Dig ‘in: Spread Joy, The Tubs, Kiwi Jr.
Check out what the No Wristbands team is listening to and what’s in our show calendars this month on our latest Dig ‘in.
INCOMING
Spread Joy - III (Feel It Records LP)
For listeners with a divided attention span, Spread Joy is a godsend. Their hyperactive post-punk cuts out the fat and gets down to bone in record time. Their latest offering, III, is their longest yet, clocking in at 17 minutes and 43 seconds across their standard-issue 10 tracks.
Briana Hernandez’s trill vocals occupy the forefront of the songs; her delivery is part word salad and part biting commentary. The sly “Iambic Pentameter” pinballs to and fro, riding the rhythm section of bassist Nick Beaudoin and drummer Tyler Bixby against Raidy Hodges’ guitar lacerations. “Olli Oxen Frei” turns the children’s game phrase on its head with a frenetic delivery that clearly indicates that all is not safe. They lessen the pulse a bit with “(Why Can’t) I” and “Entrance”—Hernandez stretches out her vocal cords, approaching the realms of a more conventional melody. Spread Joy’s music provides a fitting soundtrack to today’s chaotic times—untidy, visceral, and playfully on point. -Bruce Novak
The Tubs - Hard Life (Merge Records LP)
On first listen, Owen Williams’ down in the mouth confessions on Hard Life had me thinking that he might be in dire need of a wellness check. “No more room in heaven / Not for the singer of a ripoff band / Far too late to save / Wanking himself into an early grave,” he seethes on the fiery “Heaven or London.” While Williams’ songs have often taken on an autobiographical approach, he’s also noted that the prose is exaggerated to such a degree that it becomes a “self-mortifying pleasure” for him and his bandmates.
“Yeah it’s a hard life / Well that’s just the way it goes,” he offers matter-of-factly on the title track about an encounter with “a fat bloke in a sad pub.” But what initially appears to be an acknowledgement of resignation is later treated as a spark for defiance on the song “The Way It Goes.” “I don’t wanna waste my time just waiting for ‘the way it goes’ / So if we go back to America then it’s over / Cus I can’t stand another fucking yank / Telling me they’re sober,” scoffs Williams. Much like his love/hate relationship with London, Williams has similar feelings about America; knowing its importance to the growth of The Tubs, but also weary of its capacity to grind down the camaraderie they’ve established.
After spending considerable time touring the States last year, Williams considers Hard Life to be a “much more American record” than 2025’s Cotton Crown and 2023’s Dead Meat. “Do Yourself a Favor” is a streamlined cover of a Prince outtake from his 1999 sessions with its bubbling keyboard riff and lovelorn vocals providing a contrast to the record’s more astringent elements. It does share a similar sentimentality with the buoyant, fiddle-forward “Stoop to Me,” where Williams exercises patience in his pursuit of a true love. While Hard Life is an acknowledgement of the suffering that is to be endured, it doesn’t overly dwell on the negative because while misery may love company, overcoming it is the ultimate victory. -Bruce Novak
Kiwi jr - Blowin’ Up (Perennial LP)
After years of being saddled with Pavement comparisons, Blowin’ Up feels like an off-road detour for Toronto’s Kiwi jr. Grander in scope than its predecessors, the band’s fourth album includes contributions from Alvvays’ Kerri Maclellan, En Attendant Ana’s Margaux Bouchaudon, plus Joe Casey and Greg Ahee of Protomartyr.
Recording in Detroit at High Bias studios with Graham Walsh gave the band a firsthand look at the border crossing activity between the Motor City and Windsor, Ontario. “Losing perspective / On the Ambassador Bridge / I am nineteen in Windsor / That’s pure Michigan,” exclaims frontman Jeremy Gaudet, later adding: “Unprecedented access to that new excess / I am ‘Yours to Discover’ and ‘Open for Business’ at last.”
On “New Jade Rabbit” Gaudet sets aside his clever puns for a starker message of abandonment with the band also trading off its bouncier vibes for a more dramatic backing. “Caught In The Wild” pulls back the tempo, injecting an alt-country vibe amidst a message of living in the moment. Brian Murphy’s slide guitar lick that kickstarts “Painting After Painting” provides a Stones-y swagger to Gaudet’s proclamations that “I’m on your side,” replacing doubt with a shared feeling of exaltation.
