“Wartmann Inc. Giving you everything you don’t want.” Wink wink.
Tee-Vee Repairmann is a project by Sydney based Ishka Edmeades (Research Reactor Corporation, Set-Top Box, Satanic Togas, G.T.R.R.C, Gee Tee). Earlier this year, Tee-Vee Repairmann released one of my favorite singles of the year. Last month, Edmeades joined forces with Kel Mason to record a couple of deranged catchy lo-fi punk rock’n’roll songs under the moniker Gee Tee Vee.
Opener Buddy Holly, Lives In My Basement alone is worth the purchase of this EP. But the other tracks are up to that standard as well. As a bonus, the EP includes a cover of The Boys classic tune First Time. Oh. Oh-Oh-Oh!
The Stardumb Records logo essentially operates as a green light for blind purchases. If Stefan Stardumb decides to put out a record, you know it’s gonna be good. But whereas Stardumb once was home primarily to pop punk and ramonescore bands, in recent years we’ve seen the label broaden its horizons somewhat, for example with Local Drags, Lone Wolf and the most recent Geoff Palmer record. Stardumb’s latest addition probably is furthest yet from the typical Stardumb sound. James Sullivan’s debut LP Light Years is closer to Velvet Underground, Guided By Voices, and Paul Westerberg than to Groovie Ghoulies or the Apers.
James Sullivan is the frontman and guitar player of two excellent powerpop outfits (More Kicks and Suspect Parts). To get himself going in the pandemic, he decided to set himself the goals of writing a song a day for ten days. He then recorded the songs at home in North Londona on his half-broken Tascam 8-track. Rather than choosing a specific direction for the songs, he took the opportunity to try out different styles. The result is a diverse record that’s decidedly different than Sullivan’s past work, while still showcasing his great songwriting skills.
Album opener Lea Bridge is one of the albums highlights. I love how Sullivan talksings with a heavy accent over a steady beat and a cool guitar riff. The gorgeous punkrock ballad You Kept My Heart Alive is another standout and may be my favorite track on the record. But rather than talking about individual tracks, Light Years works really well as an album. I really like the flow of the record. A significant proportion of the record is mellow, but I’m never skipping any of the songs. Sullivan draws you in from the opening seconds and will leave you content after each play of Light Years.
Light Years has a Stardumb Records logo on it. It’s out now. What are you waiting for? Buy it!
Cherry Cheeks is what happened when the pandemic caused Kyle Harms to spent countless hours behind his computer screen. His self-titled debut LP, a perfect fit with Portland’s primary punk label Total Punk Records, is exhibit A of how boredom, anger, and frustration often results in great music.
Despite the anger and frustration, Cherry Cheeks is not your average punk act. The songs are hyperactive and spazzy, and the music is bass, riff and synth heavy. The record is a cathartic release of boiling frustration, and while Harms’ vocals sounds pretty pissed, there is a strong sense of melody throughout. Listen to the infectious chorus of Go Outside for example, or the bouncy headboppers Two Bugs and D.A.C. And what about Trickin’, a song that makes me want to turn the volume all the way up – sorry neighbors. Boxes is another standout track. Album closer Gone is the killer outsider track on the record. Here, Cherry Cheeks take the foot of the gas pedal, and play a glam rock guitar lick over a steady beat. What a track. What a record!
Cherry Cheeks is out now on tape, with the vinyl release facing some delays. Rumor has it that the next release will even better…kinda crazy.
Believe it or not, but at some point this year I had the guts to complain about the lack of good indie pop records in 2021. Fast forward 7 or 8 months, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The amount of must-own modern jangle and twee classics released this year has become mind boggling – click on our jangle pop tag to discover all the Massage’s, Quivers, Telephone Numbers, Umbrellas etc who made this such a great year for the criminally underrated good kind of pop music.
Even late in the year, the modern classics keep coming in, with Chime School as the latest addition. Straight from the Bay Area to our Hearts, Chime School is the brainchild of Andy Pastalaniec (Cruel Summer, Seablite, Pink Films / Odd Hope).
The jangle pop on the self-titled debut LP by Chime School sounds instantly familiar and ready to be gobbled up by fans of ’80s indie pop and twee. But I expect the classic underground pop feel and the upbeat tunes likely will appeal to fans of power pop and college rock as well.
For me, Chime School is the kind of act that evokes a sense of gratitude, the kind of band that makes me want to share their music with any willing ear I cross paths with. Honest question: in recent history, has there been a better year for jangle pop than 2021? Chime School is out now on Slumberland Records. It is a no brainer, buy it.
Whenever Spanish labels Hurrah! Música and Family Spree Recordings have new music out, they have my full attention. Their latest release is a joint one and might be my favorite release of theirs this year: Las Infrarrojas & Indy Tumbita. It is the latest single of Las Infrarrojas, an awesome foursome from Spain, and I can’t believe how I missed their first two 7″s.*
The sunshine pop of Las Infrarrojas is informed by many influences, from ’60s girl group and rock’n’roll to surf and psych. Here is a band that knows how to write timeless melodies. Their songs ooze major summer vibes, quickly washing any autumn dread away.
I’m not going to put a spotlight on any individual tracks, because this is a quadruple A-side single that I need to have in my collection ASAP.
* Fun Fact: all three Las Infrarrojas singles have an A-side with songs sung in English, and a B-side sung in Spanish.
