Welcome to Pressing Concerns! Today’s looks at four records that come out tomorrow: 2nd Grade, Upchuck, Courtney and Brad, and Aarktica. This is the second Pressing Concerns this week: if you missed Tuesday’s, which covered new albums from The Trend, Office Culture, Kolb, and Coughing Dove, you can read it here.
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
2nd Grade – Easy Listening
Release date: September 30th Record label: Double Double Whammy Genre: Power pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Hands Down
Philadelphia’s 2nd Grade have relatively quickly established themselves as one of the top purveyors of modern guitar pop. Their second album, 2020’s Hit to Hit, broke them in the indie rock sphere, and the group kept their momentum going last year with Wish You Were Here Tour Revisited, a reissue of their debut record that featured some re-recordings showing the band’s growth from a Peter Gill solo project to a full five-piece band. The group’s lineup has shifted somewhat since their last record, but if anything, 2nd Grade is now more of a Rosy Overdrive-approved-band supergroup: Gill and guitarist Jon Samuels both play in Friendship, guitarist Catherine Dwyer is also a member of Remember Sports, and the two newcomers, bassist David Settle (The Fragiles, Psychic Flowers, Big Heet) and drummer Francis Lyons (Ylayli), have plenty going on as well.
Easy Listening may feature “only” sixteen songs, but the band make the record feel like 2nd Grade’s most diverse yet. Gill’s vocals are still delicate and melodic, but the band aren’t afraid to crank up the amps a bit with “Cover of Rolling Stone” and “Beat of the Drum”, and the slightly-singed glam rock vibes going on in “Controlled Burn” are a new and interesting sound for the group. 2nd Grade can still churn out effortless pop rock—examples like “Strung Out on You” and “Keith and Telecaster” make up the backbone of Easy Listening, not to mention “Teenage Overpopulation”, a song whose conceit is so goofy it should have been a throwaway but Gill and co. turn it into maybe the shiniest pop song on the record (and the actual goofy throwaway, “Kramer in LA”, is an amusing and well-earned breather).
“Poet in Residence” and “Hand of the Brand” both feature a lo-fi sound, but also contain melodies popping out through the hiss of the full-band recordings, while the brief electric-guitar-and-Gill-only “Planetarium” is one of the biggest callbacks musically to the relatively barebones Wish You Were Here Tour. One of my favorite aspects of early 2nd Grade was Gill’s ability to grab onto a simple-sounding sentiment and make it something profound (“Work Til I Die”, “Wish You Were Here Tour”), and he still does that here with “Hands Down”, one of the most moving moments on the record that gets a lot of mileage out of simply repeating “I’m your biggest fan, hands down”. Gill begins “Hands Down” by singing “The back half of the B-side is where we belong,” a humble opening for a song that, like virtually all of Easy Listening, is deserving of A-side status. (Bandcamp link)
Upchuck – Sense Yourself
Release date: September 30th Record label: Famous Class Genre: Garage rock, garage punk, hardcore punk Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Facecard
Upchuck is a fierce five-piece band that hails from Atlanta, and their debut full-length record, Sense Yourself, is a fully-developed look at the group’s heavy but unique take on southern garage punk. Upchuck’s musicians (guitarists Mikey and Hoff, bassist Armando, and drummer Chris) show off their talents throughout the record, jumping from hardcore punk to zippy post-punk to slow, grunge-y tracks. Songwriter and vocalist KT, meanwhile, is every bit the performer required to stand out among the noise of Sense Yourself—she can belt out a hardcore-esque bark when the songs call for it, and she frequently adopts a sing-speaking style reminiscent of classic, early punk rock to me.
One thing that sticks out on Sense Yourself is how “long” these songs are, despite the brevity typically found in this genre of music—it speaks to Upchuck’s confidence that there are as many five-minute songs here as there are ones under two minutes. Sense Yourself speeds up and slows down frequently, with moments of tension helping the subsequent punches land harder. Album opener “Upchuck” is a multi-part odyssey, lumbering its way to a final sprint. The six-minute “Wage for War” plods along with the low end up front for most of its length, but it also lets loose eventually as well.
The two most accessible songs on Sense Yourself land right in the middle—“Facecard” rides a melodic lead guitar across a fizzy pop punk instrumental, and the garage-post-punk of “Boss Up” finds Upchuck purely “flooring it” and KT in full motor-mouth mode. The few shorter songs on Sense Yourself make their marks as well: “Leech” and “In the Wire” flirt with surf and glam, respectively, but still sound like full-throttle Upchuck songs—and this is to say nothing of the noise punk of “Perdido”, sung by Chris in Spanish but coming off just as energetic and packed-full as anything else on the record. It’s all Sense Yourself, and it’s all Upchuck. (Bandcamp link)
Courtney and Brad – A Square Is a Shape of Power
Release date: September 30th Record label: Dear Life Genre: Experimental rock, art pop, folk rock, electronic Formats: CD, cassette, digital Pull track: Mayonnaise
Bradford Krieger is a prolific recording engineer (Friendship, Horse Jumper of Love, Joyer) and owner of Big Nice Studio, and Courtney Swain is best known as the singer and keyboardist for art rock group Bent Knee. Krieger has recorded Bent Knee and some of Swain’s solo albums before, but the duo of Courtney and Brad is their first creative collaboration. Their first full-length, A Square Is a Shape of Power, was recorded at the same time as their debut EP (appropriately titled Our First EP), which came out in April. All of the Courtney and Brad recordings thus far are the result of the duo improvising in the studio with no fully-formed songs prepared in advance, and A Square Is a Shape of Power feels like two people exploring wildly different genres with exciting results.
The pedal steel-heavy “Mayonnaise” is a gorgeous and shockingly-straightforward folk-country tune—it’s as peaceful as the following track, “Hand Cream”, is jarring—it jumps from minimalist pop to a loud, distorted hardcore punk finish. Swain’s vocals are all in Japanese, and the duo cite Japanese genres like J-pop and Enka as influences—the latter particularly shows in the intentionally retro-sounding “New Onion Smile”. The genre-hopping and restlessness continues throughout A Square Is a Shape of Power, as the band move from electronic/dance (the title track) to ambient (“Moongazing”) to slowcore (“The Whale and the Scorpion”). Beyond being impressive as a whole, the songs on A Square Is a Shape of Power stand on their own as well, with even the shorter tracks (like the 90-second folk rock of “I gotchu”) feeling self-contained—it’s an intriguing, continuously surprising song collection. (Bandcamp link)
Aarktica – We Will Find the Light
Release date: September 30th Record label: Darla Genre: Slowcore, indie folk, ambient, post-rock Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital Pull track: Can’t Say I’ve Missed You
Aarktica is the long-running solo project of New Jersey-originating, Los Angeles-based musician Jon DeRosa. Working in the spheres of ambient and post-rock, albums like 2000’s No Solace in Sleep garnered attention in those circles and praise from musicians like Alan Sparhawk of Low. Aarktica has been quieter this past decade—DeRosa did release the digital-only Mareación in 2019, but We Will Find the Light is his first music available physically since 2009. We Will Find the Light’s songs can be divided into two categories: long, slow-moving folk songs marked by DeRosa’s clear vocals, and instrumental ambient pieces connecting them. Together, they make a gigantic double album that feels like a rebirth.
The “traditionally structured” songs on We Will Find the Light regularly reach into the six- and seven-minute range, calling to mind the gorgeous full-bodied slowcore of groups like American Music Club, while DeRosa’s matter-of-fact speak-singing can recall Leonard Cohen—especially in string-laden tracks like the breathtaking “Goodnight”, or darker, whispered songs like “Bridge of Fire”. Other songs rely more traditionally on folk and acoustic guitar, like the rippling “Can’t Say I Missed You” and the record’s two covers, “Ohla o Sol Que Vai Nascendo” (by Portuguese singer Mariana Root) and “Sirenita Bobinsana” (by Peruvian songwriter Artur Mena). DeRosa’s performances in these songs alone would be enough to make We Will Find the Light feel profound, but the ambient bridges between them help the record feel even more like an experience. (Bandcamp link)
Alright, we’re doing two different Pressing Concerns issues this week again. It’s just how it is–how it’s gotta be, actually. The Tuesday one gives us new albums from The Trend, Office Culture, Kolb, and Coughing Dove. Will there be another one on Thursday? You bet. What will it cover? Well, just wait a couple of days. Sheesh.
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
The Trend – Sgt. Pepper II
Release date: August 26th Record label: Good Soil/Yellow K Genre: Power pop, jangle pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Tell That Girl
I wasn’t initially planning on writing about this album, but I’ve come to feel like I’d be derelict in my duties if I did not—Sgt. Pepper II is both a very good album and also very in line with the core of Rosy Overdrive. So, The Trend is a band from the Maryland panhandle, and it appears that they released an album back in 2004, and a second record not too long afterwards. Their Bandcamp page lists four and a half members, but Sgt. Pepper II was written and recorded entirely by two of them: Kenny Tompkins and Brian Twigg. Tompkins is known to me for his prolific solo work as Mr. Husband and Kenny Husband, as well as co-running Yellow K and Good Soil Records, both of which released Sgt. Pepper II.
There is currently a power pop revival going on, a lot of which I’ve covered on this website. If that’s the side of Rosy Overdrive you’re interested in—particularly the fuzzier bands on this spectrum, your New Yous, your Dazys, your Supercrushes—I’m here to tell you that this record is as good as anything in the genre. Sgt. Pepper II is squarely in the realm of 90s alt-rock-flavored power pop—there are a lot of bands that get saddled with Blue Album-era Weezer comparisons, but The Trend actually sound more like it more than anything I’ve heard in quite a while (Tompkins’ solo music as Mr. Husband has skewed towards Beach Boys-esque baroque pop, which probably helps in that regard).
