Following up on a rather inconsistent, undercooked 2022 album, this Richmond, Virginia group's newest EP is in a whole different ballpark altogether, a highly flammable little package of only certified smashers that at times would more comfortably blend into the crowd a decade prior - Rearview for example sounding a bit as if you fused the melodic punk rock of early Swearin' with the melancholy of Royal Headache. This record pulls off that trick gracefully, held together by some top-notch songwriting chops, a tight, ultra-focused band performance and not least the soulful vocals of Katie Bowles who effortlessly delivers on that certain Siouxsie-vs-Debbie schtick that so many singers have been trying to emulate before but fell way short of more often than not. She totally sells it though!
Hey, have y'all heard of the tragic death of egg punk? I'm sure you have but it appears Butter Swamp of Appalachia, Virginia haven't gotten the memo yet. C'mon guys, it has been decided last week you're not supposed to sound like that anymore! Oh well, i guess Ex-Lumpy dude is gonna have to put up with the embarrassing zombies of his distant past for a little longer then. He's probably not gonna love this record. But as for me, i always liked my punk best when it's nice and dead and rotting. May it die another thousand deaths as long as i'm still breathing!
I somehow totally overlooked this neat little EP of a Buffalo, New York group when it first came out last December. Starting off somewhat Oi!-meets-ramonescore-ish, it subsequently settles into more of a melancholy power pop-ish garage punk vibe with clear echoes of the likes of Red Dons, Radioactivity, Marked Men, Cheap Whine, Bad Sports, Sonic Avenues, Steve Adamyk Band or frenchies Telecult and y'all know i'm an incurable sucker for that kind of shit.
Some groups make my unpaid blogging job pretty fucking easy, like this one from London. You see, group exists 'cos dude likes suicide, simple as that. And as Alan Vega has no longer been walking among us for close to a decade by now, i'm not ever gonna complain about any competent acolyte keeping the fire burning. As far as these are concerned, you can certainly do much worse than this one - a perfectly adequate substitute i'm gonna say.
Yet another classy two-track single is the debut of Sydney group Game Set Match which excels in a fairly oldschool make of primitive and straightforward garage punk that brings back memories of acts like Ex-Cult, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The UV Race, early Teenanger, The Abandos, Sauna Youth or Manatees.
While their demo from a while ago has been keeping afloat entirely on the strength of the majestic and ridiculous opening track Don't Tussle With The Muscle, the Minneapolis group's newest EP is a much stronger package overall, setting off three charges of heavily '77-infused garage punk that is just about as simple and primitive as it could possibly get, yet perfectly functional as fun, dumb little rock'n'roll tunes, doing only the bare minimum and doing it right.
Following a not so terribly original debut LP in '22 and two increasingly more promising, if still kinda spotty EPs in '23-'24, everything seems to naturally fall into place on this Nashville, Tennessee group's latest LP on which their vision finally locks into razor sharp focus and the stars align just right for its propulsive mid-fi production magic to do its work with everything seeming just a little bit off by the exact right amount for a pronounced KBD-esque feel. Though their sound is still easy to describe as fairly oldschool garage punk with some '77 and proto punk influences, they actually cover quite a bit of stylistic ground here. The slightly psychedelic undercurrents of the opening track Somebody Help Me give off some strong vibe of Useless Eaters, Pow! and Spits while in the case of Full Time Asshole, i'm gonna add a good deal of Sick Thoughts to the pack as a comparison. Jail Again, already known as the definite highlight of their '23 EP, has some post punk-ish quality to itself with more than a small hint of Cruelster i'd say. Fight On The Internet has some serious Detroit & NY proto punk energy going on and Spy is probably the most contemporary sounding tune on here with its synth-supported catchy hooks and a sonic cross-section between, say, Mononegatives and recent Strange Attractor. The latter may hold even more true as a comparison for the basic but perfect 60s-ish garage tune that is Grieving. I could continue endlessly but you get the gist: This is a devilishly fun garage punk record of surprising variety that stays perfectly true to its own vision all the same, relatively oldschool, yet you'd be hard-pressed to find a single dull or stale moment on it.
Y'all haven't been worshiping the mighty frown of wink quite hard enough! On their EP number iii, the Ottawa, Ontario group once again goes way above and beyond the efforts you'd expect to be put in your average eggpunk record. Is it their best yet? Their worst? I don't know and i don't care 'cos everything tha group has delivered so far is just really, really fucking good. Another insanely creative Winky Frown record. Highly recommended for fans of: Winky Frown. And everyone else reading this dumb shit, too.
This Madrid group's third short-form artifact is their strongest one yet i'd say, delivering two explosive new charges of what you could describe as textbook eggpunk in the vein of Beta Máximo, Beer, Pringue, Prison Affair, Möney, Goblin Daycare and Hugayz, that has the aesthetics down perfectly while bringing enough substance of its own to the table to stand on its own two feet. Niebla is the true standout track here though, which dares to go just a little harder to places a little darker than we're used to in this genre, in what amounts to a perfect miniature post punk assault.
A new Split System release is always a major event here in the 12XU sphere even if it's "just" another 7". Speaking of which, while their LPs always strike me as their more substantial works making room for more intricate compositions and a greater sense of melancholy, their short-form artifacts are overflowing wells of delight in their own right, usually presenting a more straightforward version of their craft that just wants to rock out and no doubt works best on that particular format. And they keep it that way here as well, the a-side On The Edge being a forceful streamroller of a track built around a single rock'n'roll riff as old-fashioned as it's ever gonna get, all of which would be kinda easy to shrug off if it weren't for that absolutely unforgiving, vigorous and tight-as-fuck performance plus the always brilliant, heartfelt barking of vocalist Jackson Reid Briggs, coming across as equally defiant and vulnerable and adding an even greater sense of urgency to the tune. An equally simplistic and compelling counterpart is the flipside On The Lose, a faster, more uplifting track that perfectly balances out this neat little package.
