Hey there, welcome to the first Pressing Concerns of the week! It’s a big one; we have a new album that’s actually four albums by Hallelujah the Hills, a compilation of early Australian post-punk music from Chapter Music, and new LPs from Idiot Mambo and Drunken Prayer. This should keep you busy!
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.
Hallelujah the Hills – DECK
Release date: June 13th
Record label: Best Brother/Discrete Pageantry
Genre: 2000s indie rock, folk rock, heartland rock
Formats: Vinyl (Diamonds only), playing cards, digital
Pull Track: Burn This Atlas Down
Boston’s Hallelujah the Hills have been a stalwart “if you know, you know” indie rock band for twenty years now. They burst onto the scene in the 2000s with a 90s-style lo-fi, quick-hook attitude combined with a largess and sincerity from a different world entirely, and their career has been marked by a focused consistency ever since, from their 2007 breakout record Collective Psychosis Begone to 2019’s I’m You, their most recent LP up until now. The Ryan H. Walsh-led band has spent the 2020s working on a project called DECK: four albums, fifty-two songs (and two “jokers” as bonus tracks), with every track corresponding to a card in a traditional deck of playing cards (with an actual deck designed by Walsh available for purchase with the albums). Stephin Merritt must be furious he didn’t come up with this one! Six years is a bit of time to go between releases, but when one considers the heft of DECK (I’m actually trying to condense four full albums into one of these capsules), it’s not so long at all–especially when one considers that Hallelujah the Hills seem to have taken great care not to shortchange any card. Every single song feels fully developed, the band doing their damndest avoiding anything that could get tagged as filler (a frequent occurrence in sprawling projects like these, and something I’ve come to accept as a byproduct of this kind of ambition).
DECK is a pure reflection of what I interpret as the Hallelujah the Hills ethos–it’s highly collaborative (guests include Craig Finn, John Vanderslice, Lydia Loveless, Titus Andronicus, and plenty more), it’s incredibly earnest and adventurous in both its writing and arrangement, it’s dream-like despite a very grounded execution from the players. When I’ve been listening to it, I’ve been taking it in as one large statement, so (with a couple exceptions) the individual albums don’t have different “feels” to me, and every one of them has a claim to be the best collection here. Clubs has “Burn This Atlas Down”, a surging melancholic-rocker that does its best to live up to the “featuring Craig Finn” tag (it does) and the strange psychedelic chant-banging of “I’m Your Meteorite”; on Diamonds, the acidic “Joke’s on You”, the Cassie Berman-featuring heart-beating “Fake Flowers at Sunset”, and the classically Hallelujah the Hills metatext “This Is a Song” stick out; over on Hearts, we’ve greeted with a more subdued feel, but that doesn’t stop “The Night Machine”, “Something Great”, and “Scream into the Void” from being as rich as anything on this collection. I kind of hinted at it earlier, but Spades is kind of the sore thumb of the set to me; it’s a lot looser and offbeat, allowing oddities like “The World Is Not What You Think It Is”, “No One Remembers Their Names”, and “I Did My Own Stunts” (featuring none other than Clint Conley on vocals) to creep into the until-now fairly buttoned-up project. Even on Spades, though, “A Lot of Super Weird Stuff Went Down Before I Met You” and “Places, Everybody” are titans of the Deck. I’m necessarily leaving out a lot of stuff here, but scratching the surface ought to be enough for you to want to flip over a couple more cards from the Deck. (Bandcamp link)
Various – Can’t Stop It! Australian Post-Punk 1978-82 (Deluxe Edition)
Release date: June 6th
Record label: Chapter Music
Genre: Post-punk, garage punk, art punk, synthpunk
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Help
Not only has Chapter Music has been documenting Australian independent music in several forms for more than thirty years now, but the Perth-originating, Melbourne-based record label has devoted a significant amount of resources to reissuing material that came before its inception, as well. For instance, one of their most notable releases was a 2001 compilation CD called Can’t Stop It! Australian Post-Punk 1978-82, a collection that did everything its title purported it to do, and then some. The CD did well enough to get a second pressing and even a sequel compilation, but it had never been released on vinyl until now–this newly-issued “deluxe edition” puts Can’t Stop It on four sides of vinyl for the first time and it piles on six bonus tracks that add to the Australian post-punk story that Chapter’s clearly intent on telling. “Post-punk” is at its best when it’s a wide-ranging term for a host of good, boundary-pushing rock music, and Australia must’ve gotten this memo–this compilation ranges from sparkling indie pop, bizarre synth experiments, fiery garage-y rock, rhythmic “art punk”, and everything in between (sometimes more than one in a single track!).
