Heavy Möther II – Omnivore
Heavy Möther II releases February 14th via Total Punk Records.
Bite Marx – Intifada
Verspannungskassette #86 (C-90)
Tracklist
NRG I Love You, But / Everything's Gone
Brenda i Funky Proste życie
Jazz Vost Canal Cool
Whiphouse Sleep
Futuro The Norm
Whippets C-Thru
Dadgad Pirupiru
The Ghoulies Magnetic Scum
WWW Odio Humanoide
Gurk Uneasy
Feeding Tube Fashionites
Hugayz Sweatness
Raya Un despertar
Wax Minds The Pain
Power Pants Switchblade
Spam Shine (Las Pelotas)
The Pancake Haus Turn On Yr Hope
Vacation Armory of Bays
Proto J'étais prevenu
Heather The Jerk Parasites
Snow Caps Broke Bay
Soup Activists Black and White Television Screens
Tracklist
Ballistix Day In Day Out
Silo Kids Sick Licks
Foil Null And Void
Seudo Youth The Hang Up
Käräjät Se on demokratiaa
The Ashies Two Steps Back
Ninth Circle Twisted Life, Twisted City
Nukies Wish for better
Smertegrænsens Toldere Arbejde Er Et Tvunget Fællesskab
Cucuy Speed Of Smell
Rifle Cut Me Loose
Fast johnny and The Slow Burners Self Depreciation
Pleasants Sick Sad Situation
Outside View Ft. Dogmagogue Culture Vs Class
Macrophonics Diesel Disco
Krystian Quint & The Quitters Outer Drive
Dry Leaves Puing
Dead Bug Landfill
Yacht Fire Suffering
Good Flying Birds Pulling Hair
Liquids Water It Down
Shooting Losers I Wanna Be A Star
Answering Machines Archie's Walk
Sex Mex Slipping Away
Jacked Chicks Alarmed
The States Carol
Ghoulies – Shafted By The Algorithm
Less than a week into the new year, Erste Theke Tonträger has already put out 2025's first blockbuster release... digitally, at least. The Ghoulies from Perth, Australia are among those groups where it feels like they've been around for much longer than they actually were, having conquered their own little space inside the garage-/synth-/eggpunk gamut - not at all by considerably shaking up its foundations but rather by perfecting existing playbooks to their maximum sophistication and impact, plus, they always have the bewitching tunes to make it all stick. At many points, their sound is vaguely reminiscent somewhat oldschool-ish artifacts predating the whole eggpunk umbrella term á la early Ausmuteants, Quitter, Drug Sweat, while perfectly fitting in with more recent shit like Cherry Cheeks, Satanic Togas, Research Reactor Corp., Gee Tee, Kitchen People or Tommy Cossack & The Degenerators all the same.
Album-Stream →Answering Machines / Good Flying Birds / Soup Activists – Star Charms
An incredible three-way split tape bringing together some groups you should definitely keep your eye on in the forseeable future. Chicago's Answering Machines start things off with a remarkable bang in the form of catchy pop tunes that seem to combine many of the most striking qualities of the late-aughts to early 2010's fuzz punk excesses by the likes of Wavves, No Age with the propulsive power pop by groups such as Bad Sports, Warm Soda, Sonic Avenues or Scupper, while the overall fuzzed-out aesthetics and production values call to mind stuff on the rougher end of that same spectrum á la Violent Change, The Wind-Ups, Famous Mammals, Honey Bucket, Germ House, Far Corners and maybe also early Chronophage.
Good Flying Birds from Indianapolis, who've also released an absolutely stunning debut tape just a day prior to this, then present three smashers occupying some of the whitespace inbetween the worlds of eighties jangle pop, C86-related pop goodness and plenty of late-eighties Sarah Records indie pop vibes. Pulling Hair is a tune for the ages i'd say.
Rounding out things is St Louis art rock outfit Soup Activists whom i've admittedly had kind of a difficult time warming up to at first and still think are best enjoyed in small doses. Well, what we get here is certainly a suitably small dose of their craft and i have to concede there probably couldn't have been a more perfect, relaxed and low-key conclusion to this amazing little cassette.
