Dandy Boy

Cusumano, Joel

Waxworld

Dandy Boy

***Fiery debut power pop LP from a Bay Area underground mainstay! Though you, dear reader, may not know it, Joel Cusumano has played a huge role in the Bay Area underground scene for years—as songwriter and/or lead guitarist in a wide-ranging lineup of bands such as Sob Stories, R.E. Seraphin, and Body Double. Cusumano began writing the music that would become his first solo album, Waxworld, after a stint in a mental hospital treating his debilitating OCD: “It was bleak. For a year I could barely function, barely leave the house. After [the hospital] I recovered pretty rapidly. But instead of feeling relief, there was dread, like, ‘Well, what now’? You spend over a year falling off the deep end and you’re a different person when you hit the ground … I needed to write differently than I had before. I was looking around the world and not recognizing what I saw. The songs had to reflect that alienation. I was done with the ‘angry young man’ jilted lover stuff I’d been doing in Sob Stories. I was bored with that kind of boilerplate rock’n’roll topography.” A painful breakup at the end of writing process further sharpened Cusumano’s eye towards material reflecting his growing unease in a world in unrelenting flux. But despite weighty origins, Waxworld sound is, like all of Cusumano’s work, instantly fun, catchy, and accessible, if a little moody. Waxworld effortlessly weaves between guitar pop styles from bubblegum (“Push Push”) and post-punk (“Death-Wax Girl”), to straight power...

Goods, The

Don't Spoil the Fun

Dandy Boy

***Oakland power pop outfit The Goods arrive with their long-awaited full-length, Don’t Spoil the Fun. Recalling the jangle and melodicism of early luminaries like The Byrds and Big Star, with the punch and verve of 90s torchbearers like Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet, The Goods adapt the hallmarks of the genre into a fresh and effervescent cocktail that sparkles with sincerity. Reverent of their influences but with a sound unmistakably their own, on Don’t Spoil the Fun The Goods fulfill the promise of contemporary power pop with grace and panache.Produced by songwriter Rob Good (also of indie pop darlings Ryli) in his own Oakland studio, the album’s 11 songs positively leap from the grooves, putting Good’s penchant for tight, clever songwriting and big melodic hooks on full display. The LP marks a great leap forward from the band’s debut EP, eschewing much of that disc’s punkish grit in favor of a sunny technicolor jangle, without sacrificing an ounce of their trademark energy. Joined by bassist Cherron Arens and guitarist Gabriel Monnot, Don’t Spoil the Fun finds The Goods embracing a fully-realized panoramic pop sound, where electric guitar arpeggios ring and vocal harmonies soar atop a bed of sprightly strummed acoustic guitars and bouncing basslines. The arrangements are snappy and assured, and earworms abound.

1981, The

Soft Goodbye b/w Count On Me

Dandy Boy

***Following their 2023 debut LP, Move On, the 1981 return to their garage rock roots with their new single. Embracing the sounds of their youth and leaning into a clean and catchy sound that bridges the gap between classic and contemporary Bay Area powerpop. The 7” finds the band playing to the cyclical resurgence of 90’s culture while maintaining a gritty Elvis Costello-meets-Nuggets undertone.“Soft Goodbye" continues to demonstrate a depth that belies the familiar and sentimental melody of much loved lo-fi indie pop of the 90’s by way of bubblegum pop of the 60’s. The song is about the dangers of investing too much of yourself into something and aging out of that connection. The bouncy bubblegum organ line and phased guitar make for a playful and sunshiney hook while the verses offer a subdued reminder of the here and now. Adrift and desperate, indeed!“Count On Me”, was written in a parking lot in Emeryville with primitive and fuzzy garage tinged sounds of Comet Gain, the Flaming Stars, Micky Hampshire and a Toe Rag Studios style production in mind. The choppy fuzz guitar “lead” was lifted from a poorly recalled Adult Babies track and the two note organ/ guitar melody sounds like a police siren signaling the crime. Keyboard player and producer/ songwriter, Bobby Martinez makes a rare appearance front and center singing lead. The words are about taking one on the chin and keeping a stiff upper lip even when you’re heartbroken and down. There are lies we tell...

