A simply delightful debut LP by this Philadelphia group, brought to us via local label SRA Records. I wanna describe this shit as a mixed bag in the best sense possible, an eccentric repository of slightly cowpunk-infused art punk hovering somewhere between garage- and noise-heavy hardcore shit with a certain KBD-extension somewhat reminiscent of early Electric Chair plus a touch of Soupcans on one hand, and then on the other, there are some ubiquitous echoes to be found of old acts on the intersection of '80s noise rock and proto-grunge like, say, U-Men, Scratch Acid, Volcano Suns, Butthole Surfers, Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, Feedtime and very early Meat Puppets, just to name a couple of the most obvious references.
The debut EP of this New York group frequently conjures up a melancholy vibe not quite unlike what we've heard on the recent Shop Talk EP, backed by similarly flawless songcraft. This stuff has a more pronounced post punk feel to it though, bringing to mind - aside from the inevitable Wipers comparisons - the likes of early The Estranged, Nervosas, or Piss Test.
For our weekly dose of egg-related brainfuck, some dude or group from Charleston, South Carolina is volunteering and they've brought beer with them, nice! Though not exactly reinventing the wheel here, this is another rock solid new package of quirky funky lo-fi garage pop goodness that fans of shit á la Prison Affair, Set-Top Box, Nuts, Eugh or Pringue are guaranteed to have a massive ball with.
Portland label Spared Flesh Records has established itself as a real treasure chest of quirky, unconventional garage- and post punk goodness over the course of just over two years and the newest cassette is no exception. Society is a solo project of Sims Hardin who you might have also heard as part of Philadelphia groups Mesh and Toe Ring. Having already made a great impression with last year's All Flies Go To Hell EP, the second one seamlessly continues the scrappy charm of his sound hovering somewhere inbetween the strange worlds of '80s cassette culture and other artifacts on the fringes of garage-, proto-, post- and art punk. Think of a fusion of Modern Lovers, early Mekons, The Fall and Desperate Bicycles and you're roughly on the right track. Or you might compare them to more recent groups like the rustic jams of Honey Radar, Far Corners, Germ House and earlier Woolen Men, the proto-meets-post-punk experiments of Shark Toys and NY's Peace de Résistance.
Montreal garage punks Priors follow up their rather playful recent NEWNEWNEW EP with yet another smasher of a mini-LP, often taking their sound into kinda unexpected territory in what is hands down their most versatile release so far. Right out of the gate you can sense a certain quirky vibe calling to mind the likes of Andy Human and the Reptoids, Nick Normal, Erik Nervous and the Beta Blockers while in other moments, you might find some echoes of, say, Vaguess, Proto Idiot, Freak Genes, early Teenanger, Mind Spiders or Sauna Youth… and let's not forget Sonic Avenues as another helpful reference, of whom at least two members are taking part here as well.
It took a couple years to materialize but here it finally is, the first LP by some dude of unclear whereabouts who previously sparked our curiosity with a kickass 7" also on Iron Lung Records in 2019. The full length debut is everything you could have hoped for in a new batch of kinda Devo-fied, whimsical, deliciously insane garage-/synth-/eggpunk malfunctions, spicing things up with a slight touch of Television guitar leads and solos added to an overall mixture whose rough parameters also kinda reflect a bunch of more recent phenomena vaguely in the Snooper, Useless Eaters, Alien Nosejob, Set-Top Box, Mononegatives or R.M.F.C. ballpark.
For some reason i had my doubts about this record beforehand (dunno… might have been down to the somewhat slick production? Intelligible lyrics, urgh!) but now listening to the whole thing, i gotta say it turns out to be pretty fucking awesome shit once again, even incrementally improving on the already impressive quality standard of the Chicago group's previous releases in a flawless batch of smart and elaborate postcore tunes, which at certain points might draw comparisons to groups like Batpiss, Meat Wave, Bench Press, Bloody Gears, earlier stuff by the likes of Tunic, Pile and USA Nails, angular post punk acts like Lithics, Pill or Marbled Eye as well as occasional flashes of, say… Jawbox, Smart Went Crazy, Q and not U and mid-'90s Fugazi. What more could i ask for, really?
Repeatedly the Berlin group featuring members of, among others, Useless Eaters, Idiota Civlizzatto, Exit Group und Clock Of Time delivers the goods of elaborately constructed, slightly deathrock-infused post punk grooves, with Clock Of Time being the most obvious comparison among the groups mentioned as these folks do indeed play some variant of what i can't help but classify as quite traditional Berlin school of the past decade-plus, scratching a similar itch to bands like Pigeon, Liiek, Diät, Pretty Hurts… Not that i'd consider that to be a bad thing at all. Quite the contrary - after all, "Berlin sound" wouldn't be a thing really if it hadn't been built up over the years to embody such a consistent legacy of impeccable quality releases.
A neat split release via Berlin's order05records. The opening track by Atlanta post punk institution Nag surprises with some synth-equipped psychedelic vibes á la Mononegatives or some later stuff by Useless Eaters, while detonating another charge of their rough and abrasive sound we've come to know and love in the other song. On the flipside then, Italy's Astio complement the sonic assault with a slightly more conventional but no less classy, mature make of moderately melodic oldschool post punk energy, the kind we've heard before from the likes of Criminal Code, Sievehead or, more recently, Pyrex, Body Maintenance or Schedule 1.
This Adelaide group has been around for well over a decade by now, yet it almost appears as if they've finally found their own groove just now on LP number four - or at the very least i can say, having taken a perfunctory glance over their previous records, that their newest one is playing in a different league altogether as everything here from the songwriting to the arrangements and production smoothly assembles into a way more realized vision while keeping things interesting with plenty of stylistic variety. I'm reminded of a whole bunch of other Australian groups in the garage-/post punk spectrum, among which are garage-/pub rock-leaning acts á la Mini Skirt, Hideous Sun Demon and Pist Idiots, post punk/-core acts like Batpiss, Bench Press or Rip Room aswell as some traces of classics from the likes of ('80s) Scientists and The New Crists.
