With "Echoes", the second single from their upcoming album Fairweather Friend, The Umbrellas thrill us with melancholy shaded guitar pop reminiscent of The Sundays and The Popguns. But amid the jangle and regret, we note some new nuances in the songwriting and execution that has us eagerly awaiting the album.
Fairweather Friend is out January 26 via Slumberland Records and Tough Love Records.
CONO will be out December 1 via Bobo Integral, Osborne Again and Spunk Records.
Spoiler alert: The Giant's Lawn is one of our favorite albums of the year. So, on to other things.
Just kidding about the "other things", but we are quite serious about the rich musical tapestry that New Zealand's Wurld Series has dropped for our pleasure. Dipping into the well of New Zealand indie pop but expanding the palette with progressive folk, psychedelia and folk rock that will recall sounds from the UK in the '60s and '70s, the band offers spry compositions that balance light and dark, drone and twinkle, fuzz/jangle and pastoral calm. With 17 songs, Wurld Series has given themselves plenty of room to develop their ideas and cover multiple facets of their art, but nothing is redundant or overstays its welcome. The guitars are a joy throughout and the arrangements are fantastic and often fantastical.
We think this album deserves to be on the turntable of every indie fan, and it is already in our 10 ten of 2023 list.
Wurld Series are Luke Towart, Brian Feary, Ben Woods, and Ben Dodd. The Giant's Lawn is out now via Meritorio Records and Melted Ice Cream.
Tracy Wilson and Kenny Close are not strangers to the world of indie music. Tracy was in Dahlia Seed and Ringfinger and Tracy and Kenny were in Positive No. But what has captivated us this morning is the first single from their current project, Outer World. The song is "Forms of Knowing", a dreamy and insistent slice of psychedelic pop. It is taken from Who Does The Music Love, which will be out in March 2024 via HHBTM Records. We hope there are some additional singles before the album drops. We think it will be a winner!
Model Shop is Ethan Jones (vocals/guitar), Jen Fox (bass/vocals), and Kevin Emerson (vocals/drums). Check The Forecast EP is out now in vinyl and digital formats via Meritorio Records.
Proclaiming progress on self improvement, and expressing hope that the fruits will bring back a former lover, "Self Help" is the title track from the upcoming third album by Brisbane's Dumb Things. It is a terrific slice of mellow jangle that hits us just right.
Dumb Things are Adam Vincent (guitar/vocals), Madeleine Keinonen (guitar/vocals), James Southey (guitar/vocals), Andrew Robinson (bass), and Patrick Hill (drums). The album will be out in the new year via Brisbane label Coolin' By Sound.
The Band is Gemma Fleet (vocals), Chris Taylor (guitar/keytar), Andrew Doig (bass), and Gavin Murdoch (drums). As Well is out now in digital and cassette formats via Gold Mold Records.
Does Mope City make music to which you can mope? Well, we suppose you could do that. But we find their art intriguing and entertaining even when we are in a good mood. Their latest effort is Population: 4, ten tracks of jangling, twanging downcast rock that may call to mind Low, Polvo, or a somewhat deconstructed Jesus and Mary Chain. Perhaps it is the aftermath of Halloween, but more likely it is just us, but we find jangling guitars, thundering bass and gloomy vocals to be right up our alley these days. We began the day with the album as the soundtrack for our morning coffee, and we'll end it with one more spin before bed. Three of our favorites are below, and we think we reflect the range of the songs on the album. Enjoy!
Mope City are Amaya Lang, Matt Neville Shaun Donovan, and Nick Johnson. Population: 4 is out now via Tenth Court Records.
For this record Vanishing Twin is Cathy Lucas, Valentina Magaletti and Susumu Mukai. Afternoon X is out now via Fire Records.
Postal Blue is Brazilian artist Adriano do Couto. Adriano intends to release a series of singles in the upcoming months, the first of which is the two-track Chance Occurrence. The title track is a jangling gem that hits our sweet spot oh so very nicely. The second track is a sincere acoustic ballad that ably shows Adriano's versatility. If the following singles are up to this standard, consider our ears to be captured.
Readers interest in other releases from Postal Blue can check out his Of Love & Other Affections which we covered in 2015 (link).
