Garage Rock

New EP: Saint Shivers || III

Garage punk meets Americana soul

Saint Shivers is a versatile garage rock trio from Long Beach, California, featuring Kelsey Landazuri (guitar, vocals), Albert Rodriguez (bass) and Grant Contreras (drums, vocals). On III, their third six-track EP in five years, you’ll hear an original and exciting fusion of folk heart and punk heat, varying in tempo and intensity. Listen to catchy opening tune Sweet Misfortune and warm ballad Marie, the two standout songs here, and you hear two extremes that both hit the mark.

The appealing lyrics orbit around emotional unraveling, lost love, a need for meaning, change and displacement, with a tension between vulnerability and defiance—often told through surreal, poetic imagery: “I got the devil on my shoulder // I feel this world is growing older // You say these thoughts are going nowhere // I say they’ll last a lifetime.” Add distorted riffs, bluesy basslines, hazy vocals, and a dose of 70s swagger, and you’ll understand that this is right up our alley.


The III EP, produced by Cooper Nash, is out now digitally through Selenite Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Dusted || The 10 Best New Cover Songs Of May 2025

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg 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, here are – in random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

Hey Sah-Lo-Ney || Cover: The Chelsea Curve || Original: Mickey Lee Lane
Three years have flown by since The Chelsea Curve released their debut LP All The Things. The Boston mod pop trio promises new music soon, with a limited edition 7″ single on Rum Bar Records as a warm-up. The A-side is an Andy Lewis remix of Jamie C’Mon (the opening track from said album), but here we’re shining the spotlight on its flip—a searing rework of Mickey Lee Lane’s 1965 freakbeat nugget Hey Sah-Lo-Ney. It doesn’t get much cooler than this.

Gimme 5! Sensational New French Power Pop Outfit Lùlù Share Five Influences For Their Debut LP (out June 6th)

With ‘Gimme 5!’ we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like share five records THEY love. Photo (c): Non deux non 

One week from today, Lùlù will release their debut album via Howlin’ Banana Records (France), Dangerhouse (France), and Taken By Surprise (Germany). It’s one of those records I genuinely can’t wait for you to hear. With members of Irnini Mons, Pogy et les Kéfars, AVIONS and more, Lùlù deliver the kind of upbeat, catchy, and energetic guitar pop (sung in both French and Italian) we absolutely live for at this site. Just listen to the teaser singles—this is the good stuff.

To build the excitement for June 6 just a little more, we asked Lùlù to share some of the records that inspired their sound. The band’s primary songwriter Luc Simone was quick to respond—and no surprise, Lùlù’s taste in music is top shelf and right up our alley. So dive into the musical world of Lùlù, and don’t forget to pre-save and pre-order the debut LP! …

New EP: Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice || Blue

Candy-coated chaos and memorable melodies

Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice, the prolific post-punk project of Dr Sure aka Dougal Shaw (from Melbourne, Australia), released the Blue tape last week, and I can’t get enough of it. The EP contains four songs that were recorded—solo—on a hard drive in a creative week in December 2024, but are far too good to stay there.

A lot happens in less than ten minutes—a raw but addictive mix of noisy garage rock and catchy power pop, carried by playful energy and spontaneous feels. Sound-wise it’s a lo-fi love letter to pink bubblegum chiseled in dark gray grit, but the theme is clearly in a different color (“Everywhere I look blue // Everywhere I’ve been blue”). Strange but true, unpolished but infectious.

Blue—written/recorded/mixed by Dougal Shaw, mastered by Mikey Young—can’t be listened to via streaming services, but is available digitally and on cassette through Marthouse Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Reckless Randy || Reckless Randy 2

Eight scrappy lo-fi punk tunes with wheels still spinning

New Jersey skateboarding rock’n’roller Reckless Randy is back with Reckless Randy 2, an 8-track mini-album out now in a limited run of pink or black vinyl.

“Danger is my middle name,” he sings on the standout Barrier Breaker. It sounds half-joking, half-truth—which kind of sums up his whole vibe. There’s definitely a wild streak running through these lo-fi, punky garage hits, but they come with a wink and a grin too. It’s raw, catchy, and rough around the edges in all the right ways.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Grogans || Stagger

Thriving on contrast and creativity

Stagger is the fifth record from Melbourne rock trio The Grogans, following 2023’s Find Me A Cloud LP. Quin Grunden (vocals, guitar, bass, keys), Angus Vasic (vocals, guitar, pedal steel) and Jordan Lewis (vocals, drums, percussion) deliver eleven quite varied songs, so we can say that their aim to create “a jagged and stylistically different album track to track” has been successful. They explore different corners of the alternative rock spectrum, with forceful vocals and groovy guitars as a common denominator, always dynamic and melodic. The musicians slow down where necessary, but compensate with hooks and warmth, such as In My Heart that surprises with carefree whistling—it suits them well.



