Four-and-a-half fun litte strumming excercises of the heavily proto punk inspired kind, done by a dude who also happens to be a member of Toe Ring. Sounds a bit like a mix of Peace De Resistance, Woolen Men and Honey Radar with a hint of Modern Lovers on top.
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Quality shit from Phantom Records once again. The culprits, this time, are yet another Berlin group playing a breed of post punk (really, who'd have guessed....) which proudly wears its origins on its sleeves yet manages to put an inventive and playful spin on every single track. Funky but thankfully not too polished, there's also a prominent surf rock vibe at play here ricocheting through their arrangements like a steel rod willfully thrown into the spokes, always making for some delightful stunts and maneuvers. Sometimes we also get a touch of rockabilly as put through a Gun Club-meet-The Fall meatgrinder. My personal fave here is a little banger called Angerman which perfectly applies the carrot-and-stick approach in its juxtaposition of dissonant noise and melodicism.
Album-Stream →Digging releases May 5th via Just Step Sideways.
Empty Rooms 7" releases April 22nd via Static Shock Records.
World releases April 29th via Iron Lung Records.
Starless Midnight releases April 29th via Iron Lung Records.
Hollywood Junkyard releases June 17th via Ipecac Records.
Como Acabar Contigo Mismo releases May 15th via Neon Taste Records.
Human Capital releases July 8th via Iron Lung Records.
Somehow i must've overlooked this Ocean City, NJ dude so far. His long playing debut and third release altoghether hits my nerve dead-on though, with a variety of simple & stupid garage-/electro- and, occasionally, synth punk, often with a distinct 77-ish bent calling to mind old pioneers à la Screamers, MX-80, Metal Urbain/Dr. Mix & The Remix as well as a slight hint of Chrome. In Country Girls, quite fittingly, we even get a touch of Gun Club-esque americana-/cowpunk while of the more recent scene, you might draw comparisons to groups like S.B.F., Kid Chrome, Zoids or Mateo Manic.
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Nothing short of pure brilliance is what we get once again from that weirdly british sounding Oakland, California group. Their newest EP might be their least post punk, most power pop sounding record so far, bristling with tons of masterfully crafted, endlessly charming Television Personalities worship plus a touch of Mekons or Desperate Bicycles.
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Uh... these folks appear to have been at it for ages now, yet this is the first time i've ever stumbled upon their music. The Chicago group's latest EP is one hell of a treat made up of melodic punk rock with a certain rough 80's SST-era alt rock edge - the specific breed that became kind of a thing again for a short period in the early 2010s but has since then been an increasingly rare ocurrence once again. Think of a mix between early Milk Music, Needles//Pins, California X, Commander Keen or Happy Diving.
