New album: The Natvral || Summer Of No Light

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

I have fond memories of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. I love how the band’s Discogs page updates what the rotating cast of members of the band are up to now. My two favorite post-TPOBPAH projects are Massage and The Natvral. Kip Berman released his second LP under The Natvral moniker this week. Summer Of No Light has nine songs and the majority of songs start with a confident strum of the guitar. It is a guitar pop record with americana and heartland rock tendencies. It’s a gutsy and rootsy affair, an album where Berman’s voice is high in the mix and oozing with heart and soul.

Dennis previously wrote about his fondness for The Natvral’s debut LP. I quite like that one, but ultimately it never truly clicked. Perhaps I was still comparing it to TPOBAH. With this second LP, The Natvral won me over completely.


Summer Of No Light is out now at Dirty Bingo Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: The Photocopies || Top Of The Pops

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

Songwriting centipede Sean Turner is constantly releasing music with The Photocopies. It’s hard to believe that Top Of The Pops, which came out this week, is in fact the debut album by the band. It’s a bit of a stretch to call the record a full length though, as all 13 songs stay below the one-minute mark. Leave it to Sean Turner to write an album that fits on a 7″ record – the limited run of 50 copies is already sold out at Plastidisc, not sure whether another press is in the pipeline.

Add Top Of The Pops to the top of your listening pile if you have attention span issues and you like your guitar pop up tempo, straightforward, lo-fi and easy digestible.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Penpals || 1973

By / / Alternative Rock / Leave a Comment

Yesterday we ended up in 1985, today we travel even further back in time, to 1973. Figuratively that is, because we’re listening to the new Penpals LP that bears that title. The follow-up to last year’s comeback album Caarrs contains twelve guitar-driven songs that once again show how good the legendary alt-rock band from Japan actually is. Munemasa Hayashi (vocals, guitar), Moriya Kamijo (vocals, guitar), Kenji George (vocals, bass) and Kinya Kamijo (vocals drums) passionately deliver gorgeous hook after gorgeous hook in their energetic and rough music – magical moments that fit very well in 2023.



1973 is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Testcard Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Testcard

New EP: Be Afraid || The End Looks Like Prosperity

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

Vancouver five-piece Be Afraid put out a fine EP (or mini LP) this week. The 7-song The End Looks Like Prosperity is 24 minutes of alt pop bliss. Be Afraid have a dynamic indie punk sound which they instill with group vocals and sweet harmonies, a punchy rhythm section, fun guitar licks and ramshackle charm. What’s not to like?


The End Looks Like Prosperity is out now on 12″vinyl at Kingfisher Bluez.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Treasures Of Mexico || Burn The Jets

By / / Indie Pop / Leave a Comment

Veteran Medway musicians Mark James Matthews (vocals, guitar, keys), Robert Collins (guitar, keys, vocals), Nick Rice (bass) and Russell Baxter (drums) – additional vocals are provided by Jetstream Pony’s Beth Arzy – return with The Treasures Or Mexico’s third album Burn The Jets. You get ten quality indie pop songs, with appealing lyrics (by appealing voices) and wonderful guitar melodies, which compete with each other to be anchored in the brain – both are quite memorable. This music is tough, clever, dreamy and melancholic at the same time.



Burn The Jets, recorded & mixed by Jim Riley, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Spinout Nuggets.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Spinout Productions

New album: Jeff Rosenstock || HELLMODE

By / / Indie Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

I’m going to keep this short since I don’t think Jeff Rosenstock needs any introduction. He is a treasure within the independent music scene, a hard working one as well. His new record HELLMODE gets significantly more coverage on the web than the average release we write about. That attention is well deserved, because HELLMODE is one great album.

It also feels like the right album at the right time for me personally. A friend passed away unexpectedly last week. I made a playlist of his loved tracks from his Last.fm profile. It’s a beautiful yet painful listen, a reminder of the many emotions and messages music contains and evokes. Among his loved tracks were several Jeff Rosenstock songs – …While You’re Alive (from 2016’s Worry) hit me the hardest of all. I am sure my friend would have loved this LP as well. It provides the level of familiarity, sense of community, cathartic release and pureness I needed this week. That bandaged heart emoji? It kinda sums up listening HELLMODE for me. Thanx Jeff!



