Cigarettes & Bubblegum #4 – 27.03.2025

Howdy all, another show up on Mixcloud for you!

Absolutely love the opening track from Norway's Fashion Victims – can't wait to hear more if their new stuff sounds like this. Also was fun to play a submission for the first time; The Rabies got in touch to share their new album and I was pleased to play the excellent power pop tune Adderall Girl.

Email me at [email protected] to submit tunes, or check my links to get in touch.

Track list:

1	Fashion Victims	Aching And Breaking
2	The Rabies	Adderall Girl
3	The German Art Students	Punk Rock Car
4	Ming City Rockers	Seven Ate Nine
5	Taxi Girls	Sunshine
6	Pony	Every Little Crumb
7	Tightwire	Six Feet Deep
8	Distance	Le Decor
9	BLVCKHELICOPTERS	Goodnight Bootlicker
10	Bad Nerves	Plastic Rebel
11	Ridel High	180
12	Red Planet	Wrapped In Furs

Bed music: Ratrace by Groovie Ghoulies and Having An Average Weekend (you might know it as the Kids in the Hall theme music!) by Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet.

Episode link: https://www.mixcloud.com/cigarettes-and-bubblegum/cigarettes-bubblegum-4-27032025/

Cigarettes & Bubblegum #3 – 19.03.2025

Episode 3! Check it out on Mixcloud with the player above or the link at the end of the post.

More new songs and a couple of older ones, including a 1979 powerpop gem, a new wave-y punk track by someone well known, and more French powerpop! Ending up with a pop punk trip to a whimsical theme park.

It's dumb music for smart people – it's Cigarettes & Bubblegum, baby.

Track list:

1	The Coathangers	Make It Right
2	Surfbort	Lot Lizard 93
3	joyride!	Slow Release
4	Food Fight	Justicing The Deplorables
5	Alvilda	Angoisse
6	The Reflectors	All The Way Down
7	The Boojums	Don't Wanna Love
8	The Carpettes	I Don't Mean It
9	Sweeping Promises	Falling Forward
10	Brody Dalle	Rat Race
11	Whimsyland	Feathered Follies Bird Show

Bed music: The Drop In by The Lemonaids (I've heard they are fantastic...) and Surf Punk by Down By Law.

Episode link: https://www.mixcloud.com/cigarettes-and-bubblegum/cigarettes-bubblegum-3-19032025/

If you've listened to the show or read the blog, thank you! I'm just doing this for fun and a way to keep up to date with new music, but if you want to support the show please share on your socials. Cheers!

Mikel x

Flathead – Flathead (2025)

"Fancy lads can go to hell, the new wave of powerpop is taking place in Marseille."

I have nothing against fancy lads myself (all types are welcome here!) – but this new wave of French powerpop is certainly catching attention, with bands like Alvilda and Foodfight contributing to a resurgence in jangly, retro-inspired French guitar pop. This new self-titled album by Flathead is a great addition.

Hold Me Like My Monkeys kicks off the album with a verse like Exploding Hearts, and a chorus like a Britpop hit.

Won't Be Satisfied comes straight from 1979. It would fit perfectly on a Powerpearls compilation. Singing "The same old tears, the same old fears" before launching into a chorus the Flamin' Groovies could have written in their prime.

They continue to straddle the decades from 70s to 90s with jangling guitars and singalong melodies, landing somewhere between The Only Ones and The La's on songs like Far Away.

The sound may not stray far from their influences, but they do it well and they occupy their own niche among their contemporaries in the current powerpop landscape.

Available from Wanda Records (DE), Dangerhouse Skylab Records (FR) and Take The City Records (ES).

Cigarettes & Bubblegum #2 – 10.03.2025

Episode 2 is up on Mixcloud, check it out! Almost everything in this show was from 2024 or 2025 which is very cool, lots of great new music out there. A rock and roll trip through France, Australia, USA and Austria this week. If you dig the bands, visit their Bandcamp pages, download their stuff, share with your friends! This shit ain't free to make, so support the bands.

1	Bad Moves	I Know I Know
2	Badzy	New Kinda Hate
3	Ginger Sweet	Doomed!
4	Ghost Party	Gimme a STAG
5	The Mugwumps	Domino
6	Flathead	I Won't Be Satisfied
7	Cat Valley	Bingo Queen
8	Loose Lips	One More Chance
9	Taste Testors	I Don't Want You To Fall In Love With Me
10	Hiccup	Whatev, It's Cool
11	Rat Bath	7 to 4

Bed music: Last Ride In by Green Day, and Everything's Geometry by Cub.

Contact the show by email at [email protected]. Bands, labels, music lovers, send in your songs! 

Episode link: https://www.mixcloud.com/cigarettes-and-bubblegum/cigarettes-bubblegum-2-10032025/

Taste Testors – Taste Testors (2025)

"All downstrokes. No bass lines. No guitar solos. No filler."

Steve E. Nix of The Briefs has been busy lately, popping up in Clean Lines and now this self-titled record by Taste Testors.

10 straightforward punk/garage/powerpop songs – think The Briefs crossed with Ramones or The Dictators (especially evident on opener What She Don't Know Will Hurt Her and The Last Thing I Want). Unpolished and unfussy production lends some 70s and 80s authenticity to the sound.

The vocals are snarling and the lyrics are snotty-witty ("She looks cool in every direction"), leaning into the dumb-clever style of their CBGBs influences. Closing track Narc is particularly reminiscent of Dee Dee Ramone, the lead vocals barking out "You're a narc, narc, narc, narc, narc" on repeat.

Very cool stuff, and looking forward to future releases!

Cigarettes & Bubblegum #1 – 03.03.2025

Episode 1 is now available on Mixcloud.

Tracklist:

1	Clean Lines	When I Get You
2	The Vovos	Ernie
3	Yes Flag	Heartbreakoholic
4	Re-volts	Kick it over
5	Color TV	Last Year's Flu
6	Gene Champagne	Back In My Arms
7	Delivery	Deadlines
8	Hasty	Did You Know?
9	Erazerhead	Apeman
10	Tranzmitors	Beating Up My Heart
11	Sweeping Promises	Hunger For A Way Out

Bed music: Desert Storm Surf by DeeCRACKS and Sugar Rush by The Yum Yums.

Contact the show by email at [email protected]. Submissions welcome!

Episode link: https://www.mixcloud.com/cigarettes-and-bubblegum/cigarettes-bubblegum-1-03032025/