Repeatedly the Berlin group featuring members of, among others, Useless Eaters, Idiota Civlizzatto, Exit Group und Clock Of Time delivers the goods of elaborately constructed, slightly deathrock-infused post punk grooves, with Clock Of Time being the most obvious comparison among the groups mentioned as these folks do indeed play some variant of what i can't help but classify as quite traditional Berlin school of the past decade-plus, scratching a similar itch to bands like Pigeon, Liiek, Diät, Pretty Hurts… Not that i'd consider that to be a bad thing at all. Quite the contrary - after all, "Berlin sound" wouldn't be a thing really if it hadn't been built up over the years to embody such a consistent legacy of impeccable quality releases.
Oakland's Shrinkwrap Killers, whose prior output always struck me as a bit one-note and hit-and-miss, easily deliver their strongest and most versatile set of new tunes so far on their second LP on Iron Lung Records. This is an eerily familiar mix of sounds and influences which i might describe as simple and accurate as a horror/sci-fi/dystopia themed mashup of Lost Sounds, Spits and Stalins of Sound. Well… for me, it works just fine!
A neat split release via Berlin's order05records. The opening track by Atlanta post punk institution Nag surprises with some synth-equipped psychedelic vibes á la Mononegatives or some later stuff by Useless Eaters, while detonating another charge of their rough and abrasive sound we've come to know and love in the other song. On the flipside then, Italy's Astio complement the sonic assault with a slightly more conventional but no less classy, mature make of moderately melodic oldschool post punk energy, the kind we've heard before from the likes of Criminal Code, Sievehead or, more recently, Pyrex, Body Maintenance or Schedule 1.
This Adelaide group has been around for well over a decade by now, yet it almost appears as if they've finally found their own groove just now on LP number four - or at the very least i can say, having taken a perfunctory glance over their previous records, that their newest one is playing in a different league altogether as everything here from the songwriting to the arrangements and production smoothly assembles into a way more realized vision while keeping things interesting with plenty of stylistic variety. I'm reminded of a whole bunch of other Australian groups in the garage-/post punk spectrum, among which are garage-/pub rock-leaning acts á la Mini Skirt, Hideous Sun Demon and Pist Idiots, post punk/-core acts like Batpiss, Bench Press or Rip Room aswell as some traces of classics from the likes of ('80s) Scientists and The New Crists.
Another beauty from italian powerhouse label Goodbye Boozy Records. You might remember Buenos Aires group repulsion switch from their 2019 demo and a bunch of EPs they put out since then. Here, we've got easily their strongest batch of tracks so far of their refreshingly simple yet equally explosive, garage-flavored oldschool hardcore sound. Another known quantity here at 12XU headquarters is synth punk guru Klint from Schleswig, Germany who takes charge of side b here with his usual workmanlike precision, curious experimantation and a new couple of tunes mostly on the rougher edge of the spectrum, perfectly complementing the RS tracks.
Following their most ambitious record so far in last year's Material LP, which expanded the sonic pallette out into the weirder fringes of somewhat Desperate Bicycles-leaning art punk and also featured some of the most infectious power pop songwriting of that year, the newest 7" by Nick Vicario aka Smirk, who's also known as a member of Public Eye, Crisis Man und Cemento among others, keeps things comparatively simple and straightforward this time while his heavily sample-backed songs and arrangements still unerringly hit their mark every single time.
Last year's steamroller of a (mini-)LP named Estray is a tough act to follow up for sure but the (probably) Leipzig/Berlin-based group manages to do so admiarably well on their newest album, retaining all of their previous qualities while expanding their garage punk sound with quite a bit of an abrasive noise rock edge which reminds me a lot of NY noise-/garage punk act Brandy and earlier Science Man. A good deal of melodic pop smashers á la Wouldn't You, Fomo or Get Clean is still present here so fans of that catchy, somewhat Booji Boys-esque power pop won't feel duped either.
A delightful batch of laid-back, off-kilter psychedelic- and garage punk goodness by a Toronto group. These tunes do have some slight US proto punk vibe to them in addition to pretty unmistakable space-/acid rock leanings, kinda like a mix between recent LPs by Jean Mignon, Peace de Résistance or older stuff like Faux Ferocious, even some early White Fence - with plenty of eggpunk weirdness on top. What's not to like?
A smart and intricately constructed mixture of Post Punk, Noise Rock and Postcore is being set off by this New York group on this plainly phenomenal demo. There's no way around addressing the elephant in the room though: This reminds me a lot of Straw Man Army - especially of their first LP - but you could do a lot worse than being compared to a band of such stature, right? Friends of Bloody Gears, Faraquet, Meat Wave and such will also get a kick out of this.
Following a thorougly fun demo and first EP in '21/'22 respectively, this Leipzig, Halle and Berlin-based group's debut LP packs some considerable punch which is no surprise really, given that we've got folks of Liiek, Ambulanz, Dee Bee Rich, Lassie, Exwhite at work here, of which the latter three groups would make for the most obvious reference points here. That is to say, playful but energetic garage punk you could further compare to a bunch of predominantly european bands including the likes of Dadar, The Dirtiest, Shitty Life, Mitraille, The Gobs, Finale… possibly even a bit of Booji Boys in their most melodic moments.
