New Playlist: February 2026

Here it is: the February 2026 playlist! The new year feels in full swing, and we’ve got selections from some truly great albums below.

Gentle Brontosaurus, Cootie Catcher, Friends of Cesar Romero, Flin Flon, Kerrin Connolly, Fazed on a Pony, and Remember Sports have two songs each on this playlist.

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

“Junkmail”, The Tammy Shine
From Ok Shine Ok (2026, HHBTM)

The Tammy Shine is Tammy Eaton, who you may also know as the frontperson of the Denver-originating, Elephant 6-associated group Dressy Bessy. “Junk Mail”, the fourth song on The Tammy Shine’s debut album Ok Shine Ok, caught my attention immediately. It’s a bonkers pop song–it’s bratty, campy, euphoric, fiery, whatever; it sounds like mall-pop-punk at one point, like a Guided by Voices track at another point, like turn-of-the-century alt-pop another. It has at least five hooks you could build a song out of, slammed together like a can of Fanta crushed by a cartoon anvil. Read more about Ok Shine Ok here.

“Mail Pouch Chew”, Human Mascot
From Ketchup Mill (2026)

Human Mascot are a self-described “Americhaotica”, “countrygaze”, and “art punk” trio from Boston, and Ketchup Mill appears to be their second record. On this one (seven songs, twenty minutes, call it an EP or LP based on your preference I suppose), Human Mascot continue in the grand tradition of New England math rock bands that know how to write a pop hook, from Pet Fox to Rick Rude to Lane. Blown-out noisy guitars veer into golden melodies (of both the instrumental and vocal variety), exemplified when the claustrophobic opening track “Hollow Log” gives way to the weird but undeniably catchy alt-math-country-pop-rock thing “Mail Pouch Chew”. Read more about Ketchup Mill here.

“Bend the Knee”, Gentle Brontosaurus
From Three Hares (2026)

I’ve written about the Madison, Wisconsin singer-songwriter Huan-Hua Chye via the two most recent albums from her solo project, Miscellaneous Owl; however, she’s also been the primary (but not only) lead vocalist and songwriter for the five-piece band Gentle Brontosaurus dating back even further than Miscellaneous Owl’s inception. Three Hares is the band’s third album and first one since 2018; those of you who enjoyed Chye’s clever, catchy indie pop songwriting in Miscellaneous Owl will find plenty of it here. Both Chye’s writing and the band’s playing make conscious efforts to cohere on Three Hares; relationship dissatisfaction and interpersonal dead-ends are noticeable recurring themes, like in the bouncy power pop send-off “Bend the Knee”. Read more about Three Hares here.

“Loiter for the Love of It”, Cootie Catcher
From Something We All Got (2026, Carpark)

On Something We All Got, their first for Carpark Records, Cootie Catcher have clearly “gone for it”; armed with a label with a larger reach and (presumably) more resources than before, the quartet have polished the stranger, “out-there” side of their sound away and honed in on making big-hook, excitable indie pop songs. Were the wonky, oftentimes headscratching synth-trails of last year’s Shy at First part of Cootie Catcher’s initial appeal to me? Sure, but any worry that the band may have inadvertently sanded off their strong suits is laid to rest by the gorgeous, twinkling opening ballad “Loiter for the Love of It” (You think you know slacker-twee? Cootie Catcher will show you slacker-twee). Read more about Something We All Got here.

“Trauma Blonding”, Friends of Cesar Romero
From Soul Scouts (2026, Doomed Babe/Kit Fox)

The first Friends of Cesar Romero offering of 2026 (coming almost exactly two months after the previous one, December’s Cars, Guitars, Girls EP) is a ten-song, eighteen-minute jolt called Soul Scouts, and it’s my favorite release of the South Dakota project in quite a while now. Friends of Cesar Romero records run the gamut from sunny, hook-heavy power pop to ripping basement garage punk; Soul Scouts hews towards the latter, but, as always, there’s a trace of the former in these songs as well. J. Waylon Porcupine absolutely tears into “Trauma Blonding”, an early highlight that’s all quick tempos, lurking fury, and very pleasing guitar tones. Read more about Soul Scouts here.