Cyan Pools

Ecstatic Visions

Dandy Boy

Slacker rock by overachievers. You'd be hard pressed to find a better group of technical musicians in the Oakland underground. Quirky offbeat humor, ambitious arrangements and effortlessly intricate performances give Cyan Pools a vibe you can't quite put your finger on or immediately identify, yet still bob your head to. They exist outside the box. Band room non-conformists blissfully unbothered by trend or zeitgeist, Cyan Pools exist in their own world for their own entertainment. Harnessing the off-the-cuff psychedelia of Syd Berrett and Alex Chilton through a 90's alt rock fuzz with smart kid rhythms."Ecstatic Visions" is equal parts early REM, Elephant Six Collective and Pavement. It’s a smattering of influences thrown against the wall, bleeding together and complimenting each other as they drip down. Opening track ‘Keratin Sheath’ is a driving punk song about singer Kelley’s attacking pet bird. ‘Go To Heaven’ is a defiant yet bouncing anthem (The album’s title tucked into the first verse) about defying the detractors who play it safe. ‘Where Are My Memories’ is a reflective, almost blue-eyed soul song about one’s thoughts literally floating away and hiding. ‘Inchoate’ unpacks the anxiety of insomnia, albeit from a poppy alt prog perspective.Cyan Pools never stop exploring and pushing. For a group who loves the Beach Boys and much as Black Flag, there is so much room in the in-between to connect the dots and find new forms from old structures. Almost as if in a mind-altering dream space, With ‘Ecstatic Visions’ Cyan Pools want to...

Sweeney, Luke

Novel Tea

Dandy Boy

***"Novel Tea is the 5th studio album by San Francisco singer-songwriter Luke Sweeney. An honest x-ray into the soul of its singer-songwriter, Novel Tea serves as an unapologetic tracing of our inner worlds as they spill and intersect unto the collective psyche. It’s a loaded bag of motley commentary and point-blank personal confessions steeped inside a soulful mix of warm fuzzy guitar tones, sparkling 80’s synth lines, and rich ethereal vocal layers. Coastal psychedelic spells abound, along with African rhythms, early doo-wop, and a wild range of influences, stirring even the jaded spirit against the grain of our modern existential strife.Novel Tea is the third installment of Sweeney’s collaboration with longtime friend Robin MacMillan (Lake Street Dive, Kolumbo), and as one esteemed engineer/producer friend with a gold record to his name has already written, Maybe (the) best yet. Lots of great juicy textures and the songs are all bangers.”

Wind-Ups, The

Confection

Dandy Boy

***The Wind-Ups (Northern California) return with their third album this summer. 11 blistering tracks of lo-fi sugar punk à la the Ramones and Spits, Confection is a cotton candy rock’n’roll blitzkrieg. Recorded to tape by frontman/ ringleader Jake Sprecher.The anxious and snarling energy of the lead off track "A Fine Pink Mist" recalls the early days of Denton, TX's Marked Men in their most primitive state. From there the tone is quite literally set; a wall of noise and fuzz-drenched guitars recalls Black Tambourine's Ramones covers EP, with a backbeat that feels like a panic attack. The result: bubblegum music through blown out speakers played at the wrong speed, noisy and demented in the best possible way.When Sprecher sweetens things up a bit for the saccharine sing-alongs "(That's Just My) Dream Girl" and "To Keep Away," Confection shows its softer and more sensitive Joey side; but it’s the midtempo spoken word duet "Cheer Up" that steals the show. A love letter to those feeling exhausted, beaten down and doubting themselves, the song radiates the genuineness, positivity and earnestness that really defines who The Wind-Ups are. Last but certainly not least, the LP closes with a rare electric guitar appearance from Jonathan Richman, on the outro of “Little Boy Blue,” quietly released in 2023 and now available for the first time on vinyl.Confection bakes the hooks, energy and non-existent production style of forgotten punk and garage bands of the past in a sentimental syrup.(STREET DATE - 7/11/2025)

