Okay… this is an easy one to explain. You just put equal amounts of MC5 and Bad Brains into a blender and the result will have a taste similar to whatever this group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania does on its third not-quite-an-LP. As simple as that and every bit as electrifying as you might hope for.
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This Philadelphia band's debut tape via State Champion Records already makes an excellent first impression. Distinctly 90's indie rock vibes akin to Breeders or more recent stuff by Melkbelly collide with rather contemporary sounding post punk elements, somwhat comparable to WALL or The Baby, radiating a wonderfully crude, off-kilter charme throughout.
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Cleveland's The Cowboy are back! Two years after their explosive debut album, the group featuring members of Pleasure Leftists and Homostupids haven't lost their ability to kick ass with a sound oscillating between garage- and post punk, noise rock overtones, an abrasive surface combined with disarming catchyness. All this reminds me of bands like Plax, Ex-Cult, Shark Toys and Flat Worms. Also, in a rather unexpected turn of events, we get exposed to a laid back indierockin' instrumental tune on the b-side.
Here's an ultra neat attack made of noise-drenched hard-/postcore by a band from Denver, Colorado. Think of a curious mixture of Lumpy & The Dumpers, Anxiety, Cülo or their quasi-successors Tarantüla.
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Shit Giver's 2017 debut album left quite an impression on me with its ambitious and versatile vision of post punk, bursting with excentric ideas and unpredictable song structures. The L.A. group's first new music in almost three years doesn't fail to amaze and surprise once again. It's their melodic songwriting abilities that come into sharp focus here, taking shape as an irresistible mix of post punk, power- and goth pop, developing a catchyness i wasn't prepared for. Meaningless ignites some unexpectedly straightforward pop fireworks, complete with a borderline-cheesy sax solo, the kind of which a lesser song wouldn't survive, but in this case i can't help but percieve it as a well-deserved climax. Transition seamlessly continues their newfound love for gloomy pop, but also proves that Shit Giver haven't lost their taste for elaborate structures, either.
This Vancouver outfit's second tape is such a massive load of fun. Their playful style of post punk balances with ease between its rough edged textures and highly danceable grooves, which puts their sound right in the middle between the excentric punk rock of acts like Negative Scanner or Twisted on one hand, the infectious rhythms of Slumb Party or Rapid Tan on the other.
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This excellent Debut EP by Liverpool's Sallow Pillow easily wins me over with its flavor of straight and effective, slightly surf-infused garage punk right in the vein of Black Lips, early Ty Segall or Debate Club. You can also sense a consistent Gun Club vibe as well as a certain post punk edge similar to Luxury or scandinavian acts like Holograms and RA. And to make things complete, when they roll out some americana influences like in Wear Out The Rope i can't help but feel positively reminded of Vaguess.
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With their third Album, Chicago's Luggage deliver a seamless continuation of the qualities established on their 2017 effort Three, even double down on those. Fittingly and unmistakably recorded at Electrical Audio, a brittle, often crawling sound in the rough area of Noise- and Math Rock, Post- and Slowcore allows itself ample time to unfold and sounds a lot like their hometown in the late 80s to 90s. Or, at different points, like a more straightforward Shellac, slow motion Tar, much louder Slint or an even more bleak variant of Codeine.
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Alien Nosejob seem to become the kind of band where Ausmuteants singer Jake Robertson only does whatever the fuck he wants to at the moment. They started out as a more or less exact copy of his more well known band, then it started to get unpredictable as they ventured into retro tearjerker power pop, among other things. Also, we had to suffer through a maxi single of ultra-cheesy synth pop. This time they make it easier for me: It's hardcore. It rotates 45 times a minute. And it's very good.
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After a number of incredible EPs, it took Santa Rosa's Acrylics a good two years to assemble their fist long player, which - to no real surprise - turns out to be their most varied and mature chunk of noise. Their ambitious, but simultaneously always perfectly coherent mix of styles draws a perfect triangle between the dark post punk of Criminal Code, hardcore punk of the quite punishing variety reminiscent of Cülo, Hate Preachers, Impulso and forward thinking Postcore of acts like Ivy and Bad Breeding.
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