Indie Pop

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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The Loose Ends || JanuaryRead More »

New album: Sonny Smith || Anthology of Unknown Music Volume 1

Sonny Smithbuilds worlds and then writes the soundtrack

By / / Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Psych, Uncategorized / Leave a Comment

Sonny Smith (of Sonny and the Sunsets) combines a wildly creative mind with a generous soul, consistently making the world a nicer, prettier, and more fun place with whatever he touches. His latest release is a particularly strange and wonderful one. Anthology of Unknown Music Volume 1 is presented as a collection of rare and obscure musical works by unknown artists such as Vondalee Cheauvrant a.k.a. Blood World, Rip Van Funky, Terius “Big Foot” Lingerfelt, Helen Slaymaker, Gus “Goins” Goings, and Big Leg Ida. Of course, these people exist only in the colorful, restless brain of Sonny Smith.

Don’t come to this record expecting the garage pop of Sonny and the Sunsets, nor a sequel to his 100 Records Vol. 3 LP (2013). Much of Anthology of Unknown Music Volume 1 is instrumental, unfolding as a wildly imaginative mix of world music from all corners of the globe. It’s kind of mind-blowing to realize this all comes from one person, but I suppose Sonny Smith simply contains multitudes.

Whether you’re looking for a soundtrack to a hyper-focused workday or background music for a lazy Sunday spent reading and drinking coffee, this record belongs near the top of the pile.

Out now on Rocks In Your Head Records. A companion zine is also available, featuring biographies and backstories of the supposed artists behind these songs, like the tale of Umar Mubarak, sometimes called “The Man With No Head,” “The Headless Singer,” or “Non-Cabeza” in Mexico, a Sudanese musician born in 1972 near the Nile River, who, famously, had no head. Believe it or not, it somehow all makes perfect sense here.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New reissue: R.E. Seraphin || Tiny Shapes/A Room Forever

An introspective retrospective with fresh resonance

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop, Power Pop / Leave a Comment

Having played in bands like Talkies, Impediments, Apache, and Lenz, Ray Seraphin debuted the R.E. Seraphin moniker in 2020, releasing an LP (Tiny Shapes) and an EP (A Room Forever). Both are now reissued together on a single LP via Take A Turn Records, and there is something about revisiting this material now that makes it feel like it arrives right on time.

In a world that feels increasingly chaotic, loud, and rough, where toughness and ego are rewarded and empathy is often treated with suspicion, Seraphin’s music turns inward. His singing is introverted, his songs full of nuance and texture rather than force. It may explain why a song like Today Will Be Kind hits even harder now than it did in 2020. The opening chiming guitars are wonderful, and hearing maybe today will be kind repeated so earnestly in the chorus feels almost like an act of generosity. It’s one of the many standouts on Tiny Shapes.

Seraphin’s version of paisley pop leans on subtlety. There’s soft crunch and fuzz throughout, lending the songs a rough, intimate charm that never gets in the way of the melodies. The amount of tasteful guitar work on this record is staggering. I remember playing Exploding Head to death back in 2020, and it still holds up as one of the more propulsive moments here (I believe it’s the best song Shoes never wrote), while Safe to Say taps into a deep well of ’70s power pop.

Including A Room Forever on the same LP makes this reissue feel especially complete. I don’t recall hearing most of these songs before, aside from Clock Without Hands, which was later rerecorded for Seraphin’s 2024 LP Fool’s Mate. Compared to Tiny Shapes, this EP feels like a tonal sidestep—lighter, dreamier, and perhaps more ’80s in spirit. Leave Me in the Tide breezes by like a lost classic, what a hit!

Revisiting these recordings feels like rediscovering an old friend and being grateful for the escape they offer. For a while, you can forget about the bad guys. And right now, that’s no small thing.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Rocket Rules || Dearden’s Number

Melodic shoegaze that favors feeling over fog

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

Dearden’s Number is the colorful debut full-length from Rocket Rules, the indie pop project by songwriter Baxter Barnham (responsible for all instruments and backing vocals) and Rachael Lam (lead vocals). The duo recorded the eight original songs in their home in South Yarra, Australia, apparently a fruitful environment for shoegaze fuzz and dream pop haze. Jangly guitars, layered electronics, shimmering vocals, and elegant melodies make for a captivating and hypnotic listening experience.