RYLI

Come and Get Me

Dandy Boy

***Bay Area indie group Ryli’s new album, Come and Get Me, is fueled by friendship and a love of classic pop songwriting. Led by vocalist Yea-Ming Chen (Yea-Ming and The Rumours) and guitarist Rob Good (The Goods), and buoyed by the rhythm section of Luke Robbins (Yea-Ming and The Rumours, R.E. Seraphin) and Ian McBrayer (ex-Healing Potpourri), Ryli has earned a reputation as a formidable live act. On Come and Get Me, however, they prove they are just as comfortable flexing their skills in the studio.Following close on the heels of their 2024 single, “I Think I Need You Around,” Ryli delivers a fully-formed pop record that touches on the familiar but goes beyond pastiche. So, while they cite “early McCartney, The Smiths, Camera Obscura, and Belle & Sebastian” as sources of inspiration, Chen and Good are veteran songwriters who can synthesize their influences and create a sound unmistakably their own.

Whitney's Playland

Long Rehearsal

Dandy Boy

***Whitney’s Playland have returned with Long Rehearsal, a short and sweet three-song 7” EP set to be released in Summer 2025 via Dandy Boy Records (Oakland, CA) and Meritorio Records (Madrid, Spain).After the 2023 release of their debut full-length LP Sunset Sea Breeze (Meritorio / Paisley Shirt), which was recorded as a duo, the Bay Area band took a brief hiatus. While these new songs recall the first album’s distinct style, they diverge from their bedroom pop introduction. Long Rehearsal sees the full band performing together for the first time on a record since expanding into a four-piece. The trio of tracks bridges the divide between jangle-pop and crunchy 90’s alt rock, plumbing the depths of tonality and mood. The whole thing is anchored by Inna Showalter’s delicately determined voice, which might help you forget about your trials and tribulations for a brief moment. The result is a more polished production but still keeps in touch with the band’s lo-fi roots. All three tracks were recorded at the band members’ San Francisco, El Cerrito, and Santa Rosa home studios.

Grey Causeway

Grey Causeway

Dandy Boy

***Grey Causeway stitches together years of Bay Area underground pedigree with rudimentary post-punk elements into a sound that’s fresh and electric. The band, including Andy Asp, Chris Appelgren, Omen Starr, and Frankie Koeller, are a convergence of Oakland’s storied independent musical history, hailing from bands such as Smokers, Nuisance, The Peechees, The Pattern, Papercuts, and Jim Yoshii Pile Up.Recorded in the Bunker, a music studio collective and rehearsal space, with longtime collaborator Sikwaya Condon, Grey Causeway’s debut album pairs caustic minimalism with Asp’s haunting lyrics. A melange of existential dread and wry, deadpan satire, Grey Causeway’s sound bridges eras: wiry basslines stripped to a monochrome throb, cascading sheets of corroded melody, and mechanical percussion, with evocative vocals. Asp contorts his voice into a spectral croon, while Koeller’s bass lines are a motorik thrum. Appelgren anchors the chaos with militaristic percussion, and Starr’s textural guitar conjures hypnotic melodies.Despite their veteran status, Grey Causeway’s music is for today—a clenched fist of jagged guitars and synth sounds, unrelenting bass, that oscillates between detachment and frayed desperate hope. Music for a life lived perpetually on the brink.(STREET DATE - 5/30/2025)

Rhymies

I Dream Watching

Dandy Boy

***Seablite shoegaze maven Lauren Matsui has traded her two suitcases of guitar pedals for an assortment of Korgs, Rolands and Yamahas on I Dream Watching, the debut EP from her solo project, Rhymies.The songs are built on arpeggiated melodies and sequences rooted in the nostalgia of an 80s dance party. The gauzy textures serve as a perfect base for Matsui’s breathy, wistful vocals. Often glimpsed through the mire of swirling guitars on Seablite records, here they take center stage, to great effect.The title track (and lead single/video) brings to mind another artistically successful convert from guitar-to-synth-pop, Patience (Roxanne Clifford of Veronica Falls), while “Crashing Lead” somehow fuses the bounce of early Madonna with the ethereal, surreal vocals of Cocteau Twins. It’s the closer (and shortest track at 2:40), “Hesperian (Again)” which points to what we can hope for in the future. It builds one layer at a time to an ecstatic crescendo, before abruptly leaving us with only the memory of the refrain - “When’s it happening?”. For Rhymies, if there’s any justice, the answer is NOW.FFO: Chromatics, Patience, Broadcast, Italians Do It Better

