This year FACT’s best-of lists are not ranked. The editors couldn’t imagine putting out another assemblage of hierarchy in the world … We’re doing this to celebrate the music that we love, so we decided not to fuss over the outcome to a problem made of arbitrary math that has no solution. FACT

Tugboat Captain – Be Strong, Smoke Less It stole my heart instantly. It has all those elements that make you fall in love with a good-old, twee-pop song: humour, endearing & earnest boy-girl vocals, dreamy jangle-guitar and pretty, sweeping instrumental adornments. It just makes you realise how much we miss bands like Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura: bands that never failed to bring us that much needed ray of sunshine and a smile on your face” fadeawayradiate

Wojtek the Bear – Tonic Youth It seems to touch on a number of other acts from Scottish indie-history, from the joyous indie-pop of Camera Obscura to more folk-tinged moments of The Delgados. Here’s to everyone who lived a Tonic Youth, and those who didn’t and to us all not having much of a clue what we’re doing in our early 20’s, or our early 30’s or quite possibly ever: whoever you are, Wojtek The Bear have written the perfect soundtrack for all the confusion fortherabbits

Purple Mountains – Nights that Won’t Happen

For Sally

You probably already know this, but on Wednesday morning, David Berman took his own life. He’s gone.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that it is real. Then we’re reminded that is real. Then we wish it wasn’t real. It’s like a trapeze act, and we are the worst acrobats, fumbling these truths from swing to swing. Day after day… Everybody says these things after a suicide – and this week, we know very specifically why they do. For instance: five minutes ago, we were in tears. Five minutes before that, hope. Before that, rage. And now, nothing. We hope that everyone who feels the same way, who has thoughts like the kind that led David to this, please stop what you’re doing and take them very seriously. Talk to someone about them. Stay with us. We count ourselves among those on both the speaking and listening ends of these conversations, and these feelings are not foreign to us. Drag City August 12th 2019

On Wednesday, in the immediate wake of his death, the grieving tended to point back to our most dog-eared and thumbed-through Berman artifacts: American Water or his lone poetry collection, Actual Air. And while I listened to “Smith & Jones Forever” or “Punks in the Beerlight” who knows how many times last night, this morning I found myself reaching for the new record, the one that came out 27 days ago. Listening to the whole thing a couple times, then zeroing in on “Nights That Won’t Happen,” a consideration of mortality and grief that begins the album’s third act. It’s as sober a reckoning with the topics as you’re ever going to get and I’d dog-eared it already, turns out: “When the dying’s finally done and the suffering subsides, All the suffering gets done by the ones we leave behind.” vanityfair

Martha – Love Keeps Kicking Whether you read the title as a refusal to die or a foolish attempt to cling on, it doesn’t matter; both are just as relevant, and Martha have gone some way to capturing as much of it as possible thelineofbestfit

The Proctors – Letters To The Girl Jangling guitars, catchy boy/girl vocals and a melody to die for. No wonder their label thinks it will become a “future guitar pop classic”. It’s hard to disagree with that sentiment recordsilike

Vampire Weekend – Harmony Hall Five and a half years is – even by today’s standards of instant gratification – a hell of a long wait between albums…. Barely 20 seconds into new song ‘Harmony Hall’ though, when Ezra’s warm, instantly recognisable vocal soars in – “I made a vow in summertime,” he says – it, simply, feels like returning home… Of all the experimentation five and a half years could’ve brought for Vampire Weekend, ‘Harmony Hall’ simply sees them refining, expanding their palate subtly and gorgeously, and putting a smacking big grin on everyone’s weary, worn January faces. diymag

Flying Fish Cove – En Garde While Flying Fish Cove’s debut was only released at the beginning of April this year, ten weeks later the band already have an EP with new material ready for release. The new offering is called En Garde and sees the band taking a step away from the obvious oldschool indiepop influences, carving out some rougher edges and trying a more multi-layered, not quite so transparent and crystal clear sound emmas-housemusic

Flying Fish Cove – Sleight of Hand Like many of the best bands, Flying Fish Cove don’t attempt to reinvent the wheel, just subtly shape it into something fresh, exciting and entirely their own fortherabbits

