Brandy – (Wish You Was) Madball Baby
The Gift Of Repetition will be out soon on Total Punk Records.
Cells – First Second
As you probably already know, i’m a total sucker for pretty much any weird chunk of noise Minneapolis dude awesome Connie Voltaire releases into the wild, so while we’re still waiting for new stuff of his best-known project Neo Neos (or maybe its actual flesh-and-bones full-band incarnation Neotypes), another batch of raw and blown-out farts released under his hardcore punk alter ego Cells does an admirable job at satisfying my addiction in the meantime.
Album-Stream →Psykik Vylence – Psykik Vylence // Erik Nervous – Bugs!
After last year’s debut LP with his Beta Blockers pretty much blew everyone’s socks and pants off, there’s some new stuff out by one of contemporary garage punk’s most blazing figures. First, there’s been a tape earlier this year under the Psykik Vylence moniker, which sees him messing around with a properly raw assortment of hardcore punk sounds – the results of which are just plain gorgeous. And then, there’s a new digital EP with him going it solo again, just as was the case with Psykik Vylence. But with or without Beta Blockers – he’s doing what he’s best known and loved for: Quirky and inventive Garage Punk with built-in earworm guarantee, this time also including a pretty obscure choice for a cover version (no, i indeed never heard of Taste Test before…) and an unfinished – though totally smashing – instrumental closing track with the promise of actual vocals for it in the near future. Gotta adore the shit out of this!
Album-Stream →Cement Shoes – A Love Story Of Drugs & Rock & Roll & Drugs 7″
IMHO, at this hour Cement Shoes of Richmond, Virginia are the current kings of the garagecore micro genre, coupling a massive amount of borderline-sleazy rock’n’roll with an undeniably hardcore kind of energy you will find in relatively few other groups – Cülo or their quasi-successors Tarantüla, Man Eaters come to mind as a somewhat more hardcore-leaning comparison… just maybe. Or kinda like australian sleaze-garage rockers Golden Pelicans having a hardcore epiphany. On their newest 7″ via the ever reliable british quality outlet Drunken Sailor Records we get more of just that, while the closing track Going Off The Grid , a rather straightforward, classic garage tune, might or might not indicate a future move away from hardcore speeds. But whatever they’re gonna do next, they’re an exciting act to keep both eyes on.
Still / Form – Still / Form
Isn’t that the Marriage + Cancer guy groaning his vocals? Yep, same guy. The music on this Portland trio’s first EP ain’t all that different either. Noise Rock of an ultra-classic 90s variety with a hint of math, pretty much in the middle between the more smartass Touch & Go and the more sludge- and metal-affine Amphetamine Reptile universes.
Album-Stream →Flat Worms – Antarctica
Already a handful of releases into their discography, we kinda know what to expect from a new Flat Worms record by now. However, that doesn’t mean they’re standing still exactly. Rather, with every new release they managed to focus on and expand upon a certain facet of their garage-, psychedelic- and fuzz punk sound, keeping things fresh and interesting at all times. This time, recording with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, the result does not only show Albini’s trademark sonic characteristics, but also their overall sound seems to embrace some of his legacy as a producer audio engineer, veering into a distinctly noise rock/postcore direction that, once again, was always subtly present on their previous records but never as much on display as here and might be compared to contemporary bands like Meat Wave, Metz or USA Nails. Other small but pleasant surprises come in the form of the title track – a garage jam you could almost describe as relaxed – as well as the 90s indie rock vibes in Market Forces.
Fucking – Superior Firepower
It took a while for new material of these Minneapolis punks to surface after their first two incredible 7″s. I’m glad to say though, that their unique mix of chaotic hard-/garage-/post-/weirdcore lost none of its spark and their refreshing disregard for common genre tropes and conventions is on full display here, making for another five glorious minutes of noise, just as i’ve come to expect from this group.
Album-Stream →Eugh – The Most Brilliant Man Alive
While we’re at it, speaking of Kitchen People and Warttman Inc., here’s another blast of synth punk insanity by some Kitchen People-affiliated solo project, bearing obvious similarities to Warttman acts like Set-Top Box and Research Reactor Corp., with maybe a bit of Digital Leather or Trashdog sprinkled in from time to time.
Album-Stream →Kitchen People – Planet Perth
The mighty Warttman gang’s newest recruits are Kitchen People who have already done a few releases before, although – let’s be honest here – none of those has been quite as ripping as their newest EP of appropriately weird, quirky muteant garage-/synth punk. These dudes should fit in comfortably with the rest of Warttman’s fucked up bunch.
Album-Stream →Taulard – Dans La Plaine
Six years have passed now since Taulard of Grenoble, France put out their utterly enchanting, otherworldly debut album Les Abords Du Lycée. Even after such a long time, there’s still no other Band quite like them and their guitar-less, organ-centric, deeply melancholy and eccentric (post-)punk sound that on paper looks like it could never work, but somehow it does.
Album-Stream →