The Casey and Ahee Protomartyr coupling on “Landscape With Limousine” closes out the album with psychedelic overtones that meld into a rousing crescendo. It arrives to a spot not previously traveled by Kiwi jr with their past in the rearview mirror and the future now open to all directions. -Bruce Novak
UPCOMING
Radio Free Alice at Riot Fest (Rebel Stage) - September 18, 2:15 PM
Melbourne, Australia’s quartet Radio Free Alice display an affinity for ’80s British alternative rock with smatterings of The Smiths, New Order and The Cure surfacing alongside aughts-adjacent outfits like The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. Vocalist/guitarist Noah Learmonth employs an expressive and dramatic tone that smooths out some of the rougher elements of the band’s post-punk leanings. Songs like “Kick in the Shins” and “Empty Words” retain sufficient grit to take hold without resorting to abrasiveness.
The group’s debut album, recorded across London, Sydney and Connecticut, is set to be released on October 30th on Atlantic Records. After their set at Do Division back in May, Radio Free Alice return for a higher-profile slot at Riot Fest; a sign of the band’s growing popularity and grander ambitions. -Bruce Novak
Angine de Poitrine at Riot Fest (Rebel Stage) - September 18, 2:45 PM
With everything that’s gone down before, creating a spectacle in rock music is no easy feat. The Saguenay, Québec duo Angine de Poitrine, by way of another universe, has the gravitas of stopping observers dead in their tracks to utter “What the fuck is that?” Performing in their Dada-eque two-tone, polka-dot costumes, they remain mysterious—an aspect reinforced by their band name (translated as “angina of the chest”) and cryptic song titles.
Working within the confines of a spartan drums/guitar deployment, the pair carve out a distinctive niche by blending math and prog rock approaches that hone in on the dynamic aspects of the instrumentation. The crisp and insistent rhythms laid down by drummer Klek de Poitrine never allows the music to wander off aimlessly. Khn de Poitrine fires off rubbery leads from a double-necked microtonal guitar and bass instrument, favoring elliptical structures that allow for exploration but remain fully-tethered to to the group’s groove aesthetic. In a more varied-than-usual Riot Fest line-up, Angine de Poitrine is the one artist guaranteed to turn heads from all directions. -Bruce Novak
Rocketship at Subterranean - September 27, 5:00 PM
A 30th year anniversary re-issue of Rocketship’s debut LP, A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness, by Slumberland Records this spring brought the band back on the road following an eight year hiatus. The return also coincides with the imminent arrival of a new album, Hurt Feelings, due out on October 30th via Darla Records—their first since 2019’s Thanks To You.
Vocalist/guitarist Dustin Reske has intermittently pursued music since settling in Portland some twenty years ago. Never one to follow existing trends, Reske’s understated indie pop often cut against the grain, incorporating keyboards in the mix during a time when aggressive guitar music dominated the landscape. A recent revival of ’60s-inspired pop makes Rocketship’s return fortuitous and their presence amongst an adventuresome Windy Pop Weekender festival line-up should satiate long-time fans while also holding out hope for attracting new listeners. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
Love Child - Witchcraft (Homestead Records LP)
Love Child got their start in the later half of the ’80s when Will Baum, Alan Licht and Rebecca Odes met up as students on the campus of Vassar College. Their initial album release for Homestead was 1991’s Okay?—a lo-fi affair that combined the trio’s irreverent humor and ramshackle DIY musical approach with each pitching in on vocals, Odes covering bass, and Baum and Licht rotating on guitar and drums. Shortly thereafter, Baum departed the group and Brendan O’Malley was brought in on drums, allowing Licht to focus more intently on guitar.
The contrast between Witchcraft and Okay? is significant—Licht referenced the group gaining a sense of maturity and a newfound perspective, calling the previous effort “too much twisting in the wind.” The choice of recording at Waterworks studio, where Sonic Youth had previously tracked Goo, was also a key differentiator.
Odes transformation from a raw, often shouted, vocal delivery to a melodious singing style pushed her songs towards indiepop territory. The opening “Obsessive Compulsive” is an exceptional earworm and her dreampop approach on “Stumbling Block” dovetails nicely with Licht’s unbridled guitar spasms. His punk-fueled “Something Cruel” inhabits the opposite end of the spectrum from Odes’ slacker anthem “Sleepyhead,” with its plea to “let me sleep for five more minutes.” The nine-minute-plus guitar opus, “The Rose Is a Thorn,” prefaces Licht’s later improvisational/avant-garde explorations that include collaborations with the likes of Lee Renaldo, Loren Mazzacane-Connors Ensemble, and the band Run On.
Witchcraft ended up as Love Child’s swan song and the group languished in relative obscurity for a couple of decades. In 2024, Gerard Cosloy, a former Homestead staffer and Matador Records co-founder, released the compilation Never Meant To Be on his 12XU imprint that covered the group’s 1988-1993 tenure, providing a new opportunity for listeners to discover the influential unit whose recordings had gone out of print and were not available on streaming up to that point. -Bruce Novak
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: