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.

 

 

 

 

 

October, 2025 Show

 

Flipper will always have a unique place in the annals of punk and hardcore.  They never sounded like anyone else, their lyrics often strayed from typical punk topics (witness “Earthworm” and “The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”), and by the standards of the day their songs could be much longer than those of their peers.

 

I had trouble deciding which song to use to pay tribute to Mark Volman.  Mark and Howard Kaylan, aka Flo and Eddie (the two main singers of The Turtles), were part of Frank Zappa’s lineup during 1970-1971 (approximately).  This song, which is listed as “Sofa #1” on the record (You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 1), would be reinterpreted four or five years later as “Sofa #2” on the studio album One Size Fits All (“Sofa #1 would become an instrumental).  The “Eddie, are you kidding me?” bit at the end refers to a song of the same name on Zappa’s Just Another Band From L.A. album.

 

When Negative Approach was active in the early 1980s, primarily on the Detroit punk scene, I don’t think anyone foresaw how much staying power they would have.  It will be interesting to see if Laughing Hyenas keep their catalog in print.

 

Everyone has heard the famous quote from John Peel about The Fall:  “always different, always the same.”  I can’t think of a more fitting quote to describe Osees.  There are some bands whose catalog you really need to follow in sequence, to appreciate the development.  Have there been changes with Osees?  Sure, but you can drop in almost anywhere in their catalog and get a really good idea about their sound and style.

 

I am surprised that it has taken me this long to put a Kas Product song on one my shows, but here we are.  I love the fast tempo and energy of this particular track.

 

Years ago, I had XM Radio service in my car.  At that time they had a handful of interesting stations, including one that featured all French indie rock.  Not surprisingly, it didn’t stick around for very long, but at least that station introduced me to Gros Mené.  Merci.

 

Buckethead has been putting out mostly digital releases for the past several years (hundreds of them), but if you are interested in exploring his official CD releases a good place to start is Monsters & Robots.  This album and Colma are probably his best two albums put out under his own name.

 

Sexores, who if I recall are originally from Ecuador but now reside in Mexico City, are putting out some really good releases lately. 

 

Memest are a Spanish band on one of my favorite labels, Discos Macarras out of Catalonia.  If you are fond of any of the several sub-genres of metal (doom, sludge, thrash, etc.) you should definitely check out that label.  Memest rule!

 

A friend of mine from my early college days used to make me phenomenal mix tapes, and his specialty was to feature 3-5 songs from new import releases (he worked at a really cool record store so he had great access to stuff, especially from the UK).  On one of these tapes he put on three or four songs from Let’s Play Domination, and I was immediately impressed by the very unique sound.  They had a mix of dub, post-punk, and electronica that even to this day doesn’t sound like anything else.

 

The new Pete Power record is really good.  It has an early 2000s kind of feel to it, which I have always liked.  It’s new, and I have it in my home “heavy rotation.”

 

BRNDA is a fine example of how not all indie music that comes out of Washington, DC is punk, post-punk, or Riot Grrrl.  BRNDA, Light Beams, and others are bringing out a fun-flavored variety of music.  I highly recommend this new album.

 

“Athlete Cured” by The Fall has always been one of my favorite songs by them, which is saying a lot because I am a Fall maniac.  I didn’t catch the connection when The Frenz Experiment first came out, but I read a review or interview somewhere wherein it was pointed out that the basic riff of “Athlete Cured” is uncomfortably similar to the riff of “Tonight We Are Going To Rock You (Tonight)” by Spinal Tap.  There is a similarity, sure, but the song structures (not to mention lyrical content) are vastly different.  I think they only played this song twice live in addition to a performance for a Peel session.  Too bad, because I think the lyrics are very clever.

 

I do my best to keep up with releases from the very talented Glitterbeat label, but somehow this Los Pirañas record slipped by me.  No problem, it is firmly in my collection now.  The sheer number of unique musical styles that come out of Colombia and Mexico is incredible.

 

I can’t get enough of Citric Dummies.  It’s not easy to stand out in the world of hardcore punk, a genre that has been around for forty-five years, but these guys and Zig Zags and a few others are really exciting to listen to.

 

The collaboration between King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Jello Biafra is definitely one I did not see coming.  This version of “Police Truck” is everything it should be:  a little sloppy, high energy, and featuring enough saxophone skronk to drive the punk purists into depression.  Jello’s voice really hasn’t aged a bit.  Rather than DK reunions I would love to hear him do collaborations like this on songs from the DK back catalog (I wonder if Jello would ever get together with Metallica for a cover of “Holiday In Cambodia”?  That would be dynamite).

