Sick Sad World
Drum and Bass, Synthpop, Neo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Punk Rock, Death Metal, New Age, Progressive Electronic and more!
Hello y’all!
Not a whole lot of news to fill you in, so I’m going to default to my usual quick bullet-point introduction:
Check out my appearance on The Guestlist, which is a series of bonus episodes over on the Punk Lotto podcast. I brought 5 underrated/overlooked poppy, punky, snotty albums (and one curveball!)
I don’t know why this YouTube channel is uploading musical performances from the 00s-era extreme sports show “The Daily Habit”, but it’s neat to see performances by bands such as: The Octopus Project, Pinback, Aesop Rock, Every Time I Die, Future Of The Left and more, irrespective of the sometimes-questionable live production quality.
Otherwise, here’s some music reviews. Hope you enjoy ‘em!
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!
⛏️ B.A. Johnston - I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This Right Now But They Are Never Coming Back and You Will Die Alone (2026)
Genres: Indie Folk, Alt-Country, Synthpop
Canada’s poutine-stained, Sour Puss drinking troubadour returns with their 15th album, this time proclaiming it a “sad boy summer” with a more “themed” album than usual. B.A. has always mixed in tear-in-your-beer stuff alongside their pop culture references and tales of Hoser debauchery (”Too Messed Up To Be In This Canoe”). Here, they strike their usual mix of that stuff but the balance is heavily tipped towards the brokenhearted.
Regardless, they also are still doing their patented mix of acoustic tunes with random genre-play (”It Can Be Hard To Close a Door” seems to be their take on Graceland-era Paul Simon, and “You Never Know Where Your Thursday Night Will Take You” is a bass-led synthy bop) but overall much of this sticks into the lightly alt-country lane (”In the Bath With Hank Williams Again”) when not adding bursts of energy (”Your Name on my Phone”.) Usually their albums have some kind of 80s-style bop, and here it’s “Everyday is the Worst Day of My Life” (great name, great song.)
Maybe it’s the sad boy inside me, or maybe it’s just true, but this feels like one of their most well balanced albums in a while. In fact, the more time I spend with this record, the more I’m ready to proclaim it their best yet. B.A. has truly leveled-up their songwriting on this record, where in the past their mixing of pop culture and sad-sack-isms has balanced well, here they are teasing out a break-up story and pacing it out across two vinyl sides. The way these songs are lightly in conversation with one-another really adds to the gut-punch of it all; combine that with a locked-groove ending (on vinyl only of course) that bowled me over, this may just be their masterpiece.
They’ve been on a great streak since 2015’s Shit Sucks, and this not only continues that trend, but shows a measurable spike in effectiveness. Maybe their stuff is just tailor made for me (40 year old pop culture obsessive Hoser who loves VHS tapes, Hawkins Cheezies and emo), but I’m glad they’re still pumping out songs and touring the country... I hope they never stop!
⛏️ dgoHn - Tessares (2026)
Genres: Drumfunk, Footwork Jungle, IDM
I really dug the last two records from dgoHn, and this continues their trend of rock-solid drum and bass, drumfunk and breakcore type stuff. Not a whole lot of frills, not a ton of left-field surprises (maybe a pinch of dubby atmosphere here and there), but exactly what I want when I put this type of music on.
⛏️ Spacemoth - Inward Eye (2026)
Genres: Synthpop, Neo-Psychedelia, Indietronica, Art Pop
No Past No Future landed on my year-end list, and here Spacemoth are continuing to release great psychedelic pop with elements of kraut, synth and space age pop. I think what sets them apart is their ability to take a lot of diverse sounds and textures and mix them together in a way that serves their material. This definitely stands above the average “psych pop bass tone + indie vibe = modern psych” type release that has been worn into the ground. Yes, this also works in fairly well worn, “don’t forget to name drop Stereolab and Broadcast“ territories, but when the chorus on “Telepathic Butterflies” opens the song up into a beautiful widescreen, kaleidoscopic vision, it just works. Or how about how “The Universe Next Door” sounds like a tribute to The Chemical Brothers‘s big beat? Though it is a work of some collaboration (three drummers, as well as another credit for varying samples, synths and instruments), the heart of the record still feels like it beats within a dyed in the wool singer-songwriter with something to say.
⛏️ Adult Magic - Are You Even Happy Now? (2026)
Genres: Indie Rock, Punk Rock
Another round (seven years later, mind you) of mostly mid-tempo, crunchy emotional guitar rock from members of Broadcaster, Iron Chic, Wax Phantom etc. and released via Dead Broke Rekerds.
