Evil” is one of the strongest contenders. It’s a raw one, and it takes a while to really boot up. Dan Wriggins is “on one” from the start, of course, but it’s not until the ninety-second mark when he exclaims “Some shithead in my room / Playing Resident Evil,” with all his strength that the song really makes it mark. Your mileage may vary on that line, I suppose–I think it’s brilliant in three or four different ways, and adds a bit of surrealism to the otherwise fairly brutal self-excoriation. Read more about Caveman Wakes Up here.

“Company’s Eyes”, Ryan Allen
From Livin’ on a Prayer on the Edge (2025, Setterwind)

Longtime Michigan indie rocker Ryan Allen played and recorded almost everything on Livin’ on a Prayer on the Edge himself, and he calls it a record for “that 15-year-old kid inside of me”–formative alt-rock groups like Guided by Voices, Dinosaur Jr., and Swervedriver are mentioned as influences. Livin’ on a Prayer on the Edge is above all else a power pop album, and the names that come to mind are the ones who’ve made great records in this field–Matthew Sweet, Teenage Fanclub, Tommy Keene, Fountains of Wayne, Daniel Romano. Livin’ on a Prayer on the Edge has its share of gorgeous jangle pop, and “Company’s Eyes” is perhaps the best example of it. The instrumental is soaring, and the awkward corporate preoccupations (the title is preceded by “fail in the” when it appears in the chorus) really remind me of the aforementioned Fountains of Wayne. Read more about Livin’ on a Prayer on the Edge here.

“Better Life”, My Raining Stars
From Momentum (2025, Shelflife/Too Good To Be True)

Another new record from a longtime indie pop musician, eh? Well, let’s see what My Raining Stars (the nearly three-decade-old solo project from Thierry Haliniak, formerly of Nothing to Be Done) has to offer on their latest album, Momentum. Haliniak claims by equally influenced by Creation Records and Sarah Records; my favorite song on it, “Better Life”, hews towards the former. It’s got a nice beat to it and a psychedelic streak; it’s not exactly full-on Madchester/“alternative dance”, but it’s certainly close enough for me. 

“Sunny <3”, Pacing
From Hatemail (2022)

I’m throwing an old Pacing song on this playlist, too, because 1) I didn’t know Pacing when Hatemail came out and so I didn’t write about it then and 2) I got to see Pacing live recently and it was great (they were opening for Cheekface, who were also great) and they played this one. “Sunny <3” is a Pacing classic and certainly holds its own against the really great records that have followed since Hatemail came out; the anxiety, jealous, “fomo”, and obsession that shade Katie McTigue’s writing are all well-worn subjects for Pacing songs by now, but the bursting, floating refrain is evidence that Pacing, from the beginning, had designs greater than the lo-fi bedroom anti-folk sound they’re often reduced to in descriptions.

“Follow You Where You’re Talking”, Coffin Prick
From Loose Enchantment (2025, Temporal Drift)

Receiving help from members of Tuxedomoon, Tortoise, and LA Takedown (among others), the latest release from Ryan Weinstein’s shapeshifting Coffin Prick project is a slinky, wobbly, dubby collection of Los Angeles art rock and post-punk. Often danceable but rarely forthright about it, Loose Enchantment is a record that believes that having fun should be complicated. From the brightly-colored guitars that start off the album, it’s hard to tell where, exactly, Coffin Prick are going with all of this, but the rest of “Follow You Where You’re Talking” resolves this noise into a minimal post-punk bass riff and welcomes us to the Loose Enchantment show with a propulsive, low-end-led dance-punk introduction. Read more about Loose Enchantment here.

“Burn Me”, Salt
From The Books Are Blue (2025, ERASED! Tapes)

A demo version of “Burn Me” by Salt was featured on the True Names Trans Youth Emergency Project compilation that I wrote about last month; I didn’t talk about it at the time (in fairness, there were a lot of good songs to talk about on that one), but the studio version is out now (as part of a whole new Salt album, in fact!) and so we are hearing “Burn Me” as it was meant to be heard. The now Queens-based Salt goes way back in the world of lo-fi Philadelphia indie rock (they put out music on Sleeper Records alongside early stuff from Friendship, 2nd Grade, and Joey Nebulous) and it’s nice to get a new release from them; “Burn Me” has that mid-2010s kind of greyscale bedroom pop sound, the charms subtle but still very there.