Songs like “Come Home” and “If Yr Leaving” are very Weezer-y in several aspects: the grunge-influenced amp-cranking, the wild catchiness, and Tompkins’ vocals, and “I’m Not Leaving” is the platonic ideal of a “Beach Boys as 90s power pop” song. It’s not that it’s entirely a Blue Album pastiche—check the screaming in “Dancing Shoes” that notes that the Rival Schools homage in the album art isn’t for nothing, for one. The strutting “Tell That Girl” reminds me of another big 90s power pop group—Sloan—and Tompkins and Twigg have clearly listened to a lot of Superdrag and Matthew Sweet as well. There’s a jangly-ness to songs like album closer “Talk About Love” and “I Don’t Know Why” that doesn’t get in the way of The Trend’s alt-rock leanings, but rather operates alongside it. It’s a short record (22 minutes, eight songs), but not a moment of Sgt. Pepper II is wasted. (Bandcamp link)
Office Culture – Big Time Things
Release date: September 30th Record label: Northern Spy Genre: Sophisti-pop, jazz rock, indie pop Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital Pull track: Big Time Things
Office Culture are a Brooklyn-based four-piece band that’s led by vocalist, songwriter, and keyboardist Winston Cook-Wilson. Over the quartet’s first two records, they’ve cultivated a distinctive sound that pulls from 80s sophisti-pop and jazz fusion, in addition to more modern bands coming from a similar place (namely Kaputt-era Destroyer). Their third record, Big Time Things, is no major departure from that sound, but it does feel like the band is getting comfortable with stretching it and stripping it down to its basic elements (often, the songs are basically just being carried by a simple keyboard part from Cook-Wilson, or melodic bass from Charlie Kaplan). In terms of bands I write about regularly on Rosy Overdrive, it falls somewhere between the “ambient country” era of Friendship and the leisurely pop rock of Personal Space.
Cook-Wilson chooses warm-sounding keyboard tones throughout Big Time Things, which give the record an inviting and comforting sound regardless of where he is at lyrically. This accentuates the moments when the record pushes a little bit out of its groove—the triumphant, string-aided chorus of “Little Reminders”, and the directness with which Cook-Wilson delivers the title line of “Things Were Bad” (“…but they’re better now”). The keyboard is also instrumental in leading off the record, where Cook-Wilson eases us into it with the slow-moving “Suddenly”, which is maybe the most in-the-zone moment on Big Time Things. The title track offers up a slow but steady drumbeat and memorable keyboard hook—the left-turn is in the lyrics, where all of this is to emphasize Cook-Wilson (aided by Carmen Q. Rothwell and Caitlin Pasko’s backing vocals) saying “Stop, I feel nervous”. Big Time Things is expansive enough to contain whatever Cook-Wilson has on his mind throughout the record. (Bandcamp link)
Kolb – Tyrannical Vibes
Release date: September 30th Record label: Ramp Local Genre: Indie pop, experimental pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Cruising
Mike Kolb has been a touring member of Water from Your Eyes for several years now, and has self-released a good deal of music under his name in the meantime, but Tyrannical Vibes is something of his formal debut as Kolb. Although it’s the Brooklyn-based songwriter’s last name on the cover of the record, and although Kolb wrote, recorded, and played nearly every instrument (save bass on one song and saxophone) on the album, the vocal contributions of Ani Ivry-Block and Carolyn Hietter make this something other than a typical “solo album”. Ivry-Block and Hietter trade lead vocals with Kolb throughout Tyrannical Vibes, making them as prominent-seeming on the record as Kolb himself.
Tyrannical Vibes is a welcoming but smart pop album, operating in the same sphere as Water from Your Eyes and its members’ side projects (This Is Lorelei, Thanks for Coming), as well as recalling the most recent record from Ivry-Block’s band, Palberta. The record’s most accessible moments are carried by sheer exuberance, like the opening duo of the Kolb-led “Cruising” and Hietter’s saxophone aided-performance in “I Guess I’m Lucky”. Tyrannical Vibes is something of a restless record, playing with post-punk/new wave sounds (“Internal Affairs”, “The Answer”), electronic elements (“Ectoplasm”, “Weather Synchronized”), and R&B (“Jean-Luc”) but hanging on to pop hooks through the various zigs and zags. Kolb’s songwriting strength is on display throughout Tyrannical Vibes, and Ivry-Block and Hietter’s contributions work very well to underline it. (Bandcamp link)
Coughing Dove – You & Me Lee
Release date: September 16th Record label: Self Aware Genre: Alt-country, folk rock Formats: CD, digital Pull track: You & Me Lee
Coughing Dove is the Charlotte-based project of Nicholas Holman, and his second album under the name and first for Self Aware Records (Late Bloomer, Faye) is a quiet record of folk rock and alt-country that manages to sound both dusty and polished at the same time. With only seven songs, You & Me Lee stretches out a bit, with Holman exploring both straightforward, acoustic folk and expansive cosmic country over 27 minutes. The first half of You & Me Lee gives us the gently loping “Spoonbender”, which has something of a toe-tapping tempo, and guest vocals from Madison Lucas and Brooke Weeks aiding Holman’s gentle singing, as well as the pedal steel-aided drinking ballad “Lights Go Down at the Bar”, both of which find Coughing Dove putting forth fully-developed, emotional songs that hover around two minutes.
The bulk of You & Me Lee, however, is comprised of the three songs that immediately follow these numbers. The drum-led, beautifully swirling instrumental “Spirit Dance” is the record’s biggest left turn, and then You & Me Lee veers into the seven-minute speak-singing folk rock of “Year of the Year”, which reminds me of everything from Kurt Vile to Bill Callahan to Jeff Tweedy. The title track has a joyousness to it, particularly when Holman delivers the title line as the track winds itself deep into childhood nostalgia. As much as Coughing Dove roam in the back half of You & Me Lee, though, it still feels like a country record—an album-closing cover of Waylon Jennings’ “Dreaming My Dreams with You” isn’t necessary to confirm this, but it’s certainly a welcome and fitting cap to the record. (Bandcamp link)
After twoentries last week, we’re back to just one edition of Pressing Concerns for the week of the 23rd. But! There’s more than enough good music contained herein: new records from Expert Timing, Well Wisher, Red Pants, and Late Bloomer.
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
Expert Timing – Stargazing
Release date: September 23rd Record label: Count Your Lucky Stars Genre: Power pop, emo, pop punk Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Special Hell
Orlando, Florida’s Expert Timing make a version of self-described “bubble-grunge power pop” that’s emotional but catchy in a way that reminds me of 90s indie punk bands like Superchunk and Heatmiser. Stargazing is the group’s second album and first as a four-piece, following 2018’s Glare and a few EPs (one of which, 2021’s Live in Stereo, appeared in Pressing Concerns last year) as a trio. The husband and wife duo of Jeff and Katrina Snyder continue to trade off lead vocals on Stargazing in addition to providing guitar and bass, respectively, with Gibran Colbert returning on drums and second guitarist Nik Sidella being the new face.
With the quartet locked into place, Expert Timing rocket through eleven sharp pop songs in Stargazing. The record opens with a scorcher in “Special Hell”, a (mostly) Jeff-led song that twitches itself into an all-timer of a chorus, before offering up a pair of similarly catchy songs led by Katrina that also accentuate some interesting vocal choices and lyrics. A lot of Stargazing’s left-turn moments like these come in Katrina’s numbers, like in the oddly captivating single “New Queen”, or in her spoken word breakdown in the bridge of “Hey Friend”.
Not to be outdone, however, “The Bigger Picture” features lyrics and a vocal performance from Jeff that’s worthy of the more traditional emo of bands like labelmates Parting, even as Colbert hammers out a drumbeat that’s shockingly danceable alongside it. A few of Jeff’s songs might fly under the radar at first, but reveal themselves over repeat listens—the appropriately-titled “Short & Sweet” is a simple yet effective love song, and the crunchy “Homesick Hearts” is bass-heavy melodic punk at its best. All the more reason to keep spinning Stargazing. (Bandcamp link)
Well Wisher – That Weight
Release date: September 16th Record label: Egghunt Genre: Power pop, pop punk, emo Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Need You Around
New Jersey’s Well Wisher is a four-piece band led by singer-songwriter Natalie Newbold, which debuted in 2018 with This Is Fine. The group’s sophomore record, That Weight, comes four years later, and generally retains the hooky emo/pop punk sound that the quartet put forth on their debut record, although there’s enough musically and lyrically going on with That Weight to prevent it from feeling like This IsFine, Part Two. One of the inspirations Newbold cites for the record is Pinkerton, and while her lyrics certainly meet the “confessional” metric, I also hear it stylistically, wherein her voice is centered and emphasized throughout the album even as the band rock arguably harder around her.
That Weight opens with the forward-charging power pop of “Need You Around”—the pounding instrumental that lifts the chorus and the guitar lead that shoots out immediately after it are both striking, but it all works to accentuate Newbold’s titular plea. Well Wisher settle in to a tough-sounding alt-rock for most of That Weight, although the band and Newbold are deft enough to turn this sound towards power balladry (“Let Me Down”), shout-along emo (the title track), and Smashing Pumpkins-esque 90s wall-of-sound rock (“Surface Love”). According to Newbold, most of the record began as quiet acoustic songs, and the one song that remains that way on That Weight, “Emily”, is sparse and hard-hitting enough as it is that it’s hard to imagine it adapted another way. Well Wisher as a band and Newbold as a songwriter are more than enough to carry That Weight. (Bandcamp link)
Red Pants – Gentle Centuries
Release date: September 23rd Record label: Painted Blonde Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, dream pop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull track: Hot Water
Red Pants (the Madison, Wisconsin duo of Jason Lambeth and Elsa Nekola) began 2022 by releasing the When We Were Dancing cassette in February, and didn’t wait too long to put together a formal follow-up to the record with this month’s Gentle Centuries EP. The five songs on the EP proper are basement four-track recordings that end up having a distinctly different feel than that of When We Were Dancing—the louder, lo-fi shoegaze noise pop sound of the earlier album gives way to more meditative, restrained compositions.
The Yo La Tengo comparison still fits, but now applies to the quieter side of that band, and some moments (like the krautrock-y, synth-led opening track “Century Phaser”) are squarely in Stereolab territory. The pulsing “Paper Moon” continues this trend, before the rest of the EP wades into lo-fi pop territory (the crunchy, Guided by Voices-esque “Hot Water” is the immediate highlight, but the acoustic “Count to Ten” and the piano-led “Etched in Stone” will grow on you).
