Bad Connection
Indie Rock, Slowcore, Melodic Hardcore, Alternative Rock, Jazz Fusion, Pop Punk, Power Pop, AOR and more.
Hello y’all!
We’re a few editions of New Music Friday deep into 2026, but I’m still a bit stuck between things. I have yet to dive headfirst back into the whole “dig through the release bin every Friday” routine, though I have dipped my toes into some new releases as you’ll read below.
That said, the majority of stuff here is a real mix of weird rabbit holes and genre diversions that I’ve been bouncing around between. Hope you don’t mind!
Aside from that, not all that much to say so let’s just get straight to the reviews shall we?
Emoji legend:
⛏️ denotes picks of the week, my favs.
🌱 seedling denotes albums like a lot and expect could grow on me over the year.
✨ albums I would recommend to fans of the genre (i.e. it might not convert new listeners, but you should check it out.)
✂ denotes favourite tracks from a given record.
As always, feel free to reach out over on BlueSky or join the Rosy Overdrive Discord server where I can be found now and again.
You can also find me in the corners of Rate Your Music scrounging for obscure emo, hardcore, indie rock and pop punk.
Don’t forget: if you’re reading this in your email it will be cut off.
Read on the web for the full list of reviews!
⛏️ Peaer - Doppelgänger (2026)
Genres: Indie Rock, Slowcore
Continues the band's established formula of knotted guitar lines and slackery vocals over emo-esque fluctuations in energy levels. This is exactly the kind of "please, can I have some more" type album that you don't mind waiting seven years for. They still work themselves up into some heavy outbursts ("Rose in my Teeth") but are just as content plucking away at extended sections of slowcore-indebted emotional indie rock. I love this kind of sly guitar-forward hangout record and this really hits the spot. Happy to have 'em back.
🌱 Feels Like Heaven - Within Dreams (2026)
Genres: Emocore, Melodic Hardcore
Sits somewhere between melodic hardcore, emocore and that "sorta alt-rock-ish music made by hardcore dudes" type sound. Bottom line, this is sometimes aggressive and sometimes melodic loud guitar music with a foundation in punk, to simplify it.
Sometimes they have a Title Fight thing going on, sometimes they have a finger-pointing hardcore crew vibe, maybe a sprinkling of Drug Church melodicism and other times they feel like they've taken their notes on the Revolution Summer scene. Can also understand why someone might name check Hüsker Dü in the comments box over on RYM. And often times these are all little moments peppered throughout the same songs.
I think this is probably being over-hyped, but I also think their inability to keep their songs inside their own outlines is a benefit to adding some level of unpredictability to their sound, even if it's still sitting inside some well worn territories. Helps that this is 23 minutes long. I'm definitely filing this under "could grow on me, could disappear from my mind in a few days" so we'll see how this hangs.
Ectovoid - In Unreality's Coffin (2026)
Genres: Death Metal
I thought this was totally fine, if somewhat unremarkable. Has some riffs, has some groove to it, but by the halfway point I felt like I had heard what it had up its sleeve and got a little tired. I think when I did hear lyrics it seemed a bit corny, so that might be in play. I don't know if this technically counts as melodeath because I barely know what that means, but in moments it felt like it was getting close to incorporating some melodic elements - particularly melodic lead lines and vocals that feel halfway between brootal and legible - into its meat and potatoes modern death metal. Maybe I'm way off though, who knows.
Could be a MP not a YP though, so maybe check it out if you want to, I'm not your boss.
⛏️ Simple Minds - Sons and Fascination (1981)
Genres: New Wave, Post-Punk, Synthpop, Art Rock, Coldwave
Empires and Dance will always be "the" Simple Minds album that broke my brain open, but the highs on Sons and Fascination are up there in the bands catalogue for sure. "In Trance as Mission" and "70 Cities as Love Brings the Fall" are just absolutely enormous tunes, particularly the latter which really unlocks the band's early- to mid-career in my brain - huge, weird synths and post-punk industrial clattering atmosphere that clears up on a dime into a wide-screen pop hook with this little addictive guitar riff on the chorus.
The band goes on to move more and more towards equal measures of pop hooks and art-rock new wave on New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) and Sparkle in the Rain (both really great!) but on some of these tracks they really perfect that push and pull between abrasive, oddly dancable synthy cold wave post-punk and ambitious integration of pop melodies.
