5 for Hot Summer Nights

I’m not sticking to my schedule these days, but I’m not prepared to give up on 2021-a-Day playlist entirely. It seems clear that we won’t end up with 365 tracks on our end of year playlist, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t space for some occasional additions. Here’s a few gems for your hot August nights.

Rock it up with Les Shirley

A friend put me on to Les Shirley from Montreal – punk rock with attitude that is perfect for summer listening. Their Bandcamp page describes them as a “kick-ass rock power trio” and that sums it up pretty nicely. I really don’t need to tell you much about this one, except that you should turn it up!

Pigeon brings punk

Here’s what I know about Pigeon: they are a three-piece from Berlin, they have releases on Bandcamp going back to 2014 and this track rips. Check ’em out.

BRNDA on Crafted Sounds

BRNDA are a three piece from Washington, DC and their arty, post-punk sound is exactly the kind of thing I love to share here on 2021-a-Day. The band has two previous albums but are new to me. This track will be included on their soon to be released record Do You Like Salt? Jump on this one early.

Indie rock from Oslo

Veps are 4 teenage pals from Oslo, Norway: 17 now, they’ve been playing together since they were 14. Their Spotify bio describes them as a “seamless blend of 90s indie aesthetic and classic pop hooks” and their debut EP was released on Kanine Records this year. Shoutout to Emily Smith of BRTtoday to turning me on to this one through her Ladies Skate Only show.

The Supreme Joy of Garage Rock

Hailing from Denver, Supreme Joy is songwriter Ryan Wong and a large and varied cast of local musicians. Supreme Joy’s debut cassette Joy was recorded over 2020-1 in a “Denver basement amidst a tumultuous year of pandemic, civil unrest, and a personal identity crisis” (Bandcamp): Body Contact is a standout track.

Four for Bouncing Back

Where I live summer is short and feels like it’s about to disappear almost as soon as it has arrived. I’m not surprised that the long sunny days and a desire to make them last have perhaps led to a slide here at the blog. There’s so much more to do this year than stare at a laptop, but it’s also a time of year that needs a great soundtrack, so it’s time to start adding to this playlist once more.

Here are four as we jump back into what I hope will be regular updates.

Psychedelic post-punk from Kentucky’s Wombo

My last post alluded to some technical difficulties – a couple of weeks ago I added seven new tracks to the playlist only to go back the next day to discover they had disappeared. This was one of those tracks, and I’ve been itching to share it ever since.

The weird world of Wombo is a kaleidoscopic journey of sharp turns and surprising visions, a melting pot of influences with a cheeky cheshire-cat grin that coalesce into a trippy but infinite universe, a portal into their unique vantage point without limitation.

Bandcamp page

The band released the four song EP Keesh Mountain in late May.

Dreamy but Mathy melodies from Chicago’s Floatie

I love when a new band reminds me of a band that I hadn’t thought about in years. This track from Chicago’s Floatie took me straight back to a beloved late 90s album from the Scottish band Ganger. While this one is reminiscent of that for me, there’s nothing about it that feels nostaligic for a 90s sound – the tracks that make up Floatie’s March released Voyage Out are a fresh exploration, Pitchfork said the record “oscillates between beauty and dissonance with masterful subtlety, finding new shades of delicacy within math rock.”

Slacker Dream Pop from Melbourne’s Muma Ganoush

More from Australia’s excellent indie music scene. This track hails from Muma Ganoush’s debut full length The Big Beam which was released in 2020. Physical copies are already sold out, but you definitely don’t want to miss out on giving them a listen. Hailing from Melbourne, the three-piece’s members are active in other bands across the Melbourne scene.

Hometown Nostalgia from Dartmouth’s Rick the Loser

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is my hometown, but there’s something about this track Dartmouth Brats that I think will make you nostalgic for your hometown too. “Rick The Loser is the moody low-fidelity moniker of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia based singer and songwriter Eric Stephen Martin and that’s pretty much all you gotta know.” or so says the artist’s bandcamp page, so we’ll leave it with that.

Recent Adds: June 7 – 13th

We’ve been having a real summery streak here in Nova Scotia, with hot, sunny days and I can’t help thinking about summer road trips. This weeks adds featured a lot of punk and post-punk tunes of the sort I like to listen to while traveling from A to B.