Cassette and digital download versions of Gentle Centuries come with five more songs (“leftover material” from the same sessions), which compliment the EP nicely by offering up tracks that fit in with the first two songs on Gentle Centuries (“Castles in the Snow”, “Lions”) and the last three (“Phantom Limb”, and an acoustic version of “Hot Water”). (Bandcamp link)
Late Bloomer – Where Are the Bones
Release date: September 9th Record label: Self Aware Genre: Acoustic rock, alt-country, folk rock Formats: Digital Pull track: Fern Creek
Late Bloomer is a Charlotte, North Carolina trio that has released three great albums of Dinosaur Jr./Superchunk/Nirvana-esque 90s-inspired alt-rock over the past decade (2018’s Waiting in particular is a front-to-back excellent and underrated record), in addition to bassist/vocalist Josh Robbins co-running Self Aware Records and playing in another one of its bands, Alright. The three-song Where Are the Bones EP is the most substantial release from the group (Robbins, guitarist/vocalist Neil Mauney, drummer Scott Wishart) since Waiting, and to say that it’s new territory for the band would be an understatement.
Where Are the Bones is effectively tentpoled by two five-minute songs with a one-minute ambient interlude (“Put the Piece Together”) connecting them. The opening and closing tracks both veer hard away from alt-rock, offering up two contemplative acoustic numbers instead. These aren’t basement-bashed-out, Sebadoh-style acoustic tracks, either. Robbins’ vocals are as delicate as they’ve ever sounded, and the various keyboard and percussion accents give the songs (particularly “Fern Creek”) a labored-over feel—these songs sound pretty. Where Are the Bones arose from the loss of both of Robbins’ grandparents in consecutive years—the lyrics reflect this, but so does the composition of these songs. Late Bloomer made an inspired choice to commit fully to what “Restless Nights” and “Fern Creek” required, no matter how much of a departure it became for them. (Bandcamp link)
Welcome back to Pressing Concerns, second edition of the week edition! Today’s new one looks at new albums from The Tisburys and Order of the Toad, a new old record from Vundabar, and a split release from Mythical Motors and Antlered Auntlord. If you missed the first Pressing Concerns of the week (featuring Bed Bits, Old Moon, Why Bother?, and Graham Repulski) because it went up on a Tuesday, check it out here.
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
The Tisburys – Exile on Main Street
Release date: September 16th Record label: Sacks of Phones Genre: Power pop Formats: CD, digital Pull track: The Tisburys (On Main Street)
The third record from Philadelphia’s The Tisburys is an expansive album with a host of discernable influences that remains fresh-sounding. Exileon Main Street (yes, they really called it that) contains shades of (among other things) power pop, jangle pop, 90s radio-pop-rock, and the heartland rock that seems to populate their home city, and they also very casually reach one state over to grab a Springsteen influence (there’s a song called “On the Run in Harmony, NJ”, and “Language of Luxury” quotes the Boss directly, but they’re hardly the only songs on Exile on Main Street to bear the marks of Bruce).
Exile on Main Street kicks off with an opening theme of sorts—“The Tisburys (On Main Street)” pulls out all the stops: a giant sprint of a tempo, roller-rink keyboards, a monster hook, and, yes, plenty of saxophone. Most of The Tisbury’s pop music from then on is a little calmer, but it’s no less catchy—it gives singer-songwriter Tyler Asay’s vocals room to be the center of attention, which they are throughout the record. The record rolls through the pastoral jangle of “Second Sign”, the Big Nothing-esque power pop of “Garden”, and the almost-noir feel to the aforementioned “On the Run in Harmony, NJ”. In its second half, Exile on Main Street gives us “Paulette”, which transforms from the record’s sparsest song to the one with the most impressive guitar workouts.
The consistency of the record is what strikes me on repeated listens—the grinning pop rock of songs like “When Love Knocks You Down” and “La Mancha” might get overlooked in favor of the more showy tracks on the record at first, but not for long. By the time we get to the closing track, “Exile (On Main Street)” (that title isn’t just a Replacements/Stones riff, by the way—it’s also a reference to Asay’s place of work, Main Street Music), Asay is repeating the chorus that he used to blaze into the start of the record, sounding more subdued but still quite animated. (Bandcamp link)
Vundabar – Good Old
Release date: September 16th Record label: Gawk/Amuse Genre: Post-punk, garage rock, alt-rock Formats: Digital Pull track: Bad Sun
Quietly one of the more consistent bands of the past decade, Boston’s Vundabar have slowly amassed an impressive discography of five quality full-length records since 2013—they’ve more than earned the victory lap that is Good Old, an odds-and-ends collection of sorts intended in part to mark ten years together as a band. Good Old is less of a comprehensive collection of Vundabar tunes and more two mini-albums mixed into one: four of the tracks are acoustic versions of songs from their most recent record, April’s Rosy Overdrive-approvedDevil for the Fire (albeit one of these songs, “Alien Blues”, was only re-recorded for that record and originally appeared on 2015’s Gawk), while the rest of the album is made up of previously-unreleased originals recorded between 2015 and 2018.
Still, this timeframe for the previously-unheard songs is an illuminating one, because it captures the band in a state of transition between the nervous, jerky post-punk revival of their first two albums and the more wide-ranging, brighter (but still recognizably Vundabar) indie rock that they would steadily move towards beginning with 2018’s Smell Smoke. Songs like “Shadow Boxing” and “Bad Sun” find the band mining fuzzy alt-rock that only somewhat obscures the pop hooks, while the lumbering “Tungs” is Vundabar at their least preoccupied with accessibility (and is still weirdly catchy). Meanwhile, the acoustic versions of the newer songs only accentuate their pop songwriting: the already-delicate “Aphasia” feels even more intimate in this context, and “The Gloam” slows itself down, revamping the song dramatically but not losing anything in the process. These are some of Vundabar’s best songs; Good Old may be a cap on the band’s first decade, but there’s little reason to assume that it marks the end of anything.
Order of the Toad – Spirit Man
Release date: September 16th Record label: Hidden Bay/Gringo Genre: Indie pop, post-punk, pop rock Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Let Myself Go
Order of the Toad are an energetic four-piece pop rock band from Glasgow, led by the striking vocals of (primary) lead singer and bassist Gemma Fleet, and aided deftly by drummer/vocalist Christopher Taylor and guitarists Andrew Doig (aka Robert Sotelo) and Fionnan. Spirit Man is the group’s third record since 2018, and it finds the “retro pop” band offering up a dozen infectious songs that incorporate everything from new wave to power pop to garage rock to 60s pop before the Order of the Toad are through with them. The recent addition of Fionnan as second guitarist is felt in the melodic leads that weave in and out of these songs, like the alternatively stomping and galloping “Beyond the Pale” and the creeping “Solo Amor”.
Fleet’s singing is centered on every song in which she takes the lead, and while not every song is as openly arresting as, say, her Kate Bush-esque vocal theatrics on “Foghorn”, the rest aren’t far behind. Taylor sings lead on three tracks on Spirit Man, and his droll sung-spoken vocals help emphasize the post-punk side of the band, particularly in the stop-start “Salt of the Earth” (the Fleet-sung songs don’t have this specific feeling, but the chugging verses of “Subterranean” and the new wave chorus of “Golden Rod” similarly spotlight Order of the Toad’s interest in the early 80s). Spirit Man is captivating in its eagerness to paint enthusiastically with the band’s musical tools, and it is at its best when several of Order of the Toad’s influences come together—like in “Let Myself Go”, in which Fleet sings a timeless pop melody over busy bass playing and soaring guitar leads. (Bandcamp link)
Mythical Motors / Antlered Auntlord – Split
Release date: August 26th Record label: HHBTM Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, power pop, garage rock Formats: Cassette, digital Pull track: Wave Red
The last time Rosy Overdrive looked at Mythical Motors, the lo-fi power pop project of Chattanooga’s Matt Addison, was a little less than a year ago, on the cusp of the release of their album A Rare Look Ahead. For their next record, Mythical Motors have joined with HHBTM Records (Good Grief, Fishboy, The Wedding Present) to release a split cassette with Athens, Georgia’s Antlered Auntlord, another band who enjoys packing their lo-fi indie rock with pop hooks. The Mythical Motors side of the split (their own Bandcamp page refers to it as Field Trip to the Ghost Town) delivers ten pieces of bite-sized pop rock that Addison does quite well. Mostly hovering around the two-minute mark, Mythical Motors bash out rockers like opening track “The Instant Forever” and “Orchestra Pit of Flames” (where Addison pushes his vocals more than usual) and synth-shaded ballads like “On Circus Day” and “The Virgo Blitz”.
A good split release frequently forces the listener to discover a new band they wouldn’t have otherwise checked out, and, for me, this is the role of the Antlered Auntlord side of this cassette. Their half of the album feels more garage rock-y than the Mythical Motors end—while the latter is clearly a pop band that just happens to present their music in the lo-fi format, Antlered Auntlord are a lo-fi indie rock band that just happens to be on the tuneful side. There’s a frenetic energy to these songs that distinguishes them—you won’t hear a vocal performance as unhinged as “Spacial There (Half Bubble Off Plumb)” on the Mythical Motors side—but songs like the garage punk “Kit Bash” and the pogo-ing “Wave Red” are as much pop songs as anything from the cassette’s flip side. It’s a sensible match, and (more importantly) a quality album. (Bandcamp link)
Greetings! This Tuesday edition of Pressing Concerns looks at new and upcoming records from Bed Bits, Old Moon, Why Bother?, and Graham Repulski. September 16th is shaping up to be a big release week (at least within the niche of music that Rosy Overdrive covers), so the plan right now is for a second Pressing Concerns to go up on the normal day (this Thursday) as well. Look out for it!
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
Bed Bits – Bed Bits
Release date: September 2nd Record label: I’m into Life/Plastic Response Genre: Jangle pop, psych pop, lo-fi pop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull track: Cambrian Age
Bed Bits is the project of Alex Edgeworth, begun in Vermont and continuing after her move to Los Angeles. The self-titled Bed Bits cassette is Edgeworth’s debut record, coming after playing in the Happy Jawbone Family Band, working on her own songs for several years, and developing Bed Bits into a quintet. Bed Bits is an album that takes in several decades’ worth of guitar pop, from the Beatles and Syd Barrett to Flying Nun and C86.
Edgeworth’s combination of adventurous indie pop with world-containing and world-building lyrics reminds me of the Olivia’s World EP from last year, and although these songs are fairly minimal musically, there’s a rumbling bass sound throughout the album that’s a nice counterpoint to the trebly, “lo-fi” nature of a lot of these types of bands. Bed Bits opens with the animal noises and steady drumbeat of “Cambrian Age”, which then morphs into a jangly pop tune that introduces the key aspects of Edgeworth’s project perfectly. A simple but effective guitar riff and bouncy bass circle around Edgeworth’s psychedelic, transportive lyrics that reference (among other things) Gondwana and the trilobites of its titular age.
So it goes from then on, with vivid images emerging from its primordial core—the “frog in the chimney” in “Ceiling”, the fruit and seashells populating “Secret Life”, the “pink and yellow planets” and “nougat blues” of “Tender Spree”. A good deal of Bed Bits features little or no percussion, letting Edgeworth’s lyrics hit the listener more effectively, but it’s still a pop record with fully-developed songs—“Dream Vitamins” bounds along, aided by some wordless vocal hooks, and “Wild Landscape” has a loping instrumental that gallops across the titular location. As a whole, Bed Bits is a debut that impressively and eagerly announces what the person behind it is all about. (Bandcamp link)
Old Moon – Under All Skies
Release date: September 16th Record label: Relief Map Genre: Post-punk, jangle pop, dream pop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull track: Candle
Old Moon is the project of Burlington, Vermont’s Tom Weir, who has had a busy 2022 thus far—in addition to this week’s Under All Skies cassette EP, Weir has already put out the Cities of the Plain full-length and the In the Wasteland EP this year under the name. With Under All Skies, Old Moon embraces the sound of 80’s alternative rock—the cassette’s six songs fall between classic college rock and melancholic post-punk, and Weir’s writing takes advantage of the best of both styles. Old Moon’s embrace of reverb and Weir’s plainly emotive vocals conjure up dream pop, but these songs are (for the most part) more grounded and propulsive in a post-punk way.
Songs like “Dark Blue Morning” and “All It Takes” are upbeat, jangly rock songs shot through with Old Moon’s dreamy sheen, and while “Candle” starts out with a synthpop intro, it eventually rolls into a big New Order-esque chorus that evokes the more guitar-based tracks from that band. Old Moon borrow more than surface-level sonic moves from 80s post-punk—there’s also a Cure-ish darkness/lightness balancing act to the songs of Under All Skies, particularly in the mid-tempo, contemplative “Consecrated Life” and the scorching but anthemic howl of “Harbor”. Under All Skies may be one of several recent Old Moon releases, but it feels fully-realized and sufficiently labored-over; all six tracks are multi-dimensional, immersive pop songs. (Bandcamp link)
Why Bother? – Lacerated Nights
Release date: September 16th Record label: Feel It/Blowtorch Genre: Garage rock, punk rock Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Cut to Pieces
Mason City, Iowa’s Why Bother? certainly fits the bill of a Feel It Records band—little to no online presence, quite prolific, and, above all, concerned with rocking out in a dirty and gritty way. Although the garage punk four-piece have been busy during their relatively brief time as a band, Lacerated Nights is somewhat surprisingly only their first proper full-length—last year’s A Year of Mutations collected their first four EPs, and February’s Lovers and Addicts padded its runtime with a selection of cover songs. With Lacerated Nights, however, Why Bother? deliver a thirty-minute statement of garage rock that’s all their own.
Although Lacerated Nights has a barebones punk rock feel to it, synths do pop up throughout the record (courtesy of lead vocalist Terry). It still feels like a guitar record first, but songs like “Bent Spoon Blues” are pretty prominently built up around synths, and the atmospheric post-punk of “Clouds” hints at future unexplored areas for the band. Why Bother? also follows in the footsteps of garage rockers like The Cramps and Dead Moon with their dark and horror-tinged undertones—the classic punk rock-sounding lead single “Cut to Pieces” needs no further explaining, and the second half of Lacerated Nights gives us “Televised Assassination”, the truly unnerving “The Stalker’s Stare”, and the creepy cypher of a closing track, “Dirty Secrets”. This kind of music can still feel like it’s got an edge to it, especially when it’s delivered directly from a basement in Middle America. (Bandcamp link)
Graham Repulski – Zero Shred Forty
Release date: September 13th Record label: Shorter Recordings Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, power pop, psych pop Formats: CD, digital Pull track: Flaming Television
Philadelphia’s Graham Repulski has been making a tuneful racket with his version of lo-fi pop music for a dozen years at this point, bashing out short songs on his Shorter Recordings label that evoke Repulski’s most noticeable influence, Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices (noted Pollard collaborator Todd Tobias mastered Zero Shred Forty, as he has done with many a Repulski release). Songs like “Flaming Television” call up the best parts of the lo-fi era of Guided by Voices, with Repulski’s vocals reaching emotional, melodic heights that a lot of Pollard imitators don’t quite reach, while “Rated Violence” is a messy ballad where a beautiful melody cuts through the fuzz.
But Repulski’s clearly not just a fan of the “hits” side of Robert Pollard—he can do the weird, atmospheric side (“Boiled Again”) and play the Suitcase/Alien Lanes song-snippet game as well (“Tart Milk”). Not that Repulski makes a clean divider line between these facets—hidden toward the end of the record, “Failure Jam” is a layered noise pop tune that masks some of Repulski’s most vulnerable and touching writing underneath its surface. At 20 minutes (the last two of which are the mostly-silent “Untitled”), Zero Shred Forty does not overstay its welcome, opting to retain some mystique—which shakes out just fine, because what’s there is generous enough as it is. (Bandcamp link)
This week’s Pressing Concerns looks at new albums from Ylayali, Daniel Romano’s Outfit, The Orchids, and Rush to Relax. A great one for pop music!
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
Ylayali – Separation
Release date: September 2nd Record label: Dear Life Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, slowcore Formats: CD, cassette, digital Pull track: Natural
Francis Lyons has spent the last few years drumming in several notable Philadelphia bands (2nd Grade, Free Cake for Every Creature, 22° Halo), as well as amassing a considerable solo career as Ylayali. Separation is Lyons’ fourth record under the name since 2019, and it sounds like the work of somebody who’s developed a distinct sound—dreamy without being “dream pop”, “slowcore” that is only at times slow, “bedroom pop” with a host of other contributions from fellow musicians. Separation evokes the more humble side of 90s indie rock, with bands like Duster and Sparklehorse seeming to be touchstones—in terms of modern music, it reminds me a good deal of the Bad Heaven Ltd. album from earlier this year.
Separation opens with the ambient pop of “Green Walls”, a song led by a droning synth and plain-spoken vocals from Lyons, and soon subtly but noticeably shifts to different styles like the almost-bounciness of “Natural”, the driving “Nobody Knows” (which also buries a beautiful melody under its uptempo, bass-driven surface), or even the unexpected stomping fuzz-rock track near the end of the record (“All Kinds”). Some of the shifts in Separation come within the songs themselves—single “Circle Change” starts with a whispered voice and echoed synths in its first part before becoming uplifting pop rock in its second half, and “Not Yer Spade” similarly moves between these two extremes. Lyons’ vocals remain a stoic presence throughout the rising and falling music of Separation, until the end where a few songs (“Lunch Hour Freedom”, “Getting There”, “Air”) feature lengthy instrumentals. Separation is, according to Lyons, almost entirely inspired by dreams and dialogues within them—with that in mind, it makes sense that Ylayali doesn’t lean entirely on words to convey this on the record. (Bandcamp link)
Daniel Romano’s Outfit – La Luna
Release date: September 9th Record label: You’ve Changed Genre: Psychedelic rock, alt-country, baroque pop Formats: Vinyl, digital
Like many people, I was aware of Daniel Romano for a while, but only really started paying attention to the Ontario-based singer-songwriter after his pandemic year to remember. Regular readers of Rosy Overdrive should not be surprised that I was impressed with his prolific output and ability to jump from country to psych pop to punk rock and still retain a signature sound. La Luna is “only” Romano’s first record of 2022, but the nature of the album—it’s a single, thirty-three-minute song split into 12 “parts”—dares anyone to look at Romano and his five-piece Outfit and think of them as slowing down.
Of the dozen or so records Romano released in 2020, it’s tempting to compare La Luna the most to Forever Love’s Fool, the twenty-two-minute single-song prog suite he recorded with Tool drummer Danny Carey. The similarities are there, of course, but La Luna accomplishes something (to my ears) even more impressive: successfully adapting Romano’s 60s/70s-inspired psychedelia/country style into something grander. Although La Luna feels more like a single track than a dozen smashed together, the sections feature pop melodies distinct enough that they could stand on their own, either delivered by Romano himself or via a handoff to other members of the Outfit, who get their chances to lead over the course of La Luna as well. Like the sections of the record, the transitions between members are also seamless, and help La Luna feel like the product of an in-tune group of musicians working toward a shared vision. (Bandcamp link)
The Orchids – Dreaming Kind
Release date: September 2nd Record label: Skep Wax Genre: Indie pop Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital Pull track: Didn’t We Love You
The Orchids are a long-running Glasgow twee/indie pop band who were present for Sarah Records’ heyday in the early 90s, and have been releasing music on and off since that point. Dreaming Kind is the group’s seventh full-length record and first since 2014, released on Skep Wax, a label by and for veterans of indie pop. Skep Wax’s Under the Bridge compilation (featuring a song from this record) demonstrated the ability of twee bands to grow and “mature” after decades of playing music, but The Orchids always had something of a head start in that department—their music has always given off a more pensive and “sophisti-pop” vibe than some of their peers’ youthful energy.
Lead vocalist James Hackett has a hushed delivery that gives the songs of Dreaming Kind an intimacy even at their most layered and overtly “pop”. Opening track “Didn’t We Love You” retains indie pop energy with jangly guitars and upbeat melodies, and single “This Boy Is a Mess” continues along in the same vein, but Dreaming Kind as a whole feels like a more contemplative record. Synths and other electronic elements color these songs—“A Feeling I Don’t Know” has some vocal manipulation, “I Don’t Mean to Stare” is a hypnotic dance number, and “I Should Have Thought” runs on a downcast beat. The Orchids remain devoted to pop music, whether it’s groove-driven, like the light disco of “Something Missing” or sparse, like the acoustic-and-strings-only “Isn’t It Easy”. Dreaming Kind has a unique feel to it; it’s immediate but layered in a way that reflects the band’s seasoned indie pop background. (Bandcamp link)
Rush to Relax – Misli
Release date: August 31st Record label: Look Back and Laugh/Pop Depresija/Hidden Bay Genre: Jangle pop, indie pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Krukče
Rush to Relax is the project of Macedonia’s Damjan Manevski, a Ljubljana-based singer-songwriter who takes inspiration from the music of his home of the Balkans, but in a way that will also hit close to home for those of us who are familiar with other classic guitar pop scenes, such as New Zealand’s Dunedin Sound and the C86 of Great Britain. If one isn’t listening close enough to hear that Manevski’s vocals are sung in his native Macedonian, the first few tracks of Misli could pass for a lost Flying Nun record, particularly the exuberant opening song “Krukče”.
