“Magnetic Attraction” Y Pants

This way: Magnetic Attraction

Y Pants were an American all-female no wave band from New York City active from 1979 to 1982. The trio, made up of photographer/musician Barbara Ess, visual artist Virginia Piersol (aka Virge Piersol), and filmmaker Gail Vachon, developed a unique sound via their acoustic toy instrumentation of toy piano, ukulele and a paper-headed Mickey Mouse drum kit, augmented by electric bass guitar, Casio keyboards and various low-tech effects. 

Y Pants' feminist poetics and toy instrumentation made them a hit in Manhattans's art gallery scene, while their No Wave clout brought them to be regulars at punk rock venues like CBGB's. In 1980, Glenn Branca recorded their debut 4-song EP for 99 Records, followed by an LP two years later. Lyrically, most of the Y-Pants' material covered the off-kilter aspects of relationships, with explorations into the perils of laundry ("Favorite Sweater"), materialism ("We Have Everything"), patriarchy ("That's The Way Boys Are"), and a reworking of Bertolt Brecht's "Barbara's Song" from Threepenny Opera. Musically they have been compared to their British post-punk contemporaries The Raincoats for their overlapping vocal choruses and kitchen-sinkish approach to sound, rhythm and composition.

[Spotify] Magnetic Attraction 

“A Shirt Of Fire” The Room

This way: A Shirt Of Fire

The Room are a new wave band from Liverpool formed in late 1979. They released three albums and several singles before breaking up in 1985. Two of the band members went on to form Benny Profane, Dust, and Dead Cowboys. The band reformed in 2023.

The Room was formed in 1979 with an initial line-up of Dave Jackson (vocals), Robyn Odlum (guitar), Becky Stringer (bass), and Clive Thomas (drums, percussion). Early releases on their self-financed independent label, Box Records saw the band compared to Joy Division, The Fall and fellow Liverpool band Echo & the Bunnymen, and gained them strong support from the music press and John Peel. They released a cassette album Bitter Reaction in 1980 and two double A-sided singles, "Waiting Room" / "Motion" (1980) and "Bated Breath" / "In Sickness and Health" (1981) via Box.

In 1982, the group signed to Red Flame Records, debuting with the single "Things Have Learnt to Walk That Ought to Crawl", followed by first vinyl album, Indoor Fireworks. 1983 saw major changes to the line-up, with Odlum and Thomas departing to be replaced by ex-Wild Swans drummer Alan Wills, guitarist Paul Cavanagh, and keyboard player Peter Baker. The new line-up released the mini-album Clear! in late 1983. Brass player Phil Lucking was added to the line-up in 1984, but departed before the third album, In Evil Hour, which was part-produced by Tom Verlaine, who the band had played several dates with earlier that year, the remainder produced by John Porter. An EP of tracks recorded for Saturday Live and Janice Long's BBC Radio One programme proved to be the band's final release while still together, in 1985. Clear! and In Evil Hour were later reissued as a double-LP set, titled Nemesis, and an EP of one of the band's four sessions for John Peel's programme was issued by Strange Fruit Records in 1988. Jackson and Stringer formed a new band, Benny Profane, in 1986, and later formed Dust and The Dead Cowboys. The Room's studio catalogue has since been issued on remastered CDs by LTM, with sleevenotes by Dave Jackson. 

[Spotify] A Shirt Of Fire 

“Like We Did Last Summer” Stick Men

This way: Like We Did Last Summer

Stick Men is an American progressive rock supergroup founded in 2007 by Pat Mastelotto, Tony Levin, and Michael Bernier. Since 2010, the lineup stabilized around Mastelotto, Levin, and Markus Reuter. The band was formed as a vehicle for progressive rock music performed almost exclusively with Chapman Sticks and drums.

In 2007, Levin released a solo album entitled Stick Man, consisting of pieces recorded on the Chapman Stick, featuring his King Crimson bandmate Pat Mastelotto on drums. This then led to the formation of the band Stick Men by Mastelotto, Levin and Chapman Stick player Michael Bernier. The band released its first album Soup in 2010. Bernier left shortly after the release of Soup, to be replaced by Markus Reuter in early August 2010.

[Spotify] Like We Did Last Summer 

“My Advice” Fast Kids

This way: My Advice

FAST KIDS is the solo power-pop project of Mike Brandon (The Mystery Lights), paying homage to his power-pop roots. Raised in the Central Coast punk scene of California (Salinas, Santa Cruz) and now based in Ridgewood, Queens, Mike channels influences from power-pop pioneers like The Nerves, The Boys & The Shivvers to craft his debut Fast Kids Forever, recorded at Business District Recording in Johnson City, NY with producer Hunter Davidson.

