Pushbike's Little Bastard EP: Four Songs, Under 10 Minutes

Exeter trio Pushbike have released their Little Bastard EP, four songs rattled through in well under 10 minutes, and the Guardian has named them in its weekly best-new-tracks playlist (9 October 2026).

The paper's recommendation carries a specific lineage. The Guardian lists Pushbike under "Recommended if you like: Boyracer, the Promise Ring, Rites of Spring" — a triangulation of post-hardcore, twee and emo that maps the band's sound precisely. Boyracer brings the fuzzy UK indie pop, the Promise Ring the midwestern emo hookcraft, Rites of Spring the hardcore founding fire.

What does the EP actually deliver?

According to the Guardian's write-up, the record is built on three signature elements:

• "crooked hook" songwriting
• "euphoric yelp" vocals
• "cheesewire guitar lead" lines

The paper's verdict is that each of these "feels like an invitation to form a band, draw a flyer, or book a show" — a description that positions Pushbike not merely as a band to listen to, but as a spur to participation.

That framing sits at the centre of the Guardian's larger argument. The reviewer writes: "It's tempting to view any half-decent scene as either a magical happening or a simple quirk of geography and timing. In reality, they're more like monuments to the importance of showing up."

For scenes to keep happening, the piece argues, "you need bands like Pushbike" — groups whose mere existence models the do-it-yourself behaviour that keeps local music alive.

Who are Pushbike?

• From: Exeter, UK
• Style: fuzz-pop drawing on post-hardcore, twee and emo
• Reference points: Boyracer, the Promise Ring, Rites of Spring
• Release: Little Bastard EP, out now

The Guardian's headline calls the band's sound a "fizzing fuzz-pop racket", and its standfirst credits the trio with an "intoxicating energy" — language that treats the EP as a physical event rather than a passive listen.

Why a 10-minute EP matters

The sub-10-minute runtime is itself the statement. Four songs, no fat, each one a compressed argument for the format's urgency. The Guardian's placement of Pushbike alongside the week's best new tracks signals that brevity and brevity's cousins — momentum, enthusiasm, momentum again — still earn national attention.

The Little Bastard EP is out now, and if the Guardian's invitation lands as intended, the next artifact it inspires may not be a record at all, but a flyer on a wall in Exeter.