joel cusumano - appendix

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Dandy Boy Records is releasing Bay Area pop oddity Joel Cusumano's first EP, APPENDIX, the followup to his critically acclaimed 2025 debut album

WAX WORLD. Haunting and catchy post-punk and ‘90s alt-tinged indie pop for smart punks and thoughtful pop fans, APPENDIX is out SEPT. l l th on vinyl and digital streaming.

Cusumano is a seasoned veteran of the Bay Area underground scene as the guitarist and collaborator in a wide-ranging lineup of bands such as COCTKAILS, R.E. SERAPHIN, and BODY DOUBLE. APPENDIX

confidently merges literate, ironic, emotionally penetrating lyrics with buoyant,

sharply catchy melodies — as well as an encyclopedia knowledge of left-of-the-dial college rock and punk like SILVER JEWS, THE REPLACEMENTS, THE ADVERTS, and PAVEMENT.

Apropos of its title, APPENDIX contains material that existed in various stages of completion during the recording of WAX WORLD, and is a bleaker, heavier, more angular exploration of certain of that album's thematic terrain—alienation, nostalgia, impotence, dread, and the inexorable structures that bind our lives.

Says Cusumano: “During the writing of APPENDIX, I was recovering from a dark time in my personal life, and—not sure if you've noticed—the world happens to be on fire.” Unlike much of his previous work, the EP contains no explicit love songs or breakup songs, but plenty of the residual bitterness and cynicism of heartbreak. The songs also reflect Cusumano's horror at the barbarism unfolding in the US and across the globe, all dressed in a driving, immediate 2-3 minute pop/rock packaging.

APPENDIX's lead single “Buying Time” juxtaposes VAN HALEN-inspired riffs with a GANG OF FOUR-esque meditation on the alienating commodification of every aspect of modern life. Second single “Stigmata” is a PlXlES-inspired scorcher, a meditation about power, addiction, and manipulation. “I had in mind certain Christian holy men who were rumored to have rubbed acid into their palms to produce a false stigmata,” says Cusumano. Elsewhere, “7x7” is a riff on the myth of the sacrificial Athenian victims of the minotaur performed with a furious post-punk sound that draws on /m’I Arryt/ting-era MY BLOODY VALENTINE and JOHN FOXX-era ULTRAVOX—with lyrical subtext pointed at our bloodthirsty capitalist ruling class. “Mortal Fool” is the EP's closest attempt at straightforward power pop, a short and buoyant rocker full of longing for something just outside the singer's grasp.

Collaboratively, in order to promote WAX WORLD and record APPENDIX, Cusumano assembled the most powerful band he's ever played with: Brett Austin Eastman (ANDY HUMAN & THE REPTOIDS), Ella Keilt (THE LETTERWRITERS), Owen Kelley (CYAN POOLS), and Julie Barwick (LATITUDE). All members play on and arrange on APPENDIX, with assistance from Cusumano's frequent collaborators Ray Seraphin (R.E. SERAPHIN, THE PENNYS), Matt Bullimore (THE MANTLES) and Rob Good (RYLI, THE GOODS, YEA-MING & THE RUMOURS), who also engineered the EP and will be joining Cusumano on a Fall 2026 European tour.