[Spotify] My Advice 

“Sharky” Cheetah Chrome

This way: Sharky

Known professionally as Cheetah Chrome (February 18, 1955 – September 13, 2026) was an American musician who achieved fame as a guitarist for Rocket from the Tombs and the punk rock band Dead Boys.

Rocket From the Tombs

Chrome joined protopunk band Rocket from the Tombs in September 1974, having previously been in a band with member Peter Laughner. The band broke up in mid 1975, having never recorded any material. In 2003, after the release of The Day the Earth Met the Rocket from the Tombs, he reformed Rocket from the Tombs with David Thomas, Craig Bell, with Steve Mehlman (Pere Ubu) on drums and Richard Lloyd (Television) replacing the late Peter Laughner. The reincarnation of the group toured in 2003 and 2006. In summer 2003 it entered the studio to record some of the band's old material for the first time. The recordings were released as Rocket Redux (SmogVeil). Chrome did a U.S. West coast tour in April 2004 (backed by Sweet Justice) as well as a 10 date Midwest/East coast tour as guitarist in Texas Terri's band in July. At the end of July he headlined "Festimal" in Cedeira, Spain. In September 2004, the members of RFTT flew to Germany to headline one night (the Buzzcocks headlined the other) of the International Punk Kongress in Kassel; then, in 2006, they reconvened in Cleveland to write material for a new record. This material became the single "I Sell Soul/Romeo and Juliet", released in 2010,[citation needed] and the full-length album Barfly, released in 2011. Chrome left the band again in December 2011.

Dead Boys

After the initial breakup of RFTT, Chrome, alongside other members Stiv Bators and Johnny Madansky would form a new group, Dead Boys. They took the name after the RFTT song "Down In Flames". The band released two albums before breaking up in 1980.[

[Spotify] Sharky 

“Ain't it Fun” Dead Boys, RIP Cheetah Chrome

This way: Ain't it Fun

Cheetah Chrome is one of the greats, most famous for the Dead Boys he was in a ton of other bands and made all kinds of great music. Rocket from the Tombs being another seminal Ohio punk bands perhaps even predating some of the NYC scene (What was in the water in Ohio?). 

The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. The band was among the first wave of punk, and regarded by many as one of the rowdiest and most violent groups of the era. They were formed in 1975 by vocalist Stiv Bators, rhythm guitarist Jimmy Zero, bassist Jeff Magnum, lead guitarist Cheetah Chrome, and drummer Johnny Blitz—the latter two having splintered from the band Rocket from the Tombs. The original Dead Boys released two studio albums: Young, Loud and Snotty and We Have Come for Your Children.

The Dead Boys were active from 1975 to 1980, briefly reunited a few times in the mid-1980s, and regrouped in 2004 and 2005 for the first time without Bators, who had died in 1990. In September 2017, Chrome and Blitz reunited the band with a new line-up for a 40th anniversary tour along with a new album, Still Snotty: Young, Loud and Snotty at 40, a re-recording of their debut album. This lineup included Chrome and Blitz with vocalist Jake Hout, guitarist Jason "Ginchy" Kottwitz and bassist Ricky Rat. Hout quit in November 2024 over plans for a new Dead Boys album with an AI-synthesized Bators vocal.

In July 1976, the band's members moved to New York City at the encouragement of Joey Ramone, the Ramones' lead singer. Taking the name Dead Boys from a line in the RFTT song "Down in Flames", the Dead Boys quickly gained notoriety for their outrageous live performances. 

[Spotify] Ain't it Fun 

“Mothership” Fripp and Toyah

This way: Mothership

Frippertronics, Yes please. Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox are an iconic British artistic couple renowned for their legendary music careers and their viral "Sunday Lunch" internet videos of cover songs.

[Spotify] Mothership 

“The One to Wait” CCFX

This way: The One to Wait

CCFX was an American underground pop supergroup formed in Olympia, Washington in 2017 by members of local bands CC Dust and Trans FX. The original lineup consisted of Chris McDonnell, Mirče Popovic,  Mary Jane Dunphe and David Jaques. Their debut self-titled EP was released by DFA in 2017. The record’s sound trafficked in an amorphous nostalgia — Dunphe's haunting vocals drift alongside sun-kissed riffs that soar and envelop, held up by a steady breakbeat and bouncing, vernal basslines. In 2018 the group followed up with dance remixes of the EP before disbanding. 

