Fiddlehead

Fiddlehead are a five-piece post-hardcore band from Boston, Massachusetts that formed in 2014. They feature Patrick Flynn, who is best known as the vocalist of Have Heart and Free, as well as Alex Henery, who is the guitarist in Basement. Their debut LP was recently released on Run For Cover. Sonically, they're heavily influenced by the DC/Dischord stuff put out in the 90's, with bands such as Jawbox, Fugazi, and Lungfish. They take a slightly more modern and melodic approach, which will definitely appeal to fans of other RFC-associated bands, such as Title Fight or Self Defense Family. Lyrically, Springtime and Blind deals heavily with the recent passing of Flynn's father, which leads to some touching moments throughout the record. This is undoubtedly one of RFC's best offerings as of late, and a fantastic album for fans of post-hardcore throughout the ages. Enjoy.

Out Of The Bloom (2014)

1. Birdnest

2. My Arboretum

3. We Are Not Friends

4. Stay In The Blue

5. Witch Hazel Bloom

Springtime and Blind (2018)

1. Spousal Loss

2. Poem You

3. USMA
4. Tidal Waves

5. Head Hands

6. Rejoice

7. Lay Low

8. My World

9. 04/17/70

10. Widow In The Sunlight

Get My Mind Right (2019)

1. Get My Mind Right

2. Stay In The Room

Between The Richness (2021)

1. Grief Motif

2. The Years

3. Million Times

4. Eternal You

5. Loverman

6. Down University

7. Get My Mind Right

8. Life Notice

9. Joyboy

10. Heart To Heart

Death Is Nothing To Us (2023)

1. The Deathlife

2. Sleepyhead

3. Loser Man

4. True Hardcore (II)

5. Welcome To The Situation

6. Sullenboy

7. Give It Time (II)

8. Queen Of Limerick

9. The Woes

10. Fiddleheads

11. Fifteen To Infinity

12. Going To Die

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The Sun Days

Chances are you might already be familiar with this band, since in the past few months they've blown up almost as fast as Becky with the good hair. The Sun Days are a five-piece indie pop band from Gothenburg, Sweden that formed in 2013. For the first few years, they released singles sporadically, all of which eventually ended up on their debut full-length, Album. It was technically released last year, but reissued this year through Run For Cover, which is also when it began to attract a ton of attention.

All of it is absolutely deserved, because these eight songs are a breath of fresh air in a genre that can often fall victim to redundancy and monotony. The melodies are infectiously catchy, featuring some bright and jangly guitars backed by an incredibly solid rhythm section. The vocals are certainly a highlight here, which are defined by the raw and distinct female lead (who has an unbelievable voice, by the way) with male harmonies in the background. Each song they craft differs from the next, making for an album of amazing pop songs across the board. This is one of my most highly suggested albums to listen to this year, especially with the upcoming summer months. I'd go as far to say that this is my favourite indie pop debut since The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's self-titled, which has been a personal favourite for a very long time now. Enjoy.

Album (2016)

1. Don't Need To Be Them

2. I Keep On Wondering

3. OOO

4. You Can't Make Me Make Up My Mind

5. Come Have Me Over

6. Get Him Off Your Mind

7. Busy People

8. Fear

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CSTVT

CSTVT (formerly Castevet) were an emo/indie band from Chicago, Illinois that formed in 2008 and broke up in 2013. It's a damn shame I've skipped out on posting this band for so long, because they are absolute essentials for any fan of modern Cap'n Jazz worshippers. Along with other bands like Snowing, Grown Ups, Prawn, Algernon Cadwallader, My Heart To Joy, Joie De Vivre, you know how long the list goes, CSTVT are an incredible band who have perfected their energetic brand of twinkly emo. They expertly craft songs that are both catchy and complex, with some gruff vocals thrown into the mix. CSTVT are definitely an essential "emo revival" or whatever you want to call it band, and one of the first few that I really got in to, so if you haven't snagged their discography yet, I highly suggest doing so. Enjoy.

Summer Fences (2009)

1. Between Berwyn and Bryn Mawr

2. Beating High Schoolers at Arcade Games

3. Plays One on TV

4. I Know What a Lion Is

5. Stranger, You Know

6. Space Jam: The Return

7. Evil Robots With Swords for Hands

8. When a Movie is Made in France, it's Called Cinemas

Snack Town (2010)

1. Castevet - Chilsen

2. Castevet - (Get) Bucktown

3. Into It. Over It. - Summerville, SC

4. Into It. Over It. - Pontiac, MI

The Echo & The Light (2010)

1. Six Parts Summer

2. Narrow Hallways

3. Hiccups

4. Lautrec

5. Midwest Values

6. Model Trains

7. Bike Notes

8. Cities & Memory

CSTVT (2011)

