Last Year's Epoxy River and Super Pool LP by this Evesham, New Jersey (presumably one-man-) group was already such a massive leap in quality for them and yet again, they manage to considerably refine their sound on this newest LP, on which they kinda leave behind the late-2000s fuzz punk and noise pop ingredients that dominated that record and lean even more into the oldschool '80s and '90s college- and indie rock-informed sounds ranging from classic Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, Bitch Magnet and early Seam to the likes of Superchunk and Polvo, with just a subtle hint of first and second wave emo thrown in for good measure but also increasing amounts of '80s hardcore-based proto-noise rockers like Flipper, Big Black, Drunks With Guns and No Trend, especially in the final stretch of the record. There's an unpredictable quality and an explosive, uncontainable energy to these tunes, radiating the pure untamed joy of blasting a euphoric and abrasive, larger-than-life and kinda anachronistic type of melodic noise out of your gear that feels pleasantly out-of-place in this era, all of it further thrown deliciously off-balance by the ear-piercing screams that prove this dude still ain't ready to half-ass anything here.
In a week marked by unexpected bandcamp drops, here's another one of those coming our way via the bandcamp page of Austin, Texas group Chronophage. As far as i can tell Providers appear to be a NYC-based group and the sonic parameters of their spanish language tunes are a curious mixture of quite pronounced Oi!-influences on one hand but have just as much of a mid-eighties punk and indie-/college rock quality that calls to mind groups as diverse as classic Hüsker Dü, late Naked Raygun, Dinosaur Jr., Angst and Replacements, their melodies and arrangements charged with a sense of melancholy that feels as typical of that era as it's also reminiscent of that brief moment in the early 2010s when a number of acts like Milk Music, Happy Diving and California X led to a short-lived resurgence of that particular sound, while at other moments you can find some echoes of the melodic fuzz punk and noise pop of that same era and groups like Male Bonding, Joanna Gruesome, No Age or Wavves.
Is this really the fourth Dead Finks LP already? Time sure flies by man! In contrast to that, the output of the Berlin-based duo consisting of Erin Violet and Joseph Thomas (formerly of New Zeeland post punkers Trust Punks) has been reassuringly constant and worthy at all times, surely carrying over some of that old Trust Punks DNA but matching it up with a great deal of folk-ish strumming and melancholia, woven into an epic and colorful mosaic of widescreen drama, a moody atmosphere of unresolved conflict that more than once reminds me of the kinda iconic, singular vision of Brisbane indie-/noise rockers Kitchen's Floor.
That Aidmoozic EP too short for you? This Ackland, New Zeeland group has yet another batch of heavily british DIY punk-flavored strummery for us following a somewhat more basic yet perfectly effective formula that just can't conceal the amount of Desperate Bicycles, Mekons and Television Personalities-worship at the core of it with maybe an occasional sprinkle of Buzzcocks for good measure or, if you wanna go like one or two levels deeper, Performing Ferrets, possibly? Anyway, concerning somewhat more recent acolytes, i'd say the UK's own Suburban Homes are probably the closest match here.
The third EP of this Montreal group is yet another irresistible candy seemingly inspired by the more melodic strains of eighties punk somewhere inbetween, say, Fastbacks, late-era Naked Raygun and Hüsker Dü, but also previous-decade revivalist indie punk rockers like Milk Music, California X, Milked and Kicking Spit ain't too far off either. This time they keep us waiting a bit - until the very last track to be precise - before they fully lean into their trademark heavy metal shredding which has also been the secret ingredient of their brilliant previous EP, but that shall in no way distract from the bucketloads of catchy joy we had along the way leading up to that point too!
This London group recorded their debut LP in a single day at Abbey Road. Does that actually matter all that much? I don't think so but anyway, this thing sounds kinda neat, unexpectedly raw and unpolished. Right out of the gate, Defenestration greets us with a melodic and slightly folk-ish post punk vibe somewhere inbetween the worlds of Mission Of Burma, Sebadoh, Volcano Suns, Angst, Polvo or Medications, followed by a somewhat Wire-esque post punk exercise with hints of mid-2000s Indie Rock in Sinnes, the latter of which places this among my least favorite things on here along with the somewhat sleepy and undercooked Cruel Tutelage. Thankfully, Liar then picks up speed again in a mix of oldschool garage punk and a Mudhoney-esque Fuzz Punk-/Neo-Grunge vibe, some of which also resonates through the straightforward punk smasher Bumble Been before Red Fuzz leads into the overall much stronger secod half of the album with its catchiest pop tune so far. Pink Liquor then is a compact no-frills burst of noisy garage punk excellence and Automated Response sounds like yet another early Wire tribute right out of the Pink Flag Playbook, a much more well-balanced one this time though. Cavern Killer adds a bit of a rather contemporary sounding post punk and noise rock vibe to the mix before I Love You ends the record with a flawless oldschool oddity of the heavily '77 and KBD-influenced variety.
Not too long after their already quite joyous third EP, the Kalamazoo, Michigan group is already following up on that with an even stronger 2-track digital single that once again feels like a throwback to the glory days of '80s-to-mid-'90s post punk, college-, indie- and alternative rock with the likes of Mission Of Burma, My Dad Is Dead, Sebadoh or Volcano Suns looming large over the opening track Party Store, while Good People sounds a bit like Flipper or Broken Talent filtered through a more approachable early Mudhoney- or mid-'90s Royal Trux vibe.
These folks based in Biel, Switzerland have created a true slow burn-type of a record here via the local imprint Chrüsimüsi Records that frequently takes its sweet time to get to the point but pays off handsomely when you stick with it. The sluggish crawl of an opening tune Different Times immediately reminds me of the dusty, desert-flavored americana rock of Weak Signal, which then gets transformed into very much of a post punk context in the following tune Bubbles while songs like Peace Of Mind have some obvious Velvet Underground energy flowing through them and a undercurrent of oldschool art- and glam rock that's also ever-present in The Candidate. At other times, i'm frequently reminded of Berlin's folk-ish Post Punkers Dead Finks, the earlier work of London's Witching Waves, a decelerated variant of The Cowboy or Flatworms, the earthy garage rock of Honey Radar or the spiky art punk of Far Corners and Germ House... even the first Peace de Résistance LP may at times resonate with this.
Strange beast, the debut EP of this group with members scattered across Australia and the USA (Sydney, Portland and Melbourne, more specifically), on which everything just feels a bit off... in a good way! Right frome the Intro there's an unmistakable Mission Of Burma- and Moving Targets vibe goin' on and echoes of further '80s oddities of the Really Red, Angst and Saccharine Trust variety. Also, there's some undercurrent of Sonic Youth-esque guitar harmonies and '90s Postcore elements á la Unwound, Drive Like Jehu or later Gray Matter work in unison with their more melodic counterparts like Chavez and Polvo, two Bands whose work also echoes heavily through the even stronger second half of this Record from Closer oneward, where their whole sound veers a lot closer towards melodic Seam- and Superchunk-infused Indie Rock with some additional traces of No Age and Swervedriver maybe? Anyway, this is some thorougly enjoyable shit.
This Vancouver group creates a delightful and eccentric blend of fuzzed-out, garage-infused oldschool indie rock, post- and art punk on their debut EP with the opening tune Running and Running having much of an early Woolen Men or Shark Toys vibe, while Dud reminds me a lot of Volcano Suns. In Roundabout, some '80s Nomeansno appears to collide with a classic cowpunk vibe. The closing track Anyone Anywhere has certain Scratch Acid-meets-Jawbox feel goin' on and there's no denying the whole EP also has some faint Mission Of Burma background radiation detectable.
