Kevin Bronson on July 11th, 2023

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Catching up with recent releases from the Pretty Flowers, Buckets and Andy Frasco …

THE PRETTY FLOWERS, “Hit Nothing”

Ever the indie-rocker’s indie-rockers, the Pretty Flowers — Noah Green, Sam Tiger, Jake Gideon and Sean Johnson, all with a long lineage in L.A. bands — unleash their second full-length this week. It’s titled “A Company Sleeve,” and the veteran quartet have a few tricks up theirs, beyond servicing the tastes of fans of the Replacements, Guided by Voices, Pavement, Superchunk, et al. Joey Siara, Green’s bandmate in the late, great Henry Clay People, guests on “Another Way to Lose,”  and that’s Mary Lorson (Madder Rose) backgrounding the clamor of “Doughboy Pool.” Slice-and-dice guitar riffs and big guitar hooks abound, making the Pretty Flowers’ prickly, and maybe pickled, rants go down easy. “Hit Nothing,” released in late June as the follow-up to the dashboard drummer “Baby Food,” harks to the old scenario between recording company A&R person and band, where the artists are told, “I don’t hear a single.” Oh, but we do. See the band Friday night at Permanent Records Roadhouse with Sweet Nobody and Easy Dreams.

BUCKETS, “Better”

Speaking of bands scratching your ’90s itch, Buckets are proving to be buckets of fun. Fresh off a bunch of dates supporting Louise Post (Veruca Salt), the band — Tanner Houghton, Sasha Massey, Mitch Rossiter and Hiram Sevilla — released “Better,” the follow-up single to “Judy.” Starting soft but then dialing up the gang vocals, “Better” sounds like something you’d tell your therapist, if your therapist were wearing earplugs. Buckets have an EP on the way, and, ostensibly, more shout-along choruses to work up your summer sweat.

ANDY FRASCO & THE U.N., “Birthday Song”

Party-starting classic rocker Andy Frasco’s new album “L’Optimist” (out Aug. 11) figures to try to bottle up the furiously exuberant energy of the artist’s acclaimed live show — and offer a respite from the daily news’ rampant doom and the mopeyism it inspires. “With so much bad news in the world, why not try to figure out a way to get out of the darkness,” Frasco said when he introduced the album this spring with an anthem for these times, “You Do You.” “We’re not going to be able to change the world, but at least we can change the mind state we have moving forward. We can at least help the process along by being optimistic that the future will turn itself around. And if everyone changes their mind state about the future, then maybe we can change the world.” Frasco’s new single “The Birthday Song” will bring a smile to your face, especially if you can image a drunk monkey stealing a birthday piñata. “We were bored of all the birthday songs that we’ve been singing our whole lives so we thought, why not revamp a classic tradition A.F.U.N. style,” Frasco says. “‘Birthday Song’ is a psychedelic rock ’n’ roll anthem for anyone celebrating a birthday.”