Hidden Moods

Indie Pop, Avant-Garde Jazz, Neo-Psychedelia, Power Pop, Hardgroove Techno, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Pop, Symphonic Prog and more!

Afternoon to y’all out there.

I’m sorry in advance, okay? I’ve been putting off sending out a review-dump, and at the same time have been pretty busy all-around in life. A lot of times, the busier I get, the more I toss on myself so that has included trying to listen to more more more albums at all times.

Whether it was a quick visit to Toronto (well, I’ve got to fit in some time to buy a few records, right?) or work ramping up (well, I’ve got to listen to something while I work, right?) that just means more for you readers to sift through.

Also, I fell down another rabbit hole and have documented the results. This time, it was progressive rock. That’ll round out this issue but overall here’s 30, count ‘em 30, reviews for you across many genres.

Let me know if anything tickles your fancy, yeah?

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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.

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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.

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Read on the web for the full list of reviews!

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⛏️ Graham Hunt - Timeless World Forever (2025)

Genres: Indie Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Power Pop, Baggy, Neo-Psychedelia

Midnight Reruns had some absolute banger indie rock power pop tunes (see: "King of Pop") and in the wake of that band, Graham Hunt has been putting out really intriguing and catchy solo records. If You Knew Would You Believe It in particular caught my ear in 2022.

Throughout all this, they've been a little hard to pin down as a talent because while all their work is built on a foundation of pop hooks, they're really all over the place influence wise. They're power pop, but not exclusively. They have a sub-genre tag of Baggy, but only in the sense that they have a jangly approach to their hooky tunes while overlaying it on some slacker-y beat-style drums ("I Just Need Enough", "Cave Art"). Some of those moments also recall early Beck.

I guess ultimately, I'd label this as eclectic singer-songwriter power pop and indie rock. If you're into that kind of thing, this is really good stuff and a great mid-summer album. I appreciate that it's not all sugar and hooks, and in the back-half is where the album takes some more wild left-turns ("CRC"). But everything remains built around satisfying chord progressions and melodies. Good stuff!

After finishing writing the above, it’s now a week or two later and I have had this on more and more and it really is growing on me. Super catchy, great blasted in the car on a sunny day. Gets a bump up to 4 stars.

⛏️ Paper Jam - This and That (2025)

Genres: Twee Pop, Jangle Pop

What separates this record from other Melberg-influenced indie pop slash twee throwback acts, I think, is the strength of their songs. These are effortlessly breezy in the same way that stuff by Go Sailor or The Softies are, but they also stick to the wall, melody wise. Really, this is all about balance and when "Skyscraper" bounces along, it has that "could fall apart at any moment" feeling but the foundation remains steady. "Scrappy, but still tightly wound" is a tough rope to walk, but they do it again and again on these 10 songs. Also helps that 20 minutes is just about the perfect running time for this stuff as it makes you feel like starting it all over again wouldn't be such a bad idea.

✂ Polka Dot Girl, This and That, In Your Town, Skyscraper

🌱 gyrofield - Suspension of Belief (2025)

Genres: Hardgroove Techno, Birmingham Sound, Drumfunk

Been liking Gyrofield and following their releases since I heard A Faint Glow of Bravery. Hoping for a new album but this 23 minute EP is pretty close. I don't know anything about the turn in genres here because I'm not an expert, but Birmingham Sound listed and being described as cold, mechanical, hypnotic tracks does check the box on what I'm hearing though. This is really good and suitably tense with nice and effective moments of release.

🌱 Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts (2025)

Genres: Avant-Garde Jazz, Post-Bop

Often I will hear some avant-style jazz in the new release bin and tell myself I'll listen to the whole record, but then never make it back to actually doing that. Today, I decided to actually mark my words and prioritize that jazz album in the new releases stack. I have no experience with Mary Halvorson as a jazz guitarist and when I clicked their name I was very surprised to see they have released a whopping 37 albums over a 20 year career. So, kind of late to the game here a little bit.

Regardless, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Hard to pinpoint specifics but the guitar in moments reminded me weirdly of how The Advantage interpreted video game music into guitar riffs. Odd thing to think about when listening to what is a post-bop avant-jazz album, but hey it came to mind.

The rest of the band is great too, in particular the vibraphones from Patricia Brennan.

Turnstile - Never Enough (2025)

Genres: Alternative Rock, Post-Hardcore, Dream Pop, Hardcore Punk

I liked Glow On enough that it inched into my year-end list, but the divisiveness of this band and how they've moved beyond hardcore is always amusing to me because even when they were releasing "legitimate" albums like Nonstop Feeling it was a watered down imitation of [insert any number of classic hardcore bands here]. I get that gatekeepers are gonna gatekeep but they weren't exactly the most original band in the world to begin with.

