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New album: Touch Girl Apple Blossom || Graceful

Austin quartet nail the sweet-and-scrappy balance

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

Now that I’ve spent some real time with Graceful, I fully stand by my initial assessment of Austin quartet Touch Girl Apple Blossom: this is heavenly indie pop nostalgia done right.

The band plays with an energy that is totally infectious, all looseness, momentum, and scrappy charm. There is sweetness here for sure, but it is balanced by a ragged edge that almost pushes things into punk territory at times (not in sonics, but in vibes). Touch Girl Apple Blossom sound like true believers, like the kind of band whose members genuinely love this stuff to death and grew up chasing down dusty compilations and obscure seven-inches.

C86, twee, jangly noise pop, the lines between those worlds get pleasantly blurry here. The songs tumble forward with enough hooks and heart to make Graceful feel like a classic in the making, while still carrying the excitement of a young band figuring out just how good they can become. There is a real warmth to this record, as well as fuzz and basement-show spirit. A debut absolutely worth repeated plays and aggressively recommending to your friends.

Graceful is out now on K and Perennial.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: Smug Brothers || Gravity Is Just A Way To Fall

Dayton guitar pop veterans handpick hits from their discography. Turns out they've been great for ages.

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

Smug Brothers are one of those bands that completely mess with the natural lifecycle of bands. While plenty of groups peak early, burn out fast, then spend the next twenty years surviving on reunion gigs and anniversary represses, Smug Brothers have somehow been dropping some of their strongest material deep into their career. I think we’ve written about at least their last three or four releases already. Truthfully though, before starting this website I was barely aware of them at all. Which makes Gravity Is Just A Way To Fall feel a bit like catching up on homework I should have done years ago.

The compilation pulls together thirteen songs from across the band’s long history, while the CD version goes even bigger with thirty-one tracks. And honestly? It quickly becomes obvious that Smug Brothers were already onto something special way back. Whether it is cuts from Interior Magnets (2009) or the ragged power pop punch of It Was Hard to Be a Team Last Night (2012), this stuff holds up ridiculously well. Turns out the band were peaking early too. We just failed to notice at the time.

Musically, this is everything that has made Smug Brothers such a rewarding band to discover in the first place: jangly guitar pop, sharp hooks, warm lo-fi textures, and melodies that stick immediately without feeling overworked. Kudos to Kyle Melton, who is the band’s primary songwriter, and his support cast (the liner notes names 9 additional musicians of the extende family). Over the decades these ten musicians have kept the thread running through this thing remarkably strong. 

So yes, keep the lifecycle going, Kyle and company! Gravity Is Just A Way To Fall is available through Best Brother and Anyway Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp 

New album: S.U.G.A.R || III

Alien Snatch strikes again with another filthy winner

By / / Garage Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

In the Alien Snatch universe, releasing killer garage punk records almost feels less like a career move and more like a law of nature. Cause and effect get blurry over there. Are you already a cool band with a dangerous new greasy/sleazy/filthy batch of songs? Alien Snatch will probably sniff you out eventually. Or maybe it works the other way around: once you land on the label, it suddenly becomes physically impossible to release anything lame. Either way, expectations are not exactly handled delicately in that camp. And if you cannot be bothered naming your records? Fine. Just slap a number on it and move on.

So here is III, the third LP from the Berlin trio, following S.U.G.A.R. (2021), II (2022), and that absolutely combustible split with Blowers last year. If you already liked this band, III is not about to change your mind. But if you somehow slept on them before, this feels like the right entry point. To my ears, this is the sharpest and most fully realized version of S.U.G.A.R. yet.

The swagger is still intact. The sleaze too. But there is something tighter happening underneath the grime this time around. Like the band spent a little more time sharpening the blades before swinging them around. Do not mistake that for polish though. This thing still rolls in smelling like stale smoke, engine oil, and trouble. But the songwriting feels more deliberate, the execution meaner, and the whole record more consistent from start to finish.

And even at just eight songs, III absolutely delivers the goods. No filler, no dead air, just nasty garage punk rock-’n’-roll with enough sneering melodies to leave bruises.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Mrs. Magician || Spiritual Hangover

California garage pop with the top down

By / / Garage Rock, Indie Rock, Power Pop / 1 Comment

About sixteen years after their instantly classic debut and a decade removed from Bermuda, Mrs. Magician return with their third LP. To my ears, Spiritual Hangover recaptures some of the magic of that debut while also sounding broader and more confident. The songwriting feels sharper, the musicianship richer, the whole thing just a little bigger without losing the band’s charm.

Mrs. Magician do not exactly hide their Californian roots, and this is a sun-soaked, beach-ready record packed with smooth and catchy songs that could easily soundtrack an aimless drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, or audition to be on an inevitable reboot of The O.C.. Like the recent Crocodiles LP, this is a band that knows how to make energetic garage pop sound sleek, addictive, and accessible without becoming too predictable.

