A new LP by Belly Jelly aka Sean Alberts of Skull Cult, Dummy & QQQL fame (…and not of Safety Net, as i wrongly suspected at some point) always means a fresh new caffeine rush as he adds his trademark Skull Cult insanity to a breed of synth- and garage punk bearing at least some resemblance to household names of the Ausmuteants, Isotope Soap, Andy Human & The Reptoids, Research Reactor Corp., Erik Nervous or Useless Eaters variety.
While this canadian dude's previous EP was plenty of fun already, his newest one is even better. Eccentric and at times rather kinky garage punk this is, kinda like a more laid-back Erik Nervous or Liquids with some Modern Lovers-esque proto punk vibes or a more energetic variant of the recent Peace De Résistance album. Then again, Who? comes across as kind of a goth/dark wave/dance punk hybrid, which he also manages to pull off smoothly.
Fun DIY punk shit by some dude based in Marmora, New Jersey, oscillating between the poles of electrically driven garage- /synth punk and bizarro post punk with some quirky, over-the top goth stylings. Think of a mix between S.B.F., Set-Top Box, Stalins of Sound or early Kid Chrome… fans of The Spits or Isotope Soap shouldn't miss out on this as well.
Dungeon punk's chief ambassadors bestow upon us the gift of three new battle cries and oh boy, are they getting more epic, determined, elaborate and ridiculous with each release… and i'm all down for it!
The Belgian garage punks' first full length release is hands down their strongest effort so far, a bottomless well of demented fun somewhere inbetween more straightforward garage fare á la Sick Thoughts, Shitty Life, Dadar and the ever-so-slightly more eleborate/artsy Ex-Cult, Tyvek or Shark Toys variety.
Spanish garage poppers Beta Máximo already left a rather positive impression on me with their couple of fairly recent EPs but with this one, they're finally nailing it if you ask me, striking a perfect balance between snappy garage punk and surf-infused power pop - kinda like a somewhat less eggy, less lo-fi incarnation of Barcelona group Prison Affair.
The first few noisy artifacts of this Detroit group - a kickass EP's worth of standalone tracks unceremoniously dumped on their bandcamp page - span a gamut evoking some of the best references on the intersection of garage punk and postcore, ranging from straightforward garage R'n'R acts á la Sick Thoughts, early Video & Teenanger, to the explosive genre bastards of Crisis Man, Ascot Stabber and Flowers Of Evil, not to mention some unmistakable Hot Snakes kind of vibe all the way through.
A new entry into the young dungeon punk microgenre coming our way from medieval Utrecht. That means competent new fodder for connoisseurs of D&D-savy imagery and themes, of heavy armor and blunt weapons as well as a small but expanding roundtable of skullcrushers á la Poison Ruïn, Bloody Keep, Weenog, Steröid or whoever else has recently been busy uniting the aesthetics of garage punk with those of oldschool black- and/or super-ancient "heavy" metal.
Pointy Sticks, the unexpectedly melodic opener of this Charlotte, Carolina group's debut cassette, kinda sounds like what i'd expect if weirdo garage punk outfit Print Head were to record a hardcore record. The rest of the tape remains beautifully eccentric too, mixing oldschool hardcore thrills with catchy garage hooks and, at times, the odd oldschool hard rock or doom riff, the latter suggesting stuff like Paranoise as a comparison. Other times, you might liken them to some Connie Voltaire hardcore project or the recent Hippyfuckers demo, all of that steeped in a rough fidelity akin to any random Deluxe Bias or Impotent Fetus release.
Speaking of eggs… here's another batch of short and sweet smashers in the realm of occasionally hardcore-infused garage- and post punk that at one point or another kinda resembles a curious mixture of Big Bopper, Feed/Zhoop/Djinn, S.B.F., Patti and Landowner.