Fashion Brigade – Fvck the Heartache Effectively, give or take the mere matter of 58 songs, this is the modern day equivalent of The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs, albeit sonically weirder, mostly less fragile and always more fuzz-pop and C86 janglepophub

Starry Eyed Cadet – Slow represents all that is magnificent about the jangly indie-pop that represents half of their repertoire. It is all ever so slightly twee, slightly deadpan, perfectly indie vocals from the wonderful Sally Jati that flirts incessantly with all manner of jangled riffs that she provides in a dual  melodic assault with Ron Songco janglepophub

Night Flowers – Fortune Teller They may not be songs that you would listen to before going out, but they would be perfect for a lazy summer day theweereview

Jeanines – Either Way an irresistibly sunny, sub-two-minute strummer that lives at the nexus of pop and punk. …She ponders the fluctuating gulf between two people over jangly guitars: “Thought that you would’ve changed by now / I’m still the same anyhow, anyhow / even though I don’t know how you feel / I though that we, we could make a deal,” she sings in the song’s relentlessly hooky verses, later deftly conveying the uncertainty and anxiety of the situation via her quavering delivery of the two-word title phrase. Growth is painful, particularly when it’s two once-close people bgrowing apart, but part of being human is reaching out and trying to bridge that divide, even if it hurts pastemagazine

Summer Camp – Love of my Life Summer Camp (aka British married couple Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley) … new songs … taken from their upcoming self-released new album, Romantic Comedy, which ties into a documentary of the same name directed by Sankey. Romantic Comedy features new original songs featured in the film (including “Love of My Life”) or inspired by the documentary (“Danny and John”)… Romantic Comedy the album doesn’t have a release date yet. The documentary has screened at film festivals, including SXSW, and will be released later this year. It examines romantic comedies via clips of over 160 films and interviews with actors, filmmakers, and writers. undertheradar

Girl Ray – Girl The course of true love never did run smooth declares Lysander 135 lines into A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and so too sings Poppy Hankin 1 minute 16 seconds into Girl. North London girl gang Girl Ray’s surprisingly pop-minded second album has more in common with the bard’s saucy woodland comedy than at first you might suspect: quips, troublesome romances, and pleasing rhymes abound against the backdrop of a hazy LA summer. Where Girl Ray’s 2017 debut Earl Grey provided sweetly-voiced lo-fi ditties, with little more than passing reference to the band’s soft spot for ‘00s-to-present day pop and R’n’B  Girl packs a powerful pop punch – the influences of the likes of Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and Destiny’s Child, all cited by the band as sources of inspiration, clearly heard in Girl’s beats, filters and sleek production. Opening two songs ‘Girl’ and ‘Show Me More’ are a plunge into the glassy pool of this newly polished sound – the former sun-warmed and woozy; the latter vast and anthemic — and the both so catchy they could have been lab-engineered. thequietus

Jay Som – Superbike Melina Duterte does away with the closely mic’d intimacies in favor of more expansive lushness… Jay Som’s voice intertwines with glassy Britpop guitars as she dreams about hopping on a motorcycle and leaving her erstwhile lover in the dust. When the momentum builds to a fierce drone in the song’s final third, picture Duterte riding into the night, her hair whipping around her at a crisp 80 miles per hour as a triumphant fuzz-driven guitar solo echoes into a star-lit sky. pitchfork

Painter – Standing Still Painter’s sound is one of jangling indie-pop guitars and swooning girl-group melodies, like the middle ground of Frankie Rose and The Shirelles. If musically, they’re traversing the classic and the modern, the lyrics too have a timeless quality, tales of heartache… Standing Still is a particularly pained affair, you can hear the longing in lead-singer Emma Jennings’ voice as she recalls the first glances and missed opportunities of the one that got away, “I missed a trick, those months ago, and now we lay in separate spaces we don’t know. I can’t seem to fight it all these feelings that we’re denying, but we’re standing still”.  fortherabbits

