Saturday, December 20, 2025

Regal Beagle - Take it Back


Out now on the always fabulous Mom's Basement Records, we have the first album in over 18 years from Los Angeles–based pop-punk veterans Regal Beagle. The band is best known for its 2007 Joe King–produced LP A Little Tide Up, but it has been around for more than 30 years now. Also produced by Joe King, Take it Back legitimately finds Regal Beagle sounding the best it ever has. With this being a Regal Beagle album on Mom's Basement Records, you ought to know what to expect. This is first-rate pop-punk in the vintage Lookout! Records by way of the Ramones mold. And a la label mates Goin' Places and The Young Hasselhoffs, Regal Beagle smashes the myth of pop-punk being strictly a young person's genre. Proper adult life provides all kinds of inspiration for songwriting. And while a few of these songs might follow the ever-reliable "dumb in a good way" recipe, many are quite thoughtful and profound. With its just-right blend of silly and serious lyrics, Take it Back really hits the sweet spot for what grown-up pop-punk ought to be. From start to finish, these songs are sure to get you singing along and vigorously bobbing your head. Good pop-punk is never really about originality. It's about enthusiasm and execution, and this album earns high marks in both departments. This is a fun album to listen to, and you can tell these guys had fun making it. It's hard to go wrong when you start from there. And yes, the producer's influence on this record is undeniable. If you thought that was a bad thing, you would not have read this far. 

One thing I appreciate about Mom's Basement Records is that this is a label that knows its pop-punk history and respects great tunes above all else. This is a label that will not only go out and find some of the best new talent in the pop-punk world but also put its weight behind veteran talents that deserve to be heard. It can be fun to seek out the hot new thing, but sometimes you have to give the masters their due. In a world that sometimes fails to value quality over quantity, Regal Beagle offers up a model worthy of emulation: put out two albums in 30 years and have them both be totally killer. If you love pop-punk, Take It Back is not to be missed!

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Classic Pat - Christmas Mania


In a conscious effort to not to be super-annoying, I always like to limit my Christmas-themed reviews. But that makes it fun in the sense that I get to be very selective (as I am with my reviews in general). I knew Classic Pat's Christmas Mania would have to be one of the ones I reviewed this year. It's a very simple concept. The songs are all holiday classics (I like that) done in the signature musical style of Classic Pat (I like that too). What else needs to be said? Pat does an amazing job with these songs. There's no trace of irony or cynicism here: just pure Christmas song love infused with a punk rock spirit. If you're looking for a pop-punk album you can enjoy with the parents and grandparents while you're opening presents or roasting chestnuts by the open fire, here you go. This album gives me the feels because it reminds me of when I was in my early 20s and always played the Ramones Mania tapes while I was wrapping presents on Christmas Eve. And who knew that we'd get to experience something as cool as Classic Pat covering George Frideric Handel? In the spirit of the season, Christmas Mania is a free download via Bandcamp. I'll be adding this one to the yearly rotation!

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The Bacarrudas - "Ring-A-Ding-Ding!" b/w "Christmas Struttin'"


A Christmas single from Philadelphia's finest frat rock band has become a proper tradition, so why should 2025 be any different? The Bacarrudas are back with a perfect 1-2 punch of new holiday standards.  "Ring-A-Ding-Ding!" is all about joy and nostalgia. Think jingle bells, sugary treats, bright lights, and kids anticipating the toys they'll find under the tree. This is a straight-up rocker to get everyone up and dancing at the Christmas party. If you snuck this song onto any of those all-Christmas radio formats, people would just assume that it was some lost classic. On the virtual flipside, "Christmas Struttin'" is more of an anti-Christmas song. This one goes out to everyone who is down on their luck at this time of the year or simply not feeling the Christmas spirit. The Bacarrudas are such a great party band, but here they show their ability to move into more poignantly soulful territory. Adam's vocal is quite redolent of Peter Wolf, and that's not a bad thing at all. Whatever your mood might be this holiday season, this single has got something for you. If you're going to bother to write new Christmas songs in 2025, you ought to do it this well!

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Friday, December 19, 2025

Barpinson - Population


Well here's something I think you all will like! Barpinson is the solo project from Prabu Pramayougha, whom you might know from Indonesian pop-punk greats Saturday Night Karaoke. Population is the name of the debut EP. If you just glanced at the cover art, you might not have any idea what kind of music awaits you when you push play. No, this is not an emo record at all. It's classic power pop with just a touch of '90s pop-punk and alt rock influence. On this EP, Prabu really shows his love for Stiff Records and late '70s/early '80s new wave/power pop in general (he even covers "Foreign Girls" by The Tours). 

What I appreciate about these songs is that they go a little deeper lyrically than power pop songs typically do. "Freaky Adoration" reflects on why so many people spend so much time attacking and demonizing people they don't even know. "Don't you think it's kinda odd to hate someone a lot?" is a perfect lyric that really hits the nail on the head. In the most thoughtful way, Prabu asks all the hate-mongers out there to reflect on their choices....and to get a life! "Dance Off!", driven by the refrain "Baby, baby, baby, keep on dancing," is pretty self-explanatory. Inspired by the research of psychologist Dr. Clare Mehta's, "Mid 30s" finds Prabu reflecting on his own experiences navigating "established adulthood." Again, this is heady stuff for a power pop song, but the music and lyrics never feel disjointed. 

