As was to be expected, this Atlanta group's first full length effort is thirty minutes of pure post punk bliss, reminding me, at several points, of some of the genre's best contemporaries - the rigid rhythms of Knowso and Nag come to mind, mixed with the more playful flourishes of Patti or Marbled Eye. Other valid comparisons might be acts like Bruised, Sarcasm or Labor.
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Baltimore's Lip first won my attention through a split EP with Nag a while ago. While there's definitely some similarity to said Atlanta post punk group, i'd say what they're pulling off on their latest EP bears a much closer resemblance to groups like Sievehead, Rank Xerox or Criminal Code. At times, their sound has a more pronounced oldschool goth/death rock vibe to it though, bringing to mind Disjoy or, more recently, Clock Of Time.
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Two years after their promising, though at times somewhat undercooked debut LP, we get to hear a way more consistent sophomore effort by this Auckland, New Zeeland trio. Their rather abstract yet always catchy compositions somewhere on the fringes of Post Punk and Noise Rock - plus a hint of Industrial - at several points remind me of Acts like Girls In Synthesis, Haunted Horses, Ice Balloons or Tunic - with a small dose of Lightning Bolt sprinkled in for good measure.
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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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