Psych

New single: The Blank Tapes with Dust Collector || 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Sing along for 30 minutes: "Take one down and pass it around"

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Whaaaaat!? Are they really doing this? Yes, they are!

We’re talking about Matt Adams of the Californian psychedelic garage pop project The Blank Tapes, along with a host of musicians who know the band well. With audible relish, they perform the traditional song 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, counting down for half an hour—”take one down and pass it around”—until there’s nothing left. Contrary to what you might expect, it’s by no means boring, but rich, warm, and uplifting, thanks to the variety of collaborators, instruments, styles, and sound effects. For those who can’t get enough, there’s also an instrumental version, perfect for singing along to during sun-drenched road trips.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, assembled and mixed by Jason Cirimele (Dust Collector), is out now digitally via Dusty Sea Records. Featuring Matt Adams (vocals, guitars, bass, marxophone, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, steel drum, Celtic harp, ukulele, Bulbul Tarang, space echo, bottles, percussions), Jason Cirimele (vocals, guitars, drums, stylophone beat box), Will Halsey (exotica percussion), Ash Reiter (guitar), Sean Olmstead (synth, guitars), Veronica Bianqui (vocals), Sal Joseph (drums), Sarah Barlow (vocals), Aslan Rife (piano), Spencer Grossman (vocals, synth), Collin Ludlow-Mattson (banjo), Peter Maffei (vocoder, mellotron, moog, wurlitzer, wind), Sam Faw (bass, guitar), Shaughnessy Starr (drums), Olaf Sellend (pedal steel), Hunter Stroope (FX), Joe Lewis (bass), Alan Siegel (vocals, sax, shakers), Mark Matos (vocals, guitar), Indianna Hale (vocals, omnichord), Matt McCluer (guitars), Jason Medina (guitar, synth), DA Humphrey (upright bass), Joel Williams (drumbeat sample), Charles Gonzalez (synth, synth percussion), Bryant Denison (guitars), Obo Martin (vocals, harmonica), Flo Hohmann (organs, guitar), Ramiro Verdooren (vocals, organ, Wurlitzer FX, guitar), Arthur C. Lee (tremolo slide guitar), Darryl Blood (guitar, micro freak, SFX, piano FX), Steve Winchell (birds), Mat Davidson (accordian), Joshua Bruner (brainwaves), Michael Musika (snare, percussion, music box, frogs), Josh Magill (percussion), Brandon Graham (guitars), Levi Strom (420 FX, hand drum), Joe Napolitano (tambourine), Ryan Erskine (guitars), Francisco Fernandez (cabasa, cowbells, whistles, shaker), Marco Antonio “Gallo” De Carvalho (bass, rain stick), Felix Havstad Ziska (Cellotron, keys), Franck Fiser (hand drum), Kacey Johansing (keyboard), and Mat Davidson (accordion).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

P.S. Last month, The Blank Tapes released a new full-length album, titled Lost Weekend, which is also worth checking out.

New EP: Vieira and The Silvers || Well Fed, Fully Clothed and Completely Sane

Garage rock maximalism with sax, sweat, and swagger to spare

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British rock ‘n’ roll outfit Vieira and The Silvers swept us off our feet when we saw them live at the Left of the Dial festival last fall, and now they’re finally releasing their long-awaited debut EP. While the six musicians operate as a steaming rock ‘n’ roll machine full of madness on stage, they manage to surprise us in the five songs on Well Fed, Fully Clothed and Completely Sane by showcasing even more facets of their skills.

Expect exuberant garage rock with adventurous detours into psych, blues, and proto-punk, driven by a raucous instrumental line-up in which saxophone, harmonica, guitars, and rhythm section all vie for attention. Anchored by commanding vocals, the songs twist through unexpected tempo changes and groovy hooks. Drawing inspiration from the pioneers of the 60s and 70s, these tracks unfold like miniature rock operas—an increasingly rare feat today, yet one that feels perfectly attuned to the present moment.



Well Fed, Fully Clothed and Completely Sane, produced by Sean Read, is out now digitally (self-released).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Album review: Drug Stop || Love You All The Time

New band from Munich combine dry wit and warm horns in their very worthwhile slacker indie rock

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

Drug Stop are a new pink-overalls-wearing band from Munich, fronted by Markus Naegele (Fuck Yeah, The Happy Hunting Ground, Don Marco & Die Kleine Freiheit), who also happens to be a journalist, author, and DJ. Their debut LP Love You All The Time proves that Naegele’s wit and sharp writing translate effortlessly into English. Slacker indie rock turns out to be the perfect vessel for his dry delivery, landing somewhere between Davey von Bohlen (The Promise Ring, Maritime) and David Berman (Silver Jews, Purple Mountains).

