Bratmobile's Molly Neuman and Allison Wolfe soften commute times with tunes; Bottlehead Co. debuts its most powerful DIY amp yet
This is Punk Rock Bach for April 9, 2026.
Riot Grrrls keep the music jamming no matter if they’re at home or on the road. That’s one thing I learned from Punk Rock Bach’s Q&A with the renowned 90s punk band Bratmobile. Bandmates Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman shared with us how they’re enjoying music and what they’re listening to.
Plus — Bottlehead Co., the company behind popular audio amplifier DIY kits like the Crack headphone amp and the Kaiju 300B, just announced a brand-new addition to its lineup. The company is also coming up on one year of new ownership. This week, I chatted with Jameson O’Guinn — one of the company’s partners — about what’s changed at Bottlehead since the purchase.
Onward!
Bratmobile’s Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman spin vinyl, stream and keep the radio star kicking
Bratmobile is on the loose! The punk band, a major player in the 90s Riot Grrrl scene, is having a renaissance — having just re-released its album “The Real Janelle + The Peel Session” via the Kill Rock Stars label and prepping to tour the West Coast.
At Punk Rock Bach, we’re curious what they’re listening to during their down time and commute time. This week, band members Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman share how they’re listening…
Editor’s note: Q&A has been lightly edited for style, syntax and typos.
Punk Rock Bach: How do you prefer to listen to music?
Allison Wolfe: These days, I usually listen to playlists I’ve meticulously made on Tidal/streaming. I also listen to music shows on terrestrial radio—mostly KXLU, and KCRW (especially the Henry Rollins show).
Molly Neuman: While I prefer to listen on the turntable, my reality is that I mostly listen to the radio. I live in LA and have a tween and am driving a lot between school drop off, going to work, dance class and home. We listen to two main stations on SiriusXM: Hits 1 for her and 1st Wave for me.
PRB: What are you listening to now?
Wolfe: I’ve been making politicized playlists to channel collective rage, so lots of The Coup, Downtown Boys, Public Enemy, Amyl & the Sniffers, Sistah Souljah, Babes in Toyland, Rebel Diaz, DAM. Some current bands I love are Death Valley Girls, Amyl & the Sniffers, Trap Girl, Snooper, Linda Lindas, Roselit Bone, The Okmoniks, Downtown Boys, Morgan & the Organ Donors.
Neuman: My favorite new album is Morgan Nagler’s “I’ve Got Nothing to Lose, and I’m Losing It.” It came out last week and it’s gorgeous and sincere and fun and captivating.
I can always listen to The Pretenders, Oasis, Pet Shop Boys, Raincoats, Prince and Rites of Spring.
PRB: What do you listen on?
Wolfe: At home, I usually listen to music streaming on a cheap disco-lit Bluetooth speaker. I also listen to music on the radio and vinyl on my Technics turntable. In the car, I usually listen to CDs ‘cause that’s all my old car does, which, I guess, is more than my old, old car did that only played 8-tracks.
Neuman: If I'm not listening to the car radio, realistically, it's going to be on Spotify or Apple Music.
Bratmobile re-released its album “The Real Janelle + The Peel Session” on March 20 via the Kill Rock Stars label. The album is available on vinyl and CD on the Kill Rock Stars website. Tickets for Bratmobile’s West Coast tour are on sale now. You can hear the band’s song “Brat Girl” here.
Music news from around the Internet…
Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize’s Alexander Ridha are set to release a collaborative album, Pitchfork’s Walden Green reports. (Pitchfork)
CNN’s Jack Guy and Amarachi Orie reported that London’s Wireless Festival was canceled after its headliner, Kanye “Ye” West, was prevented from coming to the United Kingdom. (CNN)
Sabrina Carpenter has released a new music video, according to Pitchfork’s Alex Suskind and Walden Green. (Pitchfork)
Rolling Stone’s Kory Grow says Jack White will perform at Coachella. (Rolling Stone)
Billboard’s Lars Brandle reports that Russia has indicted Nadya Tolokonnikova, a co-founder of Pussy Riot, and added her to its federal wanted list. (Billboard)
Bottlehead Co. nears one year of new ownership as it launches ‘Paradyne’ amp
DIY audiophiles can dust off their soldering irons and tool belts. Bottlehead Co. is bringing a new DIY stereo amp kit to the community.
On Tuesday, the popular do-it-yourself stereo-kit maker announced the Paradyne 805A Monoblock Amplifier Kit, a 35-watts-per-channel amplifier that the company says, “delivers headroom, control, and scale that redefine what a single-ended amplifier can do with a wide range of loudspeakers.”
“This is a big step forward for our kits,” Bottlehead said in its product listing.
Jameson O’Guinn, a partner with Bottlehead, teased a new amp was in the works when I chatted with him last Saturday, before the Paradyne announcement.
O’Guinn is part of Middle-Age Kids Engineering, which bought the company almost a year ago. He said the company was formed for the purpose of buying Bottlehead.
“I had been a Bottlehead customer for years and years,” O’Guinn said, having earlier started his DIY audio journey with a speaker kit from Parts Express.
He said his first Bottlehead amp was a SEX 3 — that’s “Single Ended eXperimentation,” to be clear. The company currently sells the updated SEX 4 on its website.
