Dez Dare – Brutalized Robotics
Wax Jaw – Night Sweats
Stdees – Steroid Dojo
Here’s a sensational debut EP by some band or project based in Lethbridge, Alberta containing six perfect blows of post punk whose ear-piercing walls of noise and pulsing electric beats at times sound a bit as if an eggpunk Big Black collided with the somewhat psychedelic qualities of garage greats like late Useless Eaters, Pow! and Mononegatives – or maybe the murky old experimental punk classics of Métal Urbain / Dr. Mix and the Remix – in a breathless succession of certified bangers. I also have a hunch that fans of spaced-out noisemakers á la Corpus Earthling or french magician Pablo X are gonna lap this shit up.
Album-Stream →Snarewaves – Snarewaves
Now that’s some hot shit, this debut tape by some dude from Lansing, Michigan. The fuzzed-out garage punk inferno of Cracked lays out a bit of a false trail for us at first, as the overall vibe then immediately shifts toward more of a noisy synth punk direction for the remaining tracks covering a good variety of stylistic flavors and accordingly, reminding me of a full ecclectic grab bag of acts in the wider synth-/electro-/sample punk spectrum including the likes of Beef, ISS, Heavy Metal, Klint, The Garden, Victor, Spyroids, R. Clown, Paulo Vicious and Kerozine.
Album-Stream →Ismatic Guru – An Incredible Amount Of Overwhelming Information
Another strong Ismatic Guru record containing their whole discography so far if i’m not mistaken but, having featured them before, the five new tunes are of primary interest here. Just consider the other twenty tracks as a neat bonus if you haven’t heard them already. I considered the early material of the Buffalo, NY group as a bit hit-and-miss but the quality control has certainly ramped up since then, with their third EP having been the most pronounced improvement. So now here is their fifth batch of tunes and once again they’re outdoing themselves, having never sounded this confident and effortless in their mutant-funk post punk sketches that you could describe as a weird egg-ified fusion between a funked-up Landowner, early Minutemen and The Pop Group, maybe? I also imagine that admirers of last spring’s Cartoon LP might get a new kick out of this.
Album-Stream →Power Pants – PP7
Don’t expect anything groundbreaking here ‘cos with Power Pants you always know exactly what you’re gonna get and even the freakin’ early Ramones arguably had more stylistic breadth than this group. Yet, their songs never miss the mark and this entirely unfussy formula of catchy garage punk remains insanely appealing to me and as long as we continually get delivered tunes as potent as May I Rest or You’re Invited, i’m gonna gratefully devour each new sugary health hazard Power Pants throw at me. Woof!
Album-Stream →Nick Cage – Intruder
The third EP of this Brooklyn, NY group is hands down their most ripe effort to date and strikes a delicate balance between more blunt and straightforward garage-infused hardcore punk smashers and more eleborate postcore tunes which call to mind such weirdo acts as Mystic Inane, Launcher or Rolex, keeping us on on the edge of our seats with a constant sense of unpredictability.
Album-Stream →Spleen – II
This Montreal group featuring Members of Puffer and Béton Armé unveils a fully evolved and classy vision on their second Tape following up on their admirable, if still a bit rough-around-the-edges 2023 Demo. The opener Insoutenable comes dashing right out of the gate with a pronounced Radio Birdman and early New Christs kind of energy which is joined by more contemporary sounding elements of melodic post punk á la The Estranged and Dead Finks, having much of a folk-ish, roots-y quality to it. Another standout is Rien ne t’empêchera, which strikes me as a perfect fusion of a catchy oldschool Oi! singalong with jangly power pop.
Album-Stream →Tics – Unmirrored Gaze
Cologne’s longstanding art punk bastion Tics are at it again and on their latest 7″ via local label Mörtel Sounds they come across the most well-defined and focused we’ve heard of them in quite a while. All the moving parts are interlocking admirably here, with the opening track Clad Faun being the closest thing here to the heavily Minutemen and Gang Of Four-indebted funky post punk of their earlier works. Simultaneously though, it also sees them opening up their sound to a variety of influences i might roughly locate in the ’90s Dischord universe and particularly the more melodic outliers of Fire Party and Autoclave in this case, while the remainder of this EP leans more into the somewhat rougher, slightly math-y flipside of that same coin with the likes of Jawbox, Hoover, Smart Went Crazy, Bluetip and Kerosene 454 sure having made their mark on these songs in addition to further ’90s mainstays such as Polvo, Unwound and Chavez. Just as well though, i can also smell the distinct odor of more recent australian and NZ acts á la Die! Die! Die!, Batpiss and Bench Press in there, or of US groups like Stuck and Rip Room.