Like the last album, this doesn’t get too close to outright punk territory, but they approach it here and there with a decidedly heartland-y alt-rock tinge to their singalongs. That said, they do make sure to pick the tempo up a pinch here and there (”Sick Sad World”, “A Little Light”). I feel like that Broadcaster album is super underrated, so generally I like this most when Jesse is at the helm vocally (though the trading off is effective too), but it’s all solid stuff through and through.
✨ Oisel - Montenero (2026)
Genres: Minimal Techno, Tech House
Described as “a jazz-leaning piece where Oisel twists non traditional rhythms into his own singular language” on Bandcamp. In practice, it sounds a bit more like lightly abrasive in texture minimal techno, with fuzzy repetitive percussion that gets close to glitch territory, and pulsing synths. Really cool, layered stuff that kept my mind interested throughout.
✨ Phasmid - Dark Forest Theory (2026)
Genres: Dub Techno, Dark Garage, Bleep Techno
Rock solid dubby techno music with some dark atmosphere but nothing that distracts too much from the driving, pulsing movement. If I were in a bad mood or if this had dragged on, I could go down to three stars but this really helped me pass some time in the spreadsheet mines this morning and I found it pretty much engaging the whole way through. Mileage may vary, as it’s a lot of the same kind of vibe, but it was the right amount for me today.
✨ Astriferous - Atavistic Unraveling (2026)
Genres: Death Metal, Death Doom Metal
Firmly in “I liked this” territory with my classic inability to parse whether this was meat and potatoes doomy death metal in a non-derogatory way or more of a middling way. They are doing what you want a band to do when they are operating in this territory. I very much liked when they dropped into underlined, defined and thrash-y yet lightly technical riffing like on “Mnemonic Phenomena”, which perked my ears up. I’m struggling to figure out if this was a MP not a YP because when I did step closer and try to pay attention with a magnifying glass, the ingredients were of high quality. Another one to file under “keep listening, keep trying” because this has a lot of potential but felt a pinch same-y upon first glance.
✨ Streetlight Manifesto - Halfway to the Place Behind the Stars (2026)
Genres: Ska Punk
This has been a crazy way to roll out a record; multiple release date changes, then some non-final mixes were shared to their audience, and now another release date push with them dropping the one half of their album that is completed in advance of the full release coming in September (maybe?!).
Anyway, nothing from then since Somewhere in the Between has really hit the same way for me (I realize all that means is their cover album and The Hands That Thieve). This kind of sits in the same zone, it sounds exactly like what you expect from the band but sits somewhere below being as memorable as their best work. This is totally fine! Good, even! But I’m not sure if these songs are just the right level of dense to slide off my brain or if the material is just too been-there-done-that for the band.
“All the Pieces” (formerly known as “Grandpa” and apparently cut from A Call to Arms) is pretty strong though, despite it not really making a case for being over 8 minutes long to be honest. I think a big part of this band is their lyrics, and I don’t know that any of their hooks and chant-alongs here are hitting as hard as I want them to. A lot of this also just blurs together into a dense, hard to separate slab of music at times as well and I can’t figure out (as I mentioned earlier) if that’s on a material level or production level.
Ultimately, it’s kind of hard to rate and review what is half of an album dropped on streaming service as an EP (itself long enough to be what many bands would consider an album?).
Piebald - Tales for the Rages (2026)
Genres: Alternative Rock, Emo-Pop, Post-Hardcore
I suppose Piebald are allowed to have their reunion victory lap type record, as a treat. This is OK, but pretty forgettable. Endearing to hear them try and crank the energy up to punk levels on something like “Power Smile” as well. There’s a couple songs here with decent melodies, but nothing strong enough to rival their best material, or even some of their deeper cuts. Interesting (or is it?) that one of the most memorable song here (”Used to Good Advantage”) seems to be interpolating moments from We Are the Only Friends We Have (my ear hears “The Monkey Versus The Robot” specifically).
You can tell they are trying a “back to basics” type record because this is all pitched at the same buzzy guitar rock level the whole way through (aside from the expected acoustic closer, of course.) Totally passable, but won’t be thinking about this much now that it’s over, to be honest.
Sludgeworth - Second Time Around (2026)
The first album from Danny Vapid’s (The Methadones, Screeching Weasel) band (who were last seen via the compilation Losers of the Year in 1995 [well, outside of a single in 2024 where one of the two songs ended up on this record]).
Their 90s material always felt to me like it was doing a balancing act between the poppy punk rock history of the band members and a kind of flannel-clad alternative rock vibe. Some of their stuff had the neener-neener Weaselcore angle to it, and some of it had a pinch of that “yearl whearl” singing (”Anytime”) that sounds more alternative rock to my ears.
