Rude Television – Distractions
Having already given an excellent first impression previously on a split tape with the great AJ Cortez, this West Palm Beach dude's follow-up EP maintains the high standard of his garage- and synth punk, radiating the quirky energy of groups such as Satanic Togas, Erik Nervous, Prison Affair, Mononegatives, RMFC... while also incorporating some '77-ish power pop sensibilities akin to Tommy and the Commies and towards the end, there's also an increasingly Alien Nosejob- / Ausmuteants-esque thing goin' on.
Album-Stream →Viceprez – Juger
Wow, this group from Borée, France is juggling a shitload of different styles with striking confidence on their debut album. The thing starts out with a short, straightforward, simple blast of hardcore punk, then has them cycling through a wide array of styles including forceful postcore, hard rockin' upper-mid-tempo garage rock/-punk, groovy angular post punk and even some vaguely Pixies-esque, surf-infused oldschool 80s indie-/alternative rock. All of this they pull off with ease - there's not a single weak link on this record. Impressive shit all the way through!
Album-Stream →Air Vent Dweller – Air Vent Dweller
A nice little battery of vaguely egg-ish garage punk and fuzz pop combining more recent weirdness à la Print Head or Freak Genes with a good measure of Desperate Bicycles, some early Flying Nun Records vibes - especially The Clean and The Stones - a touch of C86 pop (as in Cowboys Aren't Real) or also: loads of random 80s cassette culture artifacts that might or might not have cropped up on some Messthetics/Homework/Hyped To Death compilation over the years.
Album-Stream →Screensaver – Clean Current
Clean Current/Repeats releases April 8th via Upset The Rhythm.
Sniffany and the Nits – Piggy Bank
The Unscratchable Itch releases July 8th via Prah Recordings.
Vintage Crop – Double Slants
Kibitzer releases June 24th via Upset The Rhythm.
Gentlemen Rogues – Francy
Francy / I've Got A Match 7" releases April 1st via Snappy Little Numbers.
The Carrion Crawlers – Stay Gold
Baby Ghosts – Dusty
Verspannungskassette #31 (C-90)
Far Corners Pull To One Side
Patti West West Midwest
Bobo C. S. S.
Big Bopper Good Friends
Dog Lips Stain
Unknown Liberty A Field Of Vegetables
Stunner Rotten Fruit
Thought Control Hatelust
Church Clothes No Good Deed
C-Krit Negative Approach Lyrics
Hippyfuckers Bad Light
Animated Violence Called It
Duck Everything For Everyone
Hollywood Fuckheads I'm Not Afraid Of You
No Fix Hell's on the Inside
Balloon Thief My Vermin
Liquid Lunch Gaslight the Landlord
The Crawlies Way It Goes
La Hija del Apocalipis 02:30 am
Die Verlierer Die Zeit
Split System Climbing
Big Baby Just Suckin'
Print Head Slippin
Rudix Jaulas
Mustard Slippin' and Slidin'
Marty Brass Keep it Swinging, Bob
Teeth of England God Maker
Bambara Mythic Love
Meat Wave Honest Living
Nocturnal Prose Black Marble Grave
Onlooker Glory
Thee Alcoholics She's The Man
Adulkt Life Book Of Curses
Metz Demolition Row
Girls In Synthesis Enveloped
Coins Parallèles Ne rien faire
Isotope Soap In Need Of Systematic Entropy
Onyon Fell Naturell
Tetnis Punch Drunk Junk
Modern Cynics Stop
Star Party No Excuse
Ingrates Kickin' Down The Doors!
Spooky Visions The Pounding of the Nail
Klint Desaster
The Serfs Politics of Emptiness
Star Party – Meadow Flower
With members of Vexx, Gen Pop and Sweeping Promises among them, who’d expect anything short of sheer awesomeness from this Seattle group? Sheer awesomeness is exactly what we get, of course. These eight songs are noise pop candy of the highest caliber, taking some cues out of the playbook of vaguely surf-, more or less JMC-influenced acts such as early Primitives, Joanna Gruesome, early Wavves, Male Bonding or, most recently, UV-TV, the underlying songs being strong enough to still work if you strip away the ubiquitous layer of fuzz, as they do in the gorgeous title track, a melancholy dream pop ballad.
Album-Stream →Unknown Liberty – Chain Of Madness
Curious mixture of hardcore-, anarcho- and post punk on this Kingston, NY group’s debut tape, assembling a distinct style out of gritty KBD-drenched vibes à la Launcher, a hint of UK82 energy, plenty of Rudimentary Peni and the occasional bit of Crass.
Album-Stream →Die Verlierer – Die Verlierer
Heavily retro-leaning post punk, made in Berlin and sounding exactly like you'd come to expect by that fact. You might recognize a familiar voice grumbling about here, the dude having done a similar thing with his other band Maske, although the overall vibe here is even a notch more gritty, sometimes having a slightly Wipers-esque quality and, at other points, a touch of S.Y.P.H. as well as more recent phenomena like Aus, Hyäne, Die Wärme or Peter Muffin und die Heilsarmee. In other words: This might have come out sometime around '81 just as well. There's a couple of underwhelming filler tracks on here - forgivable and totally made up for by the undeniable highlights of this album. Just don’t try another attempt at funk next time, okay?
Album-Stream →Horsegirl – Anti-glory
Versions of Modern Performance releases June 3rd via Matador Records.