“Casual Cruelty”, SAVAK
From SQUAWK! (2025, Peculiar Works/Ernest Jenning)

A tight ten songs and thirty-five minutes, SQUAWK! finds the longtime indie rock veterans of SAVAK continuing to hammer out their by-now quite recognizable style of college rock, post-punk, and garage rock–tough but polished, familiar but surprising, catchy as ever. If SQUAWK! is on the whole a little bit trickier and thornier than their last couple of records, it’s not apparent from upbeat, rollicking highlights like “Casual Cruelty”, whose propulsive garage-y power pop might actually be the biggest “hit” on it. Read more about SQUAWK! here.

“Princess Road Surgery”, Alan Sparhawk & Trampled by Turtles
From Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles (2025, Sub Pop)

Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles is as tough of a listen as anyone familiar with the tragedy experienced by the former of the two artists would expect. An unlikely but ultimately very fitting team-up between two of Duluth’s most prominent acts, this album ends up synthesizing the glacial-paced, beautiful slowcore of the early work of Sparhawk’s Low and the more traditional folk music of Trampled by Turtles. “Princess Road Surgery” is, relatively speaking, one of the liveliest songs on the album–apparently it’s over a decade old, and Sparhawk had co-written it and played it in concert with his late wife and bandmate Mimi Parker in Low. It’s still heartbreaking, intentionally or otherwise (“So much for saving the world / I thought you’d make it for sure / Too much for one little girl”), and Trampled by Turtles’ unself-conscious folk dressings combined with Sparhawk’s strong voice helps it all kind of remind me of Richard Dawson, of all people.

“Pretty Eyes Lorraine”, Florry
From Sounds Like… (2025, Dear Life)

Florry bandleader Francie Medosch has recently moved from Philadelphia to Burlington, Vermont, but thankfully the band (whose members are already spread out between Pennsylvania and North Carolina) are still going strong and met up in Asheville to record Sounds Like… with Colin Miller. Medosch is a smart songwriter and lyricist, but Florry separate themselves from the alt-country pack by emphasizing the group jamming around their wise and trusting bandleader. Even when the music of Sounds Like… veers away from showiness, it’s still key in its success–see highlight “Pretty Eyes Lorraine”, where the band dial up a 70s-style pop rock sound that really goes well with Medosch’s (more emphasized than on most of the rest of the record) vocals. Read more about Sounds Like… here.

“FUA”, The Mary Column
From Very Sparrow (2025, Errol’s Hot Wax)

A jangle pop song called “Fuck You All”, huh? That’s got my attention. Jack Mellin played in the Glasgow indie pop group Spinning Coin in the late 2010s, and while I’m not sure if that band is defunct now, Mellin has gone ahead with a project called The Mary Column (which I initially thought was a new band but appears to actually predate Spinning Coin). Three-fourths of Spinning Coin contribute to Very Sparrow, a record that explores guitar pop both simple and streamlined and noisy and busy. “FUA” probably sports the best hook of the entire album–it’s simple and triumphant, conjuring up early Flying Nun-era noise pop in its blasts of tuneful noise. “Fuck you all / You’re all creeps / And you make my skin crawl / … / What’s it called / When all the creeps / Control the whole world?”–Mellin could be talking about any number of things here, but the fire these creeps have lit under The Mary Column burns all the brighter for it.

“People Like You and Me”, Labrador
From My Version of Desire (2025, No Way of Knowing/Safe Suburban Home)

Labrador bandleader Pat King has always been a vocal supporter of music far beyond his alt-country pigeonhole, and while I can’t say that, for instance, his love of metal is reflected in My Version of Desire, plenty of other threads are–power pop and college rock, certainly, as well as classic rock and 60s pop and soul and Roy Orbison (and so on). You’ll find laid-back AOR and soulful guitar pop on My Version of Desire, but Labrador are still plenty capable of knocking out streamlined pop rock–see first-half highlight “People Like You And Me”, whose simplicity has its own breezy charms, too (the first lines: “People like you and me / Will never smash guitars on stage”). Read more about My Version of Desire here.

“(My Girl’s a) Hologram”, The Rabies
From Dumb It Down (2025, Presidential/Bolt)

Dumb It Down is the first-ever Rabies full-length album, some forty years in the making–their initial incarnation ended in the early 1980s with only a single and an EP to their name, but the New York power pop/punk quartet reformed at the beginning of this decade. A new recording of that debut single, “(My Girl’s a) Hologram”, opens the album, and it’s easy to hear how this one (via a re-pressing) kickstarted the modern Rabies revival–it’s awesome Ramones-y surf-punk that plenty of new bands still love to make, and thematically it remains wildly relevant today (perhaps even more so, weirdly enough). Read more about Dumb It Down here.

