After releasing 10 albums of dreamy, acid-washed psychedelia, Pond approached this year’s Terrestrials with a strict, straightforward rule: “no fuzz, no ballads, and no Pink Floyd shit.” Lot to ask for a group of Tame Impala collaborators, but the Perth quintet delivers. LP 11 is tighter, groovier, and decidedly more post-punk than its predecessors, punchy bass and snappy rhythms playing like a dispatch from Eighties UK jangle pop where hits like 2017’s The Weather soundtracked a lackadaisical life down under. Austin ascendants Grocery Bag, still committed to the distortion pedal, open. – Carys Anderson
