I was going to wait until next Wednesday for Music Women Wednesday for this one, but I need to talk about this album right now.
'Precious Dream' by Hot Garbage came out today and I just finished listening to it. It's perfect. More than likely will make my top 20 this year unless 20 other amazing albums somehow surpass it. I doubt they will. Both Juliana and Alex Carlevaris sing, they're siblings. It's like psych, garage, post punk, shoegaze? But there's also some wild bluesy and dark country-ish vibes. It's amazing fuckin SONGWRITING is what it is. This is Hot Garbage's second album, now I gotta check out their first.
I mentioned Bingo Boys' 2023 record 'Freak Out & Leave' in February, how I was upset I somehow missed it last year. They're from Indianapolis, Indiana and make some incredible catchy, melodic psych-ish garage/punk.
I've been going through their back catalog today and they don't even have bad songs. 🤯
Bingo Boys put out a couple singles this/last year which are unfortunately only on Spotify, but Bandcamp has several of theirs too- ALL good: https://bingoboys.bandcamp.com
Albums I have my eye on that are coming out this month or next:
Afterbirth - In But Not Of - Oct 20
Autopsy - Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts - Oct 27
R.M.F.C - Club Hits - Nov 3
Suffocation - Hymns from the Apocrypha - Nov 3
Scream - DC Special - Nov 10
The Dwarves - Concept Album - Nov 17
The Judges - Judgment Day - Nov 24
I mentioned this album on Wednesday, but now that it's out and I just listened to all of it, I can confirm that 'The Future is the Pits' is a certified banger. SEVERAL times as I was listening, I was like, DAMN this is catchy! The WHOLE thing is.
If you like fun, raucous bluesy garage rock/punk, Australia's Sick Fizz are definitely for you. What an ALBUM. Another serious contender for my top 20 that I can't currently see something knocking off the list.
I've been a huge fan of (and hugely musically influenced by) Sebadoh since the 90s. It's awesome how Lou & Jason switch off guitar and bass and mix both their styles. More people might know the name Lou Barlow, but in my opinion, Jason Loewenstein gets massively overlooked as a songwriter.
Also, I'm always amused (maybe mostly since my name is Jake) that Jason has been using the truly EXCELLENT URL http://jakerock.com for many years -- it's so memorable. 😂
For this week's #MusicWomenWednesday, check out this amazing sounding album 'Melt the Honey' that comes out Friday. The band is PACKS, aka Madeline Link.
These songs have such a cool, lo-fi feel- they reminds me of early Beck songs or maybe quieter Sonic Youth or Sebadoh songs, with Link's cool, unaffected voice and some great lyrics. It's folky and catchy as hell.
'Melt the Honey' comes out Jan 19 (Friday) and it's definitely a contender for my top favorites of this year. Listen/grab it here:
Discovered this KILLER local Arizona band the other day called Gemm- they kinda remind me of Hum or Catherine Wheel in that kinda 90s/early 2000s heavy, guitarry super melodic rock way. And the dude's voice is great. Are they shoegazey? Maybe. But not super slow. They're really worth a listen.
Ce soir j'ai envie de chialer comme un môme mais je me retient, je prends tout ce qu'il y a dans cet album comme une bouée de sauvetage, ca sert à ca le rock, ca sauve des vies, cette voix qui chevrote, comme Thom qui chanterai "But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo" et l'explosion de gratte brute de déco du rock indépendant qui reprendrai "I can't believe that life's so complex"
Vous avez peut être aussi besoin de cet album qui sait? Après tout on à tous besoin d'un moment de réconfort quand le sol se dérobe sous nos pas.
Prenez soin de vous. N'hésitez pas cet album est magnifique.
I've been writing and playing music for like 30 years now, and I hope that someday I'll write a song as good as Friskoman by Tuff Guac. Just a couple minutes of pure joy.
(This video is from just a few days ago - this is the other project of the dude from MOAR)
It's so cool how music is cyclical, how bands clearly influence each other. Everything comes back around again, and I love that. I've loved the music of The Clash and The Kinks for so many years, but now that their time has passed, new bands definitely have their feel.
Roda Lits gives me HUGE Kinks vibes. This album is less than 20 minutes long, too. Short songs and albums are so great sometimes. (Warning- album art appears to perhaps be a [scientific style, NOT overly gory/metal style] dissection photo, just fyi, if that kind of stuff disturbs you) https://bellybuttonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/common-specimen-indoor-mold
3 cool indie punk/garage type things for this week!
The Dwarves new record Concept Album comes out this Friday (November 17) and they just put out a KILLER new 2nd single and video from it, "Terrorist of Love". See/hear it here: https://youtu.be/DJ_cUDwNUog?si=jKDDGLu9vXs7lZzm.
Ever wanted to get into Guided by Voices but didn't know where to start? I made a playlist a while back of my favorite songs of their songs of theirs (and from Bob Pollard's solo stuff), from across the years.
Anybody ever hear of Atomic Suplex from Croydon, UK? This album '14 Inches of Fist' is from 2015, and I'm just hearing it today for the first time. EVERY track is a ripper. This is a SOLID garage/punk record. I mean, damn! 🔥
A lot of their music has a surf theme, and I can hear the surf rock influences here and there. But much stronger influences appear to be psychedelic rock and math rock.
I lived in New Hampshire for many years and we'd go to Boston for shows a lot- at T.T. the Bears (closed now 😢) and the Midway Cafe.
I saw The Gravel Pit at T.T.'s back in the early 2000s (a band made up of a singer/songwriter GENIUS, Jed Parish, and members of The Figgs).
Not sure how much (if any) The Gravel Pit got around outside of Massachusetts, but their album Silver Gorilla from 1999 is a modern rock MASTERPIECE. Jed's VOICE, LYRICS, and the arrangements-- give it a listen:
#CurrentSpins – #MaryTimony – Untame the Tiger (2024). #IndieRock guitarist/ singer-songwriter Timony hasn't cut a solo album in 19 years, remaining active in a gaggle of groups, including Ex Hex. Here, Timony shows herself as one of the best-kept secrets in rock.
The album combines power pop with sparse acoustic material, lyrically touching on grief (both her parents died during the making of the album) without sounding aggrieved. Ex-Fairport Convention Dave Mattacks drums on several tracks.
Listening to Jason Loewenstein's 2017 solo record Spooky Action again today as I often do, yknow, just because it's one of the greatest damn albums ever recorded