Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 33

10 Recent Tracks + Music Reviewers/Publications (+ Playlist)

Oct 28, 2025

Short, sweet…and ‘60s-influenced.

That describes many of the tracks featured in this latest installment of our monthly new music showcase and, in many ways, it’s the underlying theme of this newsletter.

We kick things off with a “Violets of Dawn,” Tony Molina’s folk-tinged jangler clocking in at a neat 2:15—more than double the length of The Lemons’ stylistically related “Laura.” Tchotchke keeps that theme going with the beautiful baroque popper “Playin’ Dumb,” which extends to a whopping 2:35.

Stepping just outside the long shadow of the the British Invasion—while marrying its echoing spirit with late ‘80s and ‘90s influences—GUV (formerly Young Guv) delivers the Madchester-y mood of “Let Your Hands Go,” while Dazy reemerges with a new EP featuring the titillatingly tidy Brit rocker “Delusions of…”

Elsewhere, Militarie Gun, Brad Marino, and The Dahlmanns take things in a slightly heavier direction, while Joel Cusumano and It’s Karma It’s Cool deftly identify a few key sweet spots in our core musical tastes.

Give the 10 songs below a spin, click the reviewer links, and please check out our Spotify and YouTube playlists (save, like, share, etc.). If you like what you hear or have other new songs to recommend, join the conversation in the comments.

10 Recent Tracks and Music Reviewers/Publications

“Indie pop’s bastion of brevity returns for a new album on Slumberland this week. Tony Molina’s always a favorite around here, often able to capture the kind of indelible pop in a few minutes that others can barely get a hold on in the scope of full albums. He leads off the announcement of On This Day with a bouquet of new singles, but ‘Violets of Dawn’ stands out; a sublime strummer that’s wrapped up in hazy harmonies and Tony’s ever-present pop charms.”—Andy, Raven Sings The Blues

“‘Let Your Hands Go’ builds off a great psychedelic jangle, and with Cook’s vocals, it comes off sounding a bit like Oasis on acid (complimentary).”—Abby Jones, Stereogum

“Rocker Brad Marino needs no ‘Voodoo’ to get me interested in his fantastic riffs, always a welcoming sound.”—Aaron Kupferberg, Power Popaholic

“These are mostly pretty pop tunes meant to be squeezed out of a small AM transistor radio speaker playing somewhere outside. Opening cut ‘Lemonade’ is sweetness itself distilled into a minute and 16 seconds of melody. ‘I Love Lee’ is so late 1960s radio ready while ‘Laura’ begs to be a campfire crowd singalong.”—Dennis Pilon, Poprock Record

“Beautifully produced and arranged kitchen sink style, One Million Suburban Sunsets is a rack album, splendidly so. The band are at the top of their game in a roof raising, wonderfully played and Jim Styring has progressed bit by bit into a great front man.”—Don Valentine, I Don’t Hear A Single

“‘Leatherboys’ finds Line and Andre leaning into their love of old school punk and proto punk and the old Detroit sound in particular. Nods to The Stooges and Alice Cooper are more than palpable, and there’s also a touch of The Rolling Stones in the mix as well.”—Lord Rutledge, Faster and Louder

“Much like its predecessor, the middle of the record is where the best tracks, and the biggest swings, are. … ‘Laugh at Me’ is a pop song that recalls Jimmy Eat World. ‘Wake Up and Smile’ is another pop gem that sounds destined to reach a bigger audience.”—Brian Stout, Pop Matters

“At times the EP sounds like a transmission from an alternate reality where Noel Gallagher leads Gorillaz instead of Damon Albarn, with melodies as big and bold as they come and the inventive production packed with manipulated sounds and head-bobbing loops.”—antiMusic

“The more immediate songs on Waxworld are some of the best guitar pop I’ve heard this year—the bottle-rocket power pop of opening track ‘Two Arrows,’ the triumphant Martin Newell-worthy jangle of ‘Mary Katharine,’ the self-contained wistful guitar pop meditations of ‘Another Time, Another Place’ and ‘Maybe in a Different World’.”—Rosy Overdrive

“Using 1960s baroque/art-pop as a starting point, Tchotchke’s Playin’ Dumb modernizes the vibe, sounding both playful and robust.”—Shawn Donohue, Glide Magazine

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