1. Ghost Boat

2. Rogers Alexandra

Mixed Signals (2011)

6. Bassett St.

Note: Full comp here

Koji

Andrew Koji Shiraki (who just goes by Koji) is a singer-songwriter from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He got started upon signing to Run For Cover in 2010. With nothing but his own voice and acoustic guitar, he managed to write some incredibly catchy and compelling songs that caught the attention of anyone who heard them. His voice is fantastic, and there's this energy when he performs that overflowing with passion and sincerity, which is what makes his music so powerful. He's heavily involved in numerous organisations and charities, which just goes to show that his passions are so strong that they go outside of just music. His more recent material, and debut full-length (which is now two years old) incorporate more instrumentation, which just elevate his core songwriting to new levels.

Koji is one person I definitely encourage you to support, not only is his music amazing, but he just flat-out seems like a great guy. Most of his music is available through his music on a Name-Your-Price basis, which is commendable and deserving of anything that can be given. If that's not a possibility, enjoy it here. I should have done a post on him long ago, so here it is, very overdue (as so many posts are, haha). Enjoy.

Spring Song Vol. 1 (2010)

1. Eating Lemons

2. Monsters/Stay

3. Most Of Everything

4. Color Quiet Loud

5. Like We Do

6. To The Dogs

7. Little Bird

8. Minute 7

9. Wagon Wheel

10. Spring Song

Some Small Way (2010)

1. Eating Lemons

2. Waking Up

3. Stay

4. Windows (Live)

5. Color Quiet Loud

IIOI/KOJI (2010)

1. Into It. Over It. - Wicker Park

2. Into It. Over It. - Humboldt

3. Into It. Over It. - Ravenswood

4. Into It. Over It. - Pilsen

5. Into It. Over It. - Logan Square

6. Koji - Most Of Everything

7. Koji - All Below

8. Koji - Matches

9. Koji - Shift

10. Koji - Giants Sleeping

Never Come Undone (2011)

1. La Dispute - Sunday Morning, At A Funeral

2. Koji - Peacemaker

3. La Dispute - Last Blues

4. Koji - Biomusicology

Crooked In My Mind (2013)

1. Chasing A Ghost

2. Near And Far

3. Spinning Silent

4. Distance/Divide

5. Fragile Times

6. Creeping

7. In The Line

8. Pang And Flash

9. What You Leave Behind

Off The Board: A Studio 4 Family Compilation (2013)

8. Breaking And Broken

Note: Full comp here

Matters EP (2013)

1. Hemlock

2. Like We Do

3. Placeholders

4. Matters (Of The Heart And Mind)

Fury (2015)

1. Fury

2. Breaking And Broken

3. Everyday

4. Question

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Petal

I saw this band mentioned as a request, and for some reason I thought I had already posted them. A quick check and it turns out I haven't, so here we go. Petal is mainly the project of Kiley Lotz, who is based out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 2013, she recorded an EP titled Scout, which featured members of Tigers Jaw, among others. This self-released EP is what ended up getting Petal signed to Run For Cover, as well as a handful of shows with some incredible bands. This is all for good reason, of course. Lotz has a knack for writing very catchy yet intimate songs, and has a voice that drifts through a room, kind of like the scent of a candle. Take that, and add Tigers Jaw's two main members now (Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins) as a backing band, and you've got one hell of an EP. Hopefully we'll be hearing more from Petal soon, but for now, enjoy.

Scout (2013)

1. Comeback

2. Left A Mark

3. When I See You

4. Troubled Heart

5. I'm Sorry

Shame (2015)

1. Camera Lens

2. Tommy

3. Heaven

4. Chandelier Thief

5. Feel

6. Sooner

7. The Fire

8. Shame

9. Nature

10. Camera Lens II
11. Photobooth

12. Silly Heart

Comfort (2017)

1. Comfort

2. Silver Springs

3. 15

Magic Gone (2018)

1. Better Than You

2. Tightrope

3. I'm Sorry

4. Comfort

5. Shy

6. Magic Gone

7. Shine

8. Carve

9. Something From Me

10. Stardust

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Creative Adult

Creative Adult are a five-piece post-punk band from North Bay/San Francisco, California that formed in 2012. They are currently part of the Run For Cover roster, but worked with Broke Hatrè prior to that. Creative Adult take the raw, pulsing energy of their hardcore/punk origins and mesh it with some noisy, distorted guitars and bass, which are more commonplace in post-punk/shoegaze bands. Essentially, Creative Adult sound like The Wipers with Kevin Shields playing guitar. Late 80's/early 90's grunge/post-punk is definitely where they take their most prominent influence from. Creative Adult are a band to definitely check out for fans of other contemporary bands like The Men, Ceremony, and Iceage. Thanks to Jacob Shumaker for the help with this post. Enjoy.

