Okay… it looks like the current dungeon craze, which seemingly started out in the realm of synth-based soundscapes some time ago and has since then progressively been making its presence known on the fringes of garage punk, is now slowly but inevitably extending its grip into the musty cellars of hardcore punk. This fun new tape of medieval survival hymns about other people's heads meeting blunt, heavy objects sounds a bit as if Lumpy & The Dumpers, Cülo and Strange Attractor joined forces to record an alternate Jabberwocky soundtrack.
This is the second hardcore 7" of muteant Jake Robertson's Alien Nosejob for Iron Lung Records, his third harcore-centric release overall if i didn't miss anything. And of course it's yet another delightful batch of playful, inventive takes on the genre. What else did you expect?
Dollhouse's 2019 demo already was a thoroughly respectable blast of forward-thinking noise and even more so is their new EP that came out recently via Toxic State Records, thanks to a comparatively slick production putting their sound emanating from a gray area between modern hardcore, post punk and postcore in just the right light, balancing abrasive scuzz with sheer force. The whole thing calls to mind a refreshingly diverse cluster of groups like Mystic Inane, Hot Snakes, Wymyns Prysyn, Launcher, Cement Shoes or Liquid Assets.
On their newest EP for Iron Lung Records, the Olympia, Washington group dials down the garage factor of its earlier efforts a few notches without sacrificing their own distinct vibe, skillfully avoiding the pitfalls of a dull oldschool purism by breaking with the tried-and-tested hardcore formulas in all the right moments, while still embracing their timeless potency where it matters.
Man, this has been a lame week as far as new music is concerned. I don't wanna withhold from you one standout release though, this little gem operating right in the middle between garage punk, hard- and postcore - kinda like a mix between Fried E/M, Modern Needs, Mystic Inane… with a spoonful of Drive Like Jehu thrown in at the right moments.
This group of unclear provenance recently put out their second tape - once again via Wyoming cassette label Deluxe Bias - and just like the first one it's a massive lo-fi blast of noise that sounds a bit like The Stooges and MC5 reimagined as a hardcore band. A certein Bad Brains drive adds even more to the overall oldschool vibe and in the current scene, you might describe them as a slightly souped-up version of Vexx… yeah, makes perfect sense i guess. Their fuel's got 50% more X.
Third longplayer by this Oakland group and of course it's some pretty amazing shit once again. I still find it kinda hard to believe how what started out as sort of a Hüsker Dü soundalike has developed into one of the most powerful, original and instantly regognizable bands of recent years, effortlessly channeling the raw energies of hard- & postcore, noise rock and garage punk into a rowdy, unpredictable force.
Nice little split tape via Dirtbag Distro. Never heard of Kansas City's Foil before, but this dude's three songs on here instantly get my blood pumping with a quirky, raw and shambolic take on hardcore punk. Silvie S on the other hand is another alias for the guy known as Billiam, who also seems to be part of Dot.com and Disco Junk, among others. From him, we get another trio of fun little ditties in his familiar style of minimalist DIY garage- and synth punk.
Mat Williams' solo project Liquids has been around for a good while now and every new entry in his by now pretty substantial discography has been a pleasant, albeit inconsistent experience, as many of his releases felt like rather loose collections of material with varying degrees of quality. That's not the case at all for Life is Pain Idiot, his strongest collection of songs in quite a while. With Erik Nervous once again working his producer magic here, new stuff blends in perfectly with what i consider to be the definitive versions of songs which already appeared in some form on one of his previous releases.
Broken Vessels are a group from Santa Ana, California featuring members of Grimly Forming and Rolex (whose incredible debut album/compilation/re-recording thingy i didn't post here as far as i remember, so give that one a spin if you haven't yet). Their debut EP sounds a lot like a somewhat dumbed down version of Rolex, while Mystic Inane comes to mind as another valid and wholly flattering comparison.