Basement Pop is the home of the collective musical projects of musicians Chris Mott & Daun Fields. It is also an apt description of the music of my favorite Basement Pop band: Evening Standards. Mott (guitar) & Fields (bass) take on dual vocal duties in Evening Standards, and are joined by Jacob Hamilton on drums. They play a kind of punkrock and indie rock that is hard to pinpoint. They don’t seem to care about speed, or attitude, or what is cool or happening. What they do care about is writing heartfelt tunes with a lot of melody. That show of heart, that emotional aspect, but also the dual vocals and harmonies give the songs almost an americana or alt country feel. While destined to be overlooked by many, Evening Standards are an easy band to fall for if you just give them a chance.
Rainbow Shrimp is the band’s third album, and if this is your first taste of the band, I highly recommend checking out the band’s previous output. Rainbow Shrimp builds on the previous records, but sounds slightly more lo-fi. It’s another great collections of songs that gets better with each play slowly crawling its way on your end-of-the-year lists. Enjoy the two Evening Standards’ basement pop tunes below, and get ready to develop warm feelings for this band.
Band names raise certain expectations. The first time I heard Postage, a four piece with a history in bands like Signal Lost, Male Patterns, After The Fall, they already had that competitive advantage by naming themselves after a classic All track, from one of my favorite All records (Allroy For Prez). Then again, if their music would’ve sucked that bandname would have been the piece of concrete sinking them to the bottom.
Fortunately, we need not worry about that. Postage’s self-titled debut is filled with melodic punkrock for fans of bands like Dear Landlord, The Dopamines and Leatherface. The record only has one downside: most of these songs have been previously released on the band’s two EP’s, and their split single with Mikey Erg. I’m not complaining though, those releases were digital only and I’m happy to finally be able to own these songs on vinyl. Postage is out November 5th on Dirt Cult Records.
I’d like to introduce you to Durham’s (UK) answer to Auckland’s (NZ) The Beths: Fortitude Valley! Their self-titled debut provides the ear candy that can only be the result of hitting the sweet spot between indie pop, powerpop and pop punk.
Fortitude Valley is fronted by Laura Kovic, who you may know as the keyboardist of Tigercat. She found her bandmates through the much missed Fortuna Pop! label. Those bandmates? Bassist Greg Ullyart from Night Flowers, Nathan Stephens Griffin (drums) and Daniel Ellis (lead guitar). Ellis also plays in Martha, which is probably my favorite UK pop punk band of the past decade. I love how several of the chord progressions and guitar fills on the record are reminiscent of that band, most notably on the sweet album opener Baby, I’m Afraid.
While decidedly pop-oriented, the music of Fortitude Valley is quite the departure from Kovic’s previous output. “In the past I’ve usually written more gentle melodic pop songs,” she explains in the press release, “but I’ve tried to move away from that slightly on this album and experiment with adding more deliberate bite to my songwriting. Nathan, Daniel and Greg definitely helped to make it more punk.”
The record is timely as well, touching on themes like the passage of time, friendships and relationships growing apart, and feelings of insecurity, depression, and anxiety—as well as searching for love and salvation—, and maintaining to sound joyful and fun throughout. Having two kittens from rescued street cats at home, I can particularly relate to All Haill The Great Destroyer, “a tribute to Margie the rescue cat who destroys everything for fun and is an absolute legend.”
So yeah, what I’m trying to say is that I completely fell for the ear candy of Fortitude Valley. Disclaimer: SO MANY HITS!
Diamondtown is made up of veterans of the Nova Scotia underground scene, whose past bands include Eric’s Trip, Dog Day, and Century Egg. The band has about 2.1 million fewer monthly listeners on Spotify than The War On Drugs. And yet, I can envision a lot of those TWOD fans fall for the new self-titled record of Diamondtown. To me, Diamondtown operates in that same realm of spacious, tension building, accessible guitar pop/rock, particularly on songs like Flame, Truth and Outtamind.
But rather than the dad rock-vibe of TWOD with its Dire Straits influences, the songs of Diamondtown seem substantially informed by ’80s new wave and ’60s jangly pop. They are more concise as well. Perfect for a late summer beach day, or on your commute with a coffee-to-go in your hand.
Listen to Stride, a perfect and timeless jangle pop tune, and let the sound of Diamondtown gently wash over you.
Somewhere in the middle of Perfectly Average, the penultimate song on the new Flangipanis record Fuckin’ Woo, Rocky Balboa shares an important lesson. One we all learnt the hard way, if not before, well than at least at some time in the past twenty months or so. “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” You don’t need to be a fan of the Italian Stallion to feel the power of the quote. Its use is timely and a good match with the music.
It is one of several highlights on the record. The songs of Flangipanis (Brisbane, Australia) on Fuckin’ Woo are filled to the brim with ’90s melodic punk nostalgia. Some of the songs even hint upon hardcore, and there are some ska elements as well. The lyrics continually switch between being in-your-face direct, slightly uncomfortable and pretty funny. It’s singer Jodie who takes the record to another level though. In several songs, her sheer power and rock’n’roll attitude reminds me of A Giant Dog singer Sabrina Ellis.
For more on the album, check out Hysteriamag’s track-by-track feature, and have a taste of Clothes (“a song dedicated to creeps who “like women in music” but actually only go to gigs to perve.”) and Perfectly Average below. Fuckin’ Woo is available on vinyl now at the band’s webstore.
