New album: Bad Mother || Hesitation

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

New can be a relative adjective when speaking of a record that has just been released. In case of Bad Mother (Chicago), they recorded Side A of their Hesitation LP in 2020, and Side B in 2021. That feels like ages ago! It is out just now at Religious Records on two variants: Transparent Red and Transparent Smoke vinyl. I am not sure what the band’s current line up is, but throughout the years Bad Mother has had members of The Jetbirds, Poison Boys, The Frantic and Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts. Current Skid Row drummer Rob Hammersmith plays on the Side B songs.

Bad Mother are an American rock’n’roll band by heart. There are touches of Seventies’ rock and powerpop but also of ’80s pop metal. I’d almost use glam as well, but there is a blue collar vibe to the songs of Bad Mother, not unlike the music of Nato Coles and The Blue Diamond Band.

Hesitation is not available for streaming on Bandcamp unfortunately, but you can order the record there. You can also listen to it on most of the streaming platforms. If you’re not on those platforms and want a bigger sample than the video below, listen to Enemy, Right Down The Road and Drove which are my favorites on the album.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: 2M80 || 2M80

By / / Garage Rock, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

2M80 is a new project by Vinny Earley of Vaguess and Staz Lindes of The Paranoyds. Their debut full length is out now on a very limited Tape run through Under The Gun Records. It’s pretty special.

From opener What Trent Does, 2M80 will draw you in with tunes that seem to come straight from the Velvet Underground and Flying Nun songbooks. Some songs are scrappy art rock, others are jangly pop nuggets, some are faster and upbeat, still others are slow and seductive. The delivery has a spontaneous feel to it, the production sounds loose, the vocal interplay sure is complementary, and the songwriting is top notch throughout. Highly recommended!




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Pink Spiders || Freakazoid

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

Nashville rock band The Pink Spiders have been in business for twenty years, but Matt Friction (lead vocals, guitar), JoCo (bass), Joey B-Side (drums) and Young James (guitar) seem to be at the top of their game. The ten songs on their new (fifth) full-length album Freakazoid are hook-heavy, infectious and danceable – polished power pop with touches of glam rock and pop punk. You get one of the most beautiful declarations of love ever (“You make me wanna come home thinking // Why’m I goin’ out all night to high five dickheads I don’t like?” – from Let’s Go Home), but above all this record offers a lot of positive energy that is as magnetic as it is gratifying.




Freakazoid is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Pure Noise Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Pure Noise

New EP: Wandering Summer || Wandering Summer

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

Wandering Summer are a new band from Leeds fronted by independent music busy bee Geddy Laurance. Laurance played in bands like Boyracer and City Yelps, and  promoted UK tours by US bands like Jeanines, The Umbrellas, Seablite and Sic Alps. Laurance started Wandering Summer at some point in the pandemic with Luke Wheeler (Take Turns), Jamie Deakin (Samsa, Lowpines) Niall Kennedy (Dallas Don’t, The Beckoning Fair Ones). Rest assured, the five songs on their self-titled debut EP share nothing of the dread and uncertainty of the pandemic years. Wandering Summer play with purpose, passion and conviction.

The band’s sound would not have looked out of place in the indie rock scene of two decades ago. Let’s put in under the indie rock umbrella, at times noisy but always with a strong sense of melody. Clearly the four members broad tastes shine through in these varied yet coherent batch of songs, and hints of powerpop, shoegaze and dream pop all pop up at times. Laurance’s distinct voice gives the music an unique feel. Show Me The Way is the prize song for me. It showcases all of the strengths of Wandering Summer. It’s an accessible and powerful sounding guitar driven pop track, with an euphoric chorus and noisy feedback.

