Coming off a series of neat EPs last year, Marmora, New Jersey garage group or, probably, solo artist Die TV returns with a new album presenting their tunes in an even more stripped-down, low-key manner at first glance, yet underneath the unassuming surface unfolds a spectacular fireworks of DIY creativity. While at some points you may still find the occasional speck of Spits or Stalins of Sound in there, Die TV's strummy, jangly blend of garage- and post punk with sprinkles of psychedelia comes into even sharper focus here, the minimalist production providing plenty of breathing room for the melancholy, sparkling guitar arrangements with more than a little hint of Desperate Bicycles in some places, Power Plant or Freak Genes in others, even a touch of Digital Leather in the muted pop vibes of Goner. Don't let first impressions fool you, this is quite potent and awesome shit from start to finish!
A sonic experience wonderfully out of touch with the zeitgeist, crafted by some Bellingham, Washington group. Prime influence here seems to be a whole battery of early-to-mid eighties, loosely SST and Touch & Go-connected stuff - on the more strummy, folk-infused side of things admittedly, but never afraid of spontaneously morphing into short bursts of hardcore punk either. Most obvious amoung those influences would probably be shit among the lines of Angst and Meat Puppets, early Dinosaur Jr. and, secondarily, U-Men, Mudhoney and 80s Scientists, some very slight hints of Dicks and Wipers. Or alternately, you might think of more recent Acts like early Milk Music, Dharma Dogs, Chronophage and Damak.
A surprisingly versatile batch of garage punk miniatures on this sweet little debut cassette by a group from… well, probably not way too far from Charlotte, North Carolina i guess. Mostly this shit can be located somewhere among the quirky DIY garage punk spectrum with similarities to stuff like Set-Top Box, Alien Nosejob, Satanic Togas, R.M.F.C, early Vaguess or Erik Nervous, a more lo-fi Split System… speaking of which, there's also quite a bit of melancholy aussie style garage energy á la Jackson Reid Briggs, Pist Idiots going on in Chik'n Dinner. Songs like Sweet 'n Stout and Free Meat dabble in hardcore to varying degrees and the closing track Gallop!! has early Minutemen goin' full cowpunk!
A healthy burst of pulsating, albeit fairly conventional garage punk, this newest EP by Carlisle, England dude AdamR. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for with sheer force and its super solid, adept song construction though. Add to this a slight Lo-Fi bent and the result is another fine treat for fans of shit similar to, say, Sauna Youth, Clamm, Ex-Cult, Gluer, Mitraille, Shitty Life or Dadar.
The Olympia, Washington group's first longplaying cassette, following two equally awesome tapes on the fabulous Impotent Fetus label, still delivers the goods of unpredictable, freewheeling hard- and postcore with additional ingredients of garage punk and mild insanity, stubbornly refusing to fit into your preconcieved notions of what this thing called punk rock is supposed play out like. A fairly eclectic, genre-bending approach which you might, if you really had to, compare to groups as diverse as Das Drip, Warm Bodies, Vexx, Judy & The Jerks, Mystic Inane, Hotmom, Gen Pop or Sniffany & The Nits at one point or another.
Not a Warttman release but still a pleasantly familiar sound of mildly egg- and electrified garage punk perpetrated by some of the usual suspects who also gave us the likes of Research Reactor Corp., Satanic Togas and The Gobs. Twelve restless caffeine pills you might compare to any of these bands, but which also wouldn't seem out of place next to groups á la S.B.F., Cosas Ilegales, Witch Piss or Ghoulies.
This group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania pulls off a vaguely familiar but nonetheless spectacular combustion of catchy oldschool hardcore energy with some cowpunk vibes to it, operating somewhere inbetween the rough parameters of Germs, Dicks, the early hardcore incarnations of Angst and Meat Puppets, as well as more recent stuff like Fried E/m and Modern Needs.
Our weekly dose of eggpunk insanity comes courtesey of some mysterious Stockholm act, way too short but potent and catchy as fuck nonetheless. Friends of shit á la Nubot555, Egg Idiot, Prison Affair, Set-Top Box, Nuts and Pringue, among others, will surely approve of this.
What kind of twisted punk student exchange program would lead to an album being recorded both in London, Ontario and London, England? The band committing the deed appears to have connnections to some London's Gaggers and Miscalculations as well as some other London's Isolation Party and Mononegatives - the latter being the most obvious comparison though, as their very own brand of spaced-out synth- and garage punk reigns supreme on this record too, along with flourishes of Pow!, Useless Eaters, Freak Genes, Isotope Soap, Mind Spiders, Powerplant and Digital Leather. Fucking awesome shit, in other words.
A neat little yet-to-be-pressed 7" by a Sydney group sounding a little as if a more spiky version of Lithics collided with the likes of noisy post punkers Brandy, the recent noisecore of Shove, a very slight hint of Wipers and the ancient recordings of noise rockers World Domination Enterprises.
