The Catenary Wires – Mirrorball This is unexpectedly fabulous. An album of the year for 50-Somethings with Attitude but sensible shoes.

It’s like an English Nancy & Lee singing songs written by a less-cynical Luke Haines.  One song is reminiscent of the doleful but wonderful Broadcast, the next the Mamas & the Pappas. The baroque organ brings to mind Dave Greenfield. The lyrics have echoes of Philip Larkin and Stevie Smith. There are a myriad of influences which blend seamlessly.

It’s C86 Indiepop reaching adulthood with quality Dreampop production. Musically, the experience and influences of Hallam, Lewis and Button enhance the Fletcher/Pursey songs and performances and give the intelligent songs about Englishness an analogue pop sheen and professionalism…. it’s just such a great album.

(Calms down a bit…)

Generally speaking, when a band or artist brings out a ‘mature’ or ‘grown-up’ album it’s time to wince and part company with them.  They’ve reached a ripe old age -in pop terms – and decided to aim for a certain demographic… which we shall call for the sake of argument ‘Beautiful South fans’. Birling Gap is the exception that proves the rule.

The Pulp-ish Mirrorball, probably the weakest track on the album, is the nearest you get to Paul Heaton territory, with it’s tale of middle-aged lonely hearts at a retro Indie Disco.  ‘Be the Jason to my Kylie‘ is rhymed cleverly with ‘be the Wah! Heat to my Wylie’.  (If only they had left the disco at seven minutes to midnight…)

The leap Catenary Wires have made with this album is similar to when David Gedge formed the altogether more sophisticated Cinerama: like a move from reliable old portable tv to widescreen surround-sound cinema.

Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey, partners and soulmates for decades, almost by accident have made an utterly fabulous album. louderthanwar

Model Village – Oslo The album profile on Bandcamp suggest that this is folk-pop. It is not. It is far too good to simply be dismissed as such !!! For a start I cannot imagine a man with a unkempt beard, wearing 70s clothes and drinking real ale (for the non-brits among you, this is basically warm beer with maggots in) ever really appreciating this? More specifically, this album is swathed in two ridiculously cool types of all things jangly. Tracks such as Insufferable and the superlative stand out, Oslo, are a genuinely jangly, late 80s/90s indie-pop aesthetic… All pop-culture references and accessibility to the life’s minutiae, wrapped in gregarious ear-worm melodies, such music has always been a celebration of how simplicity  has the potential to be the most ‘indie’ of ‘indie chic’. janglepophub

Teenage Fanclub – The Sun Won’t Shine On Me Beloved by Kurt Cobain during their grungier years, Teenage Fanclub have been responsible for some spectacularly tender love songs over their 11-album tenure – not least Blake’s I Don’t Want Control of You(1997). Endless Arcade dwells on the end of love, as hymned on multiple TFC albums; on stoicism in the face of this emotional catastrophe, or – on Raymond McGinley’s songs – our tiny place in the cosmos and the importance of eking joy out of everything.
“We had love that I thought was for ever, but it travelled 180 degrees,” notes Blake on the almost unbearably bittersweet new classic The Sun Won’t Shine on Me. “Don’t be afraid of this endless arcade that is life,” urges McGinley on the title track. Euros Childs, formerly of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, now a full-time Fanny, provides the madcap keyboard solo. theguardian

The Reds, Pinks & Purples – Don’t Ever Pray In The Church On My Street More culinary excellence from the “DIY kitchen pop project of Glenn Donaldson” a.k.a. The Reds, Pinks & Purples beat-surrender

The Umbrellas – She Buys Herself Flowers everything you’ve probably ever loved about indiepop bands, past and present. A timeless sound that I never tire of hearing austintownhall

Cool Sounds – Crimson Mask feels a bit nostalgic; it’s got this sort of Kenny Loggins spirited vibe to it, bouncing and catchy, though also feeling rather homely. You can put that intimacy down to the musicianship here, as the group work beneath the front of the mix to build in ample layers of creative texture. There’s a really nice hook in at 1:05 via the vocals I couldn’t get enough of, and then the backside has this great little jam out illustrating the band is offering up more than nostalgic nods austintownhall

Nia Wyn – Come Home To You has a massive pop hook, an irresistible groove, all softly punching horns and group soul harmonies. If Mark Ronson had been in the studio, you’d have heard this at least a thousand times and people would be saying ‘the new Amy Winehouse’. You should have heard it a hundred times at least from open windows, shop radios and passing cars. It’s that sort of immediate big party tune. Not sure why that hasn’t happened yet, but we live in strange times….

