Eau Claire is a very cool city here in Wisconsin. Xtine and I rolled through there on a road trip a couple of years back, mostly because my bladder was about to explode and we needed some snacks for o...

It’s been a while since I checked in with the Slow Pulp camp since their last release; we couldn’t get enough of them here at OKR ‘Yard’ and their show in the summer of 2025 at Cactus Club. Here comes...

Milwaukee’s indie dream popsters Creature Weather‘s debut album, ‘Moonlight Regions‘ has been out since July and we have been way behind on reviews lately so bare with us. After releasing single after...

When someone hit our inbox with “check out this twangy indie rock band” and I almost just totally disregarded the email since we have been told to check out a band with that phrase, or something like ...

Graham Hunt has officially dropped his sixth full-length record, American Pyramid, out on Run For Cover Records. On this bad boy of a record, Graham Hunt gathered an eight-piece studio band, decamped ...

Like any shit-kicking dickhead from the Lone Star State, I’ve been known to take some small pride in the fact that, whatever the state’s numerous deficiencies may be, Texas is, and always shall be, “B...

It’s August, and our good buddy Jeremy stopped by to join in on the musical mayhem we like to call this podcast. I think we covered just about everything we didn’t plan on covering on this one so be r...

Some years ago, my shithead friends and I came up with a pejorative for a certain kind of top-hat-wearing, scat-talking, cemetery-lingering, accordion-playing raconteurs who are often found busking on...

Lonnie Gunn’s EP called ‘2013 horsemeat scandal’ is a fun fucking album that will have you bouncing around your place with some raw-ass, fuzzed-out rock’n ‘ roll with thick, wall-of-sound guitar tones...

It’s almost impossible to write about a band like Austin, Texas’s Yard Work without mentioning each member’s previous groups. Still, for the sake of focusing on the task at hand, I’m going to use a ph...

There is something truly magical about the cosmic pipeline of post-hardcore music history. Just the other day, I was casually talking about how I have a signed poster from the legendary band Jawbox fr...

This debut record, Hoping as a Coping Mechanism by Bristol’s finest noise-makers MOULD, is an absolute triumph of visceral British punk energy that hits like a freight train in the best way possible. ...

Swapmeet’s debut full-length, ‘Mount Zero’ wraps you in a thick, guitar-heavy haze that hits both familiar and fresh notes, effortlessly echoing the gritty, raw sentimentality of heavy hitters like We...

Yard Act returns with “You’re Gonna Need A Little Music“, a record that delivers brilliant chaos, razor-sharp existential anxiety, and unadulterated swagger. Pushing away from the glossy disco-punk an...

It’s July, and it’s already a smokin’ hot summer!! It’s been great seeing all of you OKR listeners and social media followers who we met in person at the bars and shows…. it’s been great meeting you a...

When approaching a new record, nothing fills me with dread quite like the phrase “concept album.” This generally self-indulgent sub-genre brings to mind such sonic disasters as Kiss’s Music from “The ...

‘Captain Easy’s Downfall‘ by The Cowboys is what happens when Midwest garage-rock heroes refuse to grow up and instead double down on magnificent audio mischief. Hailing from Bloomington, Indiana, thi...

‘Second Time Around‘ by Chicago’s punk veterans Sludgeworth is musical proof that some things are worth waiting more than thirty years for. It sure as hell wasn’t like waiting on my first prostate exa...

‘Terrestrials‘ finds the cosmic chameleons of Pond blasting themselves straight into the stratosphere once again, proving that their eleventh studio album is less of a late-career coast and more of a ...

Get ready to scream-cry into your pillow while aggressively dancing around your living room, because Columbus, Ohio’s premier purveyors of “tender Midwestern noise,” Snarls, have blessed our ears with...

‘New Plastik Abyss‘ by Dead Finks is a delightfully frantic reminder that guitar-driven music is alive, kicking, and refusing to get stuck in a box with its chaotic sound. Released via Bretford Record...

Chicago’s very own punk rock champions, Sincere Engineer, are back to save us all from our own internal monologues with their absolute triumph of a fourth studio album, ‘Probable Claws‘. Frontwoman De...

Hold onto your seatbelts, punk rock enthusiasts, because Cincinnati’s favorite remote-working musical agents are back. The post-punk quartet Choncy has given us an incredibly sharp, angular LP titled ...

The Birmingham dream-weavers in Swim Deep have returned with their fifth studio album, ‘Hum‘, and it is a glorious ride from start to finish. After undergoing a surprise lineup change and apparently f...

