This spectacular new split LP finally brings us new material of two Los Angeles Groups - both of 'em stubbornly refusing to conform to the established rules and conventions of hardcore punk - after a couple years lacking any "proper" release from both groups.
Rolex come across as powerful as ever in their unpredictable and inventive-as-fuck postcore attacks which on one hand contain echoes of a couple of fairly recent acts like Mystic Inane, Big Bopper, Brandy, Launcher and early Patti, while also being moderately indebted to the likes of Minutemen, Dicks and early Saccharine Trust (whose first LP Surviving You, Always is in desperate need for a reissue goddammit… a criminally overlooked classic of early postcore, years ahead of the curve if you ask me). Add to that occasional flashes of cowpunk, infused with some Lumpy & The Dumpers-style mayhem channeled into an off-the-rails vocal performance and the result is pure weirdcore bliss, leaving no doubt they remain the rightful rulers of their particular subgenre for now.
Grimly Forming's side then mounts a way rougher, yet no less smart and unconventional attack on the senses, counterbalancing unrelenting force with plenty of elaborate structures to build on and a healthy dose of garage-y undercurrent to keep things going smooth and fun all the way through.
File under: Poison Ruïn and their aftermath… Unsheather from Bellingham, Washington tackle the aesthetics of endless struggle facilitated by heavy armor and weaponry from much more of a raw hardcore angle - less epic and way more primitive and unpolished, which is probably a good strategic starting point anyway in this still kinda early phase of the ongoing dungeon punk saga as the eleborate atmospheric epics of genre's supreme overlords will sure take a good while to find a worthy challenger. Until then, i'm glad to savor any bit of grim, medieval-themed axe-wielding fun along the way and Unsheather are an excellent choice for that!
This latest EP by this Winnipeg, Manitoba group treats us to four excellent blasts on the rougher end of the garage-/fuzz-/synth punk spectrum, hammered home by a completely unhinged madman vocal performance. This EP is a safe-bet crowdpleaser guaranteed to delight connoiseurs of shit á la The Gobs, 3D and the Holograms, Ghoulies, Daughter Bat and the Lip Stings and Factory City Children, concluding in a fully charged burst of hardcore punk evoking further comparisons to groups such as Witch Piss, Spewed Brain and Geoduck Diodes.
Hardcore punk from Oslo, Norway that sticks out with some rough garage edge to their certainly simple and straightforward, yet undoubtedly elegant and well-balanced punk attacks and the undiluted fury transported by a thoroughly caffeinated frontwoman. All in all, this shit hits me kinda like a more stripped-down, fast-and-loose playing variant of swedish heavy hitters Vidro, fused with a generous dose of Judy and the Jerks.
Furious anarcho punk from London that refuses to be neatly filed away in a single genre crate, which is always the most thrilling kind of punk shit anyway. Recorded at New York's D4MT Labs, this does indeed share some of the hallmarks of that particular place's most well known export Kaleidoscope and, to a lesser extent, Straw Man Army, while also exposing some overtones of the wider left-field ambitious hardcore spectrum with the likes of early Bad Breeding, Acrylics and Daydream being some of the names coming to mind at first glance.
Not kidding, this is some honest to god oi! shit right there yet this stuff also couldn't be more far removed from what you'd normally expect out of the genre, also marking a sharp departure from this Los Angeles group's (rather unremarkable, if you ask me) earlier output. Rather, this record strikes me as another welcome addition to the small but growing canon of the emerging dungeon punk bubble, kinda like what a simplified Poison Ruïn might sound like if they dialed down the post punk and went all-in on the oi! elements. Add to that a singer who seems to channel some sort of alternate-reality true metal Frankie Stubbs clone and what you get is a new favorite batch of tunes for crushing the world's injustuces with righteous anger and primitive, blunt weaponry.
Now that's some wild shit from Tübingen, Germany. Breakneck speeds meet extremely catchy hooks and melodies, coming together in a buzzsaw audio aesthetic that sits uncomfortably wedged right inbwteween the sonic worlds of equally melodic and eccentric hardcore acts such as Hippyfuckers, Everyone Is Alone Sometimes, Pink Guitars and the more garage-/egg-leaning high-speed punk attacks of The Gobs, Exwhite, Spewed Brain, Witch Piss or 3D & The Holograms.
Yeah, it's yet another record by that ominous figure which i'm just gonna call "that Indiana dude" from here on 'cos he also goes by a ton of other pseudonyms which i'm not gonna bore you with this time. You know what to expect and he delivers once again - that means more of these minimalist but precise and deadly blows on a sliding scale between hardcore- and garage punk. If anything's changing with this dude's music, it's that his records just keep getting better!
This group based in Alicante and Valencia, Spain (previously also known as Disli on their first EP) certainly has upped their game on their newest EP via Flexidiscos, on which comparatively simplistic bursts of hard- and postcore alternate with more elaborate post punk constructions - you never know what's gonna happen just one song later. All the while, songs like the über-hymn Glamur Interior skillfully counterbalance that trait with plenty of catchy melodic undercurrent and there's even a touch of Wire-esque psychedelia on the closing track Calambre Exquisito. The opening track, on the other hand, has a bit of a Sauna Youth vibe to it while overall, you might catch some echoes of bands like Pyrex, Waste Man, Sievehead, Tube Alloys, Corker, Rank/Xerox or Criminal Code.
A new release on Deluxe Bias, the global leader in gloriously shit-sounding cassettes of usually negligible running time. And here we have yet another perfect example of three maximally blown-out fuzz-laden hardcore punk tracks recorded with just about the minimum amount of fidelity to make the assessment that this shit fuckin' rips. Plus, i think that shit couldn't sound any more perfect than this!
