This Boston group has six unresistably smelly puddles of oldschool-ish garage punk action for us that fit roughly inbetween the basic parameters of classic Reatard(s), golden-era Liquids and more KBD-inspired shit we've heard from the likes of Freakees and Launcher, with a couple pop-nuggets thrown in that remind me of stuff á la Dark Thoughts or early Vaguess. There's nothing terribly smart or original about it really but the tunes, performances and attitude are just spot-on and whenever i'm craving some basic no-frills catchy garage mayhem, this shit's just gonna fit the bill.
Vague Fugue already had a neat EP out last year even though that one still suffered a bit from a kinda plain production aesthetic which brought out a bit too much of a middle-of-the-road garage dadpunk vibe to fully vibe with me. I dunno, it just didn't feel quite appropriate or flattering to their sound, a stark difference to the muddy LoFi fog of this new tape, which frames their anachronistic mayhem as just the kind of drugged- and fuzzed-out satan worshipping acid rock the first EP already strongly hinted at, but couldn't quite sell. This shit sounds perfect right here and it definitely helps that the underlying song material, while still simple raw and primitive, never drops the ball once and omits any unnecessary noodling around and jam band wankery this time.
Normally i tend to just skip this kind of a teaser release but it's been a slow summer anyway and this shit coming from a Glasgow, UK group is simply too freaking brilliant to not post here, a massive step up after their already really neat demo from last fall and i simply can't wait till the full 7" containing these two songs drops sometime later this year hopefully, for more of that cleverly conceived and infectiously catchy-and-noisy-as-fuck oldschool hardcore mayhem.
South Carolina group The UTI's appear to move ahead blazingly fast recently, already leaving behind the spaced-out psychedelia of their This Has To Be Hell EP and the more quirky, synth-enhanced egg-isms of Migraine Music - both released earlier this year - and make room instead for a much rougher full-band incarnation of their sound in the realm of pleasantly brainless, noisy fuzz punk that doesn't try anything smart or new yet punches way above its weight through the sheer force of ther performance as much as as solid, functional song foundations to their simple but catchy-ass little tunes.
A number of recent releases heavy on re-recorded tunes already hinted that Lansing, Michigan's prolific creators of fuzzed-out noise pop, fuzz- and garage punk miniatures were due for a bit of a sonic overhaul and in keeping with that direction, their newest EP starts out with yet another reimagining - maybe their most drastic one so far - of their old staple ABV, stretching things out and slowing 'em down a bit to better bring out the catchy melodic qualities of the tune without losing any their special magic. This shit still sounds unmistakably like a Snarewaves record, just a gently uncluttered and less hurried one with more breathing room granted by both its performances and production aesthetics. Love it, looking forward to more of it as always!
Last Year's Epoxy River and Super Pool LP by this Evesham, New Jersey (presumably one-man-) group was already such a massive leap in quality for them and yet again, they manage to considerably refine their sound on this newest LP, on which they kinda leave behind the late-2000s fuzz punk and noise pop ingredients that dominated that record and lean even more into the oldschool '80s and '90s college- and indie rock-informed sounds ranging from classic Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, Bitch Magnet and early Seam to the likes of Superchunk and Polvo, with just a subtle hint of first and second wave emo thrown in for good measure but also increasing amounts of '80s hardcore-based proto-noise rockers like Flipper, Big Black, Drunks With Guns and No Trend, especially in the final stretch of the record. There's an unpredictable quality and an explosive, uncontainable energy to these tunes, radiating the pure untamed joy of blasting a euphoric and abrasive, larger-than-life and kinda anachronistic type of melodic noise out of your gear that feels pleasantly out-of-place in this era, all of it further thrown deliciously off-balance by the ear-piercing screams that prove this dude still ain't ready to half-ass anything here.
Holy fuck, what this Wakefield, UK group is pulling off on their debut EP is pushing so many of the right buttons for me. Rooted in timeless buzzsaw-guitar post punk with more than just a bit of a Big Black edge, this shit also incorporates much of a catchy garage punk immediacy, noise rock sonic assault and relentless hardcore propulsion with plenty of melodic scraps and fragments peppered all throughout. This is so fucking up my alley and reminds me of another crop of UK post punk acts that either predate or avoid the more gentrified nature of the current UK landscape, the closest comparisons i can come up with from the top of my head would be Leeds-based groups Cool Jerks and Coded Marking, but that doesn't tell the whole story either.
This group from Kansas City has hammered together a thoroughly impressive debut Cassette here, available via the local powerhouse Dirtbag Distro, made up of eleven punches of deliciously raggedy and pissed oldschool-ish hardcore. I do think the bandcamp blurb mentioning Minor Threat and Black Flag kinda undersells this record though, which actually comprises of a lot more than just your average retro early '80s hardcore rehash, keeping things thrilling and unpredictable all the way thanks to tons of neat little quirks and creative brainfarts, enhanced with a constant garage-y, KBD-ish undercurrent and pulling it all off in a way that to me feels as much in conversation with the weirder end of the more contemporary hardcore spectrum as it certainly is with the ancient classics and as far as those are concerned, there's always a peculiar, eccentric quality to these tunes and an offbeat layer of dissonant noise that often reminds me way more more of oddities of the Gray Matter, Flipper and Really Red variety (though i do get the Germs comparison), rather than the usual suspects of old.
Cincinnati, Ohio dudes Smarm are making a thoroughly promising impresson here on their debut EP sporting a completely unpretentious garage punk sound with a neat '77- and proto punk edge that clearly pays tribute to some local punk heritage with plenty of a timeless Dead Boys energy to these tunes, excelling in a simple but perfectly balanced kind of songcraft that also perfectly nails it in terms of infectious hooks and a determined, straightforward no-bullshit performance.
Yet another excellent burst of quite 77-ish garage mayhem then is the the new Demo of 700 Club from Athens, Georgia whose three songs are captured in a way rougher sonic guise here compared to the relatively Hi-Fi production values of that Smarm record and a bit more of a Saints or Wipers bent to their songs, even crossing over into hardcore territory a bit in the closing tune No Cash and all throughout there's also an actually quite contemporary-feeling infusion of Lumpy & The Dumpers or Fried E/m-like chaos goin' on.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsynvania punks follow up their raw and excellent debut with an even stronger, if maybe stylistically somewhat fragmented new 7", with the straightforward proto-meets-post punk vibes á la The Cowboy, Flat Worms, Punter or Open Your Heart-era The Men in the opener Voice Of Change probably bearing the closest similarity to the predecessor here, before Burning In The City exhibits more of an australian-sounding, melodic slacker rock vibe somewhere inbetween Dumb Punts, Gee Tee and Pist Idiots. The closing tune Moon Landing then is a sprawling 7-minute instrumental jam of monotonous yet also weirdly uplifting, kraut-y space rock excess.
