Mrs. Magician
High Resolution b/w Dead Alive
Swami (2026)
Mrs. Magician is back! For those unfamiliar, Mrs. Magician is a garage punk band based in San Diego, CA. They formed in 2010 and between then and 2016, they managed to release 6 singles, 2 albums and 1 B-sides collection. Both of their full lengths were released on Swami Records, the label helmed by legendary San Diego guitar slasher/voice crasher, … Read more
Nicole Alexis
Mirrors & Smoke
Independent (2026)
There’s a fine line between stripped down music and so stripped back that is sounds empty. On Mirrors and Smoke, Nicole Alexis lands comfortably on the right side of that line, delivering a debut EP that leans into simplicity without losing its emotional weight. Built around acoustic arrangements and minimal production, the EP feels intentionally close. It feels like these … Read more
Nine Pound Hammer
Too Outlaw For Outlaw Country
Reptilian Records (2026)
For nearly forty years, Nine Pound Hammer have occupied a strange corner of American music that very few bands have ever managed to touch. They're too loud for traditional country, too country for most punk bands, too dirty for radio rock, and frankly too stubborn to care where anyone thinks they belong. That's exactly why Too Outlaw For Outlaw Country … Read more
Oddfellows
Oddfellows
Dirtnap, Wild Honey Records (2026)
The self-titled album from Oddfellows was a long time coming. As in, the band formed in 1994. Now in 2026, they return with founding members Chris Pulliam, Mark Ryan, and Mike Throneberry, plus new addition Peter Salisbury to release their debut album just 32 years later. This lineup means you're going to get a Marked Men reference right away, but … Read more
Pacifist
Five
Independent (2026)
There’s a reason five doesn’t feel like just another EP title. This isn’t a casual release or a stopgap between bigger moves but a line in the sand. On their latest five song statement, Bombay’s Pacifist sound fully aware of the lineage they’re working within, and just as aware of how much effort it takes to keep those ideals alive … Read more
Pageant Mum
Finis Amoris Est
Red Tape Music (2026)
Breakup records usually announce themselves with a band. There is betrayal, shouting, and doors slamming shut. Finis Amoris Est, the new EP from UK post-hardcore outfit Pageant Mum, takes a different route. It’s a record about what happens after the blowup, when the noise dies down and you’re left alone with the quieter, harder questions. Across these four tracks, the … Read more
Palette Knife
Keyframe
Take This To Heart Records (2026)
There’s a fine line between being a quirky emo band with scene references and something that actually sticks. On Keyframe, Columbus trio Palette Knife don’t just flirt with that line but sharpen it, name it after a Final Fantasy item, and build ten huge choruses around it. The band’s self-described “Nerd-Core-Mid-West-Emo” tag could easily read like a gimmick, but this … Read more
Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
After The Dolls
Heavy Medication Records (2026)
Pat Todd is a roots rock and roll incarnate — a relentless road dog, grinding it out night after night with his hot-as-buckshot band, The Rankoutsiders. His shows are raw, electric, and lived-in, a testament to decades on the road. With a career spanning over forty years, Todd has earned a reputation as one of the hardest-working men in the … Read more
Physicalist
Self Titled
Dirt Cult (2026)
F.Y.P is one of the rare bands that I'd say nobody sounds like -- but in the past two months I've caught myself making that comparison twice. First while listening to the new Dumpies LP (spoiler alert: they cover F.Y.P on that same record) and now as I listen to the Physicalist debut EP. The interesting thing here isn't the … Read more
Place Position
Went Silent
Blind Rage Records, Bunker Park, Poptek, Sweet Cheetah (2026)
There’s a certain kind of band that makes sense immediately once you see them live. Place Position is one of those bands. Before Went Silent ever landed on my speakers, I caught them at a show I played in Dayton, and they were the kind of band that quietly steals the night. There were no theatrics, no posturing, just total … Read more
Poison The Well
Peace In Place
Sharptone (2026)
There’s no way to talk about Peace In Place without acknowledging the shadow it steps out from. Poison the Well isn’t just another reunited band dusting off an old name. They’re literally architects of the genre. The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation didn’t just help define metalcore, it rewired how heaviness and vulnerability could coexist. And honestly, is … Read more
Pure Intention
Pure Intention
Independent (2026)
Pure Intentions is a hard hitting punk band first emerging in the Chicago scene in 2020. Since its formation by Joe Asshole and Tommy Volume, they have since added Judson Jones in 2024 to become its current standing trio. During that time, these guys have spread their gritty sound by touring the United States while gaining a strong following along … Read more
Rufio
From The Outside
Double Felix Records, Double Helix Records (2026)
“Rufio?! Like from back in the day Rufio?” Those were the words out of my mouth while claiming my next review. I wore out Perhaps, I Suppose as a teenager and my curiosity piqued. It has been 25 years since that album was released and 16 years since we have heard from Rufio at all. Regardless of these facts, we … Read more
Sahan Jayasuriya
Don’t Say Please: The Oral History of Die Kreuzen
Feral House (2026)
For those of us who spent the mid-to-late 1980s navigating basement community halls, churches, and loveable, armpit-smelling dive bars, the name Die Kreuzen was a permanent fixture on the punk rock radar. They were the sound of the Midwest underground --too fast for the goths to do their spooky Bela Lugosi "shoo the bats away" interpretive dance, too technical for … Read more
Sealer
Sealer
The Ghost Is Clear Records (2026)
Some bands aim for controlled chaos. Sealer sound like they’re actively trying to lose control and then figuring out how to weaponize that moment right before everything collapses. Their self-titled debut lands somewhere between hardcore, noise rock, and something far less stable, pulling from each without settling into any one comfortably. From the opening seconds of “Seeing/Peeling,” Sealer makes their … Read more
Silver Proof
Even If It Hurts
Independent (2026)
Some pop punk records feel made for playlists and algorithms. They’re polished into oblivion, emotionally vague, and afraid to get messy. Silver Proof clearly didn’t get that memo. The Buffalo trio’s debut full length, Even If It Hurts, leans heavily into the emotional core of early 2010s emo pop and melody while still sounding energized rather than nostalgic. Across the … Read more
Six Going on Seven
Human Tears
Spartan Records (2026)
Late 90s post hardcore and emo feels impossible to recreate now. That’s not because the sound itself is gone, but because the tension behind it was so specific to that era. Six Going on Seven’s Human Tears, their first full length in roughly twenty-four years, captures that feeling perfectly. Having a wonderful history by having done a split with Hot … Read more
Spillings
Spillings
The Garotte (2026)
Spillings is a minimalist reconfiguration undertaken by two artists whose careers have been about genre deconstruction. The paths of Mathieu Ball and Liam Andrews have been running on parallel tracks, but both have been aiming for a similar endpoint. That is to strip down the heavy, experimental rock form, while at the same time retaining its destabilizing core. With Big … Read more
