Now that thing’s a treat! Some group from Ciudad López Mateos, Mexico delivers a truckload of pure joy on this tape, condensed into three straightforward-as-fuck bangers made out of fuzzed-out garage- and bubblegum punk with some synth-sweetness on top, transmitting an undiluted sugar rush straight into your bloodstream.
Dollhouse’s 2019 demo already was a thoroughly respectable blast of forward-thinking noise and even more so is their new EP that came out recently via Toxic State Records, thanks to a comparatively slick production putting their sound emanating from a gray area between modern hardcore, post punk and postcore in just the right light, balancing abrasive scuzz with sheer force. The whole thing calls to mind a refreshingly diverse cluster of groups like Mystic Inane, Hot Snakes, Wymyns Prysyn, Launcher, Cement Shoes or Liquid Assets.
Another tasty foursome of catchy, quirky garage- and synthpunk blasts sees this rather mysterious australian group/project continually creeping towards devofied DIY punk perfection, solidifying their ever-rising status among their genre pool’s supreme present-day überdudes.
On their newest EP for Iron Lung Records, the Olympia, Washington group dials down the garage factor of its earlier efforts a few notches without sacrificing their own distinct vibe, skillfully avoiding the pitfalls of a dull oldschool purism by breaking with the tried-and-tested hardcore formulas in all the right moments, while still embracing their timeless potency where it matters.
This Melbourne group’s first longplayer is a seamless continuation of what was already so lovable about their previous EPs. Sure, their style of oldschool garage punk with that undeniable Radio Birdman vibe has grown a quite long beard by now, but what a charming and glorious beard that is! To be fair, they’re also trying out some new things here, at some points letting a touch of Wipers shine through, dabbling in dark post punk or trying their hands at AmRep-style sludgy noise rock. But let’s not kid ourselves here; what this group does best at this moment is knocking out one straightforward yet sophisticated rocker after another with amazing confidence.
For every purchase of this nice little cassette put out by our favorite incorporated purveyors of innovative discontinuity you also get a free fake origin story. 1982 my ass, this is of course still the same dude who did this other thing a while back. Though his newest output contains a bit less weird fuckery, it makes up for that with a lot more fuzz, more melodies and negative zero production values that sound just right to my ears.