Country & Folk

New album: Worms In Dirt || I Almost Touched a Fish

Seattle's Worms in Dirt play the right kind of folksy indie punk on second album

By / / Country & Folk, Punk / Leave a Comment

I’m usually a firm believer that folk and punk should leave each other well alone. Every now and then, though, a band chips away at that conviction. Pigeon Pit did. Seattle queer indie punks Worms In Dirt do too. The band first popped onto our radar in 2024, and this week they returned with their second album.

I Almost Touched a Fish races through ten songs in twenty plus minutes, hopping between indie folk punk, indie pop, and a handful of acoustic moments where the fiddle gets plenty of room to shine. It’s folk by implication, functioning like an undercurrent that quietly shapes the mood. Worms In Dirt have far more in common with a band like Radiator Hospital than Flogging Molly. And on a personal note, thank heaven for that.

This is a charming record that wins you over one song at a time. Completely DIY, completely unpretentious, and all the better for it.

Out now on CD and CS at CorpoRAT Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || CorpoRAT

New album: Twisted Teens || Florida Water Blues

The underground's most spellbinding band keeps rolling with their second of the year

By / / Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Back in 2024, the first Twisted Teens record didn’t feel like a debut. It felt like stumbling across a dusty tape that had somehow been waiting for decades to be discovered. Since then, the project has gone from mysterious cult favorite to a genuine underground force, with Blame The Clown proving earlier this year that the magic was no accident.

Then came another surprise: Florida Water Blues, announced and released with almost no warning. And after spending time with it, I suspect Blame The Clown was less the destination and more a scenic detour. This new record feels like the album Twisted Teens had been building toward all along.

Where Blame The Clown embraced looseness, odd turns, and a box-of-gems unpredictability, Florida Water Blues is tighter, more focused, and loaded with songs that seem engineered to lodge themselves in your brain. The tempos stay lively, the hooks arrive fast, and the lyrics continue to sound like they were pulled from some half-remembered piece of Southern folklore. “You can drink that Florida Water and go blind” is exactly the kind of line only Twisted Teens could make sound both ominous and ridiculously catchy.

Cas P. Ian remains one of the most distinctive vocalists operating anywhere near the underground, while RJ Santos threads pedal steel and slide guitar through these songs with the confidence of someone who knows precisely when to add beauty, when to add sadness and when to add danger.

Most importantly, Florida Water Blues captures the thing that made me obsessed with Twisted Teens in the first place. They take folk, blues, punk, garage rock, country, and old-time music and turn it into something that feels both ancient and brand new. The debut was a revelation. Blame The Clown was a reputation builder. Florida Water Blues sounds like a band realizing just how big this strange, sweaty, spellbinding thing they’ve created can become.

And apparently the madness isn’t slowing down. Another Twisted Teens record is already on the way in a couple of months. I learned that, and a lot more, from a fantastic Paste Magazine feature on Cas P. Ian and RJ Santos. The impressive thing is that the article doesn’t demystify the band at all. If anything, it makes the whole Twisted Teens universe even more fascinating.

Florida Water Blues is out now on Going Underground Records


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Going Underground

New album: American Aquarium || New Ways To Lose

"A reminder that you are not the only one out there in the dark"

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk / Leave a Comment

Twenty years into their quite prolific career, we know what Raleigh, North Carolina’s American Aquarium has to offer: it’s always solid, always heartfelt. Their latest album, New Ways to Lose, delivers clear-eyed reflections on small-town decline, personal responsibility, and the resilience needed to keep moving forward. The ten new tracks capture the band’s live energy (go see them when they’re in your area again), while adding subtle touches of harmony and horns that broaden their heartland rock sound without diluting its grit, in several ways Springsteen-esque at times.

The honest songwriting and ragged vocals of the sympathetic frontman BJ Barham remain the focal point, pairing vibrant confessionals with vivid snapshots of contemporary America that feel deeply personal yet widely relatable. It gives rise to goosebumps at several moments, such as in Out There In The Dark (“I think everyone of us was born an artist // A painter, a poet with a pen // Some run out of time, never learned to make it rhyme // And some of us refuse to give in”), and even more so in Just Like You (“Her little fingers trace the divots, of her last name carved in stone // When I see her, I see the women that taught me everything they knew”)—a sequel to 2022’s The First Year (anyone who has heard the introduction to that song live will never forget it).

