At first listen, i can't help but think of the texan (neo) no wave/chaotic noise rock connection around bands like Flesh Narc, Gay Cum Daddies and a few other projects sharing much of the same personnel. However, this band is from Philadelphia, making any association with those rather unlikely. Also, on closer inspection, their sound and songs come across a lot more structured, compared with the kinda semi-improvised feel of the Denton scene's output. Soundwise, this is somewhat less in the no wave camp, leaning more into the noise rock side of things and now that i'm thinking of it… I also see quite some similarities to their geographically much closer New York contemporaries Spray Paint and Big Neck Police, as well as a hint of canadian noise punks Sopcans.
On their demo, Brussels outfit Warm Exit come up with a flawless little dose of synth-enhanced garage punk, alternately reminding me of contemporary genre powerhouses like Ausmuteants, Dumb, Erik Nervous or Powerplant.
The australian Scene always finds new ways to surprise, sometimes outright baffle me. This time it's done by a melbourne group featuring members of, among others, Kids Of Zoo, profoundly unsettling my sense of geography by way of having their lyrics sung in japanese. Sound-wise, i'm reminded of more-or-less gloomy post punk stuff by acts like Institute, Diät, Criminal Code, Pretty Hurts or Acrylics - combined with some noisy and rough DIY punk in the vein of Lumpy & The Dumpers, Launcher or Beast Fiend, as well as a faint echo of Hot Snakes.
This tape by Melbourne group Super-X isn't exactly new stuff, but that shit is way to strong not to be mentioned here. Witness a sonic spectacle unfold, fusing the old garage-/proto punk fuzz of Fun House-era Stooges with spaced out vibes not unlike Destruction Unit or early Telescopes, all the while dragging along with it some traces of contemporary post punk.
It's business as usual for Atlanta's Nag on their newest EP, on which they're staying clear of new experiments and bright ideas. I'm perfectly fine with that. Instead, their sound made from fragments of post-, fuzz- and noise punk once again manages to convince me, crafted into three rock solid songs that aren't even trying to look smarter than they actually are - and that's exactly why they work so well.
In recent years, Cologne has developed quite an impressive track record of folks putting on DIY garage shows, thus i always wondered why i didn't get to hear much in terms of local bands, even less in terms of recorded material. However… Acid & Eltern are indeed a band from Cologne and their first demo makes for a thoroughly pleasing listen. Recorded in raw and fuzzy mono, I'd locate their sound - among others - roughly in the realm of Ex-Cult, Useless Eaters and the muddy LoFi-Aesthetics of early Erik Nervous.
California's Discovery deliver another two short but potent blasts of this particular fusion between blown out fuzzy hardcore & garage stuff that, in recent years, seems to be cropping up from every crack in the asphalt, a fact i couldn't be more happy about.
What we got here is twelve minutes worth of minimalistic, uncompromising DIY industrial noise/-punk shit by some duo from River Falls, Wisconsin. Being more of a clueless idiot tourist in this particular field, i'd describe this as what a fully electronic variant of Big Black might have sounded like. Or maybe draw parallels to the more recent but comparably minimalistic noise by Black Pus.
Just like its predecessor, the second EP by this band from Buffalo, NY turns out to be another highly concentrated dose of unconventional, inventive and at times strikingly melodic hardcore fun, also expanding its stylistic tentacles into places of garage-, fuzz- and KBD style punk.
Basically, this Falmouth, UK band's line up consists of local punks Internal Credit minus one dude. Compared to the latter's rather straightforward garage punk, Isolation roll out a somewhat more rigid sound on their debut EP, expanding their solid garage foundation by a certain postcore edge, bringing to mind Hot Snakes or Youth Avoiders, as well as melodic post punk acts like Red Dons, Daylight Robbery, Anxious Living, Nervosas and maybe some tiny traces of Wipers. What's not to like about that?
