Latent Dialectic – April 15,2026
There are two flavors of music we run into a lot on Bandcamp's new music feeds -- super chill and hardcore. Everyone seems to be either really angry (depressed, frustrated) and looking for an outlet, OR in need of relief from the constant stress of everyday life. Where the present fails us, we fill in out of the past... New releases from which we sampled: JLQ, Dada Smurf, Morgan-X, Sharon Chen, XOXO Xopher.
Make Your Own Revolution – March 31, 2021
This week saw the return of rock to Bubble Wrap, brought to us by the serendipitous luck of the draw. We especially liked French retro rockers Thee Brinks, strange Baltimorean L Cars, and The Armoires in their Covid-tinged memoir "Ghost of Fall Singer..." Revival of the week: Scruffy the Cat, that legendary Boston pop band whose late '80s glory days brought a touch of playful insouciance to the otherwise gritty local scene.Continue reading→
Not So Dark After All – March 24, 2021
As Spring emerges from the snow and the snow melts into the earth and the rivers run down to the river and on into the Sound, we find the pulse and pace of life have quickened, but to what end? That is a question to ponder as Bubble Wrap gently escorts you through the earliest days of this virginally new season. Surely this involves music, no? And so it does, from The Dowling Poole and Snapped Ankles to the Armoires and Parker Milsap. In short, a motley assortment of late winter/ early spring releases.Continue reading→
Top of the Evenin’ – March 17, 2021
It being St. Patrick’s Day, we felt it was our sworn duty as Americans to play some Irish music in honor of the day. As we discovered, there’s a fair amount of St. Paddy’s Day music tucked away in Archive.org, recorded off of scratchy old 78s. There are also plenty of Irish and Irish-American musicians...Continue reading→
Haiku for Everything – March 10, 2021
This week's show featured more from La Souterraine, plenty of classic funk, and a hefty helping of new music by artists at various levels of obscurity from Hanford Flyover to Haru Nemuri, touching both ends of that spectrum. Hanford Flyover continue to impress. We played another from their most recent release, this time the moody, downtempo rocker "Cloverfield." We also played tracks from I Think Like Midnight album and our new political rock faves The Dowling Poole. Continue reading→
Whither the Whetherman – March 3, 2021
Bubble Wrap continues and once again, you missed it! But we're here to tell you all about it so you won't feel left out. We enjoyed "Mr. Whetherman" from UK band Hanford Flyover's new release Hanford Tape Sessions, a surprisingly good record for such an obviously thrown together collecction. Meinfreak from Berlin gave us "Blütenmeergewehr," which translates roughly as "Sea of Flowers." We even found a song from a Vermont band, Clever Girls, who were decent enough to email us a link to it. Thank you, Clever Girls! We debuted "Spark." Continue reading→
Shamanic Legacy – February 24, 2021
This week's edition of Bubble Wrap was a rough and tumble mix of tracks from all over, baby. There was the old: De La Soul, Parliament, Aretha, Gary Bartz, and even a snippet of Philip Glass. There was the new with a touch of the familiar: Bobby McFerrin's daughter Madison doing her new song "Hindsight" and a pair from the son and grandson of Fela (Made and Femi Kute from the Legacy collection). Plus a few more tracks from recent faves Spunkshine, Mt. Pleasure, Nuevos Dolores, and Welsh rockers Bandicoot.Continue reading→
Covering the Spaces – February 17, 2021
It was a quiet week on Bubble Wrap this week, with no theme to guide us and all the freedom from that. Consequently, we were extra entertaining. For example, the very first set was killer, leading off with The Lounge Society and their moody manifesto "Burn The Heather." If you like Fontaines DC, you'll like The Lounge Society. Then there was "Weekends" by Classixx & the Local Natives, a guilty pleasure for sure, but so hooky. Finishing off that set was "The Duke" by Menahan Street Band of Brooklyn, NY, doing their own brand of retro smooth jazz. It's a groove, and the horns are nothing short of mellifluous.Continue reading→
Love, Baby – February 10, 2021
The annual Bubble Wrap Valentine's Day show featured love songs galore. We got sweet love, modern love, lacquered love, and of course our love. Old love, new love, young love, and not so love. What more can we say? It's all about the love.Continue reading→
If Wishes Were Horses – February 3, 2021
As we enter 2021 for real and for good, new music has begun to emerge that wasn't recorded in 2020, that misbegotten year that we're all trying to forget. Leading the pack for the Bubble Wrap crew are Arlo Parks and the new compilation from La Souterraine. "Caroline" is a brand new track from Britain's Arlo Parks, whose R&B nouveau has been percolating on the Internet for the last couple years. Parks' new song is flawless contemporary pop with perfect vocals and a lyrical maturity that belies her years. We liked her funkier "Green Eyes" last year. Despite her self-assessment as a hopeless misfit, her music adds up to a very accessible package. And then there's La Souterraine, the busiest little microlabel in, well, La Souterraine, to be vague. The new installment in their compilation series is a volume 2 of their highly enjoyable Allopop of a couple years ago.Continue reading→
Agree To Disagree – November 26, 2020
The latest episode of Bubble Wrap fell on Thanksgiving Eve this year, so there was some thanking to be done and some turkey songs to be played. New music resumed with more new favorites including Elvis Costello's latest track, "Hetty O'Hara Confidential," who is still biting and nipping at our heels. For some reason, I enjoy the bitter edge.Continue reading→
Party Rapture – November 11, 2020
Riding the times like ocean waves, hoping not to get swamped, taking the good with the bad — these are all themes of life here on Bubble Wrap. Helping us do that was our artist of the week, Mori, whose new ep seekseek is chock full with playful keybs and wildly processed vocals including our...Continue reading→
Waiting Game – November 4, 2020
Although the elections were yesterday, we still don't know who won although we have a pretty good idea.... So we distracted ourselves with music. Kiwi Jr. got their second play in as many weeks with "Undecided Voters." We dragged Pavement and the Mountain Goats out of semi-retirement. We basked in the gentle pop stylings of Miloe, a new artist out of Minneapolis who has a thing for Winona Ryder. Adam Levy's "Cadiz" recalled a kinder, gentler Kid Creole. Arlo Parks' "Green Eyes" was mesmerizing. And the bonus tracks on the Prince Sign of the Times megaset are unusually good bonus tracks -- we played 2 Nu 1's 4 U.Continue reading→