Indie Rock

New album: Petite League || Thrill Seekers

Here is a new album by a band with a sound as distinct as it is consistent, as upbeat as it is melancholic. I’m referring to Thrill Seekers aka album #6 by Lorenzo Gillis Cook’s Petite League.

With a sound as vibrant as its album cover, Thrill Seekers will quickly draw you in and won’t take much effort to enjoy. The 13 songs go by in a breeze and are a great recipe for (post)pandemic blues. Like that great new 2nd Grade record, Thrill Seekers is a record that doesn’t overcomplicate things and feels effortlessly written. It makes for smooth listening, like a laid back Strokes record or Real Estate going powerpop. I can’t help but feel that this is the most fun and most accomplished Petite League record yet.

I’d like to close out this post with what Petite League mastermind Cooke wrote on the band’s Instagram, because I think it helps to explain the record’s power and appeal. “What the record is about?…Looking at it now, I think it’s about appreciating whatever makes your heart beat, growing through your tears of joy, and accepting change by going head-on into it while also never forgetting what keeps you grounded in the first place. idk I just know that 2 years ago i was crying bc I was down and out and, this week, I’ve been crying because I’m really happy.”




Thrill Seekers is out now through Zap World Records.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: New Junk City || Beg A Promise

Atlanta four-piece New Junk City are not the first punkrockband to incorporate heartland rock in their sound – “Tom Petty as played by Green Day” is just one of the ways the band has been described. But while hints of bands like The Menzingers and Gaslight Anthem are never far away on Beg A Promise, the band’s third full length, New Junk City’s take on the sound feels fresh rather than redundant. The label also namedrops Superchunk, The Thermals and (the faster songs of) The Weakerthans as influences, and all these familiar ingredients probably explain why Beg A Promise is such an instantly enjoyable record. New Junk City stay away from any copycat claims by carving their own distinct sound from familiar influences.

Beg A Promise is full of heartfelt poppy punkrock tunes that never outstay their welcome. It is out now through A-F Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || A-F Records

Festival report || Left of the Dial 2022

Left of the Dial is an annual international showcase festival that takes place in mid-October in the city center of Rotterdam. The tastemaker event, named after that song by The Replacements, offers three days of new alternative music: more than 100 bands (many of them perform twice or even thrice) on 12 different stages (including a sailing boat, a stationary lightship, a beautiful church, and an improvised gym where you have to cycle to put the performers in the spotlight) – it must have been a complex logistical challenge. Because we love Rotterdam, but even more because the program fits very well with the releases we’ve written about before, the Add To Wantlist crew was happy to be there. We enjoyed a lot of great bands in really cool locations (in most cases with surprisingly good sound quality), along with other music fans (and members of performing bands in the audience) who weren’t there just to catch up, but to enjoy all those amazing shows. If one thing became clear: rock ‘n’ roll isn’t dead, far from it.

New album: Burghers Orquestra || Burghers Orquestra

Amsterdam-based musicians Niels de Wit (Electric Tears, The Vernon Walters, Johan, De Kift) and Simone Mansveld (Bugs, Simone Joan Mansfield) released two singles and two EPs as Burghers in the period 2018-2021, but they are now making a fresh start as Burghers Orquestra. And what a start it is. With this new project they also take a different path musically, because the spiky and dark indie rock sound has made way for a kind of versatile power pop in a psychedelic jacket. It fits them like a glove. Their self-titled debut album contains eleven exotic gems with wonderful melodies, beautiful harmonies, and cinematic delicacies, that prompt the sun to break through the autumn clouds. It’s an amazing, uplifting and somewhat alienating mix of 60’s psych pop, yé-yé, popcorn, surf, garage rock, folk and even dub. Rich in instruments and ideas, but always at the service of the perfect song.

Burghers Orquestra’s self-titled album is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Dewityourself Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Bug Club || Green Dream in F#

Is there anything not to like about South Wales indie/garage rock trio The Bug Club? Tilly Harris (bass, vocals), Sam Willmett (guitar, vocals), and Dan Matthew (drums) have the appearance (they could have been the amiable employees of your favorite record store), they have the right attitude (idiosyncratic, adventurous and focused), they have the sound (lively, raw and unpolished), and above all they have the songs (short and catchy earworms, full of hooks and humor). Everything they’ve released so far is worth checking out (we previously wrote about mini-album Pure Particles and single Two Beauties), but now there’s their real full-length debut album, called Green Dream in F#. In fourteen fresh tunes the three musicians do what they do best: the way guitar, bass and drum build up the tension, the scheme Sam and Tilly alternate and combine their lines, everything is right. “You aren’t supposed to feel it // It’s art”, they sing, while we actually feel their music very strongly. Maybe we should think of the tracks here as pop art: they seem easy to reproduce at first glance, but there are few artists, if any, who currently manage to create so much great original work.

