I get bugged with releases I can't play straight through anymore, especially now when most things seem to be built around streaming services, social media, and artificial PR campaigns. But every so often, something new arrives with enough personality and punch that really makes me think again. These ten or so releases — LPs, EPs, 45s — were the ones that truly did it for me this year. It's the big sound of 2025. Artwork by Paris Rodd Ozzie Hair - Uninsured Best known for slin

Joe Glass has been steadily shaping a musical world of his own, one that runs parallel to, but distinctly apart from his work in the live version of Sharp Pins. He's spent the last few years writing, scrapping, re-recording, and rediscovering what excites him about rock 'n' roll, landing on a sound that's louder, faster, and more personal than anything he's released before. His new record, Snakewards , is full of brilliantly disheveled pop gems and ragged rock 'n' roll that f

The phrase the "LA sound" has meant a lot of things over the past six decades. Some people associate it with all sorts of things, but to me it will always be the sound of The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Jan & Dean, The Byrds, Love, and Kim Fowley. After a few decades of sedated trends, Los Angeles hasn't felt more alive and diversified than it does right now (see the sights of Uni Boys, Dorothy Fuzz, Billy Tibbals, Alley Girl, Quad Super Six, Tim Presley, etc.). And somehow, a

Few artists embody the home-brewed pop spirit quite like Riddle M. Over the last few years, Harrison Riddle has carved out a universe of his own built on lo-fi psychedelia, tape-warped surrealism, and an unfiltered sense of imagination. Now based in Chicago and surrounded by likeminded peers (e.g. Alga, Sharp Pins, Answering Machines), Harrison's fragmentary pop wonders stretch wider than they first appear. Wherever you start, whether it's Aurora or his latest album Lo Stere

Pure pop innocence is sweeping the Midwest (i.e. Mod Lang, Sharp Pins, Soup Activists) and direct from Indy, it's the Good Flying Birds, perhaps the most beloved group of the latest jingle-jangle boom. Good Flying Birds initially began as a recording project for guitarist-vocalist Kellen Baker, but has since evolved into a group over the last year with the current lineup including Susie Slaughter (tambourine, vox), Ari Bales (drums), Luke Corvette (guitar), and Jake Kelly (ba

When we last caught up with Maraudeur, they'd just dropped  Puissance 4 , a jagged, kitchen-sink post-punk record that proved the Swiss-French group had no interest in playing it straight. Three years later, they're back with its follow-up Flaschenträger  (Feel It Records), a live-wired batch of tunes tracked in a Geneva basement and played with the precision that still goes against the current. What started as a solo 4-track experiment has morphed into a six-piece collective

Direct from Portland, Cruise Control have been making waves this year with both a new record on the Curation camp (Uni Boys, Beachwood Sparks) and recent tour stops alongside Mod Lang and Thee Sharp Pins. On their latest LP  Time Is An Angel , the quartet of Izzy Dupuis (guitar, vox), Lee Butterfield (guitar, vox), Tim Kam (bass, vox), and Penny Olives (drums) channel golden-hour country jangle that's equal parts charm, hard-driving energy, and melodic pop rock 'n' roll intui

Tokyo punk veteran Fink has always held fast to the raw, blown-out blitz that made his earlier groups (Teengenerate, Firestarter,...

Josephine Network has carved out her own wild corner of New York rock 'n' roll, a space where hook-filled glam drama, fuzz-drenched...

So you've heard the news that it's a mod mod world, but have you heard it's also the year of Sharp Pins? The latest pop sensations direct from Chicago. Things have been moving fast for Kai Slater's brainchild from the teenage bedroom daydreams to a full-fledged rock 'n' roll happening. With the latest LP Balloon Balloon Balloon , Slater delivers 21 technicolor blasts of pop reverie that sounds like a transistor radio cutting across decades. You get a mod snap that brings to m

Over the past decade, The Cowboys have quietly carved out one of the most distinct, joyfully unclassifiable catalogs in American rock 'n' roll. Formed in 2012 in Bloomington, Indiana by Keith Harman (vox, keys), Mark McWhirter (guitar), Zack "Chode" Worcel (bass), and Jordan Tarantino (drums), the quintessential Midwest group rose from basement shows to cult-favorites all while never losing the playful spark that first brought them together. Following their 2023 album Sultan

On her third album  Arrow of Love , Hectorine's Sarah Gagnon re-emerges with what feels like a triumphant return while pushing pop...