Now this is some equally appealing and pleasantly out-there shit right here, coming from a group of unknown origin that might be a duo or just a single split-personality being, so yeah, everything is appropriately nebulous and undefined here. The first three tracks start out like something of an eggpunk version of that whole Feed/Zhoop/Brundle/etc. clusterfuck with further flourishes from the funked-up ends of ’80s post punk and no wave while also channeling a distinct vibe of eggpunk’s early proto-genre days. 1 + 6 + 2 + 9 + 8 Milligrams then takes an unexpected detour into quirky electro punk somewhat reminiscent of Freak Genes, whose earlier works are also reflected in Sallywagger for example, plus an additional touch of Skull Cult. To round things out, some of the more no-frills guitar-centric tunes such as Big Man have some distinctly old-fashioned Neo Neos- or very early Erik Nervous-like qualities seeping in.
Here’s an absolutely neato little debut EP of some Cleveland, Ohio Group who thrill and delight with a kinda shapeshifting approach to garage punk, which on one hand has a bit of a ’77-style flavor with the opening track appropriately being a pretty fucking rad Black Randy and the Metrosquad cover version and what follows is a quite diverse succession of first-rate punk projectiles with varying degrees of KBD- and Devo-fication that at different points may also bear some resemblance to a colorful bunch present-day acts of the Tyvek, Skull Cult, Jean Mignon, Parquet Curts, Sick Thoughts and D. Sablu variety.
The second EPs of danes Missvnaries Ov Charity is certainly a curious anomaly in this day and age – their post punk sound stuffed with heavily eighties-leaning drum machines plus period-appropriate production flourishes and an overall quite new wave-ish flavor reminds me of pretty much nothing contemporary and instead of a number of 80s Homestead Records and Touch and Go-affiliated acts such as Breaking Circus, Flour and Nice Strong Arm, all of which i consider more of the deep cut variety (though especially Nice Strong Arm should get a lot more respect if you ask me) which is to say: Yeah i think this is a beautiful deviation from your average post punk routine business. Love it.
Oh dang i forgot how to do that numbers thing i suppose…
Tracklist
Electric Prawns 2 How to Rock (1, 2, 3, 4) Ball Snakes The Hot Blood Expensive Taste Bart and the Brats Stiff Price Shanty Sleaze Love Deathbed Robbie Thunder Solo At The Rock Show Pin-Up Sisters 2B Zulo The way You die Plasma Ei oikeutta Mt. Goose Slushhusk The Bored & Ignored Happy Harry Black Button Kiss the Flies Premier Lawn Service Dogshit Landmine Flower Power Dream Weapon
Zero Bars Pitch Black Mother Nature An Infinite Sphere Family Dog Martyr G*U*N*N Piss ‘N Moan Kaleidoscope Manufactured Squalor Precipice Slippery Puddle No Victim The Dream Annual Report Captive Primal Brain GRG To DNR Warhead 97 Possessed By Hate The Neo Neo-Geo’s Ctrl, Ctrl, Ctrl Pill Mill Yuppy Farm Cheap Heat Eyes Of Fire Dart Burnin’
Tracklist
Johnny Skin Slow Down Living Dream Absolute Devotion Orchid Club Steve Loins Workhorse Badman Uber Everywhere Evinspragg Soliloquy Part One: Thinking Out Loud Snarewaves Imminent Destruction Public Body Rhinoplasty Molbo Kannibalkorps Secret Agent Heacheese Prison Snap Meng Zhu Meng Funfunfunfun
Sprgrs Parte Práctica Power Pants My Identity Indenadfin Ya No Voy A Pensar En Nada Más Elvis 2 When I’m With My Brother S.G.A.T.V. Towers Of Tyranny Monda Not the Same to Me Aliment Futura Degeneració Why Bother? I Got Your Number Confusión Un Nuevo Mundo The Number Ones Blind Spot Powerplant Crashing Cars
I gotta admit, after very much enjoying their 2019 debut EP, i had some serious difficulty warming up in particular to the 2023 Big Mess LP by this Brighton group which complied a bit too rigidly for my taste to the hip, ultra-processed middle-of-the-road formula of current british post punk chic, complete with its just-a-bit-too-slick production style, overuse of polyrhythmic leads and appregios, annoying zoomer count-your-syllables sprechgesang – ya know, not the most original building blocks these days. Their newest longplayer is a whole different beast altogether though, having regained much the group’s previous edge and at times an almost postcore and noise rock-ish energy being poured into tunes that sound organically developed and whole this time – rather than forced, artificially cobbled together, processed and quantized within an inch of their life in a pro tools post production hell. No, this here is clearly the sound of a capable band being somehow shocked out of their complacency, a breathing, pulsing organism propelled forward with considerable momentum by real righteous anger while the tunes themselves are the most soundly and carefully composed and balanced we’ve heard of them so far, the synths being another subject of further refinement, sounding more properly anchored and seamlessly embedded than ever before on this record, which overall reminds me of a number of pretty diverse groups á la Beef, Dr. Sure’s Unusual Practice, Broken Prayer, Wristwatch and Patti, among many others.
Laxisme are a group from Leipzig, Germany yet there’s a lot more than just their french lyrics to evoke comparisons to a certain breed of frenchie groups playing that particular mix of straightforward, super catchy garage- and post punk with just a subtle hint of Oi! mixed in, as we’ve previously heard similarly from such groups as Telecult, Distance, Stalled Minds, Nightwatchers, Litovsk and early Bleakness, though you may also in part compare them to stronger garage-leaning euro acts like belgian groups Mitraille, Pedigree and Itches, the Netherlands’ Achterlicht or Dadar, Shitty Life from Italy. So yeah, nothing groundbreaking or novel about this record but the formula certainly still hits hard when executed well and the execution is top notch here – presented with excellent drive, energy and a bit of a ’77 edge to it and a couple of certified rippers like Grands Cerveaux and 7 Secondes absolutely seal the deal here.
