Indie Pop

New album: Spring Onion || Seated Figure

Catherine Dwyer honors her late father (and his love for Costco)

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It’s not often that new music is introduced with an essay, but you should really read Costco is a Holy Place before listening to Spring Onion’s Seated Figure. It gives more meaning to lines like the one from opening track Anger Acceptance: “Where did you go? // I do not know // Are you an angel or an // Icecube melting slow?”

We’re talking about the lo-fi recording project of Philadelphia-based musician Catherine Dwyer, who we know from favorite bands such as Remember Sports and 2nd Grade. She spent six years working on these eleven folky indie pop songs, personal stories set to wobbly music—a compliment in our world—that is somewhat reminiscent of The Vaselines, Beat Happening, and The Clean. It is truly remarkable: this record paints a fascinating portrait, intimate and characterful, that opens up more with every listen.



Seated Figure—written, performed, recorded, and mixed by Catherine Dwyer—is out now digitally, on cassette and vinyl LP, through Anything Bagel. Also featuring Michael Cormier-O’Leary (drums), Julian Fader (drums ), Peter Gill (vocals, pedal steel), Lucas Knapp (synths, piano), Francis Lyons (drums, keys, guitar, sampler), Carmen Perry (vocals, drums), Jon Samuels (guitar, vocals), Santi Slade (mellotron), Jack Washburn (guitar), and Dan Wriggins (vocals) on select tracks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Loft || Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same

Debut LP that delivers on promise, forty years after 'Up The Hill & Down The Slope' EP

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

Mid-80s, British indie pop band The Loft seemed to have a bright future ahead of them—their singles on Creation Records have proven to be quite influential—but splitting up during a gig at the Hammersmith Palais put an abrupt end to a career that had only just begun. And now they’re back!? Forty years older and wiser, the original line up of Pete Astor (vocals, guitar), Andy Strickland (guitar), Bill Prince (bass) and Dave Morgan (drums) has released their full-length debut album after all (the backstory is captured in a short documentary).

The collection of ten brand new songs, aptly titled Everything Changes, Everything Stays The Same, is everything you could hope for. That is: perfect jangle pop tunes with appealing lyrics, tasteful guitar melodies, classy hooks and magnetic vocals, shimmering and irresistible.



Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same—produced by Sean Read—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Tapete Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: Heat Manager || Relaxed American

Nostaligic narratives on Coachella '11, the studio of Elvis' Suspicious Minds, a ‘99 Camry, and much more

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

‘New York Choogle’ trio Heat Manager is the latest project of Jake Rabinbach (guitar), Jake Vest (bass) and Greg Faison (drums), known from bands such as High Time, the Echo Friendly and Tiger High. Their debut full-length Relaxed American is on heavy rotation at Add To Wantlist HQ these days, charming and clever as it is. Moving freely on the playing field between the corner flags of pop, rock, folk and country, they created nine original songs—all hitting the mark—full of laid-back melodies and pop cultural references.

Opening track Palm Springs—almost 7 minutes long; the record closes with a shorter single version—stands out: “Sick and alone backstage at Coachella // Tried to hangout with Best Coast and Cults // Oh well I’ll just look at my phone while I wait for Kanye to play.” It is an appealing reflection by Jake Rabinbach on playing Coachella with Francis and the Lights in 2011, broke and broken. “I saw Neko Case looking for an exit carrying her heels // I was looking for a way out too // I remember thinking ‘I know just how Neko feels’ // And wishing to god that I was back in New York with you.”

It sets the tone for the relatable memories that follow, captured in an effectively orchestrated loose sound with enthralling vocals, stories that I can vividly imagine as the spring sun disappears behind the horizon.