“Big Amygdala”, Kerrin Connolly
From Simpleton (2026)

Over the past decade, Boston’s Kerrin Connolly has gone from a musician with a YouTube following to an artist with multiple records to their name; they’ve put out two albums, an EP, and a “mini-album” since 2020. They’ve self-described their latest album, Simpleton, as a “12-song concept album detailing the modern hero’s journey”; written, produced, and performed almost entirely by Connolly themself, it’s a massive, imminently attention-grabbing pop-rock album. It’s a shiny mess of power pop, orchestral pop, musical theater, and 80s-evoking synthpop, often all in short succession. Read more about Simpleton here.

“Ukraina”, Flin Flon
From A-Ok (1998, Teen-Beat)

For as much as I love those late-period Unrest albums, I’ve never really explored co-founder (and Teenbeat labelhead) Mark Robinson’s music after that band’s mid-90s dissolution, until last month at least. Flin Flon was Robinson’s second post-Unrest band after the short-lived Air Miami; 1998’s A-Ok was the first album of what seems to be a few. Compared to Unrest, it’s more direct; the spacier, post-rock kind of side of that band is absent on A-Ok, replaced by a fairly smooth rhythmic post-punk sound over which Robinson is free to do his golden indie pop thing. “Ukraina” is maybe the best song on the album (the other candidate is also on this playlist); it’s a sub-three-minute triumph of the indie pop/post-punk experience.

“Chateau Photo”, Vegas Water Taxi
From Long Time Caller, First Time Listener (2026, PNKSLM)

Vegas Water Taxi is a new-ish London-based alt-country band led by Ben Hambro; their second album is actually two EPs in one, last year’s Long Time Caller with a new one called First Time Listener tacked onto it. I was admittedly skeptical that a British guy named Hambro would have much interesting to say in a facsimile of “Americana”, but Vegas Water Taxi’s strong grasp on Teenage Fanclub-esque guitar pop goes a long way towards winning me over. Some of this stuff just works on every level, and that’s all there is to it–the second song on the album, “Chateau Photo”, where Hambor sings “She left me for a guy who’s working in PR / He’s putting out a press release that I’m crying in a bar” over lilting pedal steel? I’m fully on board with that. Read more about Long Time Caller, First Time Listener here.

“Roadkill”, Remember Sports
From The Refrigerator (2026, Get Better)

It’s startling to realize that it’s been five years since Remember Sports’ last album, Like a Stone, although there was an EP called Leap Day in 2022 and solo albums from vocalist/guitarist Carmen Perry and bassist Catherine Dwyer (as Spring Onion) in the interim. The original trio of Perry, Dwyer, and guitarist Jack Washburn welcomed new drummer Julian Fader (Sweet Dreams Nadine, Lane) into the group shortly after their last album, and the four of them went to Chicago’s Electrical Audio to self-produce The Refrigerator in 2024 (“just after” the sudden passing of the legendary studio’s founder, Steve Albini). The torrential distorted-pop-fest “Roadkill” is a second half highlight; like the bagpipe-laden “Ghost”, it’s the pop-punk group pushing their envelope with dynamic shifts, unusual instrumentation, and pop music inverted. Read more about The Refrigerator here.

“From All Ways”, Crooked Fingers featuring Matt Berninger
From Swet Deth (2026, Merge)

Sweth Deth, Eric Bachmann’s first album as Crooked Fingers in fifteen years, features an impressive list of guest vocalists, including The National’s Matt Berninger on the gentle soft rock glide of “From All Ways”. As recognizable as Berninger’s voice is in general, I didn’t realize it was him on “From All Ways” at first; it’s a bit of an odd placement for him, his stoic baritone in the chorus functioning as a balance to the brisk tempo Berninger brings to the verses (and if the latter wins out, it’s still interesting to hear Berninger try to keep up in this situation). Read more about Sweth Deth here.

“Flashes”, Fazed on a Pony
From Swan (2026, Meritorio/Melted Ice Cream)

I first heard New Zealand singer-songwriter Peter McCall and his project Fazed on a Pony in late 2022, when he released his debut album, It’ll All Work Out. At the time, I noted that McCall (while still being indie pop-ish) sounded more in line with American folk rock groups like Wild Pink and Friendship than the kind of indie rock for which his home country is known, and McCall continues to pursue this avenue in Swan, the second Fazed on a Pony LP. The alt-country influence is incorporated tastefully and reverently, but I think it makes the most sense to approach Swan as an indie pop album first and foremost. Blink and you’ll miss one of the best moments, the two-minute “Flashes”, a simple-sounding but secretly brilliant pop construction. Read more about Swan here.