LP available now on Swami Records, the label run by the legendary John Reis, who also plays on the record. Not a bad co-sign to have.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: Casual Technicians || Well Once There Was a King

Twenty-four songs and not a safe choice in sight on this underground gem

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Rock, Psych, Uncategorized / Leave a Comment

Of all the underground bands we cover, Casual Technicians are a special breed. Not just in output, but in process as well. The trio of Tyler Keene (And And And, Log Across the Washer), Boone Howard (The We Shared Milk and the Boone Howard band), and Nathan Baumgartner (And And And) operate strictly as a recording project. Spread across New Jersey, Upstate New York, and the Oregon coast, they get together once a year for marathon recording sessions while passing ideas back and forth remotely the rest of the time.

Judging by their third album, ideas are clearly not in short supply. Well Once There Was a King comes in hot at 24 tracks and nearly an hour of music. It’s a bit much for us bloggers scraping for time. But I went for a walk, and put this record on. I kept walking.

The record, not their first concept record by the way, follows an unnamed protagonist who knows exactly what he should do to straighten his life out and consistently chooses chaos instead. Across those 24 songs, the band pinballs through folk, doom metal, smooth jazz, psych, slacker rock, outlaw country and ’60s pop without ever completely losing the thread. This is outsider music for people who see straight lines as a personal attack.

Even on music alone, Well Once There Was a King gives you plenty to chew on. These songs creep under your skin slowly, full of emotional knots, rough edges, and dissonant little details left proudly intact. The vocals arrive without polish but with plenty of honesty and vulnerability. And then there are the lyrics. Power City, USA, Part 1 reads like a beautifully fried notebook page set to music. First line: “The boiling water is an asshole.” Later on: “I steal casino quarters from my best friend’s mom. The thrill of the scam doesn’t last too long.” Incredible stuff.

And then there’s The Golden Rule, which captures the current moment with a kind of exhausted clarity, right down to its devastating chorus:”Learn about who you should hate // In books you read at school // Drop the bomb and never wonder why // Life is so much simpler // if you follow the golden rule // You live // You grow // You die.”

Casual Technicians operate in a niche within a niche. These guys are not trying to “make it.” They are just making something weird, human, and genuinely worth your time. More people should notice.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: Cable TV || That’s the Reason b/w Static

Crunchy guitars from the edge of Canada

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

Cable TV are a new-ish three-piece from St. John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador), who have apparently spent the last couple of months (or maybe longer , the band admits), grinding away on their debut album. As a sign of life, or better yet a sign of great things to come, they’ve just released a two-song cassingle on Barely There Records.

The songs are about “wandering the streets of town and wondering what is happening,” which honestly feels pretty relatable. Sonically, this thing lands right in our wheelhouse. Sounding a bit like a mashup of Pavement, Dinosaur Jr. and The Replacements, Cable TV sit somewhere between classic indie rock and power pop, with enough bar-band swagger to keep things from getting too clean-cut. The guitars come in satisfyingly crunchy, the hooks stick, and both songs have that loose, rockin’ feel that makes you want to hear a full album immediately. I’m definitely sticking around.

Also worth checking out is the band’s 7″ from last year, which we somehow completely missed the first time around. Consider that mistake corrected. Mark Cable TV down as a band to watch.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Third Ego || More Ego

Brooding punk rock with some weight behind it

By / / Alternative Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

After their self-titled debut landed in late 2022, Third Ego return with More Ego, 25 minutes of punk rock that is melodic while still carrying a dark undercurrent. Their sound leans heavily into alternative rock territory, with shades of Bob Mould and Mission of Burma, and an emotional weight to these songs that is palpable.

This is not the kind of band sleepwalking through familiar moves. Third Ego clearly have a strong idea of what they want this project to be, and the collective experience from members of NRA, Brat Pack, NEED, Human Alert, and Selfish shows all over this thing. The songs are short and urgent without feeling rushed, sharp without sounding clinical. They give the record a tension that keeps pulling you back in.

There’s a brooding intensity running through More Ego, but also enough melody to stop it from collapsing under its own heaviness. A rewarding listen from a band that sounds fully locked in.

LP (with pretty awesome art by Menno Wittebrood) available through a bullet train of labels including Shield Recordings, White Russian Records, Flight 13 Label, Slow Death, Scuderie Ducali Records, and Serial Bowl.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Shield Recordings || Serial Bowl || Linktree

New album: The Lemon Twigs || Look For Your Mind!

