Five excellent new bursts of catchy, simple and mimimalist synth punk is what we get on the newest EP of this Dallas, Texas group. Though the title of the opening track Q:Where? A: On The Square! kind of evokes associations of Devo, i'd say actually this shit sounds a lot closer to some of the more underground acts of the '70s and '80s á la Minimal Man, Nervous Gender, Screamers, Units, Primitive Calculators or Visitors, while in the current scene you might also compare them to groups such as Victor, O-D-EX, Lost Packages and Freak Genes.
Atlanta's post punk scene strikes again! This group appears to have at least one (ex-?) member of Predator on board, whose sound this stuff certainly bears some resemblence to, as well as the genre's other quite obvious local mainstay, Nag. Whiphouse choose to label themselves as a death rock group and indeed, what (ever so slightly, though) differentiates this group from the aforementioned acts is a more pronounced classic goth rock vibe and a more simplistic approach to songwriting and arrangements. What can i say, nothing wrong with that. This shit works!
On their third LP, coming to our shores via Sydney label Urge Records, the Berlin post punk duo consisting of Erin Violet and former Trust Punks vocalist Joseph Thomas sees them dialing down the folk-ish leanings a bit in favor of a slightly darker, heavier sound while retaining all of that overbearing sense of melancholy and the song-focused qualities that already had the previous records towering way above the bulk of the genre, prompting exclusively flattering comparisons to acts such as Public Interest, Marbled Eye, Waste Man, Tube Alloys, Corker, Glittering insects, Public Eye, Kitchen's Floor, VR Sex and Mothers Milk.
The Sydney garage-/eggpunk powerhouse's newest record is actually more of a collection of scraps, demos, odds and ends left on the cutting room floor over the years but... damn! If this shit here represents Gee Tee's b-material, i'm gladly gonna eat up whatever c-list shit they've got lingering in the archives too. This is a brilliant record from start to finish and mandatory listening for any discerning connoisseur of catchy goodness in the realms of garage punk, fuzz- and power pop, all killer no filler!
Atlanta post punk group Nag never ceased to be an uncompromising, abrasive force with no signs of slowing down anytime soon, maybe with the minor caveat of their newest cassette almost sounding somewhat friendly and approachable in direct comparison to their extra-grim previous LP Human Coward Coyote, as every song on here has some kind of catchy hook at its core, their song constructs holding a perfect balance between their trademark spiky, rigid oldschool minimalism and just the right amount of straightforward, satisfying ear candy.
Cincinnati group Vacation remain a rare zeitgeist-defying gem, once again delivering a brilliant new batch of bangers equally catchy and propulsive, to be located in the rough ballpark of Power Pop, Garage Punk, Noise Pop and oldschool melodic Indie Rock, brimming with a pervasive sense of joy and euphoria in the face of rough times ahead while never missing the mark thanks to their remarkable skill in crafting simple but effective, perfectly balanced and to-the-point little tunes they then like to blow up to larger-than-life cinemascope proportions.
This Detroit group made quite a bit of a splash already with a strong EP in 2022 and now they're throwing an even better LP at us, once again combining a bit of local (proto-) punk history with flavours of garage punk, hard- and postcore, calling to mind a bit of Nervosas in American Lies and Dollhouse in Kill Your Parents, while otherwise playing out a bit like a good cross-section of a bunch of garage/hardcore-hybrid groups like the somewhat more garage-leaning, KBD-influenced stylings of Launcher, Freakees, Liquid Assets and Mystic Inane as well as the more hardcore-heavy side with groups such as Imploders, Headcheese, Hood Rats, Alf and Cement Shoes.
Oh look, London garage-/synth punk solo crusader Tommy Cossack has expanded operations into a full band line-up and the result sounds absolutely brilliant and so much bigger, shedding some of its Lo-Fi eggpunk quirks in favor of a more potent, dense and focused attack while never lacking in terms of thrilling hooks, of which these songs are stuffed to the brim with, making for a compact and incredibly entertaining half hour of breathless energy and exitement that may rightfully be compared to the likes of Set-Top Box, Powerplant, Ausmuteants and Satanic Togas.
I was actually expecting that, at this point, i'd be through with these veterans of the current UK post punk scene as i thought their kinda sterile, synthetic (hah!) and overproduced sounding 2022 album and other bits and pieces released since then carried all the hallmarks of a group imminently to be swallowed whole by their own ambitions, like so many other UK groups who've at some point started biting off way more than they could chew. As it turns out though, Girls In Synthesis have plenty of chewing power to spare and their newest LP is a fucking excellent piece of dark, atmospheric, smart and epic post punk equilibrium. From the very first note of the Wire-esque album opener Lights Out to the monotone closing track A Damning Lesson, these songs are boiling down this group's unique qualities to their very essence like never before while coming up with a good deal of variety and neat ideas along the way to keep things engaging and thrilling all the way through.
Eggpunk's eggiest idiot group's long-playing debut consists mostly of re-recordings of songs already known from his previous two EPs, with the added benefit of somewhat improved production values and thus lots of added oomph to their sound, making this the definitive collection of Egg Idiot tunes so far and certainly the most infectious dose of brain damaged fun you're gonna experience in the next thirty minutes or so... Awesome shit!
Yet another thoroughly compelling load of new egg-ish garage- and synth punk goodness comes to us by way of this crunchy split cassette featuring two Providence, Rhode Island groups. Jimsobbins are a duo comprised of Adam and Lucy. Is that the same Adam who's also in Balloon Thief? Plausible but unconfirmed. With the addition of vocalist Ella, they then transform into the trio Cindy7. Jimsobbins are the more typically eggpunk-sounding of the two groups, calling to mind stuff like Daughter Bat and the Lip Stings, Gee Gee, Billiam and Toe Ring... plus a slight shambolic touch of Neo Neos in Leopard. The latter tendency then persists throughout Cindy7's side, exhibiting even more of that scrappy DIY charm, with their opening track Gonna Break! even evoking a bit of an oldschool no wave vibe while the final two tracks charge things up with an increasing amount of chaotic hardcore energy.
