Some Los Angeles group consisting of a truly all-star garage lineup delivers a pleasantly quirky mix of garage-, post- and synth punk, sometimes coming across like a crossbreed of Nots and Pow!, or like Primitive Calculators-meet-Useless Eaters in other moments.
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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.
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After releasing a true shitload of EPs over the past few years and their sound showing a steady increase in maturity, it's really no surprise that their debut album comes across as the most accomplished batch of songs by this London group yet, their very own formula made up of post punk, noise rock and postcore elements fine-tuned and engineered into a smoothly running, high precision machine while still occasionaly expanding their musical vocabulary - like some Wire-meet-Big Black-isms in Set Up To Fail for example or the bleak doomscapes á la early Uniform in Human Frailty.
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Another Berlin group whose members already made some waves elsewhere in the 12XUniverse, namely in Bands like Diät, Ausmuteants or Vexx, although Diät certainly are the closest match here in terms of sound - with a somewhat more pronounced 80s death rock vibe, maybe. Also there's some similarity to a slowed down incarnation of Pretty Hurts, Criminal Code or austrian colleagues Red Gaze.
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Considering the Melbourne group's previous track record, i didn't expect their third full length to be anything less than superb… and surprise: This is yet another very strong record occupying a spot of their own in this particular niche at the junction of playful smartypants garage-, post- and art punk. Worthy new premium fodder for admirers of Uranium Club, Pinch Points, Reality Group… you might also find a bit of Sauna Youth or Patti in there.
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An stunning second solo effort by some dude who simply knows what he's doing, having so far played in noise rock and postcore groups Pale Heads, The Nation Blue as well as the more folk leaning Lee Memorial and Harmony, among others. This record strongly veers toward the louder side of his discography while still adding a few new ingredients to the mix, covering a quite impressive spectrum including malancholy Wipers-esque post punk with hints of Red Dons or Nervosas, postcore of the rather melodic variety reminiscent, to varying degrees, of Meat Wave, Bloody Gears, Hot Snakes as well as some breathless garage energy á la Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters. Tons worth of larger than life drama, the songs to pull it of and a performance powerful enough to make you believe every single note.
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Covid year turns out to be quite a productive one for Cleveland garage-/post punk group Knowso who recently unleashed both a new EP and LP, their second and third releases this year alone. Sonically, this is a seamless continuation of their previous awesomeness - minimalist, abstract Post Punk bearing some similarity to Nag, Brandy, Constant Mongrel or more recent Usless Eaters. What sets them apart is the sheer efficiency of their arrangements and performance, kinda like their riffs and beats are purposefully designed to play nice with conveyor belts, be easily stackable on pallets, best moved around with a forklift.
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Portland's Public Eye already were one of the more interesting and adventurous post punk groups of our time to begin with and i always felt we hadn't quite heard their best yet. Turns out i was right about something for a change… On Music For Leisure their sound has evolved pretty much into its own thing. Imagine the works of some 2010's post punk standouts like Diät, Marbled Eye, The Estranged, Institute, Rank Xerox, Creative Adult and Bruised rolled into one. Then add a fair amount of garage punk of the early Teenanger, Sauna Youth, Flat Worms variety, sprinkle in a hint of Wire and some jangly folk influences á la Volcano Suns. Public Eye bundle all of that, then slow it down to a comfortable strolling pace while tackling the whole thing with a decidedly song-based approach. The result is one of the most mature, consistant, well-constructed post punk records i've heard in a good while.
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Respected Los Angeles garage powerhouse Vinny Vaguess keeps things interesting. While his previous two longplayers turned out a bit mellower, leaning quite heavily into powerpop melodicity, his newest EP mixes things up again in somewhat unexpected ways by introducing quirky post punk elements, often making generous use of vaguely devo-esque synths. Speaking of the devil… with Lesser Of Two we even get a full-blown synth pop hymn, not dissimilar to some stuff Alien Nosejob did recently. Other points of reference might be Nick Normal, Andy Human and the Reptoids, Teenanger, occasional flashes of Ausmuteants. Everything works admirably here, in no small part thanks to the kind of excellent songcraft we've come to expect from this dude.
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Promising and fun shit, this first digital single by some San Francisco group. Post-/art punk of the particularly quirky, playful kind that admirers of bands like Patti, Rolex, Reality Group or Emergency Contact will surely appreciate.
