Pressing Concerns is back and guess what? There’s a lot of good music coming out tomorrow (April 14th). Today we’re looking at four of these albums: records from Ther, Cindy, Dave Scanlon, and Sweet Dreams Nadine. If you missed Monday’s post (covering Bell and the Ringers, Public Interest, Pure Material, and Second Body), check that one out too.
If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.
Ther – A Horrid Whisper Echoes in a Palace of Endless Joy
Release date: April 14th Record label: Dead Definition Genre: Indie folk, slowcore Formats: Cassette, digital Pull Track: Big Papi Lassos the Moon
Although I haven’t written about Ther on this blog before, Rosy Overdrive has covered plenty of music in which Heather Jones has been involved. As the owner of and engineer at So Big Auditory in Philadelphia, they’ve recorded, mixed, and mastered records from plenty of bands, including Sadurn, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, The Human Fly, Florry, and Frankie Valet. Jones has also been making music of their own as Their since 2018, with Ther’s debut full-length, Trembling, coming out last February after a couple of EPs and a split with Sadurn.
Trembling was an intriguing piece of indie folk-tronica which got Ther on my radar–fourteen months later, A Horrid Whisper Echoes in a Palace of Endless Joy follows up that album by taking a turn towards quiet and sparse but quite spirited-sounding indie folk. A Horrid Whisper Echoes in a Palace of Endless Joy falls under the umbrella of a certain kind of vulnerable, stark-sounding folk music that I’ve featured in Pressing Concerns before–records from Joan Kelsey, Jodi, and (coincidentally) Dave Scanlon come to mind–but Jones establishes themself in the midst of this well-worn setup pretty quickly. After the brief, slow-takeoff introduction of “1 Kid”, Ther deliver “Big Papi Lassos the Moon”, a soaring folk tune that builds, speeds up, and crescendos in an unexpected but very welcome way.
A Horrid Whisper Echoes in a Palace of Endless Joy is guided by Jones’ unwavering, central vocals, but Ther find shades within their folk sound, like the prominent pedal steel in the country-tinged “Impossible Things” and the sparse acoustic-picked slowcore of “Love Is Always”. The album does anything but trail off, with “With You” riding distortion, cello, and piano towards Ther’s version of post-rock or a Microphones-recalling sound, and “2 Holidays” ending A Horrid Whisper Echoes in a Palace of Endless Joy on a twinkling piece of alt-country. The latter’s pedal steel guitar and the appearance of a stray cat in the lyrics give the song a warm feeling–more than enough for Jones to dismiss the whisper in the album title. (Bandcamp link)
Cindy – Why Not Now?
Release date: April 14th Record label: Mt.St.Mtn./Tough Love Genre: Indie pop, slowcore, dream pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull Track: Earthly Belonging
Karina Gill has become a Bay Area guitar pop fixture in the past few years between her work with Flowertown (her duo with Tony Jay’s Mike Ramos) and Cindy, the San Francisco group that Gill has led for four full-length records now. The previous Cindy material had been made with a stable quartet lineup, but for this month’s Why Not Now?, Gill opted to work with a wider variety of musicians, including Ramos, longtime Cindy keyboardist Aaron Diko, and members of other Bay Area bands like The Telephone Numbers and April Magazine. Regardless of who contributed to Why Not Now?, Cindy retain their signature sound on the album–that of molasses-slow, somewhat-drowsy-feeling, Velvets-inspired indie rock that nevertheless has personality and pop appeal.
Plenty of San Francisco-area bands that could be loosely deemed “jangle pop” make music that falls on the sleepy, “dream pop” end of the spectrum, but Cindy follows this alleyway so deliberately and languidly that it’s genuinely correct to call them a slowcore band. Gill and her collaborators are almost confrontational in their slowness with how they open Why Not Now? The whispered lullaby of the title track and the dreamy instrumental track “Standard Candle 3” welcome the listener wearily before the band relents a little bit and offers up the relatively peppy, brief “Earthly Belonging” in the track three slot.
Gill’s voice sticks out on songs like “Wednesday” and “A Trumpet on the Hillside”, cutting through the quietness while still matching the overall feeling of the tracks. Cindy feels very much in their element with the sparse “Playboy”, but, perhaps determined to not let Why Not Now? drift off too casually in its final few songs, the band offers up some Flying Nun-esque psych-tinged indie rock with “Et surtout” and closes the album with a pleasing duet in “St. Marks”. Still, the record’s overall tone is quite subtle–Why Not Now? is an album that asks and rewards a little more attention. (Bandcamp link)
Dave Scanlon – Taste Like Labor
Release date: April 14th Record label: Whatever’s Clever Genre: Indie folk, experimental folk Formats: Cassette, digital Pull Track: Collapse
Back in early 2021, Dave Scanlon released Pink in each, bright blue, bright green, which was one of the first albums I ever wrote about for Pressing Concerns. That record was a deft indie folk record, minimal-sounding, emotional, and experimental, with none of those aspects seeming to contradict each other. Returning on Whatever’s Clever Records (Keen Dreams, Field Guides, Ben Seretan), Scanlon is back two years later with Taste Like Labor, an album that demonstrates that the singer-songwriter (who also plays in the band JOBS and is a librarian) still has a knack for finding interesting ways to make acoustic guitar-centric music. Taste Like Labor feels more full-sounding than Scanlon’s previous material, which he attributes to Stars Like Fleas’ Shannon Fields, who produced the record and contributed piano, synthesizer, and electronics to these songs as well.
Taste Like Labor is not a huge departure sonically for Scanlon–several of the record’s early tracks, like “Image Represent”, Collapse”, and “Why Do You Ask?”, are all familiar-sounding, fingerpicked straightforward acoustic folk songs, just with some more synth touches added underneath them. The gorgeous second-half highlight “I Am With My Feelings” in particular would’ve felt right at home on Pink in each, bright blue, bright green. Other songs on the album more clearly take advantage of the extra dimension to explore some new territory–the giddy folk rock of “Fearful People” is able to take off as smoothly as it does with the added instrumentation, the floating “Thus Went My Year” substitutes the guitar for synth washes, and the six-minute “Only” finds a lot of room to spread out, effectively turning into an ambient song by its end. (Bandcamp link)
Sweet Dreams Nadine – Sweet Dreams Nadine
Release date: April 14th Record label: Dear Life Genre: Indie pop Formats: CD, cassette, digital Pull Track: Indigo
New York’s Sweet Dreams Nadine debuted in 2018 with Oh My, a full-length record released on Father/Daughter records under the name NADINE. Now on Dear Life, Sweet Dreams Nadine have a new name that’s meant to emphasize the band’s nature as a collaborative trio (frontperson Nadie Hulett co-wrote these tracks with the other two members of the group, Carlos Hernandez and Julian Fader of Ava Luna), and a new self-titled sophomore album. Sweet Dreams Nadine is full of bright, intricate but welcoming indie pop, feeling of a piece with both Hernandez and Fader’s other group and with the NADINE album. Hulett’s voice, as well as all the members’ pop instincts and instrumental acumen, give the album a timeless pop rock feel, although it doesn’t lapse into overdone “retro” fetishism.
“Something on My Mind” opens Sweet Dreams Nadine with some friendly, immediate piano pop, with a bunch of extra flourishes making it one of the more captivating examples of the genre. “Indigo” somehow evokes Americana without mixing up Sweet Dreams Nadine’s sound all that much, while “Painted Blue” merely turns everything up a bit to turn in a swirling psychedelic pop tune. The gentle, lush “Weird Love” nonetheless lives up to its name, ending with a decidedly memorable spoken word moment from Hulett. Hulett’s delivery of the title line of “Make Good” is the instantly catchy part, but it’s the subtler rest of the song that grows on you over time. The second half of Sweet Dreams Nadine is maybe less immediate than the first, but makes up for it with a few curveballs, like the rhythm-heavy, partially Hernandez-sung “Track Star” and the simple “sdn”, both of which ensure the album is engaging until its end. (Bandcamp link)
Welcome to a new Pressing Concerns! Today features two albums that came out last Friday (by Public Interest and Pure Material) plus two records from earlier in the year that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while (Bell and the Ringers and Second Body).
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.
Bell and the Ringers – Bell and the Ringers
Release date: March 10th Record label: Self-released Genre: Pop punk, power pop, emo Formats: Digital Pull Track: Give Me Therapy
Bell and the Ringers are a long-distance duo made up of Melbourne’s Lucas Bell and Toronto’s Brent Vipond–the latter is the lead singer, both of them write the songs and contribute instrumental parts. Vipond and Bell have been collaborating since 2017 and have a couple of EPs to their name, but Bell and the Ringers appears to be their first full-length together. Their Bandcamp bills themselves as an “alt-rock folk band”–maybe that was more true for their earlier material, but on their debut album, I hear a very solid rendition of a very specific kind of 2000s-era indie-pop-punk. Vipond’s vocals sound notably similar to Ben Gibbard’s (it does kind of feel like a more pop punk version of Death Cab for Cutie in some places), and I also hear hints of The Thermals and even a bit of Relient K.
Bell and the Ringers has some heft to it–the balance that Vipond and Bell walk throughout the record is keeping the pop punk energy up while still developing the tracks. And to be clear, Bell and the Ringers is a very energetic record–opening track “Never to Be Seen Again” is massively infectious with its power pop keyboard hook, Blue Album guitars in the chorus, and Vipond’s self-call-and-response vocals. The sprinting “Mistakes”, the bouncy “Give Me Therapy”, and the 90s-pop-punk-evoking “Easier” all keep the record’s foot on the gas in the first half. The core of the record is made up of a couple songs that slow things down in “Panic Attacks (Read Between the Lines)” and “Renter’s Suite” (which features, I think, the most prominent use of an acoustic guitar on the album). In the second half of the record, “GBSH” keeps things punchy with its melodic bass parts and triumphant power chords, and the alt-rock crunch of “Dawn to Dusk” sticks out towards the end of the album.
“I don’t know what else to say,” sings Vipond in Bell and the Ringers’ opening track, but that doesn’t stop Vipond from trying to find some words to sing over the soaring music across the course of the record. Vipond continues this thread by insisting “If I knew just what to say, that would make this all okay” in the midst of self-critical anthem “Mistakes”, and by trying to tell people not to take their words at face value in“Panic Attacks (Read Between the Lines)” (instead encouraging the addressee of the song to do as the second half of its title suggests). The brisk pace of Bell and the Ringers (and the relatively low-mixed vocals) means one might miss some interesting lines, but what does stick out (the particularly Gibbard-esque dialogue at the beginning of “Give Me Therapy”, for example) is enough to sell an intriguing, promising under-the-radar band. (Bandcamp link)
Public Interest – Spiritual Pollution
Release date: April 7th Record label: Erste Theke Tontraeger/Spiritual Pollution Genre: Post-punk, noise rock Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital Pull Track: Why Bother?
Chris Natividad is a prolific Bay Area musician–he’s probably most notable for being part of Oakland garage-post-punks Marbled Eye, but he’s also played with Hides, Aluminum, Tanukichan, Blue Zero, and makes music on his own as Public Interest. Following 2019’s one-man-show Between EP, this month sees the release of Spiritual Pollution, the debut Public Interest full-length. Public Interest has since grown to a quartet featuring Andrew Oswald, Bee Wright, and Brendan Hagerty, and Spiritual Pollution certainly sounds like the work of a sharp rock band. On the record, Public Interest deal in a dark, guitar-heavy post-punk garage sound–perhaps more meditative than Marbled Eye but still in the same ballpark, Spiritual Pollution also reminds me more than a bit of DIÄT and even trends into some stoic Sonic Youth noise rock in places.
The somewhat brisk, reverb-y “Undone” opens Spiritual Pollution on a slightly busier note than the rest of the record–in a way, it’s the brightest that the album gets. On tracks like “Why Bother?” and “Slow Burn”, Public Interest let the low end lead the rest of the boat, prowling through dingy, coiled post-punk. There are moments of release throughout the record, to be sure–guitar rave-ups aren’t uncommon, from “Residue””s turn towards garage rock to the layers draped upon “Falling Ash” and the title track right in the middle of the album. Natividad’s vocals stay flat and unmoved throughout Spiritual Pollution, anchoring the rest of the band around him. Spiritual Pollution ascends slightly in closing track “Burden of Time”, adding in just a little bit of the brighter side of 80s alt-rock–Natividad, buried a bit more in the mix than usual, responds with some wordless vocals to send everything off. (Bandcamp link)
Pure Material – Orange Whip Licorice
Release date: April 7th Record label: Dandy Boy Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, dream pop, jangle pop, bedroom pop, psych pop Formats: Cassette, CD, digital Pull Track: Flowers by Your Bedside
Oakland’s Adam Widener has been active in the Bay Area music scene for a few years now as the lead singer and guitarist of fuzzy jangle pop group The 1981. Recently he’s begun a solo project, Pure Material, and his debut record under the name, Orange Whip Licorice, finds Widener making enjoyable guitar pop music of a different stripe. The eight-song cassette/CD “slacker pop” release feels more casual and stretched-out than The 1981’s more regimented indie rock–using only some synths, a typical rock band setup, and an understated voice that can still deliver an ace melody, Widener makes music that points towards 60s psychedelic pop and dream pop while still having one foot in the “90s lo-fi indie rock” camp.
