March, 2026 Show

 Hello there, I am more home bound than usual for the next few weeks, so hopefully I can use that opportunity to stay may current with these posts.  Meanwhile, let's plunge into my show for March.

 

The show begins with two really good cover songs.   The first is by one of the few current artists who can do everything and do it well, Ty Segall.  What a talent.  Here he does a wild take on the old Doors classic.  Then we have Dwarves, who I don't honestly follow very closely, putting forth an amazing cover of AC/DC's "Big Balls."  I love it when an artist really reimagines a cover song into something really new, and Dwarves definitely do that here.

 Varna GL is a singer from Greenland, and I really enjoy her music.  Over the past year or so I've slowly gotten into some indigenous music from Northern Canada (Nunavut and northern Quebec mostly), and this rabbit hole of Greenlandic and Canadian music has been a lot of fun.  

 I've had this CD from Iceland's Utopia for quite a while- I picked it up in Reykjavik during one of my visits in the early 2000s.  The vocals and music really put me in the mind of early Radiohead B-sides.  

 Continuing a wave of several Icelandic bands is the group Þausk, who I just recently discovered.  There is definitely a 90's sort of classic grunge sound and vibe to this song, but I really like it.

Next up is Fufanu, who I've known about for a few years.  They have a modern post-punk sound that is fun.

#4 in my run of Iceland songs is one from Haugar, another band that I only recently discovered (though I don't recall how).  Their new album is really good and I hope it catches on.

 I should take a moment and thank my friend Dru for bringing me back a bag full (12 or so) of CDs from Luky Record Store in Reykjavik a few weeks ago.  I haven't been to Iceland since the end of 2016/first of 2017 so it was nice to get my hands on some physical media from Iceland.

 Fen Fen, from my hometown of Detroit!  Apparently they are named after a weight loss drug that came and went in the 1990s.  

I first heard Novalima at a Spanish tapas restaurant in Washington, DC in 2013, not long after I returned from a work trip to Peru where I bought a large stack of CDs.  Luckily Novalima CDs were pretty easy to get in the U.S. at the time, though I confess I haven't kept up with this artist since then (makes note to go back and catch up on any post-2013 releases).

Dezerter has always been one of my favorite groups and their first LP, Underground Out Of Poland, is probably my favorite album of all time.

Next up is my favorite song by Deerhoof.  I think I have all of their records, though I can't say I have totally verified that (they do have a long discography with a lot of label switches).  This was the first Deerhoof song I ever heard, on some long gone music podcast.  The opening riff reminds me a bit of "All Right Now" by Free, which doesn't mean a whole lot, but I enjoy making musical connections any chance I get.

I love this record from Kilynn Lunsford.  Great post-punk music, cool vocals, and just enough weirdness to give it a unique vibe.  Really good stuff.

I don't know much about Welt Star yet (sorry, I'll work on that) but I love the late 1980s-early 1990s indie rock sort of approach.  

The Frenz Experiment is one of my two or three favorite albums by The Fall.  Every song is a winner.  It seems so tight, so well crafted, yet playful.  Unfortunately the expanded edition did not have a whole lot of bonus material, though these Janice Long sessions are great to have.

Maddie Ashman is in the same awesome category as Kilynn Lunsford above.  Fantastic songwriting, vocals, and music.  

The General Speech label is putting out all kinds of great punk and hardcore, including domestic releases of otherwise expensive foreign records (I also have to give a shout out to Sorry State, Total Punk, Iron Lung, Slovenly, Feel It, and Beach Impediment for doing the same).  There is so much great punk coming out of the Spanish speaking world right now (including from the USA, but don't tell ICE) that I can barely keep up.  This great song by Disket has a cool 1977-1978 vibe.

Up next I have three songs in honor of great musicians who died earlier this year:  Billy "Bass" Nelson from Funkadelic, reggae great Sly Dunbar, and Ghana Highlife star Ebo Taylor.  All three were stellar musicians with an amazing legacy.

This Histamine track almost sounds like Osees when they go all-out punk.  So, if you like the harder, faster moments of Osees, definitely check out this stuff from Histamine.  They are from Sydney, Australia.

Up next we have a cover of a Les Thugs song.  La Phaze brings a bit of Prodigy or Crystal Method to this version, which makes for a cool cover.

I've really been enjoying Gaudi's various projects over the past couple of years, though this record goes back to 2007.  Here Gaudi gives the dub/remix treatment to the master of Qawwali music, sort of like when Bill Laswell did his famous remix/dub album of Bob Marley music back in the 1990s.  I actually think this album works better than Mr. Laswell's (though I do own that one and I do like it).

There are a large number of great bands and musicians in and around Washington, DC that seem to fly under the radar, which is too bad.  I love Ekko Astral, and hopefully I can catch them live soon.

I've been fascinated with Polish punk, post-punk and just about everything else ever since I bought my first Dezerter record back in the 1980s.  Seks W Czasach Wojny doesn't have a huge catalog yet (just eleven songs on Bandcamp) but I'm hopeful they will have some more material soon.  Go buy some of their music to encourage them.

RF7 has a unique old school sound that bridges punk and late 1970s/early 1980s hardcore.  I would most compare this with the first album by Toxic Reasons.  

Oh, how do I love Yellow Fang.  They have one full album and a handful of individual songs, and each one is just great.  There is also a very good YouTube video of them in concert in their native Thailand.  I would love this band no matter where they come from, but they stand out even more because modern Thai pop music is overrun with sappy ballads.

If you like the kind of angry at the world music by the likes of Shame or Idles then you should definitely check out Mini Skirt.

Years ago I spent a week or so in Zagreb for work, and luckily I found an excellent record shop.  I loaded up on Croatian and older Yugoslav music, including this really cool compilation of older Yugoslav electronic music.  I don't know anything about the artist, but I love that sinister melody that snakes its way behind the more generic Euro funk beat.  The drums that come in around the 2:00 mark are cool too.