 

If you don’t know Mikey Dread by name, you probably know him by voice, certainly if you’ve spent sufficient time with Sandanista! by The Clash.  I’ve always been amazed and impressed with the wide variety of sounds and styles of the male reggae singers:  Dread, Marley, Tosh, Toots, Prince Far I, Yellowman, etc.  So many great singers, and not a single one sounds like the others.

 

This Jimmy C song has a bit of a throwback sound to it; for me it mostly evokes Smithereens.  I hope this album does well- it is finely crafted and has a good sound to it.

 

My taste in electronic music definitely favors songs that are very percussive, which is why I love this track by Common Dream.

 

Hungarian music, whether traditional or modern, always seems to fall into one of three camps:  sad and wistful; scary and bleak; or absurdist.  Láz, like most Hungarian punk and post-punk, smoothly fits into the scary and bleak category.  One of the reasons I love to hear global genres like punk or metal performed in local languages is that it really adds a new element to it.  Go try it yourself- spend some serious time with Mexican punk then spend time with Hungarian punk and notice the different feel, even with songs that have the same temp and basic chord progressions.

 

It will be curious to see if listeners twenty years from now will understand the reference to the song title “One Weird Trick.”  Anyone who has used a mobile phone in the last five years has surely seen the click-bait ads with headlines like “Harvard Medical School shocked to learn that a nine-year old can stop cancer with this one weird trick.”  It just so happens that Dana kicks ass.  I love this band.

 

I’m guessing that Me Fritos and the Gimme Cheetos is a play on another band’s name?  Does it matter?  Not really, but I do like this group more than the Gimme Gimme band.  Plus I really like Fritos.

 

There are so many really cool bands coming out of Poland who are really carrying the torch of post-punk and modern jazz (and even jazz-punk hybrids) like Błoto, Eabs, and Allarme.   I love it.

 

I can’t get enough of Chini.png.  Chini’s voice always matches the music so well. 

 

The members of the band Bleak Squad do have some impressive entries on their collective résumé (Bad Seeds, Birthday Party, PJ Harvey, Magic Dirt, etc.) and while you can pick up the influences of those past bands, and I think this band has done a good job of staking out their own direction. 

 

I love how this Kreidler song brings me back to Second Edition era Public Image Ltd.  The sounds wash in and out, there is a very rhythmic beat that occasionally disappears for no reason, and curious little tones pop up here and there.

 

Marginal Man have always been one of my favorite early Dischord bands- I listened to this record constantly, and I was super disappointed with the next record.  But I still go back to this record over and over again, even all these decades later.  I saw them live in Detroit (I think just once) and when they played this song I remember most of the crowd doing this slow walk in a circle in front of the stage clapping above their heads in time with the claps that are in the intro to this song. 

 

This Spectres track is so cool, and I love this one very small part of the vocals at the 1:06 mark where the singer does this quick little “nah, nah nah nah” thing that reminds me of The Smiths’ “Shakespeare’s Sister” (around the 1:15 mark to be specific).  Either I have too much free time on my hands or I have some sort of musical OCD.

 

I remember buying the Blight 7” at a record store in Ann Arbor (probably Schoolkids Records, RIP) not long after it came out.  I don’t know if Blight did very many shows; I never recall seeing any flyers or mentions of them in fanzines.  The record just sort of materialized in the punk singles section of the record shop, which is kind of appropriate because this music is really an outlier among the punk and hardcore records coming out at this time (even Flipper sounds normal compared to Blight).

 

I love how this song by MagikBitum mixes Amber era Autechre with a techno beat the weaves in and out. 

 

If I remember correctly I read that Lögnhalsmottaningen was one of those one-off studio “bands” created for fun.  I think Stewart from Boyracer and the Emotional Response label was part of this.  I think there should be more.

 

I can assure you that all of the songs on this new EP by Osnova are excellent and well worth your time. 

 

This song from Carambolage comes from their first album, released in 1980. 

 

Usually when artists put tags on their Bandcamp releases, they opt for genre titles or maybe their home city or country.  Patrol, from Barcelona, did that plus they added “Judas Priest” as one of their tags.  Maybe it’s an inside joke, because I sure don’t hear much resemblance.

