today’s rock picks run dark and gritty: an illinois post-punk band back with more hypnotic dread, three teenage sisters turning a road trip into abbey road-recorded pop-rock, a new york duo bridging honky-tonk swagger and louisiana swamp, and a spanish band twisting devotion into obsession. four tracks, all with serious teeth.
derelict crawl – the house flies
the house flies’ new single builds a wonderfully bleak world of hypnotic post-punk fog
derelict crawl leans on repetition as a weapon, dense guitars and a steady, marching rhythm looping around the refrain “we don’t belong” until it starts to feel like a mantra rather than a lyric. it’s a great melody, and after listening to a bunch of lighter stuff today, this heavyness is absolutely briliant. they’re wearing interpol and joy division influences, but are definitely in their own lane here. it’s a cutting, hypnotic and brilliantly bleak listen.
the house flies are a moline, illinois based post-punk band whose catalogue runs from the glimmer ep through the full-length mannequin deposit and last year’s sweet foxhound single. derelict crawl marks their first new material with the current four-piece lineup, ahead of an album release show at raccoon motel in davenport, iowa this november. that kind of steady, grind is always incredibly respected by introvert disco, especially when it sounds this great.
thank u for making this the house flies 🕷️
baby blue bronco – the ruffles
the ruffles make baby blue bronco sound like the best possible use of an abbey road studio session
baby blue bronco turns the story of the sisters’ first car into an exhilarating pop-rock anthem, and the fact that they recorded it at abbey road studios, in the legendary studio three using vintage 1960s microphones, gives it a genuinely classic sonic character. multiple live takes keep the energy youthful and unpolished in all the right ways, even with that world-class recording environment behind it. it’s the first in a planned run of new music every six weeks. it’s a genuinely charming, well-crafted single.
the ruffles are three teenage sisters, kenzington, charlotte and paris, from delray beach, florida, who grew up surrounded by music through family connections that include their father’s work with led zeppelin and their aunt’s time as billy joel’s assistant. they’ve placed in the top two at the boca raton battle of the bands three separate times, and they’ve got dates on broadway in nashville coming up this fall. that’s serious momentum for a band this young.
thank u for making this the ruffles 🚙
high street roadhouse – peningo riders
peningo riders turn high street roadhouse into one of the most blistering rock tracks we’ve heard all month
high street roadhouse is a high-octane homage to a legendary new york honky-tonk, built on blistering guitar riffs, driving drum crescendos and a roaring baritone sax that bridges new york streets and louisiana swamps in one raw, live-room take. it hit number one on the hypeddit rock charts before it even released, and picked up international airplay on the uk’s red berry radio within a day of dropping. it’s a genuinely gritty, guitar-driven listen, all swagger and storytelling.
friend of the blog peningo riders are a rye, new york based rock duo, eddie pellon and russ davis, whose whole project started as a guitar lesson before turning into a songwriting partnership. drawing from the allman brothers, marley, skynyrd, zeppelin and a touch of 80s foreigner and journey, high street roadhouse follows their viral summer anthem, duck that jeep. it’s proof that a good guitar lesson can turn into something much bigger.
thank u for making this peningo riders 🎷
madreselvas (dios y la condena del paria) – evil maracas
evil maracas twist devotion into obsession with a genuinely gripping slice of dark spanish rock
madreselvas plays like a love song that slowly reveals itself as a warning, dark ambient verses building like a slow-burning prayer before breaking into a catchy, unshakable chorus. guest vocalist cristina díaz adds a fragile, luminous counterpoint against all that shadow, and the contrast between beauty and toxicity is what makes the whole thing so gripping. following their previous single, tu maldad, this trades open rage for something quieter and much darker. it’s a genuinely haunting listen.
evil maracas are a hospitalet de llobregat, spain based band who’ve been playing live for years, made up of albert boguñá on vocals and guitar, miguel gil on lead guitar, anna casaña on bass and jesús linares on drums. since 2025 they’ve sharpened their focus toward spanish-language songs that sit closer to today’s spanish pop rock scene. that shift is paying off in how confident this one sounds.
thank u for making this evil maracas 🐍
follow indie bangers 26 for more of the most exciting, up and coming artists
Leave a comment