The band’s sound feels comfortably familiar — the band names touchstones ranging from The Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones to The Clash, Primal Scream, and Wilco — but it never settles into autopilot. Subtle psychedelic touches creep in, and the secret weapon here is the horn section, which repeatedly lifts the songs into unexpected and genuinely exciting territory.

Love You All The Time is out now on LP, and it’s a debut that is worth your time.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: En Kernaghan Band || Energetik

An underground prayer wheel powered by fuzz and tape hiss

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At its core, the fourth album from the En Kernaghan Band, titled Energetik, offers lo-fi garage pop, laced with psychedelic influences. Ramshackle yet charming, inimitable but infectious, with vibrant melodies and inviting vocals. However, this isn’t just any release, because we’re talking about the solo project of Australian musician, artist, and experimental instrument maker Ethan “En” Kernaghan.

And so we can’t dismiss these nine songs so bluntly, because this is “new-old sounding”—home-recorded with “handmade, half-broken equipment and haunted cassette machines”—in which Eastern mysticism merges with the deep country past of grandfather Ray Kernaghan and uncle Lee Kernaghan. And to top it off: “There’s an etching on the vinyl runout which features a mantra, so with each clockwise revolution the record itself becomes a functional prayer wheel.”

Whatever level you listen at, it’s 23 intriguing and captivating minutes for busted amps and open minds. Cool stuff.




Energetik—performed, recorded, and mixed by Ethan Kernaghan—is out digitally and on vinyl LP through Holiday Maker Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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 single: Straight Arrows || Middleman / Do the Sloth

Dancefloor bait and garage rock gold from Sydney

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Probably best known for their energetic, high-voltage garage rock LPs, Sydney’s Straight Arrows have already proven they can deliver essential garage punk singles too. What started as a friendly nudge from Goodbye Boozy has now turned into a must-own 7″. Don’t sleep on this one: DJs worldwide will be reaching for Do the Sloth to get the floor moving, while Middleman is pure garage rock perfection. Tight, crunchy, and impossible to skip.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Yuasa-Exide || Silver Spoon Hallucination

Lo-fi urgency for anxious times

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

A new batch of songs by Yuasa-Exide is a fine way to start any day. Silver Spoon Hallucination pulls together material dating back to 2022 and as recent as last week, yet it plays with the urgency of someone caught in an internal tug-of-war between escaping reality and fighting it head-on. That tension is what makes this record crackle. Excitement, originality, and empowerment have always been central to Douglas Busson’s work, but his lo-fi approach feels especially sharp and satisfying here.

Don’t Rat is one of his most accessible recent songs and an easy rallying cry against whatever local Gestapo happens to be intruding on your life. “We can’t keep riding down the road to ruin / Does anybody know what they’re doing?” might as well be the thesis statement for the entire record. Busson doesn’t hand out answers, but he asks the right questions and sets them to a soundtrack that’s constantly pulled between unsettling and exhilarating. The mood is twitchy but infectious, equal parts sneering protest, late-night anxiety spiral, and stubborn, cracked optimism that keeps moving even when everything feels busted.

My Psychic hits with enough low-end force to physically wake your speakers. Time Regained Again offers a brief midpoint breather, though even that comes wrapped in angst. There’s the proto-punk snap of Your Zodiac, the beat-poetry pulse of Canal Street, and another jolt of electricity in Intellectual Destiny Whatever, before Busson strips things back to guitar, shrieks, and noise on Crush Proof. It closes with the line “Nothing can hurt us / We’re crush proof”—uplifting on paper, delivered bordering on sarcasm.

Times are bleak, sure. But the fact that Yuasa-Exide can casually drop a record this alive into the world is reason enough to stay hopeful.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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

Another jangly collection that mixes narrative flair with melodic ease

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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: 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

An Incomplete List of Releases I Overlooked in 2025

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

Browsing through the many year-end lists, I stumbled upon plenty of share-worthy releases that, for one reason or another, I either overlooked or simply forgot to write about. I also had some bookmarked gems lying around that are absolutely wantlist material but somehow got lost in the shuffle. Here are some of them.

This wraps up my year, see you again soon. Happy 2026!

Beauty || I’d Do Almost Anything For You
On their debut album, this Red Bank, New Jersey trio leans into late-’70s pop rock à la Cheap Trick and ’90s power pop like Fountains of Wayne. Definitely more than a couple of hits on this one.

Natalie Bergman || My Home is Not in This World
It’s easy to see why I missed this one, as it’s not really the kind of music I usually gravitate toward. Still, this finely produced record sounds gorgeous coming out of the speakers, and Bergman (of Wild Belle) makes it awfully easy to fall for her voice. Probably the most pop-leaning release on this list, wrapped in warm ’60s sepia tones.

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