It’s a good week for RSTB faves. Longtime friends of the site Color Green announce a new album today, moving from ORG to New West for the upcoming Fool’s Parade. The first single finds the band still in thrall with the Cosmic American careen, but this time adding a bit of haze to the mix as well. The band’s stacked harmonies peek through the production, as euphoric as ever. Jangles take the wheel as they open on “Four Leaf Clover,” before the band tacks into a slow-motion skid through the psychedelic haze in the song’s latter half. The cut only hints at bigger vistas yet to come on Fool’s Para ..read more

What the world needs is a new dose of heavy-hearted indie pop from The Reds, Pinks and Purples. If the past five years have taught me anything, it’s that Glenn Donaldson may be the defining voice of what it feels like to hang resigned disappointment on a person in the 2020s. Where past albums may have dealt with heartbreak and hubris, this time Donaldson takes aim at working in music in the modern age. Fandom, frustration, and faith in the best intentions of the listening populace collide with strains of Felt, The Go-Betweens, and East River Pipe on Unwishing Well. Glenn’s got a few gentle axe ..read more

Program’s debut was an Aussie-pop delight when it hit almost five years back, so it’s great news to hear that the band’s back today with a new album on the way for constant favorites Anti-Fade. The band embraces a worn and woollied vision of power pop — a ripped kness, faded and familiar sound that makes singles like “Sparks” feel like instant friends. The song jangles while it reclines, strums and smirks knowingly. It’s a nice slip into the new album, It’s A Sign, on the way June 7th from Anti-Fade. It's a Sign by Program Support the artist. Buy it HERE ..read more

A second single slips out of the upcoming Mountain Movers album. “My Holy Shrine” finds the band coiled and calm, a midnight strummer that’s pushed along by hand drums and humidity. The band’s latest album finds them stretching out, turning down the tumult of some of their past record in favor of ambience and ache. Kryssi Battalene’s often combustible guitar strains are tempered here in favor of a more lysergic strum. The band compliments the overcast tones in the song with a video that matches the spirit — floating psychedelics one minute, grey-skied scenes the next. The single crops up on th ..read more

Warm weather’s on the way and it couldn’t be a better time to get a new cut from site favorite Keven Louis Lareau. Keven’s been known as a consummate side man over the years, touring with Sylvie, Anna St. Louis, Cut Worms, and John Andrews and the Yawns, among others, but his solo works have always held a place of reverence over here. The new Cosmic American wave has brought plenty who touch the sublime side of the ‘70s, but few are as good at it as Lareau. He proves his prowess once again on the sweetly slung, “It May Not Look Like Much… but It’s Mine.” The song saunters as it extols the joys ..read more

A lovely little jangler from Swedish indie pop outfit Stephen’s Shore. The band’s been on a run of EPs lately, finding their footing in the short format, never overstaying their welcome, but always leaving the listener with a few notes permanently stuck in the brain. The latest single, “Garden” is no different. Perched on a jangled delivery, with nods to the West Coast contingent from their vantage hundreds of miles away, the band lets loose with a breezy, but melancholy strummer. The song sits atop Neptune, their new EP for Meritorio Records, as essential a pickup as their last couple of maxi ..read more

Plenty of shoegaze gracing the speakers these days and it’s sometimes hard to pick out the best from the blur. I caught NYC’s Gift a couple of years back and they were captivating live and ably translated the feeling to their last record for Dehd Strange. Seems others noticed as well as the band announces their new works bump to Captured Tracks. The first single retains the same saturated sparkle that permeated their last album, nodding more to the aughts’ wave of gazers — Secret Machines, Serena Maneesh, SVIIB — rather than the often namechecked ‘90s touchstones. The large, luminous sound rem ..read more

Haven’t heard from Swiftumz in some time, but SF’s Christopher McVicker is still a wellspring of pop gems, and that feels just right around here. Swiftumz isn’t always the first name that springs to mind out of the Bay Area indie-pop pantheon, but he’s been a consistent voice among the city’s finest, letting out low-key charmers that always feel like instant classics. The new album boasts help from a cadre of local friends, including Kelley Stoltz and members of The Aislers Set. The first single, “Second Take,” is an inviting slice of strum n’ sigh, hooked on bittersweet sways, a bit of fuzz l ..read more

Still catching up on a crush of singles from the past week and, as usual, Upset The Rhythm delivers. With members of Sauna Youth and Cold Pumas in the lineup, the odds are already good, but the band light into a post-punk pound that’s caustic, but barbed with hooks that snag and pick at the listener until they draw blood, Marcel Wave prove ones to watch. The first single, “Barrow Boys” takes its time, toying with bass and ravaged riffs before it opens up into a crushing chorus that burrows under the skin. The band’s winking resolve to the collapse of the crown, town, and world around ‘em is a ..read more

I’m always a sucker for Slumberland, but this new album from NJ’s Lightheaded is a particularly fun romp through indie pop’s most endearing moments. “Moments Notice,” the band’s second single, doubles down on the fun from the first. It’s a jangled and jostled bit of sweetness that’s full of knockabout harmonies and sweet summer breezes. The tone’s a bit anachronistic, given the song is an introvert’s delight, dealing with a feeling of comfort at home vs. venturing out into social situations. I’ve heard the band mention in passing that their shows were sometimes the only reason they could drag ..read more