The Wilful Boys – Heaven
World, Ward, Word, Sword releases May 6th via Big Neck Records.
Clamm – Bit Much
Care releases June 20th via Meat Machine / Chapter Music.
Bleakness – Dancing With Darkness
Life at a Standstill releases June 17th via Sabotage Records.
Sinaïve – Ténèbres
Super 45 t. releases May 27th via Hidden Bay Records.
Off Peak Arson – Closed Curtains
Death Bag – Simplify
Death Bag releases May 13th.
Peace De Résistance – Bits and Pieces
When this New York dude’s enchanting and bewildering 2020 debut EP Hedgemakers hit, i didn’t have the slightest clue who’s the mastermind behind Peace De Résistance. Turns out it’s none other than Institute vocalist Moses Brown – yeah, kinda makes sense in retrospect, i guess. Dunno how i missed that. His first longplayer now unfolds a somewhat more elaborate, yet still pretty minimalist soundscape that once again feels out of place in all the best ways – a time capsule of hazy false memories weaving early strains of proto-, art- and post punk into a vivid, semi-plausible case of the Mandela effect.
Album-Stream →Straw Man Army – SOS
The second longplayer (ignoring last year’s Her Majesty’s Ship OST) by this Kaleidoscope-adjacent New York duo sees their sonics shifting into a comparatively downbeat, darker and more cumbersome, yet equally rewarding direction. There’s simply no other group quite like them in the current post punk/-core landscape and these chaps clearly maintain their position on the cutting edge of contemporary (art-/post-)punk while simultaneously being perfectly aware of its rich history, culminating in what to me is the crowning achievement of this album – the slow-burning, sprawling Beware, which kinda sounds like classic landmark records of the Chairs Missing and The Argument caliber boiled down to their very essence.
Album-Stream →Red Gaze – Healing Games
Another excellent EP by that band from Graz, Austria with a sound more akin to some random Berlin group, members of whom are also playing in whatever other group you might also have heard of… i don’t remember exactly and can’t be bothered to look that shit up right now, okay? Post punk with an ever-so-slight death rock undercurrent. Yeah, Berlin-esque as i already mentioned, think like… Diät, Pigeon, Clock Of Time but also with some similarity to powerhouse US acts á la Rank Xerox or Institute.
Album-Stream →Beige Banquet – Export / Additive
Live! Live! Live! releases April 28th via Just Step Sideways Records.