Discos Macarras!  What a label, run by the wonderful Dani in Catalonia.  Their catalog spans a wide range of metal styles, including this Motorhead approach.  More!  More!  More!

Remind me never to get on the bad side of the singer of Cold Meat.  

Yasmine Hamdan does such a beautiful job of blending traditional vocals with a unique blend of Mid East and western music.  Her album Ya Nass is a stunner.

I learned about Foodman from an episode of BBC's "Late Junction" back in 2021.  He's a very interesting artist.  On a side note, BBC won't allow US listeners to hear some of its shows, including "Late Junction", which is really stupid.  

I don't remember how I came across Tanukichan but I love that combination of fuzzy guitars and washed out vocals.  The cover of the album really matches the music too- that sort of daydreaming moment that we all need more of.

There are so many cool punk/hardcore indie labels putting out tons of great records:  La Vida Es Un, Goodbye Boozy, Sorry State, and of course Drunken Sailor.  I subscribe to all of these labels' mailing lists or Bandcamp notices, and I generally just buy anything new that comes out, even if I don't hear it first.

Adios Cometa- really cool 2000s sounding indie pop from Costa Rica!  I visited Costa Rica about twenty years ago, but it was a nature retreat kind of a trip so sadly I did not see any record shops.  

Each time I visited Sydney I always spent a good amount of time and money at Red Eye Records downtown.  One of the things I remember is how good and how affordable their selection of music related books was.  One of the many books I bought was a book about alternative music from western Australia from the 1970s and 1980s.  The book had a CD in a little envelope glued to the back of the back, and that is where this "Virus X" song comes from.  Anytime you can get your hands on Australian punk or indie compilations, definitely pick it up.  There is so much great music from our Australian friends that never made it to the U.S. or probably Europe either.

Cruelster are from Cleveland.  You'd be angry too if you lived there.

Vikowski- a band with a name that sounds like they are from Eastern Europe, but they are actually from Italy.  Anyone who likes Interpol should be big fans of Vikowski.

It's really difficult to get any information about bands from the Republic of Georgia.  It's not even that easy to get alternative music from Georgia, but I try to find what I can.  While I do not know anything about this band (Gerchi) I definitely love the music.

This Blouse album- which came out in 2011- is amazing.  It has that gentle indie pop sound that puts me in the mind of the bands Kindest Lines and Totally Mild.  Just really cool music that isn't in a hurry to go anywhere and be part of any particular sub-genre.  Nice.

Black Bomber:  because sometimes you really need some great hard charging Motorhead style metal.  Never stop, guys!

I only learned about The Plague very recently, though they were active in the early 1980s around Athens, Georgia.  The Chunklet Industries label recently offered a "box set" of four CD-Rs for a super cheap price, and of course I jumped.  On this song, "Crab Water," they show an Australian post-punk sound in the ballpark of The Bad Seeds or The Cruel Sea. 

Well, since we were just talking about Australia, how about 1-800 Mikey?  Distorted, fuzzy, lo-fi goodness.

Hot Face seemed to come out of nowhere, and now vinyl copies of their fairly new album are going for extortionate prices online.  A big Fuck You to the record flippers out there.

On the other hand, this album by Taker, which has a bit of a Ramones feel, is available for much more reasonable prices, so I recommend you go for it.

The opening of this song by Benzyna really brought me back to the opening of the song "Ants Invasion" by Adam & The Ants, even though the songs are nothing alike.  Something about that squealy opening guitar lead, though.

This cool song by 86 It, "Hairy Toothpick," get my vote for song title of the month.  Ottawa gets my vote for punk city of the month.  

Then we have Ty, from my hometown of Detroit, a city which never stops gargling great garage, punk, and good ol' hard rock n' roll.

From Latvia, we have Karšti Klijai, who have a really good post-punk sound going for them.  There is so much great punk, post-punk, alternative, and other good stuff coming from Latvia- I am doing my best to keep up.  Fortunately, unlike Spain and Italy, shipping costs from Latvia to the U.S. aren't totally unreasonable, so I scoop up as many CDs and occasional vinyl that I can.

Wow, that was a lot of songs this month!  Bringing up the end is a nice reflective song by Hanry, from France.  

 

See you next month!

 

 

 

 

 

February, 2026 Show

    

Well, well, well.  Here we go with the February show.

We start off with Scientist, an absolute genius (genius, I say!) of dub.  Just listen to how clear each instrument is in the mix.  I especially love the sound of the percussion in this track.

 

Cult Objects are new to me, but I am sold.  I bet you thought the intro drums was “Janie Jones,” didn’t you?  Come on, be honest.

 

Sick Thoughts really nails that trashy overlap between meat and potatoes classic rock and punk.  It’s actually a sound that very few bands pull off.  I bet this is killer live.

 

Full Flower Moon Band out of Australia have done a good job of changing up their approach with each release.  This whole album is excellent.

 

Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers- I have no idea what they are singing about, but the vocals are really striking.  So much, in fact, that you need to go back and listen to this song carefully to hear all of the musical ideas going on.  Those church bells?  Amazing.

 

I know this is a radio show, but what in the actual hell is going on in the video for “Tamoo Trance?”  I think the budget for the video was $350 and a jar of THC gummies.  Great song, excellent album, music video weird as shit.

 

This new Xiu Xiu album of all covers is simply amazing.  For this month I was really close to playing “Hamburger Lady” but in the end I could not stay away from this haunting version of “In Dreams.”  Check out that vocal ache at the 2:45 mark; how stunning is that?  The only good way to cover Roy Orbison is not to sound like him, but to demonstrate his influence on you.  The album is amazing not only for how great the covers are, but also for the fascinating choice of songs.

 

I received an email message from somewhere, maybe the label Bass Agenda, about the Carebot$ various artists compilation.  141 songs!  Given the amount of music that hits my attention each day, I´m not sure how long it will take before I can give all 141 songs a decent audition, but I did try a few and this track from g13ck did get my attention. 