Between classic guitar pop heroes The Apartments’ contribution “Help” and the dreamy, jangly folk-pop of The Particles’ “Apricot’s Dream”, Can’t Stop It! makes a strong case that the story of the catchier side of early indie rock doesn’t end with Flying Nun Records in nearby New Zealand or C86 in the United Kingdom. These are the most effortlessly “pop” songs, but hardly the only ones–Ash Wednesday, Ron Rude, and The Fabulous Marquises are just a few of the acts featured on Can’t Stop It! to seek to smash pop hooks together with then-novel synthetic instrumentation and “lo-fi” recording. “Post-punk” purists will have plenty to enjoy on this compilation, too–the eerie, primitive “Summer” by The Take is all spoken vocals and prominent bass guitar, Xero’s “The Girls” is nice and elastic in its structure, and The Limp’s “Pony Club” attempts to join the nascent goth movement with synths and horses. “We Can Do” by Wild West adds some Pere Ubu-style buzzsaw sounds over top of a punk-ish garage rock song, and the horn-punched-up “One Note Song” by a band called “→↑→” is exactly what its name suggests. The “bonus tracks” are certainly worthy additions, and they also help Can’t Stop It! expand its range even wider–among my favorites of these new-old songs are “Knots” by *****,*****, a screaming Aussie garage punk track that could come out for the first time in 2025 and fit right in, the Siouxsie-ish dark pop “Garden of Uluru” from Electric Fans, and the six-minute “The Path” from The Plants, a gigantic Comsat Angels/The Sound kind of thing that’s a great closing track. All in all, this time capsule’s well-worth digging up another time. (Bandcamp link)
Idiot Mambo – Shoot the Star
Release date: May 30th
Record label: Strange Mono
Genre: Folk-pop, power pop, indie pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Lockjaw
It is time for all of us to do the Idiot Mambo. There’s a married couple from Philadelphia named Benji Davis and Leah G. who’ve been doing said mambo for a couple of years (at least) now–they linked up with Strange Mono Records to introduce the Idiot Mambo to the wider world in 2023 with their debut album, Flamingo in Limbo, a strange and bright collection of fractured new wave and lo-fi bedroom pop. After a self-released EP called Last Summer that came out last year, Idiot Mambo are back with Strange Mono for their sophomore album, Shoot the Star, which is their most ambitious and best release yet. The band’s core duo sought and received more outside help on this one than ever before–Jared Brey is on bass for these songs, Dan Angel (who’s been involved with a lot of Strange Mono and adjacent acts including Bungler, Luna Honey, and Webb Chapel) recorded it and played drums, and Strange Mono labelhead Dan Timlin gets in on the action by contributing percussion and pedal steel. Idiot Mambo lose none of their vibrancy by adopting a higher level of production, and Shoot the Star only enhances their skewed indie pop music–indeed, it only helps Davis and Leah G. bring the attitude of They Might Be Giants, Sparks, and the more pop side of Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 to the world of modern-day Philadelphia guitar pop.