Relaxed American, recorded by Jake Vest, is out now digitally through American Grapefruit. Also featuring Shannon Esper (vocals), Toby Vest (organ) and Miles Robinson (keyboard, acoustic guitar, vocals).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Lone Striker || Lone Striker

Tom Brown strikes again, this time in unanticipated ways

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

That Tom Brown fella sure knows how to keep things interesting, huh? Between Rural France and Teenage Tom Petties, he’s already got his hands full with two underground darlings. And now, here comes another project—Lone Striker—straight from his bedroom. They say that’s where the magic happens, though in Tom Brown’s case, I suspect it involves more cables and coffee than candles and cuddles.

But let’s stay on topic. Lone Striker is more than just another home-recorded project; it’s a major departure from Brown’s usual sound, even when several of the songs are easily reimagined as TTP songs. Brown spent five years shaping this record, driven by his love for warped Americana acts like Silver Jews and Sparklehorse. Not only did he take his time, but he also threw in all sorts of oddball instruments, loops, and samples, resulting in an album that’s both intimate and unpredictable.

Lone Striker is the kind of record that sneaks up on you, the perfect soundtrack for a productive workday or a long drive to nowhere in particular. It drifts in and out of focus, sometimes hazy and dreamlike, other times hitting with laser precision. The laid-back drum loops pulse like a heartbeat, guiding your breathing without you even noticing. And then there are the surprises—because this album is full of them.

The late-summer melancholy of Dunno will have your BBQ guests asking for the artist and song. Funny Way of Showing It sounds like a lost ’60s pop hit, stripped-down and lo-fi but irresistibly catchy. Cursed Like Roy cranks up the Phil Spector vibes, while Never Blown a Kiss starts so unexpectedly I had to check whether I was still listening to the same album. And that chorus hook? Absolutely massive.

As a fan of Rural France and Teenage Tom Petties, I figured I’d enjoy this. But even so, Lone Striker caught me off guard in the best way possible. Out now on Safe Suburban Home, Repeating Cloud, and Hidden Bay Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (SSH & RC) || Hidden Bay

New EP: The Medium || Sports!

Feel The Dream FTW

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

Nashville indie rock quartet The Medium released their third album last year, entitled City Life (about city life as a call for a better world), which they now follow up with the Sports! EP (about playing team sports, a musical exploration of American boyhood). Opening track Feel The Dream has everything to become a huge hit, from killer hooks and an earworm melody to distinctive vocals and an exciting match report. The other three songs here are also worthy, with lyrics that encourage to think about what this universal theme actually means for people, but this release scores even higher musically—proggy power pop in which a lot happens, like in a good game.



Sports! is out now digitally via Earth Libraries. Featuring Shane Perry (vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, synthesizer), Sam Silva (vocals, bass, electric guitar, didgeridoo) and Jared Hicks (drums), with Tommy Creighton (trumpet) and Peter Brooks (drums) on select tracks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Pale Lights || Pale Lights

If this is goodbye, Pale Lights sign off with grace

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

That first song on the new Pale Lights album (or, at eight songs, mini-album) feels instantly familiar—it’s a rerecorded version of You & I, one of the band’s finest tracks. Its inclusion almost seems unnecessary, as if we need a reminder of what makes Pale Lights so special. But still, what a class track!

Of the remaining seven songs, five are brand new, and they reinforce that Pale Lights remain masters of indie guitar pop and jangle. With whispers that this may be the band’s final album (with other projects like Love, Burns fighting for priority), the whole thing carries a bittersweet air—but then again, a touch of melancholy has always lingered in Phil Sutton & co.’s melodies.

If this truly is the last we hear from Pale Lights, they’re going out on a high, especially with songs like Girl on a Bridge, Paper Wagons, and the stunning Changing the World.

Pale Lights is out now on LP at Jigsaw Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Burning Hell || Ghost Palace

The apocalypse never sounded this much fun

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The right record at the right time, a lantern shining brightly through the fog of sorrow. Canadian indie folk/art pop outfit The Burning Hell take us to Ghost Palace—a new full-length album with eleven light-hearted stories in which death and disaster play a role, without feeling dark or gloomy. Making the apocalypse fun, as they say themselves, but that can be interpreted broadly: “Shirtless Jim Morrison and his Floridian bedroom eyes gaze // From a postcard pinned to the gate round his grave at the Père-Lachaise // Immortal hormones above, or bones below // Which one’s the real Lizard King? Baby, I don’t know” (from opening track Celebrities in Cemeteries).