There’s skinny guitars (Imma Be Honest sounds like a great lost TLC track), Frank Ocean neo soul (Muzzle), Labi Siffre folk-flecked soul (Who Asked You) and political anger about the NHS (Such A Shame). Take A Seat is a mod record – or, if you like, a distillation of Paul Weller’s aims and ambitions, merging the old and the new, creating something very special of her own.

You can still say the new Amy Winehouse if you like, even though she’s as much as common with Michael Kiwanuka. On this evidence Nia Wyn easily has enough talent to go where she likes on her own terms. We’ll be seeing her name in lights soon enough didnotchart

The Lodger – I Don’t Wanna Be It Last week, The Lodger released Cul-de-sac of Love, their first LP in over 10 years… For me, this offers up the side of the band that I’ve grown to love, still pulling those jangling guitar strings yet holding back on the tempo to allow for a little breathing room. Here they wash that space with a little synth work, and a softened vocal melody; it opens up the song and makes gives the tune longevity, allowing it to sit with you hours after the track (and album) have faded out austintownhall

Wet Leg – Chaise Longue Ever come across a song and feel like you’re not cool enough to be enjoying it? Or maybe its just too much fun and you feel like you’re going to drown in the hipness? Well, that’s how I’m feeling about this debut single from UK outfit  austintownhall

Horsegirl – Ballroom Dance Scene guitarists Lowenstein and Cheng’s sleep-smeared murmurs stumble into each other atop Reece’s steady drum work. The words and phrases that float to the surface sound like entries in a haunted dream journal: There’s a poor soul with “flies inside the pockets of his jeans,” a boy with “seven pens to differentiate between his sins,” and a girl who “licks her bruise like it’s a lollipop.” The result, which lands somewhere between shoegaze, slowcore, and post-rock, manages to be both melodic and stoned as it rises to a lush, swirling conclusion pitchfork

Ski Saigon – It’s Already Tomorrow Back when gigs were still things, I was lucky enough, alongside Scared To Dance, to put on Ski Saigon at The Victoria. Over two years later, next month the band will release their debut album, the band’s first new material since 2016’s EP, Bring The Storm Cloud…. The track seems to have a suitably grandiose feeling, as chopped up radio announcements are dropped in amongst Rhys Griffiths lightly distorted vocals, which seem almost engulfed by the waves of guitar and pounding drum rhythms. Both the sound and the sheer ambition of the piece is reminiscent of early British Sea Power or I Like Trains, bands who equally took influence from the world at large, while injecting a certain sense of self for good measure. fortherabbits

Bright Eyes – Flirted With You All My Life a cover of late Georgia singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt’s “Flirted with You All My Life”. The stirring tribute slowly builds from the piano and sparse percussion before bringing in the driving acoustic guitar. Bright Eyes lead singer Conor Oberst passionately delivers the haunting lyrics. “Oh death, you hector me / And decimate those dear to me,” he sings. “You tease me with your sweet relief / You are cruel and you are constant.”

“I had the pleasure of seeing Vic perform many times over the years and from a young age,” Oberst said in a press statement. “I can truly say he deeply changed my worldview and what it meant to write a really unique and thought provoking song. One of the greatest ever. Always missed. Here is our humble version of one of his best.”

Chestnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants on Christmas Day in 2009 at 45 years old. He released 17 albums during his career, recording all of them after a 1983 car accident that left him a quadriplegic. consequenceofsound

Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen – Like We Used To There’s something triumphant about this song, a driving arena-worthy number as anthemic as Springsteen and as polished as Fleetwood Mac. While the voices are predictably wonderful, it also feels like an aside from either songwriter’s own work. Here they seem to be celebratory, revelling in this joyous ode to claiming your own space in the world. My only complaint is that nothing could really live up to how exciting the prospect of a duet between Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen is, and frankly for that level of over-the-top expectation, I only have myself to blame. fortherabbits

Lucy Dacus – Hot and Heavy As Lucy explains, the track started off life as being about an old friend, before, “I realized along the way that it was just about me outgrowing past versions of myself“. The track has a certain nostalgic quality, Lucy returning to her teenage haunts and hangouts and feeling like she’s, “trespassing the past“. Ultimately it’s a song about accepting who you are, even if you’re not the person your past self expected you to become. Musically, this feels like a bit of a departure for Lucy’s music, channelling her inner Bruce Springsteen into her driving, widescreen take on Americana fortherabbits