 

Syf Recordings out of Poland has been one of my go to labels for the past year or so.  They have a really good stable of artists and the prices for the releases are quite reasonable, so expect me to stay on top of Syf Records releases for the indefinite future.

 

Rehash Neu Klang is new to me, and I love that late punk/early post-punk sound.  I hear bits of Wire, Magazine, and definitely Gang of Four.  Close your eyes and you might hear “Damaged Goods” in parallel to this song, but in a good way, not a cheap copycat way.

 

This Cochon Double track is so damn cool.  I love songs where each instrument or sound is interesting on its own, but then when assembled together it gives your ears something to chew on over many repeated listens.

 

Club Coco, which is basically Coco Maria, is a focal point for cool, funky, late night chill Latin music.  Imagine if St. Germain underwent a two-year intensive study of Latin music. 

 

Room To Live was one of the last albums in The Fall’s catalog that I got on CD.  I don’t think that fact is relevant to anything.  I do have all of their studio albums on CD, many of them “deluxe” reissues, in case you are worried. 

 

I remember in high school someone had this Kraut record.  I hadn’t thought about in a really long time and something recently made me think of it.  NYC didn’t have the strongest hardcore scene in the late 1970s/early 1980s, but Kraut was definitely one of the great bands from that city.

 

It's not very often that I am on social media, and it is even less often that I discover something new and interesting on those platforms, but I have to think Instagram for learning about John Q Irritated.  Someone posted a picture of this album with a short but interesting description, and my Spidey sense told me to investigate.  I hear bits of Gomez and Drums & Tuba in the songs, which is both interesting and a lot of fun.

 

Disoriented Ghost I read about somewhere on Bandcamp, and there is a really fascinating mix of hard rock arrangements, mid-Eastern tones, and pseudo Tuvan throat singing going on here.  Those elements could be a recipe for a train wreck, but it really works on this record.

 

Can you believe there is no Wikipedia page for Günter Schickert?  It’s not like the bar is very high regarding fame or talent to have a Wikipedia page.  Someone should do something about that.  Maybe that someone should be me.

 

I am fascinated by the blend of sounds in this song by The Deep Freeze Mice.  The vocals sound like something out of the early 1980s Australian post-punk scene, but there is the almost Spanish sounding acoustic guitar.  Interesting.

 

Itchy & The Nits reminds me of one of the original instructions for punk rock:  here is how you play three chords.  That’s all you need to construct a song.  Go have fun.

 

Both Morwan and A Place To Bury Strangers have put out some really cool dramatic post-punk meets cinematic post-rock lately, and when you put the two together you just get some stunning music.

 

I heard this song by Hammell On Trial on a music podcast in the 2000s (I can’t remember the name of the podcast but it was in that time when music podcasts would spring up continually then suddenly disappear after a dozen or two episodes).  It’s chilling how relevant the lyrics from this 2007 song are here in a so-far evil and bleak 2026.

 

New Earth Tongue!  I love this band.  Even though the price of records from the In The Red label are not cheap, I am still very happy that In The Red released this new album because the cost to get records from New Zealand shipped to my house is prohibitive.

 

I don’t know much about these next two bands, Plastique Pigs (Raleigh, North Carolina) and Hiraki (Denmark) other than the songs are new and I really like them (the songs and the bands).

 

1980s New York City was not a real hotbed of hardcore punk, but it was indeed a non-stop volcano of art punk and post-punk.  Phantom Toolbooth is just one of many great examples of this.

 

I remember hearing this Silver Apples song on the radio, if you can believe that.  It was late 1990s Detroit and I was driving somewhere, and I was listening to a very small community college station (Henry Ford Community College; the call letters might have been WHFC or WHFU).  It was the first time I ever ran across a radio station that had very specific genre shows, such as death metal, rockabilly, etc.  Anyway, I heard this song and was intrigued by the insane drumming with the various melodies layered on top.

 

What Glitterbeat, Awesome Tapes From Africa, Africassette, and other labels have done to rescue obscure African music the Vampisoul, Munster, and other labels are doing for lesser known Latin music, especially 1960s and 1970s music from Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru.  Muchas gracias, Vampisoul.

 

I just love this Digital Leather track.  The vocals- arrangement and performance- are real standouts for me. 

 

The amazing Catalan label Dicos Macarras released some amazing records in the last couple of years, including Beyond The Void by The Sky Creepers.  The Sky Creepers prove that heavy music doesn’t necessarily need drop-D tuning and Cookie Monster vocals.

 

I don’t know anything about this Polish artist Brenda I Funky.  I do like the start of the song- it starts out with a bass line that sounds like classic rock, then picks up a kind of Suicide feel which stays with the rest of the song. 

 

Kid Congo has one of the most interesting and impressive resumes in all of alternative music, and that continues with his recent collaborations.  Here is with Draculina serving up a great Cramps-esque tune.

 

After you enjoy listening to this track by La Luz (it’s a great song no matter how you dissect it) a few times, go back and listen and concentrate on the drums.  You will thank me.

 

I never thought about Réunion island much (except that I am a stamp collector and I have a few from there) until 2019, when I spent a whole day record shopping in Paris.  Like London, Paris is great in that there are fantastic all-around stores, but also quite a few specialist record shops.  I found one that was really focused on music from Tahiti, New Caledonia, and the south Pacific in general, and another shop that had an amazing collection of records from Réunion and Mayotte.  So, I have tried to keep somewhat up to date with music from those French colonies, which brings me to Jako Maron, a Réunion artist who just happens to be on one of my favorite labels, Nyege Nyege Tapes. 

 

Gróa is a really cool band from Iceland, and it is merely a coincidence that the singer sounds a lot like early Sugarcubes-era Björk?

 

This track from Дом Прекрасных Аустов (“The House of Beautiful Austs”) perfectly encapsulates all of the dark, wistful tendencies of Russian music, no matter the genre.

 

Institute, from Austin, is new to me but this new self-titled album by them is really good.  I’m looking forward to what comes next.

