Indie Rock

New album: Attic Salt || Stay In The Midwest

Midwest indie punk comfort food

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“Recycled guitar riffs / From songs no one would miss.”

It’s a casually delivered line from the middle of Attic Salt’s third album. Not an apology, not a confession, just a statement of fact. Attic Salt isn’t all that interested in being unique. They’re far more interested in being worth your time. And Stay In The Midwest is time well spent.

The band plays the kind of modern power pop I usually file under indie punk: endlessly melodic, instantly likable, and wrapped in a warm, unassuming package. The alternating lead vocals add even more charm, while fans of The Beths or the more power pop-minded side of Superchunk should feel right at home here.

Recorded between 2020 and 2025, Stay In The Midwest sounds less like a band that took forever to finish a record and more like one that refused to rush it. These songs sound like they had time to become themselves, written by people who genuinely enjoy making music together. Let’s hope they never stop.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Matthew Squires & Sunk Coast || Easy Answers To Harder Questions

Folk, psychedelia, and philosophy woven into something magical

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

Singer/songwriter Matthew Squires and producer/musician Zach Totta (Sunk Coast) prove to be a perfect creative match. The three songs on their Easy Answers To Harder Questions EP feel intimate but also expansive somehow. The intriguing lyrics inhabit the uneasy space between apocalypse and enlightenment, using surreal imagery and philosophical reflections to explore identity, mortality and the collapse of modern myths. Even amid bewilderment, the possibility that beauty, connection, and renewal can still emerge: “I’ll sprout myself some wings and then I’ll sing ’til all can hear it.”

Indie folk, psychedelia, and philosophical musings intertwine into something truly enchanting, where dreamlike textures meet a melodic charm. Inspired by the idea that someone has to bear witness when the world ends, these songs offer no obvious solutions, only warmth, wonder, and a uniquely captivating atmosphere.

Easy Answers To Harder Questions is out digitally (self-released).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Feeders || Dark Days

Chicago veterans make their punchy guitar pop sound effortless

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

Back in 2021, I described The Feeders’ debut as “like Superchunk channeling Teenage Fanclub, or Superchunk playing good Weezer songs.” For Dark Days, I’d happily throw The Thermals and The Muffs into the mix as well. That still doesn’t tell the whole story of The Feeders, though. Featuring Chicago scene veterans Sam Vicari, Alex Rackow, and John Perrin (NRBQ), this is a band that knows exactly how to write an irresistible guitar pop song.

This is the good kind of alt-pop. It leans indie punk, it leans modern power pop, and every now and then there’s even a hint of doo-wop, not unlike the way Masked Intruder sneaks those melodies into their songs. It’s catchy, punchy, fuzzy, and refreshingly free of unnecessary frills.

The title Dark Days suggests conflict, and many of the lyrics wrestle with it, but sonically this record is all sunshine breaking through the clouds. These songs are ridiculously easy to like. They also create the dangerous illusion that all you need to do is invite two friends into your basement, plug in a few guitars, and start casually cranking out hooks like these. If only it were that simple.

Dark Days is streaming on all the usual places, not yet fully available on Bandcamp though.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: long odds || the dry land

Indie rock with a lo-fi crunch from Ohio (members of Connections, Times New Viking, Brat Curse and Blood Noize)

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Here’s something lo-fi, crunchy, and pleasantly slack-ish to start the week off right: the dry land, the second album from Ohio indie rock quartet long odds, out now on vinyl via Clean Demon Records.

I somehow missed the band’s debut back in 2022. Listening to the dry land, though, I immediately found myself wondering whether long odds shared DNA with another Ohio favorite of mine: Connections. Not just in sound, but the art direction as well. Turns out they do. Half of long odds also plays in Connections, with Adam Elliott (also of Times New Viking) and Philip Kim joined here by Joe Camerlengo (Brat Curse) and Courtney L. Hall (Blood Noize).

