Punk

New album: Red Arrow Highway || Be Someone Better

Earnest heartland (punk)rock from Western Michigan

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“When did pop music become so goddamn algorithmic?” That’s the rhetorical question opening Be Someone Better, the second LP from Red Arrow Highway.

And to act on that criticism, the Western Michigan band delivers earnest and honest rock songs with a clear pulse and human integrity. Now imagine those songs played by punk rock lifers who also love their Petty, Springsteen, and Oberst. From reading the press release, I expected this to sound way more formulaic. But while Red Arrow Highway slide into the territory of Gaslight Anthem, Spanish Love Songs, and Menzingers, and although there’s definitely an emotional edge to their delivery, they escape fake pathos and never sound like they’re just copying the bands they love. A little less anthemic than their peers perhaps, but they still sound powerful, and I appreciate the band’s subtlety.

Be Someone Better is proof that earnest rock ‘n’ roll with a pulse still exists, and it doesn’t need an algorithm to find you. Buy the LP at Self Aware Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman || The Great Degradation

A soundtrack to survival, where satire meets suffering

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From Columbus, Ohio, Micah Schnabel (Two Cow Garage) and Vanessa Jean Speckman (Call Me Rita) present The Great Degradation, a collaborative album featuring eleven jagged folk-punk sketches that make no bones about developments in contemporary America. The music stands strong on its own, yet its true power lies in the way it shapes the narrative, delivered in a dramatic, spoken-sung style that brings the stories vividly to life.

The record plays like a frayed dispatch from a collapsing empire, equal parts absurdist satire and working-class lament, tracing the psychic toll of late-stage capitalism. There’s rage at inequality, but also vibrant tenderness in fleeting human connection. Sometimes straightforward (“We’re enemies of the state”), often more poetic (“I want an apartment that doesn’t have bars on the windows”). The aftertaste is blunt: the American dream has curled into spectacle and survival, and belief itself (political, spiritual, economic) feels not just fragile, but fundamentally broken.



The Great Degradation—engineered and recorded by Alex Douglas, mixed and mastered by Frank Turner—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP (self-released). Featuring Micah Schnabel (guitars, vocals) and Vanessa Jean Speckman (vocals), with Jay Gasper (guitar, piano), Bass / synths-/ back-up vocals- Todd May (bass, synths, back-up vocals), Frank Turner (tambourine, piano, organ), and Jason Winner (drums).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Faucheuse || Comme Un Poignard

Faucheuse deliver one of 2026's most exciting punk records yet

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Comme Un Poignard! Wow, Faucheuse are not fooling around on their second LP. This French band with (ex-)members of Bombardement play punk with a ferocity that’s commendable, but they’ve got a few tricks up their sleeve that set them apart from the pack.

First up is their musicianship. The drummer of Faucheuse is a beast, playing with a charging, militaristic intensity that’s fast and brutal. It’s classic d-beat energy but played with precision that borders on inhuman. Add guitar work that’s intricate and original, somehow making the drums hit even harder. You start to think this band listens to metal and rock ‘n’ roll just as much as hardcore punk. Here’s a band that can flat-out play, and how is it possible they have just one guitarist?

Then there are the vocals by Émilie Bresson. While you’d expect screaming, Faucheuse have a singer who can pierce your eardrums but can also actually sing really well. Thematically, this is a record about things going catastrophically wrong: derailing lives, short-circuits, avalanches of problems, nightmares you can’t escape. Bresson delivers it all with an urgency that makes you feel every metaphorical shock and impact.

The record stacks punches on top of each other, raising your sense of awe with each subsequent song. My favorite aspect of this record is that your initial reaction is one of familiarity. Like, okay, this is typical d-beat stuff. The singer is good though. And they’re sure tight. But then you start to notice how Faucheuse don’t go from A to Z in a straight line. When I finished the record, I was surprised there are only nine songs. I was pretty sure there were like double that. So many good ideas, such impeccable execution.

Faucheuse turn hardcore punk on its head with Comme Un Poignard, arguably one of the most exciting punk records to come out of 2026. Right now, I’m floored.

LP available through Symphony of Destruction (France), Black Water (US), and Foundation Vinyl (UK).