✂ In Trance as Mission, Sweat in Bullet, 70 Cities as Love Brings the Fall, Love Song
✨ Iceberg - Arc-en-ciel (1979)
Genres: Jazz Fusion, Jazz-Rock, Progressive Rock
Pretty cool jazz fusion with a Latin flair, particularly on some of the high-flying acoustic guitar solos. Really polished and all around a nice listen, if not entirely mind blowing or overly progressive. I was in the mood for something more synth-focused but this was good enough to keep my attention even though it's not really that kinda spacey fusion vibe I was looking for.
✨ The Hi-Fives - And a Whole Lotta You (1997)
Genres: Garage Rock, Power Pop
This has always been something of a missing link for me around the Hi-Fives, as I have owned Welcome to My Mind and Get Down on vinyl for years but never really got around to hearing this one.
If you've heard those albums, this sounds about exactly as you would expect an album sitting smack dab between those two would be. In fact, it sounds a lot like Welcome to My Mind: Part II, as the band sounded relatively polished on Get Down and they're not quite there yet.
If you haven't heard 'em, the band sits in that garage rock and throwback pop area of poppy punk, where all of the latter comes from their energy and scrappiness as opposed to any actual punk rock influence. These are vintage rock and roll type tunes played through distortion pedals tastefully set at the half-way mark, but sometimes performed like they had downed a few coffees beforehand ("Black and Blue").
I think the highs of Welcome to My Mind will always leave me reaching for that record, but there's a consistency to this one that works as well.
✂ Black and Blue, It's Up to You, I'll Take You There, Peaquod
✨ Scratching Post - Flamethrower (1996)
Genres: Alternative Rock
Stumbled across this when looking into Canadian bands as featured on Squirtgun Records, and expected it to sound like some 90s alternative butt-metal or something based on their album covers and the reviews on RYM. What this actually sounds like, is super crunchy power pop with a sprinkling of chugga-chugga riffing inherited from hardcore (see: "Gracie", "Zipper", "Beef" etc.) all in service of twee-like vocals and hooks from Nicole Hughes (who is giving big-time Mimi from Nona vibes to me.)
Songs like "Master of Action" are catchy enough to keep me listening, and I admire their juxtaposition of vaguely aggressive elements alongside incredibly bubble-gum type hooks ("Don't Sweat It"). Not a lot of bands doing this, so I have to give them points for trying something out. When they lean into just being a power poppy wee-oo-wee-oo punky kind of band ("Flyweight") it's not quite as intriguing, but they do it well enough that I'm not angry about it.
Really torn about how much I like this, because I enjoy the swing they're taking here... but also there's enough filler ("Rednecks n' Monster Trucks" ends the album on an annoying note) that I'm not sure it hangs on a top-to-bottom kind of way. Might have to err on the side of caution and see how they sound on their follow-up. Speaking of…
✨ Scratching Post - Destruction of the Universe (1998)
Genres: Alternative Rock
On their follow-up to Flamethrower, the band sounds considerably slicker and bigger with heavier, chugging riffs and even poppier hooks. They've also sliced the running time down to 25 minutes (is this technically an EP?) and re-recorded "Bloodflame". Sequencing is also more direct, with the first three songs on here having received music videos with considerable push over on Much Music (likely featured on The Wedge, I'd have to assume).
This feels to me like one of those situations where the highs aren't quite as high as their last record, but the concise nature and increase in production has me enjoying my time a little bit more. They've sanded down the clash of "you got your heavy riffing in my twee power pop" a little, which makes this pinch less exciting in that "how will they pull this off?" way… but I enjoy myself a bit of this alternative rock with big hooks and riffs type music so I'm not complaining.
✨ 88 Fingers Louie - Back on the Streets (1998)
Genres: Melodic Hardcore, Skate Punk
88 Fingers Louie were a versatile band, and they show it well on the A-side of this record which finds them jumping around between the melodic hardcore of "State" and poppy "ooh ahh" skate punk of "Summer Photos". Opener "Tomorrow Starts Today" also foreshadows a lot of what Joe and Dan would go on to do together with Rise Against on The Unraveling. At times they also bring a bit of an emo-adjacent thing that reminds me of some of the more mid-tempo tracks from Can I Say.
Unfortunately (though the album doesn't run too long in the tooth time-wise) there's 16 songs here and this could use some trimming down. Cut this thing down to like 10 songs and you'd be looking at a much higher score from me. I think in that way, their versatility and need to do so many different things make them a bit of a playlist band—though I have to admit that Thank You for Being a Friend was a very strong reunion record that I recall enjoying.
Sweet Baby - It's a Girl! (1989)
Genres: Pop Punk, Power Pop, Beat
I always think of Sweet Baby as being related to The Hi-Fives because they have a very similar kind of retro-pop type of sound. I guess they're related through members being brothers, but I always thought they shared members.
