Xray Xeroxx returns with Art Rock! Does this mean he has traded in his sweaty punk balaclava for a black turtleneck, angular haircut, and a thoughtful stare into the middle distance? Not really. These four songs do reveal new layers to the one-man show though, sounding a tadsy more artsy than previously, without any hint of pretension or grand plans to become the next Monet or Talking Heads.
The spirit is still scrappy at heart, just dressed up in a slightly different shade. And in true Xray Xeroxx fashion, the presentation gets its own twist too, with 3D artwork (and video!) and accompanying glasses for the 7″ lathe-cut vinyl. A tape version exists as well, if that is more your speed. Out now on Low Ambition Records.
Long Time Caller, First Time Listener is the beautifully titled sophomore full-length album from London-based indie pop/alt-country outfit Vegas Water Taxi. It’s actually a combination of the five tunes we knew from last fall’s Long Time Caller EP (we called it “a wry soundtrack to post-breakup self-sabotage”), supplemented with four new ones from the First Time Listener EP, forming a cohesive whole where humor and sadness intertwine.
Song titles such as Brat Summer, Birkenstocks, Ozempic (Celebrity Weight Loss Anxiety Blues), and Jamie XX seem to honor pop culture and the spirit of the times, but the underlying lyrics drag modern life for filth. Yet, with warm melodies and funny observations, this is comforting music that feels like sanity sneaking through the noise.
Long Time Caller, First Time Listener—produced and mixed by Louis Milburn and Ben Hambro—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through PNKSLM Recordings. Featuring Ben Hambro (guitar, vocals, bass, synth), Fred Lawton (bass, guitar, vocals), Charlie Meyrick (drums, guitar, bass, vocals), Molly Shields (vocals), Rhodri Brooks (pedal steel), Louis Milburn (organ), and Holly Carpenter (violin).
Liverpool’s The Nervous are impossible to ignore with their new 4 Songs EP (out now on Brainrotter Records), throwing four blunt objects right in your face. Really, this band has been described as Black Flag doing the Stooges with GG Allin as an extra member, and you can kind of imagine the result as a barroom brawl set to music, held together by blown-out amps, bad decisions, and pure chaotic energy.
Now imagine The Nervous injected with some Chuck Berry DNA, because there is definitely some rock and rolling going on underneath the noise. Obviously, no recording budget was available for this record, so you have to look hard for it. Actually, scratch that. It almost sounds like no recording equipment was used at all, which only makes this trashy little release feel even trashier in the best possible way. It adds to the fun, the danger, and the sense that anything could fall apart at any second.
I am both in the denial and bargaining stages of grief over J Waylon’s announcement that he will wrap up his Doomed Babe Series after installment 50. Making his latest (#48) a full length (in our dimension, ten songs in 18 minutes counts as an album) definitely helps the process. The record arrives with a quote by Elizabeth Hardwick that essentially summarizes the whole series:
“There are only two reasons to write: desperation or revenge.”
And like what came before, Soul Scouts has that strange mix of devotion and bitterness, jealousy, and resentment. But perhaps I am seeing things through the lens of the approaching end, J Waylon sounds particularly weary and wounded here, on a record that is as catchy in melody as it is raw in emotion. “I’d rather starve than share a crumb of your affection,” he hollers in A Sonnet For Lee Lazy Horse, a bittersweet garage power pop punk classic. The sentiments may be universal and all too familiar, but few musicians manage to pour so many great tunes out of them, let alone sound this passionate and inspired. Think of those long-running TV shows that somehow hit a late creative peak seasons in, the ones that stay sharp while others fade into autopilot. Soul Scouts has that kind of energy, like a series finding a second or third wind when it could easily coast.
There is plenty of bite on Soul Scouts. This definitely sits on the punky power pop end of the FOCR spectrum, but the melodies reign supreme as always. The second half is particularly sticky, with Nurse Midwife Crisis, Tassels and Bitter But Better stacking up like a run of back-to-back hits.
I am not anywhere near the acceptance stage. But if the end really is coming into view, this feels like the kind of late-series highlight that reminds you exactly why you got hooked in the first place.
Dolly Mixture’s Rachel Love (vocals, guitar, cello, keys), Heavenly’s Peter Momtchiloff (bass), and Papernut Cambridge’s Ian Button (vocals, drums, guitar) met a year ago at the launch of must-have indie-pop anthology Sensitive, and discovered they were all born within weeks of each other. They took this as a sign to form a band together, although their initial 1962 age limit rule has since been dropped to allow more youthful trumpeter Allison Thomson to complete the line-up.
