Niek

New album: Miracle Debt || Miracle Debt

Miracle Debt come from a long pedegree of bands from Minneapolis that incorparate classic rock elements into punkrock. Or vice versa, depending on your frame of reference. I’m referring to the Replacements of course, but also Hüsker Dü, the Hold Steady (/Lifter Puller), and more recently Lutheran Heat. Miracle Debt will self-release their self-titled debut next month, but the full album is already available on Bandcamp. The band reminds me of early Avail, and that’s a compliment.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: The Morgus Creeps || Skin People

Okay, enough with the 2020 reflections already. Time for the first 2021 release I am genuinely excited about: the Skin People EP by The Morgus Creeps. This UK band, who I guess are named after a 1964 horror single by Daringers, play a creepy kind of garage rock. The songs on this killer EP would fit perfectly on the garage compilations of Crypt! Records. For now, this appears to be a digital only release, available as a name-your-price download.

Add to Wantlist: Bandcamp

Looking Back || Niek’s Overlooked Records of 2020

I’ve been checking out several 2020 AOTY lists in the past couple of weeks and have to admit: I missed a few. It happens, right? Perfection is overrated anyway. Here are 20+ releases from all kinds of musical directions that I either overlooked or was too quick to dismiss in 2020. They are on my wantlist now, that is all that matters. Click below to check them out. As always, I’ve included links to the purchasing locations for these releases. ICYMI also check out my favorite 2020 albums, singles and EPs, 2020 playlists and Dennis’ 2020 AOTY list. Happy new year!

New Compilation: The Young Sinclairs || O.P.P.

The Young Sinclairs have been releasing excellent indiepop records since 2007. Throughout the years, they’ve recorded several cover songs, which they’ve recently wrapped up and made available as a name your price download as their Christmas present to the world. It’s worth checking out, and not just because you’ve always wanted to know what a jangle pop version of Sweet Child O’ Mine sounds like.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New song: Space Cadet || Forever For A While

If you, like me, have fond memories of Boston punkrockband The Explosion, then you are familiar with Matt Hock’s powerful and distinct voice. Imagine my excitement when I found out that Matt has started a new project with his former bandmate David Walsh, and that Wiretap Records will release their debut a couple of months from now. Here is the first song, which is a pleasant surprise. It’s a departure from the high-octane and tight punkrock of The Explosion. It’s guitar-driven and loose, and influenced by postpunk, britrock and new wave. It’s the kind of song that intrigues and gets under your skin upon first listen.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Wiretap Records

New song: RECKLING || Spiders

Early this year, RECKLING (Kelsey Reckling) recorded 24 Hours for the Burger Records Quarantunes compilation series. I liked that song enough to start following her on Bandcamp. She released her debut full length on cassette in 2018, which is worth checking out if you are into garagepop/rock. Last week she released another great tune, Spiders. This garagerock track has a strong ’90’s alternative music vibe. It’s the kind of song MTV would have played to death in the nineties, and I wouldn’t have minded that at all. The song features Max from Fidlar on drums, who also produced the song. Fingers crossed RECKLING will release her sophomore album in 2021.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Best of 2020 Playlists || Niek’s Favorite Songs of 2020

At the start of each year, I create a playlist to keep track of newly released songs I like. Then, at the end of the year, I pick out the best song from this list to create a year-end mixtape, a playlist I like to return to every now and then, and revisit or rediscover songs and memories of a specific period of time. The thing is, I am not a very efficient person. So basically I drag songs to the playlist for 350 days resulting in quite the mess – the playlist currently has 1944 songs, almost 92 hours of music. Then, with the year coming to its close, I frantically go to work trimming down the playlist to its essence. That’s the hard part, because I am way better in adding stuff than throwing things away, or so I am told.  I usually end up with a playlist around 300-400 songs, in spite of my good intentions to keep it shorter. This year is no exception. What I did do differently this year however, is split up the songs in two playlists that reflect my two musical taste buds: a playlist with more straightforward punk, powerpop and garage hits from 2020, and one playlist with a little less distortion (i.e., indiepop, jangle, twee, but also postpunk, and more fuzzy and surfy popsounds). As always, one song per artists. Click read more to check them out. Hope you’ll like ’em, and will uncover some new favorite tunes! BTW, in case this is my final post of the year, take care, be well and see you in 2021!

Music Year-End List || Niek’s Favorite Singles And EPs of 2020

Last week, I published my Top 50 Albums of 2020. The week before, Dennis published his. Time for the final AtW list of 2020: my Top 40 Singles and EP’s of year. There was a lot to choose from, and I am sure I overlooked and forgot several releases that would otherwise be included on this list. I opted out of the painstaking process of ranking these singles and EPs, so the bands are in alphabetical order. If I had to choose though, Romero probably would be my #1 pick, followed by Hard Action, Civic. Click below on read more to go to the list. I’ve included short explanations and my favorite song of each single/EP, either with a bandcamp embed or a video. If you like what you hear, just click on the title and AddToWantlist. There is an almost complete Spotify playlist of the releases at the bottom of this post – six are currently not on that platform.

New songs: Jakob Mind || Rock’n’Roll’s Got Me All Messed Up/Watch The City Burn

With 2020 stumbling to the finish line, let’s focus on something to look forward to in 2021: In April, Jakob Mind will release his debut The One That Got Away on Lövely Records. Jakob Mind is a new solo project by Jakob Arvidsson from Sweden, who you may know from garagepunks Rotten Mind, or the pretty awesome Undertonesque poppunk band Real Tears. Currently, Jakob has leaked two songs of the album, watch and listen below. These songs are fast, melodic, and insanely catchy. Hope they make you as curious about the rest of the record as I am.

New Album: 錯乱前戦 (Sakuran Zensen) || I Am Sakuran Zensen

There is a lot I hate about the Internet, but here’s something I love. Two years ago, I received a LinkedIn request from someone from the US I hadn’t met. Let’s call him Dan. Apparently, Dan followed me on Spotify, appreciated some of my playlists and wanted to say hi. That in itself I thought was a cool thing of him to do. Fast-forward two years, I messaged him that my AOTY list was up and that I started this blog with my brother. Dan replied and shared his own Top Ten of 2020 which he was working on for his friends’ annual poll. Dan’s top 10 included 9 excellent picks, and one completely unknown one from Japan: 錯乱前戦 (Sakuran Zensen). I have been playing their latest album I am SAKURAN-ZENSEN nonstop this morning. What an exciting garage rock-‘n’-roll record. Just one look at the album cover and the video below tells me: these guys know exactly what they are doing and are destined for bigger things – they remind me of early Hives in that sense. So thank you, Dan. And welcome to the wantlist 錯乱前戦!

Lookout for a list of records we overlooked in 2020 sometime in the near future.

Add to Wantlist: Discogs 

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