Anyway, this is fun stuff but if you need your pop punk to have a measurable amount of the latter, you might not like this. Instead, this is vaguely mod-type power pop with Beatles-esque ambitions. All the songs are about gotta get a girl, baby I love you, let's just tak about the girl, etc. etc.
In 2025 they might be most notable for inspiring a particularly prolific YouTube channel that uploads obscure punk stuff, but this is enjoyable if you dig the type of power pop punk they are playing. Definitely a "your favourite East Bay pop punk band loved these guys" type of curiosity though.
Wildly amusing that Tim from Maximum Rocknroll didn't want to let early Green Day / Sweet Children play at Gilman Street because they were "too poppy", meanwhile bands like this were in the scene, lol.
Keats - Keats (1984)
Genres: Pop Rock, AOR, Progressive Pop, Neo-Prog, AOR
I'm not an The Alan Parsons Project guy, so I have no idea about how this fares considering it is technically a bit of an off-shoot type release featuring a new configuration of Alan Parsons Project regulars. All I know, was that I wanted some lightly progressive pop from the 80s with that near yacht level slickness, and this is exactly that. The A-Side has a pretty good three-song run there, but "Walking on Ice" kinda drags the energy down a little, even if I appreciate the synthy atmosphere they're going for there.
This is definitely one of those albums where you go from feeling like you have an above-average patience for this kind of AOR-type stuff, to being a song or two into the B-side and realizing you've had your fill. I wanted to go to bat for this but it's just a bit too same-y and at 40 minutes it's a bit more of this than I needed today. Couple songs are worth a look though, if you're in the mood.
Half Dizzy - Yard Sale (2025)
Initially a part of me was surprised this wasn’t a ska band based on the band name and album art, because the first few songs are throwbacks to the EpiFat skate punk era. But then they started to get into some Rancid role play on “Turn This Up”, and afterwards “King of the Landfill” lands somewhere between Rancid and Operation Ivy tribute. So I guess my initial thought was correct.
This is the band’s debut (after some singles and an EP) so I feel like they’re suffering a little from that “we have to get everything on this record” condition. We need the slow non-punk duet emo song (”November 3rd”) and we need to get 14 songs in under 40 minutes. I think they’re generally at their best when they are just hammering out straight up poppy punk rock songs (”Easton”, “No Disrespect”), though they split the difference between punk and ska on “Sidelines” well enough, so I could see them also just going full-on skacore too.
I really don’t want to go too hard on this band because I appreciate anyone playing this style of music in 2025, but I feel like it’s a little too all-over-the-place and could see them leaning into their strengths on another record and really knocking it out of the park.
Ph.D. - Ph.D. (1981)
Genres: Synthpop, AOR, Progressive Pop, Pop Rock, Neo-Prog
Took a chance on this at the record store because I recognized the cover after diving through the progressive pop genre tag filtered for esoteric + 80s the other day. Had high-ish hopes for this because it's also got AOR and synthpop tags, but this really feels like a debut album from a band that isn't sure what they want to be.
When it sounds lightly progressive it strikes a vibe or two, and songs like "Oh Maria" and "I Won't Let You Down" are decent synthy AOR pop tunes, but a lot of the album is all over the place in a way that feels disjointed. It has that weird problem of needing focus but also being very middling. It's also got pacing problems and they front load a couple pretty mediocre tunes and it can't recover from that.
Brent's T.V. - Lumberjack Days (1990)
Genres: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Pop Punk
More garage-y, jangly revved up vintage mod-pop type pop punk featuring one of the Denery brothers (John), who between the two of them were involved with bands like The Hi-Fives, Sweet Baby, The Bomb Bassets etc.
Some of this is totally stripped back jangly pop with basically zero punk influence ("Bright Lights") and some of it is played so zippily ("What Do You Get") and briefly that they inherit the genre tag even if there still ain't much more than trace amounts of punk involved.
Interesting for fans of the above bands, and how they stood out compared to the other East Bay acts at the time (Brent's T.V. were from Arcata) but otherwise I'd stick with The Hi-Fives personally (something about that band really solidified John Denery and Chris Imlay's work together and produced their best material imo.)
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
Love the range here. The way the Peaer review captures that "please, can I have some more" feeling after seven years gets at somethig I've noticed with slowcore adjacent stuff too. When bands nail that balance btween restraint and heavy outbursts, the wait becomes part of the appeal. I had a simialr patience test waiting for this one obscure shoegaze act to drop their followup and when it finally came it felt earned in a way instant releases never do.