Nightwatchers of Toulouse, France, one of the higher profile acts that sprung up in the probably Youth Avoiders-induced 2010s french wave of variably Oi-!influenced, melodic post punk/-core groups, has at times struck me as a somewhat spotty, shaky affair on some of their longplayers. On their newest EP they're operating in the golden zone from start to finish though, churning out four certified bangers with workmanlike routine and while their sound has never deviatied too much from that established formula and won't reinvent itself here either, they make up for that easily through the sheer strength of the underlying tunes and an unflinching, tight and vicious performance.
This group and their bandcamp profile feel weirdly familiar to me, even though this appears to be their first EP... have they changed their name maybe or had a previous release which has disappeared since? Well, most likely i'm just imagining things. Anyway, this is a neat little EP with a pretty oldschool post punk sound that at times complements its early Nots or classic Siouxsie kind of energy with just a hint of revolution summer-style early postcore urgency, most notably so in the standout tune H-21.
Not terribly hard to describe what this Atlanta group is doing on their debut LP as it's basically yet another Crass Discharge of Rudimentary Peni unspooling right in front of us, yet for somthing this straight and specific, they pull this shit off in a thoroughly convincing fashion with plenty of intelligence and variation to their compositions, staying reasonybly close within the expected boundaries of their chosen early hardcore, 1st gen anarcho and death rock frameworks while never repeating themselves and drawing a good deal of fresh energy and surprising turns from the decades-old genre tropes in an effort that strikes me as leagues ahead of your average oldschool genre excercise.
One of the most esoteric tentacles of the current art punk world strikes again with yet another kickass six minutes of math-y, dub-infused, polyrhythm-obsesed and altogether unapoligetically self-indulgent post punk nuggets that would come across as way up their own arses from any lesser group. These Buffalo, NY folks though, who've constantly improved and fine-tuned their intricate formula over the course of five years and six releases so far, are among the very few exceptional bands able to meet their lofty ambitions with an overflowing abundance of musical substance and rock-solid craftsmanship.
Oh hey, right on time to that other dog-themed group, here's new shit from the only band in the world not called The Dogs and while Dog Lips of Portsmouth, New Hampshire may have had some similarity to that group around the time of their first EP in 2022, they've already evolved away from that with their previous Danger Forward LP at the very latest, on which they dabbled in more of a Post Punk sound, though not without some distinct hints and flashbacks towards their garage punk past. Their newest one then feels like a straight continuation of that stuff at first but also keeps morphing and evolving their style of quite catchy post punk that more often than not reminds me of such groups which started out in the past decade like Flat Worms, The Cowboy, early Protomartyr, Plax or Speed Week.
Portland death rockers Excess Blood's 2024 self-titled EP on Impotent Fetus was pretty fucking good already and on their recent follow-up, they sorta stick even closer to a pretty oldschool goth/post punk/death rock formula, so much that in the first seconds of Turn To Stone you'd almost think they're about to segue right into a cover Joy Division's Transmission. Usually that kind of thing doesn't sound like the most attractive proposition to me on paper, but i gotta admit even the most traditional sounding records of that ilk aren't all created equal and the devil is in the details really. On this one, all those details add up admirably - the tunes, the vibes, the performance and attitude, it's all perfectly on point here, making for a record that sounds kinda old-fashioned but, unlike so many similar bands, not the least bit dull or stale.
This record came pretty much out of the blue, to me at least, when it was announced in January, though it appears these tunes and the group behind them - featuring members of Total Control, Den and R.M.F.C. among others - have been brewing for a couple of years already, with some this shit apparently originating from a previous group named KX Aminal which, to my best knowledge, has never made it out of Australia or released any music so i guess i can be forgiven for not being in the loop. Anyway, expectations were high on this one and i'm glad to say it turned out every bit as good a record as anyone could have hoped for, their sound incorporating elements recognisable from all three of these better known bands, yet succeeding in taking that aesthetic to some fairly unexpected places in how they weave familiar post punk flavors with a great deal of new age ethereal spaciousness, kraut-y motorik repetition, further hints of '70s art rock and even a slight folk-ish bent reminiscent to NZ Post Punkers Trust Punks or their Belin-based successors Dead Finks into an epic, deeply atmospheric, sprawling and otherwordly hallucinogenic trip that is clearly meant to be ingested in one go - yeah, this is a prime example of an increasingly rare thing these days - an honest to dog capital-a album rather than just ten songs pressed on an record and no doubt this will be among the classiest punk things you get to hear this year.
Holyoke, Massachusetts group Landowner, one of the most unique voices in contemporary post punk, now has their fifth long-playing record out via Exploding In Sound Records and a good ten years in, they still show no signs of wear in their mimimalist and abstract approach on post punk and postcore that, despite their influence on younger bands becoming increasingly obvious in recent years, is still unmistakably very much their own. If anything, both their compositions and lyrics only have gotten sharper and a good bit darker over time with anything resembling a sense of ironic detachment coming off as nothing more than a psychic self-defense measure, necessary to keep your own sanity when confronting these tunes' existential subject matter while we all know that - in contrast to the way Linear Age frames human history as a succesion of unlocked and at times questionable achievements like in some bizarre sort of strategic simulation game - the actual universe won't grant us a second shot at existence and we're absolutely shitting the bed at every conceivable level right now.
Skelett are a new german group made up of peeps based in Leipzig, Kiel and Halle and right out of the gate i'm tempted to describe them as a variant of Berlin punks Benzin leaning heavier into the hardcore punk side of their equation, but just as well you could point to certain aspects of US groups like Vexx, Judy & The Jerks, Fugitive Bubble, Dregs, Warp or Skin Tags, although Skelett operate on a much rawer, purer spectrum of slightly thrashy mid-eighties hardcore with even a slight hint of NWOBHM-style riffing in tunes like Bloodstained, while peppering their all of it with a tireless succession of super catchy hooks all the same, keeping me on the lookout for whatever curveball they're gonna throw me next. This is the sound of an (only on the surface-level) oldschool-ish hardcore band that knows exactly what it sets out to do and fulfills their clear-cut vision in a hyper-focused effort of unflinching confidence.
On their newest 7", one of the most highly regarded contemporary post punk institut...ions at times backs away somewhat from the airy art punk/-rock vibes that permeated their previous LP - 2023's brilliant Ragdoll Dance - rather feeling more aligned with the still slightly rawer sonics of their 2019 album Readjusting The Locks while nonetheless profiting off the matured songwriting capabilities and elaborate arrangements of that last record. Best of both worlds really!
