The Nico Missile is another one of Ricky Hell's many pastimes. There are few surprises here, instead you get more of his familiar trademark of quality. If you know some of his other Bands like Fascinating or Ricky Hell And The Voidboys you kinda know what to expect: Garage-edged Fuzz Punk and Noise Pop somewhere in the Neighbohood of No Age, Terry Malts, Tiger! Shit! Tiger! TIger! or Male Bonding. What more could you want?
Missouri punks Fried e/M create some beautifully rough and oldschool noise, somewhere on the fringes of hardcore-, garage- and KBD punk. Their sound specifically reminds me of Noxious Fumes, but a more recent Band like Launcher might also be a good enough comparison.
With their first long playing cassette, Paz SS from Valencia, Spain deliver a good batch of plain old garage- and fuzz punk done right, eqipped with the necessary propulsion by a thoroughly competent band. You might compare them to the straght garage punk of bands like Ex Cult, Sauna Youth or Foul Swoops, the energetic Fuzzcore of Ill Globo and occasionally there's even a faint shimmer of Wipers.
A somewhat quirky animal, this debut album by Minneapolis' Basement Boys. Starts out by radiating a kind of post punk vibe similar to Plax or The Cowboy, then increasingly skews toward garage punk, augumented by a small dose of noise and some beach goth melancholy, at times reminding me of stuff like Co Sonn, Ex-Cult, Shark Toys or early Wavves.
Boston electro punk duo Rita Repulsa enter the scene with their first EP, whose largely sample-driven contents roughly resemble the charme of an extra brain damaged version of North Carolina's ISS, supplemented with a subtle dose of noise rock and a lyrical fixation on… Mighty Morphin Power Rangers?!? Works for me.
Richard Rose are a new band from Los Angeles whose lineup includes members of Ex-Cult, GØGGS, Bad Sports and OBN IIIs - in the small world of garage punk, it doesn't get much more exquisite than this! Their music however doesn't sound all that much like california to me, but rather i'm reminded of high energy australian garage acts like Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters, Mini Skirt, Dumb Punts or WOD. Somewhat of an outlier here is Queen Selene, a crawling stoner jam, which is usually not exactly my cup of tea, but for some reason i kinda like this one.
Warp hail from San Francisco and have members of - among others - Flesh World and Blank Square among their lineup. Their debut album is already kicking butts in a fully convincing fashion and delivers an adorably excentric sound roughly in the realm of fuzz- & garage punk, hard- & postcore which comes across just as unpolished as it's inventive. The whole thing is somewhat reminiscent of bands like Vexx or Dots, as well as the occasional faint echo of Surfa Rosa-era Pixies. Quality stuff!
Whoa… three years after i first noticed this band from leeds and a quite charming, chaotic early EP of theirs, i honestly didn't expect their debut album to blow my socks off the way it did just now. Instead of the EP's relaxed DIY-Vibes you now find yourself in the middle of a ferocious high speed trip whose rough coordinates hover somewhere between fuzzed out space-, psych- and garage punk. Sure, these Songs won't win any awards for their originality but totally make up for that by developing into a blast so potent and restless it doesn't give you a second to think about such bullshit anyway. I'm reminded of bands like Destruction Unit, Wash, Flat Worms, Draggs or even japanese genre veterans High Rise.
Rarely in recent years has a band of its genre carved out and expanded upon their own niche in such a quick and enduring manner, has become a significant influence on seemingly every cool new garage crew in such a short time span, as everyones favorite corporate entity from Minneapolis. Seeking to expand their customer base, the Minneapolis Uranium Club Band has partnered with a well established brand to bring you their latest piece of merchandise. As we've come to expect of them, it's a thing of beauty and elegance, taking you on an unexpectedly epic journey in two acts and seven minutes that feel - as always - way too short.
Although not exactly brand new stuff, i totally missed this nice Demo by St. Louis, Missouri Band/Project Bigpig. The musical compass clearly points towards garage punk and occasionally a bit of electro-/synth punk. Give it a spin if you appreciate stuff in the vein of Digital Leather, early Erik Nervous, Powerplant, Giorgio Murderer or Booji Boys.
