Unlettered drops 'Bric-A-Brac' ahead of 'Devil's Bowl' album release; Family Stereo listens 'to any and everything'
This is Punk Rock Bach for June 18, 2026.
I’m packing up Punk Rock Bach and heading West in search of the American Dream!
Leaving New York City was a tough — but correct — decision. The bright lights of Broadway, Greenwich Village’s culture and the history of the United States are all right here in the five boroughs. I’ve loved living here, but now it’s time to say goodbye to NYC.
What does my American Dream include? A stronger version of this newsletter, complete with correspondents on the ground interviewing musicians and providing concert photography.
Thank you, loyal readers, for continuing to follow Punk Rock Bach’s coverage of today’s most interesting music makers while I transition the publication to its new backyard in Omaha, Nebraska.
This week, we’ve got an interview with Mike Knowlton, the guy behind the post-punk project Unlettered — which has a new album on the horizon. Plus a Q&A with artist Blake Watt, aka “Family Stereo.”
Onward!
Unlettered’s Mike Knowlton focuses on ‘driving propulsive’ music in ‘Devil’s Bowl’
Mike Knowlton believes in musical sincerity — but you may have to look underground for it.
“I think that authenticity in music still exists, and it exists in more of the sort of independent artist space, which it probably has always,” he said.
Knowlton, who is a member of the bands Gapeseed and Poem Rocket, works in exactly that independent space. Unlettered, a musical project he helms, is set to release its second album, “Devil’s Bowl,” on June 26.
On Tuesday, the group released the single “Bric-A-Brac” ahead of the album’s drop — as well as an interactive music video for the song.
“Devil’s Bowl” is a follow-up to the project’s first album, 2024’s “Five Mile Point” — which Knowlton said was more of an introspective record.
“With ‘Devil’s Bowl,’ I sort of turned the focus more kind of to the outside world, observing what I’m experiencing every day,” he said. “Sort of the craziness, the madness, the divisiveness, and trying to frame that in a way that isn’t too declarative and lets people take it in and sort of process it on their own.”
Knowlton said before Unlettered, all his musical endeavors were collaborations.
“With Unlettered, it’s much more solitary, and [there are] some pros and cons to that,” he said. “The pros are I can sort of make it much quicker. I like to be decisive.”
He said he is also able to focus on the types of music he likes — “which is driving bass, rhythmic, driving propulsive, somewhat angry kind of music.”
“In these other bands, it hasn’t always been sort of mainly focused on that type of music. Maybe there’s some more sort of melody or some softer or some more acoustic parts that come in,” he said. “So Unlettered’s really allowed me to sort of be more decisive and also sort of own the art more myself, which was something that I’d never done before.”
Other tracks on the album include the single “Burn After Reading,” “Candy Girl” and “Before: :After” — which had input from fellow Poem Rocket musician and old friend, drummer Peter Gordon.
“It was sort of a blast to collaborate with him on that project, on that song,” Knowlton said.
Unlettered’s album “Devil’s Bowl” is available for pre-order on Bandcamp and releases on June 26. You can watch an interactive music video for the song “Bric-A-Brac” on the project’s website, as well as listen to the single “Burn After Reading.”
Family Stereo keeps his ears close to the ground for the modern music scene
Coming up on July 31, the Bella Union label is set to release Family Stereo’s first album — titled “The Thread.”
Family Stereo is the alias for Blake Watt, who has already released the singles “Fault Lines” and “Waiting for Nina” ahead of the album’s summer release.
Punk Rock Bach caught up with Watt as he’s prepping the album’s debut. He shared his habit of streaming and keeping an ear on what’s happening with music today.
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?
Blake Watt: I mostly stream music. I used to buy vinyl but it’s expensive and for me not worth the faff. I’m not really much of a collector, I just like keeping up to date with what’s coming out and also to listen to whatever classic album my heart desires at any given moment. That is the joy of streaming. That said, pay your artists better.
PRB: What are you listening to now?
Watt: At the moment, I’m enjoying listening to Chanel Beads, Dove Ellis and Addison Rae. I will listen to any and everything. I love a good pop song.
PRB: What do you listen on?
Watt: I either listen on my laptop or on my phone. I listen to less music than I used to though because I find the current world quite overstimulating in general, and need “off” time.
Family Stereo’s debut album “The Thread” is set to release on July 31 via the Bella Union label. You can pre-order and pre-save the album via various music services.
What I’m listening to…
In 2010, Pitchfork ranked Aphex Twin’s music video for “Call Me Daddy” as the No. 1 music video of the 90s.
Having actually experienced the 1990s, I might respectfully disagree with that assessment. But the video is nevertheless striking.
If you haven’t seen it before, I strongly recommend watching it at least once. I think it’s the best kind of weird and satisfyingly disturbing.
Subjectively, while I may disagree that it’s the best music video of the 1990s, I’d gladly take it over “MMMBop’s” video any day of the week!
Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next week with an interview with Lisa Molinaro — a musician who has played with bands such as Modest Mouse and The Decemberists. She has her debut solo album coming next month. Until next Thursday!