We’re talking about songwriter Mathias Kom and multi-instrumentalists Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll, who have built up quite a discography since 2007. With all that experience, they know what to do to create an explosion of color and wonder, and that’s what they do. Lyrics are imaginative and buoyant, supported by genre-crossing, bountiful music in which even a Laughing Kookaburra (in Birds of Australia) and the Apollo 10 crew (in Brazil Nuts and Blue Curaçao) fly by. Unconventional and optimistic, exactly what we need at the moment.



Ghost Palace is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through You’ve Changed Records (North America) and BB*Island (elsewhere). Also feturing Carlie Howell (double bass), Steven Lambke (electric guitar), Amy Nicoll (oboe, vocals) and José Contreras (organ, vocals) on select tracks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: The Demonstration Tapes || The Amerikan States of Amerika States 1-4

A promising start of a long love letter to (a romanticized version of) the U.S.

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So you’ve been working on a musical homage to the United States of America for a long time, and then it turns out that the country you adore so much has changed faces. It happens to The Demonstration Tapes, a Norwegian indie pop trio Lars Heinz (guitar, drums, percussion, vocals), Pedro Carmona-Alvarez (guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums) and Fredrik Færden (piano, keyboards, programming, bass, vocals)—a new band by former members of Sister Sonny. Their goal is to create one song for each U.S. state, and their debut EP covers the first four: New York City Cheesecake, Washington Loves Me, Stuck Here In Nebraska, and California Losin’. This is a promising project, with warm melodies and appealing vocals—folk-tinged and summery—dedicated to an idealized version of America. To be continued.

The Amerikan States of Amerika States 1-4, First EP is out now digitally via Apollon Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Star 99 || Gaman

Star 99 refines their hard twee formula on Gaman

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

San Jose’s Hot Box house alumni—slash survivors—Star 99 have consistently charmed their way onto the wantlist with everything they’ve released so far. Their second album, Gaman, is no exception, particularly given how well the band has fine-tuned their sonic palette on this latest batch of songs. You want something sweet? Something sour? Something bittersweet, perhaps? You’ll find all of that here. And then there’s the irresistible umami of IWLYG, a punchy jangle-pop hit and just one of many standouts on the record.

This is the kind of alt-pop that indie punks will appreciate, and vice versa. Or as the band calls it: hard twee. Or, as I’d put it: mighty fine music, well worth your ears and money.

Out now on Lauren Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Escape-ism || Charge of the Love Brigade

Breaking the rules, rewriting the sound alphabet, still delivering hits

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

Musical vandal Ian Svenonius (electric guitar, drum machine, keyboards, vocals)—you know him from The Make-Up and Chain And The Gang, but he’s done a lot more—is back with his “found-sound-dream-drama” project Escape-ism. Teaming up with Sandi Denton (electric bass guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals), he recorded ten idiosyncratic tunes for the Charge of the Love Brigade LP (his fifth album under this moniker, if you count The Silent Record, which literally was an entirely silent protest against sound), in his own words nothing less than revolutionary.

Although the premise concerns a reformation of the traditional notes and scales—”an entirely new sound alphabet”—and there is a chance that casual listeners will miss such deeper layers, the result comes across as highly enjoyable, like a mash-up of Suicide and The Velvet Underground, but more catchy. Vintage electronics provide hypnotic rhythms that go surprisingly well with the poetic lyrics that are declaimed in a talk-singing manner, with time and time again memorable hooks and choruses. Intriguing and addictive, cool stuff.



Charge of the Love Brigade is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Radical Elite Records. Also featuring Shelley Salant, Izzy Glaudini, Greg Kurstin and Ignacio Gonzales on select tracks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

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