“Flowers by Your Bedside” begins Orange Whip Licorice with something of a surprise psychedelic anthem, with the downcast guitar riff and wiggling synths all exploding into a wide-eyed chorus. “Tokyo Snow” isn’t quite as busy as the opening track, but it continues Pure Material’s feeling of quiet but fervent wonder as Widener sings the title line. In “Ambrosia”, the synth/organ leads are as much of an integral part of the song as anything else, with some of the track’s instrumental passages letting the synth lines deliver the memorable melodies. Although Orange Whip Licorice is a “bedroom pop” recorded made by Widener alone, it still can offer up a full-band sound when it wants to–the drum fills in “Neon Emotions” and “Take a Smooth Cruise” (among others) counterbalance those tracks’ dreamy sheens and keep one foot on the ground. Orange Whip Licorice closes with “New Dreamer”, the song in which Widener most leans into the organ tones, giving the record one last layered sendoff. (Bandcamp link)
Second Body – Fata Morgana
Release date: February 6th Record label: Self-released Genre: Folk rock, chamber pop, dream pop, indie rock Formats: Digital Pull Track: Summer Drive
Yann Geoffrey is a Montreal-based musician who has been playing in bands around the area for most of this century–he’s drummed for The Dears, Kill the Lights, and Pang Attack–but Second Body is the first time that Geoffrey has found himself at the helm of a project. Second Body’s debut record is the six-song Fata Morgana EP, featuring Geoffrey on vocals, guitar, percussion, synthesizer, and piano, as well as some notable contributions from his Kill the Lights/Pang Attack bandmate Alex Hackett on guitar and Suuns’ Liam O’Neill on drums, among others. Fata Morgana (which, at 25 minutes in length, is nearly a full-length record) is a charming collection of earnest, crystalline 2000s-era indie rock like that of the bands in which Geoffrey has previously played–and proof that he’s just as effective as the leader of this kind of band as he is behind the kit.
Opening track “Summer Drive” introduces Fata Morgana humbly but strongly, beginning with some sparkling indie pop before the song fully kicks in with a steady drumbeat, shimmering guitar lines, and full-sounding vocals from both Geoffrey and backing vocalist Josée Forsyth Morissette. Although Fata Morgana is a gentle-sounding record, it doesn’t fade into background music–the rhythm section in the title track is doing a lot of work behind Geoffrey’s sweeping vocals, and the jangle-rock of “Tiger Lily” is pretty but with a full-band forcefulness. The second half of the EP is even more laid-back, but it still features closing track “Voyeur”, in which Geoffrey and company go all-out with lengthy guitar interludes, some prominent 80s-evoking synths, and even a bit of alt-rock distortion towards the end. (Bandcamp link)
Welcome to Pressing Concerns! It’s been a big first week of April here on Rosy Overdrive–Monday’s post highlighted records from The Bug Club, miniaturized, Samuel S.C., and Lack of Knowledge, and Tuesday saw the March 2023 playlist go up. But we’re not done yet, as this is a big release week, and we dive into it with new albums from Interbellum, Bruiser and Bicycle, and Forest Bees, plus a new EP from Flycatcher.
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.
Interbellum – Our House Is Very Beautiful at Night
Release date: April 7th Record label: Self-released Genre: Folk rock, experimental folk, psychedelia Formats: Digital Pull Track: The Storm
Interbellum is the project of Beirut-based singer-songwriter Karl Mattar–his first record under the name was 2016’s Now Try Coughing, and Dead Pets, Old Griefs followed two years later. The third Interbellum full-length and first in a half-decade was recorded almost entirely by Mattar himself, with only the drums being handled by Postcards’ Pascal Semerdjian. Upon listening, it becomes even more impressive that so much of Our House Is Very Beautiful at Night is the work of one person, given how intricate and involved the album is as a whole. It’s a beautiful and frequently head-spinning indie-folk-rock-noise record, encompassing everything from charming and straightforward pop rock to acoustic folk songs to fuzzy, layered psychedelia. Early 2000s-era Microphones feels like the biggest musical touchstone for the record, something that Our House Is Very Beautiful at Night makes clear from the beginning with the surging echo of “Archeology”, an excellently roaring piece of noise pop.
Instead of just ripping off more fuzzy, shoegaze-adjacent indie rockers after the opening shot of “Archeology”, however, Interbellum reaches out in a few different directions on Our House Is Very Beautiful at Night’s next few tracks. “Enemies (Or the Enemy of My Enemy Is My Enemy)” is a gorgeous piece of psych-folk that shows off Mattar’s melodic vocals, and “Ancestral Lines” and (especially) “Flotsam” feature a relatively stripped-down version of Interbellum’s sound. The fuzziness and rock band setup return on “Microcosms”, featuring a droning organ peaking through the wall of sound and an ace performance from Semerdjian. The semi-title track “Our House” is another Phil Elverum-esque tune in its balance of Mattar’s unadorned, sincere vocals and the rising and falling noisiness that accompanies him (we’re also perhaps in the folkier-side-of-Elephant-6 territory here as well).
The sleepy, late night indie pop of “Partners” blossoms after a ninety-second introduction track acts as a gestation period. This pulling back of the noise curtains to reveal shiny pop moments is an effective tool in Our House Is Very Beautiful at Night’s arsenal–it pops up most noticeably when “The Storm (Detail)” parts to reveal the sunshine of “The Storm”, the brightest pop song on the record. After the nice, friendly veneer of “The Storm”, Mattar chooses to end Our House Is Very Beautiful at Night with the sparse, scattered folk of “There’s That Feeling Again” and the ambient noise of “Dreams of Rubble”, giving every angle of Interbellum one last look before the record dissipates with the sun. (Bandcamp link)
Bruiser and Bicycle – Holy Red Wagon
Release date: April 5th Record label: Topshelf Genre: Psychedelic pop, experimental rock Formats: CD, cassette, digital Pull Track: Unknown Orchard
One of my favorite albums of 2019 was Bruiser & Bicycle’s debut full-length record, Woods Come Find Me. That album, made by the core duo of Albany’s Nick Whittemore and Keegan Graziane and released by Bee Side Cassettes, was a wonder, a collection of frantically-strummed, bonkers psychedelic folk songs that sounded like nothing anyone else was doing at the time and slowly built up a cult following among people who recognized this. Topshelf Records wisely scooped up the band for their long-awaited sophomore record, this month’s Holy Red Wagon, and it truly sounds like Bruiser and Bicycle spent all four interstitial years crafting this follow-up. Holy Red Wagon lands pretty far away sonically from the acoustic-based, ramshackle Woods Come Find Me, but the band (now featuring drummer Joe Taurone and bassist Zakariya Houacine, though only the former contributed to the record) are far from unrecognizable, either, just…more.
Holy Red Wagon feels and sounds like a conscious attempt to adapt their sound for the big screen, to blow it up proportionately and use the expanded palette to reach new areas while not losing their core sound. It’s a progressive pop album– both incredibly catchy and a lot to take in all at once. Seven of the record’s nine songs are over six minutes long, and Bruiser & Bicycle aren’t stuffing these tracks with ambient interludes or anything like that–they’re “on” for almost the entire run. “Aerial Shipyards” opens the record by lurching forward, a nautical, stretched-and-contorted piece of Beach Boys-esque studio pop that eventually surges into full-on psychedelia towards the end. This is a theme of Holy Red Wagon, with songs taking journeys and having enough time to get there that it ends up being a gradual transition from say, the jaunty first half of “Forks of the Jailhouse” to the more pensive closing few minutes to its psychedelic rock outro.
Pretty much all of Holy Red Wagon stacks its songs thusly–the frantic percussion in lead single “1000 Engines” isn’t less wild than anything else on the album, and the soaring vocals are as catchy as any other part of the record. The lyrics and their delivery throughout Holy Red Wagon match the music in being triumphant-sounding slices of psychedelia, like Bruiser & Bicycle have just climbed mountains and forded rivers to excitedly tell us all about rats coming out to play and cinnabar altars. A record this full needs to come off as eager in every facet in order to give the listener something to hold onto amidst its swirling parts, and there’s not an aspect to Holy Red Wagon that doesn’t meet this bar. (Bandcamp link)
Forest Bees – Between the Lines
Release date: April 7th Record label: Dandy Boy Genre: Indie pop, dream pop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull Track: At My Sphere
Around the turn of the century, Sheetal Singh played bass in San Francisco shoegaze band The Stratford 4, an Elektra-signed group who disintegrated in the midst of major-label purgatory around 2004. Singh stepped away from music for a while after that–she became a mother, writer, and began a career in children’s education–but she resurfaced in Berkeley in 2020 as Forest Bees, releasing a self-titled debut record that recalled her shoegaze past but also incorporated more electronic and dream pop influences. The second Forest Bees album–arriving via cassette through Dandy Boy Records–continues and expands upon this exploration of a few different stripes of indie music. Between the Lines has plenty of “rock album” touchstones (it features guitar contributions from former Stratford 4 bandmate Chris Streng, among others), but doesn’t feel content to stay in that mode.
Between the Lines was produced by Maryam Qudus of Spacemoth, another band that hovers between those two worlds. Forest Bees feels a bit lighter than Spacemoth–although I definitely hear the Stereolab influence that also marks Qudus’ band, Between the Lines doesn’t quite touch the ground enough to fully recall the French group’s analog-synth-rock, instead evoking some of the more empty-space and electronic-based groups from around the same time. I don’t believe the lack of easy categorization for this record is an accident–it’s literally called Between the Lines, for one, and Singh, the daughter of Indian immigrants, directly says that the “categories” that society might attempt to sort Asian Americans into informed the subject matter of these songs (the music itself reflects this in its incorporation of Bollywood soundtracks into its sound).
Between the Lines is slightly longer than LP length, pushing 50 minutes over its ten tracks. Closing song “All That Damage” stretches over seven minutes in length (although it should be noted that it’s a reworking of a Stratford 4 song that was originally fifteen minutes long, so Singh is, perhaps, actually practicing brevity here). It feels like not only is Singh taking the time to say all she wants to say in these songs–she’s also presenting it in a way that gives everything room to breathe. (Bandcamp link)
Flycatcher – Stunt
Release date: April 4th Record label: Memory Music Genre: Alt-rock, pop punk, fuzz rock Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull Track: Quitter
Stunt, the latest EP from New Brunswick’s Flycatcher, plants itself squarely in the wheelhouse of a certain subset of indie rock fans . Coming after two self-released full-lengths, this five-song record is their debut for Will Yip’s Memory Music, and the quartet harken back to a bygone era of radio rock across the length of Stunt. They’re not quite big 90s post-grunge revivalists like their labelmates Webbed Wing, instead feeling right at home in the world of turn-of-the-century alt-rock. These songs are touched a bit by the era’s pop punk, garage rock, pop-emo, and sincere indie rock without coming off as a pastiche of any of them. Frontperson Gregory Thomas Pease is an earnest lyricist with a lot to say across Stunt, and the rest of Flycatcher (guitarist Justin VanNiekerk, bassist Jack Delle Cava, and drummer Connor Carmelengo) bring the energy to back him up.
Stunt begins with two “rockers”, with the upbeat pop rock of “Games” opening things up in just about as bright and friendly a way as possible musically, even as Pease attempts to unwind an emotional and personal maze in the lyrics. “Always Selfish” is the simmering one, a darker shade of pop punk and alt-rock than the preceding track but still offering up hooks in the form of its chorus and its kickstart of a guitar riff. Flycatcher have a more midtempo mode that they reveal on the rest of the EP, kicking out a couple of emo-tinged slow-build anthems in “Sodas in the Freezer” and “Quitter”, contemplating their way to huge pop choruses. The latter sends Stunt off with an outro of distortion and a soaring guitar solo–sounding grand even while Pease sings about giving up, falling apart, and whatnot. (Bandcamp link)
Welcome to Rosy Overdrive’s March 2023 playlist! With the new year in full swing, almost everything on it comes from music released in the past month or two, so there is a ton of brand new things here for you. I’m planning on doing some more listening to older music in April, so if you miss my “archival” picks, they’ll be back.
Whitney’s Playland has multiple songs on this playlist.
