Although i still haven’t dared yet to venture deeper into the kinda intimidating back catalog of Totowa, New Jersey act Monda, they have already made a lasting impression as a shapeshifting, restless creative force in constant flux over the course of this year. While this spring’s Stiff Jumbo spazzed out gloriously and let its freak flag fly in short bursts of melodic noise and then, sumer’s VIII saw them calm down and relax a bit, for large portions of their newest LP’s I’d now say they’re spacing out and i mean that in the most flattering sense. This is a fuzzy bundle of DIY space-/acid punk eccentricities that just can’t hide the creative drive, human warmth, sense of wonder and curiosity behind its, admittedly, pretty fucking stoned appearance, on one hand reminding me a bit of groups like recent Mononegatives, late-era Useless Eaters, Pow! and some of the more motorik minded incarnations of The(e) O(h)Sees while other songs like I Alwys Have It Till I Need It, Chronic Embarrassment and Creek Time inhabit those same anthemic oldschool indie rock and fuzz punk qualities that made the aforementioned records so special.
Where the average group in the 12XU-related spectrum tends to become ever more elaborate until the point where they start to suck (well, if they make it that long…), Seattle group The Unfit seem to go the opposite route, becoming more stripped down and primitive until they’re probably gonna suck at some point as well. Presently, they’re far from having reached that stage though and this shit works out marvelously even if – or maybe just because – more than once, their fuzzy garage- and post punk tunes get boiled down to sort of a Feedtime-esque level of monotonous repetition and simplicity.
This Minneapolis group runs an interesting gamut on their newest EP ranging from the punchy fuzz punk attack of Like A Dream? over the math- and noise rock infused post punk of Yeehaw! to the comparatively straightforward garage punk of Saved, while the closing track 5678 branches out into some kind of a hazy space rock jam. At different points i’m reminded of groups as diverse as early Rolex, Cutie, Shark Toys, Reality Group, The Cowboy and Big Bopper.
After their phenomenal debut LP in 2020 and a comparatively grim, more difficult to grasp second one in 2022, this New York duo has now delivered what i think is not hyperbolic in the slightest to call their masterpiece. There’s an absolutely singular vision at work here moving within – yet easily transcending – the bounds of contemporary post punk and postcore, the messaging as unapologetically political as it’s emotional and introspective, disillusioned but never bereft of a glimmer of hope… In short, reflecting the emotional toll it takes to walk open-eyed through this era of humankind facing a whole litany of existential crises, feeling systemically ill-equipped for the challenge and thus unable to find a workable, sustainable way forward while large chunks of western societies appear to be in utter denial and global elites all too willing to jeopardize any hope of an endurable future for the sake of short-term wealth accumulation. Bold political statements are a dime a dozen these days though and i doubt anybody would be listening if it weren’t for the absolute fucking brilliance of their music, which takes a thickly layered, intricate and elegant approach in line with what we’ve already heard on their previous records but which they’re working to utter perfection on this one. To me, it feels like the spirit of first-wave so-called emocore – still unburdened by the tropes, cliches and conventions established in later years – transported into the present age with a one-of-a-kind personal voice and very little baggage or preconceptions about what punk rock can mean and do in 2024.
The debut full-length cassette of this group from Greater Sudbury, Ontario delivers, at first glance, fairly conventional but also perfectly well constructed and effective post punk smashers with slight anarcho and death rock undercurrents, although the more obvious comparisons here would be such genre powerhouses as Criminal Code, Sievehead, Schedule 1, Sudbury’s very own Kommissars and, more recently, Negative Gears. But then again, there’s an even more uncanny similarity to Vancouver group Dead Cells, who had a pretty fucking great LP out via Erste Theke in 2018 and whose lead singer’s voice also bears a striking resemblence to this… dare i say there even might be an ever-so-slim chance this is the same dude? I’m probably wrong though.
So here’s the second cassette by a certain group of witches, once again spreading their bodily juices over any decent, moldy dungeon wall they can find in their hometown of Simi Valley, California. Like anything they’ve done so far, this is a gloriously burning dumpster of fuzzed-out garage punk mayhem spiked with heavy-duty hooks and catchy melodies that shall not be missed by friends of similar worrisome developments á la The Gobs, Slimex, early Exhite, Exit Mould, Geoduck Diodes and 3D & The Holograms.
Admittedly, the debut LP of this Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania group is a bit of a cheat, as the first five songs are just their 2023 demo verbatim but then again, it’s kinda nice to have that shit given a proper release at last and the added new tracks are every bit as good! The opening track Nothing Left comes right out of the gate with a distinct proto- and first-wave US punk vibe calling to mind Stooges, Dead Boys and a bit of Gun Club. Televised Violence then almost feels as if Radio Birdman and Saints got fused with Hot Snakes and some of the more eccentric early eighties hardcore acts like Really Red and Saccharine Trust. All the way through, you also can’t deny an oldschool garage-ish vibe right inbetween Pagans and Dead Moon, as well as an equal measure of early west coast hardcore energy, in conjunction with some unfailing songwriting chops being distilled into a strong, explosive cocktail of primal punk rock excellence.
Their recent split EP with The Dumpies showed huge progress for both groups and now, after the Dumpies followed that one up with an absolutely brilliant LP already, it’s about time for the other shoe to drop in the form of a new Night Court LP, which it does so with an equally respectable thump in a generious seventeen-song burst of pure power pop supremacy, held together by first-rate songcraft and presented in a sonic mode of variable intensity, alternating between garage punk and oldschool indie rock which calls to mind such high-caliber acts as Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Radioactivity, Bad Sports, Tommy and the Commies, Datenight, Vacation, Teen Line and Cheap Whine.
The past weeks have seen a couple of outstanding new offbeat, not-exactly-your-standard-hardcore releases. Just a mere week after their last one, we’ve already gotten a new Piss Wizard EP which once again delivers fuzz-laden hardcore mayhem fused with pronounced KBD, garage- and surf punk vibes, raw and catchy in equal measure with plenty of unlikely flashes of melody hidden under its abrasive surface. The new EP of Winnipeg group Lackey then scratches a similar itch of garage-soaked hardcore in a way more straightforward but by no means unsophisticated manner, their highly flammable riffs plowing ahead in a fashion not entirely dissimilar to recent acts á la G.U.N., Crisis Man, Jug, Chain Whip or Termite. Last but not least, take the traits of the other two groups featured in this post and drench it in more of a ’77 vibe plus a hint of oldschool west coast hardcore and the new EP of Philadelphia’s Body World should be what you get, roughly, but that alone would be disregarding just how inventive and adaptable this group acts here with none of these songs sounding quite alike.
Salt Lake City, Utah group Gonk have been raising eyebrows on the periphery of the eggpunk wave for a good while now and their full length debut gives plenty of evidence for them as a perfectly worthy force and addition to the scene. Although these songs don’t add anything new to the game, every single one simply hits the spot and admirers of quirky, catchy artifacts by acts like Shrudd, Billiam, Music For Microwaves and Power Pants can’t go wrong here.