Grrrl Gang – Honey Baby On their first new material since 2018, Indonesian Indie act Grrrl Gang put the jangling guitars and dreamy vocals of Alvvays in a blender with vintage Tame Impala psych-rock touches and yesteryear’s pop harmonies, resulting in the all-around lovely “Honey, Baby.”… Vocalist and guitarist Sentana says the song is the story of a relationship, recalling, “I tried to reflect and express how sweet the relationship was to me at that time, despite knowing that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. I guess, what I was trying to say in this song was, ‘Hey, I am willing to go through this. Are you?’” pastemagazine

The Buildings – Heaven is a Long Exhale Filipino indie rock group The Buildings will celebrate the release of their second album ‘Heaven is a Long Exhale’ with a virtual launch party. Titled ‘Melting the Goblin’, the event is set to take place at Club Matryoshka – the event space in video game Minecraft – on June 6. The album will arrive the next day via Japanese label Call and Response Records.

For the occasion, the band have assembled a line-up of “punk and outsider acts” hailing from Southeast Asia and Japan. These include John Caing (of noise rock band Bombo Pluto Ova), indie rock band SACOYAN, noise-punk band P-iPLE, sound collage artist Mark Omega, and more. nme

Dusk and Moon – Sunny Summer Day an indiepop band from Bandung, Indonesia. They have been around for a number of years now releasing their debut single on Cloudberry Records back in 2007… a new mini-album tells the story of vocalist/guitarist Dicki Hermansah’s journey in Hong Kong… On this single, the band are joined by Nana Furuya from Charlotte is Mine… It’s an uplifting affair and Furaya’s voice is a delight as it twists and turns amongst the almost orchestral sounding guitars. Let’s hope the rest of the journey is as good! recordsilike

Always You – Rio de Janeiro (featuring ex-members of The Depreciation Guild and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart) go for a mix of smooth 1970s and 1980s on this new single. So much so I can imagine it being performed on reruns of Top Of The Pops episodes from those times. Loud shirts, cocktails and a sandy beach are all optional. recordsilike

Phantom Handshakes – No Better Plan the band have suggested it, “is about the consequences of pleasing someone else’s wishes at the expense of following your own dreams”. Listening to the song, it’s one of those tracks that seems to instantly tap into a rich vein of wistful melancholy; at least partly because of the stunning tone of Federica’s voice, liberally doused in reverb, even a chorus consisting of just “na,na,na”‘s seems to glisten with an implicit sadness. fortherabbits

Rachel Love – Primrose Hill Rachel Love, who was singer/guitarist for early-’80s cult indiepop band Dolly Mixture, is releasing her first-ever solo album, Primrose Hill. Two songs from the album are out now and both are lush, dreamy pop with synth orchestration and layers of harmonies. They fall somewhere between ’60s sunshine pop and the mid-’90s lounge revival, and fans of Saint Etienne, whose live band often includes Dolly Mixture’s Debsey Wykes, will definitely want to check these out.

If you’re unfamiliar with Dolly Mixture, they existed from 1978 – 1984 and were at one point signed to Paul Weller’s Respond label, and are perhaps best known for singing backup on Captain Sensible’s hit UK singles “Wot” and “Happy Talk.” They also were an influence on the C-86 indiepop scene as well as the many bands that have followed in the last 35 years. Dolly Mixture didn’t actually release much during their original run, but an archival 3-CD set, Everything and More, was released in 2010 and two vinyl compilations — The Demonstration Tapes and Other Music — were released in 2019. brooklynvegan

Painted Shrines – Gone a new partnership between Jeremy Earl (Woods) and Glenn Donaldson (The Reds, Pinks, and Purples). The pair met in the mid-’00s and have collaborated numerous times, most notably on the 2011 Woods album Sun And Shade.  Their first official collaboration, Heaven And Holy, was recorded in a week in 2018 after Earl accepted an invitation to visit Donaldson’s coastal studio in Northern California… The 12 tracks maintain the effortless feel of the initial recording session, sounding fresh and unforced.