Low Key Crush – Shelter You stumble across a casual pop song that bores into your consciousness and it’s likely the tune hails from Australia, or even more specific, Melbourne since we’re talking about Low Key Crush. It seems the band takes their name super-seriously, giving us this mellow burner build on this wondrous melody. There’s some understated swagger in the sounds of the guitar, but you’ll need a real close ear to get in there. I like the distant feel of the vocals, as if singer Tim Haines is resigned to just toss the words out on the line, hoping someone, somewhere, finds them. We found them Tim, and we’re so grateful we did! austintownhall

Breakup Haircut – Why Can’t I Be Cool Enough To Move To Berlin? joyously lo-fi pop punk with, in the band’s words, “boppin’ bass” and witty lyrics that’ll put a big smile on your face… it’s funny, relatable and, refreshingly, shows that the band don’t take themselves too seriously… their enthusiasm and sense of fun is infectious. You won’t be able to resist it. getinherears

Big Thief – Forgotten Eyes offers up the band’s trademark introspection and raw lyrics, reminding us to care for those around us: “Forgotten eyes are the ones which we lose/Forgotten hands are the ones which we choose…The wound has no direction/Everybody needs a home and deserves protection.” rollingstone

Comet Gain – The Godfrey Brothers Comet Gain are rather a mess. Their guitars clang and clatter. Their vocals are raw and unadorned. Their songs don’t always follow a clear path to completion. But, the most charming part of their charming turmoil is their lyrics, which seem to blend mixed metaphors, heartfelt confessions, and confusing phrases all together. The new album is called Fireraisers Forever!, and It’s quite a fitting title, as Comet Gain have made their most punkish yet uplifting record in their career. It offers most of what they always have, but there is a noticeable tweak in the construction of many of the songs. In contrast to the opaque lyrics throughout, many of these songs offer a clear, concise chorus with triumphant mantras. It just feels good. Comet Gain have been around for 25 years, but they don’t have a single bad record. They’re a band you can put on shuffle, and outside of some sonic differences, you’ll be hard-pressed to distinguish the years…. “The Godfrey Brothers” offers up a heartfelt tribute to the masterminds behind the experimental group, the Swell Maps. popmatters

Spinning Coin – Feel You More Than World Right Now The band is blessed with three songwriters, and this track amply demonstrates their charm, energy, and optimism, as well as their obvious quality whenyoumotoraway

Ducks Unlimited – Anhedonia In case you fancy yourself a fan of jangling pop rock or the casual guitar pop of the Oceanic region, you’re going to want to put your ear real close to the speaker here. This fresh single cements the band as one of the best new voices in the indiepop/guitar pop scene. It’s borderline jangle, with the guitars sort of intertwining with a certain sharpness that reveals brightened notes and melody. The vocals have this indifferent cool, which also sort of reveals itself in the “fuck off” lines in the first minute or so. If this is the first release, its one hell of a knockout punch. austintownhall

The Tallest Man on Earth – I’m a Stranger Now As its disheartened title suggests, the track sees Matsson articulating, and rather poetically, the agony he feels as he and his partner grow apart. “A little drop of poison in the rain, a little drop of madness in my heart,” he describes. consequenceofsound

Armstrong – The Things That Pass You By I have had a now somewhat bedraggled copy of the original album (released in 2007 on CDr) for nearly 10 years. I picked it up primarily for my love of Crazy World which is one of the most gloriously luscious pop songs you have never heard janglepophub

Cool Sounds – Around and Down Melbourne has been churning out various shades of alternative jangle-pop since the mid 90’s…not quite like this though, which somehow mutates the strains of all things Triple J laconic and a muzzled Americana, with the most unlikely of brilliance. janglepophub

James Clarke Five – Under Your Skin lives up to its name, and as a bonus it invades your brain like the proper earworm that it is. This is music played with a smile and plenty of pep, and it will be received the same way by the listener whenyoumotoraway

Belle and Sebastian – Sister Buddha The upcoming Days of the Bagnold Summer film is based on a 2012 graphic novel by Joff Winterhart, and will also be the directorial debut of Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners, Friday Night Dinner).   Vocalist Stuart Murdoch reveals that “Sister Buddha” wasn’t written for the film, “It just came from my present interest in Buddhism. Simon picked up on it, wanting to have something uplifting at the end of movie, and we were happy for him to have it.” consequenceofsound

