Impotent Fetus, the marvellous new-ish cassette sublabel of the equally fantastic Stucco empire, has already brought quite a bit of joy to the world recently with that Septic Yanks tape. In the meantime, they've already released two new puddles of noise to bathe in, made by two groups of unknown whereabouts, easily upholding the high quality standards. Fugitive Bubble create a delightful and inventive mess of fuzzed out hard-, noise- and weirdcore, at times reminding me of Das Drip, Warm Bodies, Vexx, the early output of NAG or Kaleidoscope. C-Krit, on the other hand, sound a lot like a disfigured crossbreed between Soupcans, No Trend and Lumpy & The Dumpers. Also, their fucked up rendition of the Screaming Sneakers evergreen Violent Days is pure gold.
A thoroughly pleasant listening experience, this debut EP by some Los Angeles group, made up of noise rock, post- and garage punk ingredients, reminding me of a slightly garage-leaning incarnation of Nag, spiked with some weirdness of the Soupcans, Stinkhole or Lumpy & The Dumpers variety. Tasty shit.
The goodness continues on Total Punk's second long playing record. True Sons Of Thunder are a Memphis group featuring members of Manatees and Oblivians, among others. You might already have noticed their recent 7" on Goodbye Boozy or even their first two albums, released before this blog came into being. Their newest one sees them alternating between straight-ahead garage punk somewhat similar to The Cowboy or Flat Worms and blues-soaked, repetitive noise rock somwhere inbetween Cows, Nearly Dead and various old AmRep shit, as well as some undeniable U-Men vibes. With Skate Rock we even get a nice little hardcore ditty.
This Seattle group has been around for quite a few years now, but it took them just as long to come up with their debut LP. Thus, it's no real surprise this thing sounds rather mature for a debut record, with a firm grip on this particular subgenre somewhere between the garage-leaning zones of the postcore spectrum and some contemporary noise rock - right in the neighborhood of bands like early Video, Hot Snakes, Ascot Stabber, Davidians or Flowers Of Evil.
Two years after their promising, though at times somewhat undercooked debut LP, we get to hear a way more consistent sophomore effort by this Auckland, New Zeeland trio. Their rather abstract yet always catchy compositions somewhere on the fringes of Post Punk and Noise Rock - plus a hint of Industrial - at several points remind me of Acts like Girls In Synthesis, Haunted Horses, Ice Balloons or Tunic - with a small dose of Lightning Bolt sprinkled in for good measure.
Having only released one 7" before, the maturity of this Dublin group's debut album is quite stunning - nothing less than a fully realized, versatile and inventive take on Noise Rock, Postcore and Math Rock clearly taking some cues from classic 90's and early 00's acts like Unwound, Bastro, Chavez, Frodus, some early Shellac, while still standing on its own two feet. In the current genre landscape, Multicult might also be a somewhat useful comparison.
It's quite fitting that the first-ever 12" record on US garage überlabel Total Punk starts with a thumping groove reminiscent of ISS, whose most recent EP might have been the last 7" ever to be released on that label - the transition into a new Total Punk era couldn't feel any smoother really, reassuring us that despite a change in format, the label's spirit is still the same, is alive and well. Grown up a bit, maybe. New York garage noise group Brandy sound their most compact and forceful on their sophomore LP after having cut their teeth already on a rough and brilliant debut album and on another 7" - guess on what label that one came out… More ever before you can feel some distinct Feedtime influence, while in their most abstract moments there's some kind of a Spray Paint vibe going on. But even more than that, i'm reminded of contemporary post punk acts Knowso and NAG, both of whom had released records on Total Punk in the past - just amazing how things come full circle here.
Their debut EP a year ago already was an excellent racket, but what this group from Portland (i think) pulls off on their new full length is just plain awesome, a punchy as fuck piece of noise rock/postcore bliss of the highest caliber. Regarding their sound, they're certainly rooted in the present day, reminding me of acts like Tunic, Death Panels, John (timestwo), USA Nails, Girls In Synthesis. Athough this record doesn't exactly break new ground, as a genre piece - helped by every song having an elaborate and robust composition at its core - it succeeds at every step along the way. A perfect maelstrom of propulsive rhythms, wicked bass grooves, infernal noise eruptions and - as they already showcased early on their EP - a wisely measured and thus extra effective sense of melody, well capable of elevating all that drama to the next level.
Thorougly enjoyable shit, this split LP on Big Neck Records. Blood Bags from Auckland, New Zeeland sure know how to trigger a deliciously blown out garage-/fuzz-/stoner punk riot evoking comparisons to The Cowboy and early The Men, completing the fun with some raw stooges power, strong Funhouse-esque propulsion. Salt Lake City's Brain Bagz then produce a Sound that feels closely related in spirit and in its primal energy, but casts a much wider net in its choice of influences - starting off with a kinda Cramps-meet-Scratch Acid vibe and subsequently taking many cues from the 80s proto noise rock complex including the likes of No Trend, Flipper, Live Skull.
Glen Schenau, otherwise probably best known as the Frontman of Brisbane group Kitchen's Floor, has so far released two EPs of borderline-avant garde art rock, convincing by virtue of its sheer weirdness, marked by dissonant, hyperactive guitar strumming - kinda like an out-of-tune funky alternate reality version of The Wedding Present - complemented by crude pots-and-pans style percussion. On his newest 7", the latter gives way to an actual drum kit as well as a full band sound and as a whole this takes on a slightly less experimental, way more tangible form on the fringes of post punk, noise rock and 90s indie rock while retaining the quirky, inventive qualities of its predecessors. Melkbelly-meets-Live Skull? Nah, not quite… but not too far off either.
