In The Red US 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: We're always hyped to see another transmission blast out from the furnace of John Dwyer's Osees. You never quite know what it might be forged into the grooves, but on this occasion Dwyer's here to outline the ingredients of Intercepted Message as 'a pop record for tired times'. Given the band's embrace of wildly meandering, psychedelic rock abandon, this is a strikingly focused record steeped in verse-chorus structure and laden with bright daubs of synths. The title track is also the lead single - a buoyant synth-pop dance monster with the attack you'd expect from Dwyer's project, and it tells you this is the Osees at their most direct.

Review: Fronted by Astrid McDonald, daughter of Go-Go's guitarist/songwriter Charlotte Caffey and Redd Kross singer/guitarist Jeff McDonald, the apple evidently doesn't fall too far from the punk tree when you take one spin of The Side Eyes. Delivering frenetic, breakneck-paced Californian hardcore that owes as much to the likes of Circle Jerks as it does to the more modern feral stylings of the scene, the aptly titled What's Your Problem doubles down on the bite and tenacity of their self-titled 2017 debut full-length, whilst coming across as more refined and dexterous. Few acts go harder and more succinct on their sophomore effort, but at twelve tracks amounting to less than a 20-minute runtime, that's precisely what's gone down here. Calling out phonies, sexists and posers one snarling banger after another, this is circle of life hardcore from kids raised on the right stuff.