“Gonna Be Good”, Triples
From Every Good Story (2026, Bleak Enterprise)

I knew nothing about Triples when I put this song on this playlist; apparently it’s the Toronto-based project of Eva Link, sister of PACKS’ Madeline Link (who also played in an earlier version of the band). Compared to her sister’s more consciously downbeat, muddled work, Triples’ new EP Every Good Story is go-ahead polished power pop at its core; opening track “Old Routine” has some sunny “adult alternative” pop vibes, and my favorite song, “Gonna Be Good”, is positively bouncy as it trots its way to the teen-movie-soundtrack kinda chorus. 

“Pretty Feelings”, Music City
From Welcome to Music City (2026, Redundant Span/Sentric)

Welcome to Music City is a classic power pop album connected to but distinct from the more garage-y rock and roll of ringleader Conor Lumsden’s other band, The Number Ones. Lumsden positions himself as a pop rock bandleader influenced by the classic rock and new wave-y pub rockers of his city of origin (Dublin) and of the polished side of what us Americans probably think of as “music city” (that’d be Nashville). Welcome to Music City walks an impressive tightrope between well-earned swagger and a more bookish pop rock attitude, though much of the best of Welcome to Music City, like “Pretty Feelings”, transcends this “either/or”-type thing and just shoots for all-encompassing, unflagging power pop brilliance. Read more about Welcome to Music City here.

“Transducer”, 2070
From Big Blue (2026, Danger Collective)

Big Blue is the third album from Los Angeles fuzz rock group 2070, and their debut for Danger Collective Records. Perhaps reflecting the quartet’s most stable lineup yet, Big Blue takes a step back from the excitable, kinetic attitude of 2024’s Stay in the Ranch and gets to work at creating a more subdued, cohesive statement. The shoegaze and lo-fi pop of Stay in the Ranch haven’t gone anywhere–indeed, they’re key ingredients in the hazy, murky, psychedelic pop music of Big Blue. The wonky, crawling “Transducer” is pretty catchy, but it doesn’t beat you over the head with it. Read more about Big Blue here.

“DFL”, The Paranoid Style
From Known Associates (2026, Bar/None)

“DFL” is my favorite Paranoid Style song in a minute–and, given that Known Associates is their third album since 2022, there’s been plenty of competition for that. The folk rock/college rock/power pop revivalists led by writer Elizabeth Nelson (and, as of late, also featuring blog regular William Matheny as well as Peter Holsapple of the dB’s) are always good for some whip-smart, catchy post-Elvis Costello music journalist rock, and “DFL” is everything you could want in such an endeavor (it stands for “dead fucking last”, for any confused Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party members). 

“Gwendolyn, Approximately”, The Sylvia Platters
From Will Tomorrow Be Enough (2026, Dutch Customer)

Every couple of years, the Vancouver quartet The Sylvia Platters turn up with a brief collection of breezy, jangly power pop. Fast forward two years after 2024’s Vivian Elixir, and The Sylvia Platters are back with a new lineup and a new five-song cassette EP called Will Tomorrow Be Enough, a twenty-minute record that’s further confirmation that The Sylvia Platters are honors students of Teenage Fanclub and their jangly indie pop ilk. The five-minute “Gwendolyn, Approximately” is Will Tomorrow Be Enough’s crown jewel; this multi-part college rock opera piece has a massive chorus and all sorts of twists and turns in between repetitions of it. Read more about Will Tomorrow Be Enough here.

“Mind the Gap”, Kerrin Connolly
From Simpleton (2026)

We’ve got a pair of excellent selections from Kerrin Connolly’s latest album on this playlist. “Mind the Gap” (alongside “Big Amygdala”, also from Simpleton and appearing earlier on this playlist) is one of the catchiest power pop songs I’ve heard this year, showcasing Connolly’s ability to shoehorn whip-smart writing into big hooks. It reminds me of recent material from the likes of Pacing, Rosie Tucker, and Career Woman, which is no small feat–these are acts that have landed at or near the top of the blog’s year-end lists before. Read more about Simpleton here.

