There is a lot of great new music being released these days, and not enough time in the world for one person to write about it all at length. Instead of falling into the trappings of messy playlists or content drops with no storytelling narratives or cohesion behind them, +rcmndedlisten is taking the time to curate a selection of recently released albums and EPs you should listen to that have been on regular rotation on this end over the past days, weeks, or even months for that matter.
The latest edition amps up the coolest currents in guitar-based indie rock with the latest by dazy, Graham Hunt, Spiral XP, and Wishy.
dazy – MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD Vol. 2: 24 Songs From 2023-2026 [Lame-O Records]
Goddamn, is James Goodson always grinding. Aside from hyping up some of the most exciting bands within the broader hardcore and punk scene as a band publicist, he’s put his own music in the super-charged alt-punk outlet dazy on blast ever since it came out of hiding with 2022’s proper debut OUTOFBODY. He’s been releasing a ton of loosie singles, EPs, and collabs with regular tour buds like Militarie Gun and MSPAINT ever since. It’s hard to keep up with it all, but thankfully, he’s always had a long game in play to make sure you don’t miss any of it.
Akin to his first MAXIMUMBLASTSUPER mixtape, its second installment MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD Vol. 2: 24 Songs From 2023-2026 collects everything released since that OUTOFBODY experience, and then some by adding seven new tracks on top of it. What’s most exciting throughout this listen — beyond Goodson’s perpetual penchant for writing the best loud pop hooks — is hearing the sound of dazy’s sound throughout the course of it, spanning its homespun, fuzzier-edged power-punk-pop jams to polishing up some of those rougher edges in the studio. No longer just your favorite band’s favorite PR dude’s side hobby, MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD Vol. 2 proves that dazy has become a real deal.
Highlights: “Beat Change”, “Unreasonable Person”, “Straight 2 You”
Graham Hunt – American Pyramid [Run for Cover Records]
As prolific as Graham Hunt has been, one thing he has never done is enter a studio. That changes on American Pyramid, the cult-beloved Wisconsin songwriter’s latest effort and second since joining the fray over at Run for Cover Records. To be fair, you could have fooled me with that detail. Hunt’s previous album in 2025’s buzzy Timeless World Forever sounded pretty slick, even if he has a habit of throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the mix.
Here, he can’t lean on digital methods to make his multi-dimensional take on guitar-pop as spruced up in the recording transition. Assembling an eight-piece band inside the same place that birthed Nirvana’s In Utero and Hum’s You’d Prefer An Astronaut in Minneapolis’ iconic Pachyderm Studio, hearing the music created alive and loudly puts a more natural feel over each quirked ripple and strum, and beating heartbeat behind each kickdrum. That the album contends with the everyday unease of trying to just get by in this modern day American life makes for the perfect backdrop for Hunt and company to step out of their comfort, stop hiding behind the bedroom door and a screen, and deconstruct his own weird, swaggering alternative world of indie rock by rebuilding it brick-by-brick from the ground up.
Highlights: “Waiting for You to Come Home”, “Dust Underwater”, “Thank You Mother Squirrel”
Spiral XP – Blue Earth EP [Danger Collective]
There’s so much respect to be given to Spiral XP to doing everything in their power to avoid any kind of genre labeling beyond their purpose to create very loud pop music in its most digestible yet peculiar angle, though when you’re leveraging woozy guitar pedals that contort the aerodynamics of their wavelengths, the shoegaze adjacency is at the very least tangent. The Seattle rockers keep the ‘gaze just enough at bay nonetheless in their cerulean skyline on their follow-up to their 2024 debut, I Wish I Was a Rat, the five-track extended play, Blue Earth. While the first half is of the listen is a masterclass in big burst noise-pop that conjures its song titles (“Out of Mind”, “Dreaming”) through its rocketing hum, it’s on the baggier psychedelia of “Faith Electric” and its scintillating Sebadoh-gone-space rock closer “Straightaway” where Spiral XP build new worlds within their own planet of subterranean rock with no limits.
Highlights: “Blue Earth”, “Faith Electric”, “Straightaway”
Wishy – Nature’s Pill [Winspear]
One could argue that Wishy arrived on the scene nearly fully formed with their standout 2024 debut full-length, Lucky Sevens — a master class in dreamy indie-pop and fuzzy ’90s indie rock rock inspo — but it hasn’t stopped the Indiana quintet from breaking new barriers even within their own sound ever since. After paying a visit to Planet Popstar last year with a really intriguing experiment in transmitting their dream-crushed electricity through clandestine pop formalities, the band’s sophomore follow-up, Nature’s Pill, again redesigns their own style around new dimensions that again proves that they’re among the best at the art of the hook in the underground rock realm.
Despite blowing up the proportions of them more recently, Wishy isn’t too above stitching them into their lo-fi pocket, with it jangly opener “All The Rage” and bedroom-doored closer “Party World” being complimentary bookends to the blurs of turbocharged feedback pop of “You’re Not Serious” and “Blitz”, or the heavier riffage being wielded with melodic ease on “Shift” or in the celebrity skin of “Headscratcher”. Still, the “Lovesick” sentiments of Wishy are at their most “Sensational” when all layers collide into one in maximalist ways. Above all, Nature’s Pill is made from kind of music that organically sounds like the band is having a blast making it, and that hits the system just right when swallowed whole.
Highlights: “All The Rage”, “Sensational”, “Headscratcher”,
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