Given the pair initially bonded over their love of tambourines and DIY there’s little that will surprise on their debut. This is the psych-folk sound of The Byrds being played through the jingle-jangle morning of ’80s indie, especially the Stone Roses. There’s nonetheless a sweet melancholy to the harmonised tracks that make them comforting. loudandquiet

Wesley Gonzalez & Rose Elinor Dougall – Greater Expectations With Robert Fripp-esque jagged guitar lines and the wonderful blend of the two vocalists, with Gonzalez representing the harried yin to Dougall’s detached cool yang, ‘Greater Expectations’ is a funky, loose jam that’s not afraid to dive deep into melodic pop or scuzzy indie rock. Gonzalez and Dougall don’t exactly seem like an ideal pairing on paper, but their combined styles feed off each other in fascinating, and often brilliant, ways.

“Greater Expectations was co-written with the brilliant Rose Elinor Dougall in the summer of 2019, I believe it came from discussing the hypocrisy of flawed people on Instagram being public-facing self-help charlatans,” Wesley says. “We wanted to write something that expresses something positive whilst also managing to be somewhat sneering towards social media’s vacuous status-seeking which can feel like looking into the window of a yuppy showroom.”

“We were thinking about ideas surrounding the future or what a certain group of people feel that their futures were entitled to be,” Dougall adds, “that perhaps there’s a need to face up to those potentialities not existing anymore.” faroutmagazine

Sleeper – We Should Be Together This Time Tomorrow is both old and new, described by the band as a ‘lost album’. The foundations were forged in the years after they officially split and could have been the record to follow 1997 album Pleased to Meet You. This collection of nascent tracks had gathered digital dust for over 20 years but, in the wake of a return to live shows and the release of new material on The Modern Age in 2019, they decided to resurrect them. So, like performing surgery with cutting edge lasers and cow gum, they had to coax old files from museum-ready hard drives and breathe new life into them.

I always felt that Sleeper got a raw deal out of the nineties, gathered up in the collective noun of Britpop and subject to the sexism still prevalent towards ‘female-fronted’ bands (a phrase that would only be marginally less laughable if you ever saw ‘male-fronted band’ written anywhere). Being labelled as ‘opinionated’, ‘difficult’ or ‘gobby’ when your male counterparts are being lauded as wise, witty and wry must have been wearing and, in many ways, you can understand why Louise Wener went on to be a writer, because at least you have control over what you write rather than what’s written about you. But journalistic cliches of sexism, splitting-up and sleeperblokes aside there are few artists that can claim such a consistent hit rate of great tunes. If you think you can write a catchy pop song then imagine how to concoct a string of hits that include ‘What Do I Do Now’, ‘Inbetweener’, ‘Delicious’, ‘Sale of the Century’, ‘What Do I Get’, ‘Statuesque’, ‘Look At You Now’ and ‘Vegas’. joyzine

The Coral – Change Your Mind this is a glorious, sprawling record, nostalgic both for musics past and resorts now decayed, but without being maudlin or embittered. Approaching middle age has mellowed the Coral a little – the core of their sound is now focused on a gently psychedelic chug, without the spikiness of their earliest records – but if anything that has led them to focus so completely on melody that they pour out of Coral Island like ice-cream from a Mr Whippy machine. theguardian

The Natvral – New Moon As the frontman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Kip Berman wrote songs about the thrills and ills of young adult life with the care and concern of a cool older sibling. The long-standing New York City indiepop group disbanded soon after releasing their final record, The Echo of Pleasure (2017), and Berman found himself at a creative crossroads. He wanted to keep making music, but the themes and sounds he was interested in had shifted; it felt time for a course correction.

Enter Tethers, Berman’s first solo record as The Natvral, which finds him coming to terms with the changes in his own life by observing those transformations in the people he’s known – a self-portrait in relief. In the time between making his last record with his former band, Berman’s life and location have shifted dramatically, as he welcomed a daughter, then a son, and moved from Brooklyn to Princeton. With his new identity as a parent came a crucial shift in how he approached music. Gone were the months in a cramped tour van and late nights rehearsing with his band in a windowless warehouse space. In its place were amorphous, suburban afternoons playing whimsical songs to two young children, while writing music for himself after their bedtime.

