This Greenville, South Carolina group kicks up an excellent racket located somwhere inbetween the gears of garage punk, post punk and postcore bearing some similaritiy to more recent stuff á la Big Bopper, Mystic Inane, Dollhouse, Cutie, Wymyns Prysyn, Crisis Man… just as much as to classic pieces by the likes of Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Nation Of Ulysses, Rites of Spring or Gray Matter.
Having made somewhat of a splash with their unpredictable 2019 demo and a more conventinally hardcore-leaning EP in 2021, the Richmond, Virginia group is shaking things up once again with their first full-length effort, significantly slowing things down and seemingly taking plenty of cues from left-field 80s acts on the experimental intersection of hardcore punk and (proto-)noise rock in the vein of, among others, Flipper, No Trend, Spike in Vain or Broken Talent, while also not entirely dissimilar to more recent groups like Soupcans, Vulture Shit, C-Krit or Stinkhole.
A thoroughly high quality new batch of 7"s and even a CD from the ever reliable italian garage punk institution Goodbye Boozy Records. Tee Vee Repairman is yet another project of Ishka Edmeades who you might also know from acts such as Satanic Togas, Set-Top Box, Research Reactor Corp., Gee Tee, Remote Control, Mainframe… this dude seems to be in pretty much anything out of the Warttman orbit and beyond that. Let's just say dude's been's a constant fixture on this blog in recent years and will sure crop up many more times because everything he touches tends to become instant garage punk and power pop gold. A different beast altogether is the 7" by Wayne Pain & The Shit Stains, a simple & stupid attack of decidedly oldschool fuzzed-out garage punk with that classic rockabilly edge to it. Speaking of rockabilly… Qinqs have a touch of that going on too, although in their case it reeks less of The Cramps and more of The Fall - The Great White Wonder might as well be called How i re-wrote Elastic Man - as well as more recent occurrences á la Shark Toys, Ex Cult, Parquet Courts or The UV Race. The newest tape by the mysterious Zoids then is another endearingly eccentric treat of minimalist electro-/space-/garage punk transporting more than just a little bit of a Suicide-meets-Metal Urbain / Dr. Mix and the Remix vibe. Also: Yeah, fuck vinyl 'cos the future belongs to the compact disc bro. Dadgad's tracks then serve as the perfect transition between the aforementioned electric space punk stylings and the opposite half of a 7" featuring - yet again - that dude known as Zhoop… or was it Feed? Djinn? Brundle maybe? I don't care really it's all good shit!
This Schenectady, New York group kicks up a perfect storm of somewhat motörized noise somewhere between the corner points of garage punk, hardcore and sleaze rock on their demo tape. A highly combustible recipe that should mix well with other acts á la Cement Shoes, Polute, Hippyfuckers, Flea Collar, Dollhouse, Cülo… and maybe just a smidge of hardcore-era Hüsker Dü on top.
Just another quick roundup of noises and disturbances out of the extended hardcore orbit. Starting off the batch with Sex Hater of Kansas City, who will surely please admirers of chaotic and downright filthy hardcore shit in a similar vein to groups á la Total Sham, Fried E/m or Launcher.
Speaking of filth, Clinic from Fresno, California dial that certain aspect even further - their latest EP feeling like one single murky puddle of primitive anger and deep despair, not entirely dissimilar in some places to the early Beast Fiend EPs.
pH People, a group of unknown origin, then slow the tempo down considerybly while by no means lacking energy - their tape on Urticaria Records is a potent mixture from the fringes of harcore punk and (proto-) noise rock with clear echoes of mostly older stuff á la Flipper, Spike In Vain, Noxious Fumes or Broken Talent.
And lastly, there's one for the dungeon dwellers among us in the form of Philadelphia's Alien Birth who deliver an oldschool metal-infested beast kinda like a mix between a more primitive Poison Ruïn and Golden Pelicans going all in on their sleaze rock leanings.
Great fun as always, the newest EP by Italy's Shitty Life on which they once again infuse their garage punk with tons of hardcore speed and energy (or vice versa), making for another straightforward no-frills attack that will surely please sympathizers of acts á la Crisis Man, Dadar, Gluer or Easers.
This neat little tape on Phoenix, Arizona label Total Peace delivers yet another burst of rough-as-fuck noise-infested hardcore punk with a weirdly melodic undercurrent to bash your head against.
Just a quck hint here about three excellent new tapes courtesey of the ever-reliable 11 PM Records. The post-/math-/weirdcore powerhouse Rolex doesn't need any introduction, i think, delivering a snappy three-and-a-half minutes long fireworks of eleborate, hyperactice and chaotic postcore. Phantom then represent something of an opposite to that with oldschool hardcore punk of the most primal and unruly kind. Z-Pak, last but not least, appear to to combine the qualities of both aforementioned acts. What's not to love about that?
This group from Kaloomps, BC, Canada delivers a joyous little ride around the weirder fringes of early-to-mid 80s hard- and postcore with some mean funky grooves thrown in as well as that certain garage punk additive and - to make the mess perfect - given a thorough KBD-style fuckover. Also not too far off from somewhat recent groups in the vein of, say, Mystic Inane or Fried E/m, among others.
A couple of supercombustible noise attacks equal parts garage- and hardcore punk injected with tons of unwieldy KBD energy - a new raw and primitive delight for friends of shit roughly in the same orbit as, say, Fried E/m, Total Sham, Launcher, Modern Needs or Freakees…