“Noise”, Forty Winks
From Love Is a Dog from Hell (2025, Crafted Sounds)

Based off of their debut EP, Love Is a Dog from Hell, I certainly can see why Crafted Sounds refers to their latest signee, Forty Winks, as “riff evangelists” and “zoomer rock”–they fall somewhere in between textured, shoegaze-originating experimentation and fuzzed-out rock and roll, eagerly mixing chaotic noise, roaring guitars, and pop hooks together in a brief but memorable package. “Noise”, an advance single and quite possibly the best pop song on the EP, is saved for last–it comes to save the day with a huge noise-pop (no pun intended) conclusion. Punchy and fuzzed-out and delivering the goods in a straightforward way that Forty Winks hadn’t quite hinted at up until now on their debut EP, “Noise” is another reason to keep this band on our collective radar. Read more about Love Is a Dog from Hell here.

“I Just Want You (To Show Me How)”, Daphne’s Demise
From The Heart Is a Garden (2025, Orange Horse/Perpetual Doom)

The latest pickup from cult cosmic country record label Perpetual Doom is a low-key but quality addition to their roster. Zoë S-Bouffard has been making dreamy, folky indie rock from Sarnia, Ontario as Daphne’s Demise since the beginning of this decade, but their latest EP, The Heart Is a Garden, showcases how the project has grown into sporting “a rotating cast of collaborators and a full-band studio sound”. My favorite song on The Heart Is a Garden, “I Just Want You (To Show Me How)”, certainly doesn’t suffer from too many cooks or too much polish–somewhere between vintage, jangly dream pop and the laid-back side of Yo La Tengo, “I Just Want You (To Show Me How)” is gorgeous, plain and simple, and a stark display of S-Bouffard’s talents.

“1 Way to Go”, Now
From Now Does the Trick (2025, K/Perennial)

Now Does the Trick is a jangle/power pop album made by a bunch of weirdos, and the second half of the record in particular feels like it has its third eye on occasional lookout. That being said, Now are still good for no-strings-attached punchy power pop anthems even in the thick of their increasingly-recognizable “Now mire”; “1 Way to Go”, the penultimate song on the record, certainly does the trick. Vocalist and guitarist Will Smith really does continue to remind me of a young Scott Miller on songs like this, and the eager, sloppy, but always held-together instrumental of the song brings an unvarnished kind of excitement often missing from vintage-looking indie rock bands. Read more about Now Does the Trick here.

“Consult the Oracle”, The High Water Marks
From Consult the Oracle (2025, Meritorio)

In between the louder moments of Consult the Oracle are the songs that give the album its personality, the ones that make it a distinct entity from stuff like 2023’s fuzz-hook-fest Your Next Wolf. The title track certainly qualifies as one of these–it’s one of the catchiest songs on Consult the Oracle, yes, but instead of barreling right out of the gate, it builds a bit to its fuzz-pop refrain. The whole song is a lovely piece of twee pop featuring co-bandleaders Per Ole Bratset and Hilarie Sidney trading off lead vocals, an almost nursery-rhyme-like verse melody skipping lightly into the distorted guitars and nonetheless-still-saccharine melodies in the chorus. Read more about Consult the Oracle here.

“Multitap”, Captain Frederickson
From Introverts Unite (2025)

“I have a Multitap, but I don’t have multi-friends”–Jesus, that might be the saddest lyric I’ve heard this year. It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on the Buffalo-based noise rock/post-punk/drum-machine-hop duo Captain Frederickson (one of the first bands I ever wrote about on this blog), but they’re in rare form on Introverts Unite, pushing lo-fi, abrasive noise pop rock songs about topics including the Dyson Airblade, the mental health costs of driving a minivan, and extreme hoarding. I wouldn’t call Introverts Unite a concept album, but “Multitap” is perhaps the other side of the coin of the album’s introvert-call-to-arms title track; Captain Frederickson reach into their bag of tricks and pull out some mournful British jangly indie pop to maximize the emotional heft of “Multitap”, in which its narrator realizes that the titular contraption for playing video games with others will “sit and rust” on a shelf, unused forever.