Jangle Pop

New album: Sweet Nobody || We’re Trying Our Best

By / / Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop / 1 Comment

Life’s not perfect, and human beings are the opposite of infallible. The best we can do is try our best, a mantra my mom programmed in my brain ages ago, and still becomes active whenever I have to do something that is new or scary or filled with uncertainty. It helps to explain why I instantly sympathize with Sweet Nobody’s second album which is titled We’re Trying Our Best. The circumstances in which this album came to live were far from ideal. There was of course the curse of the pandemic: We’re Trying Our Best would have been released 12 months ago in a pandemic free world. More importantly, singer/lyricist Joy Deyo had to cope with chronic pains caused by a hard-to-diagnose ilness while writing the record. And yet, rather than a dark or sad record, We’re Trying Our Best sounds more like a celebration of life. Press play on Five Star Diary and let the indie pop of Sweet Nobody wash gently over you. It showcases the gorgeous and melancholic qualities of Deyo’s voice and how it complements the jangly and breezy guitar licks perfectly. It’s not the only standout track on the record; uptempo songs like Rhoda and White Lies are instant attention grabbers as well. I am also intrigued by Other Humans and If I Should Die Tonight, two emocountrypoppowerballads that pull at the heartstrings. [post continues below]

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New EP: The Pre-Amps || Four by Four

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Nowadays, some music is still made as in the good old days, as is once again underlined by UK four-piece The Pre-Amps. The 1960s-influenced pop / rock band made some name for themselves by covering their heroes (The Box Tops’ The Letter, The Beatles’ Nowhere Man, The Beach Boys’ Sloop John B, and so on), but are now also writing their own songs. At the end of 2019 they released their debut single Doesn’t Change, followed by Hard To Say b/w With My Baby in early 2021, and those tracks are now bundled together with new tune Learn To Love You on the EP Four by Four. Robert William Gray (bass), Scott Charlton (drums), Lyndon William Philliskirk (keyboards), and Kelvin Banks (guitar / harmonium) can all call themselves songwriter and singer, and here they show that perfect jangle pop songs with captivating melodies and great vocal harmonies are still being created these days. We look forward to a full-length album with more of these gems.

Four by Four is out now digitally, and next week also on 7″EP, through Spanish label Hurrah! Música.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The BQs | Tentatively Escaping

By / / Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop / 1 Comment

At Add To Wantlist, we love to post about bands that fly under the radar. Raleigh (North Carolina) band The BQs are a good example. Their new record Tentatively Escaping immediately grabs my attention, and yet I can’t find any info on the band. I have to assume the band is named after its frontman and main songwriter Brian Quast. Here is another guess: The BQs are big fans of the fuzzy powerpop of Teenage Fanclub and the guitar magic of War On Drugs: The songs on Tentatively Escaping sound like a hybrid of both those acts, and it works surprisingly well. I know nothing about the BQs, but they deserve to be more than a blip on the radar.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Motorists || Surrounded

By / / Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop / 1 Comment

The Motorists debut album Surrounded evokes an immediate sense of nostalgia, particularly to the jangly powerpop of the ’80s but also to the postpunk and other guitar-oriented genres from that era. Craig Fahner, Matt Learoyd, and Jesse Locke make up the band from Canada. They started three years ago, although the member have a history of being in bands together going back to their teenage years. Past bands of Fahner, Learoyd and Locke include Feel Alright, Leather Jacuzzi, Tough Age, Simply Saucer, We Knew and Chandra.

Motorists first caught my ears with their excellent 2020 EP From The Wreckage. Its follow up Surrounded is by no means a perfect album, and the fact that Motorists do not try to hide their imperfections is part of their charm. It gives the song an authentic rough-around-the-edges feel and I’m pretty sure the band will sound more or less like this at their live shows. Fahner (guitar) and Learoyd (bass) alternate and complement each other well, and in combination with the steady beat of Locke, they give each song a distinct vibe. The power pop oriented songs are my favorites, and Through To You is the kind of underground hit that wouldn’t look out of place on any powerpop lost hits compilation from the 70s or 80s. The more postpunk oriented songs like title track Surrounded work as well, particularly because Motorists has a talent for offsetting angular riff heavy verses with catchy and straightforward choruses. I am definitely buying this co-release by We Are Time, Debt Offensive and Bobo Integral Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

Throwback Thursday: S K Y T O N E || Taking Our Time (JangleWaves)

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Last week I got into a discussion about underrated songs. In my opinion such a conversation shouldn’t just be about well-known songs that don’t get the appreciation they deserve, because there is also a lot of good music that is simply never heard; ignorance equals unlovedness by the general public. That’s one of the main motivations for starting this website: to dig up hidden gold nuggets and give them attention too. Anyway, if I had to name one underrated song, it’s Taking Our Time, from the album JangleWaves (2017) by S K Y T O N E. It’s carefree, relaxed indie / jangle / synth pop created by Rodney and Darius Doddridge (from Ottawa, Canada), but most of all it’s the perfect track for a sunny summer day, both musically (the guitar melody is addictive) and lyrically (“… nothing sounds pretty good to me”). Unknown? Probably. But how would you rate this?