RYLI

I Think I Need You Around b/w When I Fall

Dandy Boy

***Ryli is the latest project from Yea-Ming Chen (Yea-Ming and The Rumours) and Rob Good (The Goods). Joined by the propulsive rhythm section of Luke Robbins (ex-Latitude, RE Seraphin) on bass and Ian McBrayer (ex-Sonny and The Sunsets, ex-Healing Potpourri) on drums, the band pairs Chen’s intimate songwriting and dulcet vocal stylings with Good’s effervescent arrangements, replete with sparkling guitars and dreamy harmonies. Initially brought together by Dandy Boy Records to record a Cleaners From Venus cover, Chen and Good quickly bonded over their mutual appreciation of classic pop songs and formed an immediate musical kinship. Inspired by their spontaneous connection, the pair ended up writing an original song during the session. Soon after, they were joined by Robbins and McBrayer, and Ryli was officially born. Their debut single “I Think I Need You Around” b/w “When I Fall” is a succinct distillation of their unique indie pop sound. A-side “I Think I Need You Around” is kinetic jangle rock with gentle vocals reminiscent of Camera Obscura. A good old-fashioned tale of lust and longing, it’s lifted by bright guitar arpeggios and desperate harmonies. “When I Fall,” on the other hand, is a woozy, Spector-esque ballad, capturing that late-night feeling of uncertainty as you trudge home after last call. The accompanying video was directed by Staci DeGagne and captures the band vibrantly giving them a fun playful and retro aesthetic like Spike Jonez directing the music sequence of an episode of the Monkees.

V/a

Tales Of A Kitchen Porter - A Tribute To Cleaners From Venus

Dandy Boy

***Tales of A Kitchen Porter is a celebration and tribute to the brilliant works of DIY troubadour Martin Newell and the everlasting and prolific group Cleaners From Venus. Known for his home recorded (and often home made) cassette albums, Newell carved out a legacy as the godfather of indie pop inspiring generations of fans and two documentaries in recent years. Newell earned reputation and acclaim by capturing kitchen sink drama and earnest tales via the lo-fi jingle jangle of inspiration and spontaneity. Dandy Boy Records is proud to present a fifteen band tribute from some of the most endeared underground bedroom pop artists of the modern era. Featuring Chime School, Nic Hessler, Whitney's Playland, Flowertown, Yea-Ming, Smashing Times, Mister Baby, Julian Never, The Dates, Sob Stories, and Smile Too Much, Tales Of A Kitchen Porter is a wonderful collection of home recorded Cleaners covers honoring “the Greatest Living Englishman”. Housed in screen printed jackets.

Fast Execution

Menses Music

Dandy Boy

***Debut six song EP combines big riffs, power pop hooks, lo-fi charm and a riot grrl call to arms. Fast Execution is the Bay Area project of wife/husband duo, guitarist/songwriter Alex Velasquez and drummer Paul Igaz. Their songs reflect Velasquez's ire that rock music is primarily a boys club and she calls for equal representation in the scene. The lean, aggressive sound reflects equally her love of melodic guitar distortion and her hatred of patriarchal machinations in rock music/modern society at large. The band steps into the summer with their debut 10" EP “Menses Music” and a string of summer dates along the West Coast. They are now joined full time by bassist and longtime collaborator Alex Halatsis (The 1981, Sleepworld). In addition to fronting Fast Execution, Velasquez also plays lead guitar in fellow Dandy Boy Records stalwarts Smile Too Much.

Yea-Ming And The Rumours

I Can't Have It All

Dandy Boy

***I Can’t Have It All is the third studio album by Yea-Ming and The Rumours and marks a new line-up and creative era for the band. Frontwoman Yea-Ming Chen has masterfully curated her self-proclaimed “pop record.” Weaving melancholy narratives with catchy hooks in a sound that is more surfy, more punk and more indie than anything the Rumours have done before. Fuller sounding production heavily influenced by groups like Yo La Tengo, Camera Obscura and other early '90s underground college radio favorites, I Can’t Have It All marks the band’s continued evolution. Alongside the usual beautiful imagery, Yea-Ming’s songwriting remains as introspective as ever, but I Can’t Have It All marks a changing point both creatively and personally in the songstress’ life. Written during a difficult period in which she struggled to identify and painfully shed a “false-self" imposed by the outside world, the album follows the personal and relatable journey of accepting loss and making changes. “I realized one day that I have spent most of my life pretending to be someone that other people wanted me to be, and that was probably the source of my anxiety and depression.” Recalls the songwriter. “So I made changes that were really hard and I experienced a lot of grief in letting go of people and situations that held a lot of power over me emotionally—even if it wasn’t intentional—and I became someone that is closer to who I want to be. In that transition, I discovered that it is completely...

