New album: Semihelix || Recoil

By / / Indie Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Austin, Texas singer/guitarist Geannie Friedman played in hardcore band Kite Flying Society, and in two pop bands Saving Twilight, The Weak Ends, and the Wonderers, before starting Semihelix. Initially it was a solo project, but now Kevin Martin (bass), and Valdemar Barrera (drums) are part of the lineup. The trio plays fuzzy dream psych pop with melodic yet loud sounds. Their full-length debut album Recoil is about resilience, love, depression, uplifting others, and bouncing back. I can imagine that the band members are gazing at their shoes one moment, and staring into nothingness the next, but in between look at you defiantly. The ten songs on this record are light and dark at the same time, mixing emotions, and enchanting you slowly but surely.

Recoil is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP via Mariel Recording Company. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Andrew Taylor and The Harmonizers || Andrew Taylor and The Harmonizers

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

What did you do during the lockdowns? Did you hybernate bingewatching series all day? Did you work out more? Read more books? Took a lot of walks? For some of us, the restrictions hindered our well-being and proactivity. For others, the lockdowns unlocked opportunities, time and energy to get creative. Count Andrew Taylor in the latter category. The Scot, who also fronts the indie pop powerhouses Dropkick and the Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness, started turning the randomly recorded audio clips, melodies and chord progressions on his phone into actual songs, which he recorded solo in his garage. Soon after, more songs were recorded with the help of his brother Alastair, Ian Grier (also of Dropkick) and long-time collaborator Iain Sloan. They called themselves The Harmonizers.

Within a couple of months, Taylor had about 40 songs which he originally planned, depending on their musical direction, as blueprints for a new solo record, or a Dropkick or Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness record. Early 2021, Taylor decided to pick the best songs from the previous year for a proper vinyl, CD and digital release – with The Harmonizers re-recording and improving the songs that had none of their prior input. I’m grateful he did. The 14 songs on the self-titled record are warm and pleasant, and you have to admire Taylor for being so prolific without making any concessions to the quality of the songs. The melodies are smooth yet jangly, the harmonies are gorgeous, and the balance between more uptempo tracks and more subdued ones is about perfect. It’s classic indie (power)pop for fans of Teenage Fanclub and Wilco.



Andrew Taylor and The Harmonizers is available for streaming on Bandcamp. The CD and LP will be available early December. Pre-orders are up now.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Oddfellows || What’s Your And Mine

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

Singaporean indie band The Oddfellows was formed in 1987, but is still active making music today. Patrick Chng (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Kelvin Tan (guitars, vocals), Vincent Lee (bass, vocals), and Johnny Ong (drums) were widely acclaimed for their infectious melodies, honest songwriting and good vibes in the early 1990s. On their new (third) full-length album What’s Your And Mine they prove that again, 29(!) years after their previous studio LP. They now even sing about a New Future (about living in the pandemic period, with more cowbell), and the lyrics of Where’s Your Heart? show that they have moved with the times (“K-pop stars and YouTube streams // A billion likes, oh what a tease // You’re so hard to please”). These are eleven new original songs with influences from 70’s power pop, 80’s American college rock, and 90’s UK indie bands, sympathetic guitar songs made for 2021. RIYL Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, The Chills.

What’s Your And Mine is out now digitally, and will be released on CD and vinyl LP by Teenage Head Records at a later date.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp 

New EP: Daffodil Pill || Yup

By / / Psych / 1 Comment

The danger of making eclectic music is that it doesn’t make sense, because if you want to be everything, it can just turn out to be nothing. Polish four-piece hippie rock band Daffodil Pill know how to make it work. Filip Dudek (vocals, piano, percussion, special effects), Dawid Stawiarz (guitar), Mateusz Wróblewski (bass), Adam Chmura (drums, percussion, djembe) mix surf music with psychedelic acid trips, elements of progressive rock and a variety of other musical styles. The four tracks on their debut EP Yup, however, are an organic whole, with four tracks that are strongly constructed, intensely sung, with fascinating combinations of instruments. It’s a trip that lasts 18 minutes, a trip that is accessible but also exciting, surprising, compelling and funky. This certainly makes sense.

The Yup EP is out now digitally. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: The Thunderbeats || Fuzz Hooligans

By / / Garage Rock / 1 Comment

As if it were the most natural thing in the world: Russian rhythm and blues four-piece The Thunderbeats (Moscow) have released their new killer single Fuzz Hooligans on independent American label Otitis Media Records (Texas). From a musical point of view this isn’t really strange, because Aleksey Cherniaev (guitar, harmonica, vocals), Vadim Markov (bass, vocals), Aleksey Loparevich (organ, percussion, vocals), Oleg Peskov (drums) play in the tradition of garage rock originated in the US. To their already rich discography they have built up since 2013, they now add four catchy classics-to-be with awesome hooks and enjoyable vocal harmonies (“Hey! Hey!” in Say Hey, “Na Na Na! Na Na Na Na!” in Make You Mine), and the title track is a great instrumental. Press play below to dance along with these fuzz hooligans for ten minutes! And then again!

