Taylor Bickett sings to her younger self; Jacob Augustine remembers Huey Lewis on Fisher-Price
This is Punk Rock Bach for May 21, 2026.
Change is inevitable — even two months into a newsletter’s life.
I’m reworking Punk Rock Bach’s format to make it sleeker, more nimble and packed full of discussions with modern music makers.
We can say goodbye to the DIY workbench section of Punk Rock Bach. Going forward, the newsletter will stick closer to music journalism and interviews. The DIY portion started to feel like a vanity project instead of an interesting sidebar.
The general format going forward is one interview, one Q&A, and a “What I’m listening to” kicker. And this week we’re talking with two indie musicians — Taylor Bickett and Jacob Augustine!
Onward!
Correction for the May 14 issue: The emailed version of last week’s newsletter included a line that misidentified Brian Wilson’s last name. It is Wilson, not Williams. Punk Rock Bach regrets the error.
Musician Taylor Bickett explores attachment and permanence in upcoming album
For songwriter Taylor Bickett, the overachieving she sought as a child may have been a pursuit for adoration.
“I think through writing the song [“Goldstar”], and just like my own reflection, I’ve found that that thing that I was searching for is, I think, love to some extent, or like wanting to be liked,” she said. “And thinking, ‘Oh, well, if I’m the best, and if I achieve a lot, then people have no choice but to like me.’ And so it’s kind of an examination of that.”
“Goldstar” is a track on her upcoming album “Nothing I Can’t Undo,” which is set to release on July 17. In the song, Bickett says she speaks to a younger version of herself who pursued perfection.
Bickett says while she addresses self-talk and self-control in the album, its bigger themes are attachment and permanence.
“There’s a couple songs on the album where I kind of talked about this idea of, like, I just want to know what’s going to happen, and ‘Nothing I Can’t Undo,’ which is, like, the B side of ‘Goldstar’ […] and the title track, is this idea of, ‘oh, I just stop things before they get good, because I’m afraid that they’ll get bad someday,’” she said.
“And so it’s that, like, need for control or if I just, like, let things play out,” she said.
Bickett said one of those things she’s letting play out is her music career.
“I almost didn’t want to release my first single because I was afraid it wouldn’t be the perfect first single,” she said. “And so I think just like, kind of forcing myself to just dive in, and I do feel that way with this album too.”
She said she thinks other musicians wait to release their albums until they’re sure it will be a hit commercially.
“I thought about putting it off, and then I was just like, ‘What are you waiting for? You want to make a full project you’re passionate about. You love albums. You love listening to albums. Like, just make one,’” she said.
That drive for commercial success hasn’t killed artistry for music makers, Bickett said, which is “alive and well.”
“I think people are making really cool, creative, organic things, thinking outside the box, and trying to think like, ‘what could AI never possibly replicate?,’” she said. “And I think that that is really cool.”
While Bickett has released singles and EPs (extended plays) before, this is her first album, and she’s ready for fans to hear it.
“I think that there’s some nerves with it,” she said. “But I’ve also had the album done for so long that I’m so excited and, like, anxious to share it.”
Taylor Bickett’s album “Nothing I Can’t Undo” debuts on July 17 via If This Then Records. You can watch the video for “Goldstar” on YouTube.
Jacob Augustine keeps his ears on Upchuck,Greet Death and Radiohead
A huge chasm exists between the puppy love that young people think they find early in life and enduring, unconditional love.
And to admit “I Love You Forever” is on the permanent end of that spectrum.
That’s also the title of Jacob Augustine’s new album, which releases tomorrow, May 22, via Team Love Records. The tracks include “Midnight Drum” and “Halfway to Harlem.”
Of “Halfway to Harlem,” Augustine previously said in a news release that the song is “post apocalyptic survivor studies.”
“Car alarms serenading the cities of America to dead battery silence,” he said in the release. “What is it to fall in love, raise a child and save the world all at the same time? The song was inspired by the times we live in.”
As always, Punk Rock Bach is curious what this music maker is spinning on his own turntable. We caught up with Augustine recently and asked what he’s listening to.
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?
Jacob Augustine: My preferred listening is vinyl on headphones or in the car turned up very loud.
PRB: What are you listening to now?
Augustine: Naming three favorite albums is a very difficult task for me. I think music and favorites all depends on the day, the mood, the circumstances of your life.
Though it changes daily, I’d say my three favorites on average are Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” Marty Robbins’ “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” and [the] Buena Vista Social Club self titled.
For newer bands, I’m very into Friendship, MJ Lenderman, Black Midi, Protomartyr, Geese and Cameron Winter’s solo stuff, Greet Death’s new record is in heavy rotation. I really love Deafheaven’s new album “Lonely People with Power.” […] Dove Ellis has [a] newer album as well that’s just downright beautiful in every way. I also have been spinning the band Upchuck a lot.
PRB: What do you listen on?
Augustine: I listen on everything, turntable, cassette, CD, phone, streaming and sometimes radio if I’m in certain cities when touring.
Most importantly, I listen to music live, which I think is the best medium.
This question brings back memories of my childhood. My earliest memories of listening to music was my dad’s 8-tracks. One year, we got a Fisher-Price tape deck for Christmas. I have fond memories of listening to Huey Lewis and the News and Michael Jackson on that thing with my older brother. We loved a good boombox.
Jacob Augustine’s new album “I Love You Forever” is set to debut on May 22 via Team Love Records. It will be available on a variety of music services.
What I’m listening to…
I have a very millennial, if somewhat embarrassing, admission about my musical tastes.
I discovered a lot of bands that I love and musicians that I follow from Cartoon Network and Adult Swim from about 1995-2003. And mostly from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast — whether we’re talking about Pavement (or as Space Ghost called them, “The Beatles”) or the band I’m listening to this week: Man or Astro-man?.
Man or Astro-man? provided music for Space Ghost: C2C way back when… some of which I can’t quite get out of my head. I can’t find any YouTube clips of it, but IMDB confirms the band performed on the show.
This week, I’m listening to the band’s 2000 album, “Spectrum of Infinate Scale.”
I hunted the CD down on eBay (always a sucker for physical media), but the band has it available on its Bandcamp site for download.
The record isn’t for everyone. There’s one song — “A Simple Text File” — that’s composed seemingly with the sounds of a dot-matrix printer. I can’t imagine that track ever had a chance of hitting the Billboard Hot 100.
Thank you for reading Punk Rock Bach! Be sure to come back Thursday for an interview with bassist Melanie Radford, whose upcoming album “For the Sake of Stillness” delivers a few ASMR tingles!