Illuminati Hotties are Pool Hopping

Get the summer started right with this bop from LA’s Illuminati Hotties. This band has positively exploded in the last few years. Sarah Tudzin formed the band in 2017 and released the album Kiss Yr Frenemies the next year. If you’re the sort of person who is reading this blog, you probably know about this band already, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be excited for this new single from the forthcoming (October 1) album Let Me Do One More.

Heavy Punk from Seoul, South Korea

I only just heard about South Korean band Gumiho when they released this single (part of a 5 song EP) last month. It seems I’m late to the game, however, as the blog Korean Indie tells us that they have now disbanded. Still, a great track to add to discover even if the band is no more. I can’t help but feel like they would have made a great touring pair with previous 2021-a-Day playlist band Like A Motorcycle.

Fuzz-pop from Auckland, New Zealand

“Open the door and go outside” is the repeated refrain of this fuzzy guitar pop track from New Zealand duo Na Noise who describe their music as “playful and joyfully performed melancholic songs that are sweet and heartbreakingly fun.”

In addition to these 3 tracks, the other additions include Pavementy sounds from another New Zealand band Wurld Series, very cool 90s noise inspired post-punk from Quebec’s Victime (love their self-description as “Folie dance-punk bruyante”), garage noise from Dublin, Ireland’s Sprints and art punk from Seattle’s Paintwork. Check them out via the bandcamp links above and if you like what you find, follow the 2021-a-Day Spotify playlist for more great music discoveries next week and all year.

Recent Adds: May 31st – June 6th

Well, I’ve fallen quite far behind on these posts and I just can’t seem to get caught up. So, rather than trying to include something in depth about every band that’s been recently added, I’m going to mention a few and you’ll have to check out the 2021-a-Day playlist to find the rest.

Poppy Punk from London’s Fightmilk

I do find it slightly inconvenient that pop-punk is a specific genre with a specific sound, because what are you supposed to call bands that are both poppy and punk but which just don’t feel like the specific sound that has become associated with pop-punk. London’s Fightmilk call themselves sweaty pop on their bandcamp page … can we make that take off?

Hey Annabel comes from the band’s recently released sophomore record Contender (on the very cool UK label Reckless Yes).

Winnipeg Bedroom Pop from Virgo Rising

Virgo Rising like to describe themselves as “three sad girls making songs in Winnipeg,” but those familiar with the band know that this undersells the scope and depth of their vision. . . Emily Sinclair and sisters Lauren and Jenna Wittmann carefully construct bedroom pop unconstrained by convention; while weaving together themes of growing up, femininity, self-love, self-contempt, and authenticity, they make sure that each song lives in its own sonic space, unafraid to end up in unexpected places doing so.

Bandcamp

Sleep in Yr Jeans is from their March 2021 released EP Sixteenth Sapphire.

Classic 90s indie-rock from Osaka’s Subway Daydream

Subway Daydream formed in 2020 and recently released their first EP (they seem to have played their release show with previous 2021-a-Day featured band Lucie Too). Can’t find them on Bandcamp, but they have this fun video for Freeway, which was recently added to the 2021-a-Day playlist.

Find more on the playlist

Other recently added bands include The Bug Club from Wales, Calgary, Alberta’s Miesha and the Spanks and Perth, Australian indie pop/postpunk band Rat Columns.

TUNS | Everybody Knows

You know TUNS, right? You either do, or you do and you don’t realize, or you should. So, now you do.

TUNS is often billed as a Canadian Indie SUPERGROUP! And so they should be. The trio of Matt Murphy (The Super Friendz), Chris Murphy (Sloan) and Mike O’Neill (The Inbreds) are connected to some of the most beloved Canadian indie bands of the 1990s and have all continued to create and release excellent music in the years since.

Duly Noted is TUNS’ second album: almost 5 years after their self-titled debut, it feels long-awaited. All three members write and sing, which brings a nice range to tracks. Lots of sweet harmonies and jangly guitars, layered over with wistful lyrics, but each track has its own perspective and voice. It’s a record that lets you feel nostalgic and up-to-date all at once.

Everybody Knows is added to the 2021-a-Day Playlist today.