While their 2017 Pupal Stage EP still struck me as a bit undercooked, their newest tape shows these croatian punks (featuring members of Modern Delusion) refining their sound into something way more consistent and enjoyable, made up of straight-ahead punk rock that sometimes veers slightly towards the KBD-inspired garage sound of groups like Launcher, Freakees… at other times taking some cues from melodic, post punk-leaning acts in the fashion of Red Dons, Xetas, Anxious Living or earlier The Estranged.
Having released a strong debut EP in 2017, Melbourne group Super-X now deliver their first full length, once again packed with tons of spaced-out sonic force. Classic Stooges energy collides with psychedelic fireworks á la early Telescopes, some unexpectedly high amount of post punk and a hint of MX-80, while they manage to keep things interesting and versatile throughout the whole journey, evoking a rather diverse cluster of comparisons such as Public Eye, Writhing Squares, Destruction Unit, Faux Ferocious, Bailterspace, The Cowboy or Open Your Heart-era The Men.
Two noisy new artifacts brought to us by New York's exquisite D4MT label. First, there's a new extended play by hard-/postcore powerhouse Kaleidoscope on which their sound comes across a tiny bit more more simplified and straightforward than on last year's killer debut LP, yet as inspired, playful and inventive as ever. Similar things can be said about the debut album of Straw Man Army, a duo i can't find much information on, but at a quick glance they seem to consist of none other than Kaleidoscope's drummer boy and some other dude. Just as you'd expect, this is another quite adventurous ride through the realms of dark post punk both classic and contemporary, sometimes bordering on Crass-style minimalism, Wipers-esque melancholia while also reminding me of more recent eccentricities by the likes of Murderer or Wymyns Prysyn.
As was to be expected, this Atlanta group's first full length effort is thirty minutes of pure post punk bliss, reminding me, at several points, of some of the genre's best contemporaries - the rigid rhythms of Knowso and Nag come to mind, mixed with the more playful flourishes of Patti or Marbled Eye. Other valid comparisons might be acts like Bruised, Sarcasm or Labor.
Seems i forgot to post this Barcelona group's first demo a while ago, stupid me. Well, here's their newest one to make up for it and once again this is a thoroughly fun little treat of quirky DIY garage punk bearing some similarity to R.M.F.C., Dee Bee Rich, Nuts or Erik Nervous.
Another record by muteant Jake Robertson's shapeshifting project Alien Nosejob. After last year's 7" on Iron Lung Records, this is the second time he's venturing into hardcore punk. Taking advantage of the longer running time, we see him mixing things up and exploring the genre a bit deeper this time, resulting in a quite varied set of tunes. Everything Robertson tackles here, it just works admirably well.
This Seattle group has been around for quite a few years now, but it took them just as long to come up with their debut LP. Thus, it's no real surprise this thing sounds rather mature for a debut record, with a firm grip on this particular subgenre somewhere between the garage-leaning zones of the postcore spectrum and some contemporary noise rock - right in the neighborhood of bands like early Video, Hot Snakes, Ascot Stabber, Davidians or Flowers Of Evil.
Don't know how i didn't ever stumble upon this San Francisco dude's output before earlier this year, when Modern Needs released a certain killer tape called Survey of the Animal Kingdom. Well, what's more important is that he's got a new album out already and just as expected, it once again delivers loads of stupid fun made up of some oldschool US west coast shit, timeless garage punk and plenty of KBD-style weirdness. Of the current generation you might think of Launcher, Liquid Assets, Freakees, Fried E/M… or of older artifacts by The Mentally Ill, Noxious Fumes. Also this time, the generous use of Synths creates an undeniable Ausmuteants feel.
Baltimore's Lip first won my attention through a split EP with Nag a while ago. While there's definitely some similarity to said Atlanta post punk group, i'd say what they're pulling off on their latest EP bears a much closer resemblance to groups like Sievehead, Rank Xerox or Criminal Code. At times, their sound has a more pronounced oldschool goth/death rock vibe to it though, bringing to mind Disjoy or, more recently, Clock Of Time.
Garage punk by a Melbourne group sounding somewhat like a curious mix of some straightforward rockin' shit similar to Mini Skirt, Flat Worms, Ex-Cult just as much as the more playful approaches taken by the likes of Vintage Crop, Dumb.