 

The Höga Nord label out of Sweden has a lot of electronic music that I like (which is saying something, because I am very picky about electronic music that I like vs. do not).  The beginning of this song reminds me so much of the theme song from The Sopranos.

 

I just received my new copy of the Maria BC album Marathon in the mail yesterday, and I am super excited.  I had a difficult time deciding which song to play this month so guess what?  I chose one, and I’ll play more songs in the months to come.

 

If you have any interest at all in forward-looking German alternative music, definitely keep up to date with the labels Bureau B and Pingipung.  I missed this album by Das Kinn when it first came out in May of 2025 but I recently acquired it and you should too.

 

I first heard Machinations on a CD compilation called Notes From The Australian Underground, which by the way is well worth tracking down. 

Here we have Mujeres Podridas, out of Austin, playing perfect blend of hardcore and fast punk.  Drop your needle anywhere (or hit the ol’ random play button) and enjoy the ride.

 

I’ve only been to Lithuania once (sadly), and that was a long time ago (2001?  2002?).  I did buy as many local CDs as I could, but I was there for a business trip and I did not have much time to shop for records or ask about the local scenes (jazz, punk, post-punk, etc.).  I would love to go back with time and some money to take in all of the interesting things going on in Vilnius.  As with the neighbors in Latvia, there is a lot of really cool post-punk going on in that country.  Luckily for me, shipping from Latvia and Lithuania is on the cheaper end of the European spectrum (not cheap, mind you, but definitely cheaper than Spain and Italy, which has crazy shipping rates to the U.S., even for a single CD).

 

The new album from Robber Robber comes out in a few weeks, and I am looking forward to hearing all of it.  As of now there are four out of eleven songs available on their Bandcamp page.  There are elements of Die Spitz, Mandy Indiana, and other really cool bands in their sound.  I’m confident that this band will show up in Dandelion Radio’s Festive Fifty.

 

Okay, this next item is really interesting.  I’ve been interested in the Situationists and the Paris May 1968 student uprising since my college days.  I know the Situationists had varying degrees of influence on Malcom McLaren, The Feederz, and others, but I didn’t know much about their more time and place influence on French music until I recently picked up a book titled Synths, Sax, & Situationist.  That led me to get off my butt and look more into Situationist inspired music, especially from France.  That led me to this 2022 album by V. Vale & La Mère, titled Situationist Music.  This album is terrific, and it will not surprise you that this album (and much of the Situationist inspired music that I’ve had a chance to hear so far) would not be shunned by those music fans who have their Nurse With Wound list memorized.  This could make for a good one or two hour special show sometime- stay tuned.

 

Ipek Gorgun’s late 2025 album Earthbound is tagged in Bandcamp as “electronic” and “experimental” and both terms do apply correctly.  This is electronic music for people who like to listen rather than dance.

 

The show finishes with Terveet Kädet, the hardcore legends from Finland.  I remember about the time (1983 or so) when American hardcore bands had just about hit their limits of speed and short songs, along came a small wave of Swedish and Finnish hardcore bands that kept the blistering speed and short song durations going.  Terveet Kädet may have been the most notorious at the time, but there were other bands that I recall like Rattus, Headcleaners, and more.

 

 

January, 2026 Show

  

You could write a list of 900 bands, past and present, and not a single one would be a better choice to cover “Ghost Rider” than Party Dozen.  The perfect band to cover an amazing song. 

 

As I write this the new Ty Segall & The Muggers live album is not out yet, but I’m certain it will be great.  While you are waiting, if you haven’t heard his Live In San Francisco record do yourself a huge favor and go listen.  I don’t know why Ty decided to put ironic quotation marks around each word in the album’s title (“Live” “At” “The” “BBC”).  It is probably some inside joke but who cares as long is Ty Segall is involved.

 

If you only know Booker T. & The MGs for “Green Onions,” you really should jump into at least part of their high quality catalog.  The only competition to Stax Records was Motown Records (and vice versa) and while both labels brought the groove in massive doses, Motown had a bit more swing while Stax had a bit more funk, especially in the early years. 

 

I read somewhere that Nadine Shah had formal jazz vocal training, which makes sense when you listen to her strong and expressive vocals.  On this album (Live In London) quite a few of the songs have more energy and urgency than their studio counterparts. 

 

I love how this O’o song starts.  You have no idea what genre it belongs to nor where the song will go.  Great unpredictability from start to finish.

 

You might recognize this song from La Sonora Dinamita if you are a fan of Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul.  In one of the Better Call Saul episodes, Mike is setting up an ambush of a cartel delivery truck by stringing what likes like a strand of barbed wire across the road.  As the truck proceeds along its way, heading to Mike Ermantrout sabotage, the driver sings along to “Mi Cucu.” 

 

Check out how angry Twenty One Children (spelled without the hyphen) sound.  This is a punk band out of Soweto, and I’m sure I’d be angry too if I lived in Soweto.

 

I don’t know if there is much I can say about “My New House” by the mighty The Fall that hasn’t already been said.  You may notice that it does have a fade out at the end, which thankfully doesn’t happen too much in The Fall’s catalog.

 

Wain Pain & The Shit Stains…. As if their growly hardcore wasn’t great enough, they come up with one of the best EP titles ever. 

 

A few years ago I was in Adelaide, Australia and we had a day long winery tour driver all to ourselves.  We talked about local music at some point, and I mentioned that I really like The Mark Of Cain.  Our driver had some kind of close connection (best friends with one of the members or something) so we had a nice talk and later he dropped off a pair of MOC drumsticks at my hotel for me. 

 

The Xiu Xiu all covers album came out a few days ago, and it is fantastic.  All-cover albums typically take one of three forms:  a multi artist tribute to a single group; a soundtrack or occasional compilation (often dedicated to a decade or genre) that features multiple artists doing covers of multiple targets; and a group that puts out an all-covers record, usually of songs that inspired them.  This new Xiu Xiu album is in the latter category.  The mix of song covered is quite interesting (Runaways…  Roy Orbison…  Throbbing Gristle….) but it makes total sense when we note that this is Xiu Xiu we are talking about.  This isn’t some major label band pretending to have “indie” roots.  Xiu Xiu doesn’t need to pretend about anything.

