Wow, i didn't really expect this to happen. A good seven years after the group's sorta classic LP The Battle Of Brisbane we finally get another album by what at this point appears to exist as more of a solo venture by vocalist Matt Kennedy. His singular sound and vision in the realm of post punk, noise rock and that unlikely folk-y undercurrent comes accross as sharp and uncompromising as ever though, appearing beautifully out of step with the zeitgeist.
New shit from Nick Vicario aka Smirk, also known as part of such potent punk powerhouses as Public Eye, Crisis Man und Cemento. His second LP carries more of his eclectic post- and garage punk extravaganza sourced out of a generous grab bag of punk samples, bearing fleeting similarities to such diverse acts as ISS, Institute, Alien Nosejob, Cherry Cheeks, Uranium Club, Reality Group or Marbled Eye.
Damn, unforgivable how i could overlook this kickass tape already released this summer, containing delicilously excentric Lo-Fi post punk shit giving off a heavy smell of Desperate Bicycles, Swell Maps, early Mekons plus any random artifact of 80s cassette culture as well as some New Order-ish vibes in the closing track Dog Having Its Day.
The second LP by that Duo featuring none other than Spray Paint's Cory Plump as well as some mysterious Chris, who has in some capacity worked with Les Savy Fav, Trans Am and Scene Creamers in the past, delivers more of their addictive melange of post punk and noise rock with that certain industrial feel, as experimental as it's hypnotic and catchy all the same. Maybe it's just due to the mix and mastering, but the sonic spectrum appears somewhat decluttered here compared to the predecessor with an at times less claustrophobic, more natural feel and plenty of room to breathe. Still tons of Swell Maps or, alternately, Exek vibes to go around though and there's even a hint of Protomartyr in Rotting Profits, some echoes of Wire in Florida Gasoline.
Three fifths of this EP have already trickled out very slowly in the form of demos and digital singles. Finally, we can witness the thing in full now. I'd say the Nashville outfit have found their own unique little niche inside a crowded pool of egg-related weirdness, their jangly garage punk detonations shrunken to microscopic scale… a bit like a super-muted incarnation of R.M.F.C. with additional hints of Print Head, Neo Neos or early Erik Nervous.
Awesome post punk from Copenhagen that appears to inherit quite a bit of the city's previous musical DNA, especially from the early 2010s era when acts like Lower and early Iceage reigned supreme and more groups like Melting Walkmen, Echo People or Spines cropped up in their wake. Haevner's debut LP infuses that certain formula with a strong melodic sensibility and some goth and (oh-so-fashionable, as of late) death rock vibes while international acts such as Criminal Code, Sievehead, The Estranged, Holograms or Pretty Hurts don't seem too far off either at some points.
it took them a while but finally this Austin, Texas group's debut album has reached our shores and oh boy, is this a rare spectacle wildly surpassing any expactations i might've had for this one. Their sound is clearly and heavily inspired by certain parts of the SST Records era, prime among these being the folk-/americana-infused punk rock of Angst, early Meat Puppets and Minutemen while at the same time you might find bits and pieces of Saccharine Trust, early Dinosaur Jr. or Mission Of Burma in there and in more recent years, certain aspects of this lineage have been kept alive by a diverse cluster acts such as Milk Music, Chronophage, Dead Finks, Dharma Dogs and The Molds. Or Woolen Men, just maybe, if you stretch your imagination a bit.
You can't ever go wrong with another EP by Orlando's melodic synth-, garage- and post punk powerhouse Cherry Cheeks who achieved some kind of punk rock quasi-nighthood last year as signified by their first LP being released on Total Punk. The newest self-released bunch of tracks delivers more of the same catchy goodness with slight similarities to groups like Freak Genes, Powerplant, Trashdog, Warm Exit, Alien Nosejob and Set-Top Box.
This montreal group's debut EP delights with a batch of fairly melodic, simple-and-effective little smashers in the realm of garage pop, fuzz- and post punk reminding me of a particular cluster of groups from a few years ago including acts such as Feature, Negative Scanner, Slowcoaches and UV-TV. Also, in Get Loose, there's a distinct Wire vibe at play here and y'all know i'm a sucker for that kind of shit.
Though Side B didn't click with me quite as much as his Side A debut EP, this Marmora, New Jersey dude is operating in the golden zone once again on his newest Side C with a roughly 80% hit ratio. Less goth-leaning this time, his DIY garage- and post punk miniatures come across as unpredictable as ever with echoes of stuff á la S.B.F., Set-Top Box, Stalins of Sound, Erik Nervous or The Spits scattered throughout this fun little grab bag of tunes.
