Already a handful of releases into their discography, we kinda know what to expect from a new Flat Worms record by now. However, that doesn't mean they're standing still exactly. Rather, with every new release they managed to focus on and expand upon a certain facet of their garage-, psychedelic- and fuzz punk sound, keeping things fresh and interesting at all times. This time, recording with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, the result does not only show Albini's trademark sonic characteristics, but also their overall sound seems to embrace some of his legacy as a producer audio engineer, veering into a distinctly noise rock/postcore direction that, once again, was always subtly present on their previous records but never as much on display as here and might be compared to contemporary bands like Meat Wave, Metz or USA Nails. Other small but pleasant surprises come in the form of the title track - a garage jam you could almost describe as relaxed - as well as the 90s indie rock vibes in Market Forces.
It took a while for new material of these Minneapolis punks to surface after their first two incredible 7"s. I'm glad to say though, that their unique mix of chaotic hard-/garage-/post-/weirdcore lost none of its spark and their refreshing disregard for common genre tropes and conventions is on full display here, making for another five glorious minutes of noise, just as i've come to expect from this group.
While we're at it, speaking of Kitchen People and Warttman Inc., here's another blast of synth punk insanity by some Kitchen People-affiliated solo project, bearing obvious similarities to Warttman acts like Set-Top Box and Research Reactor Corp., with maybe a bit of Digital Leather or Trashdog sprinkled in from time to time.
The mighty Warttman gang's newest recruits are Kitchen People who have already done a few releases before, although - let's be honest here - none of those has been quite as ripping as their newest EP of appropriately weird, quirky muteant garage-/synth punk. These dudes should fit in comfortably with the rest of Warttman's fucked up bunch.
Six years have passed now since Taulard of Grenoble, France put out their utterly enchanting, otherworldly debut album Les Abords Du Lycée. Even after such a long time, there's still no other Band quite like them and their guitar-less, organ-centric, deeply melancholy and eccentric (post-)punk sound that on paper looks like it could never work, but somehow it does.
Cleveland, Ohio's Knowso already had 7"s out on both Total Punk and Neck Chop Records in the past, which kind of amounts to the ultimate seal of quality in today's garage landscape. Their newest EP contiues all the goodness and carefully branches out from there. At times they remind of a mix between Nag, more recent Useless Eaters and Constant Mongrel. Other times i can draw parallels to the weirdo post punk of Patti or the unruly noise-/garage hybrids of Brandy and Hash Redactor - boiled down to their bare skeleton. Also, Turning Point has some Wire thing going on and you know that kind of shit will always be appreciated here.
Somehow i must've overlooked this Chicago quartet's first EP two years ago… gotta catch up on that now, since their new 7" immediately won me over with its first-rate blend of somewhat garage- and hardcore-infused no-fuss punk rock not too far off from Negative Scanner (whose designated guitar user Matt Revers is also among the perpetrators at work here), Vexx and rounded off by a measured dose of Amyl & The Sniffers-esque '77 style riffing.
Sad to hear that not long after their genre-defying/destroying/fucking/deconstructing/exploding album of last year, this EP is already the swan song of North Carolina's hottest address in contemporary hardcore. So take this last chance to marvel at Das Drip's ambitious hardcore/postcore/artcore/weirdcore… certainly never boringcore.
Now this one's a curious beast. Nashville group Donors already won my attention two years ago with their first EP and a somewhat more conventional mix of garage- and post punk, but this is a different level of weirdness altogether, as they infuse their sound with increasing amounts of dissonant no wave havoc and proto noise rock á la Flipper, No Trend. What in the world could i compare this stuff to? Tyvek or Constant Mongrel reimagined as a no wave act? Spray Paint as a garage band? I'm not entirely sure what they actually set out to do but there's no doubt they're succeeding with flying colors. Just when you thought you made sense of the whole thing, the closing track Fine Print manages to surprise once again by adding some Haunted Horses-style industrial flavor to the mix.
The cologne scene appears to be picking up steam in recent months. Newest piece of evidence is this thoroughly enjoyable demo of quirky one-man DIY garage punk somewhat in the vein of acts like Prison Affair, Set-Top Box, T.L.B.M, Dot.Com, Dee Bee Rich… maybe even a bit of early Erik Nervous. Fine stuff!