 

Then we move into another astonishing cover by a truly exceptional (in the true outlier sense of the word) artist called The Space Lady.  Apparently she was a street busker with a “you gotta hear this!” reputation and was eventually brought into a proper studio.  Can you imagine emerging from a subway station in New York or London or Washington only to behold this lady in a tin foil hat singing away in her one of a kind voice (with lots of speaker echo) with a simple keyboard?  I never have had that kind of luck.  In Washington, DC I only get local kids banging away on upside down plastic tubs or some hippie looking acoustic dude trudging his way through “Margaritaville” or “Brown Eyed Girl.” 

 

Discos Macarras is a fantastic small label out of Barcelona that specializes in all formats of metal and hard rock.  I especially like their recent releases in the Black Sabbath/Motorhead vein.  This Black Bomber album is new and it is worth your attention.

I’m a fan of the Hungarian language even though I only know a few words and phrases.  It always sounds like it comes from another planet.  I love to hear how languages other than English pair with the given music of a song, and the Hungarian language always seems to match well with art-infused post-punk and dread filled punk or hardcore.  Listen to this song by Kibaszott Emberek and just soak up the vocals as a non-speaker.

 

“Johnny Rotten Is A Fascist Pig.”  John Lydon sure turned into a major dickhead.  Lydon and Morrissey are both major disappointments that bring up the classic question:  can you (and should you) separate the art from the artist? 

 

Wire is one of those few post-punk bands like Gang Of Four, Joy Division, Killing Joke, and P.I.L. that have a sound so unique that you can recognize it quickly, even in a song you may not know very well.  Wire’s first three albums are pure perfection and post-punk classics.  The rest of their catalog is awesome too, but those first three records….

 

If you like the dreamy, jangly or effects-heavy music of the late 1980s and early 1990s (I hesitate to use the term shoegaze because it is probably the most misused and most misunderstood term in all of music), especially groups like The Darling Buds and Lush, then you need to check out the current indie scene throughout Latin America.  Chile, Argentina, and Mexico seem to lead the pack, but there are great you-know-what type bands active in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and elsewhere.  Muy bien.

 

Places Like This is easily my favorite album by Architecture In Helsinki.  They have the distinction of being the first musical artist I ever heard on a podcast.  I got my first iPod in 2007, and at that time there were not a whole lot of music related podcasts, but KCRW in Los Angeles had a podcast led by the then-host of Morning Becomes Eclectic.  The podcast I first heard started with AIH live in the studio and I was hooked (on Architecture In Helsinki, not Morning Becomes Eclectic).

 

Speaking of my first iPod and early podcasts, CBC radio out of Canada used to have a really good podcast that was called the indie countdown or something like that.  If I recall it was a weekly podcast that had a top-something (20?) countdown of current Canadian indie bands, and they would play a handful of songs from that week’s countdown.  I picked up on all kinds of cool bands from that podcast including Menomena, The Weakerthans, etc.

 

I only heard about JJulius a few months ago, but I am definitely interested.  There is that oddly assembled song structure common in Krautrock but the moods are more complex, something more like Radiohead. 

 

Man I wish records from the Elefant label out of Spain were cheaper to ship to the U.S.  The prices of the records themselves are reasonable, but the cost to ship records and CDs from Spain to the USA is insane.  I would love to have a physical copy of this album by Linda Guilala.

 

X… Not the Los Angeles X but the Australian one.  The singer sounds like Iggy Pop crossed with Dez from Black Flag.  That is a recipe for one of the best rock and roll vocals ever.  The fact that it just so happens to go with a great band and great songs makes this so damn cool.

 

How in the world did a band like Debris’ come out of Oklahoma?   Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that they did, but still, how?

 

Lucid Express, especially with this song, reminds me of the Thai shoegaze band Yellow Fang.  And since I am in a very long despair that Yellow Fang probably won’t put out any more new music, this band from Hong Kong is helping me considerably.

 

The Traditional Fools are one of the many hard and fuzzy projects featuring the wonderful Ty Segall.  Their sound is mostly like this song, fast, reverb prominent punk songs that make their point quickly then stop.

 

If you like bands such as Tuatara or Action Figure Party then definitely check out this supremely talented Hungarian band Másfél.  Lots of unique song arrangements and tempos.

 

I’ve been fairly well educated about Zamrock for a while, but I am definitely new to non-traditional music coming out of Zimbabwe.  This recent archival release, Roots Rocking Zimbabwe, is terrific.  I am looking forward to opening new musical rabbit holes (as if I need more on my plate) by diving into the artists represented on this solid album.

 

Unwound were contemporaries of the so-called grunge scene of nearby Seattle, and they were/are on an officially approved indie label (Kill Rock Stars) yet Unwound largely avoided the hype monster that took over so many bands from that time and place.  That is a good thing, because what we have is a band playing something like a cross between The Screaming Trees and Detroit garage punk, untainted by major labels demanding videos and radio friendly junk songs.

 

Finally, we have this cool little song by Intergalactic Mechanic.  My favorite genre within electronic music is this type of Detroit techno that has the robotic, break-dancing beat.  It provides a great canvas for whatever music and vocals join the song.  Way cool.

 

 

December, 2025 Show

 

For this month’s show, these bands are totally new to me:  BB Bomb (though generally anything on the Damnably label is totally worth checking out), Wiccans, Liam Vincent & The Odd Foxes (they remind me of someone…. Wolfstone?  It’ll come to me eventually), Haram (if you are interested in seriously angry smart punk, and not Hot Topic/Warped Tour stuff, then you must check this Haram record in its entirety), The Big Idea, Morwan, Sunflowers, Piso Franco, Sword II, and Flux (the “flux your heard” I’m sure is a direct reference to the classic hardcore Dischord various artists compilation Flex Your Head, which includes Minor Threat’s cover of “12XU” with Ian screaming at the end “flex your HEAD!!”), and Medussa.  I apologize for not having any exciting back info on the artists or my discovery of them; I think these were all the result of my many Bandcamp rabbit hole excursions.   

