Here we have a marvellous debut LP from a Berlin-based group that – after a post punk-ish instrumental intro reminding me in equal parts of The Estranged and oldschool west coast punk of the Adolescents, Germs and Agent Orange variety – mostly settles into a heavily Spits-indebted, occasianally somewhat Ramones-ish garage punk sound enriched with a certain space punk ingredient reminiscent of such groups as Corpus Earthling, Silicon Heartbeat, Stalins of Sound, Zoids and Mateo Manic or, fairly recently, Shrudd, Zulo and Electric Prawns 2, although the aforementioned post punk vibes also return occasionally in tunes like Freiheit and Vittima. Seamlessly glued together by rock-solid songwriting qualities throughout, this makes for a flawless all-killer record getting the optimal bang for the buck out of a time-tested oldschool formula.
On their second album, this grop from the small town of Torquay, Australia – just a stone’s throw from Geelong and still within comfortable driving distance from Melbourne – sets off ten punchy instances of dead-aim Garage Punk of the almost stereotypically australian-sounding variety that seems equally indebted to Saints, Birdman and New Christs as to some classic AC/DC-style shredding and regarding more recent happenings, the likes of Split System, Pist Idiots and the earlier works of Civic heavily suggest themselves here as comparisons or, in a way, this may also kinda be the record those disappointed by the shockingly lifeless latest Mini Skirt LP would have wished for. This is some completely old-fashioned Rock’n’Roll that largely plays by the established rules but makes it all work thanks to a neverending stream of catchy hooks and determined performances.
Once again a real knockout tape brought to us by the reliable New York purveyor of varyingly punk-related eccentricities, Fuzzy Warbles Cassettes. The opening track No Kill Means immediatelty radiates kind of an art punk vibe á la Television-meet-Ruts or more recently, Peace de Résistance or later Institute. Soft Change then takes a way more abstract, minimalist post punk route, quite cold and rigid but kinda funky at the same time. Cave One is a relatively straightforward, but by no means dumb, scrap of catchy garage punk and so is All Skill Levels with its equally post- and proto punk-ish vibes and an additional layer of dissonant noise. Great Pastures compresses some of these same traits into an unexpectedly catchy and compact little package of tangentially Sonic Youth-esque buzz. Anticev then surprises with a lot of a surf rock feel. And so it goes on… this is an eclectic grab bag of a record that pulls a new surprise out of its hat at every corner and quite woundrously doesn’t drop the ball even once but rather feels weirdly coherent and methodical in its shapeshifting approach.
This London group recorded their debut LP in a single day at Abbey Road. Does that actually matter all that much? I don’t think so but anyway, this thing sounds kinda neat, unexpectedly raw and unpolished. Right out of the gate, Defenestration greets us with a melodic and slightly folk-ish post punk vibe somewhere inbetween the worlds of Mission Of Burma, Sebadoh, Volcano Suns, Angst, Polvo or Medications, followed by a somewhat Wire-esque post punk exercise with hints of mid-2000s Indie Rock in Sinnes, the latter of which places this among my least favorite things on here along with the somewhat sleepy and undercooked Cruel Tutelage. Thankfully, Liar then picks up speed again in a mix of oldschool garage punk and a Mudhoney-esque Fuzz Punk-/Neo-Grunge vibe, some of which also resonates through the straightforward punk smasher Bumble Been before Red Fuzz leads into the overall much stronger secod half of the album with its catchiest pop tune so far. Pink Liquor then is a compact no-frills burst of noisy garage punk excellence and Automated Response sounds like yet another early Wire tribute right out of the Pink Flag Playbook, a much more well-balanced one this time though. Cavern Killer adds a bit of a rather contemporary sounding post punk and noise rock vibe to the mix before I Love You ends the record with a flawless oldschool oddity of the heavily ’77 and KBD-influenced variety.
This Cleveland, Ohio group weaves compact and simple gems of moderately spaced-out, egg-ish garage- and synth punk into a neat little package of catchy delirium that reminds me of a quite colorful bunch of groups á la Metdog, The Gobs, SGATV, Sex Mex, Hyperdog, Beta Máximo or Apero and this shit is every bit as good as any of these.
If there ever was such a thing as a covid bump for any artist, that must’ve been the case for Brooklyn healthpunk one-man-band Dr. Dence, although they already predated the pandemic by a good bit and certainly are still kinda topical with America going through a whole new wave of public health insanity. Anyway, the dude’s newest EP presents him in what may be his best form yet, every one of these four slightly oldschool egg-ish smashers being a rock-solidly engineered burst of expertly shredding no-frills catchy garage punk goodness.
Here’s yet another new nicho for you that’s so top fucking secret you can find it on bandcamp! On the successor to last year’s Dining Nothing / Sin Agenda Para La Muerte single, the group from Rosario, Argentinia delivers more of that same greatness drenched in the murky waters of eighties post-, garage- and art punk with an additional layer of fuzzy psychedelia on top that makes this record a neat companion piece to that recent Zulo EP which, coincidentally, has been released just a couple weeks prior on the very same local boutique label, Fake Sex Tape.
Last year’s WE R TY EP was among that year’s outstanding releases in the realm of varyingly egg-ish garage-, post- and art punk and the detroit group’s newest EP can’t disappoint either with the operner Stuck having a distinct ’77-adjacent quality somewhat akin to the earliest Vaguess records and indeed the previously quite prominent eggpunk elements get dialed down here considerably in favor of a more rustic and raw sound, more proplsive than ever before. Oh, and there’s a Jimi Hendrix cover which ain’t too embarrassing either, though the real meat here is in these three relentlessly catchy original tunes, that’s for sure.
Our favorite ukrainian eggpunk odditiy Завірюга sure have shaken up their sound a good bit for their newest EP, doing away with the guitars altogether so the bass really takes center stage this time, complemented by minimalist synths and electronics that overall push these songs in a slighty noise rock- and industrial-leaning direction, resulting in what i consider their strongest and freshest record in a good while. Keep an eye on these dudes, you never know what they’re up to next.
Kickass new shit from what appears to be a Melbourne-based duo… or trio? I dunno, the info on bandcamp is a bit ambiguous in that regard. Also, Billiam was involved in capturing this noise. which so far has always been a good omen too. Anyway, these two tunes are right up my alley with that noisy and blown-out fuzz- and garage punk sound that sounds a bit as if The Gobs got fused with a bit of that eighties noise rock- and proto-grunge energy of groups á la X (AUS), Scratch Acid, Fungus Brains, U-Men or Feedtime.
