Public Figures – Landed In A Trap
Figure It Out releases February 18th via Blow Blood Records.
Jaguar 777 – ’68 Bullet
Jaguar 777 releases February 6th via Target Killer Records.
The Arrivals – Just Like My Brother
Payload releases April 10th via Recess Records.
Anytime Cowboy – Slab Songs
Reuben Sawyer has been active for quite a while already with various groups and projects in a wide variety of musical styles, though he only really entered the 12XU universe in 2023 with Demons Obey, his third LP under the Anytime Cowboy moniker, which has been a strange beast for sure in juxtaposing elements of blues-ish and jangly cowpunk- and garage pop with a somewhat surreal, otherworldly quality anchored by Sawyer’s uncannily calm vocal delivery. His newest LP now may as well be his strongest, most accomplished one yet, streamlining his previously somewhat cluttered disjointed sonic space into an unexpectedly cohesive whole, making his equally odd, catchy and melancholic compositions – enabled by some next-level songwriting chops – glow and sparkle like never before.
Album-Stream →Zulo – El Álbum Blanco
Zulo of Rosario, Argentinia have already accumulated a respectable number of LPs and EPs with a varying sound inbetween the parameters of fuzzed-out psychedelic garage punk, noise- and power pop, but never before have their tunes been as consistently awesome as on this new LP on which they lean in on their more spaced-out tendencies, a psychedelic haze enveloping an impeccable batch of super catchy new tunes that at some points may resemble an oldschool Telescopes, Spacemen 3 or Flying Saucer Attack vibe as much as somewhat more recent shit á la Honey Radar, Far Corners, Germ House or Violent Change.
Album-Stream →Youth Avoiders – Defiance
Damn, it’s been almost eight years now since we’ve last heard of Youth Avoiders on occasion of their 2018 Relentless LP, which i remember having had some lukewarm feelings about, but that’s probably less a reflection of that record’s qualities and more of the not all too sunny place my life has been at in 2018. Anyway, here’s a new Youth Avoiders LP at long last and guess what, it’s every bit as good as anything the Paris group has done so far, excelling in a sound inbetween melodic punk and postcore that’s become kind of a blueprint for countless of predominantly french groups following in their footsteps like Telecult, Nightwatchers, Stalled Minds, Litovsk, Bleakness, Laxisme or Bronco Libre, who in turn have developed it over the years to include varying amounts of post- and garage punk and, even more recently, Oi! elements. Because of that, their music may nowadays be described as pleasantly oldschool and possibly won’t sound quite as unique today as it did back in the early 2010s, but that’s just underscoring the massive influence these folks have had on parts of the scene with a sound that’s actually very much their own.
Album-Stream →Wristwatch – III
If you feel like you’ve heard these songs before, you’re not going nuts ‘cos indeed every single tune on album number 3 by this Madison, Wisconsin-based group has already been on one of their previous two LPs. So on one hand this thing plays out like some kind of best of comp but then again, everything has been re-recorded here, polished up and given a new layer of paint and especially those tunes from the first record – which still left some things to be desired in the production department – have gained a lot of punch and sparkle in what i’ll call their definitive versions now. So basically we’ve got kind of a “first Snooper LP” situation on our hands here and the strongest representation so far of their quite unique blend of super catchy garage- and post punk with psychedelic undercurrents and additional sprinkles of glam and goth, a combination that often reminds me of Powerplant, De()t or Isotope Soap minus the Synths, of Mononegatives, Shrudd or Electric Prawns 2 on the more psychedelic side of the equation and, in their lighter moments, the likes of Erik Nervous, Andy Human & The Reptoids, SGATV, Freak Genes or Cthtr.
Album-Stream →Bungee Jumpers – Not Today…
Now this Brooklyn group kicks up an excellent fuss on what appears to be their second EP so far, churning out eight concise and catchy eruptions of fuzz-heavy garage- and old-fashioned DIY punk that evokes quite a bit of an early 2010s feel reminiscent of Tyvek, Parquet Court or maybe a quite Lo-Fi, rustic incarnation of Wimps, though you could just as well draw comparisons to oldschool KBD-adjacent Acts like The Endtables or The Mentally Ill. There’s an undeniable Desperate Bicycles energy to it aswell and when it comes to more recent shit, i’m sure enjoyers of that fairly recent Winston Hytwrs Perfect Harmony EP might get a kick out of this one too.
Album-Stream →Puke Pisstols – The Lost Recordings
Judging from the title, this Boston group featuring half the lineup of The Monsieurs has just found some recordings and dumped them on bandcamp, so no clue how old this shit actually is, but reading the tea leaves i’ll say it’s fairly recent actually. Anyway, where The Monsieurs have, for my own taste, often been adhering just a bit too closely to an ultra-oldschool, rather basic and well-trodden garage punk retro formula, this shit right here – while still not exactly new or original – has a lot more muscle to it, delivering its old school thrills with plenty of oomph, relying on heavy-duty, resiliant hooks and rock-solid song substance all the way through.
Album-Stream →The Moids – Demos
Insanely appealing shit, this demo by Sydney group The Moids. What starts out with your kinda standard lo-fi electric beats propelling forward a subliminally egg-ish garage punk sound á la S.B.F., 3D & the Holograms or Witch Piss, gains way more of a rough oldschool KBD quality from the second track Maitland Man going forward, reminiscent more of such groups as Launcher, Liquid Assets, Freakees and Mystic Inane, while Long Week has a stripped-down art rock feel not unlike the earliest Peace de Résistance releases.
grAlbum-Stream →