Glam Rock

The Loose Ends || February 2026

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, 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, and a link to add it to your shelves.

A Pile Fabric Primer || EP
This debut EP was released a couple of months ago. RIYL: a mix of Hüsker Dü, Leatherface, and early Goo Goo Dolls sounds like something you would be into. I am definitely putting this Norwich (UK) duo on my bands-to-watch list.

Michael Des Barres || Kiss or Kill Me b/w I Was Saved in ’64
Rock veteran Michael Des Barres released a glam rock-tinged 7″ single, Kiss or Kill Me, backed by the spoken word track I Was Saved in ’64, via Rum Bar Records, marking his latest return to raw, 70s-inspired rock ‘n’ roll.

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New album: Mod Lang || Borrowed Time

Mod Lang really sound this good

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Power Pop / Leave a Comment

Not sure if this applies to the rest of the world, but in the Netherlands we have this weird, worrisome trend: venues increasingly booking tribute bands. They explain the move as a necessity. Tribute bands sell out easily, but it feels like yet another regression, another step in the total enshittification of popular culture. Look, I don’t mean this as a dig. If you enjoy watching (often very skilled) musicians dress up and cosplay as your favorite bands of yesteryear, knock yourself out. But can I point out that brand new originals are among us? The kind of band that will leave you absolutely smitten, making you scratch your head over the fact they actually wrote these songs themselves, playing them with a fervor that makes you believe this is what it was like to experience your favorite bands at the height of their powers. Not the slightly overweight, scruffy version of that musical hero who passed away a while ago.

I’m talking about bands like Daniel Romano and The Lemon Twigs. See them live once and you’re sold for life. And with their debut LP Borrowed Time, even before catching them live, I’m adding Mod Lang to that list. This four-piece have been steadily conquering the US Midwest with their stellar mix of classic UK-US influences, and they make it sound effortless. I’ll second Patrick Donders’ excellent description on his recommended new blog Chiming Back: a bit of Raspberries and Big Star mixed with the songs John Lennon would write for the Beatles. Yeah, this sounds like something created in the ’70s at the latest. But here’s the thing: Mod Lang don’t sound like a tribute band at all. They’re not playacting or parodying their heroes. They’ve clearly got two rules and two rules only: write the best possible pop-rock ‘n’ roll songs and make them fun as hell for everyone involved.

None of these rules are broken on Borrowed Time. Not even close.

Out now on Just Add Water Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Just Add Water Records

New album: The Dahmers || Creature Feature

Hooks crawling out of the crypt

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

With a giant monster hand smashing through a busted TV and lightning cracking behind the logo, The Dahmers turn Creature Feature into a full-on B-movie fever dream before you even press play. Add song titles like Nightmare of ’78, Creeps From Outer Space, Teenage Caveman and Wake Up the Dead, and you are about to enter a late-night horror marathon soundtracked by cheap thrills.

A marathon may not be the best description of Creature Feature, though. Plenty of these songs feel more like a sprint, a burst of horror glam punk dripping in blob-like fluid or sticky with unidentifiable glue-like material. Jeepers creepers, this stuff is infectious.

More than ever, The Dahmers lean into theatrics and bombast without throwing away what they do best: writing insanely hooky rock-‘n’-roll tunes and playing them with a swagger you cannot teach. These Swedes, with their perverted minds, were born to play like this. We should all be grateful.

Creature Feature (produced by Johan Gustafsson and Christian Grahn of The Hives) is out now on LP via Eerie Sounds.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Kissa || I Hate Music

*does not believe these Fins hate music at all*

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Power Pop, Punk / 1 Comment

I Hate Music is Kissa’s third album. It is a bold title for a statement release. Of course, the title does not need a sarcasm emoji to reveal its cheekiness. Just press play and any doubt disappears. The band, fronted by Günter Kivioj, is absolutely smitten with catchy, punky pop rock-‘n’-roll.

Kissa brings the hits and then some. Those hyperactive hard rock kids in the back of the class who can’t stop drawing band logos and keep getting expelled for their shenanigans? Kissa is proof they turn out just fine. Listening front to back feels like a sugar rush that never loses its appeal. Zero nausea, zero hate, 100% pop hooks and smile. Damn, how I absolutely love I Hate Music. It is out now on Svart Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Svart

New album: Ozzie Hair || Madhouse

Slow burning rhythms and talk-sung tension

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Psych / Leave a Comment

Ozzie Hair is already a familiar name around here through his work in three bands that have landed on our wantlists and ultimately in our collection: The Prize, The States, and The Judges. So yes, when he steps out solo, we pay attention. Madhouse follows his 2025 Uninsured EP and arrives via Hot Sounds and Lulu’s Sonic Disco Club as his first full-length statement as Ozzie Hair.

Madhouse is an apt title for what unfolds. This is a clear departure from the three-minute power pop, rock and roll, and punk staples of his other projects. Across seven tracks (six if you leave out the 30-second intro) and roughly half an hour of music, Ozzie trades hooks and immediacy for atmosphere and tension. These are slow paced, suspenseful pieces built on repetitive rhythms and sharp edges, with Ozzie Hair delivering a hypnotic talk-sung vocal that pulls you deeper into the fog.

