New album: Honshu Wolves || Cosmic Creature Capture

By / / Blues & Roots, Psych / Leave a Comment

You wouldn’t expect it, but somewhere in an alternative trailer park in the back alleys in Switzerland’s capital Bern, with a view on foggy cold mountains, three-piece Honshu Wolves play music you could describe as trippy psychedelic desert gospel Delta space blues – a combination of styles and influences that turns out surprisingly well. They already released the 10″ Shine On Me (2010) and the 12″ Silver Ashes Line The Lane (2014), but hopefully their new full length album Cosmic Creature Capture via Voodoo Rhythm Records will reach a wider audience. The songs of Maryanne Shewolf (vocals, guitar, percussion, piano), Fäbu (guitars, organ, backing vocals), and Mige (drums, percussion) are strong, dreamy, and fascinating. Immerse yourself for 40 minutes.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Voodoo Rhythm

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New EP: Linnea’s Garden || Nowhere Friday Nights

By / / Power Pop / 1 Comment

According to the band’s website, Linnea’s Garden play glampunk you can dance to. I am not sure if that is true, but that may be due to my limited dancing abilities. To my ears, Linnea’s Garden sound more powerpop with a touch of soul than punk on their EP Nowhere Friday Nights. The lead single Non-Dramatic Breakup Song sounds like a lost hit by Milwaukee powerpop legends The Shivvers. It is an instant classic.


Add to bandcamp: Bandcamp

New album: The Sueves || Tears Of Joy

By / / Garage Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Simplicity, in all its ramshackle glory, is one of the charms of garage rock. That appeal can wear off quickly though when a band’s songwriting is subpar and/or the execution is poor. The Sueves new record is the perfect example of how rewarding it can be when a band challenges itself; when a band is not afraid to go beyond self- or other-imposed boundaries of the genre; when a band invests a little more time in writing and recording music. On Tears of Joy, The Sueves sound more layered, diverse and dynamic than most garage bands, but also in comparison to their past selves. They do so without sacrificing any of the energy and excitement of their earlier work.  Mop Bucket is a modern garage rock classic. Short and fast songs like Alexxxa, Find The Right Fit and Stare will draw in punk fans. Other songs (e.g., Deflect The World) move into The Stooges territory. To be sure, the Sueves have created their own enterprise, and never sound like copycats.
Overall, Tears of Joy is a thrilling listen, a kick to the nuts of those who complain that guitar music nowadays is redundant. I am pretty confident that the allure of the record is more likely to expand than wear off upon further listens. That leaves us with one concern. Now that the band has ran out of primary colors for their album covers – red for their debut, blue for their second one and yellow for Tears Of Joy, what will they do next? Based on this record, the Sueves are just getting started.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Magicatolog

New album: Model Village || World Of Carp

By / / Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

UK jangle pop veterans Model Village open their fourth record (World Of Carp) strongly with Insufferable. It’s a welcoming indie pop track that will instantly make your head bop on its bouncy rhythm. Other standout tracks on World of Carp include the upbeat Oslo and Find It Out, and the Belle and Sebastianesque Roll It Over. Singer Lily Rose has the ability to draw you into these songs while making her singing sound effortless. She has just the right touch of melancholy in her voice, not unlike Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura and Elizabeth Morris of Allo Darlin. Musically, fans of those bands will enjoy this record as well. Out now on Kingfisher Bluez (Canada) and Towed By The Ghost (UK)!


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Throwback Thursday: Bare Wires || Cheap Perfume

By / / Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

Bare Wires was an American lo-fi garage rock band that released four albums in the period 2008-2012: Artificial Clouds, Seeking Love, Cheap Perfume, and Idle Dreams. The band was formed by Matthew Melton, who went on to write and play many more catchy songs with Warm Soda and Dream Machine. This week the (digital) compilation Best of Bare Wires was shared online, a collection of 16 songs including the hard to find single Keep Your Cool. My favorite track still is Cheap Perfume, which I played and sang along so many times ten years ago. You can picture it: ‘As you walk into the room, and I smell your cheap perfume’ – irresistible in every way.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New single: Texpack || The Early Serenade

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

Let’s add Indonesia to our ever expanding list of fine music from around the Globe. To be more specific, let’s go to Bogor, Jakarta where Texpack recently released a three song EP called The Early Serenade. If you like alternative ’90’s pop, you will definitely enjoy this one. Never having heard of Texpack before, I mistakenly thought on the title track that Texpack was a new shoegaze project by Davey Von Bohlen (Cap’n Jazz, The Promise Ring, Maritime). The second track, Between 4 and 10 is a classic indie pop single including a surprise cameo of a trumpet. Speaking of trumpets, Texpack closes the EP with a well executed cover of the Eggstone song My Trumpets. Out now on Anoa Records (Jakarta).


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Other Ones || The Other Ones

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

The self-titled debut from London (UK) band The Other Ones sounds like it’s from a different era. I cannot put my finger which era exactly though, early eighties perhaps? Anyway, on their best songs, The Other Ones hit that sweet spot between punk, (power)pop, garage and rock-‘n’-roll, with a singer whose voice fits perfectly in this kind of music. A song like Forever Young is waiting to be picked up by Little Steven’s Underground Garage.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Wedding Present || Locked Down And Stripped Back

By / / Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of all those lockdown covers and re-recordings. These are tough times, but I hope that artists can also turn the restrictions and suffering as a result of COVID-19 into impressive music, as severe pains have often led to great art. That said, fortunately there are exceptions and a few good lockdown albums are made.. The twelve Locked Down & Stripped Back versions that the legendary British indie rock band The Wedding Present has released are very impressive. Following the cancellation of the At The Edge Of The Sea festival, they decided to replace it with an online version presented from their living rooms, featuring home-recorded videos for which they re-worked tracks in a semi-acoustic style, now also available digitally, on CD and on vinyl. The collection features home recordings of ten classics and two previously unreleased songs: You’re Just A Habit That I’m Trying To Break is the first result of David Gedge’s songwriting partnership with new guitarist Jon Stewart (of Sleeper fame), We Should Be Together was originally written but never released by Sleeper themselves (now with Louise Wener on vocals). Listen to the two new tracks below.

Out now through Scopitones and HHBTM Records. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

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New album: The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries || Suns Out Guns Out

By / / Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

The three members of The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries, or ‘the Fuckin’ Ferries’ if you are in their inner circle, have a lot on their plate. They have their respective bands (Kahoots, Shellac, Volcano Suns, Mission of Burma, Come, Codeine, The New Year) as well as contributions to other acts (Lemonheads, Thurston Moore). Factor in the three different timezones they inhabit and you start to get why it took them eight years to follow up their previous record. Suns Out Guns Out is an interesting release. You may not like every second of it, but it feels like at any time, anything can happen. The band sometimes sounds like a more dissonant R.E.M. although Guided By Voices and Sonic Youth are more likely reference points. The GBV force is particularly strong on Betty Ford James. Make sure you watch all 70 seconds of the video for that song. See? Anything can happen.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs   

New EP: Distorted Garden || Living Large in the Time of the Plague

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

The first song on Distorted Garden’s latest release is called Ruined My Life. Contrary from what you’d expect from its title, it’s an instantly likeable fun song with an extremely catchy chorus. The rest of the EP from these Canadians is in the same vein: Buzzsaw guitar driven punkrock that makes up for its lack of subtlety with an abundance of hooks. Available as name your price download at Shock Collar Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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