New EP: Little Murders & The Eddies || Wait ‘Til The Summer Comes (Split EP)

By / / Power Pop / Leave a Comment

Let’s get right to it. Wait ‘Til The Summer Comes is a perfect power pop song. If you are a fan of the genre, you are in for a treat and should press play below right away.

It’s the latest single of legendary power pop band Little Murders – Australia’s own version of the new wave of power pop in the late 1970s and early 1980s, who are still writing new music in 2022. The song is part of a four-song split EP with US mod/powerpop outfit The Eddies. All four songs were written by Little Murders frontman Rob Griffiths though, who also sings on both songs by The Eddies.

This is some premium quality powerpop, certified fresh.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Yeah Maybe || Ok, Sure

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Rock / 2 Comments

Is there a more quintessential name for a slacker rock project than Yeah Maybe? Ok Sure is the Tacoma duo’s debut release, a three song catchy, fuzzy guitar driven affair with hints of Nirvana and Car Seat Headrest.

What stands out with Yeah Maybe are the strong vocal melodies. Clearly, these dudes know how to write a tune. And, they have already planned “at least two albums,” which sounds surprisingly ambitious and out of character for a band called Yeah Maybe.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Terje Torkellsen || Feeling Things

By / / Indie Pop, Power Pop / 1 Comment

Well, hello there Terje Torkellsen from Oslo (Norway), nice to meet you. I quite like your debut EP with its four lo-fi bedroom power/indie/jangle pop hits. No, that’s an understatement, I think it’s pretty great. Could you make some more please?



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Cave Arcade || The Vaguest Details

By / / Indie Pop / 1 Comment

The Cave Arcade is a Canadian four-piece that blends indie pop tunes with the tones and guitar themes from classic surf rock and spaghetti western scores. It’s a sound that fits well with the successful releases of Tijuana Panthers, The War On Drugs, Allah-Las, Mystic Braves, etc. in the period 2012-2014, but which you hardly hear anymore. With their full-length debut album The Vaguest Details, The Cave Arcade changes that: here are nine wonderfully laid-back songs with summery vibes, which will further enhance enjoyment in a hammock. Simply a delicious record.

The Vaguest Details is out now digitally (self-released). Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: The Holiday Crowd || Party Favours

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

Canadian-English indie pop outfit The Holiday Crowd released two pretty good full-length albums in the past decade – Over The Bluffs in 2012 and a self-titled one in 2016 – and finally they’re back with two new songs, two new highlights. Standout A-side Party Favours is a groovy hit like David Bowie could have made in the 80’s, amazingly constructed, danceable and addictive. B-side Bullet Train shouldn’t be skipped though, especially because of the melodic jangly guitar lines. Both are rhythmic, clear and sparkling, with sultry melancholic vocals, as we are used to from Imran Haniff (vocals, guitar) and Alex Roberts (bass). A glorious return. Let’s get the party started!

Party Favours is out now digitally and on limited edition 7″ vinyl through Shelflife Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New EP: The Real Distractions || The Real Distractions

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

The Real Distractions (Olympia, WA) are a band of scene veterans including Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill, Frumpies, Spider and the Webs and MODs), Ricky Meyer (Rik and the Pigs), Peter David Connelly (The Mona Reels, Bangs, Quayde le Hue) and with newcomer KTB. The band’s aim? To follow the “rich tradition of DIY bands crafting instant pop hits entirely on their own terms, which has long been the hallmark of the International Pop Underground series.”

And so the five-song EP (four of which are on the 7″) was recorded live, giving them a loose and authentic vibe. The result is a brand of rock-‘n’-roll that feels quirky and authentic. I am particularly drawn to Stupid, a song I can’t seem to stop playing these past couple of days.

