New album: Secret Towns || Nightlights

By / / Indie Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Nightlights, the debut album from American indie rock four-piece Secret Towns, was released at the end of September. That we’re only writing about it now is because these are those songs that take a little more time to love. The seed was planted a few weeks ago, and thanks to the occasional attention, the 10 track collection has grown into a wantlist-worthy LP. Luke Thornton (vocals, guitar), Sam Pena (bass), Harry Dulaney (drums), and Matt Petino (lead guitar) play dreamy, jangling guitar pop with psychedelic and ambient post-punk elements, with lyrics about escaping moments from the past and present. In everything the music is aimed at listening at night, the hours that offer the excitement of the potential time ahead to the morning after. As the album begins: “It’s so still tonight // But I feel the rush so far ahead of me.” To end 40 minutes later with the last lines of the title track: “We won’t be the same // Leaving out of the scene // But before you leave // Leave a nightlight on for me.” According to the band, the album represents the idea of affection remaining with the people and places passing through time. Likely that you will be hypnotized if you look at moving city lights at the same moment.

Nightlights is out now digitally. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Evening Standards || Rainbow Shrimp

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Basement Pop is the home of the collective musical projects of musicians Chris Mott & Daun Fields. It is also an apt description of the music of my favorite Basement Pop band: Evening Standards. Mott (guitar) & Fields (bass) take on dual vocal duties in Evening Standards, and are joined by Jacob Hamilton on drums. They play a kind of punkrock and indie rock that is hard to pinpoint. They don’t seem to care about speed, or attitude, or what is cool or happening. What they do care about is writing heartfelt tunes with a lot of melody. That show of heart, that emotional aspect, but also the dual vocals and harmonies give the songs almost an americana or alt country feel. While destined to be overlooked by many, Evening Standards are an easy band to fall for if you just give them a chance.

Rainbow Shrimp is the band’s third album, and if this is your first taste of the band, I highly recommend checking out the band’s previous output. Rainbow Shrimp builds on the previous records, but sounds slightly more lo-fi. It’s another great collections of songs that gets better with each play slowly crawling its way on your end-of-the-year lists. Enjoy the two Evening Standards’ basement pop tunes below, and get ready to develop warm feelings  for this band.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp 

New album: Postage || Postage

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

Band names raise certain expectations. The first time I heard Postage, a four piece with a history in bands like Signal Lost, Male Patterns, After The Fall, they already had that competitive advantage by naming themselves after a classic All track, from one of my favorite All records (Allroy For Prez). Then again, if their music would’ve sucked that bandname would have been the piece of concrete sinking them to the bottom.

Fortunately, we need not worry about that. Postage’s self-titled debut is filled with melodic punkrock for fans of bands like Dear Landlord, The Dopamines and Leatherface. The record only has one downside: most of these songs have been previously released on the band’s two EP’s, and their split single with Mikey Erg. I’m not complaining though, those releases were digital only and I’m happy to finally be able to own these songs on vinyl. Postage is out November 5th on Dirt Cult Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Dirt Cult

New album: The Be Positives || Everything About…

By / / Power Pop / Leave a Comment

Manchester’s four-piece The Be Positives blend rock, blues, folk, and country influences into a sound that bands like 22-20s, Little Barrie, and The Zutons made about 15 years ago, but with a dash of 70’s Big Star added. Let’s file their sophomore full-length Everything About… under the power pop category. That album title is somewhat overpromising, because the lyrics don’t teach us much about the band (from Rain & Stormy Weather: “Well If it wasn’t such a simple question // Then I would have given it a little thought // And if I’d given her a different answer // Then yes I think it would have come to nought”). What we do know: Mike Seal (guitar, keyboards), Simon Mayne (guitar), Rob Hatton (bass), Callum Darley (drums, percussion) can all sing, and they know how to write varied, melodic songs. These are 11 tests of prowess, ranging from energetic rockers to acoustic ballads. Standout tracks are the garage fueled Please Please Please (“You got me feeling like I am a disease // Yeah you got me going”), and the catchy pub rocker Goodbye (“No I have never been the type // To get help for myself // I just pretend the problem’s someone else’s”). Stream the full album below.

Everything About​… is out now digitally and on CD through Think Like A Key Music; a vinyl LP is available early 2022.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Adapter Adapter || No Comfort

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots / Leave a Comment

No Comfort is the new (third) full-length album by American bluesy stoner duo Adapter Adapter. The first thing you’ll notice is the cool cover art by Jonathan Grimm; it was a no-brainer to add The Cosmic Mariner to our Favorite Album Covers Gallery. The second thing to mention is that songwriter Nick Ryder (vocals, guitar, blues harp) and Christopher Roy (drums, percussion) do not sound like those other duos from the blues rock genre (you know who i’m referring to), but at the same time evoke positive associations with rock bands with a larger line-up. These are eight energetic songs with heavy guitar riffs, powerful vocals, creative drum patterns and a cheerful harmonica, songs for stamping feet and nodding heads. A big sound on which you can challenge your amplifier.

No Comfort is out digitally and on vinyl LP.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of October 2021

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Punk / 2 Comments

Not all new music is really new, as many artists occasionally play a song they know from one of their heroes. Often they are songs that deserve to be dusted and polished, simply because they should not be forgotten. Some of those cover versions are so good, 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.