But in this time away from the life of a touring artist, Berman discovered an unvarnished, broken folk rock sound– a marked departure from his previous work. Recorded over 7 days with producer Andy Savours, Tethers is as raw in sound as it is nuanced and empathetic in its lyricism. “It wasn’t so much a decision about how to work. It was the only way to do it. I had these songs, but not much time, so we just tracked everything as quickly and in the moment as we could and hoped for the best,” says Berman of his process. Without effect pedals, overdubs or even a metronome, the resulting album feels free and unpretentious, recalling the strident obliqueness of Bob Dylan and Neil Young’s sonic primitivism – but drawn from a set of vividly detailed experiences all Berman’s own. thefatangelsings

Sarah Mary Chadwick – Full Mood incredibly intimate, with just Chadwick singing over a piano…

“‘Full Mood’ is about a Valentine’s Day date I went on,” said Chadwick of the song in a press statement. “The owner of the bar we were at tried to get us both to fuck her, but she wouldn’t let me be in charge so we didn’t. I remember afterwards we were walking down the road and it was streetlights and still at 3am and everything felt great and shining and I remember thinking that I wish my dad could’ve done this, got drunk and kicked around the city at night when it’s all sparkly, holding onto someone who lights you up, not been stuck in silent dark rural New Zealand, watching other people’s lives on TV, drinking half glasses of box wine while his frowning wife ironed.” nme

Desperate Journalist – Fault In the mid-2010s, we posted a series of singles from the London rock band Desperate Journalist. “Control,” “Hollow,” and “Resolution” each found the group developing an aesthetic indebted to ’80s indie rock of Europe and the British Isles. They’ve often reminded me of a sleek modern update on the Smiths, pairing that emotive guitar-pop sound with an alt-rock explosiveness resembling Savages or the Joy Formidable…

Despite my constant Smiths comparisons, if lead single “Fault” reminds me of anything, it’s early U2 — think War era, when they were already slinging anthems but were still very much a post-punk band. There’s more than a little Souxsie-style goth in there too. “If it’s no one’s fault, then it’s everyone’s fault!” is Jo Bevan’s mantra, backed by a heavy bass-driven groove. Her wailing conclusion: “Then maybe it’s your fault!” stereogum

Nightshift – Power Cut pieced together remotely during the pandemic, under the influence of Rosi Bradiotti’s book The Posthuman and restraints the band compares to Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies. “The process of writing these songs separately during lockdown was a kind of exquisite corpse,” singer Eothen Stern says. “I liked this gesticulation of reaching out to one another and responding. Building up the next layer and passing it on.”…

“If you close, close your eyes/ Do you have a power cut?” Stern sings in an art-damaged moan straight out of the late ’60s. “Off the grid/ Yes I live/ Off the grid.” It reminds me of when Yo La Tengo stretch out and tap into a vibe, except trippier and more avant-garde, with shades of Cate Le Bon and her pals Deerhunter, whose “He Would Have Laughed” is evoked by the recurring guitar riff here. The way this breathes and flows, you’d never guess they weren’t in the room together. stereogum

Jenny Beth & Bobby Gillespie – Remember We Were Lovers a yearning, slow-burning ballad… For Utopian Ashes, the two explore fictional characters with a revived sense of ache. Inspired by classic country songwriter duets like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris’ “Grievous Angel” and George Jones and Tammy Wynette’s “We Go Together,” the two put themselves in the scenario of a crumbling marriage, one that continues to erode with emotional inarticulacy and misperceptions. thefatangelsings

Fightmilk – Overbite This feels like Fightmilk at their most expansive, a band finding the confidence to throw everything at a track, whether it’s a bombastic guitar-solo, soaring howl-along gang vocals, or a beautiful, arena-sized break-down; there’s no holding back here, this is pure, unadulterated Fightmilk, and that’s every bit as joyous as you imagine. fortherabbits

Fletcher – 2005 VW Passat they have always had the propensity to find that special melody. However this release goes towards perfect territory as dominant riff is simply so sweet and memorable that it jumps headlong into the sort of gorgeous ear-worm territory that makes acts like Charlie Duda and Massage stand out from the crowd, whilst still managing to imbue the laid back dynamism of the Young Scum sound. janglepophub

Poster Paints – Number 1 I was listening to the latest episode of Emma’s House when Stephan played a track that stopped me from what I was doing at the time. I have not done that since hearing John Peel play Safety Net by The Shop Assistants for the first time. 