All in all, Barpinson's debut EP is a highly promising effort that ought to please fans of both power pop and pop-punk. It shows a slightly different side of Prabu Pramayougha — reflecting both his musical and personal growth in recent years. I myself have aged past that "rush hour of life," but I can sure remember being there like it was just yesterday. I really dig this record and hope this is not the last we hear from Barpinson!

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The Kung Fu Monkeys - Surfer en France!


What a glorious thing it is to have another surprise holiday single from The Kung Fu Monkeys magically appear just when the world needed it the most! There are not many things that could make 2025 feel like an encouraging year for Planet Earth, but this is certainly one of them. For this release, James Cahill and co. are Les Kung Fu Monkeys, and "Surfer en France!" is sung entirely in French. Clocking in at one minute, 47 seconds, this particular single has a bit of a KFM throwback feel to it — right down to the jaunty surf-pop vibes and Dyna Moe cover art. I'm pretty sure as I stepped outside the other morning, the faint echoes of celebration I heard in the distance were the collective gleeful exclamations of every late '90s/early 2000s pop-punk kid discovering that this song now exists. And of course it's an earworm of epic proportions. The song's bridge, an homage to Bobby "Boris" Pickett, cleverly suggests that this is something more than just a happy-go-lucky surf rocker (assuming my understanding of French isn't way off-base). 

It was never bearable to go through life referring to The Kung Fu Monkeys in the past tense. And now that I have it on good authority that the band has a bunch of songs written that may indeed be recorded one way or another in the very near future, it's somehow easier to feel just a little more optimistic about everything under the sun. Avec une hache, faisons une haché des monstres!

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Monday, December 15, 2025

The Control Freaks - TV Generation


Here's what you were waiting for, kids! Back with their fourth album, The Control Freaks do what The Control Freaks do best. I couldn't quite put my finger on why I enjoy this band so much until Greg Lowery himself described the music he writes as "fast, catchy, stupid punk rock." YES! That's it! TV Generation, out today on Sweet Time Records, is 12 tracks of fast, catchy, stupid punk rock done to perfection. To me, there's nothing harder to do in music than write simple songs. So the genius of Greg Lowery should not go unappreciated. If you liked the first three Control Freaks album, you are sure to like this one as well. And if you didn't like the first three Control Freaks albums, there's almost no way you're reading this right now. 

It has occurred to me that today's punk rock scene would be far better off if there were more bands out there still ripping off Greg Lowery. But in the absence of that, at least we can count on Greg Lowery to still sound like Greg Lowery. For TV Generation, the band lineup has changed. Amy Munoz returns on rhythm guitar and vocals. Matt K. Shrugg (Zodiac Killers, Losin' Streaks) is on lead guitar. New drummer totally Mike kills it, but you might not want to get too attached to him since he has already left the band. As for the album, you know what to expect. Every song clocks in somewhere around two minutes, and there's no messing around with a winning formula. This is fun and brilliantly dumb three-chord punk rock with a fuck-you attitude and songs that will have you bobbing your head and singing along. With the opening 1-2 punch of "Burn It Down" and "TV Generation," you are quickly assured that the G.O.A.T.'s magic touch remains fully in tact. No aspirations of modernization or maturity are apparent. Songs like "Pathetic," "Panic Attack," "Please Don't Hate Me," and "You're So Revolting" live up to their promising titles. 

Leave it to Sweet Time Records, which has become THE label for primo garage punk in the 2020s, to have the good sense to put out this record. Is this the best Control Freaks album yet? Well I certainly won't say that it's not! The first 100 copies are on neon green vinyl. And in case you've been living in a cave since 2017 and don't own any of The Control Freaks' albums, you can get all four in a very limited edition box set for just 80 bucks. Now that's a deal and a steal!

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Sunday, December 14, 2025

Matthew Julian - The Wayside (songs that fell)


For the first time since 2023, Matt Julian from The Speedways has chosen to share some of his private demo recordings with the world. As many songwriters do, Julian keeps a folder of rough or unfinished demos of songs that were never properly recorded and perhaps never will be. As a creative person, you sometimes have to explore all your idea ideas and see what works and what doesn't. The Wayside (songs that fell) is the title of Julian's latest collection of demos. These are songs that literally fell by the wayside. While these recordings were never intended for outside ears, there must have been something promising in each track that compelled Julian to let the world hear them. As a massive Speedways fan, I really enjoy hearing demo recordings of songs that didn't quite become Speedways songs but probably could have. Four of these songs were written this year, and one ("Best Friend") has been around forever. It might be fun to guess which of these songs (if any) got the closest to being properly recorded. I'm quite fond of "A Leg to Stand On," which is jangly and rainy-day melancholy in that distinctive Matt Speedway manner. I hear a little Buddy Holly shining through in "She Likes to Dance." With a proper recording budget and full band, "Nothing I Understand" could almost be a Def Leppard power ballad. "Bodies of Lovers" finds Julian in rare form lyrically. And certainly there has to be a reason why "Best Friend" has been rescued from the dustbin of history. 

The next Speedways LP has been written and should be completed at some point next year. By the time it's released, we will have waited nearly four years in between albums. So we've got something big to look forward to in 2026. In the meantime, The Wayside is well-worth £3 and 12 minutes of your time.  "____ is so talented that they piss away better songs than most people will ever write" is the joke we sometimes make about certain songwriters. Perhaps that's no joke at all.

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