Inspired by the idea that we’re all searching for new ways to lose, this record finds hope in perseverance rather than victory. It’s another powerful chapter from a band that continues to turn hard truths into communal, fist-raising anthems.



New Ways To Lose—produced by Shooter Jennings—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Losing Side Records/Thirty Tigers.

Add to wantlist: American Aquarium || Bandcamp || Discogs

Dusted || The Best New Cover Songs Of June 2026

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, e.g. as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range (only if supported by the artist, so no live videos filmed by the audience or anything like that), here are—in a kind of random order—a bunch of successful covers from last month.

50 Ft (PJ Harvey) by The Bobby Lees — from New Self LP (Epitaph)

Foggy Notion (The Velvet Underground) by Bob Bert — from Beach Bongo Bloodbath (Bar/None Records)

Hotel California (Eagles) by Bandit Voyage — from Daddy Core EP

…

Dusted || The Best New Cover Songs Of June 2026Read More »

The Loose Ends || June 2026

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / Leave a Comment

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 (40+ this month!), and a link to add it to your shelves.

Annual Leaf || Sign of the Bellbird
In April’s Loose Ends, we’ve put the spotlight on the most recent EP from these Melbourne indie pop janglers and slackers. This new CD compiles that EP and songs from 5 other releases of the past 5 years. Turns out Annual Leaf have been great for a while!

Baby Jane || Surfing To Hell
This Barcelona “kebab punk” riot grrrl quartet looks like trouble and sounds even better. Fast, loud, and gloriously unruly.

…

The Loose Ends || June 2026Read More »

New album: Todd Adelman and the Woodsmen || Todd Adelman and the Woodsmen

Ten unhurried songs built on craft, groove, and honest storytelling

By / / Country & Folk / Leave a Comment

Recorded with the kind of easy chemistry that only comes from seasoned players, these ten tracks drift comfortably between country-rock, Americana, and mini-bar blues without sounding nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake. Todd Adelman (vocals, guitar), Danny Blume (guitar), Jeff Hill (bass), and John Valesio (drums) know exactly when to push and when to hold back, where necessary adding a playful twist to their back-to-basics approach.

There is plenty to enjoy in the lyrics (the Slippery When Wet and Too Hot to Handle tattoo references in Hot As The Hinges—the most exuberant track on the record—had me instantly), but that’s just one piece of the puzzle. From the songwriting to the performance, everything clicks into place. These guys aren’t trying to reinvent the decades-old genre; they simply remind you how satisfying well-crafted songs, strong performances, unhurried vocals, and classic storytelling still can be, because they do it damn well.

Todd Adelman and the Woodsmen’s self-titled album is streaming via Vfib Recordings.

New album: Swanderer || Ballet Arcane

Intimate songs wrapped in a rich and cinematic soundscape

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

Imagination and melancholy. That’s what Seattle-based indie outfit Swanderer delivers on their captivating debut album Ballet Arcane. Using whispering synthesizers, graceful guitar lines, and understated arrangements, the project of singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Casey Rosebridge moves between ethereal indie rock, psychedelic folk, and lush sixties-inspired art-pop. These eleven tracks are both expansive and intimate, with a dreamlike atmosphere and poetic wordplay firmly at the heart of every composition.

The lyrics revolve around desire as a destabilizing force, something that distorts identity, time and reality, turning long into a hallucinatory space of uncertainty and transformation. At the same time, there is a persistent tension between detachment and surrender, as the characters oscillate between wanting to disappear into roles, images, and fantasies, and the need to reconnect with something raw, embodied, and genuine: “Give me something real // Someone has to want me in a way that I will feel” (from standout track Shoot the Clown).

The music is full of subtle details such as birdsong, xylophone accents, and textured sound effects, adding depth without overshadowing the performances. Still, I think the listener can’t quite fully grasp it (the classical-tinged instrumental opening track Faerie Lantern Passage and the interlude Clown Shoes, Never Worn reinforce that sentiment). This is is a richly layered, elegant, and immersive listening experience that intrigues on a subconscious level, with more than enough room for personal interpretation.



