The Dayton and Columbus quartet Smug Brothers have announced a new record, Pinhole To Vortex, due out next month. It follows last year's Stuck On Beta and continues the band's scrappy, classicist strain of indie rock, a style that owes an audible debt to Ohio forebears Guided By Voices.
That connection runs deeper than influence. Smug Brothers drummer Don Thrasher once played in Guided By Voices himself, giving the band a direct lineage to one of the region's most prolific indie rock acts. The new album's rollout began with two early tracks, "Extra All The Time" and "Bingo Diagram."
Pinhole To Vortex arrives at a steady clip for a band that has kept a low-key but consistent release pace, following one full-length with another roughly a year apart. No further tracklist or release date details beyond next month have been shared yet.
The album adds to a growing catalog of 2026 indie and rock releases building up on the site's release calendar this fall.
The facts
- New album titled "Pinhole To Vortex", due next month
- Follows 2025's "Stuck On Beta"
- Drummer Don Thrasher previously played in Guided By Voices
- First tracks shared are "Extra All The Time" and "Bingo Diagram"
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