We’re in the part of thew year where we get to overeating in the name of family, country and religion. We’re hard pressed to think of a better song for the occasion than “Lazy Boy” by the Love Hounds. Are we basing this around the line “Woke up with my Lazy Boy stuck in recline, it happens all the time?” Yes partially, and while we know within the context of the song it’s about being drunk and a mess let us not discredit the powerful food drunk of the season. Also the regular binge drunk that the holidays can bring out of us. But we’re mostly basing this pick on the fact that it’s a cow punk, garage rock barn burner. The type of thing your coolest of uncles or older cousins would turn you onto, perhaps while on a run to the liquor store that they let you tag along on. And as they turn it up and say “this is REAL music” you nod your head, because that is the truth.
Week Ender – Love Hounds
Week Ender – The Luka State
Gotta love a song that comes out swinging and doesn’t let up until a sweet breakdown letting you catch your breath before kicking the door back down. “More Than This” by The Luka State is such a song, blustery and driving and passionate and demands to be sung along to in the front row of a sweaty rock club or in your car at the red light with zero fucks given. In other words, it’s some kick ass rock n’ roll and if you want to feel that fire from your stomping feet to shaking ass to pumping fist you’ll turn it up loud and often.
Week Ender – Dubinski
If your weekend is half as fun and energetic and absolutely perfect as “Gotta Get Outta This Place” by Dubinski is than you’ll be doing just fine my friend. It’s a power pop tune with enough raw energy to make it the most infectious indie rock number you’ve heard in a hot minute. Landing somewhere between OK Go and Superfuzz it fucking rules and really why are you still reading this? Just hit play and send us a quick thank you for hipping you to it.
Week Ender – Coolidge
The Omega to the Week Starter Alpha, Week Ender is the song we want to send you into the weekend with.
Indianapolis based ska / rock / power pop / kitchen sink band Coolidge have returned with a timely single called “My Rights” and we are, as the kids of yore said, here for it. A slow burn of a groove that showcases the band’s master of both rhythm and melody, it also adds to ska’s long history of activism with lyrics about the anti-democracy pile of shit the world has become current state of things. It swings but with an appropriate level of melancholic undercurrent for the topic. Don’t let that deter you from checking it out though, ska isn’t just about picking it up, it’s sometimes also about laying it down – ugly truths and all.
Week Ender – Attics
Let’s start with this, “Garbage Time” by Attics is anything but. It’s a lovely time, fresh and shiny and off the top shelf where the fanciest of times are kept. A waltz that plays its cards close to the vest, a lulling swoon that sucks you in and then rewards you with flourishes of organs, synths and reverbed out guitars that delight the senses and pull you deeper into the swoon. One of the rarest things for us to say about a song is that we wish it were longer, but that is certainly the case here. Put it on repeat and loop yourself into bliss.
Week Ender – James E. Gray
Hey, Halloween is only 10 days away and if you’ve not already eaten all the candy you bought for the occasion and need to go buy more well than you’re just not doing the season right. Need some music to get you in the mood for your candy run and the big day in general? Check out “Spooky” by James E. Gray. Pulling off the trick of sounding like Muse getting in the holiday spirit, it’s a treat for the ears, and we ain’t talking fun size either. Full size, all the sugar and all the tastiness its a fun track that nails that arena alternative rock vibe.
Week Ender – Ruth Lyon
This week we send you into your Saturday / Sunday with an indie/art pop gem from Newcastle artist Ruth Lyon. “Clown” grabs you from the jump with a steady and simple drum part, a tasty minimalist bass line and their rich vocals. Piano enters the mix at the first chorus to flesh things out, but it’s still a song that lets the open space keep you suspended in a special kind of groove. Shades of Regina Spektor here, but Lyon makes it their own with a vibe that is unique.
Week Ender – Lucifers Beard
First things first. Lucifers Beard is a great band name. No debate. Had that name gone to a band that really leaned into it and went full on camp-metal that would’ve been expected, but instead we get some straight ahead, not fucking around rock n’ roll and the name fits just as well. “The Guy With A Black Eye” gives you everything you want, nay, need. Sweet riffs, a muscular rhythm section, the kind of vocals you want to sing along with even though you don’t know the words yet, and best of all a thumping, pumping energy that doesn’t let the high end production rob it of the grit and sweat to make it feel real not processed. Simply put, this shit rocks and we hope your weekend does too.
Week Ender – Jointheinternet
Here’s to the songs that subvert our expectations. For the first 32 seconds of the Jointheinternet track “About A Second” it seemed like we’d received another chillwave indie rock track with the usual easy going vibes and catchy melody – the sort of thing we get hundreds of each week. But then the vocals come in at the 33rd second and our ears are perked, our heads tilt and we realize what we thought was just another Wave / House / Beach / Day (combine any two of these to get a current indie rock band name) track is actually a glorious little weirdo in an easy pop disguise. Not unlike Ween’s most accessible material, it has all the hooks to make it a legitimate radio single but also the freak DNA to make it stand out.
Week Ender – Penny Rich
Live long enough and you get to see the good shit come back around again. After a long drought of Indie and Underground music that started off as ironic easy listening dreck before becoming full on in-it-to-white-wine-spritzer-win-it easy listening garbage it seems that the kids are ready to rock again. The UK’s Penny Rich bring such rock with “Stolen Goods,” a gloriously balls out, pedal to the metal jam that mixes punk, grunge and noise to create something that feels a bit like the younger brothers of IDLES on a few gallons of cold brew and attitude. There’s truth in the layers of distortion and we’re happy to hear it once more.