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 – The Luka State
Friday 5×5

Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
Oh look it’s Friday once again and we’re almost out of our weekly word data plan! Must conserve words! Lucky for us and you these songs are so good they don’t need much from us to hype them up. Check out the self-hyping songs from Alffa, Girl As Wave, Oliver Marson, YUNGMORPHEUS and Ricky Gourmet.
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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.
Friday 5×5

Today we keep our lips mostly sealed with micro-reviews of five songs so good they speak for themselves. Check out the latest from Melanie MacLaren, Credit Electric, Vangelism, General Admin and Gonzo Lebronzo after the jump.
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Friday 5×5

Today we keep it brief with new releases that don’t need all our jibber jabber. Check out the latest from MAYA LUCIA, Lunavela, Colyn Cameron, State of The Secretary and The Recombinants after the jump.
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Week Starter – The Tracks
Reverbed out garage rock that skews more Cramps and Misfits in vibe than bubble gum and sunshine, “Shut Your Mouth” by LA band The Tracks is a classic hot rod going too fast on a gravel road. The song is slipping and sliding and drifting and kicking up rocks and dust but always under control, seemingly right on the edge of danger but for the ones behind the wheel, never in doubt. In other words, it’s rock and roll. Real ass, straight ahead rock and roll. Get your week (and perhaps your life) right by getting this song in your ears as you head out to rip and run through your week.
Tuesday Tip-Off: Joe Friend Band
“It’s a hot one, that’s for sure” we say in a folksy manner about both the weather and “Walking On The Sun” by Joe Friend Band. Not to be confused with the song of a similar name by official-soundtrack-of-bowling-shirts-with-flames-and-or-dice-on-them group Smash Mouth, JFB’s ode to celestial strolling instead gives us classic Matthew Sweet on dark mode vibes. It’s a steady fuzzed out guitar march with the hint of a dirge to it, but with sunshine melodies poking through lighting the way.
Week Ender – WENCHES
The Omega to the Week Starter Alpha, Week Ender is the song we want to send you into the weekend with.
The Midwest’s best purveyors of straight ahead, and dare we say a bit sleazy, rock n’ roll are back with a song paying tribute to the unique cultural phenomena that is “State Fair Hair.” WENCHES bring the finger licking riffs they’re known for, a kind of sped up early AC/DC threatening to jump the tracks, and finger banging lyrics (not literally, just a good turn of phrase) about a beauty queen and the back seat of a car. Its rock n’ roll at its most primal and something that is in short supply these days. WENCHES is a blue ribbon winning corndog and we are all about it.
Week Starter – The Bad Man
Ooooooohhhhhhh shit this is good. Also, good morning, how are you? Good? Have a nice weekend? Great, now back to this good shit. “Time” by The Bad Man is skronky, grimy, gritty, funky, sweaty, dirty rock n’ roll of the finest kind and if you ain’t ready for that kind of week GET ON OUR LEVEL. There’s a hint of young Rollins in the vocals, but instead of Black Flag it’s as if he got to fill in for Iggy on a loose Stooges jam session where they played around with a ska riff. It not only grooves but it moves like street walking cheetah going one step beyond and is one of the best things to be sent to us in a long, long time.
Tuesday Tip-Off: Daughterman
Transparency disclosure yada yada yada – Daughterman is the solo musical project of weekly contributor J.R. Mcintire. This album is being reviewed by Postcard Editor.
J.R. Mcintire has been a busy bee of late. Not only did his group Arctic Char release their debut album at the start of the year, but now just a scant few months later comes Part Deuxde, the second album under his solo brand Daughterman. Whereas the first DM album showcased a diverse range of rock n’ roll styles, this one is a bit more focused affair both sonically and lyrically. The album largely deals with the stresses, insecurities and feelings of being lost in life, but as should be evident from both the title of the album and the opening track – “Never Forget (to remember the ones who never forgot to remember to never surrender)” – Mcintire’s sense of humor is still at play as well. This is most on display in the Bungle-esque “The Scold” where they dunk on anti-vax conspiracy theorists with an assist from SCRAM’s Mike Jeffers (also a PE contributor). Deuxde finds Mcintire still playing with various styles – from full on metal to delicate piano ballads and just about everything in between – but this go round there’s a thread connecting it all and that thread is what keeps pulling you back for repeat listens.