Dearden’s Number is out digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Shore Dive Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Shore Dive

New album: European Sun || When Britain Was Great

Anger delivered with care and curiosity

By / / Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

Steve Miles is back with European Sun’s sophomore full-length, titled When Britain Was Great, unconventional in every respect. For example, the amazing lead single School Report clocks in at over 17 minutes, too long to fit on the vinyl LP, and is therefore released as a separate CD, complete with a school report, in a manila envelope. That’s telling, but let’s talk about what really matters.

The English singer-songwriter creates contemporary songs with the kind of empathy and clarity that makes reactionary myth-making look small and faintly ridiculous, whether skewering flag-waving war fantasies or tracing the everyday anxiety of just getting through the day. Musically, it’s gloriously fitting: indie pop with a punk feel—handmade, warm, and occasionally ramshackle—where brass pops up, rhythms wobble, melodies stick. Always with that distinctive, poetic Sprechgesang in the lead, refusing both bluster and nostalgia (although: “I remember so clearly those old golden years // When football fans chanted their bigotry loud”—from the title track). Even at its angriest, the record feels gentle and stubbornly hopeful, thoughtful and necessary.



When Britain Was Great is out digitally and on vinyl LP (with a CD single featuring School Report) through Skep Wax. Also featuring Rob Pursey (bass), Ian Button (drums), and Elin Miles (additional vocals).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Skep Wax

New album: Blood At Ease || Blood At Ease

Portraits of change, collapse, and stubborn hope, set to open horizons

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

Blood At Ease is the folk rock project of singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Bailey Miller, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Following 2023’s The Holes That House The Seeds EP, the band arrives with a self-titled full-length album—the kind of release that you might put aside too quickly if you have it playing as background sound, but rewards you if you listen attentively.

From the nine protracted, narrative-rich songs emerges the image of an artist who is restless, searching, and fiercely self-aware. The lyrics return again and again to themes of transformation, labor, travel, and identity—how a person is shaped by the places they pass through, the systems they work within, and the expectations they internalize (one of my favorite lines here: “You buy the matches but fear they’ll burn // You house the knowledge but refuse to learn”—from Hard To Focus). By the time the closing title track unfolds, almost 17 minutes long, the record reveals its core tension: the desire to escape confinement, while still yearning to belong, to be seen, and to rest, even briefly, under someone else’s steady gaze.

Just as poetic as the wordplay, the music drifts through near-jazzy structures and a wealthy instrumental range (including sax and strings), to give real weight to the idea of ​​change.



Blood At Ease’s eponymous debut album—written, performed, and produced by Bailey Miller—is out now digitally (self released). Featuring Bailey Miller (vocals, guitars, lap steel, keyboards, harmonica), Brendon Infante (drums), Trey Marks (bass), Andy Allen (keyboards), Jeremy Ruggles (electric guitar), Ari Staiger (vocals), Grayson Barbone (saxophone), Angie Barr (violin), Haley Steinkamp (cello), and Doug Sneddon (mandolin).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Magon || Sun, Moon, Mushroom, Man

Another jangly collection that mixes narrative flair with melodic ease

By / / Indie Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Costa Rica-based singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Magon, who is slowly but surely finding more and more fans, is back with his umpteenth album, tellingly titled Sun, Moon, Mushroom, Man. As we’ve come to expect, we get slightly psychedelic indie pop with a laid-back vibe and catchy hooks, in eight new songs carried by jangly guitars and charming vocals. For me, Santa Ana Blues (Nothing Is Revealed) stands out, thanks to the Sprechgesang storytelling and uplifting woo-hoos, captured in a sun-kissed sound.



