More of that real belgian punk that's totally not actually made by any dudes from Montreal or New York, pinky promise! Musically, this is their most mature, well-rounded effort to date, blending them undeniable eighties euro punk influences they like to wear on their sleeves with equal parts of Oi!, Post Punk, slight traces Death Rock of that same era. Of more recent phenomena, the best comparison i can come up with is a more primitive and melodic variant of US post punk cornerstone Institute of whom, i've heard, some dude is also totally not involved here.
This Minneapolis group runs an interesting gamut on their newest EP ranging from the punchy fuzz punk attack of Like A Dream? over the math- and noise rock infused post punk of Yeehaw! to the comparatively straightforward garage punk of Saved, while the closing track 5678 branches out into some kind of a hazy space rock jam. At different points i'm reminded of groups as diverse as early Rolex, Cutie, Shark Toys, Reality Group, The Cowboy and Big Bopper.
After their phenomenal debut LP in 2020 and a comparatively grim, more difficult to grasp second one in 2022, this New York duo has now delivered what i think is not hyperbolic in the slightest to call their masterpiece. There's an absolutely singular vision at work here moving within - yet easily transcending - the bounds of contemporary post punk and postcore, the messaging as unapologetically political as it's emotional and introspective, disillusioned but never bereft of a glimmer of hope... In short, reflecting the emotional toll it takes to walk open-eyed through this era of humankind facing a whole litany of existential crises, feeling systemically ill-equipped for the challenge and thus unable to find a workable, sustainable way forward while large chunks of western societies appear to be in utter denial and global elites all too willing to jeopardize any hope of an endurable future for the sake of short-term wealth accumulation. Bold political statements are a dime a dozen these days though and i doubt anybody would be listening if it weren't for the absolute fucking brilliance of their music, which takes a thickly layered, intricate and elegant approach in line with what we've already heard on their previous records but which they're working to utter perfection on this one. To me, it feels like the spirit of first-wave so-called emocore - still unburdened by the tropes, cliches and conventions established in later years - transported into the present age with a one-of-a-kind personal voice and very little baggage or preconceptions about what punk rock can mean and do in 2024.
The third EP of this Stockholm group makes an excellent impression with its moderately eccentric and quite varied mix of garage-, post-, synth- and art punk of the somewhat Devo-ish variety that simply delivers the goods, among which is a quirky chaos akin to the likes of Skull Cult and Belly Jelly, the eighties synth punk flashbacks of more recent Isotope Soap, some psychedelia á la Mononegatives and the unpredictability of Pressure Pin. Also quite the surprise is that bonus remix of the thumping closing track Wendy Got Balls, radiating tons of a retro eighties 12" disco edit vibe.
While the previous LP of this Cincinnati, Ohio group - sharing a bunch of members with The Drin of all things - was already an outstanding, albeit not terribly original post punk record, their newest one sees them ascend to a whole new level as their songs and arrangements come accross a lot more focused, eleborate and deliberately built than before, the somewhat overwhelming barrage of the predecessor giving way to a newfound clarity, concise structures and a whole new sense of melody and melancholy most noticeable in tunes like Distant Dawn, Dependency and Nothing in None. Overall, this record is somewhat akin to the most recent Marbled Eye LP, which similarly saw an already pretty fucking awesome group transcend the confines of their genre surroundings. Given all that, it feels a bit cheap and reductive to come up with comparisons but for the sake of orientation i'm just gonna say this is mandatory listening for fans of groups like the aforementioned Marbled Eye, Waste Man, Negative Gears, Rank/Xerox, Tube Alloys, Nag, VR Sex and Public Eye.
Now that's some fucking brilliant shit! On their debut EP, this swedish group creates the sort of monotonous oldschool post punk that doesn't invent anything new but instead excells all the way in anything they do, with every song on this thing perfectly hitting the spot in a manner equally straightforward and elegant, expertly propelled forward, taking cues from Wire, MX-80 and Crass when it comes to old genre royalty and groups like Nag, Institute from more recent times... also, a hint of The Estranged in the closing track. Simple as that and so, so good!
The six tracks of this Leeds, UK group's debut LP take themselves plenty of time to allow for their cold and analytic post punk grooves and textures to sink in and do their work with steady, sprawling, kraut-ish repetition, poured into an overall sonic form that sorta reminds me of postcore- and noise rock leaning acts like John (timestwo), Metz, Cool Jerks and early Greys as much as post punk groups of the Criminal Code and The Cowboy kind, but most of all i'm sensing a lot of kinship with the recent Machiavellian Art LP with these songs kinda playing out like a sped-up, streamlined version of that shit.
Now if you thought the 2022 EP of this Montreal group was kinda weird and bananas, Pressure Pin be like: "Hold my beer" 'cos you've seen nothing yet! For their second EP, they considerably raise the bar both in terms of sophistication and of unpredictable chaos and mayhem in their totally nuts compositions whose rough characteristics hover somewhere around the spheres of garage-, synth-, art- and eggpunk with a pronounced element of devocore, all the while being hellbent on nuking the confines of those genres respectively. This kind of eclectic anything-goes approach reminds me most of recent works by Trashdog and Checkpoint, though if you take it one stylistic ingredient at a time, you might also find bits and pieces of the '90s-midi-style pop excursions of Metdog, the Devo-isms of recent Isotope Soap, the sparkling joy of Snooper and the quirky, catchy garage-/art punk explosions of Smirk and Cherry Cheeks. These dudes put more ideas and inspiration in a single tune than your average garage act does in a whole album.
More brainfuck and brain fog than brainwash, this kinda baffling new EP by italian gentleman Leonardo Carlacchiani aka Purp, an immersive flood of Lo-Fi DIY noise and psychedelia hellbent of clouding and overwhelming, rather than breaking, your headspace. The opener Mind Space comes across like the anthemic folk-y power pop of Vaguess being transplanted into the blown-out fuzz pop context of fellow italians Mustard/Metal Guru or of Dadgad's most recent EP, then morphing towards a more relaxed midtempo indie rocker reminiscent of Treehouse or early Tape/Off in Labyrinthorama. Reminder Demons With Gufo Mangia Sale is pure psyched-out space blues abandon. Astral Angel sounds a bit like early Pixies slowed down to a depressing crawl with a distinct taste of '90s Chokebore. Ladybug's Ballata With Bobby Chombo pulls a kind of No-Fi My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr. pastiche through a psychedelic Flying Saucer Attack meatgrinder, followed by I-Ching sorta bridging the gap between early Japandroids and late 2000s / early 2010s noise-/fuzz pop shredders á la No Age, Wavves and Male Bonding.
Wow, now that's is one marvellous debut EP by this Philadelphia group dealing in a kind of earthy, dissonant and eccentric, yet equally graceful blend of art- and post punk. The monotonous no wave-ish strumming of the opening track The Shield calls to mind the minimalism of Shop Regulars or Honey Bucket while Green Man has more of an early eighties The Fall vibe with further commonalities to, say, fellow philadelphians Toe Ring and B.E.E.F. 39X. The vicious grooves of Gangstalker, holding a delicate balance of dissonance and catchyness, are then approximately channeling some more spiky version of Lithics coupled with some dissonant Glenn Branca- and eighties Sonic Youth guitar work, a bit like we've more recently heard from Self Improvement, for example.