Stagger is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Cousin Will Records.

Add to wantlist: 24Hundred || Bandcamp || Sound Merch 

New album: EYE BALL || Gull Songs

Garage punk that squawks, snaps, and soars

Ever since I first heard what Jesse and Sophie were cooking up as EYE BALL, I’ve been waiting for this moment. And now that Gull Songs has landed—available on tape via Noise Merchant (UK) and Knuckles On Stun (USA)—I’ve had the pleasure of spinning it four times in the past hour (yes, it’s that short), and it’s everything I hoped for. Actually, more. I expected a compilation of the earlier EP and singles, but L.I.S.T.E.N. is the only familiar track—everything else is brand new and fresh as Daisies.

The eleven fresh cuts are mostly scrappy, snappy garage pop punk blasts like I Want a Pistol, If She Were Me, and Gum Song. EYE BALL keep things short and lo-fi, like they’re respecting your time—or making a quick getaway before the cops show up. It’s immediate, hooky, and done before you know it. But EYE BALL also show a new side with the alt pop leaning Daisies and  the furious hardcore of Gull Song.

There’s another twist: alongside the punk thrills, the band is out to redeem one of the world’s most misunderstood creatures—the gull. The tape comes with fun facts, reading tips, and a full-on charm offensive for these noisy, aggressive, and widely despised birds. Turns out Gull Songs isn’t just a banger—it’s a bird-positive manifesto.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: SEXFACES || Bad Vibes OST

Sexfaces arrive loud, loose, and ready to cause damage

It’s been a busy week for Slovenly Recordings. Hot on the heels of that stellar Psychic Pigs release comes the debut LP from DC outfit SEXFACES—who sound exactly how you’d expect given their name. And like the title Bad Vibes OST implies, both band and label seem to know we’re in desperate need of chaos and noise in bite-sized blasts.

SEXFACES crash into the scene with a snarling debut full of jagged riffs, scorched-earth lyrics, and glorious racket. This is a band that skips the pleasantries, grabs you by the collar, and screams in your face.

Featuring members of DC underground staples like Des Demonas, Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb, and Tadzio, the band tears through 11 tracks that veer between no wave chaos and garage punk snarl, laced with dark humor and righteous fury. And while the sound is unmistakably old school, Bad Vibes OST feels razor-tuned to the now. Check out Can’t Do That for example, a song that sets the tone with a feminist punch. Or Special/Lame, a two-part takedown of self-importance: first mocking delusions of grandeur (“You think you’re special, so special”), then flipping You’re So Vain into a bitter kiss-off.

SEXFACES hold up a mirror to society and scream at the reflection. Don’t like what you see? That’s your problem.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: De Keefmen || Different Worlds

Another Nederbeat classic, after a decade of absence

Dutch garage rock trio De Keefmen make a more than welcome return. The band has been around for over fifteen years, and its members—Henri Sulmann (vocals, guitars), Peter Kroes (bass, keys, backing vocals) and Arjan Spies (drums, percussion)—are also active in several other bands, so you will understand that their latest full-length album is not only energetic catchiness but also solid craftsmanship.

Different Worlds continues where 2014’s Reflection Of Mind left off, which means that these twelve original songs offer vibrant vocals, confident riffs and groovy rhythms—raw and fuzzy but also charming and soulful—varied in tempo and relatable in lyrics. Today the repeat button is mostly needed for the wise life lessons of Greener On The Otherside and the infectious harmonies of That’s Right, but there are hits for the other days too.




Different Worlds, written by Henri Sulmann and produced by Arjan Spies, is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Soundflat Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Soundflat

New album: Psychic Pigs || Psychic Pigs

A bratty and snotty detour from Crocodiles' Brandon Welchez

Brandon Welchez has a serious knack for melody—as anyone familiar with his work in Crocodiles can tell you. But damn it, the man’s got punk fire in him too. Under the Psychic Pigs moniker, he just dropped a barn burner on Slovenly Recordings.

The self-titled album veers a few miles off the garage pop road paved by Crocodiles’ most recent (and highly recommended) Upside Down in Heaven. These are ten songs that Welchez cranked out in just a couple of days, with Jonah Falco (of Fucked Up) behind the drums and manning the recording desk. The result is fast, raw, and dangerously catchy punk—full of bite, sweat, and sticky hooks.

The high-octane opening duo of The Law Means Nothing To Us and Stranded In Bullshit City channels classic ’70s punk energy: snotty, bratty, and surging with the thrill of discovering something new that’s right up your alley. Tracks like Hello Oblivion and the title cut bring in a more pop-punk vibe—still rough-edged, but closer to the hooky garage pop of Crocodiles.

You’re going to want to turn the volume way up for this one. Psychic Pigs is out now on Slovenly Recordings.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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