The reference points name checked by Hot Sounds Magazine (The Stooges, Simply Saucer, The Deviants, DMZ, Radio Birdman, and Bo Diddley) give a loose idea of the territory. Still, it feels less like blending those influences and more like stapling them together into something jagged and unpredictable. The result is dense, strange, and deliberately unsettling.

This is not a record for everyone. But for listeners craving something off-center and fully committed to its own weird logic, Madhouse is a fascinating and rewarding ride.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

The Loose Ends || January

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Punk / 1 Comment

NEW FEATURE! There are more wantlist-worthy releases than time to cover them all. 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, and a link to add it to your shelves.

Big Bruiser || 2 song Promo
New super poppy garage punk rock project featuring members of Teini-Pää, Axe Collector, Band Argument, Big Blue World, and GOLD.

Cassie || Change My Image
Insanely grateful to whoever made this collection available for streaming. These early ’80s studio recordings from Isle of Wight punky power pop band Cassie will send fans of The Shivvers, The Go-Go’s, and the Cichlids into a small frenzy.

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New EP: Videoflip || Videoflip II

Turbocharged punk ’n’ roll from France

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Videoflip II is the second self-titled EP from Videoflip, and it picks up right where their 2024 debut left off: loud, loose, and stupidly fun. That first EP made me an instant fan, and there’s no sophomore wobble here. Videoflip features members of Scaners, Beaten Brats, Claimed Choice, and Mogs, united by a shared love of early pub rock and Australian/UK punk.

The EP kicks off with Si Tu Savais, a wild French-language cover of Ted Mulry Gang’s You’ve Got It. It works so well it could pass for a Videoflip original—a turbocharged glam-stomp punk’n’roll ripper. The band arrived fully formed on their debut, and thankfully they haven’t lost an ounce of spark since. If this is how 2026 is starting, we’re in good hands.

Vinyl should be available soon via Dangerhouse Skylab.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Dangerhouse Skylab

New single: The Stones || Leaning on a Domino b/w (I’m a) Drama Queen

NYC rock-’n’-roll with its chest out

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock / Leave a Comment

Late last year, The Stones (New York, not the UK) pretty much knocked the house down with their debut single: throwback rock ’n’ roll played with maximum swagger. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long for a follow-up. Once again, it’s a two-song single, and once again it’s recorded live to tape.

The A-side, Leaning on a Domino, is a grooving, rock-and-rolling number built on cool guitar work and forward momentum—a song about a love that collapses if you breathe wrong, but you keep leaning into it anyway. On the flip, (I’m a) Drama Queen feels like a direct sequel to Rock ’n’ Roll Band. Where that song asked the rhetorical “Ain’t you glad that your man’s in a rock ’n’ roll band?”, this one proudly embraces being the loudest problem in the room (“I think you know just what I mean // That I’m the resident // President // Drama queen”).

So yes, in case it wasn’t clear: the ATW crew approves of The Stones. We think they’re pretty great. File this under: records we’d release ourselves if fear for expensive lawsuits weren’t a factor.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Single review: Seely-Jurgens Band || You Were You Still b/w Take Me There

Kyle Seely and Justin Jurgens make the old school feel current again

By / / Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Glam Rock / Leave a Comment

Surprise! While on Boxing Day most of us were battling Christmas leftovers and navigating family dynamics, Kyle Seely (Sheer Mag) and Justin Jurgens (Ingrates. Dust Star) quietly dropped a new single under their Seely-Jurgens Band banner. It’s the fourth two-song release from the project this year, and these two tracks might just add up to the most accessible—and most immediately enjoyable—nine minutes they’ve put out so far.

This is a band clearly on a mission to drag classic rock into the 2020s and make it feel vital again. You Were You Still leans gently toward country, but the core SJB magic is fully intact. Flip it over and Take Me There delivers a hook-stuffed rush tailor-made for late-night drives with the windows down. This one flat-out rocks.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Music Year-End List || Niek’s Favorite Singles and EPs of 2025

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / 2 Comments

EPs and singles are where bands tend to swing hardest — and 2025 was ridiculous in that department. I started with a longlist of well over 100 short-format releases, and cutting it down to 50 wasn’t easy, but it sure was fun. I was also happy to see some of my cuts pop up in Dennis’ list earlier this week.

Unlike my album list (as well as Dennis’ AOTY list), this one isn’t ranked but ordered alphabetically. To my ears, these releases prove that singles and EPs are no mere afterthoughts, throwaways, or warm-ups for full-lengths — they’re often the main event.

So here it is, our final year-end list: 50 EPs and singles that made 2025 louder, brighter, and better. Over the next two weeks we’ll be taking things a bit slower on the blog, before coming back fully recharged in 2026. Thanks for making this year worthwhile — happy holidays, take care!

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