Here is where you can listen to the playlist on various streaming services: Spotify, Tidal, (both of which are missing one song), and 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.
“Idiot Proof (nO SoUp Du JoUr)”, Telehealth From Content Oscillator (2023, Very Famous)
Seattle’s Telehealth is the duo of Alex Attitude and Kendra Cox, and the two of them make some of the most fun egg punk, synth-punk, and all-around Devo-core material I’ve heard in quite some time. Their debut record, Content Oscillator, opens with the pure blast of “Idiot Proof (nO SoUp Du JoUr)”, a positively sparkling piece of synth-punk whose call-and-response chorus will instantly lodge itself in your brain. Read more about Content Oscillator here.
“Let’s Be Friends Again”, The Toms From The Toms (1979, Black Sheep/Feel It)
The Toms’ self-titled debut album has been reissued several times over the years–the latest version of the record, a double-vinyl edition from Cincinnati’s garage rock imprint Feel It Records, feels like an appropriate new home for a landmark home-recorded power pop album. The Toms kicks off with “Let’s Be Friends Again”, an eternal-sounding, massive piece of pop rock that ranks among the finest examples of the genre, bar none, and hasn’t lost any luster over forty-some years. Read more about The Toms here.
“Surf’s Up (Garfield Park)”, Cel Ray From Cellular Raymond (2023)
Cellular Raymond, the debut EP from Chicago garage punk warriors Cel Ray, opens with “Surf’s Up (Garfield Park)”. It’s a straight-up perfect beefed-up power pop-punk tune–for two minutes, Cel Ray put on their best surf rock clothes (which includes a good bucket hat, I think), and lead singer Maddie Daviss’ delivery of everything from the various iterations of the song title to the way their voice cracks at the end (“Where is my towel?”) is just right for the track. Read more about Cellular Raymond here.
“Mercy”, Whitney’s Playland From Sunset Sea Breeze (2023, Meritorio/Paisley Shirt)
Bay Area-esque dreaminess aside, Whitney’s Playland’s Sunset Sea Breeze is also one of the straight-up catchiest records I’ve heard this year–it’s a lo-fi power pop record first and foremost. Following the casual catchiness of the opening title track, the big-electric-guitar-wielding “Mercy” finds Whitney’s Playland getting just a little bit louder, but being just as devoted to indie pop as anywhere else on the album. From the sunny, fuzzy chord progression to Showalter’s matter-of-fact vocals, “Mercy” is a big old pop wrecking ball. Read more about Sunset Sea Breeze here.
“Aloe”, Local Drags From Mess of Everything (2023, Stardumb)
One of the biggest musical Russian roulettes for me is “completely unknown modern power pop band”. It can be something I’ve already forgotten by the time the record is over, or I could find my new favorite song out of nowhere. Local Drags is a power pop group from Springfield, Illinois, and their latest record, Mess of Everything, represents the best of the genre–big, catchy hooks abound on it. They’ve struck gold in particular with “Aloe”–that big riff that opens the song is the one that Paul Westerberg forgot to write (it just feels Midwestern in a way that’s hard to describe), and the other big moment of genius of the song is realizing that the almost-all-vowel “aloe” is the perfect power pop chorus yelping word.
“The Split”, Dancer From Dancer (2023, GoldMold)
Dancer’s self-titled debut cassette EP is a gem of a first release from a Glasgow group that’s flown under the radar a bit despite being comprised of members of some excellent local bands (Order of the Toad, Nightshift, Robert Sotelo). Its five tracks of cheerful, Life without Buildings-esque post-punk are all instantly memorable, but “The Split” is Dancer’s biggest pop moment, a glittering instrumental with vocals that, while not departing overly from the conversational speak-singing, take every right melodic turn for the track as well. Read more about Dancer here.
“21/1”, Fixtures From Hollywood Dog (2023, Bobo Integral/Naturally)
The debut full-length from New York’s Fixtures is an ambitious one–Hollywood Dog takes the foundation of sturdy, guitar-forward 90s indie rock and blow it up with a 2000s indie-esque love of big choruses, auxiliary musicians, and several vocal contributions from various members. The album kicks off with “21/1”, a steady-building indie rock anthem that captures Fixtures’ sound quite well–a saxophone intro gives way to chugging, clear-eyed indie rock that then gets punctuated with an instrumental, horn-based refrain. Read more about Hollywood Dog here.
“Shot Down”, The Unknowns From East Coast Low (2023, Bargain Bin)
Australia has typically been an excellent breeding ground for garage rock/power pop hybrid music, but 2023 has been an especially fertile year for it down under. The latest entry is the second full-length from Brisbane’s The Unknowns, a band that have been around for awhile and have been associated with Aussie punk superstars The Chats (East Coast Low is being put out by the band’s record label, Bargain Bin, and Unknowns singer Josh Hardy recently replaced founding guitarist Josh Price in The Chats). “Shot Down” is pure rock and roll, a muscular collection of hooks with a shout-along chorus that’s got about everything one could want from this kind of music.
“An Objection to the Location of the Entrance to the Girard Ave. ACME (for SEPTA and PRA)”, Emperor X From Suggested Improvements to Transportation Infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor (2023)
The latest Emperor X EP, Suggested Improvements to Transportation Infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor, takes inspiration from, as only Chad Matheny can, “transit policy and 30 years of public infrastructure memories” situated within the American Northeast. “An Objection to the Location of the Entrance to the Girard Ave. ACME (for SEPTA and PRA)” takes place in Philadelphia, but as Matheny points out in the lyrics, the corruption and greed at the heart of the song is happening in “a hundred other towns and a thousand other cities”. Just as importantly, though: “An Objection to the Location…” is an all-time Emperor X indie pop banger that ends with Matheny shouting “guitar!” and “even more guitar!” and being answered by blistering guitar soloing. Read more about Suggested Improvements to Transportation Infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor here.
“Growing Away”, Free Range From Practice (2023, Mick)
Free Range is the indie folk project of Chicago’s Sofia Jensen, with help from a few familiar faces to Rosy Overdrive readers. Jodi’s Nick Levine plays pedal steel and Wurlitzer on a couple of Practice’s tracks, and Noah Roth provides some backing vocals. Roth even co-wrote “Growing Away”, which I didn’t know when I selected it for this playlist–I’m a fan of Roth’s songwriting, so it makes sense, but it’s Jensen’s front-and-center, expressive vocals that truly sell this track for me. The catchiness, vocal delivery, and lyrics all remind me of a stripped-down Remember Sports–certainly a good place to be.
“I Know Nothing at All”, Dazy From OTHERBODY (2023, Lame-O)
Ah, Dazy. James Goodson always has more tunes to offer, it seems. The floodgates opened in late 2020 with a stream of singles and EPs (collected in the essential MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD compilation), continued into last year’s OUTOFBODY, and now we get a surprise-released companion EP, OTHERBODY. Supposedly Goodson recorded about a hundred songs for his debut album, and these eight tracks are selected from this vault–opener “I Know Nothing at All” is a stomper that harkens back to the earlier Dazy recordings and maybe wouldn’t have fit with the slightly more polished and refined nature of OUTOFBODY, but it certainly would’ve been one of my favorite songs on that album had it showed up there. Instead it gets to lead off a collection of songs that’s pretty damn strong in its own right.
“Caller”, Brian Mietz From Wow! (2023, Sludge People)
Brian Mietz’s Panzarotti was one of my favorite albums of 2020, so I’m quite happy to report that the New Jersey singer-songwriter is back next month with Wow!, a brand-new cassette full-length. Lead single “Caller” continues his last record’s winning streak of melancholic power pop–there may a little more reverb on this track than usual, but it’s still really great bummer pop rock for fans of the likes of Fountains of Wayne, Elliott Smith, The Goodbye Party, and Grandaddy.
“Soccer Mommy”, Shalom From Sublimation (2023, Saddle Creek)
I never really got into Soccer Mommy. A lot of people I respect like her music, and I give her props for working with Oneohtrix Point Never, but it was never my thing. I do, however, like this one song about “driv[ing] around, listening to Soccer Mommy” by Shalom. Shalom Obisie-Orlu and ringer Ryan Hemsworth turn the song’s conceit into a lo-fi indie-rock anthem, with Hemsworth soundtracking Obisie-Orlu’s after-the-fact-Eureka-moment lyrics with some in-the-red fuzz rock.
“Ride the Vibe”, Dim Wizard feat. Steve Ciolek, Jeff Rosenstock, and Illuminati Hotties) (2023)
The song’s called “Ride the Vibe”, and it does. Dim Wizard is the Washington, D.C.-based project of David Combs, who also plays in the excellent Bad Moves. There’s only a couple of Dim Wizard songs out there, but this one is a clear winner, and it crams a lot into its four minutes. As you can see from the heading, there’s a lot of people involved in its creation (Jeff Rosenstock co-wrote it, Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin plays synth and guitar, both of them along with The Sidekicks’ Steve Ciolek sing on it, and Dazy’s James Goodson made the artwork)–whatever it took to make this slacker-power-pop jam, it’s a winning combo.
“Broken Bridge”, Sewage Farm From Mould (2023, Safe Suburban Home)
Although Sewage Farm’s name (as well as the title and artwork to Mould) conjure up images of scuzzy noise rock and roughed-up underground punk groups, the York band hews towards the tuneful side of the Our Band Could Be Your Life-core sound on their latest EP. Opening track “Broken Bridge” in particular kicks Mould off with all the right kinds of Hüsker Dü and Dinosaur Jr.-inspired moves, offering up a massive power pop hook dressed up in fuzzy, distorted clothing. Read more about Mould here.
“Unsolved Mysteries”, Connections From Cool Change (2023, Trouble in Mind)
Connections’ sixth record and first in a half decade doesn’t lose any steam in terms of offering up lo-fi, Ohio-bred power pop through and through. The B-side of Cool Change arguably bests the first half of the record–for one thing, that’s where you’ll find “Unsolved Mysteries”, a vintage Connections anthem if I’ve ever heard one. Everything’s in its right pop place on the two-point-five minute track, and Kevin Elliott’s delivery of the “We’re unsolved mysteries / The good and bad and the in-between,” is typically excellent work from an underrated frontman. Read more about Cool Change here.
“Time Moves for Me”, Disintegration From Time Moves for Me (2023, Feel It)
Alright, alright. Cleveland’s Disintegration are a new synth-punk trio made up of Haley Himiko from the under-appreciated Pleasure Leftists, plus Cloud Nothings’ Christopher Brown and Profligate’s Noah Anthony. The title track of their debut EP, Time Moves for Me, is an instant winner–it glides for five minutes over a hard-hitting drum machine, smartly deployed synths, and Himiko’s sweeping vocals. Hopefully Pleasure Leftists are still active in some form, but either way, I’d happily take an album of songs like “Time Moves for Me”.
“World Series Hangover”, Tombstone Poetry From World Series Hangover (2023, Candlepin)
The latest record from Tombstone Poetry is a five-song cassette EP called World Series Hangover. As a lo-fi, fuzzy country-gaze group from Asheville, North Carolina, the MJ Lenderman comparisons write themselves, but this seems unfair to singer-songwriter Caelan Burris, who’s been making music since before Lenderman “blew up”. I also hear some Conor Oberst influence on World Series Hangover, although the title track rocks in a haunted way, almost reminding me of Red House Painters’ more electric moments.
“Crawling Off Your Pages”, Eyelids From A Colossal Waste of Light (2023, Jealous Butcher)
Well, it’s new Eyelids season, so everyone get your vintage, blissful jangle pop-listening headgear on. The fourth Eyelids full-length (five if you count the half-live, half-odds-and-ends Maybe More) opens with “Crawling Off Your Pages”, a timeless-sounding piece of modern college rock in which both Chris Slusarenko and John Moen’s vocals and the guitars are melodic juggernauts and monoliths. A Colossal Waste of Light features plenty more pop rock goodness (like single “Everything That I See You See Better”), but Eyelids sets the bar high early.
“Slow Motion Pain”, Near Beer (2023, Double Helix)
NEAR BEER’s self-titled debut record was one of my favorite albums of last year, so I’m happy to see that the Los Angeles trio are already back with a couple of (I assume) non-album singles. What’s more, my favorite of the two new tracks, “Slow Motion Pain”, feels like a step forward for the band and for songwriter Joey Siara. Musically, the song adds some jangly guitars to NEAR BEER’s underdog indie-punk sound, and it’s a perfect match, while Siara situates the song in the middle of a conversation at a holiday party, delivering several memorable lines in conveying the exchange (not the least of which is the title line).