Out now on 7″ vinyl through Otitis Media Records. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Pedico || 4 To The Floor

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

Pedico is one of my favorite discoveries this year – I wrote about the band earlier this year. Pedico’s music is essentially a tribute to the Ramones and The Beach Boys presented in a lo-fi and uncomplicated manner exclusive of any pretention.

This week the band released a new EP called 4 To The Floor. The EP art features two naked women skateboarding which may be NSFW, but definitely is an improvement compared to their last cover which displayed two barely dressed old dudes BBQ’ing. The music is just what you’d expect from Pedico. Fast, straightforward and insanely catchy and fun.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The On And Ons || Back For More

By / / Power Pop / 2 Comments

Ready for some classic powerpop from Australia? Meet The On And Ons, a veteran three-piece featuring the brothers Glenn and Brian Morris (on guitar and drums respectively) and Clyde Bramley (bass). With members having performed in bands like Hoodoo Gurus, Screaming Tribesmen and Paul Collins Beat, it’s clear these guys know what they are doing. If you need more proof, check out the band’s latest release Back For more.

The powerpop of The On And Ons is grounded in ’60 pop. The band knows how to jangle, to psych, to rock and roll and to harmonize. And in doing so, they manage to sound way bigger than a three-piece. I usually prefer my powerpop in a more punked-up-straight-out-of-the-garage version, but it’s hard to find fault with Back For More. This is ear candy born out of top notch songwriting and musicianship.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Citadel Records

New album: Kid Gulliver || Kismet

By / / Indie Pop, Power Pop / 1 Comment

Kid Gulliver is one of those bands that keep popping up in my bandcamp mails, releasing a new song every couple of months or so. The only reason I haven’t written about the band before is because we prefer to cover full releases that you can…well…add to your wantlist. With the release of Kismet, which is Kid Gulliver’s debut full length despite being a band for around 7 years, the band finally promoted from band-to-watch to add to wantlist. Kismet conveniently collects the songs that Kid Gulliver have slowly but steadily been recording and releasing in the past two years – all remastered to fit on one album.

The powerpop of Kid Gulliver is college radio friendly, and the band has a talent for writing melodies that are insanely catchy. My favorite song on the record is I Started A Joke, which I had no idea is actually a Bee Gees cover – thanx Josh Rutledge for pointing this out. But Kismet is stacked with Kid Gulliver originals that are massive hits. I am particularly fond of Stupid Little Girl, Susie Survived Chemotherapy, Beauty School Dropout, and Forget About Him. Kismet is out now on Red On Red Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Mäsh || Mäsh

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

Mäsh are a classic rock-‘n’-roll outfit from Berlin. Last year, Mäsh released two singles that showed a lot of potential. Their first full length makes good on that promise, and shows a band on a roll ready to conquer stages all over Europe and beyond.

Mäsh’s self-titled debut LP is a tribute to the boot-stomping, fist pumping, and glam struttin’ hardrock of the Seventies. It’s the kind of music that probably will never be fashionable or hip, but when executed well provides something more important: good vibes all around. And boy, do Mäsh know how to combine Chuck Berry guitar licks with gang vocals and catchy melodies.  The lads in Mäsh either share a parent with the guys in Giuda or Faz Waltz, or have a similar record collection, because their musical DNA definitely overlaps.

From album opener Nico, it is clear that this is a feel good record. The bands sounds tight, and the production is crisp. This is the kind of record that sounds good regardless of the playing volume, but is best experienced ALAP (As Loud As Possible). Mäsh is out now on Wanda Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Wanda Records

New album: Goodbye Honolulu || Goodbye Honolulu

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

Appealing music sounds familiar but at the same time offers something new – uncertainty and surprise should not deviate too much from expectations. Toronto four-piece Goodbye Honolulu understands that principle very well. Emmett S Webb (vocals, guitar, bass), Jacob Switzer (vocals, guitar, bass, hand claps), Fox Martindale (vocals, guitar, organ), and Max Bornstein (vocals, drums, drum machine, percussion, hand claps) -four individual songwriters and three frontmen – never stick to one sound: on your ibingo card with influences you can check off garage rock, new wave, power-pop, glam, and electronic music. After three EPs,  More Honey (2018), No Honey (2017) and Heavy Gold (2016; one of my favorites at the time), they have now released their self-titled full-length debut album, described by the band as their “dream record” – 13 original songs with a perfect balance between familiar and surprising. For example, the intro to Over and Over is somewhat reminiscent of Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive, and Get the Denim echoes The Specials’ Little Bitch (aka The Dandy Warhols’ Bohemian Like You), but before you can imagine the accompanying lyrics, Goodbye Honolulu has already made it its own. Anyway, this is a successful eclectic mix of catchy songs with strong riffs. Bingo!

“You gotta tell me how to make things right // But don’t teach me how to live my life // I don’t wanna save my soul // All I know is rock ‘n’ roll”

Goodbye Honolulu is out now through Stray Dog Records. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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