Is there a maximum number of circles you can draw into a Venn diagram? Let’s find out—start with power pop, jangle, punk rock, alt rock, alt pop, and college rock, and smack dab in the middle you’ll find K9. Their name is short and punchy, just like their songs, which sit perfectly in that tiny overlapping space. Or, to put it more directly: their new album Thrills sounds like scrappy, melodic, full-of-heart basement pop. Think Laika’s Orbit, Lutheran Heat, Evening Standards.

K9 (a five-piece from Richmond, Virginia) kick things off with Arms Fall Off, which made me question what the all-time best song about limb loss is. That sent me down a rabbit hole researching what other songs cover the topic, and somehow I ended up on a Reddit post titled “What songs would you recommend to someone who just lost one or both legs?” Answers included Footloose and I’m Still Standing.

Anyway, this is what happens when I try to write and have internet access. Arms Fall Off of course is meant figuratively and it absolutely rips—a killer alt power pop opener. It’s followed by the spiky, almost hardcore-punk Who Ya Know, and then the catchy indie rock tune The Island. We’re barely five minutes in and I’m already sold.

The second half of Thrills is just as solid: I particularly love the sequence of the blink-and-you-missed-it indie punk banger A Race, the pop-hardcore grit of Bootstraps, the surprise trip-hop vibes of This World, and the wonderfully slack Fuck Em.

K9 pull from so many styles and still come out sounding like their own thing. Thrills is a fast, fun, and dynamic record that deserves your attention—even if mine occasionally drifts. Streaming now, with vinyl due in October on Who Ya Know Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp