There are more wantlist-worthy releases than time to cover them all. Starting this year, Loose Ends is our monthly fix for the great records that slipped through the cracks. Expect a key track and quick take on each release (40+ this month!), and a link to add it to your shelves.
Annual Leaf || Sign of the Bellbird
In April’s Loose Ends, we’ve put the spotlight on the most recent EP from these Melbourne indie pop janglers and slackers. This new CD compiles that EP and songs from 5 other releases of the past 5 years. Turns out Annual Leaf have been great for a while!
Baby Jane || Surfing To Hell
This Barcelona “kebab punk” riot grrrl quartet looks like trouble and sounds even better. Fast, loud, and gloriously unruly.
Bastard || Dr. Gong b/w Comfort
Sometimes the most exciting new release is actually fifty-two years old. Bastard’s long-lost recordings have all the raw urgency you’d hope for from a pre-Damned Brian James project. Hats off to Wap Shoo Wap for bringing these forgotten gems back into the light.
Care Free || 7 Songs
Straight out of Wichita, seven songs in barely seven minutes of old-school hardcore. Total throwback stuff.
The Charade || Own Up Time
New York four-piece The Charade makes no secret of the fact that they are all about mod culture—in style, design, but also in music. The vinyl version of their Own Up Time EP has four tracks, but online you get three bonus tracks included. All equally enjoyable.
Consensus Madness || Endeavours
Chicago punks Consensus Madness return on Iron Lung Records with a pogo-ready blast of hype and urgency.
Cyanide Pills || Singled Out
An essential LP on Damaged Goods featuring all 33 of the band’s hard-to-find A-sides and non-album B-sides from the 7-inches Cyanide Pills put out over the years. Hits, so many hits!
Dark Surfers || Falling Star
Despite the name, this New Jersey band trades surf for strum-and-thrum garage power pop.
Datura4 || High On The Low Brow
A loose, hook-laden collision of boogie-driven blues rock and heavy psychedelia, powered by thick riffs, fuzzed-out grooves, and a lived-in garage-band chemistry that keeps its retro revivalism feeling both gritty and effortlessly melodic.
D O R M I C E || Big Joke
This first release on new Indonesian label sundaysnacks should have made last month’s Loose Ends. Still, the appeal of this lo-fi underground pop EP is too high not to share/care.
Edging || Unload Your Shame
The saxophone is far from the only unique selling point of one of today’s most intriguing hardcore punk bands.
FEWWW || BABYALONE
Discovered this through Bloated Kat Records’ head honcho, a dude who knows what is up in Japan (pop) punk. He definitely is right on FEWWW, whose throwback melodic punkrock sounds delightfully unhinged.
Fine Mess || Fine Mess
A ragged, heart-on-sleeve garage rock debut that thrives on its loose-limbed chaos, pairing infectious harmony vocals, scrappy musicianship and bursts of sax-fuelled exuberance with a raw live energy that feels delightfully unfiltered.
FLEUR || Jour D’été
A sparkling four-track burst of breezy yéyé, full of sunlit romance, stomping attitude, melancholic jangle, and dreamy introspection united in a tightly crafted, irresistible statement.
The Garnals || No Ghost
The Dutch garage psych outfit follows up 2024’s amazing Buzz Me In with a sophomore EP featuring six dynamic tracks that will set their live shows ablaze.
Girl with a Hawk || Regenesis
We wrote about their debut EP Keep ‘Er Lit in 2023, now there is also a first full-lengther—a warmly anthemic blend of classic rock, power-pop, and Americana, turning reflections on aging, friendship, and perseverance into hook-rich, heart-forward songs that celebrate the enduring joy of still being in the game.
Los Giros || Reina del Kathmandú
Remember Los Giros from Spain? Well the freakbeat garage revivalists have a new EP out on Snap Records.
Gull House || Gull House III
Cool hyperactive punk band from Diest (Belgium). This is the band’s third EP already and it is out now on 7″ at UhmYeahSure records.
Heat Sick || Give It Up
A cool new college rock-leaning project from Harris Mendell. This might just be the start of something special.
The Hutch Rabbits || Lost Summer
Lo-fi guitar pop with a garage-y slacker streak. If this is indeed their debut, it’s a promising one.
Hypnolovewheel || Parallel Universe
For those unaware of this late ’80s band’s appeal, this career-spanning overview of their best material on LP is an ear opening experience. What a fine blend of college rock, brit pop, power pop and psych rock this is!
Dion Lunadon || Rare Gems Volume One
This collection of rare and unreleased studio tracks from the past ten years is the testament of the rock-‘n’-roll force that is Dion Lunadon.
The Modeens || Rockin the Apocalypse
A spirited blast of live-wire garage rock and pop-punk energy, a raw yet hook-filled ride with soaring harmonies and high-tempo riffs.
Moodlighting || Playboy // When You Die
We can’t get enough of the delicate lo-fi pop sweetness of this L.A. band.
Muscle Cats || four ways to disappoint
Change one letter in this Portland band’s name and you get a very different vibe, but their egg-punk-infused garage rock is firing on all cylinders across these four songs.
my favorite boxer || Flight of the Silver Buffalo
Johnny Rootbeer returns with another eleven pieces of lo-fi slacker pop, with, as always, more than a few memorable lyrics over the jangly melodies.
Nana Grizol || Frances I+II
Huge fans of Nana Grizol here, and it’s been a minute since we last heard from the band. The stunning Frances I and exciting Frances II appear to be digital only, and although a 7″ single would be nice, they will play nicely on your new music playlist or underground radio show.
Parent Teacher || Tricks for Meds
Not for the first time, this NYC home-recording project again lands on the Wantlist. The sonic approach has shifted again, this time toward a contemporary take on ’90s alt rock and pop punk that somehow captures the spirit of the era without sounding ’90s at all.
PasMort || Les quatre premières années
If you like melodic punk rock sung in French, then this compilation of all the songs so far from Quebec’s PasMort should go down nicely.
Pequeño Mal || Dos neuronas / Cleo (y los hombres fatales)
These Spaniards hit the sweet spot between power pop immediacy on the A-side and jangle pop shimmer on the B-side. Guitar pop done right.
Piss Poor || Under Attack
Killer punk EP from Jeffrey Thunders (Mitch Kramer). Everything rips, but those vocals, somewhere between Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig, steal the show. Play it loud, then go read Josh’s review.
PLAN C || Ninguna de las anteriores
In Spain, they still know how to appreciate rock ‘n’ roll. It’s enough to make you jealous when so many great European tours stop there and nowhere else. Thankfully, the local scene delivers too, and PLAN C proves it with a batch of irresistibly catchy punky power pop.
The Pretty Littles || Mulga Wire
A gritty, instinct-driven pub rock record that pairs sharp Australian storytelling with raw political frustration, turning anxieties about capitalism and modern life into songs that feel both fiercely personal and cathartically communal.
Sex Mex || Repackaged III
The one man machine from San Antonio is more or less constantly chruning out singles, the one even more catchy than the other. Every now and then, he compiles them in a larger package. This is the third Repackaged album, and it might be the funnest one yet. HITS!
The Sex Shoppe || The Sex Shoppe
Coming at you smelling of grease and swamp water, The Sex Shoppe (comprised of Baesha and Waylon Thornton) deliver a gloriously lo-fi slice of freaky garage rock and proto-punk ‘n’ roll (Goodbye Boozy/Ragdoll Records).
SPF-150 || SPF-150
This Milwaukee alternative college rock/power pop band makes an above-average first impression with their debut album.
Strawberry Punch || Strawberry Punch
Twee pop, garage pop, alt pop, Winnipeg quartet Strawberry Punch play with a riot grrrl attitude that makes you want to join their gang.
Styrofoam Winos || Any River
The Nashville trio transforms deep musical scholarship and jam-room spontaneity into a fluid, shapeshifting blend of folk, rock, country, and post-punk, balancing reverence and playful irreverence with virtuosic, instrument-swapping chemistry that feels both meticulously crafted and joyfully unhinged.
Supermilk || Grief Hospital
Pretty great four-song EP from this London indie punk quartet, sounding much brighter and uplifting than its content and, the rough circumstances in which it was created. Out now on 12″ on Specialist Subject Records.
this is my tiger suit || this is my tiger suit
This Hamburg quartet mixes a little Midwest emo with a little Nashville twang to create an enticing debut of college rock.
Tuffie || Tuffie
The debut EP from this Minneapolis band stands out in a crowded field of dreamy alt-rock releases.
Various Artists || Concrete Rock: New York DIY (Desert Island Recordings)
There is always room for cool compilations full of unknown and exclusive gems. This one from Brooklyn’s Desert Island Recordings is an exciting and diverse overview of the NYC DIY scene featuring a couple of bands that already popped on our radar (like Bullseye and Guyscrapers), as well as a lot of exciting fresh faces.
Wirtschaft || vs the world
Another indonesian label that keeps releasing underground pop gold. Wirtschaft operate on the noisy side and play with a fine pace and punch on this 7-song EP.