The guitar pop “hits” continue throughout Misli—the quick-paced “Običen” features some excellent guitar leads and a singalong refrain, and penultimate track “Mirno mesto” saves some of Manevski’s best melodies for nearly the end. While the “pop” side of Misli isn’t interrupted by anything, some of Manevski’s other influences do peak through at points. “Pravo uvo” has a full-band stomp to it that evokes garage rock and post-punk while still being quite hooky, “Koga ne mislam” is a dreamy ballad featuring a surprisingly showy guitar solo, and closing track “Pesni vo meani” ends the album on a pensive note, with a glittering guitar line dancing around a more contemplative whole. (Bandcamp link)
Happy September! That means it’s time for Rosy Overdrive’s August playlist. Some of these songs will be familiar to readers of the blog, some will not be, but all of them are worth checking out. So, do so!
Kiwi Jr., Mo Troper, Tall Dwarfs, First Rodeo, Home Blitz, and Dogbreth all get two songs on the playlist.
Here is where you can listen to the playlist on various streaming services: Spotify, Tidal (missing one song), BNDCMPR (missing a couple). Be sure to check out previous playlist posts if you’ve enjoyed this one.
“Gotta Start Somewhere”, Jon Brion From Meaningless (2001, Straight to Cut-Out/Jealous Butcher)
Like a lot of power pop fans, I’ve long regarded the sole solo album by Jon Brion (of The Grays, countless soundtrack scores, and notable production work for Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann, among others) to be a neglected and unfairly obscure gem of a record. Jealous Butcher’s upcoming reissue of Meaningless feels twenty years overdue, but I’ll happily take it, and in the meantime, “Gotta Start Somewhere” is indeed a great starting point for the record’s deceptively simple pop brilliance.
“Parasite II”, Kiwi Jr. From Chopper (2022, Sub Pop)
Eh, Kiwi Jr. are allowed to do the “pivot to synths” thing. For one, they’ve already given us two full 90s indie rock/power pop-inspired LPs in a relatively short amount of time—and for another, their take on the genre is of the Cars-esque, garishly-accented variety, which works very well for the band. It all comes together in “Parasite II”, where blaring sirens crash into a vintage Kiwi Jr. skeleton and a particularly inspired vocal performance from Jeremy Gaudet.
“The New Year’s Resolution”, Spielbergs From Vestli (2022, Big Scary Monsters/Fysisk Format)
Spielbergs’ first record, 2019’s This Is Not the End, was one of my favorite debut releases of that year, and their long-awaited follow-up Vestli picks up pretty much right where they left off. Still perched at the forefront of the surprisingly fertile Norwegian heartland-indie-power-pop-emo-rock scene, “The New Year’s Resolution” starts off the record with a roar, a rush of guitars and shouted vocals.
“Your Ideal”, Cinema Hearts From Your Ideal (2022, Burnished)
The title track from Cinema Hearts’ Your Ideal is also the debut EP’s biggest success. The rest of Your Ideal features some interesting forays into dream pop and girl group-inspired music, but “Your Ideal” shines with pure Pixies-esque alt-rock stomp. The song’s lyrics, directly inspired by Caroline Weinroth’s history as a pageant queen, add plenty of bite to the bass-driven instrumental.
“Bobby’s Song”, The Roches From Nurds (1980, Warner Bros.)
Nurds is my first full-length experience with The Roches, but it’s not going to be my last. I usually see the trio of sisters referred to as a “folk act”, but that doesn’t adequately describe either Nurds or “Bobby’s Song”, my favorite track from the record. The harmonies between the three Roche sisters are nuts all over the song, as they stretch and strain against the song’s 60s pop-rock instrumentation and subject matter (that’d be the titular heartthrob).
“Play Dumb”, Mo Troper From MTV (2022, Lame-O)
Although September’s MTV is its formal release, “Play Dumb” is an older Mo Troper song that’s been floating around for a few years, and Troper’s contempt-dripping lyrics and straight power pop melody (not to mention the actual full-band recording) puts it squarely in Exposure & Response/Beloved territory. Even for that era of Troper, the lyrics are particularly pointed and, without getting into specifics, mirror something going on in my personal life quite well (so, thanks for that, Mo). Read more about MTV here.
“Life Is Strange”, Tall Dwarfs From Unravelled: 1981-2002 (2022, Merge)
While part of me wishes Unravelled: 1981-2002 was comprehensive, the rest of me knows how unfeasible that is with the amount of material the Tall Dwarfs released over their twenty year career, and it’s hard to find fault with the breadth of the 55-song, 2.5 hour compilation. I can reach in there and find something new to appreciate every time—like “Life Is Strange”, originally from 1991’s Fork Songs, which is a classic lo-fi pop song that I don’t know why never really grabbed me until I heard it in this new context.
“Every Worry Like a Pet”, Brat Sounds From Every Worry Like a Pet (2022, Gain Castle)
Milwaukee’s Brat Sounds are gearing up to release their fourth record sometime in October, and the A-side of its first single is a humble but compelling pop rock tune that has me curious to check out the rest of the album. “Every Worry Like a Pet” has multiple killer hooks, but isn’t overly showy about them—it feels very 90s alt-pop one-hit-wonder, in the best case scenario for that genre.
“Didn’t It Rain Last Night”, First Rodeo From First Rodeo (2022, Forged Artifacts)
First Rodeo is the duo of Nathan Tucker (Cool Original) and Tim Howe (Vista House). Even though I was more familiar with Tucker’s music before hearing First Rodeo, my favorite track from the record is sung by Howe—“Didn’t It Rain Last Night” is a beautiful country rock song that stretches out to nearly six minutes, and I could listen to Howe’s delivery of the chorus (the title line, and also “Didn’t it thunder?”) for much longer.
“Talk”, S. Raekwon From I Like It When You Smile (2022, Father/Daughter)
The four-song I Like It When You Smile opens with “Talk”, the EP’s lead single and the obvious indie pop “hit”—the song’s bouncy piano-and-drumbeat backbone serves S. Raekwon’s gently excited vocals quite well. It’s a fairly minimal track, but not so much that it doesn’t hit when S. Raekwon kicks it up a notch in the final half-minute. Read more about I Like It When You Smile here.
“Two Steps”, Home Blitz From Out of Phase (2010, Richie)
I quite enjoyed Home Blitz’s 2020 All Through the Year EP, and I had a feeling I would like the rest of the music by the band (which is more or less the solo project of Daniel DiMaggio) when I got to it. And I do! Out of Phase is messier than where All Through the Year ended up, but it’s still an incredibly catchy garage rock/power pop record, and “Two Steps” marries lo-fi squall with jangle pop and just straight-up rock and roll in an exciting way.
“The Threshold”, Dogbreth From Believe This Rain (2022, Phat ‘n’ Phunky)
Perhaps the “biggest” moment on Believe This Rain, “The Threshold” arrives nearly halfway through the record and claims the “centerpiece” mantle firmly. It’s a shimmery and cinematic jangle pop song, even adding fluttering synths to evoke the best of heartland indie rock acts like Wild Pink. Read more about Believe This Rain here.
“In the Dark”, Faye From You’re Better (2022, Self Aware)
Faye is the duo of Sarah Blumenthal and Susan Plante, and their debut record You’re Better is excellent fuzzy alt-rock all the way through. Highlight “In the Dark” begins with a relatively sparse fuzz-bass-and-drumbeat intro that’s particularly reminiscent of one of their biggest influences, The Breeders—and that’s even before Blumenthal and Plante harmonize in the refrain. Read more about You’re Better here.
“Loose Lips”, Ex-Gold From We Are Good (2022, Pig Man)
I don’t know too much about the band Ex-Gold. They’re a garage punk trio from Knoxville, Tennessee (their name really screams “southern garage punk band”, so that tracks), and their latest record We Are Good is a 21-minute workout of rippers. “Loose Lips” is post-punk at its wildest, all insistent bass and repeated riffs in the verses but with a vintage new wave chorus.
“Empty Tame and Ugly”, Lou Turner From Microcosmos (2022, SPINSTER)
A key track to unlocking Lou Turner’s Microcosmos, “Empty Tame and Ugly” is a content, laid-back folk song that nonetheless features some of Turner’s strongest writing yet. Something of a parallel line to the “domestic troubadour” nature of the album, for one track Turner addresses and pokes holes into the shallow cowboy archetype that hovers out of sight throughout the rest of the record. Read more about Microcosmos here.
“Dead Drummers”, Near Beer From NEAR BEER (2022, Double Helix)
Near Beer’s self-titled debut record is high-octane pop and punk that doesn’t sound like most “pop punk”—think something like a snottier Husker Du, or even Hot Snakes trying to make power pop. They’ve also got a heartland sincerity to them (belying their hometown of Los Angeles), reflected well in “Dead Drummers”, a song that makes no bones about its full-hearted belief in the power of rock music, man, in the face of some really tough times.
“Phantom Factory”, Dan Friel From Factoryland (2022, Thrill Jockey)
It’s probably no surprise to readers of Rosy Overdrive that I prefer Dan Friel’s guitar-heavy rock bands Parts & Labor and Upper Wilds to his instrumental, synth-based solo work, but I like his songwriting enough that I usually enjoy the latter as well. Factoryland has plenty of moments that rise to Friel’s high shrill pop music standard, not the least of which is “Phantom Factory”, which spits out an incredibly catchy melody and makes damn sure you can’t miss it.
“Pipe and Pistol”, Spacemoth From No Past No Future (2022, Wax Nine)
I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the sound of Spacemoth’s No Past No Future as of late. Maryam Qudus has amassed quite the resumé as a producer and engineer (most relevant to me: her background with John Vanderslice and Tiny Telephone), so it makes sense that her own music would have an arresting presentation. “Pipe and Pistol” is built off of a Stereolab-esque vintage synth sound and some hard-hitting programmed drums, and the combination just straight-up rocks.