It was the debut release from Glasgow’s Poster Paints who consist of Simon Liddle and Carla J Easton who have previously been in a number of bands. If you imagine Phil Spector basing his wall of sound on Pyschocandy then you are on the right track. Granted he would have needed a time machine but you get the gist and I get the best of both worlds. Blistering stuff and yeah there is a bit of the Shoppies in there too. recordsIlike

Massage – Made of Moods Irrepressibly upbeat with a breezy springtime feeling, I may just make it my first song of the day for the entire month whenyoumotoraway

Cozy Slippers – When Will When Come a plea to live life to its fullest, embracing all of its messy possibilities. Propelled by a scuzzy, sunny energy and effervescent musicality, it flows with jangly melodies alongside Sarah’s sweeping, smooth vocals that ooze a gentle heartwarming emotion. With shades of The Cranberries, or even GIHE faves Chorusgirl, ‘When Will When Come?’ builds with twinkling hooks and sparkling harmonies to a truly uplifting slice of shimmering indie-pop. I mean, how could a song about pink flamingos do anything but make you smile…?! getinherears

Lyon Tide – Blind Yesterday I mentioned some of the blogs I read in order to discover new music. Today I want to mention one of the regular mixes I listen to.

I have been following Stephan’s Emmas House Music (named after that song) for a while now. There is a bit of crossover between us both (good taste fella) but I do find some excellent tracks from this show when that doesn’t happen. The new single from Lyon Tide, as featured on his latest mix, is a case in point.

The mix itself is a monthly one and it has recently increased to around the hour mark. Whilst it mainly features new tracks the odd classic is thrown in for good measure as well… you can also listen on Soundcloud. recordsilike

Cassandra Jenkins – Hard Drive Floating between spoken-word storytelling and soft, pensive singing, Cassandra Jenkins weaves brilliant vignettes from the hard drive of her mind. There’s an undeniable hope lingering in the everydayness of her memories. It’s a reminder of all we have to come back to—when those simple, quiet moments can be so meaningful. Released on the day of President Biden’s inauguration, Jenkins wrote that “I hope today we can take a deep breath, count to three, let go of the last 4 years and start to look ahead at the next chapter.” Like a meditative guide, she instructs the listener: “Just breathe. One, two, three.” The fresh air feels so good esquire

Nah… – Airy Day a jangling affair with 1970s overtones recordsilike

Pastel Coast – Sunset a delightful slice of beach pop with a French accent whenyoumotoraway

Melby – Magic the fourth successive single by Stockholm’s Melby, following the 2019 release of their well-received debut album. Thematically the song pushes against the hyper-realism of the Swedish mindset, but the title also is an apt descriptor of the music that Melby makes. Blending psychedelia, pop and folk elements into dynamic and accessible music, their songs invariably delight us and, quite often, manage to surprise us as well whenyoumotoraway

Wolf Alice – How Can I Make It OK? The Mercury winners’ third – and best – album shows off their range, landing bittersweet post-heartbreak reconciliation, sky-swelling catharsis and even leering, absurdist punk. Yet it remains grippingly coherent thanks to Ellie Rowsell’s quasi-operatic vocals and a sparkling dream-pop aura theguardian

Adult Mom – Sober While previous Adult Mom albums had a spare, bedroom-recording feel, Driver is more of a band album, with bright production and songs that carefully and vividly map out an early-twenties travelogue full of crisis, memory, hope, and the kind of intense moments that feel almost debilitatingly hard-hitting at that age — even if you’re just starting to become wise enough to know they’re ephemeral rollingstone

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy – Make Worry For Me Sixteen years after making their cult-beloved collaboration Superwolf, old friends and indie lifers Matt Sweeney and Will Oldham have reassembled for another album of sprawling reverie. The two fit together like spoons, with Oldham’s craggy tenor and elegantly strange phrasings nestling comfortably inside the psychedelic languor of Sweeney’s guitar. There are beautifully silly moments on Superwolves, and there are also bits of shining emotional insight powerful enough to send you spinning. stereogum

Todd Briefly – The Extensive Waterways of the United Kingdom you’re going to want to be sure you put this tune on full blast for the rest of the day… fueled by this pounding rhythm, thunderous in nature, allowing the guitars to create all the damage. Those guitars stab and churn and flip angularly, chopping up pieces of the fabric on your speakers as they break on through. Todd offers this disaffected vocal delivery, a steadied vocal performance, unaware of the swirling noise all about him. austintownhall

Black Twig – Big Cat I was committed to loving this song when it opened with that sort of pastoral post punk feel, circling guitars over a thundering rhythm section. Still, I was blown away by Aki’s performance here; he sounds huge and solemn, creating this sort of fatherly comfort; the forceful jump in the chorus is equally matched, putting his range on display for all of us to enjoy austintownhall