“Essentially, I made just about everything in the lineup,” he said. “And then, I guess kind of June… or September of 2024 I reached out to [Bottlehead founders] Dan and Eileen [Schmalle] and asked whether a kit that I had found on eBay still was viable, and if it was, you know, good to build, and whether there were any things I needed to be concerned about.”
When Dan Schmalle replied, O’Guinn said, he told him that the kit was fine, but they were getting ready to sell the company and retire, and asked if O’Guinn would be interested in purchasing.
O’Guinn said he spoke with his family, conducted due-diligence and conferred with advisors. But he said it was after his mother took a listen via a Bottlehead amp that everything came together.
“She had heard music before through speakers, but she never heard anything quite like that. So from that moment, it was pretty much a done deal,” he said.
Since MAKE bought the company, O’Guinn said one of the biggest changes is something the customer might not immediately recognize: updating Bottlehead’s supply chain. He said the company previously ordered what it needed as purchases came in. O’Guinn said the company is now working to ensure a well-stocked inventory.
“And so a lot of the legacy Bottlehead website, information and newsletters and stuff all kind of pointed to the fact that when you ordered a kit from Bottlehead, it would take anywhere between two to eight weeks or more to ship,” he said.
The company’s turn-around is a lot shorter these days.
“Our approach has really been trying to get order fulfillment down from kind of six weeks to two days,” he said. “And we’ve done that for the most part.”
While the new owners have made some tweaks to Bottlehead’s website and forum infrastructure, O’Guinn said the company isn’t changing much at the core level.
“We’re really trying to kind of keep the recipe for what made Bottlehead successful in the first place, which was, you know, bringing really high quality audio equipment to the DIY builder so they can make their own sounds,” he said. “We’re trying to keep that in place as much as possible, and every decision we’re making is largely around, ‘how can we put out the best possible product at an approachable price that somebody can reasonably put together on their own?’”
For those audiophiles out there who love the idea of building your own Bottlehead — whether a new “Paradyne” or a “Crack” headphone amplifier — O’Guinn said he understands first-time builders might be nervous. With that in mind, the company is considering releasing a practice kit.
“We know that people are intimidated by this, and I think it’s always good to kind of cut your teeth on something a little basic, just to kind of understand what you’re getting yourself into before you blow 375 bucks and feel regret,” he said.
That being said, O’Guinn highlighted the detailed Bottlehead construction manuals and resources available online, such as the company’s forums and a list of tools a builder will need.
“You need patience more than anything, and then good lighting, and really beyond that, I think anybody can put these together,” he said.
Bottlehead’s new Paradyne 805A Monoblock Amplifier Kit and its other amp kits are available for purchase on the company’s website.
LAPÊCHE’s latest album shares an upbeat song that stems from a private struggle
A deeply personal song about fertility difficulties on LAPÊCHE’s recent album, “Autotelic,” is also one that’s fun to perform, Krista Holly Diem told me.
Diem is the frontwoman of LAPÊCHE, and the song is “Happy 4U.” Recently, we had a conversation about the band’s new album, “Autotelic,” which debuted on February 6.
“Happy 4U” is a song written during “years-long fertility struggles,” according to a summary from the band’s press reps.
Diem said she wasn’t nervous about putting her experience in the song, saying she always writes music from a personal place.
She said while writing it was cathartic, she also had in mind, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if I had heard a song about fertility issues and miscarriages while I was going through it?”
“That would have been really incredible to experience,” Diem said.
While the subject matter comes from a place of disappointment, Diem describes the song’s rhythm as “dancey.”
“I almost kind of have to put myself in another headspace to do it,” Diem said, explaining that while playing it she doesn’t let herself “think about or feel what I’m thinking.”
The album came together when the band members — who include Diem’s husband David Diem, as well as Drew DeMaio and Colin Brooks — started writing songs remotely.
“It just seemed like we were writing so much more and faster than we had before because we were all writing at the same time, basically, on different things” Diem said.
Diem said LAPÊCHE had “a handful of songs quickly” and would eventually narrow the play list to 10 songs, with the help of the musicians’ producer, Alex Newport.
Other tracks on the album include “Parallel Park” (which Diem notes is also fun to perform), “First Time Caller” and “When R U From.”
LAPÊCHE’s album “Autotelic” is available for order on both vinyl and digital via Bandcamp and other stores and is also streaming. It’s published via the Tiny Engines label. You can hear LAPÊCHE’s song “Happy 4U” on YouTube.
What I’m listening to…
Flea’s new album “Honora” is incredible — full stop. And that’s exactly what I’m listening to this week.
Admittedly, I may be biased. I think Red Hot Chili Peppers is among the greatest bands of the 20th century and I’ve recognized Flea since his modest-but-memorable part in the “Back to the Future” trilogy. His latest work — his first solo album — is solid!
My favorite track on the album is “Wichita Lineman,” with vocals performed by Nick Cave. Flea plays the flumpet on that one, and it’s a great version of the classic Jimmy Webb song.
Best pre-order I’ve made in a long time. Highly recommend.
Hope you enjoyed this issue of Punk Rock Bach. Missed a past issue? Check out our archive here. Be sure to subscribe to get next week’s edition sent straight to your inbox. See you next Thursday!
Thank you Rob!!!