“Chain”, Workhorse From No Photographs (2022, Dinosaur City)
No Photographs is the debut full-length from Adelaide’s Workhorse (and their first release overall since 2017’s No Sun EP), and it’s an intriguing record that floats between dream pop and country rock. Opening track “Chain” is squarely in the middle, with a twangy lead guitar and violin accents contrasting with the song’s leisurely pace and Workhorse leader Harriet Fraser-Barbour’s unmoored, stoic vocals.
“Worker and Parasite”, J. Marinelli From Putting the World to Rights (2022, ORG)
“Worker and Parasite” originally appeared on J. Marinelli’s 2021 Fjorden and Fjellet EP, and it gets a second look on his new full-length Putting the World to Rights. Over a catchy lo-fi pop backbone, Marinelli harmonizes with himself and weaves the personal and political together deftly over the course of the song (“There’s no struggle quite like your fight for attention” is a great one-liner in any context).
“The Layup”, The Human Fly From Thrill of Living (2022)
Philadelphia’s The Human Fly have been making their combination of folk rock and guitar pop for around a decade now—the five-piece band’s latest record, Thrill of Living, feels somewhere between Matthew Milia and Friendship. Album highlight “The Layup” is an almost-soft rock song that’s aided greatly by Robert Mathis’ evocative vocals, which remind me of the more tender moments of Crooked Fingers-era Eric Bachmann, of all things—it’s the human center to what grows into full-sounding indie folk over the song’s course.
“I’m the King of Rock ‘n Roll”, Mo Troper From MTV (2022, Lame-O)
“I’m the King of Rock ‘n Roll” is part of a one-two opening punch that really sets the scene for Mo Troper V, aka MTV. It’s a balancing act of a song that hovers between fuzzy noise and pop hooks—it’s a spiky, somewhat troubling glam-rocker that remains undeniably catchy no matter how in-the-red Troper takes it. Read more about MTV here.
“Passing Through the Void”, Ali Murray From Passing Through the Void (2022, Dead Forest)
The appropriately-named title track to Ali Murray’s Passing Through the Void EP is vintage Murray: a gorgeous-sounding, slow-moving electric slowcore song that ends on a transcendent note by contrasting Murray’s tender vocals with a soaring guitar lead. Read more about Passing Through the Void here.
“Pretty Money”, Advertisement From American Advertisement (2020, Patchwork Fantasy)
I knew that Los Angeles/Seattle’s Advertisement was another band that I’d probably enjoy, and now that I’ve gotten around to listening to them, I can confirm that this is the case. American Advertisement is at times psychedelic and at times garage rock, but just as frequently separately as together. “Pretty Money” is a nice and sneaky mid-tempo pop song that’s incredibly well put together.
“Hell for Leather”, Future Suck From Simulation (2022, Rack Off)
Simulation is 23 minutes of pure Aussie punk, with Future Suck (a new band, but with plenty of service in previous Australian bands between its various members) blazing through quick hardcore-adjacent songs helmed by the dynamic vocals of Grace Gibson. Album highlight “Hell for Leather” is more classic punk, and features a particularly memorable performance from Gibson.
“Photograph”, Franklin Gothic From Into the Light (2022, #veryjazzed/Pleasure Tapes)
Franklin Gothic is the solo project of Portland’s Jay DiBartolo, and his debut record Into the Light is an intriguing mix of several styles of indie rock and pop. Album highlight “Photograph” is a gentle song that mixes quiet acoustic-strummed verses with a shyly triumphant chorus—it could easily pass for something from the more barebones end of the Elephant Six collective, especially when DiBartolo deploys the harmonies.
“Burning Blue”, Tall Dwarfs From Unravelled: 1981-2002 (2022, Merge)
“Burning Blue” is originally from the 1985 That’s the Short and Long of It EP (probably most notable for its closing track, “Nothing’s Going to Happen”), and it’s not as overtly poppy as “Life Is Strange” from earlier on this playlist, but it does showcase one of Tall Dwarfs’ key strengths. The song pulls off a dark and somewhat eerie vibe while still remaining squarely in the world of lo-fi pop—listen to those piano flourishes, for instance.
“Mind Wipe”, The Special Pillow From Mind Wipe (2022)
The six-track, twenty-minute Mind Wipe showcases multiple sides to Hoboken’s The Special Pillow, and the EP’s jangly title track is the group at the purely “pop” end of their psychedelic pop. Dan Cuddy’s clear vocals and the arpeggio that recurs throughout the song are more in line with the sober moments of their fellow Jersey band Yo La Tengo than any kind of acid freakout—the trippy-ness is in the song’s lyrics, which are a (wiped) headscratcher. Read more about Mind Wipe here.
“Me Myself I”, Joan Armatrading From Me Myself I (1980, UMG/A&M)
I can’t really go into Joan Armatrading’s illustrious (and still going!) music career in this brief post entry—suffice it to say, Me Myself I is just one chapter in it, although a substantial one. The record’s title track has some new wave production flourishes, but none of the bouncy guitars, synth touches, and Armatrading’s toe-dipping into shout-singing overly date the song, nor do they detract from Armatrading’s skill as a singer-songwriter. “Me Myself I” is first and foremost an “I love to be alone” anthem, and Armatrading more than has the authority to pull it off.
“Can You Leave the Light On?”, Sleepyhead From New Alchemy (2022)
I associate New York/Boston’s Sleepyhead with the 90s indie pop scenes in which they came up—record labels like Slumberland and TeenBeat (as well as bands like The Special Pillow, whose Dan Cuddy was a member of Sleepyhead at one point). Having been reformed for a while now, their latest record, New Alchemy, has a country-rock feeling to it that might seem odd to those only familiar with their early work, but suits the trio well at this stage of their career. “Can You Leave the Light On?” has a retro sound that reminds me of bands like The Delines, aided in great part by Rachel McNally’s full-sounding vocals.
“Monday”, CLAMM From Care (2022, Chapter Music)
CLAMM focus their anger and train their punk rock fire on worthy targets throughout the provocatively-tilted Care—the barreling “Monday” is one of the greatest examples of the trio’s skills on record. Jack Summers barks lyrics rejecting soul-sucking-work culture, and Maisie Everett’s backing vocals—which are basically co-leads for part of the song—are perhaps her most memorable performance yet. Read more about Care here.
“Rolling with the Moody Girls”, Home Blitz From Frozen Track (2012, Kemado/Mexican Summer)
As if the high vocals and power pop worship of Daniel DiMaggio wasn’t enough to garner comparisons to Scott Miller of Game Theory and The Loud Family, his project Home Blitz covered the former band’s “Rolling with the Moody Girls” on their 2012 Frozen Track EP. Game Theory’s Two Steps from the Middle Ages was a last-time attempt to dress Miller’s songwriting up respectfully—DiMaggio turns the song into a gleeful cascade. Synths show up randomly, DiMaggio motors through the lyrics—it’s a totally different animal, but still a potent one.
“Slow Reaction”, Dewey Defeats Truman From The Way You Shatter (2021, Silver Girl)
San Diego’s Dewey Defeats Truman made a couple records together in the early 2000s, and they’ve recently reunited for a pretty rewarding second act with their The Way You Shatter EP (released digitally last year and physically earlier this summer). “Slow Reaction” is 90s indie rock-influenced music at its finest, downcast but still propulsive, cryptic but still emotional.
“Delicate Creatures”, Scarves From Delicate Creatures (2022, Good Eye)
Delicate Creatures is an excellent mix of indie pop simplicity and rainy, sprawling Pacific Northwest indie rock, and the captivating title track is one of the record’s biggest successes. Niko Stathakopoulos’s high, comforting vocals deliver lyrics that reflect the album’s preoccupation with a cold world and the bright things within it (“Just like every other wild thing, you will be punished just for existing”). Read more about Delicate Creatures here.
“Second Choice”, Any Trouble From Where Are All the Nice Girls (1980, Stiff)
There’s a ton of these Elvis Costello-core bands from the beginning of the 1980s that have just been basically erased from history. Part of that might have to do with a smarmy sexism that has (thankfully) fallen out of favor, and with a title like Where Are All the Nice Girls, Any Trouble were not exactly immune to it either. “Second Choice”, however: “I only wanted to be one of the boys, now you’ve made me second choice” is pissy in a nice and vague way.
“Dark Cloud Blows Right Over You”, Sun Is Poison From Dark Cloud Unhand Me (2022)
Sun Is Poison is the upstate New York-based lo-fi indie rock solo project of Will Seifert—Dark Cloud Unhand Me is Seifert’s second album of 2022 following January’s I Thought I Left You in Eden, and it bounces between sparse bedroom folk and full-band (albeit performed entirely by Seifert), 90s-inspired indie rock. Almost-title track “Dark Cloud Blows Right Over You” is a bit of both, opening with a quiet first part before the percussion and Seifert’s voice both rise in the second half.
“How You Did That”, Dogbreth From Believe This Rain (2022, Phat ‘n’ Phunky)
Believe This Rain’s first full-length song, “How You Did That”, is a gorgeous jangly ballad, introducing the listener to the tenderness and openness that’s reflected in both the music of Dogbreth and in the writing of bandleader Tristan Jemsek. It’s a very Western United States take on the classic college rock Jemsek cites as influential for the record. Read more about Believe This Rain here.
“Patience”, First Rodeo From First Rodeo (2022, Forged Artifacts)
Another Tim Howe-led song on First Rodeo, “Patience” is contemplative but forward-moving country rock that’s captivating from the beginning. Howe switches between storytelling and pulled-back observations throughout the song, as he ruminates on the meaning of the track’s title. As uneasy as Howe sounds at points, “Patience” is leisurely enough to reflect its namesake.
“The Sound of Music”, Kiwi Jr. From Chopper (2022, Sub Pop)
Closing out this playlist and also this three-song repeat-offender suite, Kiwi Jr.’s “The Sound of Music” sets the band’s newfound synth toys to more of a “swoon” than the blare of “Parasite II”. Still, it’s a classic mid-tempo Kiwi Jr. pop song, even to the point of grabbing onto a piece of pop culture (in this case, Julie Andrews and company) amidst a sea of references and key observations.
The first Pressing Concerns of the month looks at new albums from Mo Troper and Lou Turner, a new EP from S. Raekwon, and a compilation of two older EPs from Dummy. September 2nd appears to be a stacked release date–I’m not done with it yet, so look for a few records coming out this week to show up on the blog later.
