Dummy — the Los Angeles band comprised of Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, and Joe Trainor — announces its new album, Free Energy, out September 6th on Trouble In Mind Records, and shares the lead single/video, “Nullspace.” Pop has always been a big part of Dummy’s sound, but it manifests differently on Free Energy. Sometimes it’s quite literal (and funny), such as the bubbly synth sequence made with a Korg EM1 popping all over lead single “Nullspace,” which features a melody written by O’Dell and is the song the band calls the record’s “sonic mission statement and really influenced by Mark Van Hoen, especially the cut-up dreamy dance-pop he was making on the Locust record Morning Light.”

Dummy’s debut full-length Mandatory Enjoyment arrived in late 2021 and quickly became one of the year’s sleeper hits. Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard, and other publications praised Dummy’s mix of ambient and twinkly guitar pop, their deep musical references, and the intentionality with which they patchworked it all together. Fans bought copies of Mandatory so quickly that Trouble in Mind couldn’t keep it in stock. Sub Pop Records also invited the band to contribute to their legendary Singles Club series. Bands loved Dummy, too, and the group were asked to open for Horsegirl, Botch, Black Country, New Road, Luna, Spirit of the Beehive, Dehd, Snooper, Sweeping Promises, Snail Mail, and more.

Where Mandatory Enjoyment was cerebral and lo-fi, the product of a lot of time inside, Free Energy is all movement, presence, and physicality. A creatively restless band, Dummy felt like they had done the best version of motorik pop that they could do, and wanted to get harder, dancier, a little more psychedelic. Ewell and Trainor began experimenting with home recording, using DAW as kind of an instrument for composition rather than simply a tool. O’Dell dug deeper into instrumental/sample composition, in addition to contributing more guitar leads. Maatman also steps into the spotlight in a big way, her vocals noticeably foregrounded and confident, adding to the live performance feel that forms the foundation of Free Energy. The result is a record that celebrates music’s ability to move the body, whether that be through a teeth-rattling wall of MBV-esque noise, a sticky pop chorus, or a joyous drum machine—or, if you’re Dummy, maybe all of them in the same song.

Additionally, Free Energy features guest appearances by friends Dummy has played with on tour, including Oakland-based saxophonist and electroacoustic artist Cole Pulice and Jen Powers of Powers / Rolin Duo, along with a series of field recordings the band made while on tour: the rushing of water, the rumbling of the van, indistinct voices, chirping birds; the sounds of mundanity rising to cacophony before petering out, treated no differently than the ecstatic rhythms, explosive hooks, and blissful ambient stretches that came before. If there is any key to understanding what makes Dummy such a compelling band, perhaps it is this: it’s all music to them.

Molded in the fertile rock crescent of Columbus, Ohio, three-piece Golomb channels Midwest friction into an album that seeks to find a genuine connection. The band boasts not one, but two bonded dynamics, something of an aberration among most trios. Siblings Xenia (bass) and Hawken (drums) tie down the rhythm section with songwriter/guitarist Mickey Shuman and Xenia turning their tags to spouse after years of dating. The close bonds between the members have fed into the band’s process — family and friends first and band second, leveraging years of trust to turn The Beat Goes On into an album that never wavers in its sincerity. An early recording session with engineer Keith Hanlon for their EP Love expands as the band returns to record the new album with him at Musicol and Secret Sound with a bigger, bolder dynamic that captures the band’s live energy to tape. Not only the sound, but the studio itself was fuller this time, with embellishments from Henry Ross and Bob Starker on Sax, David Holm and Austin Wyckoff on guitar, and Abi Gray adding violin.

Stripping away artifice, Golomb takes an omnivorous approach to the solid and staid structures of rock in 2025. The band admittedly sets their compass on the classic magnetism of The Stones, letting Mick n’ the boys’ chameleonic nature feed their own urge to not be pinned down by genre expectations. Emerging from the 8-track turbulence of their debut, they slip from psych scorch to power pop with stops through dub and country along the way. Now, on first listen to the band’s sophomore LP, visions of UK rock godfathers might not spring to mind, but much like a quartet from Queens once penned their own ‘teenage symphonies to God’ and found punk in the process, Golomb have a way of fusing the past in unexpected ways with impressive results.

In search of rock’s lost chords, the band smelts the sounds on their stereo into a fuzz-lapped long player that’s bound to bring forth a few ‘90s nods from listeners. The underlying buzz on “Real Power” dips a few miles south of Columbus to channel Dayton’s favorite sons, stitching together some clear-eyed clamor from the GBV playbook. The band lays it bare on “Dog” with a slow slink that builds toward the singed elegance of Spiritualized and a lyrical labyrinth that’s cut and pasted into a Burroughs-esque blur of rock motifs. The song peaks in pure maelstrom with a glorious glut of feedback foaming out of the speakers. The familiar specter of The Velvets rears its head in the shambolic beat of the title track, and “Other Side Of The Earth” gets gooey with dub, but never loses the band’s ability to feed the fray. Then, they wind guitar around their rhythms with the grace of early Built To Spill on “Be Here Now.” The sax twirls of Henry Ross send the song into the ether before scrounging up a few “Wild Horses” on the fatalistic closer “Sweet Release (Ain’t No Devil).”

The album finds the band bounding through bluster like Loop one minute and hunkered down like Pixies pummeling pop’s soft spots at Fort Apache the next. The voracious volume of influences can be chalked up to an eclectic atmosphere for music in the Holm household, an environment that proved welcoming to Mickey as he was brought into the fold, and eventually the family. The album is ultimately about connection; a lifeline from the constant flicker of distractions, horrors, hubris, and duplicity that permeate everyday interactions in modern life. The band knows they may not have all the answers, but there’s little that can’t be solved with a hit, a hi-hat, and a riff that grabs you by the shoulders and shakes.