Alternative Rock

New EP: Minus Hero || Songs About Leaving

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Punk / 1 Comment

Minus Hero are from Italy (w/ members Nofu, Twister, Bravo, Nappies, Daire, Think About), but they sound like an obscure ’90s US bands in the vein of Superchunk, Archers Of Loaf and Knapsack. Their new 10″ EP is part of the Blue Feelings collection of Flamingo Records. It’s called Songs About Leaving and the four songs on it deal with “melancholy, disappointment and alienation.” The record is far from a dread though. Minus Hero sounds inspired and heartfelt on the EP. It’s perfect music for a grey day.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Danny Carney Chainsaw Symphony || Blizzard of ’82

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Power Pop, Punk / 1 Comment

I was unaware of Blizzard of ’82 until a recent Instagram endorsement by Stateline Records pointed in its direction. It’s the solo debut of Danny Carney, who used to play in Roll The Tanks, but now operates under the moniker Danny Carney Chainsaw Symphony. Hard not to be intrigued by that name, and the same applies to his music. Press play on opening track Maraschino University and you’ll discover that this is not your average record. That song stays under 3 minutes, but it is layered and catchy despite its lack of a clear chorus. It even has a intense sax solo. And that’s just the first song. The second song (VCR) does have a clear chorus that is massive  and absolutely pop oriented, but the song also have the feel of a punkrock tune. Track 3 Glomar Blues somehow moves into ’80s hardrock territory, not unlike the direction A.F.I. took  mid-career. I could go on, but the surprises keep coming and I am not sure if I have the words to explain the sound of Danny Carney Chainsaw Symphony – nor do I want to spoil the record. It’s definitely indie rock, but it very much is its own thing. It’s diverse and eclectic but not incoherent. It’s loaded with hooks. It’s an exiting record to dive into and explore in full. Basically, I have no idea what Danny Carney is up to, but it works and I want more.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Danny Carney Chainsaw Symphony

New album: The Spaghetti Stains || Essential Ingredients

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Last year, The Spaghetti Stains won a Level Up Grant from Triple J Unearthed. That money went into recording their self-released debut Essential Ingredients. The band members (Pantjiti, Emmah and Rose) grew up in GunaiKurnai Country (Gippsland), which (I Googled) is a gorgeous little region on the south-eastern coast of Australia. It’s easy to see a direct relation between that location and the sound of the band. Let’s call it surfy altrock, with straight up bangers alternating slower moody tracks. On their best tracks (No Wuckin’ Fay, Toast To The Coast, Caveman Diet), The Spaghetti Stains approach the level of acts like The Beths, Alex Lahey and Best Coast, and I have a sense The Spaghetti Stains are only going to get better. They have good taste as well, as illustrated in this entertaining 7 hour playlist of their musical influences on Spotify .



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Gimme 5! Spud Cannon Shares 5 Albums That Influenced Good Kids Make Bad Apples

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Uncategorized / 2 Comments

Spud Cannon photo by Juan C Quimper

With ‘Gimme 5!’ we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like share 5 records THEY love.

This week’s Gimme 5! is a full band effort by Spud Cannon from Poughkeepsie (NY), who will release their third album on June 25th on Good Eye Records. That record is called Good Kids Make Bad Apples and has quite the backstory. It was recorded in 2019, with the band close to calling it quits due to internal struggles.  At a late minute surprise show, the band serendipitously discovered the perfect location to record their third album: The Vassar College (NY) campus squash courts. And so they did, sneakily entering the courts after midnight, setting up their gear and recording their own wall of sound until 6 AM, before anyone could find out about their endeavours – check out the band’s Instagram for background footage of these late night shenanigans.