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door || Cover: The William Loveday Intention || Original: Bob Dylan
It’s unbelievable how much good music Billy Childish continues to create, with originals and covers, but also adaptations of his own earlier work. Last month, with CTMF, he released the great single Bob Dylan’s Got a Lot to Answer For (“Even an idiot must admit that Bob Dylan made some great tunes, but despite his many achievements it must also be said that Bob has got a lot to answer for, so we wrote him a complementary tune”), and from the moniker of The William Loveday Intention also appeared an impressive cover of the master’s Knockin’ On Heavens Door. It’s a classic that has been covered many times, but this is possibly the most epic one. That goes for the 10-minute vocal version (with extra lyrics added), but the even longer instrumental is even more compelling. Out on 12″ vinyl through Squoodge Records and digitally via Damaged Goods.

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New album: Fortitude Valley || Fortitude Valley

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

I’d like to introduce you to Durham’s (UK) answer to Auckland’s (NZ) The Beths: Fortitude Valley! Their self-titled debut provides the ear candy that can only be the result of hitting the sweet spot between indie pop, powerpop and pop punk.

Fortitude Valley is fronted by Laura Kovic, who you may know as the keyboardist of Tigercat. She found her bandmates through the much missed Fortuna Pop! label. Those bandmates? Bassist Greg Ullyart from Night Flowers, Nathan Stephens Griffin (drums) and Daniel Ellis (lead guitar). Ellis also plays in Martha, which is probably my favorite UK pop punk band of the past decade. I love how several of the chord progressions and guitar fills on the record are reminiscent of that band, most notably on the sweet album opener Baby, I’m Afraid.

While decidedly pop-oriented, the music of Fortitude Valley is quite the departure from Kovic’s previous output. “In the past I’ve usually written more gentle melodic pop songs,” she explains in the press release, “but I’ve tried to move away from that slightly on this album and experiment with adding more deliberate bite to my songwriting. Nathan, Daniel and Greg definitely helped to make it more punk.”

The record is timely as well, touching on themes like the passage of time, friendships and relationships growing apart, and feelings of insecurity, depression, and anxiety—as well as searching for love and salvation—, and maintaining to sound joyful and fun throughout. Having two kittens from rescued street cats at home, I can particularly relate to All Haill The Great Destroyer, “a tribute to Margie the rescue cat who destroys everything for fun and is an absolute legend.”

So yeah, what I’m trying to say is that I completely fell for the ear candy of Fortitude Valley. Disclaimer: SO MANY HITS!



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Fika Recordings

New album: Diamondtown || Diamondtown

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

Diamondtown is made up of veterans of the Nova Scotia underground scene, whose past bands include Eric’s Trip, Dog Day, and Century Egg. The band has about 2.1 million fewer monthly listeners on Spotify than The War On Drugs. And yet, I can envision a lot of those TWOD fans fall for the new self-titled record of Diamondtown. To me, Diamondtown operates in that same realm of spacious, tension building, accessible guitar pop/rock, particularly on songs like Flame, Truth and Outtamind.

But rather than the dad rock-vibe of TWOD with its Dire Straits influences, the songs of Diamondtown  seem substantially informed by ’80s new wave and ’60s jangly pop. They are more concise as well.  Perfect for a late summer beach day, or on your commute with a coffee-to-go in your hand.

Listen to Stride, a perfect and timeless jangle pop tune, and let the sound of Diamondtown gently wash over you.



Diamondtown is out now on Label Obscura.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Flangipanis || Fuckin’ Woo

By / / Alternative Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Somewhere in the middle of Perfectly Average, the penultimate song on the new Flangipanis record Fuckin’ Woo, Rocky Balboa shares an important lesson. One we all learnt the hard way, if not before, well than at least at some time in the past twenty months or so. “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” You don’t need to be a fan of the Italian Stallion to feel the power of the quote. Its use is timely and a good match with the music.

It is one of several highlights on the record. The songs of Flangipanis (Brisbane, Australia) on Fuckin’ Woo are filled to the brim with ’90s melodic punk nostalgia. Some of the songs even hint upon hardcore, and there are some ska elements as well. The lyrics continually switch between being in-your-face direct, slightly uncomfortable and pretty funny. It’s singer Jodie who takes the record to another level though. In several songs, her sheer power and rock’n’roll attitude reminds me of A Giant Dog singer Sabrina Ellis.

For more on the album, check out Hysteriamag’s track-by-track feature, and have a taste of Clothes (“a song dedicated to creeps who “like women in music” but actually only go to gigs to perve.”) and Perfectly Average below. Fuckin’ Woo is available on vinyl now at the band’s webstore.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Flangipanis Store

New album: Lewsberg || In Your Hands

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

Idiosyncratic Rotterdam four-piece Lewsberg has released In Your Hands, a mini-album with nine songs in less than 23 minutes (actually it’s eight songs, but the closing track All Things has been split in two for some reason). Based on the cover art you could conclude that these tracks are just sketches, but they are certainly full-fledged. However, the new work is less haunted, more low-key and fragile than their first two LPs. What has remained are the poetic lyrics with nonchalant, relatable observations (again many quotable sentences, such as from Getting Closer: “Proposal one: give me what I want // Proposal two: you should have it too // Be prepared, take your share”), and the distinctive talking vocals of singer/guitarist Arie van Vliet. The recognizable, rudimentary sound of his fellow band members – guitarist Michiel Klein, bassist Shalita Dietrich (in  opening track Departure she proves that she can sing beautifully), and drummer Dico Kruijsse – has not really changed either. But these new songs show that they are indeed evolving. Stream the full album below.

In Your Hands is out now digitally and on cassette, and will be available on 12″ vinyl early 2022.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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