Spanish eggpunks Huevo have been on my radar for a bit already but it’s only with this new compilation LP featuring all of their previous work in a re-sequenced order and often wildly superior, tighter mixes, that i finally come to fully appreciate the strengths of this group, putting their very own spin on well-established eggpunk tropes that has quite a bit more of an energetic and raw edge than your average release in that sphere, with tracks like Todo Asqueroso having a propulsive force to them that you’d rather expect from not at all egg-ish punk acts like Piss Test, Dollhouse and Easers.
Here’s a sensational debut EP by some band or project based in Lethbridge, Alberta containing six perfect blows of post punk whose ear-piercing walls of noise and pulsing electric beats at times sound a bit as if an eggpunk Big Black collided with the somewhat psychedelic qualities of garage greats like late Useless Eaters, Pow! and Mononegatives – or maybe the murky old experimental punk classics of Métal Urbain / Dr. Mix and the Remix – in a breathless succession of certified bangers. I also have a hunch that fans of spaced-out noisemakers á la Corpus Earthling or french magician Pablo X are gonna lap this shit up.
Now that’s some hot shit, this debut tape by some dude from Lansing, Michigan. The fuzzed-out garage punk inferno of Cracked lays out a bit of a false trail for us at first, as the overall vibe then immediately shifts toward more of a noisy synth punk direction for the remaining tracks covering a good variety of stylistic flavors and accordingly, reminding me of a full ecclectic grab bag of acts in the wider synth-/electro-/sample punk spectrum including the likes of Beef, ISS, Heavy Metal, Klint, The Garden, Victor, Spyroids, R. Clown, Paulo Vicious and Kerozine.
Don’t expect anything groundbreaking here ‘cos with Power Pants you always know exactly what you’re gonna get and even the freakin’ early Ramones arguably had more stylistic breadth than this group. Yet, their songs never miss the mark and this entirely unfussy formula of catchy garage punk remains insanely appealing to me and as long as we continually get delivered tunes as potent as May I Rest or You’re Invited, i’m gonna gratefully devour each new sugary health hazard Power Pants throw at me. Woof!
The third EP of this Brooklyn, NY group is hands down their most ripe effort to date and strikes a delicate balance between more blunt and straightforward garage-infused hardcore punk smashers and more eleborate postcore tunes which call to mind such weirdo acts as Mystic Inane, Launcher or Rolex, keeping us on on the edge of our seats with a constant sense of unpredictability.
This Montreal group featuring Members of Puffer and Béton Armé unveils a fully evolved and classy vision on their second Tape following up on their admirable, if still a bit rough-around-the-edges 2023 Demo. The opener Insoutenable comes dashing right out of the gate with a pronounced Radio Birdman and early New Christs kind of energy which is joined by more contemporary sounding elements of melodic post punk á la The Estranged and Dead Finks, having much of a folk-ish, roots-y quality to it. Another standout is Rien ne t’empêchera, which strikes me as a perfect fusion of a catchy oldschool Oi! singalong with jangly power pop.
This neat little tape by some Leicester, UK based weirdo excites with a rowdy aesthetic blown-out within an inch of its life that rapidly alternates between wonderfully shambolic hardcore parts and more garage-leaning fuzz punk sketches almost conjuring up some sort of oldschool Lumpy & The Dumpers-like quality. Music to my ears!
Less than a week into the new year, Erste Theke Tonträger has already put out 2025’s first blockbuster release… digitally, at least. The Ghoulies from Perth, Australia are among those groups where it feels like they’ve been around for much longer than they actually were, having conquered their own little space inside the garage-/synth-/eggpunk gamut – not at all by considerably shaking up its foundations but rather by perfecting existing playbooks to their maximum sophistication and impact, plus, they always have the bewitching tunes to make it all stick. At many points, their sound is vaguely reminiscent somewhat oldschool-ish artifacts predating the whole eggpunk umbrella term á la early Ausmuteants, Quitter, Drug Sweat, while perfectly fitting in with more recent shit like Cherry Cheeks, Satanic Togas, Research Reactor Corp., Gee Tee, Kitchen People or Tommy Cossack & The Degenerators all the same.
Krystian Quint may be best known in association with Detroit garage punks The Stools. On his full-band debut under the Quitters moniker however, his tunes take a way more catchy and melancholy direction, largely alternating between two distinct modes of operation, one of ’em radiating the vibes of melodic garage punk acts like Sonic Avenues, Cheap Whine, Marked Men, Bad Sports, Sweet Reaper or, most recently, Eye Ball and The Dumpies. The other one is more reminiscent of moderately emo-ish nineties indie rock á la early Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Sebadoh, Lync and Seam as far as the old guard is concerned, or of more recent stuff like Tape/Off, Treehouse and Pardoner.
Hattiesburg label Earth Girl Tapes has yet another delicious treat for us, namely the debut tape of Chicago group Cucuy which delivers six blows of noisy and beautifully oddball hard- and postcore, balancing chaos and dissonance with way-above-average musicality, all of which calls to mind such offbeat classics as the early works of Minutemen, Really Red and Saccharine Trust, but just as much does this shit have in common with newer phenomena such as Rolex, Launcher or Mystic Inane.
