Punk

New album: Third Ego || More Ego

Brooding punk rock with some weight behind it

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After their self-titled debut landed in late 2022, Third Ego return with More Ego, 25 minutes of punk rock that is melodic while still carrying a dark undercurrent. Their sound leans heavily into alternative rock territory, with shades of Bob Mould and Mission of Burma, and an emotional weight to these songs that is palpable.

This is not the kind of band sleepwalking through familiar moves. Third Ego clearly have a strong idea of what they want this project to be, and the collective experience from members of NRA, Brat Pack, NEED, Human Alert, and Selfish shows all over this thing. The songs are short and urgent without feeling rushed, sharp without sounding clinical. They give the record a tension that keeps pulling you back in.

There’s a brooding intensity running through More Ego, but also enough melody to stop it from collapsing under its own heaviness. A rewarding listen from a band that sounds fully locked in.

LP (with pretty awesome art by Menno Wittebrood) available through a bullet train of labels including Shield Recordings, White Russian Records, Flight 13 Label, Slow Death, Scuderie Ducali Records, and Serial Bowl.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Shield Recordings || Serial Bowl || Linktree

New album: Automatic Lovers || Automatic Lovers

Madrid comes in swinging

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You’ve got to love what Wap Shoo Wap Records is doing, making authentic punk feel dangerous and cool again. There’s a reason people all over the globe are paying attention to Dutch bands like The Covids, Sick Shooters, and Savage Beat. Automatic Lovers may be from Madrid, but they fit the label’s ethos to a tee. Just look at the band name. Look at the sleeve. You already know what kind of ride this is.

And plenty of you already do, since the band’s debut single disappeared of the market fast last year.

Their self-titled debut LP brings nine originals and two covers, High Degree by Next and Pushin’ Too Hard by The Vibrators. I had a pretty good idea what to expect, but I was still struck by the hard edge of this thing. Automatic Lovers skip the cute stuff and go straight for the ass kicking. The touchstones are The Vibrators, Slaughter & The Dogs, The Boys, and Sonny Vincent.

Underneath the grit, though, there’s melody and rhythm running through these songs. You just have to lean in a little. I have no doubt you will. Buy the LP at Wap Shoo Wap or Spanish label Folc Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (Wap Shoo Wap) || Folc Records

New album: The Lizzards || Cold to the Bone

This trio from Winnipeg is scrappy in all the right places

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Here’s a new tape from Eat Em Up, a Winnipeg label we only covered before once, but probably should look to more often.

It brings 12 songs from The Lizzards. Well, 11 really, since Whenever You’re Around is a cover of a Griefs tune. This trio includes Jan Quakenbush, who recently put out a fun record I considered writing about before it got lost in the shuffle.

The Lizzards play a raucous kind of rock ’n’ roll that lands somewhere between ’70s proto-punk and the strain of garage pop that had a real moment around 2010 to 2015. Fuzzy, scrappy, catchy, and a little ragged around the edges. Effective stuff.

Apparently, this is The Lizzards third album already. This release makes me want to dive into their complete roster for some digital crate digging.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Crash || Crash

Fried nerves fire back

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Here’s a new Kansas City quartet with a band name that fits the sound perfectly, even if it makes them a pain to track down online. CRASH, indeed!

They debut with an 11-track cassette on Dirtbag Distro, and it hits like one big boot to the chest. This is pure ’80s American hardcore worship, like Black Flag and Minor Threat rattling around in the same basement. A brain-on-fire record about overload, alienation, and the slow grind of being used up, ignored, and pushed to the edge.

What keeps it from turning into pure collapse is the fight in it. CRASH don’t roll over. They turn panic, pressure, and fried nerves into short, loud bursts that hit back hard, like a band trying to get it out of their system before the walls cave in.

No fat, no breathing room, just one pissed-off rip after another. Probably the best Crash you’ll experience today.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Drakulas || Midnight City

Third installment of this Rise Against & Riverboat Gamblers sideshow is another fun one!

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A co-release between Dirtnap and Wild Honey is always good news. And a return of Drakulas, the concept band featuring Rise Against’s Zach Blair and Riverboat Gamblers’ Mike Wiebe, Rob Marchant, and Ian Walling, is one to greet with ears wide open. What started as a concept clearly took on a life of its own. On Midnight City, their third album, the band sound like a punk outfit dipping into early new wave, like they got a new haircut and picked up a few turtlenecks.

There’s a smoothness to the sound that goes beyond the usual scrappy feel of their labels’ rosters. Sure, there are straight-up pop punk hits here, like Singin’ With My Tongue Cut Out, Is It Enough?, and Guys Like Me, Girls Like You. But there’s also a groove and a slightly angular edge running through the record, like the band is nudging you toward the dancefloor if you dare. And if you don’t, that’s fine too, this thing still lands.

Midnight City might not click with everyone, but it’s easy to see people latching onto this hard. Worth diving into.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Dirtnap

New EP: No Peeling || EP2

Indie awesomeness for the understimulated

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In 2026 it is all too easy to get overstimulated. Doomscrolling, always online, always having your earbuds in, always people around you. If that sounds familiar, I’m not even sure if you need No Peeling (Nottingham) in your life. Because they cram a ridiculous amount of hyperactivity into nine minutes.