Kitty Kat Fan Club – Happy Now, Loving You a bouncy, rambunctious piece of pop-punk, that Diet Cig would be proud of. Reinventing the wheel they may not be, but when the wheel sounds this delightful why would you want to? fortherabbits

Joanna Sternberg – This Is Not Who I Want To Be With themes of suicidal ideation, abject hopelessness, and self-hatred, Sternberg’s debut can be a challenging listen. For those who aren’t dogged by similar feelings, it may be forbidding, but for those who are able to identify with Sternberg, Then I Try Some More has the potential to be life-savingly relatable. pitchfork

Stella Donnelly – Boys Will Be Boys It is uncomfortable to listen to as there is no escape from the continuous examples of victim blaming, excuse making and instances of sexual assault that most women will face at some point in their lifetime. However, that discomfort is part of its poignancy and highlights the need for change.  Stella on the subject of gender and blame: “’Boys Will Be Boys’ was written in late 2016 and is an attempt at making sense of society’s tendency to blame the victims of sexual assault and rape and make excuses for the perpetrators. Writing this also helped me work through things that had happened to not only my friends but to me as well, it helped me relieve a lot of the shame that victims are so often forced to feel in silence. I hope that this song along with the video will open up difficult yet important conversations between family members, friends, government bodies, organizations and most importantly, boys and men.” thelineofbestfit

The Muldoons – Don’t Be Like That Girl Scotland has a long customary pattern of producing high quality indiepop and Paisley’s The Muldoons are no exception to that list. Their sound is drenched in history and tradition from Orange Juice to Camera Obscura, from Postcard to Egg Records and beyond recordsilike

Star Tropics – The Other Side of Midnight It employs a lot of the genre staples, those guitars that blend dream and jangling, dancing and maneuvering in the mix. Oh, and then they go throw that female/male vocal juxtaposition at me? Yea, just a slight swoon, no big deal. I like how the wash of keyboards opens up the space too, letting the song ride out into the horizon. Made my day austintownhall

Fresh – Going To Brighton easily remembered because of the earworms it contains recordsilike

A Certain Smile – Original Replacement Instead of the poppy rockers, they slow things down a bit, and though they wear their Sarah Records influence on their sleeves here, I’m also reminded of the equally fantastic The Ocean Blue. But it doesn’t matter who they sound like, because they sound absolutely fantastic here therecoup

House Deposit – Cruise Control recalls the simple, yet bittersweet nook that The Feelies, The Chills, The Bats, or The Verlaines occupied. The band came together out of tragedies and friendship to create songs that are spare, but stacked with heartfelt melancholy ravensingstheblues

Holy Hive, Mary Lattimore – Oh I Miss Her So the group that coined the term “folk-soul”… a drop dead gorgeous tune of love and longing, featuring the harping of Mary Lattimore soundsoftheuniverse

Salt Lake Alley – But You Do, You Do It slinks in with this angular guitar stutter that opens into a more dreamy bounce, giving way for the vocals to swoop in and swoon, hanging the lines “you feel good/so do I” into thin air. Take a breath, and the guitars shuffle their dancing licks into the picture as the chorus forces your feet into flailing high kicks and a grin that’ll stain your face for hours to come. austintownhall

Lost Ships – All of The Pieces The band boasts a robust power pop sound, plenty of jangle, and big hooks and choruses. Unsurprisingly, they earn references to Teenage Fanclub. And while it is nice to be compared to the heroes of jangling power pop, this band carves out their own identity whenyoumotoraway

Emma Russack, Lachlan Denton – Help songs this good are so rare as to invoke the capture of lightning.  They are pop gems bursting with positivity and life, and suggest that the upcoming album from which they are taken – Take The Reigns – should be at the top of your ‘must have’ listwhenyoumotoraway

Lachlan Denton – A Brother Back in 2018, Lachlan Denton planned to return to his other project, The Ocean Party. Then, as the band prepared to release their next record, they were struck by tragedy as Lachlan’s brother, and bandmate, Zach Denton, suddenly passed away. The band released the record they’d been working on, and then decided to call it a day. Lachlan, understandably shocked and unsure what to do next, channelled his loss into his music, and began to try and work through his emotions…

If this is all sounding a little heavy, well undeniably it is, yet thankfully Lachlan’s innate ability to write a pop song is equally on show… The vocal… carries much of the track’s emotion, while the music is left to be a surprisingly sprightly affair, full of bright guitar lines, prominent rolling bass and the propulsive crack of snare.

