On this record, every new song kinda reminds me of a different bunch of groups which is great really, many of those being australian which is also rarely a bad sign! The opening track, for example contains echoes of The Estranged, Red Dons, Xetas, Civic, a touch of Saints and Birdman. True Method has the sleazy rockin' qualities of Golden Pelicans and something else i can't really put my finger on right now. Throttle has some dumb straight-ahead Feedtime energy to it and the subsequent stretch of songs then has straightforward garage punk á la Ex-Cult, Sauna Youth blending into more melodic garage and power pop shit á la Radioacticity, Bad Sports, Mind Spiders, Bed Wettin' Bad Boys. Potential to Ride shares a similar vibe with psychedelically inclined post punk acts á la Public Eye, Waste Man or Marbled Eye. Finally, the two closing tracks remind me of the simple, undiluted impact of australian powerhouses Split System, Polute, Jackson Reid Briggs and the Heaters. All of this is grounded in unfailing, confident songcraft and compacted into an incredibly tight, certified all-killer LP.
A simply delightful debut LP by this Philadelphia group, brought to us via local label SRA Records. I wanna describe this shit as a mixed bag in the best sense possible, an eccentric repository of slightly cowpunk-infused art punk hovering somewhere between garage- and noise-heavy hardcore shit with a certain KBD-extension somewhat reminiscent of early Electric Chair plus a touch of Soupcans on one hand, and then on the other, there are some ubiquitous echoes to be found of old acts on the intersection of '80s noise rock and proto-grunge like, say, U-Men, Scratch Acid, Volcano Suns, Butthole Surfers, Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, Feedtime and very early Meat Puppets, just to name a couple of the most obvious references.
The debut EP of this New York group frequently conjures up a melancholy vibe not quite unlike what we've heard on the recent Shop Talk EP, backed by similarly flawless songcraft. This stuff has a more pronounced post punk feel to it though, bringing to mind - aside from the inevitable Wipers comparisons - the likes of early The Estranged, Nervosas, or Piss Test.
For our weekly dose of egg-related brainfuck, some dude or group from Charleston, South Carolina is volunteering and they've brought beer with them, nice! Though not exactly reinventing the wheel here, this is another rock solid new package of quirky funky lo-fi garage pop goodness that fans of shit á la Prison Affair, Set-Top Box, Nuts, Eugh or Pringue are guaranteed to have a massive ball with.
Portland label Spared Flesh Records has established itself as a real treasure chest of quirky, unconventional garage- and post punk goodness over the course of just over two years and the newest cassette is no exception. Society is a solo project of Sims Hardin who you might have also heard as part of Philadelphia groups Mesh and Toe Ring. Having already made a great impression with last year's All Flies Go To Hell EP, the second one seamlessly continues the scrappy charm of his sound hovering somewhere inbetween the strange worlds of '80s cassette culture and other artifacts on the fringes of garage-, proto-, post- and art punk. Think of a fusion of Modern Lovers, early Mekons, The Fall and Desperate Bicycles and you're roughly on the right track. Or you might compare them to more recent groups like the rustic jams of Honey Radar, Far Corners, Germ House and earlier Woolen Men, the proto-meets-post-punk experiments of Shark Toys and NY's Peace de Résistance.