But don’t expect Connections Part II. While both bands share a love of fuzzy, lo-fi guitars, long odds trades caffeine for patience, Guided By Voices for Silver Jews. They slowly pull you in instead. Stripped down, noisy, and wonderfully unhurried, the dry land is the kind of record that rewards surrender. Put your phone away, let the fuzz wash over you, and you’ll find an easy record to sink into.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Clean Demon

New album: Mouth Washington || To What End

An intense listen from that stays with you

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The alternative underground keeps serving up hidden gems, even when your latest discovery has already released five albums before finally crossing your path. To What End is album number six from Mouth Washington (Portland, Oregon), and it first caught my attention with artwork that’s impossible to ignore. It looks as though an entire neighborhood has been squeezed into a single woodcut, with chaos happily spilling into every available gap. Did it make our favorite album covers page? Of course it did.

Thankfully, the music more than lives up to the sleeve. To What End is a heavy, intense listen that sits well outside my usual diet, yet offers more than enough reasons to wander beyond my comfort zone. Mouth Washington occupies that fascinating space where singing and spoken word blur together, while horns appear out of nowhere (listen to Three Days In The Air, adding unexpected bursts of color that make you hope they’ll return again.

Then there are the lyrics, which deserve special mention. Take this passage from the song Battle:

The city wasn’t always cement // Your voice wasn’t meant to lament // Your greatest nemesis in the end // The cognitive dissonance in your head.

Bleak yet deeply human, these songs wrestle with trauma, grief, addiction, fractured relationships, and the guilt that lingers long after the damage is done. The intensity feels earned. Much of the material was written during the pandemic, when founding brothers Max and Zach Hansen were living with guitarist Will Held, who passed away suddenly in 2021 at the age of 33.

This is emotional post-hardcore with a story behind it, one marked by loss but fueled by resilience and quiet defiance. I am happy that I gave this one multiple spins, because it took me a while to realize what a special record this is.

To What End is the 50th release from Repeating Cloud Records (congrats Galen!), in collaboration with Ratio Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New compilation: Various Artists || I Said Hit It (A Covers Compilation for Part Time Punks)

Familiar songs wearing unfamiliar clothes

By / / Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Psych, Punk / Leave a Comment

Somehow we completely missed this covers compilation back in May. Time to correct that oversight, because I Said Hit It may end up being one of the most interesting compilations of the year.

Sure, charity compilations are nothing new, and neither are covers albums. What makes this one stand out is the execution and the cast involved. Instead of the usual punked-up pop songs, many of these bands take punk, garage, and underground classics and filter them through jangly guitars, acoustic arrangements, and unexpected stylistic detours.

Press play and you’ll hear the hype-worthy Bramwell transform Born To Lose by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers into a jangly ’60s gem. Then Good Flying Birds prove that Bible Belt Baby by the Gizmos works beautifully in acoustic form. From there, the compilation keeps throwing curveballs, offering fresh perspectives on songs that are well known, beloved, and in some cases probably played a little too often.

The best way to experience I Said Hit It? Don’t look at the track list. Just hit play and see how quickly you recognize the classics hiding behind the new arrangements.

I Said Hit It has been out for a while now via Manchester’s Supercrush Fanzine. All proceeds go to Punk 4 Transexualism.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Compandas || Tropical Finasteride

"What if the silly songs you make up in your head were recorded to the laptop you bought in college?"

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Tropical Finasteride is the debut full-length of the new punk project of Sam Treber (Short Fictions), based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Some albums feel determined to chase the algorithm, this one happily ignores it: “Harkening to the golden age of blog-era Brooklyn, Compandas aims to renaissance a joyful DIY sound that the world seems to have traded for delusions of making it.” How does that turn out?

In eight quirky tracks, cinematic spoken word fragments and confident vocals explore pop-culture overload and the contradictions of modern life, partly politically charged and partly driven by offbeat humor. It is set to fuzzy guitars, toy keyboards, and glockenspiel melodies, a mix of indie rock styles that were popular about 20 years ago, captured in an unpolished production that could have come from an old laptop hard drive.

Who takes the time will hear a chaotic and unfiltered but surprisingly thoughtful record, shifting between playful hooks and heavier themes, recalling an era that actually wasn’t that bad.