If the musical package is sprightly, the lyrics carry a stunning depth of emotion, it’s not simply a record of grief, but one of love and a legacy, a desire to do, “a brother, a best friend”, proud. There’s even a hint of pressure here, a longing to keep Zach’s memory alive in song, “I know you’re bigger than song, more beautiful than words. I know I’ve gotta go on, I want you to be heard”. Written between the lines to is a certain amount of doubt, a feeling of not quite knowing how life goes on, “I’m trying to be strong, but it’s hard to see a future without you”.

This is a beautiful tribute to the love two brothers shared; music ran through their lives, and still now is a cord that binds them, as they repeat at the songs close, “your blood runs through me”, and so perhaps does music. There’s few words that can add anything to Lachlan and Zach’s story, a deeply personal reflection on the relationship between two brothers, cut tragically short. fortherabbits

Calexico, Iron & Wine – Father Mountain Our watch says it’s time to get excited: Two contributors to Paste’s list of the best indie-folk albums of all time are combining their considerable forces for the first time in over a decade…. The inner peace that comes with that age and experience certainly shines through on “Father Mountain,” a jangly, pastoral reverie that takes on the fuzzy haze of fond memories slowly fading. “Everyone knows and they don’t know / chandelier light ain’t low / They just watch as the time goes,” sings a wistful Beam, looking back on simpler days. pastemagazine

Seablite – Time is Weird Seablite’s sound is one that is heavily rooted in independent music history; with one foot in the original janglers of the 80’s indiepop scene, and another firmly in the fuzzy, disorienting world of shoegaze. fortherabbits

Monnone Alone – Do it Twice One of the best, upbeat and straightforward rock and roll songs we’ve heard lately is “Do It Twice”. We wouldn’t have been surprised to find it on a long lost album by a criminally overlooked California band whenyoumotoraway

Hobby Club – For Maurice ““There’s not a lot going on in my town,” states vocalist Beth Truscott matter-of-factly, resigned to the fact that life in the Britain’s outer reaches is unequivocally far sleepier than the starry-eyed hubbub of the London smoke. The pair strike a restless sentimentality in the everyday, part-time chip shop jobs, bus routes and ship yards. Named in ode to a local celebrity figure Maurice G. Flitcroft, the track echoes their “brash and absurd, yet sensitive and creative” muse’s unrealised ambition with Hobby Club’s own determination to break loose.” thelineofbestfit

Rosie Tucker – Lauren We’re treated to lush acoustics and a slowed-down, but still just as impactful single. Tucker’s tender vocals turn impassioned when questioning the sudden departure of a friend named Lauren, with the singer asking “Who’s gonna hear my song through the wall/And say don’t change a thing/Play it just like that yeah.” Reaching out for someone who isn’t there is reflected in an abrupt tempo change, with Tucker taking one final look back before flying into a finale thegreyestates

Sambassadeur – Foot of Afrikka After a 7+ years of hiatus, the beloved band from Sweden starts where they’d paused, with spread of warmth and idylic lyrical goodness… a delicate sweep of pastel colors hinged on a collective delight of indie-country/folk extravagance and tinge of 80’s pop sax” comeherefloyd

The Just Joans – The One I Loathe The Least is a bittersweet seesawing ode to friendship and finding someone who hates the same things that you do. A shared disinterest can be as powerful as a shared interest, and there is often something triumphant in these relationships when it feels as though it’s just you and them against the world.  godisinthetv

Elva – Athens If Allo Darlin’s Elizabeth Morris needed to be rejuvenated after a few years off from that band, she seems to have found it. New group Elva, centered on Morris and her partner Ola Innset (of Making Marks and Sunturns), builds on the Allo Darlin indie pop formula, adding some rougher edges as needed while maintaining that pretty, melodic sensibility… The rejuvenation begins with opener “Athens”, which awakens with a beat that manages to be both bouncy and pensive. Morris shrugs off her fatigue as she and another feel restoration among the “antiquity” in the Greek city. When they “dreamed of bigger things,” Morris sings, “Something changed in me.” That changes creates an awareness of something bigger, a fuller outlook to be realized. popmatters

