Sometimes a typo on a cake is all the inspiration you need. Mike Chick — Asbury Park, NJ musician and member of the critically lauded Yawn Mower — is dropping his new solo LP ‘Congarts’ via Mint 400 Records on April 17th, and yes, the name is exactly what you think it is. Someone once wrote “Congarts” on a cake meant for Chick, and instead of correcting it, he filed it away and eventually made it the title of his third LP. That’s the most rock and roll origin story for an album title we’ve heard in a while.
He’s sharing the new single Atom Bomb along with a b-side cover of Guided By Voices’ Teenage FBI. Give them both a spin:
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube
Watch the music video for Tomorrow Is All A Blur on YouTube below
“‘Atom Bomb’ was the voice memo that turned into the blueprint for ‘Congarts,'” Chick shares. “It was one of the first songs recorded, along with ‘Tomorrow Is All A Blur’. These were supposed to be released as a single and b-side, but I liked how they both came out so much, I figured I would keep writing and recording and see where it goes. Some time later we have Congarts, my third LP.”
‘Congarts’ follows Chick’s 2023 solo effort ‘More Thrills, Less Hills’ and carries that same loose, mixtape-for-a-friend energy. The palette here is wonderfully eclectic — drum machine and combo organ-fueled tracks, a rock song about spiders, acoustic numbers, and an intermission featuring actual crickets recorded in Chick’s backyard. Yawn Mower’s 2025 album turned heads at Stereogum, NPR Music, The Aquarian, Magnet Magazine, and New Noise, and ‘Congarts’ feels like the natural creative overflow from that momentum.
Chick recorded most of the LP himself at Waving Cat from Summer 2024 to Fall 2025, squeezing sessions in between Yawn Mower work and other projects. “I just came to the point where I wanted to be working on music all the time,” he says. “I don’t want to take any breaks from it… I consistently chipped away at Congarts for a few hours here and there, and before you knew it the thing was almost done.” The record was mixed by Rudy Meier (Bristler, Yawn Mower) and mastered by Pat Noon at eightsixteen recording.
One of the real secret weapons on ‘Congarts’ is vocalist Martin Howth (A Real Human Jazz Band), who appears on every track. “I’ve been a fan of Martin Howth’s since the first time I saw her perform,” says Chick. Their collaboration started with a Minutemen cover of Corona for a Mint 400 comp, and by the halfway point of recording ‘Congarts’, Chick couldn’t imagine the rest of the songs without her. We get it.
Bob Paulos (Neon Rayon, Shut Up) also shows up, handling drums and engineering on There’s a Spider and laying down guitar and synth on the Teenage FBI cover. “Bob ripped on this one,” Chick says plainly. And then there’s Nicole Scorsone, who came in on a rainy day and built what Chick describes as a beautiful wall of violin and viola on King of Cool. “If you put on headphones you can hear the rain on the track,” he notes. “I’m a fan if a train going by or the rain gets recorded. It all adds to the vibe of the record.” We are absolutely putting on headphones for that.
‘Congarts’ drops April 17th on all streaming platforms via Mint 400 Records. Follow Mike Chick below and don’t sleep on this one.
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