The Wandering Summer EP is out now through Safe Suburban Home and Repeating Cloud Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Taxi Girls || Coming Up Roses

By / / Power Pop, Punk / 1 Comment

We were fortunate enough to premiere one of the songs of the debut EP by Montreal’s Taxi Girls – a band featuring Jamie (Pale Lips, Reta Records), Vera (Dirty Cheetah), and Lynn (Pale Lips, Dirty Cheetah). The song (After Effect) was a mash up of punk bite and sugary harmonies driven forward by a forceful bass riff. I took an instant liking to the track, as I did with the earlier leaked track (Sunshine). And yet, despite my expectations for the full release being rather high, I did not anticipate is how great the remainder of the EP would be. Others have pointed this out already, but there truly are zero fillers on the Coming Up Roses EP.

Taxi Girls have carved out a niche build on punk spirit and pop sensibility. Like Michelin starred chefs, Jami, Vera and Lynn display great skill in mixing sweet elements with sour, bitter and salty touches, and giving their dishes crunchy textures. Listen to Good Grace for example. High pitched ooh ooh’s follow a bloody throat inducing singalong chorus. Stay With Me is a more upbeat (and very fun!) song, and like Sunshine, the song is closest to Jamie’s music with Pale Lips. Hands Off is another great track and a very important one as well. Similar to 7 Seconds’ It’s Not Just Boys Fun and Fugazi’s Suggestion, it’s a feminist punk anthem that is pretty clear in its message: “Keep your hands away, from my body.” It’s a message some people still need to hear unfortunately. With Hands Off, Taxi Girls have created an anthem for common sense and respecting the personal boundaries of other people, a battle cry for their audiences to rally behind.

The Coming Up Roses EP is out now on Dirt Cult (cassette) and Wild Honey Records (vinyl).




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Highball || Five Cubes

By / / Garage Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Highball is a new band out of West Springfield, Massachusetts fronted by Shane Dupuy (Laika’s Orbit, Anthropophagous, Tortured Skull and others), Steve Cameron and Cole Lanier (California X). They released their debut EP Five Cubes digitally a couple of months ago. I missed it, since Highball chose tags on Bandcamp like hard rock and heavy metal. That’s not to say those tags don’t make sense at all – Highball definitely rocks hard and it’s clear that their music is heavily influenced by ’70s hard rock. But it’s more Thin Lizzy meets Replacements than Black Sabbath or Metallica.

Anyhow, Fort Wayne cassette label Demolisten Records decided to release the EP on Tape. It’s how I discovered the existence of Highball, even though I am a huge fan of Dupuy’s band Laika’s Orbit. Note to self: try to keep up more with the wheelings and dealings of artists you admire and appreciate. This Highball project kicks ass, and I can’t stop playing No One Out But Through. What a hit!



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Demolisten

New album: The Far Outs || The Far Outs

By / / Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

The Far Outs are a garage rock duo from Brisbane, Australia, in which Phil Usher (vocals, guitar, keys, percussion) and Jonny Pickvance (drums, handclaps) can do what would have been inappropriate in their other projects (Grand Atlantic, Blonde On Blonde, Fingerless, Sacred Shrines, Hillsborough, etc), and they do it with swagger. Their first single Last Night made it to my year-end list of 2021, and now it opens their self-titled debut LP. From the band name (actually in capitals: The FAR OUTS) and the cover art (their black & white logo) to the raucous sound (rooted in the 60s) and the lyrics where the tones are more important than the words themselves (“I’ve nothing to say to you // Cause you could never feel these blues”- from Bad Thing), everything matches and impresses. The ten songs they blast out of your speakers in 32 minutes are raw and primitive, exactly how they should be.



The Far Outs’ self-titled album, written & produced by Phil Usher, is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Ripple Music / Rebel Waves Records.

Add to wantlist: The Far Outs @ Bandcamp (Australia) || Ripple Music @ Bandcamp (Europe / US)

New album: Fort Not || Depressed For Success

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

Fort Not may sound like they are from the Bay Area or some coastal town along the west coast of the US, but the duo of Fredrik Söderström and Robert Carlsson are in fact from Gothenburg. And as further evidence of the globalization of music, and that specific sounds and genres have long passed being bounded by regional borders, the Swedes release their new record today (as they did with their 2020 LP The Club is Open) through a Spanish label (Meritorio).

