A bit of a paradox, this record by a Berlin group which, on one hand, feels probably the most quintessentially Berlin-like of anything i've heard this year, yet eludes any straight comparison i could draw to any more-or-less contemporary group of that scene. The best of which that i could come up with are Hyäne, who put out two incredible singles and an equally good LP between 2016-2018, although this shit here feels even more rough, oldschool and primitive, rooted in more of an '80s punk and hardcore background. All of that notwithstanding, i'd also say that fans of groups such as Die Verlierer, Kalte Hand, Maske, Pigeon and Gesture just might get a kick out of this, as there's undeniably at least some sort of a common thread running through all of that stuff.
*edit* In the time-honored tradition of me writing ill-informed stupid fucking shit, it turns out this group ain't from Berlin at all (only their label is) but not too far from my own doorstep instead, somewhere in the wider Ruhr area. No wonder they're this pissed then. Thrilling shit. How am i gonna fuck up next? Stay tuned!
In case the previous LP of this Leipzig/Berlin-based group was a bit too tidy, conventional and well-produced for your taste, then rejoice!... 'cos that new cassette may be right up your alley as a hyperactive and noisy, glorious mess showcasing a band just following their creative whims wherever they may take them in thirty minutes comprised of found-sound interludes, zany bits and jokes and plenty of certified bangers along the way, once again approaching the weirdness and fun of their admittedly kinda hard-to-beat 2022 Estray LP.
I never came across this Copenhagen group before, although they've apparently been around for well over a decade by now. Right out of the gate, their third LP radiates an eerily familiar vibe yet looking a bit closer, there's more goin' on with this record than meets the eye at first glance. While the slight folk- and cowpunk vibes of the openening track call to mind the folk-ish post punk acts Dead Finks, Optic Nerve and the nervous garage punk twitch of Hank Wood & The Hammerheads, i'd say that subsequently, this record settles into an aesthetic blurring the line between straight-up catchy punk rock and a darker post punk feel, similar in one way or another to such groups like Xetas, Red Dons, later Naked Raygun, Warp Lines, Dead Years and Telecult. Also, there's some neat Leatherface-esque guitar work going on here and a melancholic quality that reminds me of shit like The Misanthropes and early The Estranged.
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.