There were some good albums dropping this week, and we will get to as many as we are able in the next few days. Our first pick is the thrilling Not Quite There Yet by Madison, Wisconsin band Red Pants. A duo consisting of Jason Lambeth and Elsa Nekola, the project has had a busy half decade together with two previous full length albums and a few shorter releases. Elsa provides the drums and some vocals; Jason does most of the rest. They make cute videos, sometimes with Jason's daughter in an acting role.
As revealed on Not Quite There Yet, Red Pants has a style but aren't locked into a narrow genre. Their songs are characterized by chugging or droning guitars with a sturdy rhythm high in the mix and some deft hooks. But from that foundation they deliver diverse tunes that can variously call to mind The Bats, Velvet Underground, Sebadoh, Yo La Tengo or Blonde Redhead. Yeah, it is indie rock, but it is good indie rock -- well written, sincerely performed and, moreover, it is intelligent and still sounds fresh. We like this one a lot (but we still probably won't wear red pants).
Not Quite There Yet is out now in digital and vinyl formats via Meritorio Records.
Well, well, well -- this pleasant and super jangling dose of psychedelic pop called "Ouroboros" may have just introduced us to a new favorite artist. Adelaide's Joe Ziffer is pushing all the right buttons on our musical appreciation control board. The song almost seems to be two songs, starting as a jangling pop tune and eventually transforming into a slice of psychedelia. It will be on regular rotation here while we eagerly await the album Long Shadows, which will be released in digital and cassette formats on November 24 via Tenth Court Records.
This week brought us "Fighting Spirit", the second single from the upcoming CONO LP by Australian band Pop Filter. This edition from the musical tasting menu is a fantastic pop tune. It begins gently and melodically then builds with additional texture and a soaring finish. When added to the first taste of CONO with last month's punchy "Heaven Sent" (our feature here), we know we are in for a varied, high quality set of songs when the album drops in early December.
CONO with be available via Bobo Integral, Osborne Again and Spunk Records.
What is this? New Wave/powerpop T Rex? Maybe, maybe not. But it kicks butt for a Monday night and that's good enough reason to post it. The song is "WannBe and the band is Autogramm. The song is taken from the band's upcoming album Music Humans Can Play which will be out November 14 via Stomp Records.
Autogramm are Jiffy Marx (vocals/synths/guitars), The Silo (vocals/drums/synths/guitars), CC Voltage (vocals/bass/guitars), and Lars Von Seattle (guitars/vocals). Obviously, the naming convention for band members is, well, not conventional.
We have reason to celebrate -- Dot Dash, one of our favorite bands, has released an album collecting 15 of their songs from their previous seven albums, plus a cover of Television Personalities "Jackanory Stories". The title is 16 Again, which refers to the number of songs on the record, but also is a Buzzcocks reference. While not explicitly labeled a greatest hits album, you can expect that the handpicked songs selected from the band's extensive cataloged are intended to wow you. Besides, Dot Dash couldn't give you any filler tracks because they don't do filler tracks. Trust us, we have devoured all of their albums.
For those of you experiencing Dot Dash for the first time, be advised that the band plays a beefy powerpop with some punk attitude and a good bit of jangle. They also have an appealing Mod twist to some of their songs that will call to mind The Jam (try out "The Color And The Sound"). The songs are hooky and concise and have that quality of instantly sounding like classics. The members are Terry Banks (vocals/guitar), Hunter Bennett (bass), and Danny Ingram (drums). Other bands on their various CVs include Julie Ocean, The Saturday People, Tree Fort Angst, Glo-Worm, St. Christopher, and Youth Brigade.
16 Again is out now in vinyl (the first time ever for a Dot Dash album) and digital formats via Country Mile Records. The previous albums were digital/CD releases and should all be available via Canadian label The Beautiful Music or Dot Dash's Bandcamp page.
The players on this EP are Glenn Donaldson, Kati Mishikian, Lewis Gallardo, Thomas Rubenstein, and Daniel Pearce. Murder, Oral Sex & Cigarettes is available as a digital download, but previous records from the project are available in vinyl from Slumberland Records (US) and Tough Love Records (UK).
Colored lights are Frode Stromstad (I Was A King/The No Ones) with Bard Ingebrigtsen, Frank Tonnesen, Ole Reidar Gudmestad, and Tomas Pettersen. Colored Lights is out now via Bobo Integral.
