Feel It Indierock | Alternative 29 Items

Originally released on Philips Ethiopia in 1973, this seemingly impossible to find LP is available once again to the lucky humans of the world. With a mix of modern and traditional instruments these fourteen songs go through the progression of an Ethiopia

Class of Tucson AZ—instantly familiar, idiosyncratic to the max, a glorious collision in which several of American punk’s leading lights emerge from their vehicles unscathed (though I make no promises for the rest of you, see below). What more can I say about 2022’s most eagerly anticipated full-length album? (a bit more as it turns out, which is fortunate as my fee is pretty expensive, onerous, even) These songs have the requisite crunch / glue ratio and more than anyone else in their idiom, remind me of moments that don’t happen nearly enough, in rock, in life, when your eyes are closed, anywhere. I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to presume the persons responsible for these gems are keen students of the last 40+ years of underground/overground sounds (the good shit anyway), but there’s a singular voice, a defined worldview if you will, somehow cutting through our bland, brutal, grim as fuck moment in history. If you think I’m building Class up a bit much, I can promise you this—there’s at least a half dozen people I know who will hear this record and immediately fall into the throes of a deep depression because they’re not in this band. And if you’re wary of being hyped-2-death, spare a thought for me for just a minute. I’m the one who’s gonna have to talk them off a ledge (figuratively, it’s mostly single stories in this part of the country)."—Gerard Cosloy.

The dark and dreamy halftoned realism of Green/Blue comes into near-perfect focus across 'Paper Thin'. Ever the prolific recording duo, Jim Blaha and Annie Sparrows are back with their third album in as many years, following previous releases on HoZac and Slovenly. Their Minneapolis basement studio has yet again translated to tape what many in the post-punk realm often fail to realize - a certain icy-cool confidence. Chilling vocal harmonies resonate atop melodic guitar leads and a razor-sharp rhythm section as the album stretches to just under twenty-five minutes. Green/Blue evoke a certain somber and honest set of sonics, distilling the now and pondering the future as these ten tracks spin vibrantly at 45 RPM.

Following on from the release of the Yes We Do 7-inch, Delivery are back with ‘Personal Effects/The Topic,’ a double single release that continues to expand on the group’s razor-sharp blend of garage, post-punk and new-wave pop. While the four tracks on Yes We Do were developed around the sound of the project’s initial home demos, ‘Personal Effects/The Topic’ capture the five-piece working in full collaboration for the first time. Across these tracks, programmed beats and synths make way for heaving live drums, relentless guitar interplay and left-of-centre saxophone bursts, while the band’s triune vocals (split between Rebecca Allan, Lisa Rashleigh and James Lynch) are more dynamic and incisive than ever.

Spread Joy may as well be their own musical genre. An immediate flavor and mercurial 'Qu'est-ce que c'est?' begin their second album with the 45 second opener "Ow". Coincidentally, the album spins at 45, just like Spread Joy's self-titled 2021 debut. The Chicago group came out of nowhere, mid-pandemic, with a stunning ten track LP on Feel It. Returning to the warm analog environment at Jamdek Recording Co., Spread Joy have truly honed their craft across these 17 minutes and 17 seconds. This is the kind of punk-forward music that is made to be heard and felt, far from the distorted mirror of the web. A group living free, moving at their own speed, and making music that will be remembered - that's Spread Joy, folks!

Debut solo release from Keith Harman (The Cowboys) joined by a cast of Cincinnati players, including Jerri Queen from Vacation. 6 tracks that showcase Keith's '60s-influenced songwriting ability and vocal range, mixed with more of an upbeat powerpop sensibility, yet totally unique. Mastered by Caufield Schnug (Sweeping Promises) and cut loud on a 45rpm 12".

Power is—and has been the real deal for quite some time. This single serves not only as a testament to that fact, but showcases two of Power's best creations yet. Like thunder rips across the sky, the pounding drums on ‘The Fool’ signal the oncoming storm of slashing rock and roll. The single sees Power explore a side of band which has always been simmering beneath the surface—and it seems the time was right for them to unleash these raw new tunes without holding back. Pure electric guitar damage from this most formidable three-piece. With the ‘The Fool’ cutting a figure which could’ve been found backstage at a show headlined by Venom and The Stooges, the flip, 'Give It All To Me’ displays a range of heavier melodies intoned by 80’s cult groups such as Wicked Lady and Iron Claw. Power have stayed true to themselves and continued to ride towards to the storm.