Fast forward two years, and we finally are able to hear the results. My early thoughts: 1) despite internal band struggles, this very much sounds like a team effort and like the band actually had a lot of fun recording these songs, 2) The squash court as a recording studio…actually  works? Good Kids Make Bad Apples sounds huge, and has a roomy feel to it. The band wanted to approach the sound and energy of their live shows. I haven’t seen the band live, but that raw energy and authenticity is definitely there. The record does not feel overproduced in any way, and yet it is very much a pop record. The band credits Chris Connors at Concrete Sound for his great work mixing and polishing the songs which were all recorded in one take as a full band. That is, the band allowed no editing, so they played a song until they were happy with the take and moved on to the next. Some songs took time. To the band’s estimate they had to play album standout Juno 70 (!) times before being satisfied with the result. And yet, despite the sleepless nights on the squash courts, none of these songs sound tiresome: Good Kids Make Bad Apples is high on energetic and celebratory indiepop’n’roll with plenty of bite. Get a taste of the record with early singles Supersonic and Juno. Pre-orders for the record are up now (on red apple red naturally) at Good Eye Records or on Bandcamp.  [continues below]

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New album: Harker || Axiom

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Upon listening to Axiom, I had to revisit Harker’s previous record No Discordance to check if I misremembered the band’s sound. But no, Axiom is quite the sonic leap from No Discordance. What I loved about No Discordance was its heartfelled nature and how the band made up what it may lack in originality (to be honest, a superfluous quality to judge punkrock by) with top notch songwriting and execution. Axiom is a different beast, with the band expanding their sound in every direction. It’s more rock-oriented, it’s more varied, more dynamic. It manifests a band full of ambition and willing to challenge themselves. What particularly stands out on Axiom is the vocals. Harker already had a great singer in Mark Boniface, but on the new record  the harmonies with the rest of the band are a thing to behold – listen to Sigh Of Crows. On Axiom, Harker swims upstream, not sure where it will take them, and I’m curious to see how this record will be received by fans of their previous work – if reluctant, they should at the very least enjoy Hellion,  Flex Yr Head and No Sun, three songs that in terms of that old school Harker sound are among the best they’ve recorded. I for one am rooting for the band to be rewarded for their effort. Axiom is out now through  Disconnect Disconnect Records (UK), Shield Recordings (Netherlands), Wiretap Records  (US) and Fixing A Hole Records (Japan).


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: Heavy Feather || Mountain of Sugar

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots / Leave a Comment

Which weighs more, a kilo of rocks or a kilo of feathers? Could that riddle have led to the band name Heavy Feather? One thing is for sure, this Swedish band plays heavy blues rock like it was common in the 70s and they do it very well. The band is cool and singer Lisa Lystam has a mighty voice. Their sophomore album Mountain of Sugar has eleven songs that will make you drive faster. Out now digitally, on CD and on vinyl LP through The Sign Records. Indeed, that’s the same label as Hot Breath‘s, about which I wrote similar words yesterday. But for Heavy Feather: more cowbell! And that’s something not to be taken too lightly.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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New album: Judge Grumble || Overruled!

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Judge Grumble are an indierock/indiepunk band from Richmond, Virginia. They recently released their second album, Overruled! It’s the second act in a trilogy of concept albums and it’s quite the trip. Buckle up for an eclectic mix of poppy indiepunk tracks (Shy Guy, Kudos To You), quirky indierock (Literati, Quiltbag), and sketches that are plain weird. I asked the band to explain the origins of their cartoonesque bandname and the spoken word sketches on their record. “Back in high school we had this joke where we would come up with random phrases and call them “indie band names.” I’m not 100% sure but I think Judge Grumble was one of those. Waaaay way back in the first iteration of the band (2012 or so?) the “character” of judge grumble became an inside joke. We’d do the whole voice and improv little skits during practices and stuff. Eventually we decided we wanted to bring some of those skits to life in between the tracks for fun (and also to pad the length).”