J. McFarlane’s Reality Guest – Your Torturer A sustained exploration of heartbreak, over one dissolved relationship but also the whole of humanity. It’s the sound of someone realizing a relationship has become a dreary series of cold transactions… or realizing life itself might be becoming a dreary series of cold transactions on a planet nearing its end days. Cheerful music, yes? But it is…and invigorating, exciting, adventurous, emotional. popmatters

Tacocat – Hologram finds the indie-punk band leaning heavily into their pop sensibilities, offering introspective and thoughtful lyrics paired within the saccharine composition. As lead singer Emily Nokes croons, “Just remember if you can/ Power is a hologram,” the group comments on power dynamics and the nature of reality. All the while, their feminist discourse is housed within an immensely catchy number consequenceofsound

Ex-Void – Only One Continuing the reign of fuzz-thumped jangle-pop that permeated their first single… The song is swept up on the trappings of Sarah, Bus Stop, and Sha La La records releases and fittingly they’re releasing the single on a renewed Perfect Records as a joint venture between the band and The Field Mice’s Mark Dobson ravensingstheblues

Pynch – Disco Lights The track’s creation was initially influenced by Enock’s realisation that the composition of Justice’s “We Are Your Friends” is a “non-stop chorus”. That epiphany “made me want to write a Pynch song that did the same thing,” he explains.

Enock then brought the tune together within a couple of hours in the middle of the night. “I started with the motorik beat and then the melody and lyrics came really quickly and were written in a sort of stream of consciousness. Listening to them back now, they really succinctly capture how I was feeling at the time. I think they’re quite evocative on both a personal and macro level.”

Enock speculatively sent the track, alongside a couple of other demos, to Dan Carey at Speedy Wunderground. “Dan just emailed me back a few days later saying ‘I fucking love this’ which was a very welcome surprise!

“I try and listen to everything we get sent,” says Carey, “which is hard because we get sent a LOT. This came through as I woke up early one morning in a hotel in Berlin where I’d been recording with an artist. ‘Disco Lights’ stood out immediately – and seemed so different to anything we’d done before.

“I loved its pop sensibility,” adds Carey, “but the demo was really lo-fi. I kept imagining this bigger, more widescreen version of it. In my head I wanted it to be almost like TOY covering ‘Everywhere’ by Fleetwood Mac.” lineofbestfit

The Wave Pictures – Shelly “The track is a gentle shuffle of a track, frontman David Tattersall describes as, “a love song in the laid back style of late 70s Grateful Dead only with even better lyrics” – and we wouldn’t argue with that. It’s a track that is musically a lot more complex than a cursory listen would suggest; the complex fluttering drums, the propulsive hum of soothing bass, they even, quite rarely for The Wave Pictures, throw in some delightfully lush harmonies” thefatangelsings

W.H.Lung – Second Death Of My Face a slow-burning synth-driven Krautrock jam lineofbestfit

Holy Tunics – Darn Birds I don’t know why, but I love love love this track. I think the lyric “fucking about with not much on my mind but the next thing that rhymes” completely sold me. Plus, you ever find a song that just feels right? This is the one for me, at least right now. austintownhall

The Sonder Bombs – I Don’t Have One Anymore sees the band openly expressing their innermost feelings, with Willow Hawks decrying the continued “bullshit” that occurs in the music industry… This track is impassioned and inspiring, with Hawks shouting back at every fake music industry promise that’s ever been thrown her way. Of course, it’s fueled by ukulele, but the addition of drums, and a repetitious reminder to empower yourself with the strength needed to take down every terrible person that comes your way add an emotional wallop that induces goosebumps. It seems catchy and light at the surface, but listen closely, and you’ll find a song to shout along to; you’ll discover a reminder that it’s OK to press decline call, it’s OK to call someone out on their bullshit, and it’s OK to no longer “buy” what someone else is trying to sell you.

