New album: Oh Condor || Emergency Psychic

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

In our forage for new music, I believe most of us drift towards music that sounds familiar, but has some elements of surprise. Dayton (Ohio) four-piece Oh Condor offer exactly that on their LP Emergency Psychic. Oh Condor play an exciting and brand of college rock with elements of emo, shoegaze, math and ’90’s alt rock. Those familiar elements draw you in, but the band keeps you on your toes, and maintains your interest with plenty of unexpected twists and turns in any sonic direction, within and between songs. Thoughout it all, the band somehow manages to create a coherent whole that sounds fresh and exceeds the sum of its parts. An impressive feat for a collective that has been making music together for 20 years. Emergency Psychic is out now on Blind Rage Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Blind Rage Records

New EP: Mesh || Mesh

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

Mesh is a relatively new post-punk band from Philadelphia. They just dropped their self-titled debut EP in the pond and it is making some significant waves. It was recently picked as Bandcamp’s Album of the Day, and it’s easy to see why. There is not a weak song on the EP, and with Company Jeep it contains at least one hit for the ages. “One of these days you’re going to lose it || You’re going to lose your cool,” frontman Sims Hardin sings in the song, and the video offers some examples of what happens when that time arrives.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: West Coast Music Club || Jenny’s Still Got (What It Takes)

By / / Power Pop / 1 Comment

That Jenny must be a special woman, considering how often she’s been sung about: Mitch Ryder did it (Jenny Take A Ride), but also Paolo Nutini (Jenny Don’t Be Hasty), Tommy Tutone (867-5309 / Jenny), Sandy Coast (The Eyes Of Jenny), The Killers (Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine), and Chicago (Jenny), to name some of the better known great songs about her. How nice, UK musician collective West Coast Music Club add a perfect guitar pop song to this list. In their lyrics Martin Adams and Peter Madden describe how Jenny is doing now: “She’s the wrong side of forty and seen her share of life // Been a daughter and a lover, a mother and a wife.” Good news to sing along: “Jenny’s still got what it takes // Woo hoo hoo hoo!”

Jenny is a digital single b/w Girl. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Gimme 5! Massage Share 5 Albums The Band Listened To While Creating Still Life

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop / 2 Comments

Photo by Thaddeus Ruzicka

With ‘Gimme 5!’ we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like share 5 records THEY love.

You regret the things you didn’t do. It’s not just a beaten-to-death encouragement to those in doubt, there is actual research to support the claim. Basically, we are much better in recalling and regretting cases of inaction than action. And not buying the first LP by the LA based, impossible-to-google masters of jangle pop Massage is one example. That record, the 2018 Oh Boy, is a must add collection piece for any self-respecting fan of underground pop music. It also is impossible to find. Oh Boy is a heartfelt and messy record filled with pop gems inspired by The Feelies, the Go-Betweens,  and Twerps. Massage founder singer/guitarist Andrew Romano, calls Oh Boy an “anti-ambitious” record: “Nothing kills the kind of music we want to make faster than the sense that a band is trying too hard.”

Now, three years later, the band returns with their follow-up record. It’s called Still Life and it sounds less messy, more produced, and more deliberate without losing the charm and sincerity of their debut. There is a warmth, vulnerability and delicateness to the music of Still Life that, in combination with the band’s songwriting chops, gives these songs that little extra that helps to distinguish a lovable record from a likeable record. This may stem from the band’s strong intragroup connection: Massage is a collective of friends, inlaws and spouses. Anyhow, these qualities are on full display in two of the album’s early singles Made Of Moods (embedded below) and Half A Feeling. Slumberland Records already gave the record its stamp of approval, and that isn’t even the band’s record label. Mt. St. Mtn. (US), Tear Jerk (AUS/NZ) and Bobo Integral Records (EU) will co-release Still Life on July 2nd. Don’t sit on this one, like I did with the band’s Oh Boy. I have no doubt Still Life will end up in many AOTY lists.

Below, the band discusses some of their influences for Still Life. As you’ll discover, Massage is a band that not only loves creating the best underground pop imaginable, they also love obsessing about other bands from the genre.