“Watching the Credits”, The Beths (2023, Carpark)
Wake up, it’s new Beths time! “Watching the Credits” was recorded during the sessions for the band’s excellent third record, Expert in a Dying Field (one of Rosy Overdrive’s Favorite Albums of 2022)–I’m not sure why it didn’t make the cut, because it’s a vintage Beths tune through and through, with a chorus that could rank among their finest (and that’s a crowded field, to be sure, so I don’t say that lightly). The lyrics, in which songwriter Elizabeth Stokes presents herself as a director, feel like a way for her to talk about disillusionment and the pressure of having a “job in the arts” with one degree of remove (The violin touches coming after referencing film soundtracks–are they a bit on the nose? Sure. Does it matter? Not really).
“Carol Kane”, Toilet Rats From IV (2023, Brontosaurus Forever)
Truthfully, IV doesn’t sound anywhere near as trashy as I would expect a synthpunk group from Minneapolis named “Toilet Rats” to sound. That’s not a bad thing, mind you–especially considering that Thomas Rehbein (aka Tommy Ratz) embraces the widescreen version of new wave/80s synth-rock with these bite-sized anthems on IV. One of the best examples of this is “Carol Kane”, a surging piece of drum machine-aided post-punk that explodes into a shout-along, massive chorus. It’s about the movie When a Stranger Calls, by the way, starring the song’s titular actor, just to clear that up.
“Never Mean”, Tombeau From Idiot Rock (2023)
Alright, we’ve got some more Aussie garage punk here for you, and this one is a true gem. Wollongong’s Tombeau is the project of Tom Jones–the latest Tombeau release, the five-song Idiot Rock EP, is headlined by “Never Mean”, a brilliant sub-two minute piece of egg punk in which Jones and guest singer Jasmine Melinz trade off lead vocals from line to line. Over top of a running bassline and some beepy synths, Jones’ voice sounds human…ish (in a very Devo-y way), and Melinz’s conversational style balances it nicely.
“Black ‘n’ Milds”, Timeout Room From Tight-Ass Goku Pictures (2023, Tough Gum)
S.T. McCrary is a longtime Louisiana punk veteran who recently started a new project to explore another love of his–lo-fi, home-recorded guitar pop. Timeout Room’s debut album, Tight-Ass Goku Pictures, combines Wipers-esque one-man punk rock with Flying Nun/Cleaners from Venus-esque “whimsical” indie pop in a way that creates a weird mutant hybrid of the two–and a ton of catchy songs along the way. “Black ‘n’ Milds”, hidden on the second half of the album, is perhaps the biggest electric success on Tight-Ass Goku Pictures–it has a casual, effortless-seeming brilliance to it, but few of the many similarly-minded reverb-y, lo-fi pop albums can actually pull something like this song off. Read more about Tight-Ass Goku Pictures here.
“Tiny Frame”, Rust Ring From North to the Future (2023, Knifepunch)
North to the Future is a substantial emo-punk anthem record through and through, and nowhere on the album is this more apparent than single “Tiny Frame”. It’s certainly not the only track on North to the Future in which Chicago’s Rust Ring go all-out in their delivery, but “Tiny Frame” in particular conjures the feeling of scaling to the top of the rugged Alaskan terrain in which the album as a whole is set. Frontwoman Joram Zbichorski clutches the title line triumphantly, a true, confident moment of declaration. Read more about North to the Future here.
“Flower of Life”, Taleen Kali From Flower of Life (2023, Dum Dum)
The first full-length record from Los Angeles’ Taleen Kali is made up of ten loud, electric shoegaze-tinged tracks that still retain a pop core, and Kali’s strong presence as a frontperson is instrumental in helping sell both the energy and catchiness of Flower of Life. Kali and the band come barreling out of the gate with hard-charging opening title track–a swirling, foot-on-gas piece of distorted psych rock, “Flower of Life” blows open the rest of the record and establishes that the band is shooting for something heavier and denser than dreamy reverb-rock. Read more about Flower of Life here.
“Yer All in My Dreams”, Purling Hiss From Drag on Girard (2023, Drag City)
Drag on Girard is Purling Hiss’ first proper record in seven years, but the Philadelphia fuzz rockers kick off the record in the friendliest, most welcome way possible. “Yer All in My Dreams” is four and a half minutes of the group at their Dinosaur Jr.-recalling best–from the title on down to its potent concoction of some light jam band, light country rock, not-so-light guitar heroics, and nonstop massive melodies and hooks. Somehow the song feels half as long as it is–Purling Hiss could’ve ridden this groove out for quite a bit longer before it dragged.
Whitney’s Playland hail from San Francisco, and their debut record fits in with the sleepy, dreamy Bay Area jangle pop that Paisley Shirt Records (who released this album on cassette) has been documenting as of late. Sunset Sea Breeze’s opening title track is a transcendent indie pop experience, riding a simple ascending acoustic-guitar-and-bass progression triumphantly in a way that sounds like The Crabs crossed with The Sundays. Read more about Sunset Sea Breeze here.
“Meteora Blues”, Yves Tumor From Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (2023, Warp)
I got on board with Yves Tumor after their breakout record, 2018’s Safe in the Hands of Love, which combined spacey modern industrial with the attitude of 90s alt-rock, and I’ve stayed a happy camper as Tumor has become more and more interested in incorporating the guitar-based sound into their music. While I’m not sure if I like Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) as much as 2020’s Heaven to a Tortured Mind, the highlights are just as good, at the very least. “Meteora Blues” is a blistering noise pop/shoegaze-rooted track that offers up wall-of-sound guitar textures and lead guitar heroics at the same time.
“The Most”, Miniaturized From Minituarized (2023, Manchester)
San Diego’s Miniaturized cover a lot of ground on their expansive self-titled debut album–it spends a lot of time probing mid-tempo college and heartland rock, but the group fully roar to life in the middle of the record with the synth-accented power pop/alt-rock of “The Most”. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Timothy Joseph really sells the go-for-broke, could’ve-been-a-hit-in-a-different-era chorus–Dave Grohl wishes he thought of this one. Read more about Miniaturized here.
“Shouldn’t Fear the Seer”, Mulva From Seer (2023)
Mulva is a new Providence-based band led by Christina Puerto, guitarist in Kal Marks and Bethlehem Steel, and also featuring Carl Shane (of the former of Puerto’s bands), Patrick Ronayne (of the latter), and Adam Berkowiz (of Ex-Breathers). Based on their lineup, it’s no surprise that their debut EP, Seer, is an intriguing record of heavy-leaning alt-rock. The semi-title track, “Shouldn’t Fear the Seer”, is my pick for their best single tune yet, a mix of lumbering noise rock and some prettier sections recalling 90s indie rock, with Puerto’s vocals shifting themselves accordingly.
“Quiet Covers Up a Lot”, Leon in the Wild From Leon in the Wild (2023, Recorded Psychic Readings)
San Francisco’s Leon in the Wild has been dropping non-album singles since 2020–for his debut physical release, a self-titled cassette EP, Recorded Psychic Readings has collected them along with a couple of brand-new tracks. One of these songs is the sharp “Quiet Covers Up a Lot”, a super catchy piece of power pop that combines the casualness of the 90s indie rock that’s a big influence on Leon’s music with California surf/fuzz rock to make a slacker rock hit.
“Matt and Adam”, Fairmont From Fairmont (2023)
Fairmont are an emo-punk group from Salt Lake City, and the band’s latest release, a four-song self-titled EP, came out at the beginning of this year. Fairmont throws some heartland pop punk in with their more traditional emo revival, and record highlight “Matt and Adam” even adds some 90s alt-rock and college rock jangle to the mix. “Matt and Adam” is a fine entry into the Gin Blossoms, Lemonheads, and solo Paul Westerberg-touched subgenre of punk rock–perhaps filtered through the lens of Joyce Manor and other emo-punk groups that have been drawing from the same well, but it sounds great regardless.
“Ordinary Misery”, Sakkaris From Ordinary Misery (2023, BIRTHDIY)
The latest record from Sakkaris–the Los Angeles-based duo of twin brothers Alex & Kevin Liu–is twenty minutes of no-fat lo-fi, reverb-y, surf/jangle-tinged indie rock that offers up plenty of catchiness in a humble, no-frills package. The title track to Ordinary Misery is the immediate standout, mainly thanks to its massive guitar riff of a hook–that alone would brighten the corners of any subgenre of guitar pop record, but on Ordinary Misery, it’s just one ace pop moment of many. Read more about Ordinary Misery here.
“Absolute Elsewhere (A Mile & a Day)”, Galactic Static From Golden Aeons of Absolute Elsewhere (2023, Corrupted TV)
Happy to welcome New York’s “intergalactic friendship-core duo” Galactic Static back–2021’s Friendly Universe was an ace under-the-radar record of lo-fi power pop, and half of the group (Conor Mac) stretched out a little bit on last year’s Diet Daydream as Soft Screams. Golden Aeons of Absolute Elsewhere is “a mixtape from a parallel universe”–not quite a full-length, but it still has time in its seventeen minutes for a couple of pop rock hits, my favorite of which is “Absolute Elsewhere (A Mile and a Day)”, a song that manages to be sweeping despite its lo-fi ingredients.
“A Love Song”, The Bug Club From Pure Particles (2021, Bingo/We Are Busy Bodies)
“How many times can you say ‘fuck’ in a love song / And really mean it?” Welsh trio The Bug Club ask this and several other thoughtful questions in the 74-second, delightfully profane “A Love Song”, in the form of gleeful, runaway rock and roll. While it’s a brief sample of what the band were doing on Pure Particles, their recently-reissued 2021 “mini-LP”, it’s a damn good one (and, in case you were wondering, The Bug Club do respond to their opening question: “The answer is nine”). Read more about Pure Particles here.
“Temps Gris”, M’lasse From M’lasse (2023)
I’ve encountered a bunch of pretty under-the-radar Canadian bands over the past month–in this post, we’re going to focus on Montreal’s M’lasse for a minute. These French Canadians put out their debut release, a self-titled EP, back in February, and it jumps around from shoegaze to surf rock to 90s-inspired indie rock over its six songs. Highlight “Temps Gris” even hops around within itself, starting off vaguely rough-and-tumble and even a little punk-adjacent before throwing in a melodic, dreamy-jangle pop guitar hook and eventually settling into fuzzy noise pop.
“My Therapist Said I Have a Fear of Time (He’s Right)”, Resignation From You Are More Than Right Now (2023, Friend Club)
Resignation are a Toledo, Ohio group featuring members of Oscar Bait and few other Midwest punk bands, and their Bandcamp description (“RIYL: Hot Water Music, Samiam, Grade, Silent Majority, Split Lip, Fairweather”) gives you decent ballpark guess of what to expect on their latest release, the five-song You Are More Than Right Now cassette EP. Record highlight “My Therapist Said I Have a Fear of Time (He’s Right)” is a great emo-pop-punk anthem, with Resignation polishing up their sound just enough to let the chorus soar the way it does.
“Dangerous”, Nova One From Create Myself (2023, Community)
Create Myself is the second full-length record from Providence, Rhode Island’s NOVA ONE, and it’s a solid and casual collection of smooth, dreamy indie rock. Lead single “Dangerous” isn’t the only song on Create Myself that rocks, but the way that NOVA ONE frontperson Roz Raskin and their collaborators pull this one off in particular is impressive and pleasing to hear. It’s a dream pop skeleton blown up to full-on fuzz rock, with a melodic bass running past jagged but comforting stabs of amped-cranked, distortion-heavy guitar.
“Frantically Wrong”, Real Terms From Vantage (2023)
Vantage is an intriguing record that I stumbled upon recently. Real Terms are a British group that make math rock on the poppy end of the spectrum, perhaps trending into “light prog” territory. The record kind of reminds me of XTC, but with an unmistakable “made by some math rock dudes” sheen. “Frantically Wrong” isn’t the only hooky song on the record, but it’s the one that’s continued to stick with me the most–everything on the track is catchy, and the chorus is doubly so.
“Welcome to the Project!”, Kondratieff Wave Generator From High Rise (2023, Unimagined Futures)
I don’t know a whole lot about Kondratieff Wave Generator–right now they’re based in Portland, Oregon, but they also may be from Dundee originally, or they just lived there at one point, so I’m not even sure on that. Their latest record, High Rise, is six songs of really spaced-out indie rock that pull from dream pop, shoegaze, ambient, post-rock, jangle pop… “Welcome to the Project!” is the clear “hit” on High Rise, presenting Kondratieff Wave Generator’s whole thing in a four-minute, reverb-y indie bedroom pop package, with a wistful-sounding but quite catchy refrain.
“Baby Food”, The Pretty Flowers From A Company Sleeve (2023, Double Helix)
Back in the (relatively) early days of the site, I highlighted “Bucket Beach”, a self-released, one-off single from Los Angeles’ The Pretty Flowers, which was a nice slice of slacker/jangle pop. Now the group has a new label, a new full-length record on the way (which will also feature “Bucket Beach”), and a new lead single in the perky power-pop-punk anthem “Baby Food”. A bit rougher around the edges than “Bucket Beach” but still quite hooky and friendly, “Baby Food” sprints through some major-label Replacements-era pop rock, slows everything down, and then pulls off a big finish.
