New album: Subsonic Eye || Nature Of Things

By / / Indie Pop, Indie Rock / 1 Comment

Straight from Singapore comes a new Subsonic Eye record. Nature Of Things is their third full-length, but I don’t recall listening to their previous work. The new one has my full attention though. It’s a diverse record. The kind that draws you in upon first listen, but leaves plenty to discover. The guitar work and vocals are particularly strong in the sound of the band, which balances between indie rock and indiepop – Snail Mail comes to mind in several songs. Standout tracks are Fruitcake, Further, Spiral and Unearth (video below).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Fastcut Records

New EP: Drens || Live at Eurosonic 2021

By / / Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

Despite the corona pandemic, showcase festival Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) has not been canceled this year. Understandably not as usual live with an audience in Groningen, the Netherlands, but online short performances by around 350 European artists can be streamed online these days. Yesterday Drens provided one of the most fun concerts, which can be viewed below. The surf punk four-piece from Dortmund played two songs from their EP Pet Peeves and their new single M vs. D. The show was also released today as a digital album (name your price download). Can’t wait to see some real live shows again, but for now this is a commendable alternative.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: The Chisel || Come See Me / Not The Only One

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

The Chisel is Charlie Manning’s other band. Charlie, of course, is Chubby of Chubby And The Gang, who arguably released the greatest record of 2020. That does not mean that if you like Chubby And The Gang, you will automatically dig The Chisel. Or his previous classic straight edge hardcore project, Violent Reaction, who you should definitely check out. The Chisel sounds more hardcore, more street punk, more classic British punk. It’s angry, it’s furious. it’s confident, it works. Play it loud! Oi!


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: Made Violent || Wannabe

By / / Garage Rock / 1 Comment

I’m still hoping that the Made Violent EP (2016) will be released on vinyl someday, but right now I’m especially happy that there is a new full-length album from the American rock band Made Violent. Wannabe rocks hard and old-fashioned, at the same time it swings smart and melodic in a modern way, convincingly played and sung – like The Strokes on speed. The LP is out today through Sakers. Yeah! 

Add to wantlist: sakersland.com

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New album: Kid Chameleon || Unreaching The Reeds

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / 1 Comment

If you are in the mood for an indiepop album that is not boring, not overly produced, but features pretty great songwriting, soothing vocals, and a mix of slower and faster songs, make sure you check out Unreaching The Reeds by Kid Chameleon. What a pleasant collection of homerecorded timeless indiepop. The uptempo Roque Bouquet is my early favorite of the record, I think. Or perhaps, My Girl Is 6 with its Teenage Fanclubesque chorus. Or is it Swan Song?


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (Name Your Price Download)

New album: The Fragments || Get Lost

By / / Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

When I saw the name The Fragments, I was expecting another garage rock revival band. That turns out not to be the case: the four-piece from Calgary (Canada) say they play quirky indie pop. And for the variety between all those screeching guitars over here that is quite nice. If I count correctly, Get Lost is the seventh LP in eight years from the band, with sixteen sympathetic songs that make you nod your head. The new album is available digitally on Bandcamp, but there is also vinyl; you can send a message to fragmentsinfo@gmail.com if you would like to order a copy.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

GIMME 5! || Scott Davis (Virginia Trance) Shares 5 Records To Listen To in 2021

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Psych, Uncategorized / 1 Comment

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.

We are absolutely thrilled to present this week’s curator of Gimme 5!: Scott Davis. Scott is the main man behind Virginia Trance, who released Vincent’s Playlist last year – Niek’s favorite indiepop record of 2020. Scott also played in the psychelic rock band Psychic Ill’s. In his list, Scott challenges us to wander off the beaten path, and discusses the importance of an eclectic listening experience – which we love, and probably should do more often.

Click below to read and listen. Scott added short explanations for each pick. He even throws in his top 5 Lou Reed albums for good measure. We added YT video’s and Discogs links so you can add these records to your wantlist. Thanks a lot Scott!

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New album: Cheekface || Emphatically No.

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

Cheekface is a prolific band, with songs, singles, and EPs seemingly appearing every few months. If you’ve been keeping tabs on the band, you’ve probably already heard about half of their new full length Empathically No. And if that is the case, you’ll also know that this record will be fun as hell – the record includes both songs of the Emotional Rent Control 7″, which made my best singles of 2020 list. If you don’t know this band yet, Cheekface are an offbeat indiepop band that write extremely catchy popsongs with a talksinger and huge choruses. I guess they sound like a K Records version of They Might Be Giants? Anyhow, put this record on and let it put a smile on your face.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Specialist Subject Records

“New” album: The Seeers || Happy Peak

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

Seeers, where have you been for the past five years*? In 2015, The Seeers were my band to watch and I frequently played their single in the Windian Records Subscription Series featuring the awesome Without Lites. But then…crickets, like they vanished. It’s absolutely a nice surprise (2021, let’s keep em coming okay?) that they released a full length this week. But is it any good? YES! Better than that actually, it’s full of garagepoppunk hits with a healthy dose of psych influences. Crossed fingers for a physical release, because I need to have this in my collection.

*UPDATE: The band informed me that technically this is not a new release. Happy Peaks was recorded back in 2015 on a Tascam 4-track tape machine. It was never released and this is the first time it’s made available online. Regretfully, this the last recorded material of The Seeers. They stopped being a band in 2016.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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