Their self-titled debut LP contains seven tracks from their first two EPs (Railcard E.P. and Railcard E.P. 2), along with three new ones, including a cover of Dandy Livingstone’s Think About That. The British musicians deliver elegantly crafted pop that folds soul and sunshine into a lightly indie framework, enriched by dreamy melodies, sly grooves, warm brass, and angelic harmonies—a nostalgic palette used with such confidence that it feels brand new. Rooted in shared histories (most obvious: Born In ’62), the songs feel quietly autobiographical, their lived-in themes matched by arrangements so finely balanced they edge toward perfection.
Railcard’s self-produced eponymous debut album is out now digitally and on limited edition CD through Skep Wax and Slumberland Records. A successor will follow later this year, a vinyl LP featuring twelve new tracks.
If you like your punk rock raw, unhinged and filthy, put the new Powerband album straight at the top of your playlist. It might be all you listen to for the rest of the day, leaving the people around you wondering why you are even more amped up than usual. Powerband sounds like D.C.’s scrappy answer to Melbourne’s Split System, winning you over fast with their feral rock-‘n’-roll and never letting up, steamrolling their way deep into your system while greasing your heart with motor oil.
Recorded in a basement in Arlington yet sounding like the kind of house party you wish you had stumbled into, Life on the Death Machine is relentless from start to finish. By the end, you may find yourself wondering how to enroll in their Death Machine cult. This is absolutely killer stuff. And if you are here for the covers, their thrilling take on Working Man by Rush is definitely worth the ride.
Powerband is Carl Deluxe frantically hitting with sticks and Codi Roach wielding everything else, with Bob Seger hovering somewhere in the background as spiritual guidance.
Whaaaaat!? Are they really doing this? Yes, they are!
We’re talking about Matt Adams of the Californian psychedelic garage pop project The Blank Tapes, along with a host of musicians who know the band well. With audible relish, they perform the traditional song 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, counting down for half an hour—”take one down and pass it around”—until there’s nothing left. Contrary to what you might expect, it’s by no means boring, but rich, warm, and uplifting, thanks to the variety of collaborators, instruments, styles, and sound effects. For those who can’t get enough, there’s also an instrumental version, perfect for singing along to during sun-drenched road trips.
99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, assembled and mixed by Jason Cirimele (Dust Collector), is out now digitally via Dusty Sea Records. Featuring Matt Adams (vocals, guitars, bass, marxophone, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, steel drum, Celtic harp, ukulele, Bulbul Tarang, space echo, bottles, percussions), Jason Cirimele (vocals, guitars, drums, stylophone beat box), Will Halsey (exotica percussion), Ash Reiter (guitar), Sean Olmstead (synth, guitars), Veronica Bianqui (vocals), Sal Joseph (drums), Sarah Barlow (vocals), Aslan Rife (piano), Spencer Grossman (vocals, synth), Collin Ludlow-Mattson (banjo), Peter Maffei (vocoder, mellotron, moog, wurlitzer, wind), Sam Faw (bass, guitar), Shaughnessy Starr (drums), Olaf Sellend (pedal steel), Hunter Stroope (FX), Joe Lewis (bass), Alan Siegel (vocals, sax, shakers), Mark Matos (vocals, guitar), Indianna Hale (vocals, omnichord), Matt McCluer (guitars), Jason Medina (guitar, synth), DA Humphrey (upright bass), Joel Williams (drumbeat sample), Charles Gonzalez (synth, synth percussion), Bryant Denison (guitars), Obo Martin (vocals, harmonica), Flo Hohmann (organs, guitar), Ramiro Verdooren (vocals, organ, Wurlitzer FX, guitar), Arthur C. Lee (tremolo slide guitar), Darryl Blood (guitar, micro freak, SFX, piano FX), Steve Winchell (birds), Mat Davidson (accordian), Joshua Bruner (brainwaves), Michael Musika (snare, percussion, music box, frogs), Josh Magill (percussion), Brandon Graham (guitars), Levi Strom (420 FX, hand drum), Joe Napolitano (tambourine), Ryan Erskine (guitars), Francisco Fernandez (cabasa, cowbells, whistles, shaker), Marco Antonio “Gallo” De Carvalho (bass, rain stick), Felix Havstad Ziska (Cellotron, keys), Franck Fiser (hand drum), Kacey Johansing (keyboard), and Mat Davidson (accordion).
