Honey Radar

Jason Henn launched Honey Radar by laying down concise, melody-driven indie rock fragments on a four-track in classic lo-fi fashion. Following a string of releases in that vein, he broadened the project to encompass additional players. After aligning with the What's Your Rupture? imprint for a pair of albums—Blank Cartoon in 2016 and Ruby Puff of Dust in 2019—the group stood ready to succeed Guided by Voices in both output volume and caliber, should the latter ever step aside.

Henn first captured material in his Indiana bedroom during the mid-2000s, amassing a substantial body of lo-fi guitar pop that evoked a markedly sober Guided by Voices blended with Rolling Stones influences and regional eccentricity. He soon issued CD-Rs, cassettes, and lathe-cut singles, routing the more conceptual works under his own name while assigning the catchier numbers to Honey Radar. Indiana-based Third Uncle began handling Honey Radar releases, and after Henn moved to Philadelphia the label put out the project's debut full-length, Chain Smoking on Easter, in 2014. Although Henn had assembled a live lineup by then, the album remained a solo home recording. Additional singles appeared afterward, among them 2015's The Rabbit's Voice, which initiated ties with What's Your Rupture?. The label followed with Honey Radar's second album, Blank Cartoon, issued in May 2016 and featuring contributions from live-band members Jesse Stober, Jordan Burgis, Armen Knox, Nathan Paul, and Mario Lopez.

Over the ensuing years the band sustained a rapid release pace. Their splintered pop songs surfaced on singles and EPs through Third Uncle, Chunklet Industries, and It Takes Two, while the group itself put out a CD-R compilation titled Hard-Panning the Nation. In June 2019 What's Your Rupture? delivered another collection of jagged, lo-fi pop titled Ruby Puff of Dust.