Niek

New album: Bobby Ramone || Rocket To Kingston

By / / Punk / 8 Comments

“Imagine that in the late 70s, Bob Marley crossed paths with the Ramones at the CBGB counter and they decided to make a record together. Here is the result: 10 rasta classics with punk rock sauce 1-2-3-4!” When I read this introduction to Bobby Ramone’s Rocket To Kingston and saw the album cover, I hoped it would be fun yet feared it would sound terrible. Two songs in, I just had to share this with you, because THIS IS FREAKIN’ FUN and well executed. I’d never expect that I could enjoy songs like Get Up Stand Up, Stir it Up, and One Love this much. Even the song titles get the Ramones treatment, as they are now called I Don’t Wanna Stand Up, Stirring In My Room, and Today One Love, Tomorrow The World. What’s not to like? Vinyl available at Guerilla Asso.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Guerilla Asso

New EP: Linnea’s Garden || Nowhere Friday Nights

By / / Power Pop / 1 Comment

According to the band’s website, Linnea’s Garden play glampunk you can dance to. I am not sure if that is true, but that may be due to my limited dancing abilities. To my ears, Linnea’s Garden sound more powerpop with a touch of soul than punk on their EP Nowhere Friday Nights. The lead single Non-Dramatic Breakup Song sounds like a lost hit by Milwaukee powerpop legends The Shivvers. It is an instant classic.


Add to bandcamp: Bandcamp

New album: The Sueves || Tears Of Joy

By / / Garage Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Simplicity, in all its ramshackle glory, is one of the charms of garage rock. That appeal can wear off quickly though when a band’s songwriting is subpar and/or the execution is poor. The Sueves new record is the perfect example of how rewarding it can be when a band challenges itself; when a band is not afraid to go beyond self- or other-imposed boundaries of the genre; when a band invests a little more time in writing and recording music. On Tears of Joy, The Sueves sound more layered, diverse and dynamic than most garage bands, but also in comparison to their past selves. They do so without sacrificing any of the energy and excitement of their earlier work.  Mop Bucket is a modern garage rock classic. Short and fast songs like Alexxxa, Find The Right Fit and Stare will draw in punk fans. Other songs (e.g., Deflect The World) move into The Stooges territory. To be sure, the Sueves have created their own enterprise, and never sound like copycats.
Overall, Tears of Joy is a thrilling listen, a kick to the nuts of those who complain that guitar music nowadays is redundant. I am pretty confident that the allure of the record is more likely to expand than wear off upon further listens. That leaves us with one concern. Now that the band has ran out of primary colors for their album covers – red for their debut, blue for their second one and yellow for Tears Of Joy, what will they do next? Based on this record, the Sueves are just getting started.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Magicatolog

New album: Model Village || World Of Carp

By / / Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

UK jangle pop veterans Model Village open their fourth record (World Of Carp) strongly with Insufferable. It’s a welcoming indie pop track that will instantly make your head bop on its bouncy rhythm. Other standout tracks on World of Carp include the upbeat Oslo and Find It Out, and the Belle and Sebastianesque Roll It Over. Singer Lily Rose has the ability to draw you into these songs while making her singing sound effortless. She has just the right touch of melancholy in her voice, not unlike Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura and Elizabeth Morris of Allo Darlin. Musically, fans of those bands will enjoy this record as well. Out now on Kingfisher Bluez (Canada) and Towed By The Ghost (UK)!


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: Texpack || The Early Serenade

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

Let’s add Indonesia to our ever expanding list of fine music from around the Globe. To be more specific, let’s go to Bogor, Jakarta where Texpack recently released a three song EP called The Early Serenade. If you like alternative ’90’s pop, you will definitely enjoy this one. Never having heard of Texpack before, I mistakenly thought on the title track that Texpack was a new shoegaze project by Davey Von Bohlen (Cap’n Jazz, The Promise Ring, Maritime). The second track, Between 4 and 10 is a classic indie pop single including a surprise cameo of a trumpet. Speaking of trumpets, Texpack closes the EP with a well executed cover of the Eggstone song My Trumpets. Out now on Anoa Records (Jakarta).


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Other Ones || The Other Ones

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

The self-titled debut from London (UK) band The Other Ones sounds like it’s from a different era. I cannot put my finger which era exactly though, early eighties perhaps? Anyway, on their best songs, The Other Ones hit that sweet spot between punk, (power)pop, garage and rock-‘n’-roll, with a singer whose voice fits perfectly in this kind of music. A song like Forever Young is waiting to be picked up by Little Steven’s Underground Garage.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries || Suns Out Guns Out

By / / Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

The three members of The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries, or ‘the Fuckin’ Ferries’ if you are in their inner circle, have a lot on their plate. They have their respective bands (Kahoots, Shellac, Volcano Suns, Mission of Burma, Come, Codeine, The New Year) as well as contributions to other acts (Lemonheads, Thurston Moore). Factor in the three different timezones they inhabit and you start to get why it took them eight years to follow up their previous record. Suns Out Guns Out is an interesting release. You may not like every second of it, but it feels like at any time, anything can happen. The band sometimes sounds like a more dissonant R.E.M. although Guided By Voices and Sonic Youth are more likely reference points. The GBV force is particularly strong on Betty Ford James. Make sure you watch all 70 seconds of the video for that song. See? Anything can happen.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs   

New EP: Distorted Garden || Living Large in the Time of the Plague

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

The first song on Distorted Garden’s latest release is called Ruined My Life. Contrary from what you’d expect from its title, it’s an instantly likeable fun song with an extremely catchy chorus. The rest of the EP from these Canadians is in the same vein: Buzzsaw guitar driven punkrock that makes up for its lack of subtlety with an abundance of hooks. Available as name your price download at Shock Collar Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: State Drugs || Live. Laugh. Love.

By / / Indie Rock, Power Pop, Punk / 2 Comments

With so much music coming out weekly (daily!), it’s easy to overlook records that demand a little bit more attention to fully appreciate. Live. Laugh. Love by State Drugs is such an album. Although the music spoke to me immediately, I was underwhelmed at first, perhaps due to the somewhat understated way of singing by the band’s frontman. I am happy that I gave the record another try though, because it contains premium quality midpaced punkrock, with fine guitar work and songs that increasingly get under your skin. The band operates somewhere between the altpop of the Lemonheads and the melodic punkrock of Samiam, most noticably on songs like Goonies or Threat Level Midnight, two of my early favorites on the record. Give this one a spin. No, scratch that. Give this one a couple of spins. You won’t regret it.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Headcheese || Headcheese

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

Are you ready for a high intensity workout? Make sure you can move freely in your home, remove all obstacles. The workout does not require any equipment. The only thing you need is the debut LP by Canadian hardcorepunks Headcheese. Put the record on, turn the volume up. Let the music take over your movements. When side  A ends, this is after six minutes or so, take a short breather. Use it wisely. Take a sip of water. Switch sides. Repeat.

Twelve songs, twelve minutes. One sweaty, out of breath 40 year old. One awesome throwback to eighties North-American hardcorepunk added to his wantlist.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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