The Gentle Isolation – Alone for a While Like what you’d normally expect from this Bulacan-based twee-pop group, it’s a track that perfectly encapsulates the quintessence of nostalgia and quiet smiles vandalsonthewall

Nah… – Apple Blossoms Once more, the duo calculate just the right level of perversity as the accentuation of Voss’ deep baritone consistently collides with the saccharine surrounds. Once again the listener is beautifully disturbed in all the most appropriate ways. janglepophub

illuminatti hotties – I Wanna Keep yr Dog a blast of energetic fun, ostensibly about dogs but more about expectations and disappointment and a new relationship not working out.  stereogum

Peter Perrett – Heavenly Day A second album already since signing to Domino two years ago, from the living legend who fronted the Only Ones and wrote ‘Another Girl Another Planet’… When you consider Perrett has written some of the most beautiful, heart-breaking, tragi-romantic songs ever, then, sorry,  this just isn’t up to scratch.  It’s not up to the impossibly high standard he himself set back in 1978, 1996 and 2017. louderthanwar

Suggested Friends – Cygnets With totally dreamy harmonies and the distinctive heartfelt crystalline vocals of Faith Taylor, it’s filled with an infectious jangly scuzz and stirring raw emotion, complete with some impressive rollicking riffage getinherears

Tullycraft – Has Your Boyfriend Lost His Flavour on the Bedpost Sean Tollefson of Seattle band Tullycraft has long been a musical hero around WYMA World Headquarters… he has been resolutely, even defiantly, twee for over two decades.  His sweet spot is uptempo, melodic songs with large doses of wry humor delivered with punk energy… The band manages to be poignant, knowing, smug, funny and self-deprecatory, often in the same song, while being unfailingly entertaining.  This album is a musical treasure whenyoumotoraway

Desperate Journalist – Satellite Spiralling across the night sky powered by Rob Hardy’s starstruck guitar and invested with an emotive hit by Jo Bevan. ‘Satellite’ sees the quartet further hone their crushingly sensitive epic sound bigger, bolder and wearing its heart on its sleeve godisinthetvzine

Jetstream Pony – I Close My Eyes After 20 years of marriage I still love my wife dearly. However, it is a complete opposites attract type thing and she merely tolerates my musical / football obsessions with barely feigned interest.

Example:

Me: Guess what (with unconcealed exitement)

Wife: What?

Me:  Shaun Charman just messaged me on Facebook !!!

Wife: That’s nice (not even looking up from her phone and choosing the wrong obsession) what position does he play? Will you make me a coffee?

Me: (bravely walking all the way down the corridor and muttering…) yes you F’kin heathen.

Anyway we know who Shaun Charman is. After playing in all all manner of notable bands, he is currently 25% of Jetstream Pony who produce 100% brilliant fuzz-pop, fronted by Beth Arzy. owner of indie-pop’s most ‘1000% indie pop voice’. janglepophub

Mammoth Penguins – I Wanna Smart, melodic, indie pop/punk about the trials of love and friendship. There’s No Fight We Both Can’t Win is a really good album if you like that sort of thing. Look, I wasn’t going to write about this. Couldn’t think of much beyond that to say, and that’s not much of a review is it?… Polite, literate indie pop, the penguins sat snugly in their box. It was nice. I wasn’t going to write about it, there wasn’t anything to say.

But, it totally earwormed me. Not just one big tune either, three or four of them running around the back of my head unexpectedly. Not in that infuriatingly obvious way of a hook so catchy you hate it, and not in the distant “what the hell is it?” way either. I knew who it was, turns of phrase and twists of quicksilver melody that I couldn’t whistle but couldn’t shake. I listened to it some more, let it get its hooks right in me. And I thought I probably would have to write about it. I knew I’d regret this, what a sucker. echoesanddust

Quivers – You’re Not Always On My Mind At times, Quivers‘ songs seem to emanate from the best college radio station of the 1980s: Sam Nicholson’s songs swoon and jangle with sounds of The Chills, The Go-Betweens and a dozen other Australasian bands in that vein, not to mention the radiant echoes of The Kinks. Nicholson wrote Quivers‘ new album, We’ll Go Riding on the Hearses, in the aftermath of his brother’s death. But he channels his grief into brightly rendered songs like “You’re Not Always on My Mind,” which exudes a cocktail of nostalgia and celebration. thefatangelsings