If I ever get to put together a soundtrack, this one won’t be missing, but until then I’ll put it on all my holiday playlists. By the way, the rest of the album is fine too. JangleWaves is available digitally and on CD.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Falconet || Magic Potion

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“We drink and play indie pop music and don’t really know things,” according to the short bio of Falconet. Still, the Californian duo – Sally Jati (vocals, guitar) and Ken Aki (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums) – managed to deliver a strong debut album. Magic Potion has 8 songs of 3 minutes or so each, songs about nearby subjects such as a Falling Star (temper your expectations), the Unbearable Friend (everyone has one), and Summer (waiting for summer love to bloom). The vocals are dreamy, the guitars jangling, the hooks enchanting – a perfect sound for this time of year. Too bad this bottle of Magic Potion is empty so quickly, more of this please. Listen to standout tracks The Train Song (about being used) and Goodbye (when enough is enough) below. RIYL Alvvays, Beach Fossils, Strawberry Whiplash.

Out now digitally. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: Alvilda || Négatif

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

Nina, Eva, Sandra and Melanie make up Alvilda, a new jangly powerpop sensation from Paris, France. The press release namedrops The Shangri Las and Protex and that is spot on, because this four song EP is a perfect mix of both bands. Their bouncy songs are full of energy and a lot of fun, but also really well executed and sound strikingly authentic like this is some long lost late seventies gem. Alvilda mix ’60s girl group with ’70s Good Vibrations pop punk influences and je t’aime it a lot. It’s insane that these are the first recordings of the band. What a find by Alien Snatch! Let’s hope it’s the start of a prolific career.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: The Arctic Flow || Lost You Long Ago

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We can now add The Arctic Flow’s new LP Lost You Long Ago to the impressive list of compelling jangle pop releases of 2021. For his solo project, American singer-songwriter Brian Hancheck has once again produced a set of fine guitar songs. In Soft Arrows he apologizes with his sultry, dreamy voice – “I’m sorry to waste your time” – but that’s not necessary: these 11 tracks are a good pastime that the musician can be proud of (in fact, the more you listen to it, the better this music gets). Stream the full album below.

Lost You Long Ago is out now digitally, on cassette and CD through Sunday Records.

Add to wantlist : Bandcamp || Discogs || Sunday Records

New album: The Rhynes || The Rhynes

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / 1 Comment

Joe Atkinson has played and toured with, amongst others, Flipron, the Original Rude Boy Neville Staple (formally of The Specials), Donovan, The Selecter, and Lee “Scratch” Perry. He started sneaking into the studio during down-time between gigs “to find out what Big Star would sound like with Nicky Hopkins on piano”, which led to his new project The Rhynes, of which the self-titled debut album has now been released. He sings and plays every note on the album, with the exception of the drums, which are partly provided by Damned drummer and punk legend Rat Scabies and partly by Matty Bane from The Neville Staple Band. It’s a collection of 60s inspired jangly guitar pop and piano-led numbers, with rich Byrds and Teenage Fanclub style harmonies, Hammond organs and the occasional Dylanesque harmonica. Quality music for the coming fall, with convincing structures, beautiful melodies, and somewhat unsteady vocals, which makes the songs vulnerable and believable. Sympathetic record.

Out now on CD through Tiny Dog Records.

New album: The Umbrellas || The Umbrellas

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It’s a good thing music is not a competition, because right now there is a staggering amount of frontrunners in the indie and jangle pop field. After a slow start to the year, we had top notch releases from bands like Massage, The Telephone Numbers, The Laughing Chimes, Quivers, Holiday Ghosts and many others. Add The Umbrellas to this list, because they just released a magnificent self-titled debut LP on the ever reliable Slumberland Records. Of all before mentioned bands, The Umbrellas arguably is the most twee. Fans of Sarah Records and bands like Comet Gain, Tullycraft and The Pastels likely will embrace The Umbrellas within ten seconds of album opener Lonely. Despite the dark undertones of the lyrics, this is feel good music. The Umbrellas’ music is made for summer, even when it’s raining.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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