Chris McDonnell has continued exploration of dance-inflected production through his projects ,  and , and most recently of rock ‘n’ roll with the group Star 69. Mary Jane Dunphe, meanwhile, has stepped out as a solo artist, delving into her own idiosyncratic iterations of what pop can mean. During their time in CCFX, McDonnell and Dunphe also shared a drastically different, and equally mysterious, one-off country band called the County Liners.

[Spotify] The One to Wait 

“Do Your Best” John Maus

This way: Do Your Best

John Maus (born February 23, 1980) is an American composer, singer, and songwriter known for his baritone singing style and his use of vintage synthesizer sounds and medieval music church modes, a combination that often draws comparisons to 1980s goth-pop. His early lo-fi music recordings anticipated and inspired the late 2000s hypnagogic pop movement. On stage, he is characterized for his intense displays of emotion while performing. He is also a former teacher of philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi, where he later earned his PhD in political science.

Maus' early influences included Nirvana, a-ha, Syd Barrett, Jim Morrison, and composers of the medieval music, Renaissance music, and Baroque music eras. In 1998, he left his hometown of Austin, Minnesota to study experimental music at the California Institute of the Arts. When he befriended and first worked alongside classmate Ariel Pink, he took a greater interest in pop music. He produced most of the music from his first two albums Songs (2006) and Love Is Real (2007) on cassette tape with an early 1990s sound bank. The albums generally drew negative reviews upon release, and it was not until the success of his third, We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (2011), that he became more widely accepted as an outsider music artist. Following a five-year absence from public appearances and releasing new music, he returned with the albums Screen Memories in 2017, and Addendum in 2018. His sixth studio album, Later Than You Think, was released in September 2025.

Released: November 19, 2007

[Spotify] Do Your Best 

“VHS” Swimming Paul

This way: Vhs

Swimming Paul is a French DJ and producer from Paris who began DJing while spending time in London. Immersed in the UK electronic scene, he started producing and released his first tracks in spring 2023. His second single, “Fading,” quickly caught the attention of BBC Radio 1, with support from Pete Tong, Danny Howard, and Jess Iszatt. He has been releasing music steadily every 4 to 6 weeks and dropped his debut album “Smiling Through The Pain” in June 2024. In September 2024, he released the club anthem “VHS RAVE” in collaboration with Tiësto, earning widespread support across the dance scene. Known for his high-energy, emotional sets.

[Spotify] Vhs 

“Her Love” Alex Ebert

This way: Her Love

Alex Ebert (born May 12, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. He is best known for being the lead singer and songwriter for the American bands Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. On January 12, 2014, Ebert won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for his musical score to the film All Is Lost (2013).

Ebert was born in Los Angeles in 1978, the son of a psychotherapist, Michael Ebert, and actress Lisa Richards. His father would often take the family on long car trips through the desert. On one such trip, his mother took a video of his father chanting in the desert, cradling Alex's baby sister, Gabi, which would one day become a part of the video for the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros song "Desert Song". His grandfather, Carl Ebert, was a prominent German actor, director, and opera administrator who emigrated to California following the rise of Adolf Hitler.

[Spotify] Her Love 

“As Long as I Have You” Buddy Miller

This way: As Long as I Have You

Buddy Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller. Buddy was born in Fairborn, Ohio, near Dayton, and his family eventually settled in Princeton, New Jersey. His grandfather gave him the nickname "Buddy".

During the late 1970s Miller was in a country-rock band called the Desperate Men, which played in venues in the North Jersey and New York area, including clubs like Stanhope House and Cuss From Hoe. In 1975, he moved to Austin, Texas, and played rockabilly music in Ray Campi's band. He auditioned for and played in the band Partners In Crime with Julie Griffin (soon to be his second wife).

In 1980, they moved to New York City, and Miller formed the Buddy Miller Band, which included singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin on vocals and guitar. He also performed with Jim Lauderdale and Larry Campbell. Each Sunday, Miller performed in Kinky Friedman's band at the Lone Star Cafe. Miller moved to Nashville in the 1990s, after a stint in Los Angeles. He worked on recording sessions as a guitar player and vocalist, and began producing his own records in his living room studio named Dogtown.

[Spotify] As Long as I Have You 

“TV as Eyes” Chrome

This way: TV as Eyes

Chrome is an American rock band founded in San Francisco in 1976 by musician Damon Edge and associated with the 1970s post-punk movement. The group's raw sound blended elements of punk, psychedelia, and early industrial music,[6] incorporating science-fiction themes, tape experimentation, distorted acid rock guitar, and electronic noise. They have been cited as forerunners of industrial rock.