I think this is a little bit of diminishing returns after Glow On, but when they go big riff mode I still find them a good bit of summer rock song fun. Their excursions into ambient/electronic interludes are fine but don't add a whole lot to the experience, and thinking back to the tracklist all the highlights are the big energy moments.

Kinda wish this band would just make a 25 - 30 minute album of huge sunshiny stomping catchy riff rock tunes, but whatever. That this pisses off a bunch of hardcore purists is a little bow on top of a perfectly cromulent band remaining just a-OK to me.

Ultimately I think they've proven that they are a playlist band. Toss the biggest 2 - 3 songs off this and Glow On on a playlist and you're good.

🌱 Blood Monolith - The Calling of Fire (2025)

Genres: Death Metal, Deathgrind

Dug this, but not sure exactly how much it made me want to continue to return to it through the rest of the year.

When it gets primarily into riff-mode, I like it the most. Personally this type of death metal hits hardest for me when there's real definition between their ingredients and some of this ultimately seemed a little same-y to my ears. "Slaughter Garden" is a great example of them really cranking up the definition between their wrecking ball riffs and speed-focused death elements. Feels like the song on here where they said: every ingredient is getting tossed into this blender for maximum headbanging efficacy, and I dig that.

A good amount of this album falls somewhere into that category so I'm going to rate it as such... but a part of me feels like it might not hang in my memory as well as I'd like it to.

🌱 Ossuary - Abhorrent Worship (2025)

Genres: Death Metal, Death Doom Metal

I've bounced off this a couple times and I think it's because I was coming to it expecting straightforward death metal and not realizing it had as much cavernous death doom ingredients in there as it does.

The mid-to-slow crushingly heavy kind of death metal is something I need to be a in a bit of a mood for. I listen to a lot of stuff that approaches repetitiveness via riff salad overload and that usually doesn't bother me, and this is repetitive but in the exact opposite ways. My taste for this kind of thing is usually when albums go back and forth between being fast and then slamming the breaks on you and pummeling you into a wall. This is more like a steamroller slowly crushing you for 37 minutes.

I'm glad I came back to it though, because it's good stuff, and my appetite for death doom has been increasing bit by bit. Will need time to absorb but for now I'm digging it.

Soft Ffog - Focus (2025)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Jazz-Rock

This is cromulent modern progressive jazz-rock/fusion stuff. It's not too on-the-nose with its nerdiness but it isn't super experimental so it won't exactly throw you for a loop either. It's well balanced and the cover art is suitably dorky, which adds to the atmosphere. Not bad, but I can't say it's wildly memorable either. Might swing back around to see if this has higher potential for the year but it was a nice enough diversion for now while it was on.

Stateside - Where You Found Me (2025)

Genres: Pop Punk, Emo-Pop, Alternative Rock

This is OK. Maybe their stuff is just best in small doses because every two to three songs I got hit with some pretty solid fatigue. Could also be a production thing?

I'm always craving for big, slick hook-y pop punk and emo pop, and their EP was pretty decent, but something about this is lacking to me. dewtaylo rightly brings up that this could be faster and more punk influenced—or hit with some more oomph—but they like to do that "we pull back into a softer place to make our mid-tempo chugga moments hit harder" instead of writing the absolute best, directly cheat code catchy music they can.

The best 3 - 5 of these songs would make a solid EP and have me interested for what they'd do next, not sure about this as an album though.

Skinhead - It's a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day (2025)

Genres: Melodic Hardcore, Street Punk

I don't really know what to do with this band. They use the name Skinhead and release vinyl on "Piss Yellow" and get lumped in with oi revival stuff, but to me they just kind of sound like Drug Church? The opening of "Ancient History" just sounds like 2010s-era orgcore?

I feel like if they aren't going to have this songs hit harder they should just lean even further into huge melodies. I don't mind bands that sit right in the middle of that venn diagram, but I feel like a lot of this is just incredibly repetitive, and built on the same foundations. That's coming from someone who listens to a shit load of repetitive pop punk, too.

Maybe file this under "MP not YP."

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⛏️ Sobs - Air Guitar (2022)

Genres: Power Pop, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Twee Pop, Jangle Pop, Dream Pop

Revisiting this one again (can't believe that it came out in 2022 and not more recently than that). Still rips. My original review from 2022:

A top to bottom phenomenal album that sees the Singapore-based band Sobs brewing up lush guitar-pop, bubble-grunge, 90s power-pop with a light jangle and even synth- and dream-pop melodies (on songs like “Deal Breaker” or “Lucked Out.”) "Friday Night" is a big highlight, and careens from crunchy hook-laden indie-pop into bleepy-bloop synth verses and finally into an instrumental coda of break-beats and bitpop chippy synths?

Surprisingly, the album remains remarkably consistent, even with the band pulling so many hyper-specific influence points together. Never does it feel like these references - Crying would be a decent start for a comparison, and their Bandcamp namechecks Dutch band Bettie Serveert, Big Star and New York’s Darla Records - aren’t working together to create a record length statement from the band. Amazing stuff, super catchy.

⛏️ The Beach Boys - Surf's Up (1971)

Genres: Psychedelic Pop, Progressive Pop, Pop Rock, Baroque Pop, Art Pop

"I'm a cork on the ocean."

RIP to the brilliant Brian Wilson.

Reached for this one when I heard the news, on many days my favourite Beach Boys album, but hey, depending on the day that answer is going to change. One of the ultimate examples of a band who were defined by their crowning achievement—Pet Sounds—but had an incredibly fascinating, brilliant, frustrating yet endlessly rewarding discography. The one-two punch of "'Til I Die" and "Surf's Up" is an all-time record finale.

✨ Catch Twenty-Two - Keasbey Nights (1998)

Genres: Ska Punk, Third Wave Ska, Skacore

The actually perfect venn diagram overlap of an album showing some of the best elements of third-wave ska-punk. This is kind of cobbled together from things other people have said over the years, but it takes the scrappy youthful speedy punk rock ("Giving Up Giving In"), the gang chants that let them fit onto what started as a hardcore label ("Keasby Nights") and then adds in a theater kid ska ("This One Goes Out To..." or basically any of the songs built mostly upon upstrokes) without it turning a circus.

The album art (and titles like "9mm and a Three Piece Suit") in particular reveals where these geeks are coming from; probably watched Reservoir Dogs over and over. Mix that with the aforementioned theater kid doing wistfully emo lyrics ("On & On & On") and you've got a stew goin'. That this doesn't dip into two-tone worship or "real" ska is a feature not a bug, really. Leave that to the experts, you know?

Maybe it's because this was the first certified ska-punk classic that hit me in the gut circa 2000, but I can't believe that it's just a nostalgia trip. That these kids channeled their youthful energy and sloppiness into something as special as this feels undeniable to me.

✨ None More Black - Loud About Loathing (2004)

Genres: Pop Punk, Punk Rock

A couple top tier moments from the None More Black songbook are on here - "Oh, There's Legwork" in particular is a highlight. "Peace on Mars, 'Cause You Ain't Gonna Get it Here" really hauls, in particular how it jumps into those "Swing the axe..." sections.

They get further and further away from the straight-ahead melodic punk in some of these songs, but this is an EP that I would listen to a lot back in College so it's hard to listen objectively. Someone could call it an EP of songs not good enough for their LP and I'd have a hard time arguing with them about it. Something like "iScrapbook" isn't the best song in the world and I'm almost ready to write it off as filler but then the slowed down ending hits and I remember it more fondly.

Wouldn't tell anyone to start here, but for further listening of the band it's solid stuff.

🌱 Dire Straits - Dire Straits (1978)

Genres: Roots Rock, Blues Rock

Have been meaning to give Dire Straits more of a deep dive, and realized at some point over the years we inherited this vinyl into our collection so why not spin it today?

I think this is really pleasant. I'm interested in hearing Communiqué now, because people seem to say it is even more vibe-heavy than this one. A lot of what you read about this record (and "Sultans of Swing" in particular) is about how un-trendy they were and I think that makes sense, but hearing this 47 years later has dulled its impact a little bit.

I enjoyed my time with it, and "Sultans of Swing" is quite good, but not sure I can muster up a ton of excitement over it. Will certainly keep it on hand for when the mood strikes, but who knows when that will be next.

☄️ And then I fell down a Progressive Rock / Fusion / AOR / etc. rabbit hole, and the results are as follows:

🌱 Fireballet - Night on Bald Mountain (1975)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog, Classical Crossover

Goofy/nerdy as hell symphonic prog rock with a British feel (other reviews correctly reference Yes, Genesis etc.) Some of the "Night on Bald Mountain (Suite)" reaches levels of corniness (particularly the referential opening) that maybe I haven't attained a taste for just yet, but otherwise this was a nice diversion. Lots of fun synth/mellotron stuff and some really cheese ball sax work. I was into it.

