New album: Brian Damage || Previous Episodes

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

Hyperactive Columbus, Ohio-based singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Brian Baker plays/played in bands like DANA, D.O.T.S., Hydrone, Brat Curse, Astro Fang, Yakuza Heart Attack, Smug Brothers and Jet Kid Committee, but somehow he still has enough time and inspiration to create and record music under the resourceful DIY moniker of Brian Damage. On his third album Previous Episodes you’ll hear eleven energetic, contemporary garage rock songs in which heavy guitars and vintage synths go hand in hand. Between the grit, distortion and soundscapes you can detect influences from indie rock, power pop and DIY punk, with a good idea and appealing melody in every track.



Previous Episodes, recorded & mixed by Alex Douglas, is out now digitally and on limited edition cassette through Just Because Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: Tha Retail Simps || Live On Cool Street

By / / Garage Rock, Psych, Punk / Leave a Comment

Tha Retail Simps is one of the most exciting rock’n’roll bands of the past couple of years. Exhibit A: the band’s 2022 debut. Exhibit B: the band’s follow up LP Live On Cool Street, which is out now on Total Punk Records. Describing Tha Retail Simps is rather difficult. You could call them as a punk take on Velvet Underground and you would not be wrong. Tha Retail Simps are so much more than that though. Press play on Live On Cool Street and you’ll come across ferocious punkrock’n’roll, but also guitar solo’s and riffs, Northern Soul as well (listen to Weapon Of The Mystic, which is one of the highlights on the new LP). The exuberant playing of Tha Retail Simps is contagious, and at the center of their sound there is a highly combustible mix of musical influences. Think of the most boring, least inspired band you know and you’ll find Tha Retail Simps at its polar opposite. Live On Cool Street should be required listening for anyone on a bland musical diet. If there is any record that should wake them up and reconnect them with the sheer excitement that music can bring, it will be this one.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of August 2023

By / / Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg 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 random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

We’ve already written about tributes to The Cramps and Jonathan Richman, and Misfits-songs by Mexican bands and Lou Reed’s Perfect Day by Al Green were in the spotlight elsewhere, but have you heard the next choice cuts?

Lithium || Cover: Lavalove || Original: Nirvana
One year after Dead Formats Volume 1, Pure Noise Records will release Volume 2 of the punk rock compilation. It has a stellar lineup, including Less Than Jake with the Sooza Brass Band (Come Dancing), The Chisel (Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)), Knuckle Puck (Losing A Whole Year) and The Bouncing Souls (In The Dark). Our new favorite indie band Lavalove is also present with a delicious version of Nirvana’s Lithium, one of the singles from Nevermind (1991).

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New EP: Pash || Skylight

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

Pash is a twee indie pop project from Australia, featuring Joseph Buckmaster, Jemimah June, Jackson McCarthy and David Gauci. The fact that they describe themselves as shy and introspective doesn’t stop them from coming to the fore with this Skylight EP, following up on their 2021 Somersault EP and 2020 double A-Side cassette Demonstration. The lyrics of the three songs here explore themes of fantasy, hopelessness, desperation and embarrassment – wanting something you can’t have, or somewhere you can’t go – which fits well with the hazy vocals and synthy, melancholic sound of the music, that will appeal to fans of Sarah Records’ work. The title song with which the EP opens is the most subdued, after which lead single Possession and focus track Fantasy become more and more upbeat, as if the foursome gradually feel more and more free.


Skylight is out now digitally on Dinosaur City Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Tossing Seed || When You Come Around

By / / Indie Pop, Power Pop / 1 Comment

Tossing Seed are a new band from Magelang (Indonesia). Their 6-song debut EP When You Come Around is essential listening. Tossing Seed bridge the divide between ’80s underground pop (think Sarah Records, C86, Slumberland Records) and ’90s altpop (hints of Bob Mould and Evan Dando). I would not be surprised if the band’s name was taken from the Superchunk compilation, because Tossing Seed definitely have an edge. The When You Come Around EP is still pop though…pure pop for those that prefer their indie music sweet and spicy. What a lovely EP this is! Out now through Paska Records.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Helpful People || Brokenblossom Threats

By / / Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

Carly Putnam (The Oilies, The Mantles) and Glenn Donaldson (The Reds, Pinks And Purples, The Telephone Numbers, Skygreen Leopards and about twenty additional bands) are Helpful People. Their debut LP Brokenblossom Threats contains the five songs from their (digital only) Broken Blossom Threats EP (2022), as well as 7 new songs. Tall Texan has the Vinyl release and it is worth picking up if you like your indie pop cozy and of prime quality. The voice of Putnam floats nicely over the fuzzy guitars and steady beats. The songs ooze warmth and melancholy and sound rather dreamy yet urgent. I have to listen to the record more, but Brokenblossom Threats may very well turn out as one of the finest indie pop releases of 2023.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: solamente muero los domingos || qué dif​í​cil es, qué bien se siente

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

solamente muero los domingos (smld) are a trio from Panama that debut with qué dif​í​cil es, qué bien se siente, which roughly translates to ‘how hard it is, how good it feels.’ slmd don’t use CAPS in their band name, and that reflects in their music that is not loud at all. Expect chiming and jangly guitars, hushed vocals and gorgeous melodies. The indie pop of smld would not look out of place at all in the current Bay Area scene. Favorite track: me perdí el eclipse.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Thrillhouse || Something About This Place

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

Thrillhouse is an indie pop/rock outfit based in Brighton, UK, comprised of lead songwriters Jack Connell Nielsen and Sam David Baldwin, and their mates Ali (bass) and Leo (drums). After four years of blood, sweat and tears, they now proudly present their debut LP Something About This Place, eleven songs of childhood memories, failure and acceptance. They know how to put the realization into words: “It was an acceptance of things past, a letting go, que sera, sera, ‘what will be, will be’ and all that. Perhaps we’re’ still grasping. There’s no glamour in it – looking back. The world certainly wasn’t purer. But ours felt bluer, brighter and maybe something has been lost, left behind.” The facts that the band name is derived from an old Simpsons episode and their sound is somewhat reminiscent of The War On Drugs, indicates that humorous nostalgia and contemporary depth go hand in hand here, and that appears to be the case in both the lyrics and the music. This is a promising debut, captivating and engaging.

Something About This Place, produced and mixed by Max Fletcher and mastered by Julian Tardo, is out now streaming (self-released).

New album: Young Francis Hi Fi || The Young Generation

By / / Garage Rock, Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

“Do you like good music? // Oh yes I like // Do you like good music? // Oh yes I like it, love it, like it, love it, like it, love it, like it.” Here’s Brighton (UK)-based garage punk band Young Francis Hi Fi, who are not secretive about what they are about. In terms of lyrics, sound, style and art, we’re dealing with dirty, fast, loud and exciting rock ‘n’ roll, which you could already deduce from the looks of the band members. Young Francis (vocals, guitar), Jimi Dymond (guitar, backup vocals), Bobby Herz (bass) and Danny Joe Handsome (drums) have just released their debut LP The Young Generation, thirteen two-minute songs about girls, getting high and hanging out. Expect catchy power pop tunes played in a raucous 60s-bubblegum-meets-70s-punk way, pulling out all the tricks – from heavy guitar riffs and handclaps to thundering drum rolls and gang vocals – to get the audience to sing, dance and sweat along. “Yeah yeah yeah // Uh oh!”




The Young Generation, produced by Liam Watson, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through 14th Floor Music / Dirty Water Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Who Is She? || Goddess Energy

By / / Indie Pop, Power Pop / Leave a Comment

The members of Who Is She? have earned their stripes. The veteran presence (Julia Shapiro (Chastity Belt), Robin Edwards (Lisa Prank), Tacocat’s Bree McKenna and Emily Nokes) may explain the nothing-to-prove-let’s-just-have-fun looseness of Who Is She? The indiepop on the band’s debut album Goddess Energy is playful and never feels overthought or overproduced. The songs are a carnival of nods to pop and rock’n’roll of the past six decades, like the spoken word parts on Moviepass and Anne Hathaway and the Groove Is In The Heart bass riff of 96 Ghouls.

The Goddess Energy album offers a little bit of twee, a bit of ’60s girl group and a touch of powerpop and, above all, loads of fun. The artwork with its Midsommar vibe is probably the only thing about this album I am not that fond of, but I’m loving the tunes. Goddess Energy is out now through Father/Daughter Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

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