After a number of EPs which at first may have come off as all vibes and attitute with rather little in terms of substance, that thing has gradually improved over time and now i’ll say the welsh group has just released what may count as their most substantial release so far with their newest EP via Gob Nation, which i’ll also admit i like quite a bit more than most of the other only bands called the dogs. This is no more and no less than an all-killer batch of simple but dead-on-target ’77-ish, sleazed-up garage punk tunes making you wanna smash some shit.
Quality hardcore shit courtesy of a Tokyo group which blends some distinctly ’90s school of post-thrash-era (not the website, haha…) hardcore riffing with a particularly japanese-sounding melange of NWOBHM-infused garage-, speed- and motörpunk… you could almost say right in time for that new Guitar Wolf record just to remind us in what corner of the world this particular sausage has been made particularly tasty and consistently for many, many years now.
Brilliant garage-/egg-/synth punk fare on this neat debut EP by some Montreal-based dude or group that i completely missed when it was first released as their contribution to Demo Fest 2025. Now here’s my second chance and damn, this is some good shit right here! The toy keyboard-meets-hammond-organ sound of the first two tracks brings me right back to some earlier days of (proto-) egg madness and particularly of those Mark Cone records from 2016/’17 respectively, while the next pair of tunes has a bit more of an electronic, industrial yet still absolutely playful feel somewhere inbetween the worlds of, say, Beef and R. Clown, before the closing track, a Violet Femmes cover tune, quite plausibly gives away one of the primary inspirations for this whole mess.
In a week not particularly lacking in way-above-average hardcore punk releases, this one takes the cake in my opinion, not that last year’s digital single Plastic Disease hadn’t warned us of what’s been coming though… This is some freewheeling, viciously creative shit reminding me of some of the most far-out acts the past two decades had to offer in the artcore, hard- and weirdcore sectors like Big Bopper, Patti, Rolex, Brandy, Mystic Inane, Beast Fiend, Cutie, Fugitive Bubble, Septic Yanks or Liquid Assets, to name just a few. I need more of that shit fast!
This record came pretty much out of the blue, to me at least, when it was announced in January, though it appears these tunes and the group behind them – featuring members of Total Control, Den and R.M.F.C. among others – have been brewing for a couple of years already, with some this shit apparently originating from a previous group named KX Aminal which, to my best knowledge, has never made it out of Australia or released any music so i guess i can be forgiven for not being in the loop. Anyway, expectations were high on this one and i’m glad to say it turned out every bit as good a record as anyone could have hoped for, their sound incorporating elements recognisable from all three of these better known bands, yet succeeding in taking that aesthetic to some fairly unexpected places in how they weave familiar post punk flavors with a great deal of new age ethereal spaciousness, kraut-y motorik repetition, further hints of ’70s art rock and even a slight folk-ish bent reminiscent to NZ Post Punkers Trust Punks or their Belin-based successors Dead Finks into an epic, deeply atmospheric, sprawling and otherwordly hallucinogenic trip that is clearly meant to be ingested in one go – yeah, this is a prime example of an increasingly rare thing these days – an honest to dog capital-a album rather than just ten songs pressed on an record and no doubt this will be among the classiest punk things you get to hear this year.
Holyoke, Massachusetts group Landowner, one of the most unique voices in contemporary post punk, now has their fifth long-playing record out via Exploding In Sound Records and a good ten years in, they still show no signs of wear in their mimimalist and abstract approach on post punk and postcore that, despite their influence on younger bands becoming increasingly obvious in recent years, is still unmistakably very much their own. If anything, both their compositions and lyrics only have gotten sharper and a good bit darker over time with anything resembling a sense of ironic detachment coming off as nothing more than a psychic self-defense measure, necessary to keep your own sanity when confronting these tunes’ existential subject matter while we all know that – in contrast to the way Linear Age frames human history as a succesion of unlocked and at times questionable achievements like in some bizarre sort of strategic simulation game – the actual universe won’t grant us a second shot at existence and we’re absolutely shitting the bed at every conceivable level right now.
Here’s yet another delicious treat of oldschool, occasionally 77-ish garage punk goodnes of the highly addictive, catchy-as-hell variety, unleashed on the 5th EP already by a group from Long Beach, California. On this one, they’re considerably roughin’ up their sound and it fits their new songs really well, neat little accomplishments on their own by not being overly reliant on the basic magic of its decades-old main ingredients, instead reinforcing the old-fashioned tunes and stuctures with a good deal of rock-solid songwriting substance to rest on.
The debut EP of this San Francisco group sets off eight unapologetically oldschool, blown-out Garage Punk blasts that often come across as almost a bit too basic at first glance but never fail to conjure a massive smile onto my face whenever they competently shred their way through their inevitable and obscenely satisfying climaxes with workmanlike ease. Whenever you’re craving for the simpler joys of some sleazy-ass rock’n’roll, this record just perfectly fits the bill. Nothing more, nothing less.
The sound of this New Orleans garage punk powerhouse has gone through some phases and permutations in the past already and once again twiddles the knobs a good bit for their newest EP which, while recognisably springing from the same minds, takes on much of the sonic guise of a NWOBHM-inspired hardcore- and motörpunk speed rush particulary on the first and last tunes, while the middle one somewhat closer resembles that couple of solo-recorded singles and demos released over the course of 2025, reinforced with the added oomph of a tight-as-fuck full-band performance. The closing track Socialized – also previously known as one of these 2025 demo tunes, has evolved so much for the version included here you could easily consider it a different tune altogether if it didn’t have most of the original lyrics still in in place.
Skelett are a new german group made up of peeps based in Leipzig, Kiel and Halle and right out of the gate i’m tempted to describe them as a variant of Berlin punks Benzin leaning heavier into the hardcore punk side of their equation, but just as well you could point to certain aspects of US groups like Vexx, Judy & The Jerks, Fugitive Bubble, Dregs, Warp or Skin Tags, although Skelett operate on a much rawer, purer spectrum of slightly thrashy mid-eighties hardcore with even a slight hint of NWOBHM-style riffing in tunes like Bloodstained, while peppering their all of it with a tireless succession of super catchy hooks all the same, keeping me on the lookout for whatever curveball they’re gonna throw me next. This is the sound of an (only on the surface-level) oldschool-ish hardcore band that knows exactly what it sets out to do and fulfills their clear-cut vision in a hyper-focused effort of unflinching confidence.
