Touch Girl Apple Blossom - “The Springtime Reminds Me Of…”
I was already on board with this band based on name alone, before I'd heard a note of their music. I’ve been spinning their solid EP from 2023 pretty regularly for the last month or two, after seeing their name pop up on some concert poster on Instagram or something. I was stoked to see this single drop recently, along with news of their debut LP coming soon on K Records. I’ve written frequently on here about the exciting wave of twee influenced gen z indie rockers, and with “The Springtime Reminds Me Of…”, Touch Girl Apple Blossom has cemented a spot on the official Horse Combinations pantheon of cool new bands.
Royal Trux - “Turn of the Century”
Despite having spent the last twenty years or whatever listening to basically anything Drag City records puts out, I’ve never gone very deep on Royal Trux. Their legacy and influence is undeniable but I never took the time to familiarize myself with their work. In an attempt to see what the fuss was about, I was listening to their acclaimed record Cats and Dogs and was mostly into what I was hearing, especially “Turn of the Century,” the album’s ragged 7 minute long centerpiece that appears to have perfected Jack White’s whole deal five years before the first White Stripes single. Is that a hack observation? Have we all had this discussion?
Despite having spent the last twenty years or whatever listening to basically anything Drag City records puts out, I’ve never gone very deep on Royal Trux. Their legacy and influence is undeniable but I never took the time to familiarize myself with their work. In an attempt to see what the fuss was about, I was listening to their acclaimed record Cats and Dogs and was mostly into what I was hearing, especially “Turn of the Century,” the album’s ragged 7 minute long centerpiece that appears to have perfected Jack White’s whole deal five years before the first White Stripes single. Is that a hack observation? Have we all had this discussion?
I was crazy about Grace Ives’ 2022 weirdo homemade pop LP Janky Star but hadn’t really thought about her much in the last few years. It somehow took until the fourth advance single, “Stupid Bitches,” for news of her new album Girlfriend to cross my desk but that’s fine, you can’t expect me to know about everything all the time. Anyways get a load of the drums on this song!
GAZZI - “Opción”
I subscribed to Chicago-based music zine Incus last summer after seeing a flyer advertising their first issue on my walk home from the store. They’re three issues in and it's awesome how much overlap there is, taste-wise, they have with your friends at Horse Combinations; they've already hipped me to some of very cool artists and featured a lot of great writing about music I already love. I read about Spanish producer GAZZI in the latest issue, part of a solid feature about new and notable ambient records, and was immediately hooked. If you’re into some of the same bands as me and also like getting stuff in the mail as much as I do, I highly recommend an extremely reasonably priced Incus subscription.
Bug Teeth - “Merricat”
Another discovery from Incus issue 3, this Bug Teeth record is some very nice Broadcast-core!
Croix Sainte - “We Build Cities”
I wasn’t familiar with Madrid-based label Glossy Mistakes, who released the aforementioned GAZZI record, and was clicking around their Bandcamp recently to see what else they were getting up to. I was intrigued by the premise of their 2024 compilation Atlantic Mavericks, a survey of the fertile experimental indie scene of Portugal from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Croix Sainte's "We Build Cities" immediately stood out from the pack, a loping art rock gem with a strong Talking Heads influence.
I wasn’t familiar with Madrid-based label Glossy Mistakes, who released the aforementioned GAZZI record, and was clicking around their Bandcamp recently to see what else they were getting up to. I was intrigued by the premise of their 2024 compilation Atlantic Mavericks, a survey of the fertile experimental indie scene of Portugal from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Croix Sainte's "We Build Cities" immediately stood out from the pack, a loping art rock gem with a strong Talking Heads influence.
Cootie Catcher - “From here to Halifax”
I can’t stop listening to or writing about Cootie Catcher. “From here to Halifax” knocked me out the first time I heard it and has had the same effect the twenty times I’ve listened to it since. Horse Combinations offers our highest recommendation to the 2026 album Something We All Got by Toronto band “Cootie Catcher.”
Cat Power - “I Don’t Blame You”
We saw Cat Power on the 20th anniversary tour of one of her several perfect albums, The Greatest, last week here in Chicago. It was great and she was as magnetic and mercurial as ever, but the real highlight of the evening when she played “I Don’t Blame You,” a gutting, perfect song written for Kurt Cobain.