Reader Score No score yet, be the first to add. 0.0 Genre: Rock Label: Slumberland Release Date: 2026 By 1996, every band with a guitar felt the pressure to crank its amps as loud as possible, and even indie pop fans heard the clean jangle of prior years give way to the distorted crunch and Psychocandy worship of bands like Black Tambourine and Henry’s Dress. Those making more bookish and insular styles of the genre, like the Magnetic Fields and Belle and Sebastian, weren’t being worshipped as critical darlings; in some cases their records hadn’t made it to America yet. Rocketship’s 1996 debut, A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness, then, sits at the crossroads, marking a transition between the raucous, exuberant indie pop of its moment and the more tender, literary form the genre would soon take. For its 30th anniversary this month, the album has received a simple reissue: no B-sides, demos, or liner notes, just a remaster that sounds approximately 15 percent sharper.…