Another primitive blast of no-bulllshit hardcore-infused garage punk by a group kinda predestined to get released on Total Punk Records, conjuring up only the most primal and chaotic tendencies of acts like Crisis Man, Liquid Assets, Launcher, Mystic Inane, Fried Egg… and maybe a slight hint of The Mentally Ill on top?
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Excellent shit via Turbodiscos. Leipzig/Berlin group Exwhite shouldn't need an introduction at this point, having blasted a respectable hole in the floor with their recent Estray EP. Their side to this kickass little EP won't disappoint either as they deliver two comparatively straight-ahead, no-frills garage punk smashers.
No less exciting are the tracks by Olympia, Washington synth-/garage punk act The Gobs who've already been making waves with a whole shitload of blown-out lo-fi demo releases. Here we get to witness them in something approaching proper mid-fi quality for the first time. Sounds fucking awesome too, who would've thought?
New shit by the world's only viking synth punk project… and we've got another winner! The title track just sucks you right in with a throbbing beat not unlike to the recent Dance single, spiked with a hint of ancient eurotrash cheesiness. With Go Ahead we then get an effective straight-up no-frills punk smasher, while the oddly placed/titled Instrumental Interlude feels like fun hommage to classic chiptunes that will also mesh well with the ongoing dungeon synth/-punk wave.
Kickass mechanical post punk from Cleveland, Ohio. From the very first notes it doesn't take much of a genius to figure the obvious involvement of Knowso members and it appears there are also connections to Cruelster, among others. While Knowso stay the most obvious comparison here, there's also a slight semblance of Atlanta rippers Nag and Predator. At other times the're branching out into a Wire-esqe vibe as in Cut Ups while The Old Way bears some similarity to the bad-trip cowpunk of Murderer.
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The Minneapolis group's debut EP last year was altogether excellent stuff already, yet on their most recent output they still up their game considerably - some added punch owing to a modest increase in production values perfectly matches up to a substantially cranked-up energy level on the group's part, showcasing their quirky and playful style of garage- and synth punk from their best side yet. Don't miss out on this if shit á la Patti, Reality Group, Research Reactor Corp., Satanic Togas, Erik Nervous, Ausmuteants, Liquids or Spodee Boy means anything to you!
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Reliable quality shit from the Berlin post punk scene, once again featuring some of the usual suspects known from groups such as Useless Eaters, Idiota Civlizzatto, Clock Of Time, Exit Group… and boy does it sound like it, especially with regards to the latter two bands, striking a sleepwalking balance between classic death rock flourishes, tight-ass grooves and noisy textures. Though not exactly pushing the boundaries of the worn-in, distinctive Berlin sound, they nonetheless manage to stray just far enough from their sonic comfort zones to keep things fresh and interesting while even in their most conventional moments, their vigorous thrust never fails to electrify.
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As coincidence would have it, here's yet another group of somewhat fuzzy whereabouts although the available evidence generally points toward Pennsylvania this time. On their most recent full-length effort, a warbly blown-out lo-fi acoustic intro gives way to a knockout punch of a post punk blast that sounds a bit as if the hallucinogenic haze of groups á la Piles or Die! Die! Die! entered the pitch black worlds of Nag. Other times we get somewhat more conventional yet nonetheless ass-kicking flashes of oldschool doom- and sludge-leaning AmRep-style noise rock colliding with the spaced out acid punk excess of, say, Destruction Unit, Hamer or Super-X.
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I haven't got the slightest clue where these folks hail from and also how this EP, having been released a year ago apparently, could go unnoticed for so long. 'Cos this certainly ain't your typical average boring post punk record. Their sound of equal parts post punk and -core equipped with some excellent garage propulsion kinda bridges the gaps between a wide range of stuff of early Protomartyr or Constant Mongrel caliber on the Post Punk side of things, more garage-leaning acts in the Tyvek, Parquet Courts or Gotobeds vein, plenty of Hot Snakes-/Drive Like Jehu-esque postcore vibes and even the occasional hint of Mission Of Burma or Moving Targets can be found in there.
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Canadian garage dude TJ Cabot's output only grows stronger with each new release and this one ain't no exception in once again hitting every single nail on the head, hammering home a catchy-as-fuck mix of power pop and garage punk that doesn't need to shy away from comparisons to greats such as The Marked Men, Erik Nervous, Tommy & The Commies, Andy Human & The Reptoids, Liquids, Bad Sports or Nick Normal.
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The full length debut of this London group is a perfect storm of delightfully off-the-rails hard- and postcore, often permeated with unexpectedly melodic subcurrents and at first glance kinda playing out like a middle ground between weirdcore powerhouse Warm Bodies and fellow someone-and-the-somethings group Judy and the Jerks… but theres more than just that going on here with moments reminiscent of an eclectic cluster of ambitious hardcore groups á la Acrylics, Crisis Man, Murderer, Kaleidoscope or Straw Man Army.
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