So why the association with California? Well, Depressed For Success offers a pleasant mix of sunny slacker garage pop with smooth vocal melodies. This is beach-ready Pop music with a capital P. But what makes this new LP, the band’s third, especially enjoyable is its variation. It goes from lo-fi balladry to upbeat and exciting and everything in between. The guitars are at times strummy and at other times jangly. Last week, I wrote about the relaxing qualities of Neil Brogan’s new record, and Depressed For Succes is quite similar.

Highlights for me are the massive pop hits Tell Me Nothing and Ringo Starr, two songs with a chorus you’ll be singing along to from the get-go. A for Effort is another standout – the title a self-fulfilling prophecy perhaps? With Depressed For Succes, Fort Not have mastered the art of knowing when your melodies are strong enough and you can leave out unnecessary ballast. Simplicity can be a beautiful thing, indeed.

Buy Depressed For Success on vinyl at Meritorio Records.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Meritorio

New EP: Mopar Stars || Shoot The Moon

By / / Indie Rock, Power Pop / 1 Comment

Some new projects make an instant impression. They make you drop everything, curious to find out more and eager to tell everyone about your new favorite band. Spoiler alert: Mopar Stars (Philadelphia) are my favorite discovery of late. They play a mix of ’90s alt pop, indie rock and power pop that checks most of the boxes I look for in music: strong melodies, energetic, scrappy, great guitar work, songs that somehow get better with each additional play. Mopar Stars build their songs on a lot of familiar elements but manage to make them sound fresh and exciting.

But who are Mopar Stars? The songs on their debut EP Shoot The Moon are played with such a high level of confidence and conviction, and oozing with so much talent, they just have to be created by a group of experienced musicians who know what they are doing. Having trouble finding anything about the band, I sent them an email a couple of days ago. To my pleasant surprise – some bands are hard to reach, the band replied promptly and provided some background. Let me share what I learned so far. Mopar Stars started as the solo project of Nao Demand (Poison Ruïn, Zorn), but has since picked up Bill Magger (Positronix), Alex Karraba (TVO, ICD10) and Evan Cambell (Zorn, Sheer Mag) to grow to a full line up. Mopar Stars is a departure from their previous projects that lean heavily towards punk, hardcore and metal. With Mopar Stars they aim for a mix of “’90s big riff indie rock and the more straight forward pop stylings of uk power pop.”

Okay, enough reading, I invite you to check out the songs below. Oh, and the best news about the band’s message? More Mopar Stars music is on its way!




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Datenight (US) || Mother’s Day

By / / Indie Rock, Punk / 1 Comment

Datenight (US) threw a big rock in the indie rock pond in 2018 with their LP Comin’ Atcha 100MPH. I immediately took a liking to the punked up slacker approach of the Nashville band. Songs like Poor Exchange and On The Block felt like a breathe of fresh air to both the punk and indie rock scenes. The band released the follow-up Is This Also It in 2020, a record I have no recollection of having heard. My bad, have to correct that.

The thing is, Datenight (US) have just released a new record that is claiming my attention and is keeping me busy. It’s called Mother’s Day, and has 12 songs that may be less punked up, but still sound pretty raucous and hyperactive. Like Night Court, one of our favorite new act of late, Datenight (US) doesn’t really waste time with the songs on Mother’s Day. They cut away all unnecessary and boring parts. The guitars are buzzing, the vocals are scratchy, the hooks are so sharp they will draw blood, and the production is messy, fuzzy and lo-fi. In short: Great stuff!

One of the songs on Mother’s Day is called Too Cool To Care. I am not sure if that is meant tongue in cheek, but Datenight (US) sound so much cooler than your average indie rock band. Mother’s Day is one hell of a record!




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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