“Therapy Anthem”, Flat Mary Road
From The Camping EP (2026)

Flat Mary Road’s warm and clever take on folk rock, jangly power pop, and Paisley Underground on their 2023 LP Little Realities reminded me of classic college rock, and the Philadelphia’s quartet’s first new music since then (the three-song Camping EP) is a brief dispatch that nonetheless reaffirms that Flat Mary Road are remarkably adept at what they do. “Therapy Anthem”, the EP’s final song, effectively starts at 100%, with a guitar riff that sounds like the sun rising over mountains and lead singer Steve Teare declaring “Nobody wants to hear about somebody else’s dream anymore”. Read more about The Camping EP here.

“Prime Mover Unmoved”, Charm School
From Schadenfreude Ploy (2026, Surprise Mind/Karmic Tie)

Last year, Louisville noise rock quartet Charm School released their debut album, Debt Forever, a snarling, furious post-punk record about financial anxiety and other American topics. Now based in Los Angeles, this year’s four-song EP Schadenfreude Ploy is still Charm School at their 90s underground rock-evoking best. “Prime Mover Unmoved” is one of the band’s most adventurous songs yet, a mess of post-rock/math rock, an odd psychedelic pop interlude, and an ascendant garage rock part that Charm School stubbornly refuse to turn into the song’s centerpiece. Read more about Schadenfreude Ploy here.

“Face of Smiles”, Doug Gillard
From Parallel Stride (2026, Dromedary)

The first of two Guided by Voices-related songs on this playlist, “Face of Smiles” is the lead single from longtime Robert Pollard collaborator and current GBV guitarist Doug Gillard’s upcoming solo album Parallel Stride. It’s Gillard’s fourth solo LP and first since 2014’s Parade On; given that Guided by Voices (who he rejoined in 2016) continue to put out multiple new albums every year, it’s not surprising it took a bit of time to get another one of these together (although true fans know that his two songwriting contributions to the 2017 GBV album August by Cake are some of the best ones on there). “Face of Smiles” is classic Gillard, breezy but muscular in the hooks and guitar riff departments; I look forward to the rest of Parallel Stride.

“Quarter Note Rock”, Cootie Catcher
From Something We All Got (2026, Carpark)

Montreal quartet Cootie Catcher won me over early last year with their sophomore album, Shy at First, an electronic-twee pop balancing act that ended up being an unlikely breakout record. Less than a year later, vocalist/bassist Anita Fowl, vocalist/guitarist Nolan Jakupovski, vocalist/synth player Sophia Chavez, and drummer Joseph Shemoun have returned with a record of glittering, undeniable pop music in Something We All Got–“Quarter Note Rock” is a straight-up monster of a guitar pop song, and the record-scratching and talking-singing (particularly the “You / could be / An essential part of the team…” part) provides a strong link to their previous record. Read more about Something We All Got here.

“Middle of Summer”, PONY
From Clearly Cursed (2026, Take This to Heart)

It’s been a little under two years since Toronto group PONY released Velveteen, which I called a “monster of a pop album” with the hooks to back up its 90s-alt-pop-rock worship. On Clearly Cursed, the band’s founding duo of vocalist Sam Bielanski and guitarist Matty Morand (aka Pretty Matty) are joined by bassist Christian Beale and drummer Joey Ginaldi, though the alternatively dreamy and grungy power pop that’s resulted is in lockstep with PONY’s previous output. “Middle of Summer”, my favorite song on Clearly Cursed, is a breezy song about death–it may not be the “largest” song on the album, but it’s one of the catchiest and just right for its subject matter.

“Rock & Roll Jesus”, Voxtrot
From Dreamers in Exile (2026, Cult Hero)

The Austin, Texas quintet Voxtrot were a mid-2000s “blog rock” band, building buzz off of a pair of EPs and then releasing one album before breaking up at the end of that decade. Ramesh Srivastava, Jason Chronis and Matt Simon are described as the band’s current “nucleus”, but all five original members of Voxtrot contribute to Dreamers in Exile, and the quintet have made an incredibly polished, vibrant, multi-layered, “mature” pop album together. If this kind of thoughtful, AM-fluent post-chamber indie pop is in any way relevant to you, Dreamers in Exile plays like a lost greatest hits collection; there isn’t a dull moment whether Voxtrot are leaning into the strings or getting more electric. See “Rock & Roll Jesus” for the latter: it genuinely does rock. Read more about Dreamers in Exile here.