Emerging from the formidable Milwaukee underground, Force has delivered an absolutely monumental sonic boom with their latest kick-ass full-length album, ‘We Carry Heavy Blood‘. Released in May 2026, ...

It feels like my brain is short-circuiting lately because I swear I had already written a review for this kick-ass record, but in speaking with my buddy at the bar this past weekend insisted I hadn’t ...

A few years ago, a faithful listener of our podcast slid into our DMS and told me that I had to check out some of the previous releases from a ferocious garage-punk outfit they could not get enough of...

If you have been feeling down, the indie-alternative powerhouse We Are Only Human Once has just delivered the perfect antidepressant with their spectacular June 2026 release, ‘harbinger‘. Hailing from...

With ‘Cut A Silhouette‘, the legendary post-hardcore outfit Sparta has returned, proving that some things truly do get bigger and better with age. Speaking of things getting bigger, this album dropped...

‘Roses’ by Widowspeak is the band’s seventh studio album and manages to pull off a spectacular magic trick: it is deeply romantic and saturated with dream-pop nostalgia, yet it never takes itself so s...

Apostle’s A Splinter in the Infinite Noumenon is a sonic rollercoaster that somehow manages to combine the existential dread of realizing we are all just meat on a rock with the absolute urge to run t...

With his fifth full-length album, Carousel, Ohio’s premier purveyor of indie twang, Mark Scott (aka villagerrr), has delivered a gorgeous collection of Midwestern slowcore that is cozy enough to sooth...

Danish post-punk quintet Iceage has traded their usual soot-stained, switchblade-wielding aesthetic for something shockingly close to a grand romantic gesture on ‘For Love of Grace & the Hereafter‘. E...

I stumbled upon San Diego’s Mrs. Magician completely by accident, and hot damn… this album rules. Their album ‘Spiritual Hangover‘ hits like a shot of cheap tequila chased with a sugary pop-rock mixer...

If your ears have been feeling dangerously sober lately, fear not, because Nebraska’s finest folk-punk veterans are back to kick down your door and pour some great tunes into your head. The Killigans ...

‘More Ego‘ by Amsterdam’s Third Ego proves that if your local therapist has been telling you to manage your ego, they are completely wrong. Released at White Russian Records, this second full-length r...

The ‘Figure It Out! EP’ by Public Figures immediately slaps you across the face with explosive energy with every song and refuses to apologize. From the very first second, the band unleashes a wave of...

REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE by Genesis Owusu is the closest thing I can think of to musical shape-shifting that proves this stellar Australian-Ghanaian artist is incapable of making a boring re...

Buckle up, audio adventurers, because Birds Flying Backwards has officially dropped their debut masterpiece, ‘Lovebirds‘, and it is an absolute rapturous delight. The band effortlessly weaves patient,...

‘Break Room’ by Milwaukee’s Fellow Kinsman hits ya like opening a window to let the summer breeze in after being trapped in a musty basement all winter. This collection of songs blends all the best pa...

‘Tearless, thoughtless‘ by Nara’s Room has dropped straight onto our stereos to rescue us from musical boredom. For a record sporting such a wonderfully gloomy title, these tracks deliver a surprising...

Honest Work by Odd Beholder floats in on shimmering synths, crisp beats, and vocals so cool and controlled they could probably calm down a localized robot uprising or at least convince a smart fridge ...

The wait is finally over… East L.A. indie-rock badasses Ear Ringers have dropped their highly anticipated album, ‘Keep It To Yourself‘, straight into our ears. For a record titled after a request for ...

‘Mercurial Silence‘ by David Eugene Edwards plunges the listener headfirst into a beautifully grim, obsidian-tinted landscape of pure Gothic mastery. Edwards, the legendary mastermind behind the haunt...

The magic of this record lies in how the band passes the microphone around like a flask of good bourbon, giving every track its own distinct flavor. “The World Beyond” hits you right in the nostalgic ...

The indie rock veterans Crocodiles are back with their ninth studio album, ‘Greetings from Hell’, and it turns out that hell is actually a fantastic, upbeat garage-pop party. Released via Wild Honey R...

The new EP ‘Sweet Gravity‘ by Chicago’s Snowcuffs is one of the best EPs I’ve heard in a while in dream pop/ shoegaze, as it perfectly captures a lush, layered wall of sound that feels both nostalgic ...

OK, so for some reason I have spoken with about 20 of you here in Milwaukee at bars and at shows over the past couple months who said that you had never heard of this album, and I told you I would now...

‘Green World Image‘ by Telehealth is your musical remedy if you’ve been doom-scrolling through social media, wishing your daily dose of “end of the world” was more danceable. Telehealth caught me off-...