Sadly overshadowed by the death of their their guitar player Darrell, the Sydney group's first LP via Erste Theke signifies a major leap in quality after their already quite enjoyable previous E.T.A. EP, showcasing the band as a much tighter unit delivering their simple but effective, always catchy and danceable blend of timeless post punk with impressive precision and confidence. As before, there's plenty of Pylon groove and energy contained in here while at different points you might also find similarities to contemporary acts such as Lithics, Pinch Points, Rank/Xerox, Slumb Party or Nots, with occasional flashes of Pixies-esque surf-ish guitar leads.
A whole barrage of digital singles in recent weeks already appeared to foreshadow a new record by the London, Ontario group and indeed here it is, their second LP in all its glory, carrying an excellent new batch of their quite distinct, catchy as hell, always slightly off-kilter and quirky genre mixture containing elements of garage-, post- and synth punk, space- and psychedelic rock. You might compare some bits and pieces here to such groups as Pow!, Useless Eaters and of course the recent collaboration Telegenic Pleasures which also features some of the band members at work here - at this point though, i'd say they're pretty much carved out their own, instantly recognizable little niche.
It took a good while for this group's debut LP to finally materialize after the the label Chunklet Industries already promised this longplayer around the release of the Birds Of Juneau 7" in the summer of 2021… I suspect you can once again blame the challenges of the current vinyl economy for that. It's another strong record though, on which the group featuring members of such powerhouses as Spray Paint, Wilful Boys, Brandy, Pampers and Pyrex admirably manages to keep things exciting with quite a bit of eclectic variety. For example, we get a kind of Swell Maps-go-Synthwave vibes in HoloLens, a strong dub feel in Mallman, kinda like a sped-up variant of Exek. That all said, you can't really deny their sound obviously having inherited the largest chunk of its DNA from Spray Paint, especially their later work (although, speaking of DNA, a certain no wave vibe is ever present on here aswell). Further i've also got a suspicion though that there'll be some quite familiar sounding echoes of this record to be heard on the upcoming Pyrex LP on Total Punk!
It's been a whopping five years since we last heard of this Los Angeles group. Their first LP (duh!) is a bit heavier on the hardcore- and garage punk side of things after their older shit had been leaning stronger into its synth-/electro punk tendencies. Those relentlessly brutal electric beats are still front and center here though, giving especially the epic opening shot Open World kind of an industrial-tinged, cursed Ausmuteants-meet-Big Black vibe… with additional overtones of Crisis Man maybe?
In a somewhat unexpected but, all things considered, perfectly sensible move, the Philadelphia group on the cutting edge of the still kinda vaguely defined and developing dungeon punk genre release their first full length effort on the well established, rather metal-leaning label Relapse Records. Thankfully this has precious little influence on their sound, aesthetics and production values, with their newest batch of songs even presenting the group at their grittiest and most Lo-Fi so far, their still absolutely singular, elaborate sonic constructs made up of post- and garage punk, noise rock, postcore, a very slight hint of Oi! and only the most ancient ingredients of proto- and old-oldschool metal remaining obscured by in a thick layer of tape hiss all the time. Yeah, the whole thing sounds glorious i gotta say!
Absolutely fucking brilliant shit once again arriving at our shores courtesy of Total Punk Records! Glittering Insects feature members of GG King, Predator, Wymyns Prysyn and Uniform (the atlanta group, not the NY industrial punk/-metal duo) and of these, it bears the most similarity to the latter two groups with the melancholy arrangements strongly echoing that distinct Uniform vibe. Overall the combination of gritty abrasive textures, the aforementioned sense of melancholy, a songcraft that comes across as sad and unwieldy yet melodic and catchy at the same time, reminds me a lot of australian noise-/indie rock gods Kitchen's Floor, the scuzzy post punk of City Yelps or, in its most catchy moments, the noise pop of early Treehouse. An exceptionally immersive and epic experience best taken in as a whole - a rare thing these days.
The first LP of Melbourne's Body Maintenance excites with excellent post punk sounds of the catchy melodic kind, which won't exactly win any prices for originality but excells instead thanks to some confident songwriting chops that never falter as well as a super disciplined performance, both things combining into an experience that feels soundly constructed at all times. Essential listening for fans of shit á la The Estranged, Sievehead, Criminal Code or Schedule 1.
Members of Bib and Nihilistic fit, among a whole shitload of other groups, deliver their first EP here and it's hard to not get excited in face of this explosive force. These are super-solid, mature and elaborate song assemblies made up of a timeless postcore sound which is also perfectly able to slow things down - like in the doom/sludge-leaning excercise Face Down - without boring you to death. Always always a sign of compositional excellence if you ask me. In recent years, we might've heard similar blasts from bands like Romance, Shove, Ascot Stabber, Flowers of Evil or early Bad Breeding.
Another release bearing the Erste Theke seal of quality and indeed this one's a huge step ahead for the Oakland group after a more garage- and synth punk-leaning debut tape in 2019. Now they've transformed into a way more sophisticated post punk sound that comes across as moody yet conspicuously song-oriented and catchy all the same, a quality you might have also noticed in the most recent material by Marbled Eye, whose member(s) are also lending a hand in this new kickass record. Imbued with a psychedelic haze that reminds me a bit of Chairs Missing / 154-era Wire at times, you might just as well compare their elaborate song constructs to a diverse cluster of such contemporary genre cornerstones as Institute, Rank/Xerox, Public Eye, Diät, VR Sex, Bruised, Waste Man or early Paint Thinner.
Members of Diode and Freakees gift us yet another attack of deliciously off-the-rails noise, this time closely scraping past the rough coordinates of post punk, post- and weirdcore. Some repititive The Fall-esque riff leads into pure hardcore anarchy in All the World. Give Me Mine then has a distinctive early Minutemen-meet-James Chance kind of energy to it. Further you might find some traces of Flipper, Saccharine Trust or The Pop Group in there or alternately, you might identify bits and pieces of more recent shit á la Rolex, Big Bopper or Gay Cum Daddies.