 

This latest album from Citric Dummies kicks total ass.  The songs on this album I think are a bit longer and more sophisticated than their earlier hardcore bursts, but make no mistake, this album has speed and power galore.

 

I was back home in Detroit this past autumn and I was very happy to find a copy of the Kit Sebastian album in Dearborn Music for a very fair price (if you find yourself in Detroit I recommend trying Dearborn Music before anything else).  Kit Sebastian is an example of the talented and fun bands coming out of the modern Turkish music scene.

 

In the past couple of years there seems to be a welcome renaissance of reissues covering late 1970s – early 1980s American hardcore.  This is welcome for all kinds of reasons; mostly, because the originals can be very hard to find and expensive; the reissues often include material never before available; and the sound quality is sometimes much improved.  I was overjoyed to get the reissues of the two SS Decontrol 12”s a couple of years ago from the Trust label, we just got a reissue of one of the last NoMeansNo records, and now we have archival releases from Midwest bands Mecht Mensch and Zero Boys.  Now if we could just get Necros….

 

This new song from Mandy Indiana (from their new album due out in February, 2026) shows off everything I love about this band:  in your face percussion, frequent changes in tempo and instrumentation, and vocals that hit me a different way each time I listen. 

 

I discovered Waltz For Debbie via a rather large various artists label sampler box set I picked up from the Labrador label.  I don’t remember exactly how I stumbled my way into the Labrador camp- most likely it was the group The Radio Dept., though how I found them is anyone’s guess.  I’ve periodically thought about keeping a journal describing each time I hear a band for the first time- that might be a fun future project.  Anyway, this Waltz For Debbie song is a perfectly executed piece of indie pop.

 

Oruã has a great hard indie-psych sound on all of their records (I recommend their entire catalog) but what I find really interesting is the vocals.  The singer has a voice that is really unique- I’m not good at describing vocal stylings, but this guy has that sound that you can recognize immediately as him.

 

Optic Sink- cold wave from Memphis!  Why not?  I love how this band’s sound has evolved from the earliest records to now.

 

The Danzig-era Misfits often recorded several versions of their songs, and in a few other cases (like here) we get treated to a remixed version (not remix in the dance sense, mind you).  If you are a real Misfits fanatic, you can sit back and enjoy listening to multiple versions back to back and comparing and contrasting.  For “Who Killed Marilyn?” I have five different versions in my collection, including this new remixed version by Glen Danzig.  I think l like this one the best- the vocals are easier to hear and the instruments are better balanced compared to other versions.

 

Listen to this great song from Chini.png-  isn’t this a masterwork of pacing and soft/loud dynamics?  All of their music is this good.

 

I have to thank my fellow Dandelion Radio DJ Sean for introducing me to Neon Kittens.  I love their overall sound- it sounds like a mix of second/third album PIL if Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp joined in on guitar.

 

This Algebra Suicide sounds like another great example of neo-Cold Wave.  The talk-sing matches well with the nervous, furtive music.  I like to keep listening to this song and picking out the layers. 

 

 

I first ran across the Tzadik label way back in the late 1990s, if I recall correctly.  This was the height of the CD era and I was in my Marc Ribot rabbit hole, trying to get my hands on any of his material.  He did some work on the label, including a Marc Bolan tribute compilation.  Fast forward ten years or so and I was reading a newsletter from Wayside Music, a mail order company where I buy music from now and then.  They had a short description of this Afrirampo CD that grabbed my interest, so into my shopping cart it went.  I haven’t done much research on this artist but from what I recall it is two ladies who mix visual and performance art with the music.

 

Dame Area is one of the most fascinating artists around.  They share a general approach to another of my favorite bands, Party Dozen.  Can you imagine a show with the two of them on the bill?

 

The Dirtbombs put out a fantastic all covers album in 2011 called Party Store.  They covered all techno songs in their inimitable Detroit garage rock style.  All of the covers came off well, but I think their version of “Cosmic Cars” (originally by Cybotron) is the best of a very good lot.  The album refers to a Detroit area staple:  the party store.  In Detroit and its suburbs, a party store is basically a cross between a liquor store and a 7-11 or bodega.  But unlike today’s chain store everything, party stores were all independent.  No two looked the same even though the concept was similar.  Most of them were a big part of the neighborhood, especially before the rise of Walmart, Target, and Costco.  They were (and still are for those that still operate) a neighborhood place that held a lot of local meaning.  Party Stores are a part of Detroit’s fabric, and so the title of this album by a great Detroit band has special meaning.

 

Most songs tell a story, but this song by Karen Y Los Remedios feels more like a novella.  The pacing, arrangement, and vocals make this song sound like you are being treated to one-act play, tightened into a mere three and a half minutes.

 

Superior Viaduct has done a great job of selecting and reissuing out of print records and artist anthologies that are criminally long out of print, including this new archival release by Paris 1942 out of Phoenix.  Arizona has always had a very eclectic (sorry, but this time the word truly fits) punk/hardcore/post-punk scene:  groups like Feederz, J.F.A., and Meat Puppets, to name a few.  I wasn’t aware of Paris 1942 but I love this sort of mid-80s New York City angular post-punk sound.

 

While I wasn’t aware of Paris 1942, I do remember the Amuck compilation coming out of Phoenix in 1982.  It contains a wealth of great bands but unfortunately has not been reissued, as various artist compilations rarely are.

 

Isn’t it really cool when just the right artist takes on a dinosaur of an old song and breathes new life into it?  Anika, who has one of the most compelling voices on the planet, can make magic out of anything she covers but her singing “Spooky” is just astonishing.

 

The fine folks at Kool Tone Records (thank you guys) sent me a cassette of the new Sunset Images album Live at Glastonbury and it is fantastic.  The band is out of Mexico and reminds me of Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, so if you like the latter be sure to check out the former.

