New noises from a dude who’s not only been playing in a whole shit-ton of highly regarded Berlin-based groups like Benzin, Pigeon, Liiek, Molde and Deltoids over the years but has also been cooking up his own very own little musical treats as a solo act under the Dee Bee Rich or DBR moniker for many years now. Two years after his previous self-titled tape already marked a huge step ahead from the more scrappy and quirky DIY Lo-Fi aesthetics of earlier releases towards a more coherent and fleshed-out musical vision, his newest LP shows further refinement and an expanded breadth of stylistic flourishes and influences. While the opener Smirched could well pass for an (excellent) outtake from that last Liiek album, Unacceptable already surprises us in spicing up the familiar post punk formula with some kinda ’77-ish guitar leads. Pool then adds a melodic sensibility to it of a kind you’d rather expect from more recent Institute releases for example, followed by Hold Me Tight on which this record finally reaches full catchy pop equilibrium, no doubt the most impressive demonstration of a matured songwriting craft that oozes out of every pore here and elevates every second of this killer record.
Anything these Londoners have touched so far has been a fuckin’ treat from day one and it still holds true now on their first full-length effort, even though they may have somewhat streamlined their sound in the meantime and traded in some of their early fuzzy garage- and Hot Snakes-esque postcore vibes for something of an Oi! and classic eighties punk- and hardcore-affine aesthetic. That said, what’s always stayed the same in their discography though is the straightforwardly constructed but always structurally sound nature of their catchy and thoroughly whippin’ punk attacks and there’s no lack of that on this record either, which starts out strong and only gets better from there, as they’ve saved up some of their most infectious tunes for the second half here. Once again this is some must-listen shit for admirers of such groups as Ascot Stabber, Beast Fiend, Crisis Man or Wymyns Prysyn just to name a few.
These canadians uphold their reputation as one of the classiest and most fun acts the current eggpunk landscape has to offer on their newest EP, with exception of Slop maybe, which is indeed the intentionally sloppiest thing they’ve slopped on us so far on an otherwise simultaneously familiar and predictably unpredictable record, delivering all the goods and thrills and surprises you’ve come to expect of a Winky Frown record.
There’s a strikingly economic, down-to-earth quality to this Portland-based group’s debut EP, on which they serve up six highly flammable concoctions of eighties-style punk and hardcore with only the slightest hint of a present-day garage punk extension, all of which these dudes pull of with sleepwalking ease and class by way of a neverending string of simple and catchy hooks.
Reuben Sawyer has been active for quite a while already with various groups and projects in a wide variety of musical styles, though he only really entered the 12XU universe in 2023 with Demons Obey, his third LP under the Anytime Cowboy moniker, which has been a strange beast for sure in juxtaposing elements of blues-ish and jangly cowpunk- and garage pop with a somewhat surreal, otherworldly quality anchored by Sawyer’s uncannily calm vocal delivery. His newest LP now may as well be his strongest, most accomplished one yet, streamlining his previously somewhat cluttered disjointed sonic space into an unexpectedly cohesive whole, making his equally odd, catchy and melancholic compositions – enabled by some next-level songwriting chops – glow and sparkle like never before.
Zulo of Rosario, Argentinia have already accumulated a respectable number of LPs and EPs with a varying sound inbetween the parameters of fuzzed-out psychedelic garage punk, noise- and power pop, but never before have their tunes been as consistently awesome as on this new LP on which they lean in on their more spaced-out tendencies, a psychedelic haze enveloping an impeccable batch of super catchy new tunes that at some points may resemble an oldschool Telescopes, Spacemen 3 or Flying Saucer Attack vibe as much as somewhat more recent shit á la Honey Radar, Far Corners, Germ House or Violent Change.
Damn, it’s been almost eight years now since we’ve last heard of Youth Avoiders on occasion of their 2018 Relentless LP, which i remember having had some lukewarm feelings about, but that’s probably less a reflection of that record’s qualities and more of the not all too sunny place my life has been at in 2018. Anyway, here’s a new Youth Avoiders LP at long last and guess what, it’s every bit as good as anything the Paris group has done so far, excelling in a sound inbetween melodic punk and postcore that’s become kind of a blueprint for countless of predominantly french groups following in their footsteps like Telecult, Nightwatchers, Stalled Minds, Litovsk, Bleakness, Laxisme or Bronco Libre, who in turn have developed it over the years to include varying amounts of post- and garage punk and, even more recently, Oi! elements. Because of that, their music may nowadays be described as pleasantly oldschool and possibly won’t sound quite as unique today as it did back in the early 2010s, but that’s just underscoring the massive influence these folks have had on parts of the scene with a sound that’s actually very much their own.
If you feel like you’ve heard these songs before, you’re not going nuts ‘cos indeed every single tune on album number 3 by this Madison, Wisconsin-based group has already been on one of their previous two LPs. So on one hand this thing plays out like some kind of best of comp but then again, everything has been re-recorded here, polished up and given a new layer of paint and especially those tunes from the first record – which still left some things to be desired in the production department – have gained a lot of punch and sparkle in what i’ll call their definitive versions now. So basically we’ve got kind of a “first Snooper LP” situation on our hands here and the strongest representation so far of their quite unique blend of super catchy garage- and post punk with psychedelic undercurrents and additional sprinkles of glam and goth, a combination that often reminds me of Powerplant, De()t or Isotope Soap minus the Synths, of Mononegatives, Shrudd or Electric Prawns 2 on the more psychedelic side of the equation and, in their lighter moments, the likes of Erik Nervous, Andy Human & The Reptoids, SGATV, Freak Genes or Cthtr.
Now this Brooklyn group kicks up an excellent fuss on what appears to be their second EP so far, churning out eight concise and catchy eruptions of fuzz-heavy garage- and old-fashioned DIY punk that evokes quite a bit of an early 2010s feel reminiscent of Tyvek, Parquet Court or maybe a quite Lo-Fi, rustic incarnation of Wimps, though you could just as well draw comparisons to oldschool KBD-adjacent Acts like The Endtables or The Mentally Ill. There’s an undeniable Desperate Bicycles energy to it aswell and when it comes to more recent shit, i’m sure enjoyers of that fairly recent Winston Hytwrs Perfect Harmony EP might get a kick out of this one too.
Judging from the title, this Boston group featuring half the lineup of The Monsieurs has just found some recordings and dumped them on bandcamp, so no clue how old this shit actually is, but reading the tea leaves i’ll say it’s fairly recent actually. Anyway, where The Monsieurs have, for my own taste, often been adhering just a bit too closely to an ultra-oldschool, rather basic and well-trodden garage punk retro formula, this shit right here – while still not exactly new or original – has a lot more muscle to it, delivering its old school thrills with plenty of oomph, relying on heavy-duty, resiliant hooks and rock-solid song substance all the way through.