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
Mo Troper – Mo Troper V
Release date: September 2nd Record label: Lame-O Genre: Lo-fi indie rock, power pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Play Dumb
One of the most interesting things an artist can do is Enter a Phase—and with MTV, Mo Troper makes it clear that he’s squarely in the middle of one. In hindsight, last year’s (initially) self-released Dilettante marked the beginning of Troper’s foray into lo-fi, self-made recordings after previously trending towards the more pristine, but MTV (standing for Mo Troper V, of course) is a full embrace of the inherent messiness. At its extremes, the fuzziness of MTV results in straight-up noise pop, like the thrashing, unintelligible “Power Pop Chat” and the tinny explosion that follows after the pin-drop first half of “Royal Jelly”. For the most part, though, MTV knows when to strike the balance between the fuzzy noise and pop hooks.
MTV’s first two songs, the soaring pop rock of “Between You and Me” and the spiky, somewhat troubling glam-rock “I’m the King of Rock ‘n Roll”, are both undeniably catchy even as Troper pushes them into the red. Although it still feels a world away from 2020’s Natural Beauty, MTV does offer moments of clarity with the gorgeous jangly single “I Fall into Her Arms” and the genuinely surprising 60s folk-pop of “The Only Living Goy in New York”. There’s even a throwback for longtime Troper fans—“Play Dumb” is an older song that’s been floating around for a few years, and Troper’s contempt-dripping lyrics and straight power pop melody (not to mention the actual full-band recording) puts it squarely in Exposure & Response/Beloved territory. Even for that era of Troper the lyrics are particularly pointed and, without getting into specifics, mirror something going on in my personal life quite well (so, thanks for that, Mo).
MTV’s jumps in fidelity can be borderline disorienting at times (and this isn’t even acknowledging “Final Lap”, Troper’s very own version of a “Back to Saturn X Radio Report” snippet collage), but the album ends with a couple of songs built around very recognizably human sentiments. “You Taught Me How to Write a Song” uses floating synths to try to make sense of a formative relationship (“You were the cruelest person I’ve ever known / But you taught me how to write a song”), and “Under My Skin” grabs a jaunty, acoustic chord progression to formally declare to an ex-lover that they, in fact, no longer have any sway over him. MTV is something of a dispatch from the world of Mo Troper, and a confirmation that that world is as worthwhile as ever. (Bandcamp link)
Lou Turner – Microcosmos
Release date: September 2nd Record label: Spinster Genre: Folk rock, alt-country Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital Pull track: Empty Tame and Ugly
Lou Turner is the final member of Nashville supergroup Styrofoam Winos whose solo material I’ve covered for Rosy Overdrive, but that isn’t for a lack of music (or quality). Microcosmos is Turner’s third solo album since 2017, and it’s absolutely the work of a skilled songwriter at the peak of their output. The album’s title is, for Turner, an attempt to give a name to the feeling of attaining adventure and motion in the domestic and fixed world (“a constellation of microcosms”) that is a (in fact, the) theme of the record. This is reflected in the way Microcosmos sounds like a contented, laid-back 70s folk-rock record, even as Turner’s lyrics and subject probe and roam within their contexts.
Microcosmos is peppered with memorable lines reminiscent of one of Turner’s biggest touchstones, David Berman (“The planet was born in the backyard / No gender reveal, but plenty of blue” from “Microcosmos”, “Santa’s Jesus Christ’s right-hand man / They’re turning wine back into water again” from “Look Out Below”). Musically (aided in part by her Styrofoam Wino bandmates Joe Kenkel and Trevor Nikrant, among others), Microcosmos offers more than just backing music to Turner’s words—it jumps from spacey, sparse folk (the title track, “Smallest Mercy”) to electric country-rock (“What Might We Find There”, “Dancing to Hold Music”) to the fiddle-heavy traditional sounds of “Big Ole Head”.
Of course, Turner’s writing holds all of it together. “She’s gotten under your skin,” Turner sings in “Empty Tame and Ugly”, addressing and poking a hole into the shallow cowboy troubadour with which the song is concerned. The line also serves to connect it to the album’s one cover song, Simon Joyner’s “You Got Under My Skin”—one of Joyner’s leisurely, front-porch-chair songs that fits well musically on Microcosmos, and converses lyrically with Turner’s words in “Empty Tame and Ugly”. Microcosmos is, true to its title, a record that reveals both its ambition and its success in realizing it with closer and repeat listens. (Bandcamp link)
Dummy – Dumb EPs
Release date: September 2nd Record label: Sonic Cathedral Genre: Noise pop, psychedelic rock, ambient pop Formats: Vinyl Pull track: Pool Dizzy
Last year, Dummy released Mandatory Enjoyment, an exciting and expansive album of noisy psychedelia and space pop that was one of the most intriguing debut full-lengths of 2021. The previous year, however, the Los Angeles band had already established themselves as a noteworthy group with a pair of intriguing EPs. With Sonic Cathedral’s upcoming vinyl-only reissue of both records in one as Dumb EPs, it’s worth looking back at the band’s origins. The self-titled Dummy and the just-as-simply-named Ep2 are both looser than Mandatory Enjoyment—as free-wheeling as the full-length can be, there’s a throughline to it that the EPs largely eschew, even as all the ingredients appear to be there already.
Despite being the older of the two EPs, Dummy is the one that feels more in line with where they ended up on the LP, opening with classic Dummy noise pop in “Angel’s Gear” and nearly matching it with “Slacker Mask”, and saving the oddities for the back half with the not-completely-dishonestly-titled “Folk Song” and the eight-minute drone of “Touch the Chimes”. Ep2 does feature the brisk runway pop of “Pool Dizzy”, but it’s the exception rather than the rule, as every track after the opening duo feels like the group’s deepest dive into straight-up ambient music thus far. Ep2 does break out of its trance in the second half of dreamy closing track “Prime Mover Unmoved” as well, to put something of a circular cap on both the record’s journey and the first leg of Dummy’s. (Bandcamp link)
S. Raekwon – I Like It When You Smile
Release date: September 2nd Record label: Father/Daughter Genre: Indie pop, R&B, dream pop Formats: Cassette, digital Pull track: Talk
I Like It When You Smile is the follow-up to Steven Raekwon Reynolds’ (aka S. Raekwon) 2021 debut album, Where I’m at Now. While the four-song, eight-minute EP is quite brief compared to his first LP (or even his 2022 one-off single “Single Mom’s Day”, which is the same length as this EP despite being only one song), S. Raekwon makes the most of his limited time throughout the record. I Like It When You Smile opens with “Talk”, the EP’s lead single and the obvious indie pop “hit”—the song’s bouncy piano-and-drumbeat backbone serves S. Raekwon’s gently excited vocals quite well.
Closing track “Tall” is the other track on I Like It When You Smile that matches the pop heights of “Talk”—it’s more subdued but still infectious, with a busy bass part, a wordless vocal hook, and a similarly-deployed piano/percussion structure. The middle of the EP is where S. Raekwon stretches out a little more, although the results are still relatively immediate: the barebones R&B of “Honey” is delivered just as deftly, and the pensive dream pop of “Tomorrow”, perhaps the EP’s true outlier, sports a gorgeous melody and has grown on me quite a bit. There are a few different paths S. Raekwon could take from this point, but none of them would be in the wrong direction. (Bandcamp link)
This week’s Pressing Concerns looks at four new full-length records: Scarves, CLAMM, Spite House, and Little Mazarn. There’s something for everyone here.
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
Scarves – Delicate Creatures
Release date: August 26th Record label: Good Eye Genre: 90s indie rock, indie pop Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Dead Batteries
Delicate Creatures, the fourth full-length record from Seattle’s Scarves, is a familiar-sounding album by a band that nevertheless portrays a unique style over the course of the LP’s ten tracks. Guitarist/singer Niko Stathakopoulos’s high, comforting vocals evoke both Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch and John K. Samson of The Weakerthans, touchstones that bear out both lyrically and musically as well. Stathakopoulos’ writing veers between the found poetry that’s a hallmark of the latter and twee-indebted straightforwardness in which the former has dabbled, and the music of Delicate Creatures points toward rainy, sprawling Pacific Northwest indie rock while retaining an indie pop simplicity as well. Although Stathakopoulos’ voice is probably the most immediately noticeable part of Delicate Creatures, he and the other band members (guitarist/vocalist Nessa Grasing, multi-instrumentalist Elijah Sokolow) find remarkable inspiration in 90s indie rock throughout the record.
These sensibilities polish up everything on Delicate Creatures from the slowcore/emo harmonics-accented middle-record duo of “Tide Pools” and “Bandits” to the bass-driven fuzz-pop of “Dead Batteries” to the indie pop of the title track and “Heavy Eyes”. “Heavy Eyes” in particular finds Stathakopoulos taking some of the successful lyrical risks that being a good pop writer require (“No, I don’t care how you came to me / ‘Cause you look gorgeous in barely anything”). As tender as Delicate Creatures can be, Stathakopoulos, also in twee fashion, uses an outward friendliness for darker and deeper effects—songs titled “Bunnies” and “Hamsters” feature refrains about (respectively) limping away from a bear trap, bleeding and maimed, and discovering the banal, cruel true nature of the world. Delicate Creatures isn’t a despondent record so much as an honest one—in closing track “Caesar”, Stathakopoulos sings “I just hope something gorgeous grows from the dirt,” completing his own request. (Bandcamp link)
CLAMM – Care
Release date: August 19th Record label: Chapter Music Genre: Punk rock, garage rock, noise rock Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Monday
“And the people outside, they don’t care about nothing / It’s just a scheme,” yells CLAMM’s Jack Summers in the chorus of “Scheme”, the opening track to the band’s sophomore record, Care, aided by the backing vocals of bassist Maisie Everett. It’s an aggressive, in-one’s-face assertion that while, sure, the various bastards that populate these fifteen songs may not care about basic human values, CLAMM do, and they do so quite loudly. Care follows very much in the well-trod but fertile ground of Australian garage punk, with the Melbourne trio whipping up a storm around Summers’ barking voice. Care does feature a few accents that stick out a little bit before being swallowed up by their sheer punk-power-trio force. Nao Anzai’s synths shade the underbelly of several of these songs, while Anna Gordon’s saxophone merely adds to the chaos in songs like the title track and “Fearmonger”.
