Flat Worms have been among the most reliably awesome groups of the past decade or so - you roughly know what to expect, know it's gonna be good and will have just enough fresh ideas and flourishes to keep things interesting. Needless to say, their newest LP won't dissapoint either, their signature sound inbetween the worlds of garage punk, noise rock and post punk coming across as tight and energetic as ever and, just maybe, even a bit more varied and playful than on previous efforts. In SSRT the distinct grooves of Wire and Television combine into an ever-so-slightly kraut-infused exercise. Time Warp In Exile feels like a fusion of The Cowboy and Spray Paint - the same then kinda applies to the album closing title track, which additionally seems to borrow a thing or two from The Ruts' classic It Was Cold.
Sorry folks, there's no embeddable full album stream available but you can listen to the whole thing over at their Soundcloud.
Exciting shit in the realm of noise rock, postcore and garage punk on this Tokyo group's newest EP showcasing quite a bit of stylistic variety. Proto-Being crashes right out of the gate like a mix of Multicult, Tar and Drive like Jehu. Slug then exhibits a more catchy, melodic sensibility akin to, say, Bitch Magnet, Polvo or Chavez. Evidence has some acid-drenched proto punk vibe to it like MX-80 colliding with early The Men plus a hint of Wipers and last but not least, Disconnect radiates some distinct Hot Snakes-meeet-Nation Of Ulysses kind of energy.
Two noteworthy german-language post punk releases here. Kalte Hand hail from Augsburg though they sound a lot more like stuff from the current Berlin Scene, their dystopian post punk drenched in pitch-black sarcasm calling to mind groups like Pigeon, Glaas, early Diät and Pretty Hurts as well as other german language groups á la Die Wärme Hyäne, Maske, Die Verlierer, L'appel Du Vide… also a hint of Puff and Pisse. The latter two groups' tendencies then take center stage on the debut EP of Hamburg duo Dunkle Strassen - a straightforward post- and garage punk sound with a distinct noise rock edge thrown into the mix which might aswell some similarity to a bunch of international acts such as Arse, Ascot Stabber or Crisis Man.
Portland's Collate have never been a group to push the boundaries of their own genre exactly, but that doesn't mean there's not plenty of fun to be had anyways with their comparatively straightforward and simplistic mixture located somewhere inbetween the more funky end of the no wave spectrum and Gang Of Four-esqie dance-/post punk grooves. It's a record that kinda sneaks up on you with much of its strongest material hidden away in the second half.
Following up on their incredible 2021 demo, this Copenhagen group delivers an equally exciting debut full length. On one hand, this sounds vaguely familiar as the local legends Lower and (early) Iceage have sure left their mark on Pleaser's music - having a similar appeal of larger-than-life drama tangled up in chaotic and emotional no-holds-barred performances - in addition to lesser known Copenhagen groups like Melting Walkmen, Echo People and Spines. But then again, Pleaser totally hold their own owing to top-notch song substance and plenty of neat little surprises like some black metal flourishes in the instrumental The World Says Its Name, Morricone stylings and a Murderer-esque psychedelic cowpunk haze in Drive of Distress while Light and Fire and This Is How I Die have some distinct Poison Ruïn vibes to them. Last but not least, in The Dream, a good bit of Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty collides with some 90s Leatherface or Samiam vibes as well as somewhat younger noise pop acts á la Star Party, Times Beach, No Age, Male Bonding or Joanna Gruesome.
An unexpected new EP of the fabulous Red Dons, whose mastermind Daniel Husayn apparently has, in recent years, been mostly busy with mastering great tunes rather than playing and recording such. So now here we have the first new material in close to six years of the originally Portland-based group . It's among their most solemn, moody and quiet stuff so far and the gamble pays off just admirably thanks to their unwavering songwriting excellence, an unbending performance and that certain harmonic sensibility that is very much their own.
Swedish label Push My Buttons brings us the full length debut of this swiss group, which also presents their strongest set of tunes so far and their sonic vision at its most realized. That means: a deviously catchy dopamine rush of glitzy wave-ish synth- and garage punk smashers - exquisite sugary goodness echoing the likes of Wristwatch, Digital Leather, Sex Mex, Teledrome, Powerplant, The Gobs, Shrinkwrap Killers, Stalins Of Sound and Videodrome.
This Oshkosh, Wisconsin group is cooking up a variety of inventive and adaptive anochronisms roughly in the realms post punk and postcore, garage punk and classic '90s indie rock, coming off as refreshingly out-of-place and -touch in today's landscape. Some '90s Dischord-meets-Touch and Go feel is going on in tracks such as Phthalate Mates and the groovy psychedelic closing epos Clumsy Ascetic. A hint of Protomartyr in Locks Fasten, psychedelic flourishes in The Delivery and hints of Swervedriver in songs like Radio Static. Further, at different points, you might be reminded of recent post punk/-core acts like Batpiss, Stuck and Bench Press, groups on the intersection of garage- and post punk like Tyvek, Parquet Courts or Flat Worms in addition to groups on the more melodic and jangly edges of post- and art punk á la Gotobeds, Sleepies, Tape/Off and Shark Toys.
Feel It Records (along with Urticaria Records and Future Shock Recordings who are releasing this thing on cassette) brings us yet another strong post punk record with this Cincinnati group's debut LP which, while mostly treading on fairly familiar ground for longtime observers of this space, has also plenty of variety and the well-crafted songs to make it stick. An absolute no-brainer for fans of VHS, Criminal Code, Pyrex, Rank/Xerox, Schedule 1, Sievehead or Marbled Eye.
A good four years after an insanely enjoyable debut LP of this Berlin group, we finally get another taste of the same, fairly quirky yet expertly propelled synth-, garage- and post punk goodness sure to delight admirers of stuff in the vein of, say, Belly Jelly, Puff, Dummy, Ausmuteants, Quitter, Liquid Lunch, Ghoulies, Diode or Spotting.