Green Dream in F# is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Bingo Records. Hopefully the new LP, as well as the previous releases, will also be widely available in Europe.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New single: Perfectly Lethal || Gotta Get Away b/w Little Things

I kinda forgot about Perfectly Lethal, but then I discovered I wrote a post on the Boston three-piece’s Demonstration Tape (2021) over a year ago. The band now returns with a two-song single. I am particularly fond of Gotta Get Away which, with a little more polished production, sounds like it could have been a major college radio hit in the ’80s. I don’t mind the rough production at all, and Perfectly Lethal sounds powerful and melodic on the song. That applies to the second track on the single as well by the way.

If you are a fan of powerpop, punkrock, college rock and ’90s altpop, give this band a spin. Pretty siked about this release, and hope that more songs are coming up.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Rustbelt || Rustbelt

Now this is a remarkable backstory. Milwaukee artist John Chiaverina has spent twenty years making pretty good songs under the moniker of Juiceboxxx, as a rapper that is. Musically it rocked quite a bit though, for example check out the videos for Freaking Out, In the Basement or Walking in Milwaukee, and he’s now moving in that direction. Juiceboxxx has left, come in Rustbelt. Under that name Chiaverina has now released a self-titled debut EP featuring four nice indie rock tunes – he calls it underdog pop himself – with an early 2000’s vibe and a slight emo touch, in which he tries to find out who he really is: “Introduce my name any way that you see fit // Your guess as good as mine with any of that shit // I’ll keep on floating on like a sailor lost in the sea // I never wanted to be me, ooh.” It’s an interesting and promising quest – you can’t completely separate the new from the old, the punk attitude has always been there – that turns out surprisingly well.

Rustbelt’s self-titled EP is out now digitally through Dangerbird Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Sweet Teeth || High Anxiety

I recently read Complicated Fun, Cyn Collins’ book about the birth of Minneapolis punk and indie rock. Listening to the debut LP of Sweet Teeth – which follows their excellent 2021 debut EP, I can’t believe how strongly the band would’ve fit into that scene. The Hüsker Dü/Bob Mould influence is particularly noticeable, although Sweet Teeth is more interested in rockin’ out than playing songs at record land speed. But no, Sweet Teeth are not from Minneapolis, they are European. Swedes to precise, and the members have a history in bands like The Deadbeats, Disfear, Dollhouse, Year Of The Goat, Tortyr, and The Dontcares.

High Anxiety is a blast if you like your music loud, well produced and melodic. I believe the recent Bob Mould records have mostly been excellent, and to my ears Sweet Teeth reach a similar level with High Anxiety. The record has a huge sound and the potential to crossover to a broader fanbase as well. I can see fans of major alternative rock acts like Foo Fighters, Japandroids and Dinosaur jr. falling for this record just as hard as fans of underground indie rockin’ or punk adjacent bands.

High Anxiety is out now through Lövely Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Air Devi || Rooting For You

“I shaved my leg for you // I shaved my leg for you // Not just a one, but two.” These are the first words – in standout track Ashrita – you hear on Rooting For You, the new EP by indie four-piece Air Devi from Philadelphia. Singer-songwriter and sitarist Devi Majeske reflects on themes of connection, empowerment and hope, seemingly effortlessly bridging her roots in Indian classical music with an intrinsic punk ethos. The band, which also consists of Jacob Hershman (guitar, trumpet), Jay Fein (drums) and Seth Fein (bass), pours a stimulating pop/rock cocktail with tasteful musical ingredients that you don’t consume every day. The witty opening shows that Majeske knows how to attract attention, but the closing proves that she can also tell a beautiful story in a few phrases: “I know you’re out there, I know you’re out there // I’ m just not sure where // Or when I’ll get there // But I’m working everyday to get prepare” (from It’s Over). There’s also plenty of beauty in between.

Rooting For You is out now digitally and on cassette through Devil Town Tapes.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New single: Zack Keim || Canyon / Alice

Zack Keim started making music at a young age. Still only 25, he already sounds like a veteran on his latest single. The A-side of the two song 7″ particularly stands out. Canyon is a dreamy folky indie rock track sung with a falsetto that communicates a sense of melancholy. Keim wrote the earworm and slightly unnerving chorus (“Canyooooonnnnnnnnnnn”) while he was out delivering food. The flipside contains Alice, a more upbeat folkpop track with dual vocals – Laurel Wain (String Machine) joins Keim in the song.

If these two songs are indicative of the quality of Keim’s upcoming sophomore record (Battery Lane), we are in for a treat. 7″ vinyl will be available this Friday through Action Weekend Records (Spain).



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Action Weekend Records

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