 

I remember buying the Dance Craze soundtrack when it came out, during the height of the second wave of ska (aka the Two-Tone era).  I loved it.  I can’t say that I’ve ever been a huge fan of Bad Manners, but I like them enough, and the rest of the bands I just love.  Years later, I found the entire movie on YouTube.  Obviously there were many more songs in the film than in the single LP.  “Wouldn’t it be great if they put all of the songs from the film out on audio?” I thought to myself.  I don’t how I missed the official release of the deluxe reissue, but imagine my wonderful surprise as I scanned the box sets at one of my favorite record stores (Attic Records in Pittsburgh) and there it was.  At a really good price.  My wrists are still sore from digging my credit card from my wallet as fast as I did.

 

Spoilsport Records, who released this great new album by Dragnet, is just putting out one great release after another.  I recommend you follow them on Bandcamp and don’t miss anything new from them.

 

The new album by Skloss will definitely be one of my favorite ten albums of this year.  I can’t help but increase the volume for this record.  I love how this song begins with a riff that sounds like it came from one of Tool’s first three records, before launching into its own form.  I bet these guys would be awesome to see live.

 

This month we have new albums out by Snooper and Upchuck!  The world is really in a terrible state these days, but we do have some great new music coming out.

 

One of my happiest memories is seeing Interpol live in London at the Royal Albert Hall.  One of my most disappointing memories is that Interpol did not play “The Heinrich Maneuver,” though it was a fantastic show.

 

I could have chosen any song from this great new album by Steröid to put in the show.  Not because the songs all sound the same, but because they are all cool as hell.  Like a lot of Australian bands lately, they have this sort of punk-pop approach that leaves plenty of room for individual flair and personality.

 

I love the Guerilla Asso label, I really do, but I hate it when you click on a band name in Bandcamp and it just takes you to the label’s page.  True, there is a small write up about 10 Juin on the album page, but I do wish bands and labels would make it easier to find out information about the artists.  This is especially true for artists who only show up on various artists compilations.  First world problems, I know.

 

Richmond, Virginia isn’t that far from where I live (three hours or so depending on traffic, which is a very large “depend”) but I really need to spend time down there.  There is a great label (Grave Mistake) from Richmond and so many amazing bands like Shagg Carpet.  Punk, post-punk, metal (I think Windhand are from there)you name it. 

 

Pittsburgh is another current hot spot for some awesome punk and post-punk.  I don’t know about labels, but they do have some great record stores (Attic Records is fantastic) and some great bands like Illiterates and Forty Winks. 

 

This song from Unschooling is really intriguing.  It sounds like something on a late-early record from The Fall (by late-early I mean the late Rough Trade period).  Whenever this song ends I always want it to keep going.  Just like most songs by The Fall.

 

Ha ha, so on their Bandcamp page R.M.F.C. references lots of phrases all beginning with the letters R-M-F-C, kind of like MDC (Millions of Dead Cops) did when they started, though these two bands I’m sure have nothing in common.  Anyway, I like that R.M.F.C.’s self-description on Bandcamp is “extremely talented, intelligent and famous child prodigy.”  I’d much rather see that instead of anything with the words “deeply personal.”  Or “bedroom pop.”

 

 

I don’t know if Pearly*is named after the obscure Radiohead song of the same name (asterisk included) but I like this band a lot.  It used to be easier for me to keep up with new music from New Zealand but their R1 radio site has made it a lot harder to connect and listen, so my exposure to new bands is a lot more random.  Oh well.

 

As I write this I am actually listening to her brand new album Angel, which I will definitely feature in near future shows.  What a singular talent.  In his autobiography Frank Zappa wrote that flutists and harpists are often grumpy because they have to play all of that angelic music (I’m paraphrasing), but her playing is nothing of the sort.  The pacing and blending of instruments brings some of the best modern jazz and chamber classical music together.

 

Ptaki is another one of those great jazz/post-punk hybrids that have come out of Poland recently.  Maybe it’s the pierogi? 

 

I was almost done putting this show together when I remembered Halloween!  I don’t typically play very many holiday themed songs in my shows, but playing something my Misfits or Samhain in October just seems natural.  In the first vinyl era (pre-CDs), it was really difficult to get Misfits 7” records, at least where I shopped.  I had no trouble getting the 12” records (Walk Among Us, Earth A.D., and Legacy Of Brutality) but I had to live with taped copies of the Three Hits From Hell EP and the Evilive EP.  The really rare 7” records like “Bullet” I’ve never seen in person.  All that to say I am very glad that Misfits put out the 2 Collection CDs and the coffin box set.