Conor Lumsden does quality over quantity. Best known as one of the driving forces behind Dublin’s The Number Ones (who finally returned with new music last year) and recently parting ways with power pop sensations The Speedways, he now steps out with Music City. It’s been over seven years since he first released music under this moniker, and I’ve been waiting for its next step ever since. It’s finally here, and given its timeless sound, it could have been released anytime in the past six decades. Welcome To Music City sounds less like a side project and more like a parallel universe where classic songwriting gets a fresh jolt of electricity. Lumsden gets it: rock ‘n’ roll isn’t something to preserve, it’s something you play because it still absolutely works.
Lumsden’s writing thrives on everyday moments and small observations, ones that don’t distract from his killer hooks. This is guitar music that wears its influences lightly but proudly. Ask Lumsden to namedrop influences, and you’ll be here for a while: Buddy Holly, The Beatles, T. Rex, Elton John, Big Star, Todd Rundgren, Carole King, Steely Dan, Judee Sill, The Clash, Tom Petty… You can hear echoes of all of them, but nothing feels retro for the sake of it. Music City moves with confidence, built on chiming guitars, sturdy rhythms, and hooks that land without trying too hard. There’s a warmth and polish to the production that gives the record mainstream radio appeal, and songs like the rock and rolling Common Sense and the soulful pubrocker It’s Alright could slide right into a ’70s AM playlist or a modern indie station without raising an eyebrow. At the midpoint of the record sits the major pop hit Pretty Feelings, the song that started it all seven years ago. It still sounds timeless in 2026.
Welcome To MusicCity is out now on Redundant Span Records.
Welcome To MusicCity is more than the working of one talented musician. Evan Walsh and Pete O’Hanlon (of The Strypes) are part of the band, Paula Cullen and Ceeva Derwin shine their vocal talents throughout the record, while friends from across Lumsden’s musical life chip in on specific tracks. This includes Tina Halladay (on the designated hit Common Sense) and Hart Seely from Sheer Mag, Alastair MacKay (Dick Diver), Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh and her brother Fiachra, Jay Arner, Leigh Arthur.
At the end of 2023 we wrote about the Mal Thursday Quintet’s amazing single Kitten with a Whip, a foretaste of this album, Mods & Gods, that is now finally seeing the light of day, five years after their debut LP If 6 Was 5. The band, fronted by Austin, Texas-based creative Mal Thursday (vocals, harmonica), who is backed by a range of skilled musicians, delivers twelve uplifting rock ‘n roll songs—fuzzy garage rock meets hooky rhythm & blues—including a new tune called If 6 Was 5 (not the title track from the previous record or anything), two live versions, and a bonus track titled Excitement Transfusion. Vibrant music wrapped in a vintage sound, tough yet charming, but above all catchy and danceable.
Mods & Gods—produced by The Glimmer Quints—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Chunk Archives Recordings / Teen Sound Records. Also featuring—in alphabetical order—Dave Berkham (guitar, bass, organ, vocals), David Boatwright (guitar), Nelson Bragg (percussion), David Champagne (guitar), Chuck Ferreira (drums), Jim Fitting (harmonica), Keith Kinkle (guitar, vocals), Ken Maiuri (guitar), Brian T. Marchese (drums), Bob Medley (bass, organ, piano, guitar, drums, tambourine, vocals), Frank Padellaro (guitar, bass, vocals), Greg Saulmon (guitar), Steve Schecter (guitar, vocals), Jamey Simms (guitar), Luke Strahota (drums), Thom Sullivan (drums), Patrick Timmons (bass), Bobby Trimble (drums, percussion, vocals), and Tom Trusnovic (bass, vocals) on select tracks.
A band of over a decade, The Sylvia Platters sound completely at ease with who they are, and based on their recent run of releases, that comfort translates into anything but boring music. Instead, they are making some of the finest songs of their career, and their new EP Will Tomorrow Be Enough Now is packed with them.
Fans of classic indie rock will appreciate the authenticity on display here. Jangle pop heads will gravitate toward the band’s melodic instincts and likely fall hard for Tactical Lunch Box, while those with a soft spot for the Fountains of Wayne strain of power pop will find plenty to love in Alone. The Sylvia Platters are a rewarding listen, and although this is “just” an EP, it carries the richness and emotional weight of a full length.
That depth is not only musical, it is in the lyrics too. They circle around disillusionment, emotional bargaining, and the slow grind of time, framed through a sharp awareness of modern anxiety and delivered with beautifully sideways imagery. The constant push and pull between detachment and vulnerability pairs perfectly with the bright, punchy guitar pop.
Will Tomorrow Be Enough Now is out today via Dutch Customer.
