Here’s yet another delicious treat of oldschool, occasionally 77-ish garage punk goodnes of the highly addictive, catchy-as-hell variety, unleashed on the 5th EP already by a group from Long Beach, California. On this one, they’re considerably roughin’ up their sound and it fits their new songs really well, neat little accomplishments on their own by not being overly reliant on the basic magic of its decades-old main ingredients, instead reinforcing the old-fashioned tunes and stuctures with a good deal of rock-solid songwriting substance to rest on.
The debut EP of this San Francisco group sets off eight unapologetically oldschool, blown-out Garage Punk blasts that often come across as almost a bit too basic at first glance but never fail to conjure a massive smile onto my face whenever they competently shred their way through their inevitable and obscenely satisfying climaxes with workmanlike ease. Whenever you’re craving for the simpler joys of some sleazy-ass rock’n’roll, this record just perfectly fits the bill. Nothing more, nothing less.
The sound of this New Orleans garage punk powerhouse has gone through some phases and permutations in the past already and once again twiddles the knobs a good bit for their newest EP which, while recognisably springing from the same minds, takes on much of the sonic guise of a NWOBHM-inspired hardcore- and motörpunk speed rush particulary on the first and last tunes, while the middle one somewhat closer resembles that couple of solo-recorded singles and demos released over the course of 2025, reinforced with the added oomph of a tight-as-fuck full-band performance. The closing track Socialized – also previously known as one of these 2025 demo tunes, has evolved so much for the version included here you could easily consider it a different tune altogether if it didn’t have most of the original lyrics still in in place.
Skelett are a new german group made up of peeps based in Leipzig, Kiel and Halle and right out of the gate i’m tempted to describe them as a variant of Berlin punks Benzin leaning heavier into the hardcore punk side of their equation, but just as well you could point to certain aspects of US groups like Vexx, Judy & The Jerks, Fugitive Bubble, Dregs, Warp or Skin Tags, although Skelett operate on a much rawer, purer spectrum of slightly thrashy mid-eighties hardcore with even a slight hint of NWOBHM-style riffing in tunes like Bloodstained, while peppering their all of it with a tireless succession of super catchy hooks all the same, keeping me on the lookout for whatever curveball they’re gonna throw me next. This is the sound of an (only on the surface-level) oldschool-ish hardcore band that knows exactly what it sets out to do and fulfills their clear-cut vision in a hyper-focused effort of unflinching confidence.
On their newest 7″, one of the most highly regarded contemporary post punk institut…ions at times backs away somewhat from the airy art punk/-rock vibes that permeated their previous LP – 2023’s brilliant Ragdoll Dance – rather feeling more aligned with the still slightly rawer sonics of their 2019 album Readjusting The Locks while nonetheless profiting off the matured songwriting capabilities and elaborate arrangements of that last record. Best of both worlds really!
That Aidmoozic EP too short for you? This Ackland, New Zeeland group has yet another batch of heavily british DIY punk-flavored strummery for us following a somewhat more basic yet perfectly effective formula that just can’t conceal the amount of Desperate Bicycles, Mekons and Television Personalities-worship at the core of it with maybe an occasional sprinkle of Buzzcocks for good measure or, if you wanna go like one or two levels deeper, Performing Ferrets, possibly? Anyway, concerning somewhat more recent acolytes, i’d say the UK’s own Suburban Homes are probably the closest match here.
Excellent and quirky shit sitting inbetween the worlds of oldschool british DIY punk, post punk, hard- and postcore on this Watford, UK dude’s third EP, of which the first couple tunes in particular remind me of a version of Landowner-style clean-ish guitar hardcore mixed with some distinctly Mission Of Burma-esque guitar work and even a hint of Television Personalities and Mekons which gets further expanded on over the course of the remaining songs, but also a touch of early Minutemen is tucked in there somewhere and echoes of a bunch of more recent bands like Zhoop (or whatever alias that dude is operating under right now), post punkers á la Big Bopper, Lamictal, Patti and further some of that contemporary breed of strummy part time punks as exemplified by the likes of Silicone Values, Famous Logs In History and the early works of Neutrals.
The successor to the Astoria, Oregon group’s incredible 2024 Gay Bordom LP doesn’t quite reach the same level of originality and playful creativity, playing it a bit safer and at times veering a bit too close to pop punk territory for my taste, but for what it is, this is actually a pretty neat record in its own right still, the songs ranging between servicable and pretty freakin’ good and still spanning a good deal of sonic variety so yeah… this is a strong enough follow-up to a larger-than-life record that would’ve been kind of a tough act to follow for pretty much anyone and it almost feels a bit unfair to not judge this new one on its own merits. It is what it is and that’s still pretty fucking good, even if we know this group can do much better.
This Fort Collins, Colorado group delivers six blows of rough as fuck hardcore punk whose rustic aesthetics can’t do anything to obscure the catchy garage punk foundations underlying the whole thing, the smart postcore overtones being peppered all throughout and the numerous surprises and compositional quirks it has up its sleeve. This is a record sounding a lot dumber at first glance than it actually is and you know i’m a sucker for that kind of shit.