“Ride”, Nothing Natural From NN (2023, Dandy Boy)
Oakland’s Nothing Natural are one of many new guitar groups to spring up from the Bay Area in recent years, but the sound of their debut cassette EP helps them stick out a bit among their peers. NN is 25-minutes of unabashed 90s alt-rock, fuzz rock, and borderline-shoegaze worship–it’s closer to the roster Candlepin Records or even New Morality Zine than their indie pop stalwart home of Dandy Boy Records. Still, Nothing Natural know a good pop hook, and “Ride” is slacker rock of the catchiest variety. The single feels torn between the tryhard alt-rock of Smashing Pumpkins and modern nü-shoegaze revivalists and tongue-in-cheek 90s indie rock revival, but either way, that guitar riff hook is undeniable.
Happy April! Today’s Pressing Concerns covers a pretty wide range: we look at the recent output of The Bug Club (vinyl reissues of their two most recent studio records, plus a surprise-released live album), the debut LP from Miniaturized, the reunion album from Samuel S.C., and a reissue of Lack of Knowledge‘s debut record.
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.
The Bug Club – Pure Particles & Green Dream in F# (Vinyl Reissues) / Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits Perform! One Foot in Bethlehem
Release date: April 14th / March 24th Record label: We Are Busy Bodies/Bingo Genre: Power pop, twee Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull Tracks: Sitting on the Rings of Saturn / A Love Song / One Foot in Bethlehem
The Bug Club are a Welsh trio who’ve been steadily amassing a following since the release of their debut single on Bingo Records at the beginning of the decade. The group (guitarist/vocalist Sam Willmett, bassist/vocalist Tilly Harris, and drummer Dan Matthew) released the “mini-LP” Pure Particles in 2021, and their proper full-length debut Green Dream in #F followed last year (and made Rosy Overdrive’s Favorite Records of 2022 Year-End List). With initial U.K. pressings sold out and no North American-based release, The Bug Club signed with Canadian label We Are Busy Bodies to release these two records on the other side of the pond for the first time, as well as to put out Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits Perform! One Foot in Bethlehem, a surprise-released live record comprised of fourteen brand-new songs. It’s a good time to revisit a couple fine collections of sharp power pop with personality.
The Bug Club’s bio mentions Jonathan Richman, and The Modern Lovers are a good a starting point comparison-wise as anything. They’re quite twee in their songwriting, marrying winning pop melodies to tunes about vegetable gardens, Saturn and Jupiter, and art. Nevertheless, there’s a power pop/garage rock edge to the group’s music that gives these songs a bit of an extra punch. Pure Particles I’d never heard in full before, and it’s a treat to find that the core Bug Club sound was largely in place by this record. If it’s slightly “simpler” than where they’d go on their next album, that’s hardly a complaint–album highlights include the runaway rock and roll of the excitedly profane “A Love Song” and (of course) “My Baby Loves Rock & Roll Music”.
From their first record, the effortlessly groovy pop rock of “Vegetable Garden” and the (slightly) tamer hooks of “If My Mother Think I’m Happy” are the ones that set the blueprint for Green Dream in F# to follow. The Bug Club’s first full-length still sounds as fresh and overstuffed as it did when I heard it last year–the early garage-power-pop-rock rippers (“Only in Love”, “Little Coy Space Boy”, “Love Is a Painting”) haven’t lost their brightness, and just as importantly, the more varied but no less potent styles of guitar pop offered on the record’s B-side (the big-finish of “Going Down”, the slightly unruly retroism of “Sitting on the Rings of Saturn”, the ever-so-light “Love Letters from Jupiter”) still remain intriguing.
Green Dream in F# is a step forward from their already-solid debut in its ability to captivate completely across fourteen songs and thirty minutes–and then there is the curveball that is Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits Perform! One Foot in Bethlehem. Recorded by the band’s alter ego, Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits, over the course of a United Kingdom tour in January and February, the album is an off-the-cuff adventure that allows the band to introduce some more classic pop songs into their canon (“One Foot in Bethlehem”, “It’s Not Mine”, “I Don’t Know How to Rock and Roll with Emily”), as well as serving as a fairly blistering sample of The Bug Club’s live prowess–the six-minute sprint of “Suck It”, the smoking “Clapping in Time”, and the closing duo of “I’m Not Going to Heaven” and “I Don’t Want to Go to Hell” all feel like they’d be remarkable to witness in person. Where to next, Bug Club? (Bandcamp link)
Miniaturized – Miniaturized
Release date: March 31st Record label: Manchester Genre: Alt-rock Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull Track: The Most
The members of San Diego’s Miniaturized have a pretty strong pedigree, with several of them having contributed to the city’s most well-known bands–drummer/percussionists Maria Rubalcala and Chris Prescott have played with Rocket from the Crypt and Hot Snakes (for the former) and Pinback and No Knife (the latter), bassist Brian Desjean was also in No Knife, and their self-titled debut was produced by none other than Mitch Easter. Miniaturized’s bandleader, singer/songwriter/guitarist Timothy Joseph, is less familiar to me, but he’s been playing music in San Diego for a few decades, enough to pull together this supporting cast for what was initially supposed to be a one-off tribute show to one of Joseph’s biggest idols, Tom Petty. Petty’s heartland rock, the 80s college rock associated with Easter, and Hot Snakes’ garage rock all figure into the sound of Miniaturized, a nearly-hourlong collection of disparate alt-rock anthems.
Miniaturized starts off relatively unassumingly with the dreamy, low-key college rock of “Riots” and “Blue Glass”, but there’s a tough full-band undercurrent to these songs that starts to peak out in the mid-tempo march of the title track, and then fully roars to life in the power pop/alt-rock of “The Suitor” and “The Most”. Songs like “Life Underground” find Miniaturized layering up, building up a relatively barebones structure into blurry, swirling, psychedelic rock and roll. Joseph and the band offer up a couple slow-starting power ballads with “Cave In” and “Peligroso”, with the former in particular mimicking the cavalcade implied by its title to be a highlight of the record. Perhaps invigorated by his new backing band, Joseph tries on several different skins for his songwriting over fourteen tracks–it’s a lot to take in with one spin, but it’s worth continuing to listen actively until the end of Miniaturized, as the final trio of songs (particularly the Ted Leo-esque “Perfect Angles”) is a fine a run as anything else on the album. (Bandcamp link)
Samuel S.C. – High Places
Release date: February 17th Record label: ORG Genre: 90s indie rock, indie punk, emo Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull Track: Syracuse in Winter
You’d be forgiven for missing it during the holiday season, but towards the end of last year I wrote about 94-95, a compilation of recordings from 90s emo-punk band Samuel. The reissuing of their discography on vinyl was accompanied by the announcement of a band reunion and a brand new Samuel (now known as Samuel S.C., paying tribute to their original hometown of State College, Pennsylvania) full-length, High Places. The album is a mix of “reimagined” 90s Samuel songs and new songs written by the reunited quartet over the past couple years (I’d guess that the songs featuring a co-writing credit from former guitarist Josh Deutsch are the older ones). Long gap aside, High Places succeeds in both hanging together as a whole and in capturing the energy of an active, engaged group. High Places is unmistakably the work of a “90s band”–the decade’s roaring indie punk, Dischord Records jaggedness, and emo all figure into the record’s sound–but it takes a reinvigorated group of musicians to pull it off.
When I highlighted opening track “All Up in It” last month, I compared the album as a whole to Majesty Shredding, and I stand by that in terms of career trajectory as much as sound. The first two songs on High Places are classic underdog punk anthems, before “Unfortunate” and “Syracuse and Winter” slow things down enough to allow the band’s emo side (and lead singer Vanessa Downing’s vocals) to shine. Downing’s voice is front-and-center throughout the entire record, and it remains one of Samuel S.C.’s strongest weapons (particularly when it combines with backing vocalist James Marinelli in “Syracuse in Winter” and “In Sleep”). The catchiness of High Places’ eight songs really stands out with repeat listens–one playthrough, the casual college pop rock of “Endless Golden” will stick out, another time it’ll be the intricate sprint of “The Front”. By the time Downing and Marinelli stop singing against each other and combine forces for the chorus of “In Sleep”, it’s apparent that High Places isn’t just “good for a reunion album”–this is a solid emo record, no qualifiers necessary. (Bandcamp link)
Lack of Knowledge – The Uninvited (Reissue)
Release date: March 23rd Record label: Floating Mill/No Plan Genre: Post-punk, anarcho-punk Formats: Cassette, vinyl, digital Pull Track: The Uninvited
London’s Lack of Knowledge are a piece of anarcho-punk history. Active from 1978 to 1986, the group got signed to Crass Records (and later their sublabel, Corpus Christi) as teenagers and put out a full-length and several EPs during their eight years. Their first release was a 7” record put out by the band independently, “The Uninvited” backed with “Ritual”, and the strength of it was enough to get the attention of Crass. Originally released in 1982, these songs have resurfaced forty years later thanks to the help of Pittsburgh archival label Floating Mill (The Antelopes, The Stick Figures, Self Improvement), who are releasing the two tracks plus one outtake on cassette for the first time ever (a corresponding vinyl reissue from Germany’s No Plan Records appears to have sold out quite quickly).
From the opening and title track to The Uninvited, it becomes apparent that Lack of Knowledge weren’t strict practitioners of breakneck-paced, unhinged anarchist punk rock–they start things off with fairly restrained-sounding, bass-driven, vintage post-punk. While it’s certainly a less “polished” version of the sound put forward by the biggest names in the genre, it’s certainly no less potent for it. “Ritual” and the previously-unreleased “The Men” both follow in a similar vein of dark but tuneful garage rock-sounding post-punk, although they differentiate themselves solidly–the faster-paced “Ritual” has a bit of Fall-esque punchiness to it, and “The Men” takes a skeleton that loosely sounds like punk and hollows it out to make something cavernous. All three of these songs sound fresh and worth uncovering some four decades after their humble beginnings. (Bandcamp link)
The last Pressing Concerns of March covers a big release Friday! Three great records out tomorrow (from Telehealth, Mystic 100’s, and The Declining Winter) are here, plus an album from earlier this week from DJ Silky Smooth. If you missed Monday’s post (covering The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Rust Ring, Eggs on Mars, and Sakkaris), check that one out too.
If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.
Telehealth – Content Oscillator
Release date: March 31st Record label: Very Famous Genre: New wave, synthpunk, egg punk, post-punk Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital Pull Track: Idiot Proof (nO SoUp Du JoUr)
Telehealth’s Content Oscillator is a rare album. The record is a collaboration between Seattle’s Alex Attitude (of Deep Sea Diver, Kithkin, and Brian John Appleby) and Kendra Cox (of Lemolo)–Attitude is the head songwriter, and both of them sing. Attitude stepped away from music for a few years to be an architect, but quickly became disillusioned with the paper-thin utopianism of this new industry–the dressing up of the status quo in progressive and deceptively-sustainable-seeming packages. Thus a return to rock music was in order for a decidedly reinvigorated Attitude, and Telehealth was born.
Telehealth’s debut record, Content Oscillator, is an incredibly fun-sounding synthpop/egg punk/new wave record, devoting just as much time to jamming Attitude’s observations, sketches, and satirical portrayals into these songs as it does to making them as enjoyable and entertaining as possible. This is to say–Telehealth sound a lot like Devo on Content Oscillator. I’m not sure if I’ve heard a modern band that nails the “Devo” sound better than Telehealth. And, befitting of its subject matter, Attitude and Cox accomplish this by embracing much more than surface-level “Devo-core” aesthetics, going further and dedicating themselves to developing an entire green-tinted worldview over the course of the record.
“Idiot Proof (nO SoUp Du JoUr)” is a pure blast of an opening track, a positively sparkling piece of synth-punk whose call-and-response chorus will instantly lodge itself in your brain. The first half of Content Oscillator offers up a few withering songs in “Hyper Tech Green Investment Guy” (“I work hard–I’m not a cop!”) and “Unsafe Feeling” (featuring dagger after dagger of a delivery from Cox), but Telehealth don’t slow down the chugging egg-punk-pop machine from there, instead dragging their subjects along with them gleefully. Take “Do the In-Between” right in the middle of the record–the single turns the way true uniqueness and optimism can get sapped and watered down to nothing by bad-faith actors into a dance craze.