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New EP: San Marino || San Marino

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

Start the day of right with the self-titled debut EP by Madrilean band San Marino. I know my threshold for calling a song a hit may be lower than the average person, but each of the four songs on the EP have the potential to end up on those influential playlists on streaming platforms that katapult artists into the limelight. This really solid debut should function as a magnet for fans of surfy indiepop like Beach Fossils, Best Coast, Bleached. Good find by the talented talent hunters of Berlin based Anomic Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Pink Chameleons || Peace & Love

By / / Garage Rock / 1 Comment

Paltsa-Kai Salama starred in Black Lizard and now in Pink Chameleons, for which he wrote songs with titles like Spacedog and Horsewalk. I don’t know where this fascination for strange animals comes from, but his music changes sound just as easily as a chameleon changes color. The singer / guitarist / keyboardist, together with Antti Sauli (bass) and Kimmo Godtfredsen (drums / percussion), play Stooges-like garage rock, but the Finnish band mixes this with psych, shoegaze, country and blues influences, and they don’t shy away from a saxophone solo. “They’re gonna get you, you gotta see them”, they sing in Run and Hide – the same goes for Pink Chameleons. Their full-length debut album Peace & Love is out now digitally via Soliti.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Brandon Agnew & The Pocket 4’s || Mave’s Variety

By / / Blues & Roots / Leave a Comment

After the release of his EP Nola in 2010, Brandon Agnew started to devote his time to more important things, just like so many other artists who cannot make a full living from their music. However, the COVID-19 crisis also turned the life of the Canadian singer / singwriter upside down. He reconnected with an old musician friend during the pandemic and realized there may not be a better period to make new songs. Together with some friends called The Pocket 4’s, he booked a studio weekend to record ten self-written tracks for the (digital) album Mave’s Variety, which is surprisingly fun. If Jonathan Richman played blues rock, it would sound something like this.

“Patti Smith don’t mess around, baby // Jane Jacobs don’t mess around, too // When they shimmy cross they shimmy cross the crosswalk // Who they aiming for? They’re aiming for you”

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Beatnik Termites || Sweatin’ To The Termites

By / / Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

Talk about a pleasant surprise. Here’s the first album by The Beatnik Termites in 18 (!) years. Despite the long hiatus, it’s not like the band ever truly disappeared as the band’s sound (old school pop punk meets doo wop meets bubblegum meets surf) lived on in heir apparents The Yum Yums and Masked Intruder. But still, what a welcome and impressive return. Sweatin’ to The Termites contains 13 originals that sound like pop punk covers of oldies but goodies from the fifties and sixties. It’s the kind of record that elicits an automatic response – depending on your inclinations: a smile, nodding or singing along, shakin’ your booty,  starting a rock-‘n’-roll dance party, texting all your friends about it, finding places to order it right away, or all of the above. It’s all good fun, insanely catchy and it is easy to lose yourself in singing along (in my case badly out of tune) to the awesome vocal harmonies. Buy the LP now at Mom’s Basement Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Mom’s Basement Records

New album: Oliver Wood || Always Smilin’

By / / Blues & Roots / Leave a Comment

Many people are angry with anything and everything, but luckily there are some musicians who preach kindness., and when Oliver Wood sings about that, you believe that’s the only right way. We know the singer / songwriter / guitarist as the frontman of The Wood Brothers, with whom he has built an impressive discography of folk, gospel, country-soul, and Americana. Now, with his debut solo album Always Smilin’, available digitally and on CD (the vinyl LP is expected on July 9), he continues it strongly (and uplifting). Don’t expect a wall of sound, these are open, jazzy / bluesy folk songs in which each of the instruments may excel alongside Wood’s distinctive voice. Fans of Van Morrison, The Lee Sankey Group, Michael Franti, and G. Love will also enjoy this music very much.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Hello Merch

Expanded re-issue: Ducks Ltd. || Get Bleak

By / / Jangle Pop / 2 Comments

In 2019 Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. released their debut EP with four fine jangle pop songs, whose title track in particular was a favorite in my Stranded In The Jangle playlist on Spotify. Now an expanded re-issue is out, digitally and on clear 12″ vinyl through Carpark Records. The updated version of Get Bleak has three additional bonus tracks: Oblivion, As Big As All Outside (watch / listen below), and It’s Easy. The mini-album has 7 songs in less than 22 minutes, still much too short, because Tom Mcgreevy & Evan David Lewis write and play guitar music that you can’t get enough of; further expansion is actually needed, but if all goes well more Ducks Ltd. music will follow on this label soon. RIYL The Go-Betweens, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Smokescreens.

“In the next apartment I hear a woman sing // The DJ plays the 12 inch mix of “Vision Thing” // I’m all the way out”

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

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