The D'Addario brothers, Reza Matin and Danny Ayala leave you plenty to obsess about on latest Lemon Twigs masterclass

By / / Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Listen, I’m fully aware The Lemon Twigs do not exactly need the support push from the Add to Wantlist blogging division. This record has already received, and will continue to receive, rave reviews from the Shindig!s and Uncuts of the world. Of course, Pitchfork hasn’t weighed in yet, apparently too busy raving about a reissue of the Super Mario gaming soundtrack and burning down a new Chris Brown record. But I digress.

The reason I still wanted to write about the new Lemon Twigs LP, briefly, is because I was pretty indifferent to the band before 2023’s Everything Harmony. One year later, A Dream Is All We Know is where things really clicked for me. I saw them perform on their tour for that record and realized these guys are not just studio perfectionists, they can actually pull this stuff off on stage too. So if there’s one takeaway here: go see this band live. You’ll probably come away hearing the records differently afterwards. And honestly, that’s why I’m writing about them here. For that one person who has spent years shrugging at this band and might actually be missing out.

The hype around The Lemon Twigs is not just about talent. The D’Addario brothers clearly live and breathe this stuff, and the level of care poured into their new album Look For Your Mind! is ridiculous. Really, it sounds incredible. And if you care about the three big B’s, Beach Boys, Beatles, and Big Star, you’re in very good hands here.

There are layers upon layers of goodness packed into this thing: harmonies sweet as honey, immaculate instrumentation, and production warm enough to make you cancel your streaming services and listen to vinyl records exlusively. There’s bubblegum pop on 2 or 3, psych pop on Gather Round, proper rockers like Bring You Down, and full-blown ’70s power pop romanticism on You’re Still My Girl. Meanwhile Nothin’ But You reaches for Big Star, Mean To Me drifts into Beach Boys bliss, and I Just Can’t Get Over Losing You is pure Beatles-brained pop craftsmanship.

I also love that the band openly admits that in contrast to their earlier records, they are now writing only the kind of songs they themselves want to hear. Honestly, that makes me feel less bad about becoming a fan later in the(ir) game. Because talented, obsessive musicians with impeccable taste making exactly the music they love is still a pretty hard formula to beat.

With bigger hype comes bigger expectations. To my ears, they meet them completely. Look For Your Mind! is out now on Captured Tracks.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New EP: Blimps || Over The Moon

From a storage unit to our hearts, meet Blimps!

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

You may recall us writing about Tom Lawns earlier this year, a sneaky-good collection of unpolished slacker alt rock and power pop, hiss and tape noise proudly intact. Turns out the guy behind Tom Lawns, Colin Musolf, also has a brand new band called Blimps with his best friend Rocky Mercer. The pair out of Charleston (South Carolina) met in theater class as kids and have apparently been making music together for eight years already.

Blimps is a fully DIY operation, with the duo handling all the recording and playing themselves. Two songwriters bouncing ideas off each other. The seven songs on their debut EP Over The Moon were recorded on an 8-track cassette machine in their storage unit. Listen closely and you might hear some terrible metal band rehearsing in the background, though chances are you’ll be too locked into the songs to notice.

This is another band operating somewhere in the Guided by Voices, Superdrag, and Teenage Fanclub universe, which suits us just fine. Blimps throws Neil Young and Cheap Trick into the mix too. In a local scene apparently filled with bands carrying giant egos and not enough hooks, Blimps go the other way. They keep things raw, loose, on a bare-bones production, but never lose sight of the melodies. These jangly, power-poppin’, alt-rockin’ songs about feeling out of step in a small town hit with sincerity instead of posture.

Definitely a band to keep tabs on. And apparently they’re already writing the next record. We’ll be listening! Limited tape run available through their own Terminal Releases label.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Automatic Lovers || Automatic Lovers

Madrid comes in swinging

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

You’ve got to love what Wap Shoo Wap Records is doing, making authentic punk feel dangerous and cool again. There’s a reason people all over the globe are paying attention to Dutch bands like The Covids, Sick Shooters, and Savage Beat. Automatic Lovers may be from Madrid, but they fit the label’s ethos to a tee. Just look at the band name. Look at the sleeve. You already know what kind of ride this is.

And plenty of you already do, since the band’s debut single disappeared of the market fast last year.

Their self-titled debut LP brings nine originals and two covers, High Degree by Next and Pushin’ Too Hard by The Vibrators. I had a pretty good idea what to expect, but I was still struck by the hard edge of this thing. Automatic Lovers skip the cute stuff and go straight for the ass kicking. The touchstones are The Vibrators, Slaughter & The Dogs, The Boys, and Sonny Vincent.

Underneath the grit, though, there’s melody and rhythm running through these songs. You just have to lean in a little. I have no doubt you will. Buy the LP at Wap Shoo Wap or Spanish label Folc Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (Wap Shoo Wap) || Folc Records

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