Although Attitude takes the mic more frequently of the two, Cox’s turns up front end up being quite memorable, nailing the casually pulverizing nature of the post-punk-y “Blinding Hour”. Telehealth never lose their fire throughout Content Oscillator, but they do show a new dimension towards the end of the record with a few pretty synthpop tunes (“Cool Breeze”, “No Time Lost”). Still, the rousing “Yr Groove” is what Telehealth choose to send off Content Oscillator. As sharp and satisfying it is as a closing track musically, Attitude and Telehealth resist the trap of trying to wrap up something as thorny as Content Oscillator’s subject matters neatly. “If things are ending, does it mean I’m free?” Attitude wonders over a surging new wave instrumental. There’s no answer, just the groove. (Bandcamp link)
Mystic 100’s – On a Micro Diet
Release date: March 31st Record label: Listening House/Online Ceramics Genre: Psychedelic rock, experimental rock, garage rock Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull Track: Windowpane
Mystic 100’s were, for their reign of terror in the 2010s, known as Milk Music, roaring in from the Pacific Northwest and making two beloved records of noisy, fuzzy, 80s-underground-inspired indie-punk-rock before disappearing following 2017’s Mystic 100’s. In the six interstitial years, Milk Music spread from their origins in Olympia and Seattle to across the West Coast, added two new members (percussionist Travis Coster and piano/synth player Abby Dahlquist join the original line-up of guitarist/vocalist Alex Coxen, guitarist Dave Harris, bassist Charles Waring, and drummer Joe Rutter), and took the name of their previous full-length record for the new edition of their band. Befitting of the name change, there are traces of Milk Music on On a Micro Diet, but it sounds like nothing the band has done before. A massive double album of pure psychedelic rock, the record takes the Milk Music garage rock sound and blows it up, out, and to pieces.
I would say that the opening title track sets the tone for what to expect on On a Micro Diet, but the only way that’s really true is that it tells you to expect the unexpected. “On a Micro Diet” feigns a classic Milk Music opening until immediately veering into a ten-minute acid-dripping psychedelic jam session–not long after it, the nine-minute “Drug Man” tops it by straight-up morphing into jazz-rock, and the two jams are connected by “Message from Lonnie”, which isn’t as freewheeling but is still eight minutes of the loosest psych-tinged ballad you’ll hear. Fans of Mystic 100’s’ work under their old name will be immediately drawn to “Windowpane”, a five-minute catchy fuzz-rock tune that feels more dramatic than Mystic 100’s as a whole but shows they can still pull off that “sound” quite well. After that song and the equally-accessible country-psych of “Two Souls”, however, it’s back to the nearly-twenty minute “Have You Ever Chased a Lightbeam?”, and the rest of On a Micro Diet’s vibes are only broken up by the sub-one-minute garage-punk yelp of “On a Micro Diet 2”. Tune into the Mystic 100’s frequency–it’s worth it. (Bandcamp link)
The Declining Winter – Really Early, Really Late
Release date: March 31st Record label: Home Assembly/Rusted Rail Genre: Slowcore, post-rock, folk rock Formats: Vinyl, cassette, CD, digital Pull Track: Song of the Moor Fire
Richard Adams is probably most well-known for his work with Hood, the northern English band he co-led with his brother Chris and which released a ton of post-rock-and-slowcore-indebted records in the roughly fifteen years they were actively recording. The last Hood album came out in 2005, and since then, Richard has been, if anything, even more prolific with his solo project, The Declining Winter. Not counting EPs, splits, and remix albums, I believe that Really Early, Really Late is the eighth Declining Winter record since 2008. Over three decades into making this kind of music, Adams’ new album reaches towards beauty like the best of this genre does–considering that emptiness and restraint are key factors in slowcore, Adams’ experience has likely only aided his ability to reach its heights.
Really Early, Really Late finds itself on the pastoral English, almost-folky side of slowcore, and post-rock–strings (from violinist Sarah Kemp and cellist Peter Hollo) abound–Adams cites the likes of Mark Hollis and Robert Wyatt as inspiration for the double album. Synths color the record as well–perhaps not as electronic-friendly as Hood at their most adventurous, but nor is Really Early, Really Late a Luddite album. Songs like opening duo “The Darkening Way” and “Song of the Moor Fire”, as well as “Yellow Fields”, build deliberately around acoustic, folk skeletons, while “This Heart Beats Black” gets tugged along by synths anchored by Adams’ bass playing. There are moments of (controlled chaos) in some of Really Early, Really Late’s longer numbers, but The Declining Winter build to them to the point where they’re just another piece of a larger puzzle. (Bandcamp link)
DJ Silky Smooth – I’m Glad for Life
Release date: March 27th Record label: Bee Side Cassettes Genre: Indie pop, indie folk, experimental pop Formats: CD, cassette, digital Pull Track: Concorde
Although the “DJ” at the front of DJ Silky Smooth’s stage name might be a bit of a misnomer, the rest of the moniker fits his music just fine. DJ Silky Smooth (aka Jacob Schwartz) has been making music under the name since at least 2017, and his latest full-length record is full of bright, shiny, guitar-based indie pop songs. Schwartz is based in Brooklyn, but the friendly, warm sound of I’m Glad for Life isn’t far off from several acts originating in his label Bee Side Cassette’s home of Albany, like Another Michael, Blue Ranger, and (in nearby Troy) Russel the Leaf. Instead of sticking to more pure folk/baroque indie rock, however, Silky Smooth ensures that the “DJ” isn’t just there for show with some interesting electronic additions, the occasional vocal effect, and prominent drum machines.
“Offbeat” touches aside, I’m Glad for Life is an indie pop record first and foremost. DJ Silky Smooth has plenty of tricks in his bag, but rather than overwhelm each of the album’s thirteen tracks, he’ll add a couple to each song, knock out a hook, and move on in about two minutes. Schwartz pitches his voice up and down in “Floaty” and adds some whirring synths, but the crystal-clear acoustic guitar is the main feature of the song. “Birds” in particular presents the two sides hand in hand, with a whimsical acoustic guitar, 80s synths, and some referee-whistle sound effects all taking their turns to underline Schwartz’s sincere, melodic vocals. Schwartz delivers a particularly affecting performance in “Concorde”, and it shines through the drum machines dancing all over the track. When we finally get a chance to hear Schwartz alone with his guitar in “Secret Track”, he’s singing “I’ve fallen in love with a toaster”–truly not a dull moment on this record. (Bandcamp link)
Welcome back! I know what you’re here for–It’s time to start your week off with new music. Today’s Pressing Concerns looks at new albums from The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Rust Ring,Eggs on Mars, and Sakkaris.
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.
The Reds, Pinks & Purples – The Town That Cursed Your Name
Release date: March 24th Record label: Slumberland/Tough Love Genre: Jangle pop, indie pop Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital Pull Track: Mistakes (Too Many to Name)
At this point, we know roughly how a Reds, Pinks & Purples album is going to sound–if for no other reason than we’ve received a lot of new music from the Glenn Donaldson project as of late. 2022 saw the release of three Reds, Pinks & Purples full-lengths, a couple of EPs, and an instrumental record. In recent years, Donaldson has used the Reds, Pinks & Purples to establish himself as perhaps the archetypical songwriter in a crowded San Francisco jangle pop scene. His records offer up gently-strummed chord progressions, generous melodies, and a wistful, melancholic voice overseeing it all. That being said, the first Reds, Pinks & Purples album of 2023, The Town That Cursed Your Name, feels pretty distinct from their last couple of full-lengths–it’s a bit louder, more electric, and fuzzier than Summer at Land’s End or They Only Wanted Your Soul.
While no one is going to mistake Donaldson for a garage punk on The Town That Cursed Your Name, an indie music historian like him is well aware that beautiful melodies and distortion have long gone hand in hand. Not that anyone needs an excuse to crank up the amps a little bit, but the album’s somewhat meta-subject matter–which at the very least warmly nods to fledgling bands and musicians, if not outright treating them in an openly celebratory manner–feels like an appropriate pairing for it. The album opens with a sketch of a musician in “Too Late for an Early Grave” who’s never even had a “brush” with fame, and it’s unclear how much of the take-off tale of “Leave It All Behind” is meant as hypothetical, real-life, or fantasy. Donaldson remains the unchanging, tilting-towards-emotion center of the record, whether he’s singing over acoustic guitars or the swirling distortion of songs like “Burning Sunflowers” and “Life in the Void”.
Donaldson’s most emotive turn on The Town That Cursed Your Name probably comes with “Mistakes (Too Many to Name)”, a triumphant-sounding anthem that’s tempered by Donaldson wondering of himself “How can one person make so many mistakes?” in a tone that conveys real disbelief. In the title track, Donaldson takes a step back and lets the lyrics’ futility and failure speak for itself, moving along at a brisk pace. For album closer “Break Up the Band”, Donaldson offers up something not found elsewhere on the record–a full-on piano ballad. If it wasn’t already clear by this point where the Reds, Pinks & Purples stand on the matter of the town-cursed band, Donaldson’s closing benediction gives the game away. (Bandcamp link)
Rust Ring – North to the Future
Release date: February 24th Record label: Knifepunch/Storm Chasers LTD Genre: Emo, punk rock Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital Pull Track: Tiny Frame
I was always fascinated with Alaska when I was younger. There were a few other frigid, Arctic Circle locales that intrigued me as well (Greenland, Svalbard, the Canadian territories, Siberia), but the Last Frontier was the biggest one, I think. One of my favorite songs as a teenager (and, let’s be real, still today) was “Going to Alaska” by the Mountain Goats–something about traveling to the remote, rugged edge of “society” appealed to me in some way. Wonder why. Anyway, Alaska figures pretty heavily into North to the Future, the second album from Chicago’s Rust Ring. Named after the state’s motto, North to the Future uses the state’s isolation as a jumping point for frontwoman Joram Zbichorski to write about her relationship with gender in a fantastical but still very close-hitting way. Oh, and it’s also a jumping point for a bunch of very good, very cathartic, gang-vocal-sporting emo-punk anthems.
North to the Future kicks off the trek by trying on three big-screen numbers on for size–opening scene-setter “Outline Alaska” introduces the idea behind the record quite enthusiastically, and “Incognito” blows everything up and drags internal thoughts out in the open with a roar. “Tiny Frame” clutches its title line triumphantly, a true, confident moment of declaration. North to the Future is a really great-sounding record, with Zbichorski and her collaborators bringing their A-game musically–moments like when “One Polar Night” shifts into lumbering riff-rock add an extra layer to an album that’s already doing a lot. “‘Everytime We Touch’ Comes On”, right in the middle of the record, is a big old alt-rock ballad in reverse, riding chugging power chords to its quiet, floating titular line. Album highlight “Three Sunrises” feels (at the very least) Alaska-sized, its chorus sounding massive, sweeping, and levitating in a way reflectant of the fantasy element to which the refrain nods (and all this is before the saxophone kicks in!). North to the Future is, conceptually, one of the most interesting albums of the year for me–but this wouldn’t be nearly as remarkable if it wasn’t executed as well as it was by Rust Ring over and over again throughout the record (Bandcamp link)
Eggs on Mars – Warm Breakfast
Release date: March 21st Record label: Self-released Genre: Psych pop Formats: CD, cassette, digital Pull Track: No Problem
Eggs on Mars are a four-piece “Midwestern soft psych” band from Kansas City, Missouri that have been self-releasing their music on cassette and CD for around a decade. Their latest record, Warm Breakfast, is an album of pop songs that indeed roll over the listener gently, borrowing melodies and a sense of hazy psychedelia from 1960s pop rock but presenting themselves in a relatively stripped-down indie rock package instead of layering on the orchestral instrumentation. Guitarist Brad Smith’s lead vocals are understated, but not buried in a dream pop way–he reflects Warm Breakfast’s melancholic sound in this manner, and it also helps emphasize the moments when Smith decides to look up from his shoes aurally and grab a hold of the listener.
Warm Breakfast starts with a couple of upbeat pop rock tunes that incorporate a bit of 90s indie rock influences–the sub-one minute “Especially Now” opens the record with a stomping beat and something of a chant of a vocal, while the jaunty “No Problem” is breezy and hooky, with Smith cramming a bunch of words into the chorus in a fun, XTC-ish way. Warm Breakfast kicks out a few more tracks that fall on the more “rock” side of indie rock (notably the handclap-aided “Never Change”, although parts of “All’s Well Elsewhere” and “My Words” fall under this banner as well), but the bulk of the rest of the record deals with unhurried, sprawled-out psychedelic pop songs.
