As they already did with their brilliant 2023 demo, Toronto's Zero Bars once again show off a considrable force located on the overlapping regions of garage punk, hard- and postcore on their latest EP, with plenty of an old-timey Hot Snakes vibe working in conjunction with bits and pieces from more recent groups like Ascot Stabber, Flowers Of Evil, Piss Test, Nervosas and Mystic Inane among many others.
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I somehow skipped over the previous Monda LP here so i take this newest EP as an opportunity to remind you that this Totowa, New Jersey dude is still around and doing cool shit all along the way, with his newest one being the most catchy and straightforward release in a while, consisting of five undeniable earworms between the rough coordinates of oldschool indie rock, garage punk and power pop that more often than not radiates a melancholy, dreamy atmosphere. High quality shit as usual, this time around reminding me quite a bit of Cincinnati power pop overlords Vacation.
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Oslo group Molbo sure have made some waves recently with their two cassettes in 2023/'24 which got a huge boost when they got reissued together on vinyl earlier this year via Erste Theke Tonträger. Their overall sound hasn't changed considerably since then but nonetheless there's plenty of refinement evident here, consolidating their style into a more robust and consistent whole while once again weaving threads of garage-, post- and egg punk, death rock and dungeon punk into a pretty fucking inventive and gloriously deformed genre bastard, fortifying and defending their own little niche in the contemporary egg/dungeon canon.
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What kind of a lame week would this be without some new eggpunk release? This Indianapolis group has us covered, playing a rather basic but nonetheless fun and rock-solid variant of the genre, finding their own sweet spot somewhere inbetween the likes of early Prison Affair, Deebeat Ramone, Beta Máximo, Midgee, Goblin Daycare and Winky Frown. Shit just works, no complaints here.
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Finally! Here it is, the first longplayer of Sydney's Gordo Blackers a.k.a. Steröid who's previously also had a hand in groups like Draggs and Gee Tee among others. A good three years after their debut EP blew a brand new hole into the castle walls of lo-fi egg- and dungeon punk, their sound remains a completely singular and yet strikingly simple affair, mixing the quirky fun of garage- and eggpunk with the catchy hooks and riffing of early eighties metal and arena rock. The result is a potent and intoxicating concoction so addictive it shouldn't be legal really. As usual with anything even remotely metal-related, i'm kinda ill-equipped to make any specific assumptions about musical roots and influences at least on the metal side of things, so i'm gonna stay in my lane here and just say that these tunes fuckin' rip without exception and the second half of this record is a welcome change of pace after the more straightforward, breathless hit marathon of side a, when the stylistic parameters become a good bit more varied, elaborate and adventurous, all of which is presented here in an ultra-dry no-frills mid-fi recording aesthetic that clears and tightens things up considerably compared to the earlier EP without watering anything down. Yup, that shit sounds absolutely fucking perfect if you ask me!
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This group from Olympia, Washington has always been an exquisite thrill ride with their two previous EPs and an LP, all of which came out via the reliably excellent cassette label Impotent Fetus. Following a vinyl reissue of said LP via Sorry State Records, that very same label now presents us with their second album and as expected, their hyperactive mix of art- and garage punk, hard- and postcore is yet another delightfully overwhelming assault on the senses equally unpredictable, smart and elaborate, somewhat reminiscent of old left-field hardcore acts like Tragic Mulatto (most strikingly in Failed Experiment), Really Red and Saccharine Trust on one hand but just as related to more recent phenomena like Mystic Inane, Warm Bodies, Launcher, Vexx, Rolex, Cucuy or Big Bopper.
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Another kickass Painter's Tape by yet another Detroit garage group excelling in a moderately egg-ish take on more-or-less contemporary Garage- and Synth Punk that, once you made it past the cheesy intro, doesn't sound very cute at all and much darker than expected with a distinct post punk-ish feel to tracks like Paranoia and quite a bit of stylistic freedom and flexibility reminding me at different points of such groups as S.B.F., Ghoulies, Spits, Stalins Of Sound, Kid Chrome, Lost Sounds, Mind Spiders, Sex Mex, Exit Mould, The Gobs, Broken Prayer and Kerozine.
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A worthy addition to the see/saw-sourced piss bands spreadsheet comes from some Raleigh, North Carolina dude or band creating a fun mix of noise rock and garage punk with hammering Big Black-esque drum machine beats, although i'm gonna say that despite some decidedly Albini-esque guitar noises being contained in here aswell, the overall vibe reminds me more of London's World Domination Enterprises and, to a lesser extent, their fellow brits The Membranes who also had a quite Big Black-ish phase in the late eighties, while the most garage-leaning tracks like Meat Tenderizer evoke the way more stripped-down, minimalistic prototypes of Métal Urbain / Dr. Mix And The Remix with further possible references being the likes Scratch Acid and Brainiac. So yeah, this is good shit!
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These croatian punks didn't take long to completely win me over with their joyous and odd garage punk mixture of cowpunk-y X (US) and Gun Club vibes, Angst-ish folk punk sprinkles and tons of early Minutemen-esque, freewheeling anything-goes funky post punk weirdnes that also calls to mind a wild bunch of contemporary acts like Ismatic Guru, Patti, Tyvek, Print Head and Shark Toys, while the the sort-of-theme-tune Dad Joke almost feels like an authentic throwback to old DIY brits á la Mekons, Television Personalities and Desperate Bicycles.
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Oooh-kay, so this is supposed to be the new project of some old british-american punk geezer but to be perfectly honest, i'm fairly positive that you can't take anything of what's written on their bandcamp page at face value. Anyway, this is some ripping shit. It's a noisy, fuzzed out explosive concoction of garage- and post punk with just a smidge of '90s indie rock and old britisch DIY thrown in for good measure. Devotees of actually not-that-old groups á la Shark Toys, Tyvek, Parquet Courts and earlier Cloud Nothings are gonna approve of this.
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