Similar to the new Piebald, this isn’t bad but I’m not sure I needed it? It’s totally okay, and I imagine die hard fans will really be happy about it, but I also can’t foresee me ever needing to hear this again.
✨ Neil Nappe - July (1986)
Genres: New Age, Progressive Electronic
“Valley of Indecisions” opens this as a new age-y kind of proggy jazz fusion joint, with really active drumming and lots of choral synth tones. I really liked when it would kick into synth-bass backed moments and dug the overall drive of the tune. Was a little worried that (like many of these tapes) the quality would be all over the map, but the second song does kick in with some dope crunchy synth lines and gnarly soloing. Another tune that conjures up memories of 3D animated interstitials while also revealing a lot of prog influence. Some songs here are a bit more along the lines of “repeating drum fill patterns, pile the synths on top” (”Taxes and Tolls”) which might not work for everyone, but I didn’t mind. It dips into purely synthscapes on “Casselberry” and “Nova” (which introduces guitar soloing), and they serve decently as a palate cleanser to wrap it all up. Totally cheesy for sure, but pretty consistent all things considered.
✨ Quark Pair - Observatory (1989)
Genres: New Age
Okay, this rules. We’ve hit upon the perfect overlapping of progressive and new age electronic music with smooth, late-80s jazz fusion type of tone. “Palomar” starts very airy and progressive, but then it kicks into a hell of a jam. Also getting some real “More Bells & Whistles” vibes off this (non-derogatory.) Scans of the cassette tape’s liner notes include their sick equipment list (”AMIGA 1000 RUNNING DR. T’s KCS 1.6, CONTROLLING ROLAND D-110, D-50, X2, KX-3P AND SVP-300”). Suffice to say this is a lot of hi-tech equipment being controlled/sequenced via software, and I love it. “Planet Fall’s” opening sounds A LOT like the PS1 boot up sound!
The second side (”BEAUTY” to the first side’s “TRUTH”) is a bit airier, and I was really concerned about how corny “Hobbit Dance” was going to be. It’s not great, but it’s only a three minute diversion. The B-side does end with a bit of a whimper though, but anything would falter trying to stand up to such a banger of an A-side. I really want to land this in four star territory for how much I liked the first half, but there’s just enough cruft in the second half to drag things down a pinch.
✨ Niko Olofsen - Feeling Frequence (1991)
Genres: New Age, Progressive Electronic
Progressive electronic and new age type synth music from this Dutch musician who “Belonged to the ‘Eindhovense School of Dutch electronic musicians” alongside Bas B. Broekhuis, who is credited here as producer and mixer. Released on the Synteam label from the Netherlands, this is very nice stuff indeed for those of you who like your vintage synth stuff repetitive, minimal but with enough percussion to stop things from getting soupy and some new age-y vibes for good measure. Almost a bit of a dank atmosphere here and there, and even some misty, sci-fi forest type jaunty, plucky elements (”Balance”). Overall, a really nice blend and this held my attention well and supported some good hyperfocus.
✨ Chris Spheeris - Electric Europe (1982)
Genres: Synthpop, Progressive Electronic
Progressive electronic, or synthpop? Why not both!? This shucks the Mort Garson-isms of post-Mother Earth’s Plantasia moogsploitation synth music for a new wave-y instrumental synthpop focus. Most of these are micro in length (well, particularly when compared to the usual side-divided new age epics) and bop along with lots of energy and simple overlapping melodies. Made for a really good mood lifter when listened in-and-around more airy, ambient or downtempo stuff (though you get a little of that here on songs like “Through Metal Weeds”).
✨ Belvedere - ‘Twas Hell Said Former Child (2001)
Genres: Melodic Hardcore, Skate Punk, Post-Hardcore
Angels Live in My Town was always an MP3-era classic for me personally, and while I also had time for this album (and Fast Forward Eats the Tape) over the years, it was the one I reached for pretty much exclusively. I have had ‘Twas Hell Said Former Child in rotation enough the past few years though that it surprised me to see I hadn’t reviewed it.
Where Angels Live in My Town sat very firmly on the fence between EpiFat style skate punk and speedy, technical melodic hardcore (see also: your Strung Outs and Lagwagons), on their follow-up I would say they do nudge their melodic hardcore influences up a smidge (even if it’s mostly through their speed level at times.) “Excuse Me, Can I Use This Chair?” sounds exactly like a leftover from their last record, but opener “The Only Problem With Wishful Thinking” finds a good example of them upping the muscle on their riffing a bit.