1981, The

Move On

Dandy Boy

***The 1981 are an Oakland duo consisting of Adam Widener and Bobby Martinez. Their debut album, Move On, is a buzzy power pop record with layers of guitars, synths, organs and vocals over a melancholy ache. Influenced by the Jesus and Mary Chain’s fuzzed guitars and sweet melodies as well as Comet Gain’s jangle punk narratives, the band plays a pleasant and enjoyable brand of hook driven indie pop. Move On was recorded as it was written by Widener and Martinez in their rehearsal studio before recruiting Phil Lantz (Neutrals, Chime School) to re-record drums on several tracks. The record was sent to the Southern Hemisphere for Matt Bullimore (ex-Legs, ex-Mantles) to mix in Christchurch, New Zealand and Mikey Young (Eddy Current) to master in Melbourne, Australia.

Seablite

Grass Stains and Novocaine

Dandy Boy

***San Francisco’s jangle-gaze sensation, Seablite, has been mesmerizing audiences from the Golden Gate to Glasgow with their brand of dreamy fuzzed-out bliss and announce the reissue of their long out of print debut album, Grass Stains and Novocaine”on Dandy Boy Records. Seablite formed in 2016 when Lauren Matsui (vocals / guitar) and Galine Tumasyan (vocals / bass) bonded over a mutual appreciation of early 90s Britpop and UK underground music and began writing songs together. Soon after Jen Mundy (ex-Wax Idols) joined on second guitar and drummer Andy Pastalaniec (Chime School) would round out the lineup. Their debut album Grass Stains and Novocaine was released in the summer of 2019 and sold out of its initial pressing almost immediately. The album wowed critics and made them friends and fans throughout the US and across the sea in the UK. Repressed on vinyl and remastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring) the album sounds bigger and better than ever. This new version of Grass Stains showcases the band’s noisy beginnings and highlights their love for My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Blur and Ride. The guitars sound more aggressive and textured while the low end is far more present and driving, doing justice to Matt Bullimore’s (ex-Mantles) original mix and allowing a second chance at a first impression.

Goods, The

EP

Dandy Boy

***The Goods combine big guitars, huge hooks, and sweet British Invasion-style harmonies into a distinctive power pop tapestry on their debut, The Goods EP. Singer-songwriter Rob Good is a veteran of the Oakland underground, having played the sideman in stalwart Bay Area outfits such as Sob Stories, Cocktails, and Re-Volts. Good now steps center-stage to showcase a knack for clever songwriting and catchy melodies. He is joined by the propulsive rhythm section of drummer Paul Wiseman (also of the Southern California band Not) and seasoned session bassist Cherron Arens. Self-produced in the band’s own studio in Oakland, CA, The Goods’ debut EP draws on decades of hooky punk and power pop from the 1960s through the 1990s. The three song 7" (with an exclusive fourth digital track) combines classic influences and timeless sounds with a fresh and playful energy. Avoiding retro-revivalism, The Goods' music is earnest and unironic, with just enough grit and muscle to balance its sugary sweetness. Pressed on pink vinyl.

Aluminum

Windowpane

Dandy Boy

***Aluminum are guitarist/vocalist Marc Leyda (Wild Moth), bassist / vocalist Ryann Gonsalves (Torrey),guitarist Austin Montanari (Wild Moth), and new drummer Chris Natividad (Marbled Eye). Started in 2020 by Marc Leyda as a bedroom recordingproject, Aluminum has evolved into its current 4piece iteration located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Equally in
uenced by the '80s American underground and Creation Records, Aluminummanufactures a chaotic soundscape with pop melodies. Dual vocals interweave with walls ofguitars and dayglo samples in an attempt to find bliss in disorder. Following the self-released Spinning Backwards digital single, Windowpane EP shows the group covering new territory, ranging from dizzying janglepop to raucous post-punk ripping.