Given the variety of songs, and the quirkiness of the sketches and some of the songs, it’s unlikely that you will like every single track on Overruled! But, Judge Grumble have made an album that is definitely worth your time. I particularly like how the band aims to make every song interesting. Listen to the many elements they’ve stuffed in Chewed Out for example. Right before the 5-minute song appears to overstay its welcome, the band introduces a pretty cool group vocal harmony that transitions in a punkrock fade-out. Judge Grumble doesn’t need to be quirky or eclectic to be interesting though. The straightforward indie rock of Braindead is one of my favorite songs on the record. But the song that especially drew me in to Judge Grumble is Weehawken, a throwback to the emo poppunk of the early ’00s with an infectious chorus. The band explains: “On the surface, Weehawken is about a little town on the far north side of new jersey and the ennui of a guy who commutes between there and NYC. But none of us have ever lived in NY or NJ… we just really liked the name—it sounds slangy, like “are you hawkin’? cause we hawkin’.” Somehow Alex turned that wordplay into something more meaningful.” Download Overruled! now on Bandcamp.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Waste Man || One Day It’ll All Be You

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Punk / 2 Comments

I’ve never understood why moody postpunk bands like Protomartyr and Fontaines D.C. are such critics darlings and tend to end up in a lot of AOTY lists. Okay, Fontaines D.C. have some songs I like, but for the most part bands like that are too bleak or too boring for me. Basically, I have trouble connecting with them, which, of course, is a matter of personal taste – or more likely, a lack of complexity in my taste palet. But every now and then, there is a band that manages to pull off moody and complex postpunk in a way that I can fully get behind. Take Waste Man from New Orleans. On their second LP (One Day It’ll All Be You) they take punk and hardcore in new directions without losing any of the thrill of actual punk music.

Waste Man offer tempo variations, edgy bass lines and excellent guitar riffs. They constantly keep you on the tip of your toes with the unpredictability in their songs. It’s a record full of surprises that offers thrills, excitement, and cathartic releases that I often find to be lacking in this kind of music. Album opener The Siren is a good example of the many sides of Waste Man, where danceable postpunk verses and hardcore punk choruses bounce off each other. Run All Night is one of the most catchy songs on the record, which distantly sounds like a mashup between the Stooges and Thin Lizzy. Proofreaders, Singles, And Philosophers is one of the most exciting songs released in 2021, and already is one of my favorites of the year. And then there is album closer Wishful Thinking, in which Waste Man introduce the power rock ballad to the postpunk world. Quite the week for Feel It Records, who simultaneously released that excellent Spread Joy record.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Feel It Records

New EP: Dazy || The Crowded Mind

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

Early 2020, Dazy released a three song digital single called Revolving Door. It was my first taste of the band, and the 90 second song Weatherman Got It Wrong hinted upon your-new-favorite-band material. Three months later, we are treated to an 8-song EP that shows even more potential: The Crowded Mind. Dazy play noisy and fuzzy altpop that will appeal to fans of Lemonheads and guitar-driven britpop. Underneath Dazy’s distorted sound are excellent pop songs, and tracks like See The Bottom, Right As Rain and Perpetual Motion would have received major air time in the nineties.

The crazy thing is, Dazy is not even a band. It’s a solo project by a music publicist (James Goodson). Goodson is also a member of grungepunk band Teen Death and poppunk band Bashful – make sure to check out their 2020 album Driving. Dazy’s releases are currently digital only. Let’s hope that Goodson ultimately will release his best tunes on a LP.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Spit City || Long Dark Night

By / / Alternative Rock, Punk / 2 Comments

These ten songs on Spit City’s debut full-length are recorded in a trailer on the Rock, SMTX. That fact, together with the cover photo and album title Long Dark Night, immediately evokes all kinds of images. Picture it, songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Sean Rose, working on new music there, guitar on his lap, a six-pack Lone Star beer on the drum that functions as a side table, above which the ghost of his idol John Prine floats. Even before the pandemic broke out, Rose was dealing with the hardest years of his life. “Been sitting inside my house // Just counting the bricks // I’ve been building around me // All this time // To keep the whole world out,” he sings in the opening track. In this album, he breaks down that wall completely; the songs span from remorse over loves lost and friends gone, painful looks in the mirror, the manic energy of getting drunk alone, and wishing for what so many of us simply call “before.” Heavy stuff, but it has led to really good rock songs, which are sung and played with conviction.

Spit City – Sean Rose (vocals, guitar, drums), with additional guitar or bass playing from Jordan Good, Patrick Ford or Donnie James Rio – delivers an impressive punk-infused Americana debut that hits hard.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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