“Wrong Way” and “Every Day I Cross the River” are both slow-moving and stoic-sounding (“You don’t have to ask me about me about my day, because I’ve already lived it,” Smith sings matter-of-factly in the latter), although Warm Breakfast certainly isn’t a cold record. Subtle by nature, one has to listen to hear the small moments of gratefulness and joy in the record, from recognizing the fragility of life in “Nameless Headline” to observing the titular creatures of “Earthwormin’”. (Bandcamp link)
Sakkaris – Ordinary Misery
Release date: March 10th Record label: BIRTHDIY Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, surf rock, dream pop Formats: Digital Pull Track: Ordinary Misery
Sakkaris are a Los Angeles-based indie rock duo made up of twin brothers Alex & Kevin Liu. The Lius have been releasing music constantly since Sakkaris began in 2020, from a steady stream of non-album singles to 2021’s Admire EP to last year’s Conditions. Earlier this month saw the release of Ordinary Misery, their second full-length, via BIRTHDIY (a digital label connected to Spirit Goth Records). Given this association, it’s no surprise that Sakkaris fit right in with the kind of lo-fi, reverb-y, surf/jangle-tinged indie rock that has been released through Spirit Goth–importantly, though, the Lius’ songwriting shines through the fuzz and offers up plenty of memorable pop rock moments. Reverb aside, there are few frills to Ordinary Misery–Sakkaris prefer to let the songs speak for themselves, and for (almost exactly) twenty minute and seven tracks, they do so.
The multi-layered, gliding opening track “You” sets up Ordinary Misery nicely–too dreamy to be “surf rock”, rocking too much for “dream pop”, and too lo-fi to recall most “shoegaze”, it’s just an ace noisy pop song. “Hold It Against You” and “Stillness” avoid being retreads by veering into the garage rock and 2010s dream/jangle pop ends of their sound, respectively, and the massive instrumental hook of the title track would brighten the corners of any subgenre of guitar pop record. Sakkaris get a little darker towards the end of Ordinary Misery with the downcast-sounding “Fear Again” and closing track “Years”, which sends the record off on an atmospheric, cavernous, synth-touched note. While a brief record, it feels like no time in Ordinary Misery is wasted, and all of it contributes to it being a quality pop album. (Bandcamp link)
Welcome to the Thursday edition of Pressing Concerns! Today, we’re looking at three great albums that are coming out tomorrow, courtesy of Connections, The Natural Lines, and SLOT, and we also have the Quiz Show album from last week to discuss. If you missed the Monday edition, an eclectic one covering R.J.F., Feast of the Epiphany, Weird Numbers, and Spencer Dobbs, I recommend checking that one out too.
If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.
Connections – Cool Change
Release date: March 24th Record label: Trouble in Mind Genre: Lo-fi power pop Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital Pull Track: In Space
Connections make classic rock for a small subsection of us. They rose from the ashes of 90s indie rock group 84 Nash, and between Ron House, Guided by Voices, and Times New Vikings, have been connected to several decades’ worth of a certain brand of underdog Ohio indie rock. Connections got off to a sprint upon conception in the early 2010s, releasing five full-lengths from 2013 to 2018, all of which are excellent power pop records–their debut Private Airplane may be “the one”, but 2016’s Midnight Run and 2018’s Foreign Affairs easily kept the quality at a similar level into their fourth and fifth outings. The five-year gap between the latter of those two and their newest record, Cool Change, then, is somewhat surprising; keeping things coordinated with a band of this size (they expanded to a six-piece during this LP’s recording) during a pandemic likely was difficult, so Connections went on ice for a bit. Lead songwriter Andy Hampel made a quality solo album. Bassist Philip Kim joined former member Adam Elliott’s new band, Long Odds.
But with Cool Change, their second album for Trouble in Mind, Connections are back. And, as opening track and lead single “In Space” makes quite clear, it’s not a soft re-launch. The five-minute introduction roars to life with a sense of clarity and purpose, kicking things into overdrive with its busy and appropriately spacey-sounding chorus. While the rest of Cool Change doesn’t quite shoot for the same level of gravitas, shades of it touch the eleven tracks of vintage Connections pop-rock hookiness that follow. While the suave power pop of “Slow Ride” could’ve appeared on any Connections album in some form, it’s presented here in a way such that all of its elements–jammy lead guitars, a melodic bassline, and, most surprisingly, some new wave-y Cars synths– get a chance to shine individually.
Smack dab in the middle of Cool Change, the 90-second downcast jangle of “I Confess” feels like an odd choice for a single, but it’s a captivating exercise in subtlety for the band (especially in context, where it comes in between two big-sounding heavy hitters in “Steppin’ Out” and “It’s a Start”). Connections have always been a remarkably consistent group, so it’s no surprise that the back half of Cool Change possibly bests the A-side, both in terms of tracks that sport the “classic” Connections sound (“Let Me Eat Cake” and “Unsolved Mysteries”) and in the more “pensive” department (“Vacationland” and closing track “You Are All You Need”, both of which push the band’s chiming guitar pop into more meditative and/or haggard places). With a half-dozen records under their belt (and no plans to slow down for another half-decade now), Connections remain at their peak. (Bandcamp link)
The Natural Lines – The Natural Lines
Release date: March 24th Record label: Bella Union Genre: Folk rock, chamber folk Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital Pull Track: Alex Bell
Matt Pond PA was a fixture in 2000s indie folk rock, never finding themselves as the buzz band of the month but rather putting out records at a steady, workmanlike clip starting with their 1998 debut. Matt Pond declared his intention to retire the “Matt Pond PA” band name in 2017, although miscellaneous collections and reissues of Pond material continued to surface under the moniker until the announcement of a new Pond-led band, The Natural Lines, last year. The debut Natural Lines record was 2022’s First Five EP, which was an intriguing mix of upbeat pop rock (“It’s a Trap”), classic Pond folk (“The End of the World”), and more synth-based forays (“Spontaneous Skylights 2”). Perhaps in the interest of making a more thought-out formal opening statement, the self-titled Natural Lines full-length record doesn’t do as much genre-hopping as the EP, instead opting to focus and develop a full-sounding, well–orchestrated folk rock sound across its eleven songs.
The Natural Lines’ opening track, “Monotony”, is a classic Pond-penned tune, a wide-eyed piece of sweeping folk rock that wields its title deftly–declaring Pond’s capacity to find inspiration a few decades and over a dozen albums into this whole “singer-songwriter” thing. “No More Tragedies” and “HELP” help give the early part of the record and electric flavor, although the guitars don’t overwhelm the songs and instead sit nicely among several other contributions from the nine or so other musicians taking part in The Natural Lines. The midsection of The Natural Lines, where Pond and his bandmates lean into the “chamber folk” side of their sound, is the most rewarding over time–“Alex Bell” and “Spontaneous Skylights” float along, while in between, “My Answer” shapes the sound of The Natural Lines into something dramatic and frantic. Not every song on The Natural Lines is built to pop out immediately like “Monotony” or mid-record anthem “A Scene That Will Never Die”, but there are rewards hidden all throughout the record if one looks for them. (Bandcamp link)
SLOT – Limbo
Release date: March 24th Record label: Self-released Genre: Noise rock, post-punk, industrial pop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull Track: Doctor
Baltimore has been a sneaky hotbed for offbeat music of several stripes in recent years, from the fluttery psych-pop of Tomato Flower to Smoke Bellow’s minimalist post-punk to the bluesy noise rock of Gloop. The latter of those three bands features Max Detrich, who is also one-half of SLOT, along with Abby Chapple. In his other band, Detrich makes skewered Americana-flavored punk rock inspired by Captain Beefheart and the Butthole Surfers, but SLOT is noisy rock music of a decidedly different flavor. The nine songs on their debut album, LIMBO, are made up mostly of a drum machine backbeat, bass guitar, and Chapple’s memorable, sneering vocals. A self-described “industrial pop” duo, LIMBO lives up to this billing–equal parts catchy and seething, all parts in-your-face completely.
Sure, the average song on LIMBO is fairly barebones structurally, but SLOT never once leave you with the question of “is it enough?”–it’s more than. Opening track “Dig In” establishes that from the very beginning–the pounding drum machine, the lumbering bass guitar, and Chapple’s demented taunt of a vocal all leave very little breathing room for anything else, anyway. “Doctor” and “Sick Joke” keep this sound rolling in the record’s first half, prowling through some aggro-danceable noise rock. LIMBO is a tough record through and through, although the songs that emphasize the band’s industrial-pop side (“Pop!”, “Minto”) feel a little less threatening. The second half of LIMBO contains both the album’s heaviest song (“Peel”, which tilts toward drum-machine-metal) and the most purely industrial (the conveyor belt lurch of “Pearl”), but SLOT make sure to end things with the noisy dance party that is “Drusilla”. (Bandcamp link)
Quiz Show – Quiz Show
Release date: March 17th Record label: Magic Door Genre: Post-punk, post-hardcore, alt-rock Formats: Digital Pull Track: What If?
Chris Matthews was a founding guitarist in legendary D.C. post-hardcore group Shudder to Think, playing with them from 1986 to 1994 and contributing to all of their Dischord Records-era albums. After leaving Shudder to Think, Matthews pretty much stepped away from music–until about a half-decade ago, when he emerged with a new band, Quiz Show. Quiz Show singles began to show up in 2018, recorded at Magic Door Studios in Montclair, New Jersey with producer Ray Ketchem and drummer Kevin March–who, interestingly enough, also played with Shudder to Think, joining a couple of years after Matthews left (another Shudder to Think member, reunion-era bassist Jesse Krakow, is involved with Quiz Show–he did not contribute to the original singles, but is in the current lineup of the band).
Quiz Show’s self-titled debut full-length mostly collects the singles that Matthews recorded between 2017 and 2020, with a couple of previously-unreleased tracks thrown in as well. Quiz Show certainly sounds like the work of musicians that came up in Dischord-era D.C. Matthews’ songwriting style hews more toward the early “surging, alt-rock/punk anthem” side of his old band, less so the more offbeat material they’d make in their later records. It’s not a one-note collection, though–the full-throated singalongs like “Almost Famous” and “Pom Pom Boy” are Quiz Show’s predominant mode, but they deviate from it from the beginning (the thorny opening track “Sound of Kissing”) to the end (woozy, multi-part album closer “Mannequin Sun”) of the record. Sometimes Quiz Show pulls off the transition in the same song, like when the roiling verses of “What If” erupt into a pop-punk chorus. Matthews didn’t lose his ability to make rousing music while away from recording–Quiz Show is nothing but proof of that. (Bandcamp link)
Welcome to a new week, and a new edition of Pressing Concerns. This is one of the weirder editions of the year so far (and I mean that in the best way possible); today we’re looking at new records from R.J.F., Feast of the Epiphany, Weird Numbers, and Spencer Dobbs.
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.
R.J.F. – Going Strange
Release date: March 17th Record label: Self-released Genre: Post-punk, experimental rock, minimalism, dub Formats: Digital Pull Track: Cutting
Ross John Farrar has plenty of credits to his name already–he’s been the longtime lead singer of beloved California punk band Ceremony, and more recently has fronted SPICE as well, in addition to being a published poet. Two things that Farrar hasn’t been, however, are a recording musician (handling only vocal duties in his bands up to this point) and a solo artist–both of which have now changed with the release of Going Strange, his debut release as R.J.F. While Ceremony’s more recent post-punk-leaning material and SPICE’s exploratory alt-rock might spiritually prepare the listener for what to expect with Going Strange, it still ends up sounding quite unlike any of Farrar’s previous music projects. The album is presented on streaming services as a single 47-minute track–though the music all flows continuously, it does feel like there are discreet “songs” with stopping and starting points hidden here (and this is confirmed by how the record is laid out on Bandcamp), so I’d file this more as a “stylistic choice” than a necessity.
Taking in Going Strange all at once gives one the feeling of witnessing someone cautiously and deliberately figuring out how to make and present music in a new way. The record begins intriguingly with a floating instrumental opening, before establishing the minimal sound that most of Going Strange takes–for the first few “songs” (“Farrow’s Birthday”, “Totem of Love”, “Peace in Anger”), the record steps forward to the pace of a probing bassline, some synth accents, and Farrar’s low-key but capable vocals (as barebones as his accompaniment can be, Farrar still sings on this album). The bright keyboard and drum machine that kicks in at the beginning of “Cutting” is a welcome surprise, veering into pretty lo-fi pop–Farrar moves back into bass-driven, rhythmic post-punk afterwards, but at this point it sounds a bit “fuller” than the first third of the record. Going Strange engages in a bit of symmetry by drifting off towards its ending, although it also features a piano-soundtracked piece of spoken word and a subsequent outro in “Cleveland” that pushes it into ambient music territory. Nevertheless, Going Strange ends with one last song (“Emelie’s Dream”) in which Farrar’s bass and trippy synths are joined by prominent handclaps—he never stops moving forward and trying on new ideas. (Bandcamp link)
Feast of the Epiphany – Significance
Release date: February 22nd Record label: Strategy of Tension Genre: Art pop, synthpop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull Track: A Further Flame
New York’s Nick Podgurski has played in the bands GRID, Extra Life, MONAD, and Yukon, and has also been making music under the name Feast of the Epiphany for over a decade. Podgurski frequently takes on the role of drummer in his various musical collaborations, but he does a bit of everything (piano, synths, guitar, and bass, in addition to writing and singing the songs) on Significance, the latest Feast of the Epiphany record. Podgurski has made music all over the map, genre-wise, but Significance clearly carves out its own niche—slow-moving, deliberate, ornate 80s-influenced art pop. Although Significance’s artwork evokes the world of early 80s synthpop records (and there’s definitely some of that in there), Significance takes the busyness of that kind of music and merges it with the record’s biggest single reference point–the carefully-constructed, orchestrated wide-open sound of later Talk Talk records.