CLAMM keep their fire trained on specific and worthy targets throughout the record—whether it’s the rejection of the “business as usual” “post”-pandemic push of “Buy”, the sneering at soul-sucking-work culture in “Monday” (which features Everett’s most memorable vocal performance), or the title track, in which the band simply list the things about which they care in the chorus (“Rights, lives, lies, life”). CLAMM aren’t afraid to be direct and specific in their lyrics, like in the brief “Global” (“Our leaders are global traitors / No action / No response to climate changes”) or in “That Way”, another noisy punk song that just straight-up asks “Why does it have to be this way?” These are the questions one gets naturally led to when one cares. (Bandcamp link)
Spite House – Spite House
Release date: August 26th Record label: New Morality Zine Genre: Punk rock, post-hardcore, emo Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Hope
Spite House guitarist/vocalist Maxime Lajoie and drummer Marc Tremblay first played music together a decade ago, but Spite House is the first full realization of their partnership, rounded out by the contributions of bassist Nabil Ortega. Lajoie’s rough but strong vocals and the barreling music evoke the 90s indie-punk bands like Samiam and Seaweed that they cite as influences, even as the record has a polished, reverb-aided sound that puts them in line with some of the more mainstream90s alt-rock–influenced bands on their New Morality Zine label. Much of the material on Spite House deals with the sudden death of Lajoie’s mother in 2019, and the trio’s chosen method to break open this incredibly tough subject is catchy, cathartic, but quite serious punk rock, best exemplified by the record’s initial three-song sprint.
From there, Spite House settle into the lane defined from their opening salvo, but the record’s slight deviations help the band carry themselves through the full-length runtime. “Essence” starts off as restrained mid-tempo alt-rock and works its way up to its roaring conclusion, and the appropriately-titled “Hope” is a driving number that’s about as melodic and uplifting as this genre of music gets. Spite House can also tilt in the more extreme direction—towards the end of the record, “Afraid” shapes their sound into a particularly frightened version of emo-punk. These songs aren’t digressions from the core of Spite Houses so much as peeks around corners—they don’t get in the way of what’s a fully-formed punk rock thought of a debut record. (Bandcamp link)
Little Mazarn – Texas River Song
Release date: August 19th Record label: Dear Life Genre: Dream folk, indie folk Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital Pull track: Halifax Ranch
Little Mazarn is an Austin-based folk duo, made up of Dallas natives Lindsey Verrill (vocals, banjo) and Jeff Johnston (singing saw). The circumstances behind Texas River Song are illuminating in understanding where the band are coming from—sidelined from touring due to the pandemic, these songs are the sound of Little Mazarn growing reacquainted with and more appreciative of their home state. Little Mazarn are a somewhat spacey duo that can get tagged as “experimental folk”—but perhaps due to taking inspiration from the land that produced both Townes Van Zandt and Daniel Johnston, Texas River Song makes little effort to separate out this side of them from the “traditional”.
Texas River Song is marked in equal parts by the more “out there” tracks (like “Lightning in the Water”, a hovering suspension of a song, and the percussion-led, plodding “Blue Jumped a Rabbit”) and the more familiarly-structured folk songs (the molasses-slow, twinkling “Every Heart Is True” and the Okkervil River-esque horns and group-vocals finale that appear in the six-minute title track). The record can be stable and deliberate, like in the gorgeous “Halifax Ranch”, or start off on the ground and drift off like album closer “Woodmen of the World”—by the time Verrill declares “I wanna make God laugh / I tell them my plans” at the end of Texas River Song’s last track, her meandering banjo and wordless backing vocals are what rise to accompany her. (Bandcamp link)
This week’s Pressing Concerns covers new albums from Oneida, Dust Star, and Freak Genes, and the latest EP from Ali Murray. It’s a wild one!
If you’re still looking for more new music, you can browse previous editions of Pressing Concerns or visit the site directory.
Oneida – Success
Release date: August 19th Record label: Joyful Noise Genre: Garage rock, psychedelic rock, krautrock Formats: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital Pull track: I Wanna Hold Your Electric Hand
Brooklyn’s Oneida has amassed perhaps one of the most intimidating discographies in indie rock over their twenty-five years as a band. Their records are typically colossal, unpredictable masses of heavy psych, kraut, and experimental rock music, not the least of which is their last full-length together, 2018’s Romance. The opening guitar chords of Success’ first track, “Beat Me to the Punch”, however, invite the listener to throw out their all their ideas of what an Oneida record should sound like (and, if one is unfamiliar, assures them not to worry about all that). Effectively, Oneida have circled all the way around the sun and put together what’s first and foremost a straightforward garage rock record.
Success is a lot closer to Oneida’s 2017 one-off single “Town Crier” than anything off of Romance, but even that track’s demented psych rock doesn’t prepare one for just how…pleasant the band can sound on this record. “Beat Me to the Punch” isn’t an outlier on Success; its plainly-presented, basically two-chord structure also marks the other two singles from the record, the euphoric “I Wanna Hold Your Electric Hand” and the matter-of-fact “Rotten”. There’s a kick to these songs despite their simplicity that reminds me of the more transcendent moments of studious rock bands like Yo La Tengo, Silkworm, Stereolab, and Eleventh Dream Day, all groups who can switch casually between pop music and stranger fare.
Because it’s Oneida, these relatively accessible moments still feature occasional bursts of noise and feedback, and most of the rest of Success is comprised of three longer jams—“Paralyzed” crosses the ten-minute mark, while “Low Tide” and “Solid” aren’t far off from that. While the former two aren’t “pop” songs, they are both propulsive sprints, remaining grounded as they confidently traverse through time and space. If closing track “Solid” is the least-structured song on Success, that’s because it’s where the band lets loose for pure guitar heroics—ending with a declaration that the traditional Oneida way is, in fact, consistent with rock and roll. (Bandcamp link)
Dust Star – Open Up That Heart
Release date: August 5th Record label: Lame-O Genre: Power pop, garage rock Formats: Vinyl, digital Pull track: Work It Out
Dust Star is the duo of Justin Jurgens of Sirs and Cameron Wisch of Cende, and their debut record together is a desert-touched album of garage-y power pop. Open Up That Heart (released by Lame-O Records, which—between this, their recent signings of Mo Troper and Dazy, and their longtime flagship band Hurry—may need to be broken up by power pop antitrust monitors) occupies a middle lane between fuzzy West Coast psych-garage-rock and retro-70s inspired pop rock. It comes off as the work of studious fans of those genres, but it also features the songwriting necessary to stand against their predecessors. Open Up That Heart’s thirteen songs seem to fly by (even as some come in at nearly twice as long as your typical two-minute garage rocker), and the tracks’ hooks present themselves eagerly and often.
The speedy, bass-anchored “Nothing in My Head” kicks off Open Up That Heart on a psych-tinged garage rock note, but then the harmonies in the mid-tempo title track and the leisurely classic rock of “Work It Out” introduce the less frantic side of Dust Star. I can’t read the title of “Can’t Stop Thinkin’ of You” without its hook appearing instantly in my head, and the middle-of-record breather “I’m Waiting for You” evokes the more spare moments of Brian Wilson’s music. Open Up That Heart doesn’t lose any steam in its second half; in fact, it feels like Jurgens and Wisch saved some of their most straight garage rockers from the end of the record. They tear through “Get a Grip”, “Miles Away”, and “Ash” in the album’s twilight moments, before riding off into the desert with the perfunctory stomp of “March”. (Bandcamp link)
Freak Genes – Hologram
Release date: August 19th Record label: Feel It Genre: Synthpunk, post-punk, garage rock, new wave Formats: Vinyl, cassette (with Power Station), digital Pull track: Moving Target
Freak Genes, the British duo of Charlie Murphy and Andrew Anderson, have been rolling out their garage-y take on synthpunk for a half decade now, and starting with 2021’s Power Station, have found a natural home on Feel It Records. Hologram is the band’s fifth record, and it feels like a particularly grandiose and dramatic entry into their discography. Although some of Freak Genes’ past material could have been plausibly described as “minimalist”, this doesn’t feel like the case with Hologram—both the synths and the guitars sound ramped up and as if they’re competing for attention.
There’s no small amount of Devo-core throughout Hologram—it’s unsurprising given Freak Genes’ aesthetic, but the new-wavey attitude and nervous rhythms of the title track and “New Crime” go beyond surface-level similarities and capture the true essence of their inspiration. Elsewhere, the duo do straight-up, ripping synthpunk just as well—songs like “Strange Charm” and “The War” blow by determinedly—and on the purely robotic end of the assembly line, the bubbling tension of “Step Off” and the dark dance club vibe of “The Future Is Mine” also grab one’s attention. The latter features guest vocals from Ketty M. Marinova, who pops on several songs on Hologram to contribute an unsettlingly stoic presence among the sirens. As busy as Freak Genes make these thirteen songs, their twists and accents all feel sharp and purposeful. (Bandcamp link)
Ali Murray – Passing Through the Void
Release date: July 31st Record label: Dead Forest Genre: Slowcore, indie folk, dream pop Formats: Digital Pull track: Passing Through the Void
I first wrote about Ali Murray, the prolific singer-songwriter from the Isle of Lewis in northern Scotland, earlier this year with the release of his most recent solo album, April’s Wilderness of Life. That record found Murray exploring everything from quiet dream pop to traditional folk to full-on indie rock over the course of a full-length LP. The three-song Passing Through the Void EP can’t cover the same ground simply due to time constraints, but it’s still a worthwhile presentation of Murray’s strengths.
The appropriately-named title track is perhaps the most vintage Murray song we get on Passing Through the Void—it’s a gorgeous-sounding, deliberately-moving electric slowcore song that ends on a transcendent note by contrasting Murray’s tender vocals with a soaring guitar lead. “Passing Through the Void” is the most immediately attention-grabbing song on the EP, but neither of the other two tracks are filler. “Boy” is the acoustic-based one, with Anna MacKenzie’s cello contributions tilting it more towards the “folky” side of Murray’s acoustic songs. “Silence of Space” is the one where Murray’s shoegaze influence comes through the clearest—it’s not a straight shoegaze song per se, but a demonstration of Murray’s ability to layer sounds without losing the gentle beauty that marks the best of his music. (Bandcamp link)
Rosy Overdrive 