Bleakness – Dancing With Darkness
Life at a Standstill releases June 17th via Sabotage Records.
Sinaïve – Ténèbres
Super 45 t. releases May 27th via Hidden Bay Records.
Off Peak Arson – Closed Curtains
Death Bag – Simplify
Death Bag releases May 13th.
Peace De Résistance – Bits and Pieces
When this New York dude's enchanting and bewildering 2020 debut EP Hedgemakers hit, i didn't have the slightest clue who's the mastermind behind Peace De Résistance. Turns out it's none other than Institute vocalist Moses Brown - yeah, kinda makes sense in retrospect, i guess. Dunno how i missed that. His first longplayer now unfolds a somewhat more elaborate, yet still pretty minimalist soundscape that once again feels out of place in all the best ways - a time capsule of hazy false memories weaving early strains of proto-, art- and post punk into a vivid, semi-plausible case of the Mandela effect.
Album-Stream →Straw Man Army – SOS
The second longplayer (ignoring last year's Her Majesty's Ship OST) by this Kaleidoscope-adjacent New York duo sees their sonics shifting into a comparatively downbeat, darker and more cumbersome, yet equally rewarding direction. There's simply no other group quite like them in the current post punk/-core landscape and these chaps clearly maintain their position on the cutting edge of contemporary (art-/post-)punk while simultaneously being perfectly aware of its rich history, culminating in what to me is the crowning achievement of this album - the slow-burning, sprawling Beware, which kinda sounds like classic landmark records of the Chairs Missing and The Argument caliber boiled down to their very essence.
Album-Stream →Red Gaze – Healing Games
Another excellent EP by that band from Graz, Austria with a sound more akin to some random Berlin group, members of whom are also playing in whatever other group you might also have heard of… i don't remember exactly and can't be bothered to look that shit up right now, okay? Post punk with an ever-so-slight death rock undercurrent. Yeah, Berlin-esque as i already mentioned, think like… Diät, Pigeon, Clock Of Time but also with some similarity to powerhouse US acts á la Rank Xerox or Institute.
Album-Stream →Beige Banquet – Export / Additive
Live! Live! Live! releases April 28th via Just Step Sideways Records.
Gad Whip – Sky Bird
Sky Bird releases April 29th.
Sex Mex – Electric Chair
Electric Chair releases May 13th.
Dian Lunadon – Living And Dying With You
Beyond Everything releases June 10th via In The Red Records.
Verspannungskassette #33 (C-60)
Total Sham Pools
MULNG WarMULNGer
Skinned Pig Pussy. Blow. Caffeine.
Rude Television Rat Bastard
Exwhite Loser
SOSS Ron's House
Priors Voice Of Reason
Pinch Points Capital
Snitsh Pitsh Rosie Coaster
Rouge Angerman
Max Mucus Countin' Kernels
The Gobs Mind Control
Secret Agent Headcheese The Only Good Bug (Is A Dead Bug)
Klint Monology
Toilet Rats My Bomb Shelter
Psychic Graveyard What Happens At Zero
Sex Mex Breakfast In America
VR Sex Taste Of Hate
Wasted Break You
USA Nails God Help Us If There's A War
Nape Neck Don't Know
Soft Shoulder Left Over, Table Top
Puffer Suffering
No Healer Movie Night
Rotten Mind Degenerates
Gentlemen Rogues Francy
Neutrals Gary Borthwick Says
Weak Signal Who The Hell Are You?
Exwhite – Estray
I'm kinda blown away right now by the strength of that latest EP by a group probably based somewhere around the Leipzig/Berlin/Halle axis of garage- and post punk. What we get is simply first rate melodic garage shit recorded in appropriately rough fidelity, simple and stupid, stunningly effective and completely endearing. A feast for admirers of, say, Booji Boys, Sweet Reaper, Telecult... even some hint of Radioactivity / Marked Men is evident here.
Album-Stream →Total Sham – Life as a Total Sham
Gear up for some completely unsanitized, garage-infested oldschool hardcore mayhem, just as rough as it's catchy and fun, on this EP by a Kansas City group that appears to consist of the same folks otherwise known as Dye. Fans of groups á la Fried E/m and Modern Needs are surely gonna approve of this, as will those of slightly more garage-leaning bands like Launcher, Liquid Assets or Mystic Inane.
Album-Stream →Priors – NEWNEWNEW
A yummy new EP by Montreal punks Priors delivering three new infectious smashers starting off with some garage-meets-hardcore energy akin to sped-up Useless Eaters or Mononegatives, followed by a super effective midtempo post punk stomper with a hint of Wire. The closing track, then, has a bit of a Screamers and Devo vibe to it and also bears some similarity to more recent stuff by Isotope Soap.