In a noise rock world mostly dominated by pretentious wankers content with reproducing the done-to-death "leftover doom riffs played with odd time signatures (that makes us math rock, i guess…)" formula ad nauseam, Canada's Nearly Dead have always kinda stuck out from the sad status quo not through smarts but through sheer primitive force and a very oldschool approach to sludge-infested noise rock, reminiscent of ancient genre artifacts by the likes of Cows, Killdozer, Cherubs, Fungus Brains, Scratch Acid… plus countless of deep cuts from the classic AmRep catalogue. These tunes make me wanna take a shower - a rare quality these days.
Always a nice thing to have in your house these ghoulies… The Perth group's newest EP might be their most catchy and upbeat batch of tunes so far and should please the discerning connoisseur of garage-/synth/eggpunk phenomena in the vicinity of, say, Research Reactor Corp, Cherry Cheeks, Alien Nosejob, Satanic Togas… just to name a few.
The Washington group's full length debut is certainly the most Dischord-sounding new Dischord release i've heard in years, liberally but skillfully plundering its way through fourty years of postcore legacy like a wonderful anachronism. That makes an old fart like me brim with joy and given the participants involved here - all of them having had their part in shaping the aforementioned legacy - i'm not at all surprised by the strength of this album.
Haven't heard from this L.A. garage-/synth-/hair Punk project for quite a while. Anyway, this weirdo's newest cassette once again has an abundance of beautifully retarded DIY cock rock miniature madness in store for us.
Awesome post punk from Copenhagen that appears to inherit quite a bit of the city's previous musical DNA, especially from the early 2010s era when acts like Lower and early Iceage reigned supreme and more groups like Melting Walkmen, Echo People or Spines cropped up in their wake. Haevner's debut LP infuses that certain formula with a strong melodic sensibility and some goth and (oh-so-fashionable, as of late) death rock vibes while international acts such as Criminal Code, Sievehead, The Estranged, Holograms or Pretty Hurts don't seem too far off either at some points.
it took them a while but finally this Austin, Texas group's debut album has reached our shores and oh boy, is this a rare spectacle wildly surpassing any expactations i might've had for this one. Their sound is clearly and heavily inspired by certain parts of the SST Records era, prime among these being the folk-/americana-infused punk rock of Angst, early Meat Puppets and Minutemen while at the same time you might find bits and pieces of Saccharine Trust, early Dinosaur Jr. or Mission Of Burma in there and in more recent years, certain aspects of this lineage have been kept alive by a diverse cluster acts such as Milk Music, Chronophage, Dead Finks, Dharma Dogs and The Molds. Or Woolen Men, just maybe, if you stretch your imagination a bit.
New garage punk mayhem set on fire by a Greensboro, North Carolina group. The EP starts off with a strong cowpunk vibe reminiscent of shit like Deodorant, Spodee Boy, Optic Nerve… also Leche and Murderer, maybe? Subsequent songs then settle into a more conventional but no less exciting garage punk direction provoking comparisons to kickass groups of the Cutie, Erik Nervous and Sick Thoughts bracket.
Another australian supergroup made up of folks who gave us, among others, the wonders of C.O.F.F.I.N, White Dog, Research Reactor Corp, Satanic Togas, Stiff Richards, Split System and Cutters - a fuckin' who's who of recent garage punk goodness down under. Of course Polute delivers the goods, with a twist though as there's a strong oldschool "heavy"-/speed metal vibe imprinted here on the familiar garage punk sound, reminding me of fairly recent acts á la Tarantüla, Cement Shoes and even the incredible Poison Ruïn may serve as a viable comparison - dungeon dwellers will approve for sure.
You can't ever go wrong with another EP by Orlando's melodic synth-, garage- and post punk powerhouse Cherry Cheeks who achieved some kind of punk rock quasi-nighthood last year as signified by their first LP being released on Total Punk. The newest self-released bunch of tracks delivers more of the same catchy goodness with slight similarities to groups like Freak Genes, Powerplant, Trashdog, Warm Exit, Alien Nosejob and Set-Top Box.
This montreal group's debut EP delights with a batch of fairly melodic, simple-and-effective little smashers in the realm of garage pop, fuzz- and post punk reminding me of a particular cluster of groups from a few years ago including acts such as Feature, Negative Scanner, Slowcoaches and UV-TV. Also, in Get Loose, there's a distinct Wire vibe at play here and y'all know i'm a sucker for that kind of shit.