🌱 Synergy - Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra (1975)

Genre: Progressive Electronic

Dope synth-prog, definitely recommended if you're into stuff like Mother Earth's Plantasia or Switched-On Bach and are looking for stuff cut from a similar cloth but way more progressively dorky. First two tracks are 10+ minute slabs with many movements and are worth the price of admission. Has "Rock Orchestra" in the title but this is synth-electronic stuff all the way and only feels "Rock Orchestra" in its tone or themes.

🌱 Lucifer's Friend - Banquet (1974)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Jazz-Rock, Hard Rock, Jazz-Rock

Not at all what I expected given the progressive rock and jazz rock tags. This is really big brassy stuff that happens to also include prog rock and jazz rock excursions. A lot of this has that horn-led, string-adorned Tom Jones vibe going on, but then they rip into extended fender rhodes or drum solos.

This is absolutely JAM PACKED with instrumentation - at any given time there's strings, guitars, horns, guiros, background singers and choirs, organs, and whatever else they can cram in here. I can see why this is corny for people who just want an actual prog-rock album, but it's adjacent corniness. It's just a different flavour of corny, and that's not bad.

Hard to fault the ambition here and the wild turn this is from a band previously known for sitting closer to occult hard rock on their early albums.

⛏️ Yes - Drama (1980)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog, New Wave

I dunno why, but I really like diving into a band I'm tangentially familiar with by listening to one of their weirder releases or less-than-favourably-received ones. I did this to satisfying results with Grace Under Pressure, and now I'm doing it with the post-almost-break-up, "now we've got two of the players from Buggles" album from YES.

Not that this is specifically thought of as a bomb (currently in position 6 when sorting their albums by average review) but at the time this seemed to have been received as a course correction and maybe even a bit of a one-off release from an "alternate" formation of the band. Ultimately, this would signal their more streamlined sound to come (see: "Owner of a Lonely Heart") while retaining lots of that fun progressive bloat.

Basically, this is right up my alley. Propulsive bombastic cocaine 80s new wave texture applied to spectacle-pushing, unable-to-sit-still progressive and symphonic rock. And all within 40 minutes as well, which I really appreciate. Fun stuff, if you're into it!

🌱 Hot Flash - First Attack! They'll Never Take Us Alive (1978)

Genres: Progressive Rock, AOR

I can be pretty particular about this kind of 70s hard rock, but this band takes that and ups the proggy pomp and spacey synths in a way that totally works.

Songs with guitar riffs like those heard on "King Kool" can be corny, but their insane synth work and dope organ performance kicks a lot of butt. Them making "fun...king kool" sound like "fucking cool" is the exact level of childishness we're working with here (non-derogative.) That piercing synth really works wonders.

I dunno, this should suck because it's almost a parody of what this kind of stuff sounds like but I can imagine disappearing into a bean bag chair while this is cranked up loud and having a delightful time. Definitely need to dive down the prog-adjacent private press rabbit hole, from the sounds of it.

🌱 Eloy - Ocean (1977)

Genres: Space Rock, Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog

Spacey German progressive rock. Some of this gets groovy, but it doesn't really approach fusion at any point, though that is how I stumbled across this one on a Prog Rock and Fusion Albums list.

But this really did the trick in terms of music to fuel a working afternoon that lets me space out, while still nodding along.

🌱 Khan - Space Shanty (1972)

Genres: Canterbury Scene, Progressive Rock, Space Rock, Space Rock, Hard Rock

More cool proggy space rock with some added fusion-y goodness. Another one that kinda overlaps into some of the cornier aspects of 70s rock which rubs me the wrong way. Not exactly sure how to describe it, but you'd know if it you heard it. Gets amusingly chaotic by the end but drags on a bit, for sure. Not my favourite, but another "it did the trick" kind of vibe.

✨ Spyro Gyra - Catching the Sun (1980)

Genres: Smooth Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Jazz-Funk, Latin Jazz

Awwwww yea. Weather Network-ass smooth jazz, right here.

No really though, their later work seemed to be used on actual Weather Network segments and ultimately compilations like The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II. I love this kinda shit, I know it can be disposable and the late 80s and 90s fusion genre became overly smooth, slips off the sides of your brain type of stuff, but I still love this kind of thing in certain doses.

This feels right smack on the dividing line between this type of smooth fusion getting incredibly slick but still feeling like a band of musicians with at least some level of integrity or credibility.

⛏️ Happy the Man - Happy the Man (1977)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Jazz-Rock, Jazz Fusion

This right here is exactly the kind of thing I've been craving lately. It's progressive rock that has equal doses of fusion-y instrumental explorations and synthy, spacey atmosphere.

The ridiculously uncool band name and insane track titles ("On Time as a Helix of Precious Laughs", "Knee Bitten Nymphs in Limbo") kind of the cherry on top, to be honest. I'd love to get a copy of this on vinyl and listen real loud in a dark room.