They already did it on their first EP, featuring one of my favorite songs of last year, and they do it again here. This is indie awesomeness pushed into overdrive, insanely restless, from a band that sounds like it’s operating right at the edge of something. Luckily, they turn that into a strength. These seven songs hit like a full-on, fun kind of ass kicking. If a band can do this much in this little time, that’s a bar.

This synth indie post-punk chaos, it works. No Peeling is one killer band. After each spin I found myself singing Superchunk’s “I think I’m hyper enough as it is!”, catching my breath, and gearing up for another round.

EP2 is out on, of course, Wrong Speed Records and Feel it Records. It all checks out.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Sleeveens || National Anthem

Stefan Murphy et al come back, swinging even harder

By / / Garage Rock, Punk / 1 Comment

The Sleeveens! A band from Nashville and Dublin singing about being Born On A Saturday Night? That alone should make any self-respecting bar and venue sit up straight.

It’s a statement song on an impressive second full-length that, on early judgment, feels like an even better overall record than the debut. Maybe that’s because the first one felt like it had been a long time coming, with Give My Regards To The Dancing Girls already played to death on my end. Believe me, I tried to wear it out, yet somehow still love that song! But with National Anthem, I arrived with a fresh pair of ears.

That helps when the record comes out swinging with two instant winners, If I Was A Casual and I Was Born On A Saturday Night. They’re such uncomplicated fun you can probably sing along halfway through the first spin. The third song keeps the momentum going with another punk rocker that gives the album a proper kickstart.

There’s jangly power pop in My Pretend Boyfriend, though power pub might be closer, because that pub rock spirit runs right through this band. Then comes The Rat, still the biggest hit from the critically acclaimed and still underrated The Walkmen. The middle stretch eases off a little before Cowboy Queen gets the punk rock ’n’ roll pulse going again.

Hearing Stephan Murphy’s well-worn, soulful voice howl “you know I’m gonna rock n roll forever” is life-affirming stuff. High Babies, Low Babies shows off the range in that voice and how he makes you believe every word. The back end of National Anthem brings throwback late ’70s punk on Six Counties Punk, 100 seconds of punk rock perfection with Long Black Summer, and a closing plea in the title track to “Burn your fuckin’ country in the name of love” that should land warmly in plenty of places across the globe and is destined to become a sing along staple at live shows.

Anyone who fell for the first Sleeveens record will have plenty to love here too. Still, what really stands out is the quality of the songwriting and the conviction in the passionate delivery. LP out now on Goner Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: I Before E || I Before E

Chasing the ’90s and catching it

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Born too late to catch ’90s pop punk and punk rock in real time, I Before E (Brennan Buzinkai & Walt Staszewski out of Chattanooga, Tennessee) are busy building their own version of it in the 2020s. That’s pretty much their whole deal, and we are here for it. When we first came across them on 2024’s Criminal Record, we heard a sweet mix Green Day, Lemonheads, and Big Drill Car. On this debut full-length, you can throw Blink-182 into the mix as well, especially on opener Bring Me Down.

If you’re here for innovation or left turns, you’re in the wrong place. That’s not what this band is about. But within those well-worn lanes, I Before E stand out for how pure these songs feel. There’s an innocence and youthful energy running through the record that’s hard to fake. They know when to stack harmonies, when to switch gears, and how to keep things moving without everything blurring together. The run of IOU into Toxic Sand, both early singles, is a perfect example of how sweet they can get without losing momentum.

No rulebook rewrites here, just a band nailing that ’90s sweet spot and riding it all the way through. I mean, they even have Mark deSalvo, who provided the art for many NOFX, Lagwagon, NUFAN and Pulley records, doing the art for their record cover. These kids are more than alright!



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: Scrapped Plans || Oh, Ylenia b/w A Smaller Victory

The return of pop punk favorite crew provides your next sugar rush

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One of the best things to happen in pop punk lately was the surprise arrival of Scrapped Plans, basically the genre’s version of an Avengers-style team-up. The project now returns in a slightly tweaked lineup. This time Mikey Erg and Grath Madden are joined by Andy Conway (Science Police, Top Bunk, Robot Bachelor), Miranda Taylor (Exmaid, Full of Fancy), and Erin Hays (Gerbera).

Two songs, just over four minutes, all killer. Caffeinated, sugar-dosed, fast, and catchy. Oh, Ylenia is classic Grath Madden, his voice kicking in immediately and carrying the whole thing through a tight 80 seconds. It just fits. A Smaller Victory rips too, with Mikey Erg on lead and the rest of the band piling in toward the end.

In and out, and yeah, it leaves you wanting more. Good thing more is on the way soon. Or as Grath Madden puts it: “soon-adjacent.”

ON REPEAT!


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Dusted || The Best New Cover Songs Of April 2026

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Punk, Surf / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, e.g. as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are—in a kind of random order—a bunch of successful covers from last month—links to pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

Fade To Black (Metallica) by The Tubs — digital track (Merge Records)

Don’t Look Back (The Remains) by The Peawees — from More Scraps LP (Wild Honey Records)

Problem Child (AC/DC) by Neo-Magics — from Leaving on a Jet Plane EP (Half A Cow Records)

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Dusted || The Best New Cover Songs Of April 2026Read More »

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