The debut EP of this Portland group is kind of all over the map stylisticly but also fucking brilliant at all times, with the first two songs leaning into a sound between angular garage- and post punk, holding a delicate balance of dissonant textures and catchy hooks like you may have heard previously from groups such as Reality Group, Print Head, early R.M.F.C., Exit Group and Beef. Technology Discriminates Against The Poor then sounds a bit like a kraut-y Spray Paint fused with the likes Mononegatives or late Useless Eaters. False Reality reminds me somewhat of the spaced-out garage punk of Pow! while Identify has a quality of catchy minimalism similar to shit like Busted Head Racket and Daughter Bat and the Lip Stings. Beat Struggle then goes all-in on the motorik kraut-y vibes before the record gets to its worthy conclusion in the form of a neat cover tune of old dutchmen Ivy Green and the slow-burn synth punk grooves of Conflict Driven Entertainment.
I'm rarely ever posting compilations here 'cos, quite honestly, most of these are too much of a mixed bag. I'm gonna make an exception here though as this shit has been put together by none other than see/saw dude Evan and just as you'd expect from him, this thing is certainly a couple notches above your average "Everybody send me your unreleased stuff for a good cause"-type comp and absolutely stacked with exclusive tracks by what amounts to a massive who's who of the international punk underground right now. That, plus your 10$-or-more donation will be spent in support of those affected by the Los Angeles wildfires. Win/win i'm gonna say! What's not to like?
Following up on a rather inconsistent, undercooked 2022 album, this Richmond, Virginia group's newest EP is in a whole different ballpark altogether, a highly flammable little package of only certified smashers that at times would more comfortably blend into the crowd a decade prior - Rearview for example sounding a bit as if you fused the melodic punk rock of early Swearin' with the melancholy of Royal Headache. This record pulls off that trick gracefully, held together by some top-notch songwriting chops, a tight, ultra-focused band performance and not least the soulful vocals of Katie Bowles who effortlessly delivers on that certain Siouxsie-vs-Debbie schtick that so many singers have been trying to emulate before but fell way short of more often than not. She totally sells it though!
Hey, have y'all heard of the tragic death of egg punk? I'm sure you have but it appears Butter Swamp of Appalachia, Virginia haven't gotten the memo yet. C'mon guys, it has been decided last week you're not supposed to sound like that anymore! Oh well, i guess Ex-Lumpy dude is gonna have to put up with the embarrassing zombies of his distant past for a little longer then. He's probably not gonna love this record. But as for me, i always liked my punk best when it's nice and dead and rotting. May it die another thousand deaths as long as i'm still breathing!
I somehow totally overlooked this neat little EP of a Buffalo, New York group when it first came out last December. Starting off somewhat Oi!-meets-ramonescore-ish, it subsequently settles into more of a melancholy power pop-ish garage punk vibe with clear echoes of the likes of Red Dons, Radioactivity, Marked Men, Cheap Whine, Bad Sports, Sonic Avenues, Steve Adamyk Band or frenchies Telecult and y'all know i'm an incurable sucker for that kind of shit.
This filthy clump of hardcore punk is so fucking perfect in its deranged fuckedupness. Fun fact: To achieve his incomprehensible growl, the singer always gets prepped by way of a mild lobotomy and a mixture of amphetamines and bargain-bin booze. Then when it's time for the show he gets a pair of socks shoved in his mouth, tied up, blindfolded and hung upside-down from the ceiling while getting rhythmically shocked by an electric fencer unit. Everyone can do it, you too!
Some groups make my unpaid blogging job pretty fucking easy, like this one from London. You see, group exists 'cos dude likes suicide, simple as that. And as Alan Vega has no longer been walking among us for close to a decade by now, i'm not ever gonna complain about any competent acolyte keeping the fire burning. As far as these are concerned, you can certainly do much worse than this one - a perfectly adequate substitute i'm gonna say.
Yet another classy two-track single is the debut of Sydney group Game Set Match which excels in a fairly oldschool make of primitive and straightforward garage punk that brings back memories of acts like Ex-Cult, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The UV Race, early Teenanger, The Abandos, Sauna Youth or Manatees.
On their latest and - as far as i can tell - only 7" so far, the sporadically active Massachusetts post punk / -core supergroup plays it just a bit noisier and rougher than we'd previously expect from them and i'm gonna say that suits me just fine. With the a-side coming across kinda like a lost Wipers outtake as performed by a fusion of Scratch Acid and Feedtime and the b-side being a perfectly competent cover of a truly iconic Strike Under tune, there's no use arguing with this flawless little punk single.
While their demo from a while ago has been keeping afloat entirely on the strength of the majestic and ridiculous opening track Don't Tussle With The Muscle, the Minneapolis group's newest EP is a much stronger package overall, setting off three charges of heavily '77-infused garage punk that is just about as simple and primitive as it could possibly get, yet perfectly functional as fun, dumb little rock'n'roll tunes, doing only the bare minimum and doing it right.
