12XU | Groschi

This record came pretty much out of the blue, to me at least, when it was announced in January, though it appears these tunes and the group behind them – featuring members of Total Control, Den and R.M.F.C. among others – have been brewing for a couple of years already, with some this shit apparently originating from a previous group named KX Aminal which, to my best knowledge, has never made it out of Australia or released any music so i guess i can be forgiven for not being in the loop. Anyway, expectations were high on this one and i’m glad to say it turned out every bit as good a record as anyone could have hoped for, their sound incorporating elements recognisable from all three of these better known bands, yet succeeding in taking that aesthetic to some fairly unexpected places in how they weave familiar post punk flavors with a great deal of new age ethereal spaciousness, kraut-y motorik repetition, further hints of ’70s art rock and even a slight folk-ish bent reminiscent to NZ Post Punkers Trust Punks or their Belin-based successors Dead Finks into an epic, deeply atmospheric, sprawling and otherwordly hallucinogenic trip that is clearly meant to be ingested in one go – yeah, this is a prime example of an increasingly rare thing these days – an honest to dog capital-a album rather than just ten songs pressed on an record and no doubt this will be among the classiest punk things you get to hear this year.

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Landowner – Assumption

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 | Records | Art Punk, Post Punk, Postcore

Holyoke, Massachusetts group Landowner, one of the most unique voices in contemporary post punk, now has their fifth long-playing record out via Exploding In Sound Records and a good ten years in, they still show no signs of wear in their mimimalist and abstract approach on post punk and postcore that, despite their influence on younger bands becoming increasingly obvious in recent years, is still unmistakably very much their own. If anything, both their compositions and lyrics only have gotten sharper and a good bit darker over time with anything resembling a sense of ironic detachment coming off as nothing more than a psychic self-defense measure, necessary to keep your own sanity when confronting these tunes’ existential subject matter while we all know that – in contrast to the way Linear Age frames human history as a succesion of unlocked and at times questionable achievements like in some bizarre sort of strategic simulation game – the actual universe won’t grant us a second shot at existence and we’re absolutely shitting the bed at every conceivable level right now.

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