Holiday Ghosts – Off Grid In 2017 (link) and again in 2019 (link) we spent a considerable portion of our digital ink budget (minus the portion seconded to our beverage purchase budget) extolling the virtues of English band Holiday Ghosts. We recently were wondering whether the band was still together and writing music when we discovered the video for “Off Grid” — a spanking new tune from the Falmouth-based artists. The tune chugs and bounces like a terrific soundtrack for your first springtime drive with the windows down while male/female vocals spin the tale. whenyoumotoraway

Quivers – Gutters of Love From Tasmania to Melbourne to conquering the indie pop world” (from a brief unauthorized history of Quivers). OK, that may be getting ahead of things a bit. But there is no doubt that Quivers is the sort of jangling indie pop generators that this world needs much more of. And we probably would have been able to see them tour if not for that nasty virus that we heard has been going around. However, the band has used their time wisely an will be releasing new album Golden Doubt on June 11. And if opening track “Gutters of Love” is representative, we are in for a treat in June. A sunny and rousing anthem good vibes, it has lead to us declaring the weekend a few days early. Sorry boss, ‘we have the Quivers’. whenyoumotoraway

The Mountain Goats – The Slow Parts on Death Metal Songs has all of the dark, smoky qualities that one could hope for from a song with such an evocative title. The track’s subdued groove is rounded out by added harmonies from Susan Marshall and Reba Russell, whose credits include work with legends from Al Green to Lynyrd Skynyrd. pastemagazine

Mattiel – Those Words “I think everyone can relate to a song like ‘Those Words’ – it’s really just about choosing who to give your energy to,” Mattiel says. “If someone isn’t treating you with respect or crosses your boundaries, you don’t owe them anything. It’s an especially good reminder if you’re a person who tends to try to please everyone. Women are taught to do this from a very young age. It’s just not possible to make everyone happy, so you might as well sing and dance those cares away.”

UV-TV Back To Nowhere opens up like Echo And The Bunnymen’s A Promise being played at twice the speed before morphing into a punk-pop/indiepop romp. The Ramones, Blondie, The Primitives et al are all in the mix! As per the previous single it’s catchy as feck. recordsIlike

The Goon Sax – In The Stone as they announce Mirror II, their third LP, it sounds like they’re taking some chances. In this tune, both the video and the song seem to have this heavy anxiety, almost a sense of foreboding; it’s a weight that even seems to hold the chorus down, with Riley and Louis seemingly holding back where they’ve been buoyant before. Still, that little change has me drawn to the tune like a moth to the light; I particularly like Riley’s vocal performance just as the song fades to nothing but synths and drums at the 3 minute mark. They’ve changed things up a bit, while still managing to sound wholly like the vibrant pop band that seemingly sprung out of nowhere; I’ve got to applaud them for pushing their sound into new territory. austintownhall

Full Power Happy Hour – Heart Fell Out achingly lovely, Alex Campbell’s vocals conveying so much and so simply apessimistisneverdisappointed

Die Zartlichkeit- France Gall Sometimes a certain sound ends up being purely emotional, and it supersedes language barriers, which is precisely the case with this new  single. While I’m not as up on my German as I’d like, the tonal quality of the track is absolutely sublime, calm and comfort, tying into my proposal that emotion is sometimes all you need. In a way, it reminds me of Finnish outfit Cats on Fire, playing unassuming jangle pop that seems like an indiepop lounge act. You can tap your toes, you can enjoy the black/white video, or can just let the smooth sound wash over you austintownhall

Girl Ray – Give Me Your Love Produced and mixed by Joe Goddard and Al Doyle from Hot Chip, the track offers a more electro-driven sound than previous releases, whilst maintaining the band’s knack for creating lilting sonic delights, fizzing with plenty of vibrant, uplifting vibes and even some twinkling steel pans. getinherears

Corduroy – Blase the sound of ringing reverbed guitars, cavernous drumming, spacious arrangements and dreamy vocals. The 8-track album is the self-titled release of a Swedish four-piece that seems to us has taken the ’80s-’90s Manchester sound and reinvented it as a robust dream pop… you can throw darts at the track list to pick songs, because the quality is just that consistent. whenyoumotoraway

Real Numbers – In The End come into their own with a bit of polish and dedication to the Sarah singles collection… the hummable and humble ramble of “In the End.” The song isn’t as outright bubbly as some of the rest of the EP, languishing in a melancholy melt that comes on slow before leaning into the indie pop heart that beats quick at its core ravensingstheblues