Tropical Finasteride is out digitally and on vinyl LP through Lauren Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Lauren

New album: Heaven’s Ex || Heaven’s Ex

An unpredictable and heavy debut that rewards every listen

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

Rhode Island’s Heaven’s Ex debut with an eight-song self-titled album that should become available through Inkspot Tapes soon-ish, and it is well worth seeking out. That is, if you’re into post-hardcore that hits hard emotionally without forgetting to leave plenty of room to breathe.

For me, a big part of Heaven’s Ex’s appeal is that they constantly keep you on your toes. The band refuses to settle into predictable patterns. Whether that’s a conscious choice or simply the sound of musicians still discovering exactly what they want to be, I’m not entirely sure. I suspect it’s the former, these artists far too skilled and experienced to be messing around, these songs far too confident to be accidental.

Opener Circles sounds like Waxahatchee fronting a Dischord Records band. Next comes Wide Awake, an indie punk ripper that brings RVIVR to mind, while Never Try stands out for the emotional push and pull between hushed restraint and explosive release. If this is what people mean by modern rock, sign me up.

And then there’s Jillian Kay. Saying she can sing almost undersells it. She doesn’t just carry these songs, she fills every line with shades of emotion that make Heaven’s Ex feel deeply human, signaling that there always is something on the line to fight for or care about.

Throughout it all, Heaven’s Ex never plays it safe. Every song carries the feeling that this band is fully invested, willing to follow an idea wherever it leads instead of taking the obvious route. We all benefit.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Mary in the Junkyard || Role Model Hermit

Dark fables wrapped in delicate chaos

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

After seeing Mary In The Junkyard live three years ago (at that time they had only released one song), we predicted a successful future. Now the London trio finally arrives with a full-length debut, one that feels remarkably self-assured and effortlessly lives up to expectations (although it is not exactly “easy” music, yet it already attracts a large audience). Role Model Hermit expands the London trio’s self-described “angry weepy chaos rock” into something rich, weaving chamber-folk, post-rock, and trip-hop influences with cinematic storytelling into eleven immersive tracks.

The combination of Clari Freeman-Taylor’s haunting vocals, Saya Barbaglia’s expressive strings, and David Addison’s nuanced percussion creates intimate yet expansive soundscapes that reward repeat listens. Framed as a collection of dark fables built on fictional stories and lived memories, the album is filled with emotional vulnerability and idiosyncratic experimentation. The sound, cover art, and videos, it is all layered and intriguing. This is an ambitious record from a band that has slowly but surely grown into a unique position, sounding completely themselves.



Role Model Hermit—produced by Oli Bayston—is out digitally, on cassette, CD, and vinyl LP, through AMF Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: DUM1 || On A Dime

Another Bay Area secret to fall for

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

One of the joys of following the Bay Area underground is that every now and then a record shows up that feels too good to stay a secret. Whether it actually escapes the underground is another story. On A Dime, the debut LP from Oakland’s DUM1, has that kind of potential. I can imagine it becoming an indie-rock favorite passed around between friends, but I can just as easily imagine it remaining a hidden gem for those lucky enough to stumble across it.

Recorded entirely by Mack Narragan of CVCC and released by Take a Turn Records, On A Dime hits a sweet spot between jangly guitar pop, lo-fi indie rock, and power-pop punch. The warm melodies pull you in immediately, while the strummy 12-string guitars and occasional bursts of energy keep things from getting too sleepy. There’s a looseness to the recordings that makes the songs feel lived-in rather than unfinished.

Lyrically, Narragan circles grief, addiction, alienation, and the awkward process of figuring out who you are after life has knocked a few assumptions loose. The standout Ode To The Endlings turns loneliness and unfinished grief into something strangely comforting, No1sGood captures the feeling of being stuck between indecision and nostalgia. Even when the subject matter gets heavy, the melodies keep pulling the record toward the light.

The best thing about On A Dime is how quickly it settles in. One listen feels promising. Three listens later, you’re wondering why isn’t everyone talking about this record.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

 

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