“Bitter But Better”, Friends of Cesar Romero
From Soul Scouts (2026, Doomed Babe/Kit Fox)

I could list all of the exciting, blistering garage-pop-punk moments on Soul Scouts all day, but funnily enough, it’s the closing stretch where Friends of Cesar Romero’s power pop streak really starts to dominate–it turns out that bandleader J. Waylon Porcupine saved the biggest, most straightforward power pop anthem for last with closing track “Bitter But Better”. If Soul Scouts feels like an album-length (well, an eighteen-minute-length) letting-off-of-steam, “Bitter But Better” is both the light at the end of the tunnel and a summation of the process that led us to this moment. “I don’t miss missing you” is a simple enough line, but Porcupine spends all of Soul Scouts making sure it lands. Read more about Soul Scouts here.

“A Million Broken Hearts”, Lande Hekt
From Lucky Now (2026, Tapete)

Bristol musician Lande Hekt put out a pair of solo albums in the early 2010s as her previous band, Muncie Girls, was winding down, but Lucky Now is her first LP in four years and the first after the official breakup of the 2010s trio she led. Like Hekt’s recently-defunct Tapete labelmates Ex-Vöid, Lucky Now is an earnest, emotional take on British guitar pop, C86 and jangle pop delivered without sacrificing personality for recreation. “A Million Broken Hearts” is my favorite song on the record; it’s got shimmering guitars, bittersweet vocals, and a pretty undeniable hook.

“Odessa”, Flin Flon
From A-Ok (1998, Teen-Beat)

Although A-Ok is more laid back than the best pop albums from Mark Robinson’s previous and more well-known band Unrest, the best songs on this album are, in their own way, as good at being pop music as Unrest’s highs were. “Odessa” is a brilliant piece; it’s clearly indie pop excellence from the beginning, but when the danceable, shuffling rhythms take over around the thirty-second mark, it really digs its nails in and doesn’t let go for four minutes. Also, all the songs on A-Ok seem to be named after cities and towns in northern Canada, which as far as I can tell doesn’t have anything to do with the actual music. That’s pretty cool.

“Selfish”, Remember Sports
From The Refrigerator (2026, Get Better)

Remember Sports have been in Philadelphia for nearly a decade now, and they’re solidly enmeshed in the city’s indie rock scene. I’m thinking about all the power pop and alt-country that’s come out of that city lately–the former has always been a part of Remember Sports’ sound, and Like a Stone even hinted at the latter, but The Refrigerator is the album that confirms that they’re all intertwined. Remember Sports’ approachability, for lack of a better word, sets them apart from other big indie/alt-country names–they don’t set out to inspire the kind of hyperbole other acts inevitably attract, they just happen to make perfect albums. “Selfish” has a subtle rootsiness, incorporated with all the respect a Midwestern pop punk band currently on the East Coast can give to it. Read more about The Refrigerator here.

“The Charmer”, Toadies
From The Charmer (2026, Spaceflight)

The Toadies, eh? There are a handful of 90s alt-rock one-hit-wonders that retain cult followings to this day–Local H and my personal favorite, Harvey Danger, come to mind–and though I think that also applies to the Fort Worth, Texas authors of “Possum Kingdom”, I’d never really looked into them until I happened to catch the title track of their upcoming new album The Charmer. They recorded the album with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio weeks before his sudden passing, and, as it turns out, that environment is the exact right kind of backdrop for the Pixies-ish barebones, mid-tempo indie-alt-rock thing that the band is doing on this song. I’ll have to check this one out.

“Wild Bones”, All Feels
From Evasive Sentimental (2026, Flower Sounds)

All Feels are a western Massachusetts-based indie rock quintet who release music on Flower Sounds (The Fruit Trees, Wendy Eisenberg, The Lentils) and are led by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Candace Clement (also of Footings). Their latest release is a Justin Pizzoferrato-recorded six-song EP called Evasive Sentimental, and the group (also featuring guitarists Noah and Kate Dowd, bassist Will Meyer, and drummer Jon Shina) reveal themselves to be adept creators of comfortable-sounding, dreamy indie guitar pop throughout it. The reverby guitars and big vocals of “Wild Bones” calls to mind a dreamier version of emo-y indie punk groups like Katie Ellen and early Remember Sports, hardly a bad place to land.