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || SoD || Black Water || Foundation Vinyl

New album: Comic Sans || Todas las cosas que nos salieron mal

Eight tracks of twinkly emo perfection from Spain's finest

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I think this marks the third time we’re writing about Spanish twinkly and mathy emo revivalists Comic Sans, but they keep giving me reasons to pick up my megaphone and shout to the world that they deserve your attention. Todas las cosas que nos salieron mal translates to something like “All the Things That Went Wrong For Us,” which sounds like a downer of a record. But play a song like He descubierto mi silla favorita and get ready for the full emotional workout: shoulders relaxing from the opening twinkle, heart rate increasing from the ensuing rush, then everything mellowing out again when the band takes a detour into gorgeous instrumental territory. It’s a killer track on a killer record, with its main downside being that it’s only eight tracks long.

The Midwest emo of Comic Sans is definitely on the more accessible side of the genre. Don’t expect a shouting match or chaotic screamo leanings. Comic Sans have more of a melodic ’90s punk rock vibe that sometimes reminds me of Millencolin, which means they’re as concerned with hooks as they are with intricate guitar interplay. But what I love most about this band is their razor-smooth guitar work—those intertwining, sparkling guitar lines that feel both technically impressive and emotionally immediate. That shit is addictive as hell.

Todas las cosas que nos salieron mal walks the tightrope between emo’s vulnerability and punk’s forward momentum without leaning too heavily on either. It’s the kind of record that works whether you’re paying close attention to the guitar parts or just letting the whole thing wash over you. Either way, you’re in good hands.

Buy the LP of Todas las cosas que nos salieron mal at Bcore Disc, Through Love Records, Saltamarges, Discos 17 Dolores and Stiff Slack.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (BCore) || Though Love || Saltamarges

New album: Guitar Wolf || More Jet

Distorted fury that refuses to age

By / / Garage Rock, Punk / 2 Comments

Guitar Wolf don’t age, they detonate. Nearly forty years in, the Japanese “jet rock ‘n’ roll” lifers are still blowing circuits (seeing them live is an intimidating experience you’ll never forget—we can vouch for that). More Jet is their first full-lengther in seven years, and somehow it just cranks the amp even louder.

Back on Goner Records, the label that helped launch Guitar Wolf (and themselves) in 1993, the über-cool trio tears through ten tracks of blown-out garage punk, fed through pure distortion: crunching riffs, bin-lid drums, and Seiji’s feral howl front and centre. Highlights like 9PM Pornomag Planet and the delirious Long Tall Sally cover hit the hardest. Chaotic, intense, and loud R&R devotion



More Jet—recorded, mixed, and mastered by Toshimi Nanseki—is out now digitally, and soon also on vinyl LP, through Goner Records and Sorcerer Records. Featuring Seiji (Guitarwolf), GOTZ (Basswolf), and Takuro (Drumwolf).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (Goner) || Bandcamp (Sorcerer) || Goner

New album: Friends of Cesar Romero || Jolly Joker

A previously unreleased semi-live radio session shows FOCR at its purest

By / / Garage Rock, Power Pop, Punk / 1 Comment

Wait, a new FOCR record already? It feels like about four weeks since the last one, and that was a full album too. Yet here comes Jolly Joker (#49 and the penultimate entry in the Doomed Babe series… sigh), another full-length from the endlessly productive Friends of Cesar Romero camp.

But this one is a little different. In fact, it caught me off guard.

The ten songs here come from a John Peel-style radio session and were previously released. Judging by the track selection, which pulls mostly from FOCR’s 2016 to 2018 era with a few early ’10s cuts like Skull Carpenters, Girls in Prism, and Tammys of Tomorrow, this session likely dates from the pre-COVID years. So instead of fresh material, we get a batch of familiar FOCR songs captured live on tape. That twist turns out to be the whole point. These versions strip things down to the grit and nerves that sit at the core of J Waylon’s doomed love stories.

And it works. However rough around the edges these recordings may be, FOCR sound like they are playing with a small fire burning under the microphones. The songs hit harder, the heartbreak feels less theoretical.

Did we need another reminder of how good the FOCR universe can be? Not really. But Jolly Joker is a fun and welcome one anyway.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Crache || Plein Soleil

Basement-born synth-punk that crackles with naive melodies and nervous energy

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Crache’s debut album Plein Soleil arrives with the scuffed intensity you’d expect from a band forged in basement shows across France and Belgium. The Marseille quartet keep the synth-punk pulse known from their EPs Crache (2023) and Éclaircie Sauvage (2024) intact, but these nine new tracks push into darker, more introspective territory.