Sun, Moon, Mushroom, Man—written, composed, performed, and produced by Magon—is out now digitally via T.Rex Recordings.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Teini-Pää || Uusi vuosi

One of Europe's most hypeworthy acts moves further into pop territory on third album

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

For what it’s worth, I’d argue that Teini-Pää have been one of the most hypeworthy indie pop bands of the past five years. And no, I’m not talking about the underground jangle-pop corner we often write about—the Skep Wax / Slumberland / Sarah Records axis. I mean polished, big-room indie pop, the kind of leap-into-the-limelight territory occupied by bands like Alvvays. I once described Teini-Pää as mixing elements of Alvvays, The Go-Go’s, and ABBA, and I still stand by that take. But their new album Uusi vuosi is decidedly more pop-forward, a little less angsty and pop-punky, with more room for moody, reflective tunes.

I’m still partial to the faster stuff (here: Oisin halunnut kertoo siitä sulle and Meduusa in particular), but I have to admit I’m increasingly drawn to the other side the band shows on Uusi vuosi. The mid-album pairing of Valssi #1 and Miksei se voi pysähtyä is genuinely gorgeous, and it sets up one of the record’s standout moments, Enkelten kaupungissa, perfectly. This is a band in motion, clearly growing, but with a strong sense of direction and control over where they want to go.

“Pop music by punks” remains Teini-Pää’s raison d’être — and that vision now also includes stepping away from Spotify (something we’ll be doing as well in the coming months). As long as they keep doing exactly this, we’ll keep following. Buy the LP at Soit Se Silti.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: Chris Canipe || Monuments

A quiet insistence on courage, patience, and personal integrity

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

Monuments is the third full-length album by Kansas City-based singer-songwriter Chris Canipe, one that wonderfully provides much-needed motivation to deal with current developments.

The ten songs wrestle with the ongoing moment of political unrest, social fragmentation, and environmental unease, capturing the feeling of living through systems that feel strained but not yet broken. The lyrics repeatedly return to the idea that resistance is often ordinary and relational, found in love, community, small daily rituals, and the slow work of showing up rather than grand gestures. We shouldn’t see hope as a denial of hardship, but as a deliberate act: choosing kindness, honesty, and human connection while time keeps moving and the ground keeps shifting.

The message is as beautiful as the melancholic melodies and profound vocals that amplify it, dark and light at the same time, worrisome yet comforting: “Hey hey, hey hey // It’s okay if you’re not okay.” Intimate reflections, moral clarity, emotional honesty, big advice—you feel it in every word, in every note.




Monuments is out now digitally and on CD (self-released). It’s unbelievable how the record turned out when you consider that the tracks were largely recorded at home, with a simple set-up, and a stolen laptop made the initial versions disappear. Also featuring Joe Schaefer (drums), Lou Nevins (bass ), John Galbraith (guitar ), Andrew Weir (organ), Jared Smith (trombone), Greg Aker (sax), Chris Farris (trumpet), and Benjamin Hook (drums) on select tracks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Tom Lawns || Peace Out, Robot Wingman

Lo-fi alt pop, straight from the couch into your heart

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

Tom Lawns is the kind of artist who’s hard to find, but once he’s on your radar, you’ll follow him anywhere. I completely missed the three EPs he released over the past 15 months (available on one convenient CD), but his debut full-length arrived this Friday, and if you ever want to argue that some of the most interesting pop music is still being made in bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms on the most rudimentary gear, Peace Out, Robot Wingman is Exhibit A.

Billed as a “couch symphony,” the record tips its hat to Ace Frehley in title and artwork, but any sonic resemblance to KISS mostly stops there. There’s no bombast or theatrics, just gorgeous songs wrapped in a delightfully unpolished haze of hiss and noise. This isn’t about rock ’n’ roll every night and every day; it’s more a happily-stuck-on-the-couch-with-a-guitar kind of record. And somehow, the melodies shine through no matter what.

Take Heavy Ghost, a song that sounds like it wandered out of the Lemonheads’ better timeline, or Metal Girl, a standout infused with rock ’n’ roll romanticism that makes it feel like the universe is quietly rewarding you for reasons unknown. And those are just two highlights—this record is full of moments that sneak up on you and refuse to let go. Find this release (and many other worthwhile ones!) on Lawns’ own Terminal Releases label.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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