#gary olson

[humanoidhistory]

Self-portrait by Gary Olson, 1977.

(Library and Archives Canada)

[bandcampsnoop]

5/8/26.

I learned a couple of weeks ago that Love, Burns - Phil Sutton's full-time band now that Pale Lights has been retired - is set to release their 3rd full length album in May 29th via Spinout Nugget Records (UK), and Jigsaw Records (US). Currently, only one song is available, but the band has apparently also re-recorded "Dear Carol" which was released on 7" last year.

Sutton (Brooklyn, New York) is kind of a big deal. Did you know he is a librarian at the New York Public Library? It's kind of funny to think that for most people that IS what he is known for. But after a lifetime in the music industry, he can get some real indie heavyweights to work with him as evidenced by his band and guests on "Pavement Drawings": Kyle Forrester (Crystal Stilts), Hannes Muller (The BVs), Jo Roman, Alicia Hyman (Jeanines), Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor), Jed Smith (My Teenage Stride, Jeanines, Mick Trouble, Creative Writing).

Bonus throw in. Thanks to Ned Norland, I was also listening to The Love Variants "Life of Riley" cassette as I was writing this. I was loving it and thinking of Phil's voice a little bit. Give it a listen if you're so moved.

[dustedmagazine]

Tony Molina — On This Day (Slumberland)

Tony Molina fits grace into the smallest spaces. His songs are abbreviated, mostly in the one to two minute range, but never in a hurry. They make their point with radiant jangles and bittersweet curves of melody, sketch out an indelible chorus, and trail off. If you're in too much of a hurry for Teenage Fanclub, these songs have the same ineffable bright-and-shadowy wistfulness, without the guitar breaks and middle 16s.

On This Day is typical Molina in that it contains 21 songs, a few of them heart-stopping, and lasts just 23 minutes. It is, perhaps, a bit less amplified than earlier albums like the 2018's Kill the Lights or 2019's Songs from San Mateo County, an album whose fuzz-crusted sweetness called Bandwagonesque, but shorter. There are also a number of brief classical guitar intervals, pretty baroque reveries that might sound out of place except their melody recurs, later, in the songs that follow them.

Most of the songs are misty, melancholy janglers, full of clarion guitar patterns and moody, modal vocal melodys, and often, brightened up by trumpet (that's Ladybug Transistor's Gary Olson on horn). A good sprinkling, however, are jaunty Beatles-esque musical hall jitters, with piano plunking out staccato notes on the four. However, regardless of pace and timbre, the songs are almost all a little darker than they sound. Cheerful sounds like glockenspiel twinkle around morose lyrics in cuts like "Been Wronged." "Who’s going to pay now/No one who’s here now," Molina croons, and it's so pretty, you might miss the burnt black sentiment.

It's hard to pick a favorite, but "Just As the Tide Was Flowing," coming just after the halfway mark, follows an exceptionally lovely folk melody through interweaving harmonies, a subtle pulse of bass and the dragging rattle of tambourine. "Livin' Wrong," a little later, makes its case in electrified guitar glory, puncturing income inequality, nepo babies and state-sponsored religion in a radiant minute and 45.

Tony Molina proves once again that a good song doesn't have to be a long song, and the brevity can be just as hypnotic as endless repetition. On This Day is another excellent album in the San Francisco songwriter's catalogue.

Jennifer Kelly

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Hamish Kilgour - Finklestein

Tally Ho, it’s Bandcamp Monday and this week I’m digging into the latest from Hamish Kilgour (The Clean, Mad Scene, etc). A ramshackle handcrafted technicolor masterpiece, with a loose narrative running through it -- I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but I like it. The sound is marvelous, with Gary Olson (you may know him from the Ladybug Transistor and other orch-pop projects) adding all kinds of engaging elements to the mix: saxophones, pedal steel, keys and more. I especially love the dark groove of “Whistle Stop.” As I was listening, I thought of both Nilsson’s The Point! and the Floyd’s Zabriskie Point soundtrack. You get the point! 

[bandcampsnoop]

11/25/25.

Sapphire Mansions' S/T LP was one of my favorite releases in 2013 and frankly it was one of several Bandcamp releases that made me realize I needed a way to document/remember what I was listening to on a daily basis. This blog, created at the end of 2014, ended up being the result.

I received a Bandcamp notification a couple of weeks ago that Sapphire Mansions had released new music. "Auguste Juliet Meets The Swedish Miles" is currently a cassette only release. Gary Olson (Marlborough Farms/The Ladybug Transistor) recorded this and the 2013 release.

The Sapphire Mansions' sound hasn't changed much over the years. It still makes me think of The Feelies, Pale Lights, and The Spires. I would now add Lewsberg.

The band is based in Brooklyn, New York. The one constant band member is Jay Hough. He usually records with a cast of friends and musicians and this album is no different.

[bandcampsnoop]

9/24/25.

I'm on my break at work and I just learned about Tony Molina's new LP. Appropriately named "On This Day" - so, on this day, I got some of the best news of an overall not great year; one of my favorite artists is releasing a new LP. It's 21 songs (there is an bonus flexi with covers of Kaleidoscope and Nico currently available).

Helping Molina (San Francisco, California) are producer/musician Alicia Vanden Heuvel (The Aislers Set), Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor on trumpet) and a slew of musicians. From the three songs that are here, this is classic Molina - maybe a little more Byrdsian than earlier releases.

This will fully release in November 2025 on Slumberland Records.

[bandcampsnoop]

5/19/25.

Another of Slumberland's excellent new releases - "Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming!" is the 2nd LP from Long Branch, New Jersey band lightheaded.

This time around lightheaded seem to be leaning into their love of The Aislers Set (Alicia Vanden Heuvel recorded tracks 3 and 4). Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor) recorded tracks 1 and 2, and Mikey Young mastered this.

I'll let the Bandcamp page take care of the comparisons since whoever wrote it probably listened to the whole album while you and I are currently only privy to track one:

lightheaded "have the sunshine sparkle of The Left Banke and Margo Guryan, the C86 charm of Dolly Mixture and Would-Be-Goods, and the cinematic swell of Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura." And since I've been listening to a lot of Barbara Manning, she deserves a mention as well.

[bandcampsnoop]

5/8/25.

Tapete Records (Hamburg, Germany) has earned a special place in my musical heart over the past decade. From reissues (39 Clocks) to current bands (BMX Bandits, Gary Olson), I've personally benefited from this label's dedication to music both new and old.

Now comes another reissue - this time from Hanover, Germany post-punks Der Moderne Man. In fact, Tapete went for a three-fer; they're reissuing the first two LPs and an LP of demos and B-sides (you can order all three through Forced Exposure).

The Forced Exposure page mentions that the band was influenced by seeing bands like The Clash, Ramones and Iggy Pop live. But, as is the case with all bands, Der Moderne Man took these influences and made them into a sound all their own. This is most definitely post-punk in the vein of Wire and the aforementioned 39 Clocks. I love that the Forced Exposure write up of this release - "80 Tage auf See" - uses the SAT analogy technique when they wrote, "Der Moderne Man was to Damned and Wire what Amon Düül II was to Hawkwind and Vanilla Fudge." Looks like I've got some listening to do.