Lana Del Rey – hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me … but i have it described in a statement as a “fan track,” Del Rey meditates on religion, family, alienation and the myths that surround celebrity rollingstone

Strange Passage  – Ode the band’s distinctive knack of writing equally poignant and catchy, timeless jangle guitar pop tunes…an album not to be missed. whitelight-whiteheat

Theatre Royal – French Riviera 1998 the paisley-shirted sound of the Medway Towns meets the West-Coast of The States. Steve Lamacq BBC Radio2/6Music

Julia Jacklin – Pressure to Party When you break up with someone, chances are your friends will drag you out to make you feel better – we’ve all been there. Julia Jacklin doesn’t want to give in to that habit though

The Hannah Barberas – I Like You in Blue they bounce around, trade vocalists, share vocals and ultimately provide you with every direction one would like to see things go in the realm of pop austintownhall

Patience – Living Things Don’t Last a ghostly electronic cut infused with Clifford’s haunting tone which is ladeled with the regret of the impermanence of life godisinthetvzine

The Peach Fuzz – The Outside Looking In The new single from Liverpool’s The Peach Fuzz sees them embrace a shimmering pop synth sound with some style. ‘The Outside Looking In’ at times sounds slightly reminiscent of the more buoyant poppier bits of MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular before they went all serious and experimental and in doing so completely forgot how to write decent tunes.” thevpme

Bill Callahan – The Ballad of the Hulk It has been six years since Bill Callahan, the widely beloved indie songwriter who once recorded under the name Smog, released his Dream River album…. Callahan’s aesthetic hasn’t really much changed; he’s still giving us baritone musings over spacious beds of acoustic instruments. And his writing is as layered and surprising as ever. Also, yes, “Ballad Of The Hulk” does concern the beloved Marvel Comics shit-wrecker: “You know, I used to share a tailor with Robert Bruce Banner.” stereogum

Bones Garage – Topolopompo One thing that Bones Garage reminds me is that there’s always been a voice inside of us all, waiting to break free … The jangling guitar seems to maneuver in and out of the mix, allowing for various points of focus; I’m partial to the energetic spruce that hits just after 2:30. Ariel Pedatzur owns the song with her distinctive vocal performance too, dragging out syllables where needed, though always with a charmed touch of the angelic austintownhall

Young Guv – Patterns Prevail When you’re trying to suppress romantic emotions, it always seems to find a way to bubble back up. Maybe you keep hearing a song that reminds you of them; maybe you’re standing at a subway platform that you don’t realize shares their name. The universe has a weird way of working like that. It sure is easy to feel like there’s a design to the world when these coincidences keep recurring.

On “Patterns Prevail,” the new song from Young Guv, singer Ben Cook suggests that maybe we should just relinquish ourselves to the poetry of the universe. “I can hear the whispers baby / All these secrets drive me crazy / Colours shift between the shading / I can see patterns prevailing,” he whispers during the song’s vibrant and warped conclusion. pastemagazine

Lucy Dacus –  My Mother and I With the comforting cloak of a cascading guitar and empathetic lyrics, the song sounds like a lullaby sung from a mother to a daughter, yet in this case, it’s from daughter to mother.  The song explores love, shame and insecurity as Dacus wonders what traits, including body shape and body image issues, she has inherited from her mother. While only one mother joined her onstage, Dacus really has two mothers—one adopted and one biological, complicating the song’s discussion of what children inherit from their mothers. “Being adopted has encouraged me to consider what mothers pass on through blood and body, and what they impact in the way of socialization and context,” she said in a statement upon the song’s release. “We—daughters, and all children—easily inherit the shame and fear of our mothers, but also the pride, self-assurance, and lessons of love.” pastemagazine

Failed Flowers – Faces bright and sunny, janglin’ in twin guitar glory and ringing with the autumnal vocals of Burch that seep under the skin ravensingstheblues

The BV’s – Charlie, I Don’t Know Who You Are! manages to imbue all the atmospherics of early 80’s post-punk and early 90’s shoegaze, whilst consistently lounging back on the cloying riffs of jangle-pop bands such as Real Estate and Beach Fossils janglepophub