Two different Dirt Cult Records bands, Neighborhood Brats and Needles // Pins, both have new albums coming out May 28 and both have new songs from those albums premiering in this post.

Neighborhood Brats, a garage punk band from California, are gearing up their third LP Confines of Life (pre-order from Dirt Cult or Taken By Surprise, who are co-releasing it), which was recorded in 2020 just as the country was going into Covid lockdown. We’re premiering “Who Took The Rain?,” an anthemic, catchy ripper that kinda sounds like a cross between Sleater-Kinney and ’77 punk.

Needles // Pins hail from Vancouver, and we’re premiering “A Rather Strained Apologetic” off their upcoming self-titled fourth album (pre-order), a song that’s more indebted to the strained, slightly-off-key roar of ’90s emo. The track pays homage to the “You got me coughin’ up my cookie heart” lyric in Cap’n Jazz’s “Little League” and the band’s bio compares the song to 24 Hour Revenge Therapy-era Jawbreaker, and this song definitely scratches the itch that those two bands scratched over 25 years ago. It’s got a classic, nostalgic feel, but Needles // Pins make it sound fresh.