October 2025 (Part 3)

My friends, it's time to discuss the final nine songs that were added to the official Horse Combinations October 2025 playlist, a mix of cool new releases and classic older tracks that I listened to and loved at some point last month. Here's parts one and two if you missed those, otherwise we'll get right down to business:

Daily Toll - “Mountain Song”
Just some classic indie rock from Australia, I’m always gonna go for someone sing/speaking oblique lyrics over cowboy chords and a Pavement ass guitar line.

Edna Lee - “You Can’t Decieve Me”
One of the coolest songs from Numero Group's overall very good new Barnyard Beehive comp, which collects a bunch of forgotten singles from aspiring country divas recorded in the 1960s and 70s. Really charming stuff from start to finish!

October 2025 (Part 2)

Wow, it's Halloween! Here are some ghoulish thoughts on nine songs that are so good you'll scream!!! 

Katy & the Null Sets - “Last Time/Next Time”
Came across this nice, surprisingly noisy take on the sort of gentle bossa nova tinged indie folk sound that people like Mei Semones and John Roseboro have been living in for the last few years. It's not a new trick but it's still cool to drop a bunch electric guitars in the middle of your delicately shuffling love song!

Able Noise - “Boycott”
I’ve been throwing on the collagey, impressionistic debut record from improvisational baritone guitar/drum duo Able Noise pretty regularly since diving into London-based record shop/label World of Echo’s back catalog earlier this year. “Boycott” is ninety seconds of stop-start rhythmic weirdness with a nervous guitar line that can’t quite settle into a groove, it’s awesome.

October 2025 (Part 1)

I have no good ideas for an introductory paragraph to today's blog post, so let's just get straight to it. Here are some thoughts on eleven cool songs I listened to this month, as featured on the official Horse Combinations October 2025 playlist.

Animal, Surrender! - “Misswanderer”
While the name Animal, Surrender! may be better suited for some third string Mars Volta proggy post-hardcore band with one mostly forgotten LP from 2007, they’re actually a trio of weird rock music lifers playing wild instrumental jams on the eight string bass, pipe organ, and drums. The knotty, mesmerizing groove of album opener “Misswanderer” hooked me immediately, I’ve had this record on repeat for weeks!

james K - “Peel”
I think I first read about this new james K album via some Boomkat post on Bluesky a month or two ago and their effusive writeup of the producer’s “gauzy ambient-pop x trip hop” had me intrigued because I usually like all that bullshit. Friend has been a go-to album to throw on every few days ever since, full of off-kilter pop songs and weirdo electronic soundscapes.



September 2025 (Part 3): A Farewell to Trouble in Mind (plus 5 more)

I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks looking back at the catalog of Chicago-based indie label Trouble in Mind, who recently announced they were shutting down operations after sixteen years of consistently excellent work. They released albums by some of the most interesting independent rock bands out there, putting their energy and time into spotlighting truly unique and exciting acts from around the world; underground music is undeniably worse off without them.

In a slight departure from the normal Horse Combs format, we're going to first take a look at five of my favorite songs from the TiM catalog before swerving back into the regularly scheduled assortment of blurbs about assorted songs, new and old, that I liked listening to recently. Check out writeups parts one and two from September if you've missed those, otherwise let's get right into it: 

Omni - “Earrings”
Omni’s debut LP, Deluxe, is one of two Trouble in Mind releases that are in my personal canon of all-time great records. Ten songs of tongue-in-cheek privilege, a charming young bachelor singing about going on vacation and meeting pretty ladies at dinner parties backed by some of most the intricate, no bullshit guitar playing you’ve ever heard. Indie rock doesn’t get better than this, folks.

 

En Attendant Ana - “Wonder”
The sprawling, multi-part centerpiece to En Attendant Ana’s hugely underrated gem Principia, “Wonder” showcases several of the many modes the band excels at: wistful shoegaze, propulsive Stereolab-core, and swooning twee pop. In a just world, this would have been a breakout album for these guys/Trouble in Mind in general.

 

September 2025 (Part 2)

We're back and blogging again, baby! The most exciting thing that happened since we last spoke was probably the publication of an open letter from a collective of Chicago-based independent musicians pledging to remove their music from Spotify. In just a few days, over 75 artists have signed the letter, in an incredible display of solidarity and collective action. The campaign was written up by folks at the Chicago Reader and The Sun-Times and has already sparked a lot of conversations among musicians and music fans I know, which is very encouraging.

I hope if you're still holding onto your Spotify subscription for one reason or another, you take a look at the letter and consider cutting the cord, transitioning either to another marginally less evil streamer or even away from the streaming model completely. I haven't fully gotten to the latter yet but doing the former was easier than you'd think. 

Anyways, see below for ten blurbs about ten more cool songs I listened to this month. Here's part one if you missed that the first time around!

Modern Nature - “Radio”
I never fully clicked with any past Modern Nature releases despite their cited influences (Talk Talk, Can, Nick Drake) being favorites around these parts, HOWEVER I have been spinning their new one, The Heat Warps, like crazy. “Radio” is a pristinely produced slow motion heartbreaker, bringing to mind Low’s work with Steve Albini on classics like Things We Lost In The Fire.

Emily Hines - “All Of Our Friends”
The folks at Keeled Scales did it again with Emily Hines’ debut EP These Days, a collection of seven songs that mix the lo-fi intimacy of Adrianne Lenker’s solo albums and the folk traditionalism of The Weather Station’s early work. I was won over by “All Of Our Friends” on first listen and it’s still the standout track on an album full of gems.