This seems obviously a prog-fusion album first and foremost, as the addition of vocals are incredibly minimal and only appear on a couple songs. There's enough smokey, forbidden planet synth solos and otherworldly atmosphere for me to toss this on the 🐉 D&D Fusion list.

✨ Arachnoïd - Arachnoïd (1979)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Zeuhl, Avant-Prog

Really solid French progressive rock fusion etc. Big time eerie vibe but with some Plantasia-ass synths ("L'adieu au Pierrot"). No idea what Zeuhl is genre-wise though I know it is often most associated with Magma. Regardless, this really scratched the itch of proggy fusion while avoiding that symphonic/classical approach to the genre. Definitely some out-there moments like how "Piano caveau" gets into spacey weirdo synths after the piano opening, before finally dropping into a fusion groove. Cool stuff!

✨ Starcastle - Starcastle (1976)

Genres: Symphonic Prog, Progressive Rock

Look at the cover and you know exactly what this will sound like. Incredibly hammy prog with floaty-doaty synths, plucky guitar melodies, and wildly space-hippy lyrics ("Set sail a crystal ship and you will fly!", "Spring by the comet, greening a galaxy light-wise!")

I understand that this gets compared (unfavorably) to a specific titan of this era of prog (glance at any review and you'll see), but this just feels like another level of corny in a way that makes me able to take it on its own merits. Is it the best thing ever? No but I was in the mood for prog this morning, and the cheesier the better imo. The synth work kicks ass too.

Honestly, feel like I need to give this a half-star extra just because of how much of a non-comedic parody of the genre it feels like.

✨ Starcastle - Fountains of Light (1977)

Genres: Symphonic Prog, Progressive Rock

Compared to Starcastle this leans into an AOR-ish tone, with a few digestible songs like "Dawning of the Day" (which feel like attempts at radio tunes.) Feels synth-heavier too, which is a plus in my book. There's almost a bit of an ELO thing going on in some of this too, when it is reaching for the accessible elements. Honestly, this was also totally up my alley, potentially moreso than their debut album. There, I admired the plain-faced corniness, and here there's a focus on the bombastic aspect of their sound, which works well for them.

Sky - Sky 2 (1980)

Genres: Symphonic Prog, Progressive Rock, Classical Crossover

Got this on vinyl the other day based exclusively on the album cover and the genre tags. Have listened to Side A and Side B a bunch already because I keep starting over. Have taken a few naps around the end of the FIFO suite, though not because of the music, just because I'm so damn tired lately. Was enjoying the first two sides well enough, but returning to hear the rest of this 80-minute album made me realize it kind of jumps off a cliff after that.

Almost an entire side (C) is devoted to classical crossover stuff, which just isn't my bag. "Tristan's Magic Garden" at least has a weirdo vibe going for it.

Energy picks back up on Side D for "Vivaldi" but a lot of the final side has that plucky harpsichord-y tone to it. "Scipio" isn't a bad one, but by this point you're nearing 70+ minutes and you're ready for it to be over.

Overall, a bloated thing but has some stuff on it I will return to. Might just keep listening to Side A and Side B as a single album and leave it at that, to be honest. Would be interested in hearing their previous album and where they went from here, though.

⛏️ Gentle Giant - The Missing Piece (1977)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Art Rock

I know the name Gentle Giant gets pushed hard around prog circles, and I've seen a bunch of their album art, but until now I hadn't heard a note of their music. Saw this record in the cheap vinyl bins and picked it up for a couple bucks.

Turns out, I've inadvertently done what I love to do - get into a prog band when they've pivoted away from prog into something slightly more commercial. "Two Weeks in Spain" is a super catchy kind of herky jerky 70s rock song. "Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It" is a bit of an attempt at new wave-y bar rock. There's a few lesser songs on here, but for 35 minutes this is a pretty tight mix of 70s rock sounds with vaguely progressive elements in there. You can even hear a bit of influence on bands like XTC in more than one of these tracks.

I mostly enjoyed this stuff, and can see why there's a lot of comments about it being an underrated entry in the band's discography.

⛏️ Gentle Giant - In’terview (1976)

Genres: Progressive Rock, Avant-Prog, Zolo, Jazz-Rock

Coming to this after The Missing Piece was really interesting, because in a cool way it is more out-there left-field than that album, while still maintaining the more mainstream approach they'd lean further into. This is under 40 minutes, and no song is longer than a pinch under 7 minutes. Very digestible as far as prog goes. But still contains some fun, challenging moments. Very good blend and I will definitely continue to explore their albums based off these two.

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That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.

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