Like a rougher companion piece to the Demo Rally LP i’m gonna be postin’ about in just a minute, the debut LP of this Leeds group from late summer – now given a cassette release by french label Discos Peroquébien – delivers more of that excellent noisy and no wave-ish post punk eccentricity, the possible influences of which alternating between such agents of dissonant chaos as Spray Paint, Brandy, Rolex, Lumpy and the Dumpers, Cutie and Soupcans, while comparatively slow and disciplined tracks like Bog Witch even exude a bit of a classic ’90s Chicago-style math-/postcore energy.
The 2020 debut EP of this spanish-singing swedish group still fit in (maybe a bit too) well with what i’d probably have described as your typical hardcore- and death rock-adjacent “dark punk” fare in the prior decade, though the 2021 split tape with Iceland’s genre mainstay Dauðyflin showed some steady progress already. Now, with their newest mini-LP, i’m gonna say they’re finally reaching peak performance and beginning to transcend their kinda restrictive genre surroundings with a bunch of new tunes that – though not actually inventing anything new here – tweak the genre’s basic nuts and bolts to absolute perfection in a breathless succession of immaculately built bursts of death and despair that keep things thrilling and interesting from start to finish, a quality that sadly has become a bit of a rarity in that particular niche.
It took them a couple years after their excellent 2019 Demo but at long last, here’s the debut LP of Berlin group Benzin and it’s every bit as good as you could possibly have hoped for, shifting the heavily garage-leaning sound of the demo towards more of a post punk feel while keeping the momentum going with speeds often veering into hardcore territory. This shit encapsulates some of the quirkier tendencies of previous Berlin groups like Rogue, DBR, Tanning Bats, Ponys auf Pump, Cold Leather, a synth-less Gym Tonic or the very first Puff! 7″. Equally, you may draw comparison to the Leipzig scene with Bands á la Ambulanz, Lassie, Onyon, Laugh Box and, speaking of saxons… i’d say a tiny bit of Pisse is hidden in there as well. There’s more to their sound than the obvious german influences though – among other things there’s an undeniable vibe of surfboard-wielding early west coast punk and hardcore of the Agent Orange, Germs and Adolescents ilk goin’ on here in addition to a more recent crop of hardcore-adjacent groups like Warm Bodies, Judy and the Jerks, Vexx, Itchy and the Nits.
More of that real belgian punk that’s totally not actually made by any dudes from Montreal or New York, pinky promise! Musically, this is their most mature, well-rounded effort to date, blending them undeniable eighties euro punk influences they like to wear on their sleeves with equal parts of Oi!, Post Punk, slight traces Death Rock of that same era. Of more recent phenomena, the best comparison i can come up with is a more primitive and melodic variant of US post punk cornerstone Institute of whom, i’ve heard, some dude is also totally not involved here.
This Minneapolis group runs an interesting gamut on their newest EP ranging from the punchy fuzz punk attack of Like A Dream? over the math- and noise rock infused post punk of Yeehaw! to the comparatively straightforward garage punk of Saved, while the closing track 5678 branches out into some kind of a hazy space rock jam. At different points i’m reminded of groups as diverse as early Rolex, Cutie, Shark Toys, Reality Group, The Cowboy and Big Bopper.
After their phenomenal debut LP in 2020 and a comparatively grim, more difficult to grasp second one in 2022, this New York duo has now delivered what i think is not hyperbolic in the slightest to call their masterpiece. There’s an absolutely singular vision at work here moving within – yet easily transcending – the bounds of contemporary post punk and postcore, the messaging as unapologetically political as it’s emotional and introspective, disillusioned but never bereft of a glimmer of hope… In short, reflecting the emotional toll it takes to walk open-eyed through this era of humankind facing a whole litany of existential crises, feeling systemically ill-equipped for the challenge and thus unable to find a workable, sustainable way forward while large chunks of western societies appear to be in utter denial and global elites all too willing to jeopardize any hope of an endurable future for the sake of short-term wealth accumulation. Bold political statements are a dime a dozen these days though and i doubt anybody would be listening if it weren’t for the absolute fucking brilliance of their music, which takes a thickly layered, intricate and elegant approach in line with what we’ve already heard on their previous records but which they’re working to utter perfection on this one. To me, it feels like the spirit of first-wave so-called emocore – still unburdened by the tropes, cliches and conventions established in later years – transported into the present age with a one-of-a-kind personal voice and very little baggage or preconceptions about what punk rock can mean and do in 2024.
The debut full-length cassette of this group from Greater Sudbury, Ontario delivers, at first glance, fairly conventional but also perfectly well constructed and effective post punk smashers with slight anarcho and death rock undercurrents, although the more obvious comparisons here would be such genre powerhouses as Criminal Code, Sievehead, Schedule 1, Sudbury’s very own Kommissars and, more recently, Negative Gears. But then again, there’s an even more uncanny similarity to Vancouver group Dead Cells, who had a pretty fucking great LP out via Erste Theke in 2018 and whose lead singer’s voice also bears a striking resemblence to this… dare i say there even might be an ever-so-slim chance this is the same dude? I’m probably wrong though.
The third EP of this Stockholm group makes an excellent impression with its moderately eccentric and quite varied mix of garage-, post-, synth- and art punk of the somewhat Devo-ish variety that simply delivers the goods, among which is a quirky chaos akin to the likes of Skull Cult and Belly Jelly, the eighties synth punk flashbacks of more recent Isotope Soap, some psychedelia á la Mononegatives and the unpredictability of Pressure Pin. Also quite the surprise is that bonus remix of the thumping closing track Wendy Got Balls, radiating tons of a retro eighties 12″ disco edit vibe.
While the previous LP of this Cincinnati, Ohio group – sharing a bunch of members with The Drin of all things – was already an outstanding, albeit not terribly original post punk record, their newest one sees them ascend to a whole new level as their songs and arrangements come accross a lot more focused, eleborate and deliberately built than before, the somewhat overwhelming barrage of the predecessor giving way to a newfound clarity, concise structures and a whole new sense of melody and melancholy most noticeable in tunes like Distant Dawn, Dependency and Nothing in None. Overall, this record is somewhat akin to the most recent Marbled Eye LP, which similarly saw an already pretty fucking awesome group transcend the confines of their genre surroundings. Given all that, it feels a bit cheap and reductive to come up with comparisons but for the sake of orientation i’m just gonna say this is mandatory listening for fans of groups like the aforementioned Marbled Eye, Waste Man, Negative Gears, Rank/Xerox, Tube Alloys, Nag, VR Sex and Public Eye.
Now that’s some fucking brilliant shit! On their debut EP, this swedish group creates the sort of monotonous oldschool post punk that doesn’t invent anything new but instead excells all the way in anything they do, with every song on this thing perfectly hitting the spot in a manner equally straightforward and elegant, expertly propelled forward, taking cues from Wire, MX-80 and Crass when it comes to old genre royalty and groups like Nag, Institute from more recent times… also, a hint of The Estranged in the closing track. Simple as that and so, so good!