The addition of a full band doesn’t result in any bloating from Idiot Mambo–in fact, the ten songs of Shoot the Star, at a clean 22 minutes, are a significantly shorter trip than Flamingo in Limbo was. It’s plenty of time for Idiot Mambo to present their ideas fully, though–surreal yet crystal-clear power pop songs like “Lockjaw” and “Lightbulbs” both only need two minutes (if that) to firmly lodge their way into one’s head. Shoot the Star is limber enough to easily swing down towards the worlds of breezy folk rock and minimal country balladry with “Tailchase” and “Deathdriver”, respectively–they’re streamlined in this setup, but it’s no less polished and pop-focused than some of the more developed songs like the new wave-y riff rock of “Pillowcase” (just trust me on this one, it rocks) and the somewhat hazy synth-y indie pop of “R U Dumb”. It’s one of the most “immediate” records I’ve heard from the frequently experimental-leaning Strange Mono’s discography thus far, but there’s a studied, “pop music as art” approach to Idiot Mambo’s work that makes it make some sense in the context of their label’s roster. Not that any hints or whispers of a dreaded “high-concept” version of indie pop music impact Shoot the Star’s technicolor core, though. (Bandcamp link)
Drunken Prayer – Thy Burdens
Release date: June 6th
Record label: Dial Back Sound
Genre: Gospel, country, soul, southern rock
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages
Really, this is quite good. I can tell you’re a bit hesitant looking at that “gospel” genre tag and the tracklist full of songs proclaiming the glory of the Lord. Maybe you weren’t raised in the Church and the idea of “gospel music” is foreign to you. Maybe you were raised in the Church and are hesitant to go back in the building you worked so hard to escape. Maybe you’re a sinner in the eyes of the Church (okay, you’re reading Rosy Overdrive, so you’re definitely a sinner in the eyes of the Church). Morgan Geer–the Asheville musician who goes by Drunken Prayer–surely knows all of this, and, with Thy Burdens, he’s attempted to make a gospel record for all of us. Geer conceived the project with Drive-By Truckers bassist Matt Patton, agreeing with a desire to shine a light on the “core values” of gospel songs: “the incontrovertibly true and inconceivably vast principles of kindness, right and wrong, and social justice”. That’s all noble and good, of course, but Thy Burdens wouldn’t be able to reach across the aisle so effectively if Drunken Prayer’s self-described “snarling country-soul” sound wasn’t so immaculately-executed.
I don’t know the hearts of Geer, Patton, and drummer Bronson Tew. I don’t know if they expect to enter the Pearly Gates when they pass on from this life. But I do know that there is a real reverence to Thy Burdens that’s palpable and infectious–whether it comes from the same divine inspiration as the writers of these songs must’ve felt or if it’s drawn from their clear admiration and respect for the music and musicians of the Church is immaterial for the time being. It’s apparent from the first song on the album, a version of Leon Payne’s “The Selfishness in Man”, that Drunken Prayer are true believers (and Wednesday’s Xandy Chelmis on pedal steel and Squirrel Nut Zippers’ Henry Westmoreland on horns are more than enough to make me a believer in “snarling country-soul”). Country-rock shuffles in “Bedside of a Neighbor” (originally by blues-gospel pioneer Thomas Andrew Dorsey) and “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel” (that’s a traditional) are fun as hell (ah, shit, I mean…); never before has sitting at your neighbor’s deathbed or witnessing bizarre, striking Old Testament hallucinations been such a hoot. “I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages” might be the best of Thy Burdens distilled into four heat-packing minutes–it’s country music, it’s folk music, it’s the blues. It’s the Gospel, delivered by a bunch of southern rock-and-rollers who–despite what they might say–are the exact right people for the message. (Bandcamp link)
Also notable:
- Nympho – Honk If You’re Horny EP
- Nina Nastasia – Songs for a World of Trouble
- St Johns Wood Affair – 2
- Robert Forster – Strawberries
- Quinie – Forefowk, Mind Me
- Search Results – Go Mutant
- Jennifer Valdies – Springtails
- De Keefmen – Different Worlds
- CDSM – Convertible Hearse
- Pleaser – Begging Guitars
- Marc Ribot – Map of a Blue City
- Charming – Everything
- Suzi Moon – Turbulent Hearts: All Out
- Beebe Gallini – Begged, Borrowed & Stealed
- Science Man – Monarch Joy
- You Vandal – This Is Where People Come to Die
- Chimes – Pile of Parts
- Solitary Friends – Bite the Hot Wire
- Psychic Pigs – Psychic Pigs
- Atacama – Runes
- Trigger – Second Round
- Resavoir & Matt Gold – Horizon
- Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts – Talkin to the Trees
- The Young Hearts – The Good, the Bad & the Rest of Us EP
- Jesika Von Rabbit – Bunnywood Babylon
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