Significance sounds cinematic, and that’s intentional–Podgurski created the record as the soundtrack for a nonexistent film. Podgurski and his collaborators on the album–a diverse group befitting of the bandleader’s background, featuring musicians who have played with Lydia Lunch and Robert Fripp and members of everything from Dust Star to Gorguts–guide these ten songs deftly through movements and turns. Podgurski’s soaring, melodic voice is always the center of Significance, and its most frequent accompaniment is a warm, droning synth. A lot of Significance is built around sustaining a specific mood, and its moments of transition (like when the explosive start of “A Further Flame” unravels) take their time to feel natural. Some of the less-synthetic touches on Significance (like Tony Gedrich’s upright bass on the opening track, or Cameron Wisch’s live drums in a few songs, most notably the title track) stick out among the washes of keyboards, but that’s not a bug–it’s just another way Significance feels living. (Bandcamp link)
Weird Numbers – Weird Numbers
Release date: March 3rd Record label: Dandy Boy Genre: Post-punk, garage punk Formats: Cassette, digital Pull Track: Uzis and Bikinis
Weird Numbers are four-piece West Coast punk rock band that formed in Seattle from the ashes of several Pacific Northwest groups that I’m just going to trust are real and not made up (Wasted USA, The Girls, Tourist, Maniac)–guitarist/vocalist Zache Davis has since moved to Los Angeles, but he and the rest of the group (bassist Collin Griffiths, drummer Ethan Jacobsen, and keyboardist/guitarist Alex Robert) have kept Weird Numbers going across multiple state lines. Their debut EP came out on Dirt Cult Records back in 2019, and their Dandy Boy-released first full-length record (featuring a couple songs re-recorded from that EP but mostly new material) shows off a sound well in-line with their first label’s brand of garage punk, but one distinct on its own as well. Weird Numbers’ ten songs are delivered with the measured, straight-faced nature of post-punk, but also pulsate with a scuzzy, dirty punk rock energy underneath the sleek exterior.
“Green” begins the record with a basketball-dribbling rhythm section and a mostly-deadpan delivery from Davis. The first half of Weird Numbers keeps all of these ingredients intact, even when the band dip into a few more garage rock-flavored tracks like “Pretty Punctual” and “Switching the Code”. Weird Numbers balance their furious rock band energy and post-punk restraint throughout the record, pulling it off impressively on tightly-constructed tracks like “Truth to Tease” and the hypnotic “Soda”. Weird Numbers ends with the requisite six-minute scorcher, “Uzis and Bikinis” (re-used from their debut EP, but no complaints from me here). Davis pushes his vocals on this one as the band trek forward determinedly, building to a big finish where Davis is, frenetically, “drowning in pastis and regret”. Weird Numbers takes a refined-sounding tour through the scummy–by the end of the record, it makes sense that it’s permeated everything. (Bandcamp link)
Spencer Dobbs – If the Moon Don’t Turn Its Back on You
Release date: March 3rd Record label: Dust Press Genre: Outsider folk, blues Formats: Digital Pull Track: Funeral Band
There’s not too much information about Spencer Dobbs out there. The singer-songwriter hails from Texas, and has been making music for at least a decade, although the earlier releases under the name don’t appear to exist online anywhere at the moment. The two most recent Spencer Dobbs releases have come out through Dust Press, a label that appears to exist solely to publish Dobbs’ music. If the Moon Don’t Turn Its Back on You follows last year’s Bayou Keening, and the label has referred to it as an “archival” album. It’s listed on streaming services as being from 2004–are these songs nearly twenty years old? It’s certainly possible–the music of If the Moon Don’t Turn Its Back on You offers little to nothing in terms of timestamping itself.
If the Moon Don’t Turn Its Back on You is a haunted, lost-sounding album. It’s sparse, empty-space folk music that erupts itself into feedback-laden electric guitar outbursts when it sees fit to do so. It reminds me more than anything else of a post-rock Simon Joyner–comparisons to fellow Texas outsider Jandek would also not be off-base here. Opening track “Funeral Band” is nearly seven minutes and harrowing, with its unmoored, bluesy electric folk rock building and deconstructing itself over the song’s length. From the screeching riffs of “Barbed Wire” to the slowly-advancing “Heaven”, If the Moon Don’t Turn Its Back on You finds a lot to mine in this sound, although the record closes with a couple acoustic, more purely folk songs and “Choir”, which sounds like a Spencer Dobbs version of what the title implies and sends the record off on an appropriately spiritual note. (Bandcamp link)
Hello! It’s Pressing Concerns time again! Another big release day is nearly upon us–today’s post looks at three records coming out tomorrow, March 17th (Whitney’s Playland, The Lost Days, and Tedward), plus an EP from Natural Velvet that came out a couple weeks ago. This has been a rare three-post week on Rosy Overdrive: If you missed me going long on the new Emperor X EP on Tuesday, or Monday’s look at Timeout Room, Cel Ray, Gramercy Arms, and Dogs at Large, I recommend checking both of those out as well.
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.
Whitney’s Playland – Sunset Sea Breeze
Release date: March 17th Record label: Paisley Shirt/Meritorio Genre: Power pop, indie pop, jangle pop Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital Pull Track: Sunset Sea Breeze
Whitney’s Playland was formed during the pandemic by Inna Showalter and George Tarlson, two San Francisco musicians who have played in several noisy Bay Area pop bands previously (Blades of Joy, Modern Charms, Grandma’s Boyfriend). The group (which recently added Evan Showalter and Paul DeMartini to become a four-piece) are releasing their debut record, Sunset Sea Breeze, on vinyl via Meritorio and cassette via Paisley Shirt, and it’s certainly a strong opening statement of a first album. Whitney’s Playland feels a bit more low-key than some of Showalter and Tarlson’s louder old bands–it fits right in with the sleepy, dreamy Bay Area jangle pop that Paisley Shirt has beenchronicling in recent years. Dreaminess aside, however, Sunset Sea Breeze is also one of the straight-up catchiest records I’ve heard this year–it’s a lo-fi power pop record first and foremost.
The record’s opening title track is a transcendent indie pop experience, riding a simple ascending acoustic-guitar-and-bass progression triumphantly in a way that sounds like The Crabs crossed with The Sundays. The big-electric-guitar-wielding “Mercy” follows it up one song later, and it’s no less of a melodic wrecking ball than “Sunset Sea Breeze”. Whitney’s Playland can jangle, too– “Backwards Forever” is a fine entry into the genre that highlights the first half of the album as well. There’s a wistfulness to Showalter’s vocals and in the home-recorded nature of the record–perhaps it reflects more on me than the music, but I was already thinking about Guided by Voices even before they bust out a slowed-down, shimmering cover of “Motor Away” midway through the album. Not losing steam at all, the second half of Sunset Sea Breeze offers up the noisy, drum-machine-driven “Rain Song” and the acoustic, floating charms of “Sketches of Dino” and “Tiger by the Tail”–all of which feature equally melodic vocals from Showalter. Sunset Sea Breeze offers enough strong hooks for several records’ worth of indie pop–or, you could just listen to this one album and get drawn in immediately. (Bandcamp link)
The Lost Days – In the Store
Release date: March 17th Record label: Speakeasy Studios SF Genre: Lo-fi indie pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull Track: For Today
The Lost Days is a collaboration between Tony Molina (of Ovens and a pretty impressive solo career) and Sarah Rose Janko (who leads folk rock group Dawn Riding) that began a few years ago in an Oakland warehouse. The duo released their debut record, the Lost Demos EP, in 2021, and their first album was written remotely and recorded whenever schedules lined up after Janko moved to New Orleans. The music that inspired In the Store is eye-catching–Bill Fox, The Byrds, Dear Nora and Guided by Voices–and the record does live up to what one might imagine reading those acts’ names. It’s homespun-sounding, lo-fi, acoustic-based pop music–it’s neither Janko’s rambling country-folk nor Molina’s sharp power pop, but it’s also not a world away from either (in fact, In the Store feels like the midpoint in their disparate sounds).
As anyone familiar with Tony Molina’s solo work knows, he is the master of the short song, and he doesn’t change this up for In the Store–these ten songs zip by in about fourteen minutes, only about four longer than their EP. Likewise, those familiar with Molina know that this is ample time for his songs to take hold. In the Store is breezily-strummed pop songs from the get-go, with “Gonna Have to Tell You”, “Half the Time”, and “For Today” all humbly making their mark and departing. Janko’s vocals are conversational and cheery, which helps mask some of the record’s darker undercurrents (“It seems to me the hardest part of staying sober / Is anytime that you come over today”, observes Janko in “For Today”, not the only song touching on alcoholism on the record). Molina sounds more downcast in the couple of songs he sings–“Pass the Time” is about as dire as this kind of music can get. In the Store is a casual-sounding record whose intimacy and depth are only enhanced by its presentation. (Bandcamp link)
Tedward – Floater
Release date: March 17th Record label: I’m into Life Genre: Fuzz rock, shoegaze, noise pop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull Track: Shooting Star
Cincinnati has been host to a lot of great garage punk music lately (Crime of Passing, The Drin, Choncy), and while the city’s Tedward certainly rock as hard as any of those groups, they do it in a decidedly different vein. Led by singer-songwriter Terence Lee, Tedward’s debut cassette, Floater, is loud, amped-up fuzz rock in the vein of Ovlov and a few other northeastern, Exploding in Sound-core groups (Lee is pretty open about being a big Ovlov fan–Floater‘s opening track “Ablona” was inspired by a dream of seeing the band play live), as well as omnivorous, poppy shoegaze-influenced rock bands like Enumclaw. Floater is a brief debut tape–like the Lost Days album, it’s over in about fourteen minutes, with the band ripping through these seven songs with the enthusiasm of a newly-minted group.
The first two songs on Floater hit with full force–“Ablona” washes over the listener with a steady, roaring sound, and Lee’s vocals push through the noise in the 90s alt-rock-evoking “Shooting Star”. The speedy fuzz-punk of the title track is the one other breakneck rocker on Floater, although the rest of the tape is pretty sturdy too. The streak from “Spencer Dr.” to “Keep It Moving” doesn’t turn off the fuzz so much as deploy it in a way to let the tracks differentiate themselves from each other–the one song that unplugs the amps for a bit is closing track “Ending”, which lets Lee perform an acoustic number for about a minute before the band kicks in for a triumphant, massive electric rock finish. (Bandcamp link)
Natural Velvet – Cruel Optimism
Release date: March 3rd Record label: Plastic Babylon Genre: Alt-rock, post-punk Formats: Digital Pull Track: Signifier (Desire)
Baltimore’s Natural Velvet have been around for a decade or so, but this month’s Cruel Optimism is their first record in a while–aside from a pandemic-era remix EP, their last album came out back in 2017. No context is really needed to enjoy the quartet’s latest offering, however–Cruel Optimism is five enthusiastic songs that jump from 90s alt-rock to post-punk to dream pop to jangly college rock while still cohering with each other. Vocalist/bassist Corynne Ostermann is a theatrical punk rock singer whose range is on full display throughout the EP, and the rest of the band (guitarists Kim Te and Spike Arreaga, drummer Greg Hatem) play in a way complimentary of her voice, be it furiously or deftly.
Cruel Optimism’s first two tracks hit both ends of Natural Velvet’s sound–EP opener “Guarantee” rips into things with crunchy, noisy alt-rock, but then the band effortlessly roll into the bouncy pop-rock of “I Keep You Honest” immediately afterwards (it sounds kind of like Screaming Females playing a 10,000 Maniacs song). Natural Velvet stretch out a bit on the sprawling “Signifier (Desire)” and let their Sonic Youth influence show in some pretty hanging guitar lines, although it’s the EP’s final two songs that really find the band pushing themselves. Both cross the five-minute line– “Data Trail” uses its time to rip through a scorching post-punk (with the emphasis on punk instrumental) before guiding the song to a jangly finish, while “Swan” floats through a dream pop sound that’s delicate despite still having full-band might. Varied but consistent, Cruel Optimism excels throughout its twenty minute runtime. (Bandcamp link)
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