Public Opinion’s second album is out today on Side One Dummy and doesn’t waste much time pretending everything will work out in the end. Instead, The Curse of Public Opinion bottles frustration, disappointment, and self-doubt into ten punk rock songs that are as melodic as they are bitter. Rather than offering motivational speeches or tidy resolutions, the Denver trio simply vents, which honestly feels a lot healthier than pretending you’re okay. Fortunately, they pair all that existential grumbling with enough swagger and hooks to keep things surprisingly fun. The Curse of Public Opinion is a confident, thoroughly likeable record.
Apparently, Mujeres’ new album came out months ago. It only recently appeared on Bandcamp and the usual streaming services, which probably sums up the band’s international profile rather well. In Spain, Mujeres has a devoted following. Elsewhere, they’re still far too easy to miss. We only discovered them after catching their brilliant set at Primavera Sound in their hometown of Barcelona. That was ten years ago. Es un Dolor Inexplicable, already the band’s seventh album, is another excellent reason to keep them on your radar.
From the opening one-two punch of Alucinante and Caen Imperios, Mujeres makes it clear they’re in the mood for catchy, punky garage pop with the accelerator pinned to the floor. The gang vocals are as infectious as the melodies, giving the whole record an irresistible communal feel. And the hooks just keep coming. Compared to their previous 2023 LP, the ambitious and rewarding Desde Flores y Entrañas, this is a more direct, no-nonsense affair. But rather than a step backwards, it’s a reminder how great Mujeres are in this kind of stuff.
We may be late to the party, but Es un Dolor Inexplicable still sounds like the soundtrack to the rest of the summer. Better late than never.
Let’s make a summer stop in Indianapolis, Indiana, because there’s a loud, gloriously over-the-top new four-piece in town. Wet Denim released its debut LP in mid-July via Mean City Records, and subtlety never even made it into the rehearsal room.
Wet Denim plays like it’s already headlining arenas. Tiny club? Stadium? Backyard barbecue? Doesn’t matter. Got pyro? Light it. Smoke machines? Crank ’em up. They charge into every song with the swagger of a band convinced the encore has already been earned. The riffs are huge, the solos bigger still, and the choruses arrive so naturally you’d think they accidentally stumbled into another anthem on the way to the next one. Their singer attacks every vocal as though replacement vocal cords are included in the tour budget.
Bite Back is a glam-rocking, boot-stomping, garage power poppin’ debut from a band that sounds delightfully out of step with the times. While some bands seem busy reinventing rock, Wet Denim is busy reminding us why people fell in love with loud guitars in the first place. Turns out that still works just fine.
Drink Deep has had a pretty clear mission statement ever since forming in 2022: Berlin harDCore. And those capital DCs aren’t exactly subtle. This band probably wouldn’t exist without late-’80s Washington, D.C. hardcore, the Revolution Summer, and Dag Nasty proving that hardcore could hit just as hard emotionally as it did musically.
Following 7″s in 2023 (Refuse Records) and 2025 (Control Records), Drink Deep now steps up with its first 12″, the six-song In Reverse EP, out now via Thirty Something Records.
More than anything, In Reverse feels like a love letter to a scene that continues to inspire bands decades later. It captures that unmistakable blend of urgency, melody, and heart that made those records so special in the first place. Once this sound gets under your skin, it tends to stay there. It’s exciting to hear a new band carrying that torch with this much conviction.
Here’s a new band from Melbourne’s vibrant underground that has spent the past three years quietly sharpening its claws. Meet Salmon Sisters, a band that is neither made up entirely of sisters nor, as far as I can tell, salmon.
The wait has paid off. Their debut digital single pairs two very different strengths. Siesta is a punchy slice of garage punk driven by cascading guitar riffs and vocals with just the right amount of rasp. Cock It! is the catchier of the two, with female vocals effortlessly switching between sweet and snarling without losing an ounce of momentum.
Three years underground suddenly feels like a very sensible investment. I have a feeling Salmon Sisters won’t be staying there much longer.
Getting invited by two bloggers who have pointed me toward countless great records over the years is as much an honor as it is a lot of fun. So while Dennis was enjoying a well-earned holiday, I happily accepted an invitation from Jay (formerly of Audio Ammunition and now back with Shock Treatment Zine) and Josh (Lord Rutledge of the Faster and Louder blog) to join the latest episode of Born Too Late.
The assignment sounded simple enough: bring your ten favorite releases of the year so far. In reality, narrowing it down was anything but. Nearly two hours later, three people who spend an unhealthy amount of time digging for underground music had covered everything from the resurgence of ’70s power pop and rock ‘n’ roll to Dutch punk zines, labels that deserve far more love, guilty pleasures, overlooked gems, surprise favorites, and the passing of J Waylon of Friends of Cesar Romero. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all? Despite our heavily overlapping musical tastes, we only shared one album in our Top 10s.