Ballet Arcane—composed and produced by Casey Rosebridge—is out digitally and on vinyl LP through Ghost Mountain Records. Featuring Casey Rosebridge (vocals, guitar), Nick Myette (bass), Quinton Harris (keys), Andy Sells (drums, backup vocals), Carolyn B. (violin, backup vocals), Andrew Grandahl (cello), Jake McCaffray (additional guitar, backup vocals), Ryan Looman (additional guitar), and G. Kellen Grace (additional synthesizer, backup vocals).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Ghost Mountain

New album: TS Foss || Cloud Envy

The quieter side of Tyler Fassnacht (Baby Tyler, The Hussy, Proud Parents) is just as compelling

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

One should never diagnose someone from afar, but listening to the musical projects of Madison, Wisconsin’s Tyler Fassnacht does make you wonder about the split personality at work. His most recent Baby Tyler album was wild, feral, and gloriously unhinged, with Fassnacht sounding like he was jabbing a finger in your chest and spitting in your face.

Cloud Envy, the first TS Foss record in three years, reveals a very different side of the songwriter. Garage punk this is not. Country, outsider folk, and DIY heartland rock feel like more appropriate descriptions. Listen to Say It Out Loud, Horseshoes, and Broken ATM for the former; Pilots & Bagboys and Out of Reach for the latter, two of the album’s standout tracks.

These songs carry the kind of honesty and lack of polish that make them feel road-tested and pulled straight from real life.You can almost picture them being recorded straight to tape in the back room of some Wisconsin bar after closing time.

Even in this quieter setting, Fassnacht’s songwriting remains instantly recognizable. The same restless creativity that powers Baby Tyler is at work here, only channeled into something more reflective and weathered. Supported by C. Nelson-Lifson on bass, Emili Earhart on piano, Marley van Raalte and Jacob Wolbert on drums, and Peter Briggs on pedal steel, Fassnacht and company have brewed up something special.

Tape available now on NightBell Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Jeb Loy Nichols || You Know Where I Live

Thoughtful, beautifully crafted songs from a singular voice

By / / Country & Folk, Funk & Soul / Leave a Comment

On You Know Where I Live, US-raised/UK-based singer-songwriter Jeb Loy Nichols delivers one of the finest albums of his extensive career. Written from the perspective of life on his remote Welsh smallholding, these ten new country soul songs are intimate, reflective and deeply rooted in place, finding elegance in cold rain, records that he used to dance to, wooded hills, and everyday relationships.

Recorded with longtime collaborator Clovis Phillips, the record glows with a warm, unhurried sound inspired by early 1970s folk rock. Yet this is a unique release, thanks to that familiar, soothing voice—always reassuring and gratifying, even when the lyrics are limited to “Oh-la-la-la” as in the title track—which comes into its own particularly well over the thoughtful, soulful, and beautifully crafted arrangements.

It makes for the perfect soundtrack for a lazy summer day, but I bet it works just as well in the autumn.




You Know Where I Live—produced by Clovis Phillips—is out digitally and on vinyl LP. Featuring Jeb Loy Nichols (vocals, flute, guitar) and Clovis Phillips (guitars, bass, double bass, piano, keyboards, backing vocals, drums), with James Welch (organ) and Jack Gonsalez (piano) on select tracks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Zoh Amba || Eyes Full

Rough-cut guitar songs as vessels for healing and transcendence

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

With Eyes Full, versatile musician Zoh Amba steps away from the avant-garde saxophone world that first made their name and returns home, to Kingsport, Tennessee, and to their first instrument, the guitar. Recorded live with guitarist Kevin Hyland and drummer Jim White, the album blends ragged acoustic blues, Appalachian folk, and bursts of scorched alt-rock into something intriguingly idiosyncratic, deeply personal, and spiritually charged.

The thirteen songs are as pure as can be, delivered with fire and carried by raw and unguarded vocals declaiming stories of working-class lives, redemption, and hard-earned grace. A rough-cut instrumental backdrop lends them an even greater sense of urgency and vulnerability. Eyes Full is a fearless, heart-on-sleeve record that finds beauty, dignity, and mercy in overlooked places.



Eyes Full is out digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Matador Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Matador

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