California group Lamictal follow up last year's insane pair of EPs with another strong tape, their overall vision coming across a little more focused on here which might in part be a result of ever-so-slightly increased production values… although polished would certainly be the wrong word here as their curious mixture of garage punk, hard-, post- and weirdcore is still filthy as fuck, upredictable and hyperactive, overwhelming the senses for just under four minutes before getting the fuck out as quickly as they turned up. Mandatory shit for friends of, say, Big Bopper, Rolex or early Patti.
Damn, it appears for some weird reason i've skipped posting about all previous releases of this Minneapolis group here, begging the question of what the fuck has been wrong with me all the time. While i'm consulting my therapist about that, lemme just say that this newest Citric Dummies LP is a perfect knockout punch of early '80s-influenced-oldschool-energy-meets-contemporary-garage-punk goodness packing an extra punch due to the always excellent production duties of garage prodigy Erik Nervous, of whom we're gonna hear again this week. While the Hüsker Dü-referencing title and artwork feel kinda goofy at first glance, they're also not entirely out of place as these songs conjure up a fury not entirely dissimilar to the Dü in their prime but similar things could be said of early Naked Raygun, Adolescents, an occasional hint of Bad Brains or a touch of Dickies in their catchiest moments. Every fucking song on here is a simple and precise, premeditated hit in the guts, their incredible song wizardry never failing to land even once.
This Portland Group's third full length further refines their explosive formula of seriously noise- and slightly garage-infused postcore into their most realized and elaborate effort do date, their hyperactive vision of structured chaos constantly shapeshifting and throwing curveballs all the way, leading into all kinds of interesting maneuvers. Although no two songs are too much alike on here, the most frequently applicable comparisons i can come up with are groups such as the various incarnations of New York's Kaleodoscope, early Bad Breeeding, Acrylics and, in some parts, Crisis Man, early Video and Ascot Stabber.
This LP by Vancouver's Chain Whip, now available via Drunken Sailor and Neon Taste, is hardcore punk done right, simple as that - a huge bucket bursting at the seams full of catchy septic oldschool fun, spiked with a subtle touch of '77 spirit in no-frills smashers á la Hate Wave. If you dislike groups of the Imploders, Headcheese, Illiterates, Fried E/m or Cement Shoes type, you're sure gonna hate this one too!
Just weeks after their recent tape on Iron Lung Records here's a new one already by this, presumably, icelandic group, this time again coming to us courtesy of dungeon-/blackened-/experimental specialist label Grime Stone Records and it's their strongest, most fully realized one so far if you ask me. Take the rough specs and traits of black metal, noisy synth-, hardcore- and electro punk, complement that unrelenting force with a slightly eggpunk-y aesthetic that just seems a little too cute and quirky in face of all that grimness and you just might end up with something similar to what these folks are going for.
This Kaloomps, British Columbia group's second LP now sees their kickass 2022 EP Best Before 2022 expanded into a full length, carrying more of that same kind of unpredictable chaotic hardcore mayhem - often rather simplistic at first glance but rich in elaborate detail once you take a closer look, enhanced with some appropriately rowdy garage- and KBD vibes which i'd say place them in relative proximity to such groups as, say, Cement Shoes, Fried E/m, Mystic Inane, Tarantüla, G.U.N., Cheap Heat or Imploders.
On this Oslo group's debut EP, an attitude and aesthetic inbetween the worlds of egg- and dungeon punk is given a distinctly far eastern theme. In the context of a genre cluster that makes a point of making no fucking sense, this makes about perfect fucking sense i'd say! Am i making any sense? Who cares, this shit is fun!
This group's second cassette on Impotent Fetus or Down South Tapes or whatever it's called this week, considerably one-ups their previous one in terms of undiluted fury while carrying across all the traits we've come to expect from that label's output - rough and grimy as fuck yet unexpectedly catchy at the same time. A perfect storm of garage- and KBD-infested hardcore primitivism.
A brilliant new release brought to us by Gimmie Records, the record label extension of the fabulous Gimme Gimmie Gimmie blog-/zine empire. Piss Shivers are a Brisbane duo whose debut LP kicks up a highly flammable fuss located vaguely inside the Garage-, Post Punk and Postcore coordinates, sometimes reminding me of a Crisis Man-meet-Hot Snakes hybrid while at other points you might be reminded of early Teenanger, the pitch-black postcore dystopias of Video, VHS or the furious anger of Wymyns Prysyn. Further i'm recalling the likes of Xetas, Gaffer, Ascot Stabber and Batpiss… maybe a bit of Zhoop/Djinn/Feed energy aswell in the more primitive, straightforward moments.
I hadn't heard from these Nashville folks for a long time after their promising demo in 2019. Well, they're back now and their sound's more furious than ever, brewing up a perfect storm of garage-infused hardcore punk with hints of, say, Acrylics, early Electric Chair, Launcher, Liquid Assets, Mystic Inane, Cement Shoes and Crisis Man being just a few of the things that pop into my head at first glance.