Dead Air (2012)

1. Dead Air

2. Tabloid

3. You

4. Forbidden Fruit

Northern Exile (2013)

1. Northern Exile

2. Mr. Pharmacist (The Other Half)

Happy Hour (2013)

1. Creative Adult - Only Here

2. The Vibrating Antennas - My Name Is Question

Bulls In The Yard (2013)

1. Bulls In The Yard

2. Consumes Itself

3. Chemical Glow

4. Rushing Toward The Cemetery

Run For Cover Records: Mixed Singles Vol. 1 (2013)

1. Self Defense Family - I Can't Be Relied Upon (To Suck The Cock Of Cowards With No Souls)

2. Creative Adult - Rushing Towards The Cemetery

3. Grey Zine - Hopesfault 

4. Anne - Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen cover)

Deep End b/w Momentary Lapse (2014)

1. Deep End

2. Momentary Lapse

Psychic Mess (2014)

1. Control My Eyes

2. Charismatic Leader

3. Flash

4. Far Out

5. Half Way

6. Hyper Aware

7. Public Transit

8. Psychic Message

9. Deep End

10. Everyone Knows Everyone

11. Exposed

12. Haunt 

Creative Adult/Wild Moth (2014)

1. Creative Adult - Ephemeral Thing

2. Wild Moth - Rewind

Creative Adult/Self Defense Family (2015)

1. Creative Adult - Americans

2. Self Defense Family - Somerton

Ring Around The Room (2015)

1. Ring Around The Room

2. Travel

3. Most Our Troubles Go Untreated

Fear of Life (2016)

1. Connected

2. I Can Love

3. Moving Window

4. Know Who

5. Interlude

6. Charged

7. Reality Tunnel

8. Heal

9. Hand In Shove

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Whirr

Whirr (originally Whirl) are a five-piece shoegaze band from San Francisco, California, that formed in 2010. Since they began, they've been getting a lot of attention, for numerous reasons. They attract attention from the Run For Cover-and-affiliates section of modern music because of their work with that label and their shows with other associated bands. They've also garnered some attention from the more indie-oriented camp because of their genre and social media presence (for better or for worse). But aside from all that, the main focus is the music itself. Whirr blend shoegaze, post-rock, and dream pop into one, and have put out numerous releases that perfect this sound. The obvious influence derivatives are My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and Slowdive, but a ton of others could also be in that mix, such as Hum, Black Tambourine, and alternative rock greats Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth. Whirr's sound is never tiring, since they employ numerous techniques that continue to make their music as dynamic as possible. They drench their songs and instruments in reverb and chorus, and make their way from slow, delayed, quiet echoes, to hard-hitting, fast-paced bouts of distortion and soft, melodic vocals. They feature a heavy bass sound, courtesy of Nick Bassett (formerly of Deafheaven). Whirr are a band that needs to be on everyone's radar, and seem to already be judging by the amount of requests they get, so enjoy!

Demo (2010)

1. Leave

2. Meaningless

Distressor (2011)

1. Preface

2. Leave

3. Blue

4. Ghost

5. Meaningless

6. Child

7. Sandy

June (2011)

1. Junebouvier

2. Sundae

Pipe Dreams (2012)

1. Reverse

2. Junebouvier

3. Bogus

4. Flashback

5. Formulas And Frequencies

6. Home Is Where My Head Is

7. Toss

8. Hide

9. Wait

10. Reverie

Whirr/Anne (2012)

1. Whirr - Twist

2. Whirr - Between Asleep And Awake

3. Anne - Pet Names

4. Anne - Occasional Lovers

Whirr/Monster Movie (2012)

1. Whirr - Color Change

2. Monster Movie - Flatlining

Part Time Punks Session (2012)

1.  Blue

2. Flashback

3. Junebouvier

4. Twist

Around (2013)

1. Drain

2. Sweep

3. Keep

4. Around

In Utero, In Tribute, In Entirety (2014)

9. Pennyroyal Tea (Nirvana cover)

Note: Full comp here

Sway (2014)

1. Press

2. Mumble

3. Dry

4. Clear

5. Heavy

6. Sway

7. Lines

8. Feel

Whirr/Nothing (2014)

1. Whirr - Ease

2. Whirr - Lean

3. Nothing - Chloroform

4. Nothing - July the Fourth

Feels Like You (2019)

1. Mellow

2. Wavelength

3. Younger Than You

4. Rose Cold

5. Before You Head Off

6. How Time Stretches

7. Rental

8. Vividly

9. Play The Slow Ones

10. Under The Same Now

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