King Tuff’s Kyle Thomas is an in-demand guitarist and producer who worked with artists like J Mascis, Hand Habits, and Hunx while crafting a series of albums that show off his encyclopedic knowledge of glitzy, glammy rock & roll. Initial records like 2008’s Was Dead grabbed sounds and hooks from power pop, the British Invasion, frizzy psychedelia, and punk while sounding like they were cooked under the heat of a mini-mart heat lamp. By the time of 2018’s The Other, Thomas had tired of his party animal persona and sought to explore his inner self while scaling back the noise, a process he continued with the help of Sasami Ashworth on 2023’s Smalltown Stardust, an almost guitar-less, poignantly nostalgic indie pop record.