You can find the episode wherever you get your podcasts (Apple || Spotify). It’s even available on Bandcamp.
A lot of people got excited when Bob Mould announced Sugar would reunite for a tour. I can’t help but wonder whether anyone was happier than the two Andreases, Joona, and Jocke from Sweden’s Sweet Teeth. They’ve been keeping that sound alive while Sugar was on hiatus. And I don’t mean that as a criticism. Quite the opposite. If ever there was a band proudly wearing its influences on its sleeve, it’s Sweet Teeth.
The Void That Eats The Heart is a worthy follow-up to 2022’s High Anxiety and the band’s spectacular debut EP, Acid Rain. It’s heavy without becoming oppressive, melodic without losing its bite, and packed with songs that feel oddly familiar from the very first spin. More than anything, this is a record made by people who genuinely love plugging in guitars, turning the amps up, and making a glorious racket together.
Listening to Sweet Teeth, I can’t shake the feeling they’d be the perfect opening band for any major rock act touring Scandinavia. They’d win over the crowd long before the headliner hit the stage.
The Void That Eats The Heart is out now via De:Nihil Records, Engineer Records, and Scene Police.
Look, I know I get excited about bands a little too easily. My enthusiasm has raised more than a few eyebrows among friends, family, and coworkers over the years. I doubt any of them understand just how much I’ve been looking forward to this week, because Philadelphia’s Mopar Stars have finally released their debut LP.
It has been a long time coming. Their 2023 EP Shoot The Moon was one of those rare “where has this band been all my life?” discoveries. A year later, Burning Questionsomehow proved it wasn’t a fluke. Then Stupid Bag Records did us all a favor by collecting both EPs on one essential LP. But Official Researchers Of The NJ Devil is the real thing: a full-length statement from a band that has been quietly building an impeccable batting average.
The higher your expectations, the greater the chance of disappointment. Not this time. Press play on opener Wreck The Bike. Isn’t that one of the finest indie rock songs you’ve heard all year? It’s the opening chapter of a breathless 28-minute songwriting masterclass. Mopar Stars isn’t trying to reinvent rock ‘n’ roll. Quite the opposite. The band works with the same familiar building blocks everyone else has access to. The trick is that they somehow arrange them into songs that feel fresher, brighter, and more irresistible than they have any right to.
That probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. Mopar Stars is made up of members of Poison Ruïn, Zorn, Positronix, TVO, ICD10, and Sheer Mag, all seemingly using this band to indulge their collective power pop addiction. George Orwell never actually wrote this, but he probably should have: all hooks are equal, but some hooks are more equal than others. If someone stuck me in an MRI scanner while this record was playing, I’m convinced they’d discover an entirely new section of the brain devoted exclusively to Mopar Stars hooks.
There are traces of ’70s power pop and classic rock, ’80s college rock, and ’90s alternative rock all over Official Researchers Of The NJ Devil. But none of that really explains why this record is so good. Some bands just have that rare ability to make great songs sound effortless. Mopar Stars has it in absurd quantities.
If there is a better guitar record coming out this year, I’d genuinely like to hear it. Until then, this is the one I’ll be trying to convince everyone else to fall in love with.
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 (30+ this month!), and a link to add it to your shelves.
Banda AL9 || Hey! Hey! We’re Banda AL9 Brazilian power pop duo Banda AL9 —brothers Matheus and Thiago Khouri—released this collection of newly remixed and remastered fan favorites alongside new material on Wicked Cool Records: hook-filled power pop songs that pair Beatlesque melodies and harmonies with youthful energy.
BIG GAINER || Frittiert This Berlin trio plays noisy slack rock, or should we say sl-egg punk?
Can someone check whether Unicorn Dogs are doing okay? The band, featuring Jon and Lucas from Charlie Brown Gets a Valentine, spends a surprising amount of time worrying about getting older on their new LP. Running out of time is a recurring theme. There’s a song about a midlife crisis, another about being well past your prime. Fortunately, Jon brought his son Oliver along to make sure everything still moves at pop-punk speed.
I’m only half joking. The music, somewhere between Dear Landlord, The Copyrights, and House Boat, gives all that existential dread a wonderfully self-deprecating twist. It’s hard not to smile when a record this energetic opens with a gang vocal shouting, “This is my midlife crisis!”
Beneath the sarcasm, though, lies a surprisingly empathetic album about aging, burnout, changing technology, corporate indifference, and slowly coming to terms with your own mortality without giving in to cynicism. Unicorn Dogs never wallow. They laugh, worry, crank up the guitars, and keep going. That makes Closer To Death a lot more relatable than its title might suggest.
