Orlando's Cherry Cheeks aka some dude by the name Kyle Harms has already made some waves last year with a string of four increasingly awesome EPs, yet his debut full length on Total Punk feels a bit unexpected as it, for the most part, departs from the heavily synth-based garage- and power pop sound of its predecessors for a somewhat more conventional, guitar-centric DIY garage punk aesthetic. That certainly doesn't mean these new songs were lacking any of the earlier releases' thrills - this shit's a rather inventive and unpredictable affair once again, quirky and catchy as fuck, bearing some similaritiy to acts like Freak Genes, Powerplant or Set-Top Box.
Doesn't look like these texans are gonna run out of tunes anytime soon, having just cranked out their second album over the course of just a few months. Thankfully the mix is a bit less tinnitus-inducing this time while the new songs seamlessly continue the wonderful chaos Big Bopper established earier this year, made up of post- and garage punk, noise- and math rock elements roughly in the vein of Patti, Rolex, Cutie, Mystic Inane or Brandy, plus some traces of early Minutemen.
In an act of criminal negligence i somehow failed to post any of the previous EPs by Smirk, the solo Project of Nick Vicario whose other groups Public Eye, Crisis Man and Cemento might ring a bell with regular visitors of this blog. After both EPs were compiled into an LP by Drunken Sailor Records earlier this year, we already get to enjoy his newest extended play via Total Punk / Iron Lung Records on which his ultra laid-back though never sleepy take on sample-backed garage punk sounds the most mature yet, more to the point and catchier than ever before.
Perfectly exhilerating shit, the first crumbs of noise we get from some group or project that might or might not be based in Los Angeles. The first two tracks deliver a flavor of electrically driven garage punk taking cues from acts like Mononegatives, Useless Eaters, Powerplant, RRC or Alien Nosejob while the closing track ups the weirdness considerably, going all-in on pure synth punk mayhem.
Now that's what i call kidpunk… It's the most heartwarming beautiful kickass thing i've heard in a while and i'm way too soft to withstand that kind of shit anyway. Nuff said.
Following their 2018 album Hunk, which somehow didn't really click with me, the Reno, Nevada group's newest EP manages to hit all the right spots this time while never repeating itself, covering a sonic range spanning from oldschool AmRep- and Touch & Go-style noise rock, hardcore punk reminiscent of early Die Kreuzen and in its closing track, some Drive Like Jehu-esque Postcore.
It only took them like… twelve years but finally the Munich duo has released their second 7" via Slovenly Recordings and it's an irresistable blast of garage- and electro punk with echoes of The Spits and Stalins Of Sound, plus an unlikely touch of Big Black in the highly combustible opening track Shut Your Face.
Antibodies' third "long"-player presents the group from Charlottestown, Canada as fresh and lovable as ever, delivering yet another brief oldschool burst of slightly noise-infested, fun and somewhat quirky hardcore punk that doesn't overstay its welcome and knows how to keep things interesting throughout.
In case you like your hardcore punk wild, catchy and innocent like it's 1981 on the US west coast… there's your new jam as it won't get much more 1981 than this Toronto group's debut EP. These five ridiculously appealing tunes don't sound anachronistic in the slightest though. Rather, with their timeless garage and KBD vibes, they fit in just as well with contemporary groups á la Launcher, Freakees, Liquid Assets or Cement Shoes.
Some weird-ass shit, this archival release containing the complete recordings, made in or around 2016, of a short-lived Brisbane group… and of course it doesn't take a fucking genius to figure out this is yet another project revolving around eccentric avant-garde guitar torturer Glen Schenau of Kitchen's floor, plus two other dudes who played in Sydney 2000 and Piss Pain respectively. It might be their involvement rendering this stuff almost approachable for a Schenau-related artifact, although by approachable i mean: No more approachable than, say, early The Fall or Membranes records are approachable. If that sounds approachable to you, then this will too!
