This latest EP by this Winnipeg, Manitoba group treats us to four excellent blasts on the rougher end of the garage-/fuzz-/synth punk spectrum, hammered home by a completely unhinged madman vocal performance. This EP is a safe-bet crowdpleaser guaranteed to delight connoiseurs of shit á la The Gobs, 3D and the Holograms, Ghoulies, Daughter Bat and the Lip Stings and Factory City Children, concluding in a fully charged burst of hardcore punk evoking further comparisons to groups such as Witch Piss, Spewed Brain and Geoduck Diodes.
An effortlessly ass-kicking debut EP from an Oslo, Norway group that runs the gamut from the buzzsaw hardcore punk of the opening track Ritalinbjørner to breakneck-speed fuzzed-out garage punk in Laserkrieg, having some similar energy to, say, The Gobs, Kid Chrome and S.B.F.. Stygg Bebi then has some distinct dungeon-esque eggpunk-meets-deathrock vibe reminiscent of stuff like Powerplant, Kerozine or fellow norwegians Molbo. The latter tendency then culminates in the closing track Shament, a catchy anthem built from pure goth-y post punk ear candy leading up to a somewhat black metal-ish conclusion. Fuck me this is some strong shit!
The second EP of this Atlantic Beach, Florida group delights with a wholly infatuating make of simple, compact and catchy garage- and fuzz punk goodness that actually comes with some unexpectedly varied collection of vibes, at one point or another channeling qualities you might associate with groups such as Satanic Togas, New Berlin, Buck Biloxi, Set-Top Box, Spits, Die TV or Penance Hall.
The second EP by this Karlsruhe, Germany group is also the first taste we're getting of an upcoming album and just like their excellent demo tape at the end of last year, this thing combines the grimy dungeon-esque garage vibes the group obviously inherited from Thee Khai Aehm, whose members comprise half of this group's lineup, with a distinct flourish of proto punk primitivism, plenty of spaced-out psychedelic excess á la late Destruction Unit, some hardcore energy in Tear It Up and even some melodic flourishes in My Dawn, while the closing track Inte Mer Hem is nothing short of raw and simple dungeon punk perfection.
Having put out a pair of already quite impressive LPs in '22/'23, the third longplayer of this Hamilton, Ontario act really nails it this time. Following a brief ironic metal-ish intro, right out of the gate The Glove radiates a vibe of MX-80, Chrome and Metal Urbain plus just the slightest touch of The Cramps. This is some first rate fuzz-/garage-/space punk shit right here, weird enogh to keep you on your toes yet also sophisticated enough to keep you engaged, with just the right amount of ear candy sprinkled in like in Corpus Earthling Meets The Counter Culture, where a well-worn catchy standard punk riff gets the over-the top fuzz-excess treatment. Other times and especially in the first couple of tracks, there's some weird Hawkwind-goes-hair/glam metal energy going on. Just as well though, you might find similar sonic texture in a diffuse cluster of current acts such as Zoids, Thee Hearses, Monoburro, Mateo Manic, Mononegatives or Silicon Heartbeat.
Now that's some wild shit from Tübingen, Germany. Breakneck speeds meet extremely catchy hooks and melodies, coming together in a buzzsaw audio aesthetic that sits uncomfortably wedged right inbwteween the sonic worlds of equally melodic and eccentric hardcore acts such as Hippyfuckers, Everyone Is Alone Sometimes, Pink Guitars and the more garage-/egg-leaning high-speed punk attacks of The Gobs, Exwhite, Spewed Brain, Witch Piss or 3D & The Holograms.
Brandon Monkey Fingers of St. John's, Canada feel kinda out of place in this day and age and y'all know i'm a sucker for that kind of shit. Their debut album covers a sonic range somewhere inbetween oldschool fuzz punk, '80s and '90s (proto-) grunge and indie rock seasoned with just a hint of sludge-y Amphetamine Reptile-style noise rock flourishes. Among the old guard, you might consider U-Men and early Mudhoney among their spiritual ancestors or the rougher ends of the Sebadoh sonic spectrum. Of more recent ocurrences, i'd name Dog Date and Hellco as possible references as well as early Pale Angels or a less melodic California X. Darth Vader's Boner carries a similar vibe of garage-infused noise rock to The Cowboy and Flat Worms. H.M.P. sounds a bit as if contemporary noise rockers like Metz, John (timestwo), Greys or Vangas got imbued with heavy overtones of Angst-esque psych folk while Norbit has quite some Dinosaur Jr. and Cloud Nothings energy under the hood on its way to a '90s Weezer-esque melodic conclusion.
This chilean group or solo project just put out a kickass EP mande up of simple and effective shit-fi garage punk rippers that kinda appear predestined for a release on Goodbye Boozy (not saying that's gonna happen, only that it should) where it would fit comfortably inbetween the collected insanities by the likes of 208, Zoids and Silicon Heartbeat.
What new things are there to say about yet another Gobs EP? It's the motherfuckin' Gobs for fuck's sake and few other bands have perfected the formula for blown-out and dumb lo-fi fuzz punk insanity, equally unrelenting and catchy, as well as this Olympia, Washington group. A league of their own, really.
The newest of a, to be perfectly honest, fucking inpenetrable amount of releases which have accumulated on this Totowa, New Jersey group's bandcamp page over the past few years, delivers a pure spectacle of short and catchy little tunes with a maximum length of exactly one minute, firing off fourty tracks inbetween the coordinates of garage punk, power pop, oldschool indie rock and fuzz punk in well under half an hour. The whole thing makes me think of a couple of 1980s DIY punk and indie rock landmarks like the early works of Guided By Voices, Fastbacks and M.O.T.O. just as much as a couple more recent bands like Booji Boys, Print Head, Vaguess and Datenight.