Blue Ocean, The

The Blue Ocean

Dandy Boy

***Blue Ocean are Rick Altieri and David Stringi; long-time friends and former bandmates from the Boston acid punk band Puke. Since relocating and reuniting in Oakland, the two have been making two chord pop with layers of swirling noise and synth pads, backed by a pulsing drum machine beneath a mess of cables and hissing distortion. The pair craft a swirling haze of sound glazed over dreamy pop songs, leaving a shimmering electric roar and a slight grin. The duo merges shoegaze & noise pop to make a sound that is somewhere between My Bloody Valentine's You Made Me Realise era and C86 jangle leaving the listener to wonder what year it is. The Blue Ocean LP compiles their two most recent EPs: Summer Of Hands and Fade (previously released on cassette by the band and Paisley Shirt Records) mastered and cleaned up by Mikey Young.

Sob Stories

Fair Shake

Dandy Boy

***Fair Shakes is the debut LP from Oakland's own Sob Stories. A full length follow up to their 2017 self-titled debut 12" EP on Emotional Response, Fair Shakes picks up right where they left off. Frontman Joel Cusumano (also known for playing guitar with SF sugar poppers Cocktails and post-punk art rockers Body Double) plays the role of the tongue-in-cheek / heart-on-the-sleeve troubadour as he weaves through a dozen broken hearted / lovelorn laments. Hailing influence from the golden era of college radio the Sobs bring it back to the left of the dial offerings of the db's, Teenage Fanclub and Guided By Voices, while standing shoulder to shoulder with contemporaries like Supercrush and Young Guv. Cusumano wrote Fair Shakes over the course of several years, focusing on themes like heartache, neuroticism, and dealing with the chasm between self-centered desires and the harsh realities of life.

Yea-Ming And The Rumours

So, Bird...

Dandy Boy

***Yea-Ming and the Rumours swing, shimmer, and whisper through a confessional map of the landscape of heartbreak on their new album, So, Bird… Yea-Ming Chen has a distinctive, whispery alto that deliversthe kind of confident melancholy—a matter-of-factness about her own emotional ghosts—that shows itself in varying opacities, from psychedelic dream-logic to the nakedness of a psychotherapist’s notepad. Touching on everything from American indie pop, twee and jangle pop to country, folk, and even a bit of Brill Building pop, So, Bird... offers 11 more broken hearted songs to fall to pieces over. The perfect record for solo adventures and long drives with no specific destination. The Oakland based four piece features Yea-Ming Chen on vocals, guitar and keys, Anna Hillburg onbass and backing vocals, Eoin P. Galvin on guitarand lap steel and Sonia Hayden on drums. Chenand Hillburg have been playing together since their college indie pop group, Dream Date. So, Bird... is their second album following their self released digital album I Will Make You Mine and their self released 7" single Baby Blue.

James Wavey

Snowy Beach

Dandy Boy

***Oakland California’s James Wavey (aka Michael Bridgmon, aka Alleyes Manifest) is known for rhythmic poeticisms and presents them in a psychedelic hip hop style. His music production is influenced by jazz with funk undertones. Snowy Beach is a journal entry documenting a trip through America, a blotter paper of contradictions: snowy beaches, cold shoulders. Recorded at the height of the pandemic as American civil unrest was across the nation, Snowy Beach captures the moment and serves as a polaroid of the times. "These times are changing / made it to a Snowy Beach / relearned who I’m supposed to be" Wavey carefully selects from jazz, live instruments, California soul samples to Turkish down beat groves—a backdrop for revolutionary poetry to shine on, shine on, shine on. The tracks for Snowy Beach stand alone as they stand together, a hot body of work forged on an increasingly incoherent planet. Central to this effort, Wavey seems to build a strong foundation on contradictions and obscurities. Originally self-released on cassette in March of 2021, Dandy Boy Records is proud to present Snowy Beach for the first time on vinyl. Edition of 250 copies.