HELLMODE is out now at Specialist Subject and Polyvinyl Records.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: The Five Year Plan || 1985

By / / Indie Pop / 1 Comment

Sometime in 2022, Tim Rippington (vocals, guitar) unearthed old demos and live recordings that indie pop outfit The Five Year Plan from Bristol (UK) had written in 1984 and 1985. The raw songs proved to have stood the test of time, and fellow band members Rob Pursey (bass, guitar, melodica), Dave Squire (keyboards) and Katy West (vocals) agreed that the moment had come to record them properly. You can read the whole backstory on Bandcamp, but the bottom line is that the band made the decision to make the eleven songs sound exactly as they would have played them in 1985 – remarkably mature – without additional frills or editing of the lyrics. And so finally here is the lost debut album with the apt title 1985, which captures the atmosphere and melancholy of yesteryear, created by skilled musicians who have built up an impressive track record in other bands or with their labels, who show that the genius was always there.



1985 is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Breaking Down Recordings / Old Bad Habits Label.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: Wild Billy Childish & CTMF || Traces Of You

By / / Funk & Soul, Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

Wild Billy Childish & CTMF (aka The Chatham Forts) released the pretty awesome LP Failure Not Success early this year, but of course there’s more where that came from. Here’s a new 45 featuring two recordings of the beautiful new song Traces Of You, a long and more polished version on the addictive A side, a short and rawer demo version on the flip side. Billy (guitar, bass), Juju (vocals, bass, guitar) and Wolf (drums, percussion) show their sensitive side, influenced by the 60s girl group sound, but the usual frayed edge is not lacking. Another classic in the making.

Traces Of You, written & sung by Julie Hamper, produced by William ‘Spook’ Loveday, and engineered by Jim Riley, is out now digitally and on vinyl 7″ through Spinout Nuggets.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Spinout Productions

New EP: THE CELEBRITIES || REDD KARPET

By / / Punk / Leave a Comment

Okaaaayyyyy…WHAT IS THIS? THE CELEBRITIES are from California and according to their Bandcamp page their REDD KARPET EP supposedly was released in 1963. And somehow, the band members include Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, and Shaquille O’Neal? I’m no historian, but this backstory sounds fishy. While the band’s sound definitely has some elements of a classic punk sound, I’m pretty sure scientists will eventually date this EP to sometime in 2023. The screamy all caps band name and EP title, the recorded-in-a-closet production quality, all hint to something more contemporary.

But who am I? I don’t know anything about THE CELEBRITIES. It may even be an one-man band in the possession of a drum computer and with an inbred tendency to shred guitars, a talent for writing hooks.  Or perhaps THE CELEBRITIES is a band of escaped criminals? They do sound kinda scary. Then again, I am willing to look past all that and the mystery surrounding this band, as long as they keep writing killer songs like PARTY IN MY CHEVROLET and RUN AWAY BABY.

The REDD KARPET EP is out now through Ketchup and Mustard Industries (Nancy, Brower, Abi Ooze). It comes with the following instruction: “PUMP THIS SHIT OUT AT FULL VOLUME YOU PUSSIES.” Alright, alright, alright.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: The Capellas || Take Your Chance With​.​.​.

By / / Funk & Soul, Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

The umpteenth project from Elsa Whittaker (lead vocals), Mike Whittaker (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew “Mole” Lambert (bass, backing vocals) and Yan Quellien (drums), and they also hit the mark as soulful rhythm & blues band The Capellas. Their debut EP has four original songs – in a better world they would all be hits – with a vintage girl group feel, which are as sympathetic and seductive as they are groovy and danceable. Hip-shaking guitars, funky drumming, perfumed vocals and catchy choruses, what’s not to like?


Take Your Chance With The Capellas, written by Elsa & Mike Whittaker, is out now digitally and on vinyl 7″ through Sweet Grooves Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Sweet Grooves

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