As corny as it sounds, you can’t help but describe Bermuda Squares as a Minneapolis supergroup. Ringleaded by singer/guitarist Tony Milek, the band comprises members of Sinks, Neo Neos, Citric Dummies, Color TV, green/blue, Retainers, Dummy, the Soviettes, IV, and Awesome Snakes. That pedigree alone provides a good idea of where you’re heading here. Clever pop for dumdums. Well crafted knuckledragging catchy fuzz hammered out meticulously by idiots.

Marcel Wave write eulogies for tragic actresses, ancient riverbeds and concrete obscenity. Their inaugural sonic instalment Something Looming is part trades club symphony, part itchy serenade, and part wistful lament. As their heady concoction of ‘Meades meets Pat-E-Smith meets Kirklees Borough Council’ gets prepped to be formally baptised on a dank stage near you, Upset the Rhythm and Feel It Records have dutifully stepped in to deliver its songbook to the masses on both sides of the pond.

Formed when Lindsay Corstorphine and Christopher Murphy of Sauna Youth and brethren Oliver and Patrick Fisher of Cold Pumas were summoned by northern ink-slinger Maike Hale-Jones, Marcel Wave’s debut offering is a walk through a smoke-filled pub with yellowing wallpaper and all eyes on you. It’s a chronicle of the death of the docklands, the decline of industry, of the high street, of civic pride, of civilisations, of hopes and dreams. As Hale-Jones delivers the bad news in her low, West Yorkshire brogue, Corstorphine adds the bells and whistles via the frantic pulsations of a wheezing Hohner organ in tandem with Fisher O’s rasping guitar. MW are completed by the throbbing basslines of Murphy and Fisher P’s fervent rhythms.

The title itself sets the tone for the listener. There’s a sense of foreboding in Hale-Jones’ lyrics which sit at the quintet’s core—elegiac, sardonic and piquant in equal measure. A mixture of narrative epilogues and inward paeans, her words weave tales across a broad thematic church. Crooked tales of urban renewal and the voices left behind are probed in ‘Barrow Boys’ and ‘Stop/Continue’ and are at the fore in ‘Where There’s Muck There’s Brass’ with its refrain lamenting ‘Concrete and slate shine in the rain, cities destroyed, nothing to gain’. In these lyrics, tower blocks loom over terraced houses with the same shadows that the Hollywood sign casts over Peg Entwistle before she takes her tragic leap. ‘Peg’ and ‘Elsie’ are both meditations on two different actresses with different fates crushed by the cut-throat trappings of showbusiness: ‘The mad hopes break, fragile as glass. She traded it all, for the cutting room floor.’ A snaking, existential dread also runs through the album, stated more obliquely in the otherwise poppier interludes of the title track ‘Something Looming’ and album opener ‘Bent Out of Shape’, and present too on the comparatively ramshackle ‘Discount Centre’, where Hale-Jones reports ‘On a mini bus on the outskirts of Enfield, I’m losing all of my spark’. On the album closing weeper ‘Linoleum Floor’, it is laid barer still—a keyboard-led reflection on the deflating nights out of our early-twenties.

Illustrious Memphian creative Alijca Trout (sweet Knives, Lost Sounds, River City Tanlines) returns with a new single under her solo-slash-group venture, Alicja-pop. Following in the haunting garage-pop reverberations of 2021's, "Howlin'", A-pop weave together a crisp double-A side of wistful r'n'r gold. "I'm Here I'm There" rides a driving rhythm beneath Trout's icy cool and confident layered vocals. Both propulsive and ethereal - stretching seamlessly to the flip, "Not Gonna Be Dumb", a euphoric dip into post-punk. Coated in synth and a piercing guitar lead, chants of "Time...it wa-a-a-aves you on" harmonize in a chilling finish to Alicja-Pop's latest slice of brilliance.