They found little commercial success as part of San Francisco's 1970s music scene, but developed a cult following in the United Kingdom and Germany following the release of the LPs Alien Soundtracks (1977) and Half Machine Lip Moves (1979). Edge died in 1995; subsequently, guitarist Helios Creed has revived the Chrome name for recordings and performances.

Chrome was formed in 1975 by Damon Edge (real name Thomas Wisse: drums, vocals, synths, production) and Gary Spain (bass guitar, violin) in San Francisco. While studying at the California Institute of the Arts, Edge became influenced in making unusual sounds; this progressed after a trip to Morocco where he heard a lot of Arabic music. In his head, he began putting a beat behind the music and started coming up with ideas for songs. Chrome's music contained a lot of atmosphere in the sound production, featuring three- and eight-note melodies, usually layered with an atonal drone backed by a rhythm section. This sort of atmosphere was influenced by the music he had heard in Morocco. About six months after that trip, Edge began forming a band and recording his new music.

Chrome, in their first incarnation, drew inspiration from King Crimson and the Stooges. They recorded and released their first album, The Visitation, along with John Lambdin (guitar) and Mike Low (guitar, vocals). After recording The Visitation, Edge sent the album to Warner Brothers to see if they wanted to release the album. A Warner Brothers A&R representative told Edge that the album sounded like a "messed up Doors album"; to Damon Edge, this was a compliment. The label did not release the album, so Edge set up his own label, Siren Records. After the recording of the first album, singer Mike Low left the band, to be replaced by new guitarist Helios Creed. Creed cited the influence of the emerging punk rock scene as foundational to Chrome's later output.

[Spotify] TV as Eyes 

“Hypnotized” Amor Y Powers

This way: Hypnotized

Amor y Powers is a musical collaboration between Tucson-based guitarist Naïm Amor and legendary post-punk guitarist Kid Congo Powers (known for his work with The Cramps, The Gun Club, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds).

The project began during pandemic-era lockdowns when Naïm Amor started experimenting in his studio with a mix of rockabilly and garage electric guitars, electronic drum machines, and bass synthesizers. Inspired by the tones of Link Wray and the raw electronic sound of Suicide, Amor invited Kid Congo Powers to collaborate on electric guitar "dialogs". Their sound blends rockabilly, fuzz, surf noir, and post-punk with desert atmospheres.

Tonight live in Phoenix!

[Spotify] Hypnotized 

“Till Victory”, Half Japanese is half dead, RIP David Fair

This way: Till Victory

Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in 1974, after their family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland.

Half Japanese's original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playing; vocals; and an out-of-tune, distorted guitar. Both Fair brothers sang, although over time Jad held the frontman role. As of the band's last several releases since the 1990s, according to the album and CD credits, Half Japanese composes and plays the entirety of the music while Jad, eschewing his role as guitarist from earlier albums, plays almost no guitar but is responsible for the vocals and lyrics, which typically divide into either "love songs or monster songs."

Their lyrics often deal with monsters and the supernatural (especially as influenced by "creature feature" and sci-fi movies), in addition to more conventional themes, such as young love.

The band was formed in Jad and David Fair's bedroom in the mid-1970s, with sources varying on the exact date. The band released their first single, "Calling All Girls", in August 1977, followed by a triple album, 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts in 1980.

The band played and recorded as a duo until the early 1980s, when they began incorporating additional members into the group: Mark Jickling (guitar and vocals) and brothers Ricky and John Dreyfuss (drums and saxophone). Since that time, dozens of musicians have come and gone under the Half Japanese banner, including Howard Wuelfing, Don Fleming and Jay Spiegel both from the bands B.A.L.L. and Velvet Monkeys, and Shockabilly bass player and Shimmy Disc impresario Mark Kramer among others. Jad is the only member who has been with Half Japanese from the beginning. David temporarily left the band in 1987 in order to take care of his family, and since then has been involved with the band sporadically.

The next line-up of Half Japanese came together in the late 1980s, proving to be a long-lasting and stable unit recording several albums and touring frequently throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. This incarnation featured guitarist/multi-instrumentalist John Sluggett (also a longtime member of Moe Tucker's band), multi-instrumentalist Jason Willett, Mick Hobbs, and drummer Gilles Reider. Since then, the group has worked with Moe Tucker from The Velvet Underground, who produced and performed on Fire in the Sky (1992), as well as The Band That Would Be King (1989), and with Fred Frith, and John Zorn, among others.

[Spotify] Till Victory