Another tape by Barcelona's best address for dazzlingly upbeat and catchy garage punk delivers yet another ultra-compact payload of low-fidelity, high-egginess transcendence, no amount of tape hiss being able to drown out that constant barrage of ultra-potent and highly infectious pop hooks bearing some vague similarity to acts like R.M.F.C., Nuts, Set-Top Box, Dee Bee Rich or Erik Nervous.
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This Melbourne group's 2017 debut EP still resonates with me as one of the most unique experiences in the garage-/post-/art punk spere of its time. Almost five years having passed since then, it's no surprise their follow-up EP showcases a somewhat more streamlined yet still ambitious and surprising grab-bag of songs which continue to draw plenty of inspiration from both Chairs Missing-era Wire and early, Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, this time leaning in heavier on the spaced-out post punk side of things, also sounding not quite unlike a more eleborate version of B-Boys or Gotobeds. Then at their most melodic and straightforward, Elsewhere is the kind of anthemic oldschool indie rock smasher rarely encountered these days.
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The busy Montreal scene has yet another head-scratcher in store for the discerning connoisseur of weird-ass garage-/post-/egg-/ADHD-punk and oh boy, is that a delightful and quirky, disjointed-as-fuck mess of an EP scavenging bits and pieces from all the right phenomena of contemporary punk eccentricity including acts such as Print Head, Reality Group, Patty, Slimex, Big Bopper or Skull Cult.
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When this New York dude's enchanting and bewildering 2020 debut EP Hedgemakers hit, i didn't have the slightest clue who's the mastermind behind Peace De Résistance. Turns out it's none other than Institute vocalist Moses Brown - yeah, kinda makes sense in retrospect, i guess. Dunno how i missed that. His first longplayer now unfolds a somewhat more elaborate, yet still pretty minimalist soundscape that once again feels out of place in all the best ways - a time capsule of hazy false memories weaving early strains of proto-, art- and post punk into a vivid, semi-plausible case of the Mandela effect.
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The second longplayer (ignoring last year's Her Majesty's Ship OST) by this Kaleidoscope-adjacent New York duo sees their sonics shifting into a comparatively downbeat, darker and more cumbersome, yet equally rewarding direction. There's simply no other group quite like them in the current post punk/-core landscape and these chaps clearly maintain their position on the cutting edge of contemporary (art-/post-)punk while simultaneously being perfectly aware of its rich history, culminating in what to me is the crowning achievement of this album - the slow-burning, sprawling Beware, which kinda sounds like classic landmark records of the Chairs Missing and The Argument caliber boiled down to their very essence.
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Another excellent EP by that band from Graz, Austria with a sound more akin to some random Berlin group, members of whom are also playing in whatever other group you might also have heard of… i don't remember exactly and can't be bothered to look that shit up right now, okay? Post punk with an ever-so-slight death rock undercurrent. Yeah, Berlin-esque as i already mentioned, think like… Diät, Pigeon, Clock Of Time but also with some similarity to powerhouse US acts á la Rank Xerox or Institute.
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A yummy new EP by Montreal punks Priors delivering three new infectious smashers starting off with some garage-meets-hardcore energy akin to sped-up Useless Eaters or Mononegatives, followed by a super effective midtempo post punk stomper with a hint of Wire. The closing track, then, has a bit of a Screamers and Devo vibe to it and also bears some similarity to more recent stuff by Isotope Soap.
Not sure where these folks are based - La Vida Es Un Mus Discos' bandcamp page mentions uruguayan bands as an inspiration so maybe that's where the good shit is happening? Their facebook profile might clarify things but these days, i'd rather stay in the dark forever than logging onto that stinking heap of crap one more time (speaking of which… C'mon fuckers, what are all of you still doing over there? Move your punk asses over to the open, independent, non-corporate fediverse! Bring your friends over too!). Well, whether that's the case or not, their style of post punk reminds me quite a bit of Barcelona punks Algara for more than just their spanish vocals, albeit with a nice melodic street punk vibe and a slight touch of The Estranged on top.
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Pretty fucking amazing shit, the second long player of this group from Tournai, Belgium. Right out of the gate i'm reminded of so much good stuff both ancient and contemporary on the intersection of art-, post- and garage punk, rounded out by a distinctly dissonant no wave-ish, noise rock-y edge. Sometimes they sound a bit like as if the americana-infused post punk of Angst were to collide with the simplistic beat of Man Sized Action and a good measure of early The Fall strumminess. Other moments, i imagine to hear echos of Membranes, Gordons or Swell Maps, while you might just as well draw comparisons to more recent acts such as Honey Radar, Toe Ring, Lithics, Germ House, Shark Toys and Subtle Turnhips.
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Quality shit from Phantom Records once again. The culprits, this time, are yet another Berlin group playing a breed of post punk (really, who'd have guessed.…) which proudly wears its origins on its sleeves yet manages to put an inventive and playful spin on every single track. Funky but thankfully not too polished, there's also a prominent surf rock vibe at play here ricocheting through their arrangements like a steel rod willfully thrown into the spokes, always making for some delightful stunts and maneuvers. Sometimes we also get a touch of rockabilly as put through a Gun Club-meet-The Fall meatgrinder. My personal fave here is a little banger called Angerman which perfectly applies the carrot-and-stick approach in its juxtaposition of dissonant noise and melodicism.
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