New album: Ceramic Animal || Cosmic Eraser

Perfect garage pop tunes in a stylish disguise

By / / Garage Rock, Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

Eight irresistible songs, that’s what Doylestown, Pennsylvania-based five-piece Ceramic Animal brings to the table on Cosmic Eraser, their fifth full-length album. Due to the appealing ragged edge of its sound, I would label it as garage pop, but judging by the clothing style of the band members—brothers Chris (vocals, guitar), Elliott (vocals, keys) and Erik Regan (drums), with childhood friends Anthony Marchione (guitar) and Dallas Hosey (vocals, bass)—psychedelic nightclub glam seems to be more appropriate. Anyway, everything is actually right here, from the graceful guitar melodies and skilled rhythm section to the slightly gritty vocals and warm harmonies, but it is especially the loose and laidback feel that they convey that creates a blissful atmosphere.




Cosmic Eraser is out now digitally and soon also on vinyl LP (self-released). RIYL: The Growlers, Trudy and the Romance, Twin Peaks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Ceramic Animal

New album: Benzin || Treibjagd

A certified fresh and unique twist on old school punk from Berlin

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

Fifteen minutes. Twelve songs. One hell of a punk rock record. Benzin proves that punk isn’t just about how fast you can play, but how smart you can sound. Their new LP Treibjagd (out now on LP at Static Age Musik) manages a neat trick: sounding both decidedly old school and razor-sharp contemporary. The German-language vocals inject an artsy edge into their original instrumentation, transforming what could be standard punk into something that demands your full attention.

For anyone who likes their punk rock fast, sharp, and just a little bit different, Treibjagd should be at the top of your listening pile right now.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: Swansea Sound || (I Wanna Wear A) Mirrored Hat Like Slade

"What I wanna do // Is take your hand // And dance the night away // To Mud and Wham"

By / / Indie Pop, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

Idiosyncratic UK indie outfit Swansea Sound continue their December tradition of releasing new Christmas music on a CD single in a festive greetings card. After Happy Christmas To Me (2021, at the time on 7″ vinyl), Music Lover (2022) and Santa Bail Me Out (2023), the five veteran musicians now delight us with the original songs (I Wanna Wear A) Mirrored Hat Like Slade b/w Dreamland. The title track is a cheerful and vibrant rocker, with highly entertaining lyrics for people like you and me who—during this period—prefer Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody and Mud’s Lonely This Christmas over all electronic kitsch. The other tune is a bit more melancholic, with a carefree feel in the chorus but a dark undertone in between. Who wouldn’t want to receive this in their mailbox?

(I Wanna Wear A) Mirrored Hat Like Slade is out now digitally and on CD in a Christmas card through Skep Wax Records. Featuring Hue Williams (vocals), Amelia Fletcher (guitar), Ian Button (drums), Bob Collins (guitar) and Rob Pursey (bass), with additional vocals by Betty Thomas. Cover art by Catrin Saran James.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Skep Wax 

New single: GEM || GEM Demo

College radio-ready crunchy pop songs

By / / Uncategorized / Leave a Comment

Certain songs make you want to be a curator of a radio station. I haven’t received an offer yet, nor am I expecting one. But if I did, here is a song that I would put in heavy rotation: Got It Right The First Time from GEM’s new two-song demo. It’s a crunchy, concise pop song that is instantly enjoyable and comes with a strong chorus hook. The second track, I Wanna Know, isn’t exactly filler either. All in all, a pretty cool new project that features GEM (Big Baby)!

The demo’s proceeds support Jailbreak, a Pittsburgh mutual aid collective providing bail assistance and commissary support to incarcerated individuals in Western PA, addressing critical needs in a system increasingly shaped by poverty and diminishing social support.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Thee Cha Cha Chas || Temple Of Mirth

Long-awaited debut LP that serves as a masterclass in spirited rhythm & blues

By / / Blues & Roots, Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

After a string of successful singles in recent years, here is finally the first full-length album from Melbourne-based rock ‘n’ roll duo Thee Cha Cha Chas. For Temple Of Mirth, Kylie Coufos (bass, vocals) and Lluis Fuzzhound (guitar, drums, vocals) performed, recorded and mixed the twelve new tracks all by themselves. It led to straightforward, raw rhythm & blues, laced with psych in the title track (“You ever been into the stars?”) and glam in KALMIYH (“Marc Bolan you look so golden”), which comes across as pure and lively. There’s a heartfelt cover of Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (with a fitting cha-cha-cha closing chord), but the self-penned tunes are just as engaging.