 

Enjoy the show!

 

 

 

September, 2025 Show

 Hello, everyone, here is my additional commentary for my September, 2025 show on Dandelion Radio (dandelionradio.com):

 

I am a huge fan of cover songs in general, but I particularly like cover versions that really get creative.  I wanted to include a handful of really interesting cover versions of Black Sabbath songs, which meant setting aside "faithful" covers done in a more or less metal style.  I think you will enjoy these five interpretations that I chose.  My favorite of the bunch is probably the Brownout song because it is such a powerful arrangement.  It goes well beyond the familiar (but often uninspired) genre transplants that appear everywhere:  a reggae version of a punk song, a surf guitar version of a Taylor Swift song, etc.  

The other Sabbath covers are each outstanding in their own way.  Could there be a more powerful and effective choice than Beth Gibbons for a chilling cover of "Black Sabbath?"  Did you check out the restrained version of Four Tet's "Iron Man?"  The added vocals and lyrics of the Ruder Than You track ("paranoid, paranoid... makes me paranoid") lifts this version into unique territory.  Finally, we have the BBQ Chickens and their version of "Symptom Of The Universe."  I gotta be honest, though I love this cover my favorite is by far the Sepultura version from twenty something years ago, but the BBQ Chickens version is a better fit for the show.

 The KLBDE track is interesting mainly because the band's musical style is different from most of the other artists on Poland's Enigmatic label, which typically skews toward modern and traditional punk.

 While Washington, DC is better known for Dischord bands and Go-Go music, there are a number of current bands that are coming up with their own stuff, including Light Beams and BRNDA.  

 The Fuzz Club label puts out almost all great stuff, but there are a few albums from them that have come out in 2025 that are just incredible and the Aank album by Kombynat Robotron is an excellent example of that.  There is some sort of cross-pollinating of early Killing Joke and Pelican and a little Osees.  Brilliant.

I mentioned how great the new DC bands like BRNDA and Light Beams are, but let's never forget how masterful most of the Dischord bands are.  This month I included songs from Soulside and Shudder To Think, who appeared in the late 1980s very early 1990s period of Dischord.  Sadly I never saw Soulside live though I did see Shudder To Think open for My Bloody Valentine in Detroit in 1990 or 1991 (don't hold me to the year).

I am so happy that there are an incredible number of bands from Spain and Latin America that are taking traditional Latin song styles (tango, cumbia, salsa, etc.) and really spinning them around into something quite unique, and this new album by Julián Mayorga is a great example of that.

The Fall fans (including me) can argue endlessly about how many eras exist of The Fall, and where the boundaries are (does the "Brix" era begin with Perverted By Language or The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... ?).  That is a book length discussion.  Regardless, from this chronological era of The Fall I do really like Light User Syndrome.  For several reasons it takes me back to the Beggars Banquet years.

So how about that Bar-B-Q Killers track?  The tone of the tune reminds me a lot of a band called Inca Babies- if you don't know them do yourself a favor and check them out.

I'm honestly not sure what to make of Tism just yet.  At their best they sound like the second coming of Stump, but at other times they seem to creep toward the line of a novelty act.  

The Varukers... one of my favorite D-Beat bands.  Just incredible.

I know I mentioned the Spanish/Latin bands that are doing great new things with the core of traditional song styles, but we also have a wealth of great artists putting out cool music in every current style: punk, cold wave, stoner metal, you name it.  Sexores:  muy bien!

Envy Of None are making some really cool indie rock music that is not only really good but let's the music speak for itself.  Yes, they have Alex Lifeson of Rush on guitar, but here they are on a teeny tiny label, with their music available on Bandcamp and all of that.  No big shot rock star promotion or attitude in sight.  

Have you ever wondered what Half Japanese would sound like if Jad Fair had a hardcore band backing him?  This is what it would sound like.  You are welcome.

I haven't listened to this Dead Kennedys EP in ages- literally probably decades.  Something made this song pop in my head while I was putting this show together, so there you have it.  The In God We Trust EP definitely has a faster, more hardcore sound and pace to it, much like Misfits had with their Earth A.D. album.  Nothing wrong with that.

I know nothing about Red Dragon.  I heard this song in 2000 or 2001 when I had cable television.  The cable channels included a few dozen music only channels, and I heard this song on the reggae channel.

