Outsider – Power
Retro releases August 19th via Break The Records.
Why Bother? – The Final Ride
Beyond Step One releases August 7th via Feel It Records.
Spice World – Bull’s Tools
Purple Patch releases October 1st via Rough Skies Records.
Crazy Clue – Social Pressure
Where The Dregs Dwell releases August 7th via Beach Impediment Records.
Suralin – Every Day Slices Me
Every Day Slices Me releases September 11th via It's Eleven Records.
Louse – Best Laid Plans
Buyer's Remorse releases August 14th via Riot Season Records.
Glup Shitto – I Have No Ass But I Must Shit
Alien Nosejob – How A Mosquito Operates
Okay so here we have yet another Alien Nosejob record showcasing Jake Robertson and accomplices in full-blown hardcore mode, superficially similar to what we've heard a couple times previously, most notably on their two hardcore 7"s via Iron Lung Records, though this wouldn't be a true Alien Nosejob LP if it didn't come up with plenty of neat surprises and bright ideas along the way. Also, by no means is this a straight rehash of said 7"s which veered closer to a harsher '80s-informed style more appropriate and in line with the influences that permeate through much of the Iron Lung Records catalogue. Here, the overall vibe is much closer to earlier incarnations of the west coast punk scenes with the usual suspects such as Germs, Circle Jerks and Adolescents looming large and as much as Alien Nosejob were never shy of catchy melodic hooks even on these, their most uncompromising records to date, they really come to the forefront on this one and it would always be unfair to shrug off any AJ record as a just a curious oddball genre excercise as i've always felt that even at the rawer end of their pretty eclectic musical spectrum, the group pours in just as much effort of plainly superior craftsmanship and songwriting prowess as with any other release of theirs. These records ain't mere curios but central pillars of their incredible discography, carrying the unmistakable handwriting of these modern-day garage punk auteurs.
Album-Stream →Smirk – Speculative Fiction
Smirk always kinda stood apart from the pack of 2nd wave eggpunk groups in as much as there always appeared to have been some tension going on between the more upbeat and quirky egg-ish vibes and a much darker post punk undercurrent in many of their early tunes, a trait they went all-in on for the first time only on last year's incredible Domestic Dog 7", just in time when their previous trajectory, as well as that of much of their eggpunk surroundings in general, started to show serious signs of diminishing returns. Its two tunes put them more in the neighborhood of essential post punk pillars of the Institute, Marbled Eye and The Estranged variety and the shit worked just admirably 'cos these impressively elaborate and balanced tunes absolutely held their own and so does everything on this new LP now, their most sober and earnest set of tunes to date, showing all the hallmarks of another eggpunk outfit hatching into a full-blown chickenpunk group in a way that i'm sure would make ex Lumpy dude quite proud, even if i still think he's got the whole chicken-and-egg problem upside down. In all these cases, clearly the egg was there first and these eggs need to have room to exist and be bred and flourish in order to mature into the kind of beauty we see right here. Damn does that sentence make me sound stupid and pretentious. I better refrain from typing any more random words now.
Album-Stream →Wax Minds – Funatic Asylum
Finally here's the debut LP of this group from Bremen, Germany, a record i've been hotly anticipating even though i've also had some reasonable doubts as to how well that whole schtick is gonna play in 2026 given how insanely, in the short span of 18 months since their debut EP, the proliferation and oversaturation of vaguely Snooper and Prison Affair-informed egg-ish garage punk groups has progressed to the point of some unavoidable genre fatigue on my part, as i've been moaning about previously already. On one hand i'm kinda sad to say that, for me at least, the enjoyment of a new Wax Minds LP is indeed somewhat affected and it's actually through little fault of their own so i'm kinda feeling like an asshole for even saying that. My initial impression ain't helped by the fact that the record ain't exactly front-loaded with its strongest material - especially the second and third tunes Lead-Limbed Losers' Anthem and Growing Old, Staying Gold somehow just don't quite cut it for me - and it's only starting with the title tune Funatic Asylum that the album begins to really come into its own and finally settle into that golden zone of catchy-ass hooks, exciting slicing-and-dicing guitar work and vicious like-clockwork garage punk propulsion we've all been hoping for. Did i also mention this group absolutely kills live? Go see 'em if you have the chance! Many of my gripes may be purely a me-problem actually, borne out of following the eggosphere a bit too closely for a long time, and as much as this record has to stand up to a glut of vaguely similar sounding groups these days, i actually think it does an admirable job at that once it gets over its somewhat shaky opening stretch.
Album-Stream →Surf – Hiding In Plain Sight
A mysterious group from nowhere is ambushing us with this killer EP wallowing in a garage punk sub-niche not all too common anymore these days, which i'd say is actually ripe for a comeback, strongly reminding me of the mid-aughts-to-2010s era of angular garage punk that was kinda the backdrop that informed this very blog's early days. Think of groups á la Sauna Youth, Ex-Cult, Shark Toys and early Teenanger... maybe there are also some traces of UV Race, Total Control or Eddy Current Suppression Ring in there, even a touch of early Useless Eaters in the record's absolute über-tune I Find Your Tattoos & Piercings Boring. So yeah, good shit right there, wouldn't say no to more of that!
Album-Stream →Hard Looks – Hard Looks
This Springfield, Illinois group has conjured up an insanely tasty and addictive debut EP here that, despite a tiny bit of a Rudimentary Peni-esque death rock-ish vibe early on in the opening tune The Stain, quickly settles into an oldschool niche located somewhere on the melodic fringes of the mid-to-late eighties punk landscape including a good bit bit of pre-'90s pop punk goodness á la Fastbacks, still unaffected by the genre's later disposable sameness but rather grounded in refined, classic pop songcraft. Another valid comparison to describe this shit would be the recent EPs of Montreal group Psychic Armour, minus their heavy metal influences.
Album-Stream →Wine Lips – Projector
TV Dinner releases August 28th via Stomp Records.
Drift – Rough Rider
Violence For Your Furs releases September 16th via God Unknown Records.
Society – Casualties Of War
Reign Of Flies releases July 31st via Under The Gun Records.