The Artist works in a museum. And that museum is rocknroll. In a world of meme punk rockabilly grandads. It’s the classicists that really have something to say. Straight lines, hooks, and a clear path to your heart. They might not be dbeat heart throbs. But no one else can give you that feeling that you can hold on to a moment. Like you are driving too fast down route 60. And it’s never going to end. In 20 years when you skulk the dark alleyways of wherever punk’s red fern grows, they won’t be talking about Dwight Twilley, the Looks, or the Nerves, they will be looking for a little CLASS."—Tobi Vail and Hayes Waring

Oh boy, now we're cooking. Now we're in the court of Sugar Tradition. Only a city like their hometown of Detroit could foster such a refined appreciation of rock'n'roll, R&B, and garage punk—and Sugar Tradition clearly have IT. The trio, consisting of Antonio Keka (guitar/vocals), Kevin Irwin (drums), and Arlo Betley (bass) are a complete force of nature live—contemporaries of the Stools, Toeheads, and 208. They're also fresh off a tour supporting none other than the Detroit Cobras. Sugar Tradition have managed to capture that raw, driving Motor City sound in damn near perfect form on More Sugar, their vinyl debut on Feel It Records. "Rockin' Baby" kicks things into gear, anchored by a driving piano line that plays off a pounding rhythm section, allowing Keka's guitar and vocals to rule the high end of the mix. There's some tasteful harmonica and tambourine peppered throughout, but it's the raw, fuzzed-out sonics heard best on "Don't Leave Me" that may just steal the show. Oh yeah, did we mention the roaring rendition of Chuck Berry's "Come On"? It's all recorded live, too. A stupendous fourteen minutes at 45 RPM. Sugar Tradition are one of the brightest sets of young heads on the face of planet rock'n'roll right now, and More Sugar proves that to a tee.

Expanding on the magnetic, minimalist post-punk frontier first chartered on their 2020 Goner debut, Optic Sink return with their second album, Glass Blocks. Hot on the heels of their recent EP on Spacecase Records, the Memphis trio of Natalie Hoffmann, Ben Bauermeister, and Keith Cooper ventured out to Lawrence, Kansas to record at the home studio of Caufield Schnug (Sweeping Promises).

The resulting seven originals and a rendition of LiLiPUT's A Silver Key Can Open An Iron Lock, Somewhere define Optic Sink and their remarkable style with a clarity and power seldom realized in a studio setting. Hoffmann and Bauermeister command the high end of the mix with a gamut of perfectly dialed synth and percussive tones while Cooper's bass serves as rhythmic anchor. There's far more to dive into, whether it's the cold, driving beat of "Modelesque" or the minimal, percussive brilliance heard on "Glass Blocks". Perhaps the best part of the formula is the sheer amount of natural energy that gleams through the mix. Like a warm refraction of musical chemistry and originality, Optic Sink have struck gold with Glass Blocks.

Beef first began appearing in various basements and dives of Cincinnati on Labor Day, 2022. Beef is the brainchild of drummer/lead vocalist Takoda Hortenberry, first joined by his wife Ally on keys/vox, and a cast of players in Richmond, Virginia. Following a slew of singles, an EP, and a relocation to Beef's true home of Cincinnati, a new lineup featuring bassist John Hoffman (vacation) and fellow Richmond expat/guitarist SAM Richardson was born. Influences include: punk, sex, violence, and red meat. Beef recorded their entire eight song set on eight track tape just over the river at The Lodge in Dayton, KY in early 2023. Hoffman engineered and mixed the madness, Caufield Schnug (sweeping Promises) mastered it, and Richardson's prolific Feel It imprint has released Beef's self-titled debut album on a 45 RPM 12" in an edition of 300 copies.

Enigmatic four piece IT Thing return with a new 7” single, their first release since 2021's Syrup LP. Offering two tracks, "Constant State" and "P.C.H.," It Thing deliver on the visceral, raw energy that they left us wanting for. On this occasion, Marthouse Records (au) team up with Feel It Records (us) for a broader release. Formed in Nipaluna/Hobart’s beloved Brisbane Hotel beer garden in early 2019 over a thirst for classic punk rock—and without much else to do, It Thing's Syrup LP saw the then-Tasmanian band explode onto the worldwide underground like a shot in the dark. Emerging from small town obscurity, they delivered a record packed with power pop/proto-punk gold. Gimmie Zine put it best: “Bold, loud, with hook ramming into hook, It Thing deliver 9 tracks that zip by at the speed of light with an inspired cleverness and simplicity.” As It Thing hammer through their latest single, the endearing simplicity and rawness almost places the listener in the room with the band—or the basement, as it were. Recorded in the basement of the house the songs were written in, frontperson Charlotte Gigi calls it, "A last hurrah for the old It Thing headquarters before the defection." The band have since succumbed to the gravitational pull of Naarm/Melbourne to link up with label mates Dr. Sure’s Unusual Practice, Gut Health, Bench Press, et al.