 

Intel have accomplished the near-impossible; they sound very much like Osees without coming across as a lame copycat band.  Keep it up!

 

Babe Haven recently did a few shows opening for Die Spitz, and wow, what a one-two punch of a lineup that was.  Babe Haven are out of North Carolina and if you are looking for something beyond Lambrini Girls or Wet Leg then point your little ears toward these ladies. 

 

I don’t spend very much time on Spotify, but a couple of years ago I came across a couple of good playlists featuring independent music from Armenia and Georgia.  This caught my attention because it’s not always easy finding alternative music from those countries (I spent eleven days in Tbilisi several years ago and I could only find choral church and the usual garbage club music) so I did what I could looking into the featured bands.  For some reason very few alternative/indie bands from Armenia and Georgia are on Bandcamp, but many of them do sell songs on iTunes, so I spent time listening to stuff on Spotify then buying the things I liked on iTunes.  Not ideal, but better than nothing at all.  This artist, սխալduke has this melancholy, almost spooky quality that I find interesting.

 

 

November, 2025 Show

 

How is this for a lineup of new records put out in October, 2025:  Osees, Upchuck, Snooper, and Citric Dummies?  Throw in the new Die Spitz album that came out in September, and damn, what a lineup of killer new punk and post-punk records. 

 

I absolutely love crazy, slightly (or not even slightly) irreverent cover songs, and the cover of “Come Together” by Snooper fills that love perfectly.  I compare it to Devo’s cover of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in terms jagged, unexpected approach.  Super well done, folks.

 

I’ve spent a lot of 2025 listening to present and past releases by the wonderful Cheersquad label, and I don’t think that I’ve run into one bad release yet.  This record by the Hard-Ons is amazing.  I love the almost 1970s arrangement of this song “Frequencies,” but played with a punk energy and pacing. 

 

I’m still spending time with this new album by Automatic, and already I’m getting that feeling I had with the first album by Warpaint- that sense that the more I listen, the more I’m going to get swept away by the nuances and small details that may be missed on the first one or two listens.  Enjoy this band before the music know-it-alls at BBC, NPR stations, and music “tastemaker” web sites ruin everything.

 

There is almost a 100% certainty that this song by Adwaith will be one of my votes for this year’s Festive 50, or feature in one of my end of year Dandelion Radio review specials.  I don’t know what they are like live, but I can imagine this tune just bringing the house down. 

 

FACS have steadily developed into a solid and interesting post-punk band of this era.  Their studio tone often reminds me of mid-period Fugazi, while the arrangements suggest a handful of Gang of Four songs. 

 

History will show that Angelica Garcia’s Cha Cha Palace is in a class all of its own.  I know she had some popularity when this album first came out, but since then I get the feeling that the world has forgotten about this magnificent album. 

 

This great new record by Sanam reminds me that I need to pay better attention to new music coming out of Lebanon.  The last decade or two has given us so much great music out of Turkey, Israel, and other places that retain Middle Eastern traditional influences underpinning new music without sounding like one of those “world” CDs that they sell at Starbucks.

 

Pissed Jeans, especially this great album, have that unique sound of where hardcore punk was heading circa 1984 or 1985.  By then hardcore had pretty much hit it’s physical limits of playing as fast as possible, and bands like Necros, Green River, and Black Flag opted for a slower, more metal sound.  Pissed Jeans are the sound of a band who pulled back on the hardcore speed somewhat, but without going in a metal direction (not that the latter is necessarily bad, I’m just observing).

 

I’m not so sure that Prince Far I is the best reggae musician who ever lived, but he’s absolutely the coolest.  That voice… that story telling talk-sing… he’s like Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Sun Ra, and “Yellow Snow” era Frank Zappa.  You can’t “be” cool.  You either are or you are not. 

 

Does the beginning riff of this Die Spitz song remind you of anything?  Perhaps “Bastille Day” by Rush?  I can’t imagine that those two bands have anything in common (except that I love them both).  Third Man Records sure pulled of a coup by getting to put this record out.

 

This new Volk Soup record is one of my favorites of 2025.  This song “Professionalism Debunked” has that familiar post-punk/new wave feel (the vocals sometimes remind me of Oingo Boingo, XTC, and Stump) without feeling “retro” in any way.  You see kids, you can learn from past music without having to try and sound just like it.

 

It’s never been easy to pick a favorite song from this great album by Sotano, but for the past couple of months I would choose “Don’t Wanna Let It.”  It has a dark urgency that I can’t get tired of.

 

Japan has always excelled at slightly scuzzy, fuzzy garage rock- the stuff that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is out to just have a blast.  Duran is a great example of this.  They have been doing some shows with Boris, so clearly Duran is doing something right.

 

Oh!  The Cords!  This talented band went straight to the C86 playbook and executed the recipes perfectly.  The great successor to The Primitives, certainly.

 

Upchuck is one of the greatest current punk bands in operation, and this dual vocal delivery is just that much greater.  What an album, what a band.  I can’t wait to see them live.

 

As I said in my show, I’m always suspicious when a band goes away for years (or decades) and then suddenly reforms with concert tours and/or new albums.  I’ve seen or heard too many bands reunite (or partially reunite with a couple of core members and some new people) that are a sad iteration of the original power and magic.  This new Prolapse album, though, absolutely deserves its place in what has always been a very strong discography. 

 

Mengers have been putting out some fantastic post-punk this year, including several digital singles.  If you’ve been sleeping on Mexican punk and post-punk recently, you are really missing out on a lot of great stuff.  The same goes with Hungary- this track from Gerinc (a band new to me) is a great example of some of the really interesting stuff coming out of Hungary.

 

Just about every fan of The Fall thinks of them in terms of eras or periods, and I’m no different.  The latter phase, when MES incorporates quite a bit of that deep throat growling, is not my favorite era of The Fall but there are plenty of great songs nevertheless, including this one.

