This Rome group or project already has a whole bunch of notable EPs and split releases under their belt, all of them quite good and falling easily under the contemporary eggpunk umbrella. This time though, they go for a way rougher, minimalist shade of Lo-Fi aesthetics in these three new bursts of absolutely filthy fuzz punk which seamlessly transport their proven power pop sensibilities into a new direction that echoes the likes of early Wavves and No Age combined with plenty of raw Detroit-style garage artifacts of all eras.
Following a couple of releases which largely dabbled in mellower sounds, Spain's prime eggpunk-/noise pop act Beta Máximo at long last is cranking up the speeds again while applying and consolidating all the lessons they've learned at previous excursions for the benefit of their newest EP, which easily marks their strongest release so far made up of nothing but hits and gelled into place by plenty of simple but rock-solid, top-notch songcraft at its core.
An incredible debut by some NYC group, oscillating somewhere around the rough parameters of hardcore, fuzz-, art- and post punk. Not least because of these psychedelic synth stylings i can't help but think of the hallucinogenic cowpunk nightmares of another awesome New York City act, Murderer, while in their mellower and catchier moments this surely has a similar quality to past-decade fuzz punk greats á la Feature or Slowcoaches.
Another neat little cassette of moderately egg-related insanity comes our way from this Madrid group, operating in a nebulous zone somewhere inbetween the worlds of garage punk and spaced-out melodic fuzz punk, spiced up with quite a bit of surf rock twang and some dense psychedelic haze. All in all i'd say this shit successfuly combines some of the best traits of acts like Beta Máximo, Beer, Pringue and Prison Affair into a cohesive whole.
Two of the - so far at least - minor players in the current eggpunk game join forces and make a convincing case for a re-evaluation of that status as both, while not exactly reinventing the wheel here, have cleary refined their formulas quite a bit on this neat little split cassette. SPRGRS of Granada, Spain make for a great start with their quirky, pulsating and melodic take on the genre much in line with what we've heard recently from groups like Prison Affair, Beer, Paulo Vicious and Goblin Daycare. Even better though are the three new tracks by Bristol's Möney, who show some great variety and top-notch songwriting chops here, overall saturating their sound with more of a surf-y and psychedelic post punk vibe, most notably in the closing track Emancipation which calls to mind the likes of Electric Prawns 2, Checkpoint, Gremlin and Powerplant. Then again, Plastic Trees is a surprising little gem made up of glistening noise-/power-/dreampop stylings and really given a special shine by a guest vocal performance credited to a mysterious Miss Clienty.
The follow-up to this Totowa, New Jersey group's recent opus Stiff Jumbo, which consisted of no less than fourty below-one-minute punk smashers, comes across as a somewhat more conventional offering of catchy tunes located inbetween the sonic parameters of garage punk, noise pop and oldschool '80s/'90s indie rock. What hasn't changed at all though is the sheer strength and consistency of these songs, whose songwriting excellence never falters even once. This shit is easily on a level with highly regarded contemporaries of the Vaguess, Booji Boys, Datenight, Bad Sports, Vacation, Teen Line, The Wind-Ups and Bed Wettin' Bad Boys caliber.
A magnificent debut single by a nebulous group from nowhere serves up two undeniably tasty synth punk anthems reminiscent as much of the 2000s indie rock era (as in: Remember when Pitchfork was a thing?) as of more recent phenomena in the Cherry Cheeks, Ope or Smirk vein, with a frosting of Digital Leather-esque flavors on top. What's not to like about that?
The second tape by this New York group, brought to us by local NY specialist label Fuzzy Warbles Cassettes, is an insanely satisfying mixture oscillating between the parameters of relaxed garage punk and equally slacked-off indie rock, a bit like a more indie rock-leaning Vaguess mixed with some early Woolen Men, Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, recent Datenight or maybe a less cramped version of that latest Monda LP.
The Leipzig post-/garage punk scene never ceases to amaze, as Autobahns already did on occasion of their split EP with the also brilliant S.G.A.T.V.. Now here's their full-length debut co-released by three usual-suspect labels from around the globe and this one's a treat, folks! Right from the start there's some strong Billiam-esque energy to these songs, moderately egg-ish garage punk smashers that also call to mind stuff like Tommy Cossack, Set-Top Box and further eccentricities of the Snooper, Beer or Prison Affair kind or maybe Germany's very own Egg Idiot. Tellin' Ya transports some of the best traits of recent Vaguess records into a more distinct eggpunk context. All the while, Autobahns operate as a super-tight unit here, expertly kicking up a hell of a storm while never losing their ironclad grip on their melodic sensibilities... this is some catchy shit all the way through, reaching its peak in the undiluted noise pop ecstasy of Loss Of The Rights.
One of the best kept secrets of the contemporary australian garage punk underground demonstrates its godlike potency once more in the form of two new digital singles amounting to three tracks in total, each one of those having its very own distinct vibe. I Wanna Be UR Simp sports a strong psychedelic flourish not entirely dissimilar to the likes of Mononegatives, Zoids, Corpus Earthling and later Useless Eaters, combined with the catchy garage pop of, say, Set-Top Box, Gee Tee and the likes. Prawn Party then plunders its way through an entirely different place and era, most in line with the current wave of pre-'77 New York revivalism as exemplified by Peace de Résistance, Jean Mignon and the most recent Institute LP but you might just as well find traces of The Drin's kraut rock vibes and the catchy garage rockers of certain Alien Nosejob incarnations in there. TV Screen once again shapeshifts into the guise of both early New Zeeland Flying Nun-style jangly power pop á la The Clean and The Stones on one hand, and british DIY (post-)punk pioneers like The Mekons and Television Personalities on the other.
