The debut cassingle (?) of this Seattle group delivers a way too short yet altogether exciting synth- and garage punk freakout, the A-side HTCM in Block City bursting with an energy not too distant from acts like Liquid Face, Klint, Mononegatives, Ghoulies or Slimex. As for the B-Side Jerk Squad… Is krautwave an actual genre? 'Cos that's exactly what i'd describe this stuff as.
Now this is a kickass, impressively confident longplaying debut assembled by some dude from Brasília, Brazil out of only the finest bits and pieces contemporary DIY garage punk has to offer with acts like Andy Human and the Reptoids, Erik Nervous, Spodee Boy, Nick Normal or Belly Jelly particularly coming to mind, spiced up with occasional outbursts of Skull Cult-esque pandemonium. Even some psychedelic vibes á la Mononegatives, Osees or Pow! get mixed in, culminating in the monolithic acid punk one-two punch of Dddelirium and Plague V.
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Don't expect too many surprises from the newest Vintage Crop LP but expect plenty of goodness nonetheless, following that certain garage punk formula the Melbourne group certainly did their part to establish in tandem with fellow acts such as Pinch Points, Dumb, Uranium Club and Aborted Tortoise, of which they deliver a slightly more straightforward and catchy variant here, also containing some occational traces of stuff like Patti, Parquet Courts or Institute. The two standouts here are the slower jams Impact of Wisdom and The Bloody War in which their songwriting qualities really get to shine, the latter one also carrying a melancholy, distinctly wire-esque vibe.
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From some uncertain place in Bavaria, Germany comes this beauty of an EP meddling in a fittingly nebulous, fuzz-laden genre spectrum between garage- and acid punk, psych- and space rock. A required listen for, among others, connoisseurs of noise in the vein of Destruction Unit, Osees, Super-X, Hamer, Ounce, Faux Ferocious or Draggs.
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I rarely get too exited about the current generation of shoegaze-related groups, who for the most part seem perfectly content with just creating a pleasant soundscape to fall asleep to and soon forget about. This Paris group, however, does not only have the sonics, but also the drive and the hooks to make it stick, finding kind of a workable middle ground between the obvious golden-era Shoegaze acts (especially a strong Bailter Space vibe going on here), some early Sarah Records pop and more recent noise pop examples of the Gold Bears, Seablite or Flyying Colours variety.
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The newest EP of Rhode Island one-man-band Germ House aka Justin Hubbard carries another strong batch of songs in their trademark juxtaposition of rustic post punk abstraction and a folky undercurrent. Especially in the first half, these songs feel a tad more developed than usual this time while still retaining their overall quirkiness and their minimalist, fragmentary charme.
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Seven more inches of undiluted greatness from Berlin post punk stalwarts Pigeon. The a-side is a turbocharged stremroller just as catchy as it's abrasive while the b-side track goes a more cumbersome, slow and stubborn route to a no less pulverizing effect.
I'm sure everyone's already taken notice, but i can't leave that one out here, a new release by the only german punk group i've ever heard of. In a nutshell, Pisse are still very much Pisse (and yes, that is indeed the german word for piss), their jet of yellow liquid still being very precisely focused on the various processes and phenomena involved in the gradual crushing of the human soul in that society of ours while not sparing the punk scene their due amount of ridicule either. Their music on the fringes of post- and garage punk ain't nothing to be embarrassed about either, even in the closing track Favorit, which drags some Suicide-esque synth minimalism through a decidedly german schlager hell.
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This project revolving around Jim Blaha (The Blind Shake, Jim and the French Vanilla) and Annie Sparrows (Soviettes, Awesome Snakes) sounds quite unlike any of Jim Blaha's other groups that i'm aware of on their second LP, these songs without exception having a dreamy, melancholy power pop vibe and an unlikely post punk edge to them - kinda like a mix between Radioactivity, Mind Spiders and a slightly muted The Estranged fused together by rock solid songwriting chops.
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A strong little batch of melodic garage punk by some UK group - fans of stuff like Radioacticity, Sweet Reaper, Ex-White, Booji Boys, Telecult, Steve Adamyk Band or Sonic Avenues listen up!
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