Treeboy & Arc – Red
Goose releases April 10th via Clue Records.
Crache – Mécanique Antipathique
Plein Soleil releases March 13th via Howlin Banana Records.
Goose Eggs – The Whistleblower (I Never Told You Anything You Didn’t Already Know)
DBR – Unbearable
New noises from a dude who’s not only been playing in a whole shit-ton of highly regarded Berlin-based groups like Benzin, Pigeon, Liiek, Molde and Deltoids over the years but has also been cooking up his own very own little musical treats as a solo act under the Dee Bee Rich or DBR moniker for many years now. Two years after his previous self-titled tape already marked a huge step ahead from the more scrappy and quirky DIY Lo-Fi aesthetics of earlier releases towards a more coherent and fleshed-out musical vision, his newest LP shows further refinement and an expanded breadth of stylistic flourishes and influences. While the opener Smirched could well pass for an (excellent) outtake from that last Liiek album, Unacceptable already surprises us in spicing up the familiar post punk formula with some kinda ’77-ish guitar leads. Pool then adds a melodic sensibility to it of a kind you’d rather expect from more recent Institute releases for example, followed by Hold Me Tight on which this record finally reaches full catchy pop equilibrium, no doubt the most impressive demonstration of a matured songwriting craft that oozes out of every pore here and elevates every second of this killer record.
Album-Stream →Rifle – Rifle
Anything these Londoners have touched so far has been a fuckin’ treat from day one and it still holds true now on their first full-length effort, even though they may have somewhat streamlined their sound in the meantime and traded in some of their early fuzzy garage- and Hot Snakes-esque postcore vibes for something of an Oi! and classic eighties punk- and hardcore-affine aesthetic. That said, what’s always stayed the same in their discography though is the straightforwardly constructed but always structurally sound nature of their catchy and thoroughly whippin’ punk attacks and there’s no lack of that on this record either, which starts out strong and only gets better from there, as they’ve saved up some of their most infectious tunes for the second half here. Once again this is some must-listen shit for admirers of such groups as Ascot Stabber, Beast Fiend, Crisis Man or Wymyns Prysyn just to name a few.
Album-Stream →Winky Frown – ;(iv
These canadians uphold their reputation as one of the classiest and most fun acts the current eggpunk landscape has to offer on their newest EP, with exception of Slop maybe, which is indeed the intentionally sloppiest thing they’ve slopped on us so far on an otherwise simultaneously familiar and predictably unpredictable record, delivering all the goods and thrills and surprises you’ve come to expect of a Winky Frown record.
Album-Stream →Social Ills – Never Recover
There’s a strikingly economic, down-to-earth quality to this Portland-based group’s debut EP, on which they serve up six highly flammable concoctions of eighties-style punk and hardcore with only the slightest hint of a present-day garage punk extension, all of which these dudes pull of with sleepwalking ease and class by way of a neverending string of simple and catchy hooks.
Album-Stream →Institute – The Shooter
Institute releases February 20th via Anti Fade Records.
Landowner – Rival Males
Assumption releases February 27th via Exploding In Sound Records.
Dead Finks – Anodyne
New Plastik Abyss releases March 27th via Bretford Records.
