So… it appears Neutrals have a new drummer bass player. Otherwise, thankfully not a whole lot has changed for this uncannily british sounding group from Oakland, California. It’s their most melodic and mellow effort to date, leaning in heavy on the jangle-/power pop side of things with the post punk elements, while still clearly present, taking a back seat here and what can i say… these folks still have the tunes to make it stick, remaining an endlessly charming, singular treasure among the humble circle of Television Personalities- and Mekons worshippers, and this time, i’d even say threr’s just a hint of The Wedding Present to be found in songs like Stop The Bypass.
The excellent debut by this group from Jackson, Mississippi delivers a couple fun and deranged little bangers made up of rocket-propelled, garage-enhanced, fuzz-infested hard- and postcore shit that’s shure to get the approval of seasoned connoisseurs in the realm of other more-or-less recent quirky hardcore phenomena á la Fried E/m, Mystic Inane, Crisis Man, Rolex, Headcheese, ALF and so many more!
The second tape of this supposedly Tokyo-based group delivers the goods of simple and effective, garage-flavoured synth- and post punk that makes me first of all think of frenchmen and -women Catalogue and Belgium’s Le Prince Harry, but might just as well be compared to the likes of Spyroids, O-D-EX, Mind Spiders, Powerplant, Crime Wave and Liquid Face… a less quirky Freak Genes maybe? Dunno, what’s important is this shit just works!
The demo of this group from Jakarta, Indonesia delights with two kickass blasts of melodic DIY noise pop, pretty much in line with groups á la UV-TV, Feature, Joanna Gruesome, Slowcoaches and Star Party, who in turn might have drawn inspiration from the likes of Fastbacks, the early works of eighties fuzz pop greats The Primitives, as well as a bunch of C86-ish artifacts and the whole Slumberland and Sarah Records-spawned universe of oldschool noise- and indie pop.
What new things are there to say about yet another Gobs EP? It’s the motherfuckin’ Gobs for fuck’s sake and few other bands have perfected the formula for blown-out and dumb lo-fi fuzz punk insanity, equally unrelenting and catchy, as well as this Olympia, Washington group. A league of their own, really.
Fun little treat, the debut single of this group “from the northern americas”. Kick You sounds like the best of Radioactivity, Sonic Avenues and Cheap Whine welded together, then given a distinct pop punk bent. Violins then lets a substantial hardcore salvo segue into a strange amalgamation of Surfa Rosa-era Pixies and early Mudhoney, spiced up with slightly psych-leaning vocal harmonies. Tasty!
New Orleans garage punk dude D. Sablu did make a quite positive impression already with a string of demos and tapes in 2020-2022. On his full-length debut via Yes We Cannibal though, his artistic vision comes into much sharper focus, spanning a good deal of variety in his sound from the slightly noise rock / post punk-leaning opener Bomber Stomp to straightforward garage punk smashers like Too Much Of The News and the Dead Boys-infected tune Stuck In A Rut, altogether having a bit of a Kid Chrome, Sauna Youth or Teenanger vibe to them, sometimes veering into straight up harodcore punk territory while detonations á la Scandalous and World Peace go all-in on that tendency. Whatever shit D. Sablu touches turns into pure gold or at the very least copper on this album. In some ways this thing also positively reminds me of the most recent EP by Jean Mignon.
Bootlicker of Victoria, BC, Canada remain an unstoppable force on the forefront of fairly contemporary sounding, yet simultaneously kinda oldschool harodcore punk with a distinct garage edge and just a smidge of Oi!, rich in catchy hooks and penetrative riffs. Only the finest references for this shit, some of which being the likes of early Electric Chair, Chain Whip, Illiterates, Hood Rats, Crisis Man, Headcheese and Imploders.
These Istanbul eggpunk warriors’ debut EP of last year has certainly been among my favorite releases of 2023 and their first long-playing cassette delivers more of the same kind of fun by which i mean: irresistably catchy and quirky garage-/synth punk-smashers in a similar headspace to such genre greats as Prison Affair, Set-Top Box, Beer and Ghoulies. Tell me, what’s not to like about that?
Another nice catch took the bait and triggered the hyper-vigilant sensors at Cincinnati, Ohio garage punk stronghold Feel It Records. This Minneapolis group shares members with Green/Blue, Citric Dummies and a whole bunch more and emits some rock-sold, ultra-catchy ’77 vibes on their debut LP, sorta bridging the gap between the US and UK scenes, combining all the best traits of, say, Dickies, Dead Boys and Adverts or, if you need more recent references, also bears some similarities to the likes of Shop Talk, The Celebrities, Tommy and the Commies, Sick Thoughts, Bad Sports and Tropicana.