“Blue”, Gentle Brontosaurus
From Three Hares (2026)

As somebody who has enjoyed Huan-Hua Chye’s solo project Miscellaneous Owl over the past couple of years, hearing her as the frontperson of a real-deal indie rock band is an interesting experience. Collaboration is what sets Three Hares apart from a busier Miscellaneous Owlbum: the five-piece band setup (featuring horns, keys, and all the “rock band” instrumentation one could want) really does add a lot to the music. I’ve heard Chye tackle self-image in her writing before, but, by bringing the race and gender exploration of “Blue” to Gentle Brontosaurus, the band are able to turn it into something soaring and jaw-dropping. Read more about Three Hares here.

“Cats Dogs and Babies Jaws”, Ganger
From Hammock Style (1998, Domino)

1998’s Hammock Style was the sole LP from the Glasgow post-rock group Ganger; they’d put out several singles and EPs beforehand, though, and they’d already experienced some major lineup shifts by the time Hammock Style rolled around. “Scottish post-rock” is probably defined by Mogwai (with whom Ganger apparently toured) more than anyone, but Ganger’s minimal, guitar-based, sometimes instrumental, slightly jazz/math-influenced take on it feels more American—specifically what was going on in Chicago around this time. The six-minute, skewed indie pop/math rock/post-rock opening track “Cats Dogs and Babies Jaws” actually feels quite current today!

“Saved the World, Left Us All”, Keta Ester
From Love Apple (2026)

I’ve been familiar with the music of Keegan Graziane thanks to his work with Bruiser & Bicycle, the Albany-originating psychedelic folk band he co-founded with Nicholas R. Whittemore. Bruiser & Bicycle have released three great albums from 2019 to 2025, but Graziane decided he needed to make a solo album on top of that, apparently. The sprawling, fifty-minute Love Apple leaves the convoluted, surprising, and progressive pop sensibilities of Graziane’s other band intact, with the main difference being a more stripped-down, folk-influenced take on this kind of music that provides something of a breather from Bruiser & Bicycle’s “sensory overload” vibes. The beautiful morning folk rock of “Saved the World, Left Us All” nonetheless finds Keta Ester exploring relatively new terrain. Read more about Love Apple here.

“Wrong Party”, Fazed on a Pony
From Swan (2026, Meritorio/Melted Ice Cream)

Swan is catchy and, at times, jangly enough to fit on the two esteemed guitar pop record labels that are co-releasing it, and Fazed on a Pony work to combine that side of their sound with folk-y indie rock and whatever the New Zealand version of “Americana” is on this album. For one, Fazed on a Pony employ a pedal steel player throughout the album (Shaun Malloch) and the album’s Bandcamp page isn’t shy about invoking the likes of MJ Lenderman, David Berman, and Sparklehorse. The pop-forward, earnest indie rock anthem “Wrong Party” is as good as those from any “heartland rock”/power pop-straddling band over in the United States (in Philadelphia, or anywhere). Read more about Swan here.

“We Outlast Them All”, Guided by Voices
From Crawlspace of the Pantheon (2026, GBV, Inc.)

If the Doug Gillard song from earlier on this playlist wasn’t enough Guided by Voices-adjacent material for you, we’ve got the band themselves on here with the lead single from their upcoming forty-fourth studio album. Of course, Robert Pollard leading his collaborators in a rousing Guided by Voices-core song called “We Outlast Them All” is pointed in its own way, but there’s a lot more to like from our first sample of Crawlspace of the Pantheon than just mythology. Pollard sneaks both the name of the album and “Shit Midas” (the name of a Suitcase demo from 2000) into the lyrics, and the music has a steady, unwavering guitar pop quality to it that Guided by Voices are often reluctant to embrace so fully. Promising!

“Here Comes Everybody”, Royal Ottawa
From Here Comes Everybody (2026, The Beautiful Music)

The long-running Canadian band Royal Ottawa first came onto my radar in 2023 with their massive double album Carcosa, but they’ve been releasing music off and on since the 1990s. After a career spent releasing music fairly sporadically, it’s a pleasant surprise to get a brand-new EP from Royal Ottawa less than a year and a half after Carcosa–the four-song, twenty-two-minute Here Comes Everybody. Half of Here Comes Everybody is taken up by the ten-minute title track, and it’s here where Royal Ottawa fully give in to the motorik vibes and endurance-test desert rock music that hover around the edges of their sound. There are plenty of different “kinds” of ten-minute songs out there; “Here Comes Everybody” is the steady, forward-chugging kind, one that doesn’t flag for a second. Read more about Here Comes Everybody here.