Krystian Quint & The Quitters
Krystian Quint may be best known in association with Detroit garage punks The Stools. On his full-band debut under the Quitters moniker however, his tunes take a way more catchy and melancholy direction, largely alternating between two distinct modes of operation, one of 'em radiating the vibes of melodic garage punk acts like Sonic Avenues, Cheap Whine, Marked Men, Bad Sports, Sweet Reaper or, most recently, Eye Ball and The Dumpies. The other one is more reminiscent of moderately emo-ish nineties indie rock á la early Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Sebadoh, Lync and Seam as far as the old guard is concerned, or of more recent stuff like Tape/Off, Treehouse and Pardoner.
Album-Stream →Cucuy – People Talking
Hattiesburg label Earth Girl Tapes has yet another delicious treat for us, namely the debut tape of Chicago group Cucuy which delivers six blows of noisy and beautifully oddball hard- and postcore, balancing chaos and dissonance with way-above-average musicality, all of which calls to mind such offbeat classics as the early works of Minutemen, Really Red and Saccharine Trust, but just as much does this shit have in common with newer phenomena such as Rolex, Launcher or Mystic Inane.
Album-Stream →Wax Minds – Demo 2024
Excellent shit emanating out of some cellar in Bremen, Germany. This group's own make of propulsive garage punk plays out a bit like a mixture of more or less hardcore-infused acts like Vexx, Warm Bodies, Fugitive Bubble, Sniffany and the Nits, Warp, Skin Tags and Dots on one hand, heavier egg-leaning groups á la Cel Ray, Snooper, Prison Affair, Autobahns and Beer on the other.
Album-Stream →Silo Kids – Demo
Hattiesburg hardcore rarely ever disappoints and this tape by Silo Kids is yet another proof of that scene's potency, having both a rough and fuzzed-out oldschool quality to itself while also being catchy as hell and quite varied. Never content with simply copying the genre's established rules and conventions, there's a distinctly free creative spirit at play here which is kind of the defining attribute of so many other Hattiesburg groups anyway.
Album-Stream →Dadgad – New Year Demos
Having already released a whole ass full of nifty EPs and splits neatly fitting in with much of the the current eggpunk mold, their previous one recently marked a notable departure into a rougher, fuzzed-out aesthetic form. The newest release by this group based in Rome, Italy feels like a successful integration of both tendencies, sharing a similar quality to weirdo tunes by the likes of Die TV, Electric Prawns 2, Temporary Curse and recent Erik Nervous.
Feeding Tube – Unhealth
Just as on their three demos leading up to this new EP, New Jersey group Feeding Tube are bringing about yet another depraved orgy of pure sonic perversion in a quirky-as-fuck blend of angular egg- and post punk full of choppy rhythms, odd time signatures and blown-out sonics.
Album-Stream →Shooting Losers – Kill Me I’m Plain
What this dude from Chico, California pulls off on his debut EP i can best describe as a pleasantly antiquated sounding burst of late aughts / early 2010s fuzz punk and noise pop with plenty of a Wavves, Male Bonding and early Terry Malts kind of energy, but equally imbued with some of that certain surf-infused psychedelia of the same era á la Crystal Stilts and Fresh & Onlys.
Album-Stream →Macrophonics – Monophonics
A neat little bag of tricks and surprises, the debut EP by this Memphis group. The opening track seems hellbent on reanimating the late '80s / early '90s vibes of the AmRep and Touch&Go multiverse and, though not affiliated with those labels, i'm particularly reminded of the Lo-Fi noise rockers Drunks With Guns. Diesel Disco then kinda smells of early UK DIY á la early Mekons, Swell Maps and Desperate Bicycles while being transformed into a contemporary fuzz punk context. The Junt is just a perfect midtempo blast of a proto-grunge eighties garage rock throwback. Newspeak cranks up the weirdness with its distinct stop-and-go dynamics and structure. Finally, Control is more like your standard stooges-indebted fuzzy garage rocker and, quite honestly, overall the least thrilling thing on this otherwise thoroughly engaging EP.
Album-Stream →The Ashies – Demo 2024
As you might already have guessed from the title, this shit isn't exactly brand new, having been released in November already, but this Miami group totally is news to me right now. On their debut EP we're served four exquisite bursts of rough and primitive hardcore punk goodness whose tinny and blown-out LoFi aesthetics wouldn't feel too out of place next to anything released on Deluxe Bias or Impotent Fetus.
Album-Stream →Monda – Nearest Abode
Austria 2 releases January 31st.