Otoboke Beaver just put out two live albums of recent shows, and though I have not yet seen them live (just on YouTube) you can really tell that any live audio of OB, no matter how well recorded, will never come close to being there in person.

This Automatic song reminds me vaguely of Peter Bjorn & John, which is a compliment to both bands.

When I re-listened to this SLF song for the first time in a few years, I forgot just how much the crop of Hot Topic mall punks like Rancid really don't have an original bone in their body.

If you like this sort of neo-soul, be sure to check out Plaid Room Records and their Colemine Records label.  Nobody is doing neo-soul and neo-funk better than them these past couple of years.

We are fortunate to have a lot of really cool bands that are putting out unique variations on old punk themes (like Nunchukka Superfly and their James Chance revival sound) or just putting some fresh muscle into punk themes that don't need change, just fresh blood (Class Act- oh, man, if you like traditional or late-hardcore go out any buy anything you can from these guys in any format available).

I'm not as inspired to see live shows as much as I used to be, but if Conny Frischauf ever plays in Washington, DC or Baltimore I will be there.  Central European music that does and does not sound like Central European music.

I saw My Bloody Valentine so long ago (1990?  give or take) that I don't remember how many songs they played from Isn't Anything.  They were touring Loveless, so of course that was the meat of the show.  That band was LOUD.   

Speaking of live shows, probably around that time I saw That Petrol Emotion at a different show but at the same venue (St. Andrews Hall in Detroit).  It was a good show though I can't remember who opened.  That first album of TPE is so good though the production is a bit claustrophobic.

I got my physical copy of the Blanco Teta album a couple of weeks ago and boy am I happy!  If you are in the USA see if you can get it from the Forced Exposure mail order site- they had a good price on it with reasonable shipping.

What did I say about Tism earlier?  Ahh, so what about Toy Dolls and their pub-punk sound?  Nobody sounds like Toy Dolls, simple as that.  For the life of me I'll never know how a copy of their first 7" (the "Tommy Kowwie's Car" ep) found its way into a local record store in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1982 but it did and my friend bought it.  I'm not sure what made him buy it but I'm glad that he did.

I don't know much about Just Mustard- I somehow found out about their most recent album and now I need to work my way backward, and I look forward to it.  The same goes for Niis, Smash Your Face, Los Soberanos, and Sex Faces (hello Washington, DC).  

The Halibuts, on the other hand, I am pretty familiar with.  They come out of that 1980s-1990s-2000s wave of surf guitar bands that play well-crafted surf tunes.  Did you notice the sleigh bells?  That's an even better use of sleigh bells than "Melody Day" by Caribou.

Boris has been putting out a few new live albums of past studio records done live in their entirety.  I'm trying my best to keep up financially with the output but I will probably have to settle for digital on one or two of the new albums.

I have no idea how a modern Indonesian neo-C86 band got picked up by Precious Recordings, but who cares?  This is a great release by a band that sound dynamite.  Precious Recordings deserves a gold something for putting out so many great BBC archival releases (like the fantastic Motorcycle Boy BBC Sessions), and here they go putting out really cool new stuff too.  It all warms my little C86 heart.

Listen carefully to the opening rhythm of the La Redada track.  Does it remind you of anything?  If you need help let me know.

TVOD (Television Overdose, according to their Bandcamp page) is really good.  It will be really interesting to hear what their next album sounds like.

Next we have a track by Memest which sounds like some sort of mixture of Dead Kennedys and Motorhead.  It's been eleven years since this release, so I hope that isn't the end of them.

I am a newbie when it comes to Jamaican mento music, but I am really excited to learn.  It definitely reminds me calypso, especially the vocals.  I am very grateful to digital labels like Canary and Dust To Digital that are tirelessly digitizing 78s and the earliest 45s from every corner of the world.

I have that Lice track on one of those Rough Trade compilation CDs.  Between my giant stack of Rough Trade comps and my just as big stack of Messthetics compilation CDs I am staying busy.  Yet another band on my ever growing list of "artists I need to explore in much more detail."

The Bonnie Trash song, which is the first track on their new album, isn't like anything else on the album but I thought it made for a good show closer.  Maybe I should have used it for the October show for the spooky feel to it.

 

That's it for now, I hope you like the September show, which is still on rotation on the Dandelion Radio site for another ten days and on demand after that.

- David