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.

asta rangu | I Dream

Guitar-forward indie rock from New Zealand blasting into your headphones on the playlist today.

asta rangu hails from Dunedin, New Zealand and is primarily the project of guitarist Richard Ley-Hamilton, who has performed with and helmed a number of well-talked about projects in Dunedin over the last few years. This track is part of a split single with another Ley-Hamilton act, Males.

Starting deceptively quietly, I Dream quickly kicks into a crunchy guitar line that then builds to a hooky, head shaking fuzzy-rocker that crashes into its chanted “I Dream” chorus. There’s a lot here that reminds me of some of favourite tracks from my favourite all-time band Superchunk (think Nu Bruises, Ribbon, or Throwing Things) and this track also revels in moving from quiet to loud and back-and-forth again in a way of the best 90s influence indie rock.

Since the rise of Auckland’s The Beths, I’ve been keen to dive in and explore the New Zealand indie music scene but haven’t quite been able to find a way in, but I think that ends here. This split represents the first new music from both asta rangu and Males in a few years – and asta rangu has just returned from a large New Zealand-wide tour – here’s hoping we’ll hear more from them soon.

asta rangu is added to the ongoing 2021-a-Day Spotify playlist today.