 

I’ve had this Frogpond CD for a really long time (I bought it I think in the 90s when it came out) and I’ve been meaning to get a song of theirs in my show for a long time, so here you go.

 

Doesn’t that opening little riff from HMLTD remind you a little of the beginning of “Do It Again” by Steely Dan?  I love how this song does that speed up toward the end before bringing in the crashing drums. 

 

This particular song from Citric Dummies is slightly tamer than the other stuff I’ve played by them, but it still packs a mighty punch.  I think the title of their album, Split With Turnstile, is pretty funny.

 

I just picked up this Girls In Synthesis record a couple of months ago, so it’s still a bit new to me, but it is really good.

 

Ha ha, I remember seeing an ad for We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida way back in 1983, when that record came out.  I never saw it in a store, so I didn’t get to hear it back then, but I got my hands on a copy not that long ago, thankfully. 

 

Osees have often released two or three albums at the same time, or very close together, and this fall we have not only Abomination Revealed At Last, but this great new live album, Live At The Broad Museum, wherein the mighty band focuses on less common material.  What a treat.

 

My friend over at Kool Tone Records was kind enough to contact me and tell me about this great new album by Sunset Images.  What I wrote a few paragraphs above about Mexico and its punk and post-punk is spot on.

 

Mercenárias are not new, but I have to confess I haven’t gotten any of their records until this summer.  I have no excuse for the long delay, but I’ll try and make up for it by getting more of their songs on in the very near future.

 

Babon-  even though they are from Indonesia, they have that sort of Turkish/Levant sound to them.  This album by them is really worth your time.  I do have to ask:  is this what Jello Biafra meant by “ethnicky jazz?”

 

This was the first song I ever heard by Shudder To Think, it was a good forecast of their later material, though the lyrics here are slightly more politically forceful than what comes later.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone pronounce “until” like this:  “…. Ooon-til we have real freedom!”  I also really like the distorted, palm-muted opening guitar racket.

 

One of my great frustrations in life is that I spent almost two weeks in the wonderful city of Tbilisi in 2011 and I couldn’t find a single record or CD to buy.  In those days, it seemed that anyone under the age of 40 spent all available time at electro clubs, so maybe there wasn’t much to buy anyway.  Outside of the country all I could ever find was an occasional Georgian polyphonic choral record, and those are good for the very rare moment when I say to myself “self-  do you know what would sound great right about now?  Some traditional Georgian choral music!”  Anyway, the Georgian modern music landscape has become much more fruitful over the past ten or so years.  Hopefully I can get back to Tbilisi someday soon and find some local records to buy.

 

Rotary Club has a bit of a Snooper feel to them- that fast, buzzy, snotty approach to songs that have just the right amount of punk melody to them.

 

Here’s how Braince describes their music on Bandcamp (via tags):  “rock n roll, hardcore, surf punk, Punk, skate punk, stoner rock”.  Yep.  I don’t know if they chose those tags on purpose to throw people off the scent, of if Braince isn’t sure themselves what they want to be when they grow up.  On this song I love the Fugazi sound and approach.

 

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was to find a copy of this Nilipek. album in one of my favorite record stores in Pittsburgh (that would be Attic Records).  She describes this album as a “weird pop” record and honestly I think that is both accurate and a fitting self-compliment.

 

I grew up in and around Detroit, but I never could get into Bob Seger music.  I remember when this song came out originally that it was one of the few Seger songs I actually liked, and here The Hellacopters do a pretty good cover. 

 

The Discos Macarras label, run by my friend Dani in Catalonia, has been putting out some great records lately which revisit the swaggering, riff heavy classic rock sound of the 1970s.  Rock on!  (it just caught my ear- the opening riff of this song has a faint resemblance to that Duran “Beep Beep” song I played earlier in the show).

 

Helen Love wrote a song about that person we all know- the one who chases trends more with words than actions.  What’s fun about this song is showing the love and tolerance of such a creature.

 

This song from Pablo Escobar’s Sons makes me think of a less rickety Half Japanese.  I don’t know how or where this artist plays live, but this would be a great band to have on a punk bill.

 

The Laundry Bats sound like what The New York Dolls would have sounded like if they pursued punk rather than glam.

 

The Icelandic band múm have always made me think of a group of really bright, intelligent children pulling music apart and putting it back together in their own unique way.  Is “intelligent playful” a thing?  Heck, there are even little kid voices at the beginning of this song.

 

This album by The Wayward sounds like it should have been put out by Cuneiform Records (though it was actually the Magic Bullet label).  Very angular, twisty-turny post-punk that to me sounds much more like what I think should be called “math rock,” but I guess Russian Circles beat them to the genre title. 

 

After that song by The Wayward, it sure is nice to change the pace to this great new album by Ivy.  I feel a slight Saint Etienne comparison coming on, which is a compliment to both bands.

 

I’ve been to Dubai a few times, and up until this year the actual UAE music I’ve heard has always been on the traditional side of things- crooners, oud players, that sort of thing.  I was pretty excited to hear this recent compilation Made In The Emirates.  There are some real keepers on this comp.

 

It’s a shame that the SST label self-destructed (or whatever happened to them) because they have one of the mightiest discographies known to mankind and so much of that catalog is out of print or barely in print.  Anyway, as of today it looks like some or perhaps most of the Minutemen catalog is available on vinyl and/or CD, so if you are missing any Minutemen titles from your collection, grab it if you see it at your local record store.

 

Snapped Ankles has long been a favorite of my colleagues here at Dandelion Radio, and this fairly new live track shows just why.

 

This track from Adiós Cometa isn’t just a great post-punk tune out of Costa Rica- check out that wonderful use of the tremolo effect!

 

This song by doktorhokashi is brand new, but I love the throwback to the golden age of trip-hop, at least of the Sneaker Pimps/Hooverphonic/God Lives Underwater variety.

 

When I was assembling the show, I had a short amount of time left over- just enough for my favorite song by The Germs!  It’s truly amazing how much gets packed into such a short song.