I think the press release describes The Real Distractions better than I ever could: “It’s like they cut up a bunch of bomp and kicks magazines, stuck them back together and made a wish to turn them to a real band.” 7″ now available as a co-release by K Records and Perennial.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || K Records

New EP: Crosshairs || Demo 2022

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

Ready for something a little shorter, faster and louder? Meet Crosshairs, a new three piece from Vancouver Island (Victoria) featuring members of Kraxxa, Bootlicker, Off The Clock and Last Crusade. Crosshair’s sound is a mix between classic ’80s American hardcorepunk and second wave UK Punk – a bit like The Chisel, but more hardcore-oriented. They open the EP with the insanely catchy stop-go moshpit inducing Picked Clean. By the second track, the rock-and-rollin’ Lechon, I was all in. They finish the EP off with two effective bullets that barely surpass the one-minute mark.

Four songs, six minutes of exciting hardcorepunk. If this is only a demo, I can’t wait for what’s next. Out now on limited cassette Slow Death Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Flaming Top Hat || Melodicized!

By / / Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

Earlier this year I wrote enthusiastically about Flaming Top Hat’s raw, honest and intriguing debut album Photographs And Water, a solo project by American singer-songwriter Ellie Blake. Apparently her creativity was there early on: on the just released EP Melodicized! she shares four songs she wrote when she was 15, and all show a rich imagination and an abundance of ideas. The first lines are great, and it doesn’t get any less: “We haven’t talked in like five weeks except for some interactions that were brief // And don’t count by my arbitrary standards // For social interaction // God I love my arbitrary standards” (from I’ve Been). Or a title like Immanuel Kant Goes To The Grocery Store, you and I couldn’t think of it (“You wake up from like a really weird nightmare, and it’s 5AM, and the sun’s starting to come up a little just enough to make it hard to fall back asleep but not enough to make it easy to wake up”). Poetry in motion, hopefully the start of a deserved glorious career.

Melodicized! is out now digitally via Friend’s House Records. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp 

New EP: Spit City || Carpe Demon

By / / Alternative Rock, Punk / 1 Comment

Last year I was very impressed with Spit City’s debut album Long Dark Night, on which songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sean Rose tried to deal with some heavy stuff. The cover photo of his new EP Carpe Demon shows him enjoying the sun, but the witty title already reveals that his life still has dark sides. The three new “punkacana” songs – Sean Rose on vocals and electric guitar, Patrick Ford on bass, and Johnny Bowers on drums – may even be more gloomy than 2021’s full length. Can’t Be Found is a summer punk jam on being uncomfortable in any moment, Never Goin’ Hungry Again is a southern gothic tale of petty crime, and the title track is a thundering riff-soaked warning on the hazards of toxic living that can be so hard to shake (“Sometimes when the evening’s low // Tired of all the go go go // I think how easy things would be // with this car wrapped around a tree”). Both lyrics and music are pretty heavy, but also pretty good again – in fact, if you listen more closely, you’ll hear that we don’t really have to worry, and you’ll see sunbeams breaking through the clouds.

Carpe Demon is out now digitally (self-released). Add to wantlist: Bandcamp 

New single: Bad Bad Bird || Ni Peine Ni Peur + Voudras​-​Tu ‘adorer?

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

My French is pretty bad, but when I read Bad Bad Bird’s tagline of “chansons d’amour power pop en français” my heart made a petite jump. To my ears, the French language and powerpop are a match made in heaven, the peanutbutter and jelly of rock-‘n’-roll music. Somehow they are a perfect fit.

Technically, both songs on this cd-single were released individually on streaming services last year, but since we totally missed those, we’re happy to share them now that they will be out on the almost extinct CD-single. Of both songs, my favorite is Ni Peine Ni Peur which I think fits the late ’70s, early ’80s powerpop label better than the more contemporary sounding Voudras​-​Tu M’Adorer – a song that is constructed well and gets more powerful the longer you listen to it.

Hopefully Bad Bad Bird will find some extra time to work on more tunes like these two, because I think they are tres bien!


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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