Temple Of Mirth, mastered by Mike Mariconda, is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Folc Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Folc

New EP: Lion Country Ferrari || Beat These Allegations

Talksinging and sweet guitar riff magic by Anthony Rapisardi

By / / Indie Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Lion Country Ferrari sounds like something a random band name generator would spit out. And surely, the project of Asheville (North Carolina) based Anthony Rapisardi also has more than a couple of ones and zeros in its sonic direction, almost like Parquet Courts decided to dip their toes in egg punk territory.

On his latest EP, Rapisardi talksings his way over a wealth of cool guitar riffs that play tic-tac-toe with throbbing bass and a tight drum computer. If you think that sounds pretty groovy, you are not wrong, but the energy level of this thing suggests it’s caffeinated grooviness.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Los Atascados feat. Sys Malakian || Capic​ú​a

Sunny instrumentals full of spirited guitar gymnastics

By / / Surf Music / Leave a Comment

Let’s shift our focus for a moment to Mexico, where surf rock band Los Atascados and guitarist Sys Malakian teamed up for some sun-kissed sounds that make you dream away to better times. Their joint Capic​ú​a EP contains four instrumentals, two of which are collaborations and two are individual tracks. It is all about shimmering melodies, with more moods than you would expect to fit on a 7″.


Capic​ú​a, recorded, mixed and mastered by Gabriel López, is out digitally and on 7″ vinyl through Otitis Media Records. Featuring Alberto Montes de Oca (lead guitar), Sys Malakian (lead guitar, rhythm guitar), Alberto Montes de Oca (rhythm guitar), Omar “Alf” García (bass), Miguel García (bass), F. Israel Sorkin T. (drums) and Gustavo López (drums). Two of the songs are vinyl exclusive and not available on Bandcamp or streaming platforms.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Otitis

New album: Chabrot || Abilou

Imaginative noise rock to unknown destinations

By / / Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

At first I misread the band name as Chatbot, but actually we are talking about Chabrot, a noise rock trio from Barcelona ​​consisting of real people—Arnaud Cayla-Xene, Guillaume Cayla-Xene and Alfredo Diaz Urdangarin—who have been making music together for over ten years. Their new full-length album is called Abilou, after a self-invented word to define an unknown place. Intriguingly, the record contains nine songs with more unfamiliar expressions, and the variety of structures, atmospheres and languages ​​makes it an adventurous listening trip even more. Whether you understand it or not, the galloping rhythms and gripping vocals are highly entertaining regardless.



Abilou is out now digitally (self-released)—so imaginative and original that a chatbot couldn’t have predicted it.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Waterboarding School || The Little Sports Mirror

Sun-soaked sonic goodness from Gothenburg, Sweden

By / / Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Surf Music / Leave a Comment

Waterboarding School is not a secretive CIA plot, but a five-piece from Gothenburg (Sweden) who just dropped their third album The Little Sports Mirror. Comprised of 8 tracks that just touch twenty minutes, Waterboarding School make it almost too easy to enjoy the record.

Their surfy garage pop is sun-kissed and West Coast influenced (think Allah-Las). The band keeps the pace going—bopping your head quickly becomes inevitable, but they make it feel leisurely and relaxed, and that sure is a nice space to reside in.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: The CTMF || For Your Love

The Chatham Forts delve into the Yardbirds discography, with Juju on lead vocals

By / / Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

Yesterday’s roundup of the best cover songs from last month was already packed, and this release is fun enough to be highlighted separately, so here we go. Billy Childish (guitar, vocals), his wife Julie aka Juju (bass, vocals) and their 14 year old son (backing vocals) found themselves together with Wolf Howard (drums) at the Ranscombe Studios in Rochester, Kent (UK), where Julie proposed to record three of her favourites from The Yardbirds discography. No sooner said than done, and now their gritty versions of For Your Love, Shapes Of Things and A Certain Girl (here reworked as A Certain Boy) under the CTMF moniker are now available on shiny black vinyl. Naturally, the veterans in the group know how to make the most of it, but Julie’s lead vocals in particular leave us wanting more—these tunes are definitely among the finest covers of recent weeks.

The For Your Love EP is out now digitally via Damaged Goods Records and on 7″ vinyl through Spinout Nuggets.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Damaged Goods || Spinout Nuggets

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