Aside from that, they’re still contrasting high levels of melody with tippy-tappy riffing and technicality (”A Juxtaposition of Action and Reason”, “Two Minutes for Looking So Good”) which further unlocks why some of the band members went on to even higher syrup levels with The Fizzgigs (also great!). At 21 minutes, they don’t leave you wishing they had a better editor either.
RIYL: Cigar, Rehasher, Bigwig, Choke
Stewart Robinson - Deep Thought (1990)
Genres: New Age
Much more weirdo and oddball than most of the new age shit I’ve been devouring via the Sounds of the Dawn YouTube channel. This has a lot of warped samples and extended diversions into sound collage type textures alongside its synthy, new age dance and vibe out music. “Empire (Parts III & I)” seems to go on forever, but when it does lock back into extended grooves they’re pretty cool. A lot of this feels more like outsider cut-n-paste type lo-fi electronic music as opposed to progressive electronic stuff that feels like dudes twiddling synth knobs. “There Are Worse Things To Be Than A Dancer” definitely drops into the “this should be on the soundtrack to a Beyond the Mind’s Eye VHS tape” type thing though with slappy bass. The drums on “Picnic On A Precipice” sound SO much like a little Casio-type keyboard I had in college it rocketed me back in time. Much of this is really neat, but its a little bit to uneven to score too highly.
Pezz - With Everything We Got (2001)
Genres: Punk Rock
Much like Warmth and Sincerity, this is more croumlent punk rock that dabbles in some varying genres like indie, emo and even ska/reggae on one song (the kind of unsuccessful “Voices in the Wilderness”). Sometimes they sound a little like that vaguely alt-rock segment of emo and punk (i.e. Samiam) and sometimes they have a little bit of that gruff, angular thing (the guitar riffing on “Walk This Road” reminds me of Hot Water Music type stuff). This was their last album (until they put out some reunion records) and titling it “With Everything We Got” makes me think they are putting their all into this but it’s not entirely convincing and makes me think like they were still searching for their identity when they wrapped it up for the first time. Not bad though, but mostly a diversion and not something I’ll be running back to.
Xisle - Perchance to Dream (1989)
Genres: Berlin School
Berlin School progressive electronic should get you all the way there in your expectations; longform, pulsing, not a ton of percussion but the synths can provide enough rhythm to keep you invested where there’s none. Enjoyed my time with this but another one that I’m not sure if I’d need to revisit for closer inspection as it did the trick.
Steven Cooper - Angels of the Sun (1988)
Much more classically new age than the stuff I have been listening to lately, which usually sits somewhere more on the progressive electronic spectrum, but this is solid too. Did the trick for easing me into my day with its mix of synths and nature sounds. The cheesier and the fuller the instrumentation got, the more “thank you for shopping at K-Mart” it was, and subsequently the more I liked it.
Deny Everything - Fire This Time (2007)
Genres: Melodic Hardcore, Punk Rock
Kid Dynamite worship from Germany (named after a Circle Jerks song) that leans a little towards their stuff that you could draw a direct line from towards Paint It Black (”If There Was a God...”). They split the difference nicely though, and they absolutely are cribbing from the Lifetime and Co. playbook that created such a defined family tree of bands. A lot of these songs do the “half of the song is fast, heavy, shouty punk rock, then they slow things down half-time for the palm mute chugging sing-a-long part” thing really shamelessly. In fact, though this stuff is well performed, I’d say that is the biggest issue here that so much of this is incredibly same-y. I again am unsure where the line stands between “sounds like bands I love, so I like it” and “sounds like bands I love, and I don’t like it”, and this is RIGHT there in the middle. Had this been like, a 5 or 6-song short EP I’d likely be rating it higher.
Steve Brenner - Signals (1985)
Genres: Berlin School, Minimal Synth, Spacesynth
Like the comments box over on Rate Your Music says, this sounds so incredibly similar to the type of fake 80s synth/vaporwave stuff you hear these days. Parts of the title track sound like they’d be behind the end credits to some 8-hour investigative YouTube video. “Electronic” brings a tangible synthpop element to the music as well, while “Locomotive” is way more atmospheric and features sparse, interlocking synths (and ultimately, is a lot more my speed.)
If you’re into this sound and are dying for wildly ahead of its time version of that type of stuff, this is pretty cool. Lately, I’ve just been more into the progressive, sparse kind of vintage electronic music so this didn’t hit as hard as I expected.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
I always enjoy your recommendations. Thanks for keeping me in way cool new music!