The noise on this debut EP by New York (?) group Factory City Children comes accross like a somewhat blackened variant of garage-/electro punk noisemakers á la S.B.F., Stalins Of Sounds, Kid Chrome and The Gobs with a smidge of Sick Thoughts thrown in for good measure. Having been previously released pretty much under everyone's radar as a tape, Toxic State Records now has it either as a 7" or a way overpriced digital download, well knowing we'll pay the ten bucks anyway because we're all addicted to the shit. Capitalism fuck yeah!
I didn't really expect this to happen, close to a decade after their last recorded sign of life, yet here we are beholding the wonders of a new Strange Attractor LP. This is a smasher from start to finish in their trademark style loading up some of the most ancient possible ingredients of garage punk with a raw and primal, quirky and unkempt energy that is very much of their own, non-stop cranking out those infectious hooks with frightening ease and efficiency.
It took the Bristol group just shy of a year to come up with the newest installment in their, so far, absolutely spectacular and flawless run of (digital) singles. I'm glad to announce that i've got nothing new to say about this one - these two tunes are yet another masterclass of melodic post punk and power pop songcraft with clear echoes of Buzzcocks, Television Personalities, Mekons and many more artefacts of predominantly british DIY punk history.
A thoroughly high quality new batch of 7"s and even a CD from the ever reliable italian garage punk institution Goodbye Boozy Records. Tee Vee Repairman is yet another project of Ishka Edmeades who you might also know from acts such as Satanic Togas, Set-Top Box, Research Reactor Corp., Gee Tee, Remote Control, Mainframe… this dude seems to be in pretty much anything out of the Warttman orbit and beyond that. Let's just say dude's been's a constant fixture on this blog in recent years and will sure crop up many more times because everything he touches tends to become instant garage punk and power pop gold. A different beast altogether is the 7" by Wayne Pain & The Shit Stains, a simple & stupid attack of decidedly oldschool fuzzed-out garage punk with that classic rockabilly edge to it. Speaking of rockabilly… Qinqs have a touch of that going on too, although in their case it reeks less of The Cramps and more of The Fall - The Great White Wonder might as well be called How i re-wrote Elastic Man - as well as more recent occurrences á la Shark Toys, Ex Cult, Parquet Courts or The UV Race. The newest tape by the mysterious Zoids then is another endearingly eccentric treat of minimalist electro-/space-/garage punk transporting more than just a little bit of a Suicide-meets-Metal Urbain / Dr. Mix and the Remix vibe. Also: Yeah, fuck vinyl 'cos the future belongs to the compact disc bro. Dadgad's tracks then serve as the perfect transition between the aforementioned electric space punk stylings and the opposite half of a 7" featuring - yet again - that dude known as Zhoop… or was it Feed? Djinn? Brundle maybe? I don't care really it's all good shit!
An overflowing bucket of joy, the newest LP(ette) by some duo from Montreuil, France, generating a mixture melodic of garage punk, oldschool indie rock, fuzz- and jangle pop reminding me of a diverse group of more-or-less recent acts á la Dumb Punts, Woolen Men, Hermetic, Landlines, The Exbats, Tape/Off… or maybe a more down-to-earth P.S. I Love You, aswell as old indie rockers of the Superchunk, Archers Of Loaf variety. This record serves as a perfect reminder that you don't need to stage a huge spectacle if you just deliver on the melodies that stick.
More great fodder by synth-/electro viking punk maestro Klint on this nice compilation available either digitally or dubbed onto pre-loved cassette stock, if you're so inclined - i do certainly approve of that, giving old cassettes a new home! So what we got here is a mix of old shit you might have heard already, old shit you probably haven't heard yet and new shit you definitely haven't. Oh and then apparently there's also the matter a of a couple of recently unearthed ancient wax cylinders, gloriously rough around the edges and unplayed since approximately 1904-1912. Neat!
A quick and painless attack of garage- and synth punk equally catchy and noisy by some group or person from Simi Valley, California. This is more than a little reminiscent to contemporary genre powerhouses such as S.B.F., The Gobs, Slimex, Ghoulies, Quitter or C.H.I.M.P., among many others and every bit as good.
The newest EP by this group from Antwerp, Belgium is a flawless butt-kicker made up of fairly traditional yet, thankfully, always soundly constructed garage punk stylings, thorougly based on an excellent underlying song substance with some added british invasion touches á la Resonars, otherwise to be located in a similar orbit as Dadar, Shitty Life, Mitraille, Big Baby or Sauna Youth.
This Schenectady, New York group kicks up a perfect storm of somewhat motörized noise somewhere between the corner points of garage punk, hardcore and sleaze rock on their demo tape. A highly combustible recipe that should mix well with other acts á la Cement Shoes, Polute, Hippyfuckers, Flea Collar, Dollhouse, Cülo… and maybe just a smidge of hardcore-era Hüsker Dü on top.
Side number four by Marmora, New Jersey garage troubador Die TV is yet another super-solid batch of garage-/synth-/electro punk miniature goodness. Not much more to add to that other than what i already said about his previous releases: Friends of weirdness in the same orbit as, say, Powerplant, Stalins of Sound, Erik Nervous, The Spits, Set-Top Box, Digital Leather… rejoice!