Recorded mostly live in a cold barn during a rain-soaked session in the Loire countryside, the record thrives on buzzing analog abrasion, restless distortion, frantic rhythms, and hooks that often feel reckless but sometimes also oddly tender. It’s noisy and raw, but has more than enough catchy moments, with French-language vocals adding a poetic edge to the genre. A vital first statement that melts away the last remnants of winter.



Plein Soleil—recorded by Arthur Hecky—is out now digitally, on cassette and vinyl LP, through Ganache Records / Howlin Banana Records. Featuring Nathan Hego (guitar, vocals), Jade Garnier (bass, vocals), Pierre Regniez (synths), and Tristan Chossat (drums).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Ganache || Howlin Banana

New album: Shop Talk || Shop Talk

Brooklyn's Shop Talk deliver the full-length we've been waiting for

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From the moment Brooklyn’s Shop Talk started cranking out singles and EPs, it was blatantly clear: these dudes were destined for the full-length format, and when they got there, they were going to absolutely destroy. And in loyalty to their punk upbringing, the first LP is self-titled because this is the way.

The facts: Shop Talk features 10 songs in 25 minutes with the BPM cranked to relentless. Four songs salvaged from their 2023 debut EP, six brand spankin’ new rippers. Recorded in a five-day blitz by James Meehan (The Sleeveens) in his own studio, mixed by Mikey “who the f- else?” Young. Available on vinyl through One Track Mind Records / Revolver USA.

Sonically, think The Dickies and Undertones if they’d been raised on New York grit instead of California sun or Belfast rain. Jon Garcia’s vibrato punk howler of a voice cuts through like a rusty blade, delivering every line like he’s got something to prove and scarce time to do it. This is melodic punk rock—late ’70s pop punk energy wrapped in a modern package—but brought with an intensity and edge that puts Shop Talk in a whole different weight class. It’s hard to find fault with this thing. Most bands blow their load in the first three tracks and coast. Shop Talk? They save some of their best shit for last: Mirage of Love and Terra Damnata close the record on a high.

Shop Talk, people. Poseurs they are not. This is the real shit, no asterisks, no qualifiers. Buy the record, play it loud, repeat until your ears bleed.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Swirls || Surge

A jolt of scruffy guitars and sarcastic energy

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Surge, the sophomore album by French post-punk quartet Swirls, thrives on the same scrappy charm that powered their 2024 debut Top of the Line, but this time the amps crackle a little louder and the nerves sit closer to the surface. The eleven new tracks present wiry riffs, tossed-off hooks, and a kind of organized chaos that feels both careless and oddly precise. Many bands attempt this blend, but few land on something this original, diverting, and consistently captivating on the dancefloor. It’s restless, punchy, and surprisingly sincere: a garage-punk-tinged jolt that expresses burnout, boredom, and brief flashes of joy. Bonus points for the energizing vocals.



Surge—recorded and mixed by Hugo Allard—is out digitally and on vinyl LP through Howlin’ Banana Records and A Tant Rêver Du Roi Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (Howlin’ Banana) || Bandcamp (ATRDRTant Rêver Du Roi) || ATRDR || Howlin’ Banana

New EP: LES REMPLAÇANTS || FACE A

A fine delivery of poppy punk rock from Lyon, France

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Sure, Sheena is a punk rocker, Suzy is a headbanger, and Judy is a punk, but did you know about Johanny? Well, Johanny est un professionnel, so sings the Lyonnais punk outfit LES REMPLAÇANTS. Translated from the band’s native French, the lyrics go something like: “He plays in more bands // Than there are days in the week // But how does he manage to remember // All those songs? // Johanny is a professional.”

It’s one of six songs on LES REMPLAÇANTS’ latest EP, a release that offers the kind of infectious, poppy punk rock hits I will never pass on, especially when they’re leaning late ’70s for inspiration like this batch most definitely is. Any of these six songs have the potential to become your favorite LES REMPLAÇANTS song yet. They even have their own theme song. For my pick today, I’m going with Johanny est un professionnel. C’est vrai!


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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