Sharing the sharing.
Oakland band Torrey weaves the twelve tracks contained on their new self-titled album in, out, and through bits of shoegaze, indie pop, jangle pop, and rock. Creating an infectious 35 minutes of listening pleasure and a definite contender for album of the year.
Check out “Bounce”, “Hawaii” and “Slow Blues” below for a taste.
Torrey is out now on Slumberland Records. You NEED this records in your life. Enjoy.
If a shimmering, dreamy, jangly style of shoegaze is your thing, then the Barnsley, UK trio, Porcine, might be your new favorite band. They just released their third album via Safe Suburban Home and it is fantastic!
Check out album opener “Stop The World” and “Time Never Moves” (below) for a taste.
Porcine is out now on Safe Suburban Home Records. Enjoy.
Detroit’s FEN FEN are near and dear to me. They are one of the first bands I played on my Sunday night radio show, The Virus on Radio 3hive (shameless plug). They released an incredible self-titled EP in late 2022 and are now releasing their debut long-player, National Threat, in May via Sweet Time Records.
Check out their first single, “Bub” (below); it’s an in-your-face, hardcore-punk blast that ends way too soon. I can’t wait for National Threat to drop, and I can’t recommend FEN FEN high enough. Enjoy.
Ten things I know or don’t know about robounoishi:
Remember 2013? 10+ years ago, a Northwest Indiana band started something odd, catchy, edgy and wacky in a stick-it-to-the-man type of way. Egg Punk, ever heard of it? If you have, you can thank Egg Punk legends The Coneheads for the birth of this odd subgenre of punk that features cheap synths, frantic drum machines, and sarcastic vocals.
Years later we have a project called Snõõper out of Nashville that channels the original ideas and sounds of this movement, taking obvious inspiration from The Coneheads’ pacing and lyrical flow. Their 2023 debut album, Super Snõõper, is a fast-paced Egg Punk album that feels like ADHD personified in the best possible way. This album gives off a lot of Gen Z energy – hyper, energetic, cynical, and youthful.
The track “Powerball” (below) gives an energy that makes you want to walk away from your workstation and start to dance in the break room. The whole album is a quick listen, clocking at 22 minutes and 58 seconds. That can feel like a lot when you’re in the second half of this album. The track “Music for Spies” wastes no time, and gives no time to relax. Moments like this can make it feel like the album is never going to end. But, by the time it’s over, I feel like I need more.
Overall this project is a positive for the genre. The sound makes me want to explore Egg Punk even more, which has me digging into Prison Affair or The Coneheads for their take on the oddball genre. Looking forward to future projects by these guys.
With each new OSEES album there are always two questions: 1) Will they change the spelling of their name again? 2) What musical genre pairing will John Dwyer make you fall in love with this time?
With Intercepted Message, they stick with the OSEES name as they have on their last three albums (they’ve gone through six name variations in the past 20 years). And this time, Dwyer cooks up his classic punk/garage sound and iconic vocal package and pairs it with keyboardist Tomas Dolas, aka Mr. Elevator Synth, to create sometimes subtle and other times chaotic experimental synth disco and new wave-inspired beats with weird, wacky, and sometimes uncalled-for lyrics. The resulting heavy, creative synth sounds make you want to tap your foot occasionally but also make you scratch your head when followed up with more mellow tracks that feel out of place.
“Goon” and the title track give us a taste of the potential of this sound, only to be followed up by tracks like “Die Laughing” and “Chaus Heart” that have their own moments but stray away from the already established synth disco sound, making them feel out of place. Halfway through the album, Dwyer and Dolas start to explore and experiment with this new style by adding more layers. The track “The Fish Needs a Bike” gives you some of the most unique and odd content in this album by adding strong garage psych touches that makes you think acts like Ty Seagal, KGATLW and Frankie and the Witch Fingers.
Each time I listen to this album I keep finding something new I like about it, whether it’s some of the best experimental synth tracks of the year or some unique experimental sounds that the band could easily capitalize on in future projects. On the opposite side, the experimental sounds sometimes veer into chaos with so many colliding sounds and layers of noise. My own personal experience with the fan base suggests this might be a positive for OSEES diehards. Overall, this project is a great example of an experimental album that will most likely be looked back on as a springboard for ideas and sounds that Dwyer and Dolas will evolve on in the future.
Intercepted Message is out now via In The Red Records. You can also get it from the 3hive Record Lounge.
San Francisco’s The Umbrellas are back with their sophomore effort “fairweather friend” and 10 more tracks of pop perfection — shimmering, jangly, edgy, power-pop perfection. These words are not hyperbole either, this album is flawless. It’s impossible to highlight a track or two, so I’ll take the easy way out and post the singles below. Please give them a listen.
“fairweather friend” is out on Friday (01/26/2024) you can get it from Slumberland Records here and here. Tough Love Records here and from the 3hive Record Lounge in Provo, UT here. Wherever you choose to purchase makes almost no difference to us, just get your hands on this record and enjoy.
Los Angeles duo Double Life are channeling all the goods from 90’s post-hardcore, including powerful, groove-heavy drums, spacey vocals, chunky bass lines, and fuzzed-out guitar. Their first single and title track, “Indifferent Stars” (below), reminds me of bands like Jawbox and Failure with a bit of “Seven”-era Sunny Day Real Estate-like ferocity.
Double Life’s self-released, 3-song debut EP, Indifferent Stars is, out on January 24. It will leave you wanting for more. Here’s to hoping for more! Enjoy.
Mexico City’s Malcría do not pull any punches on their blistering 8 songs in 15 minutes new album Fantasías Histéricas. It’s an onslaught of relentless hardcore punk (like early Suicidal Tendencies on speed) that demands to be spun on repeat.
Check out “Precipicio” (below) for a taste. Fantasías Histéricas is out now via Iron Lung Records and also digitally from Malcría’s Bandcamp page. We will have it as well in the next couple of weeks.
It is a badass record! Enjoy.
Montreal’s Feeling Figures touch about every “indie” genre on their debut long-player, Migration Magic, which is out now on K/perennialdeath. There’s garage punk (“Dream Death”), jangle pop (“Across The Line”), the noisy Sonic Youth-ish “Sink”, and even a saloon-style piano ballad (“I Should Tell You”). Not to mention that every song is covered in an infectious direct to VHS grime.
Migration Magic is rad from start to finish. There’s really no other way to say it. I wish I would have gotten to it sooner, it would have been in my top releases of the year for sure. I am sorry I slept on it!
Go buy Migration Magic from the Figs Bandcamp page or from us right now. Enjoy.