Following a quite stunning debut EP last year, this israeli group just keeps up the energy level of their very own brand of exquisite structured chaos on their first full length record. This is yet another unmitigated, noisy kick in the balls being performed somwhere inbetween the rough specs of noise rock, post punk, hard- and postcore, bearing some very slight similarity to groups such as Cutie, Big Bopper, Brandy, early Patti… add to that a generous helping of Big Black on top!
This Cleveland, Ohio group, named after the infamous scumbag nu metal bros' very own summer of love, has always been kind of an, ahem… acquired taste, though always a ton of fun as well, at least as long as they don't indulge too much in their weed, their Fred Durst, their occasional stoner rock flourishes… and also, as it appears now, their letting A.I. making crappy music for them, a brand new vice in their arsenal. That said, this passes easily as their strongest release to date and is nothing short of a must-have for any afficinado of inventive, unpredictable and garage-flavored hardcore punk right up there with the likes of, say, Cement Shoes, Cülo, Chain Whip, Headcheese, Flea Collar… just to tick off a few of the most obvious and thoroughly flattering references.
This New York group is kind of a curious, zeitgeist-defying beast in this day and age, wearing their fondness of late eighties to early nineties punk, grunge and indie rock on their sleeves with the opening track even being titled Nirvana, although i'd rather liken them to early Mudhoney and the noisy, early incarnation of The Pixies, maybe a hint of U-Men, Scratch Acid and Drive Like Jehu aswell. So basically, they're the kind of group that would've gotten various Pitchfork writers wet a decade-and-a-half ago, when the height of the first '90s nostalgia wave hit. These days though, they're kind of an obscure oddity and that makes this record all the more endearing to me.
A new Dischord Records co-release and as is usually the case with these, we're once again dealing with a group whose members had their hands in a whole shitload of important bands spanning several decades of Washington, D.C. punk history, the most obvious of these probably being the likes of Kerosene 454, Channels, Beauty Pill, Soccer Team, Office of Future Plans, Alarms And Controls and to make this namedropping-circlejerk complete, the whole thing has been recorded by Jawbox's J. Robbins. But here's the thing with many of these more recent Dischord releases: They rarely ever sound like a tired rehash or bloodless nostalgia-driven cash-in. It's a unique quality of many actors in this particular scene, the ability of staying true to their own musical heritage while still sounding every bit as vital and passionate as back in the day, willing to do the work necessary for making this by now very oldschool thing sound as fresh as ever, helped by an apparent inability to half-ass any of it.
Leaves are an english Trio boldly defying any recent trends of their domestic scene, instead dabbling in a sound inbetween the parameters of postcore, noise- and math rock, all of which smells more of Chicago, the wider Touch and Go universe and related artifacts of the '90s US Underground, doing a thoroughly convincing job at revitalizing an aesthetic that's become a bit rare these days. Slint are the most obvious comparison to be made here but you might just as well pinpoint some flourishes of Tar, Unwound, early Shellac and late Bitch Magnet, a hint of Chavez or Polvo and even traces of '90s Dischord propulsion can be found in Do Something. Of more recent groups, earlier incarnations of Pile and, even more so, Luggage suggest themselves as closely related examples.
Another marvel of covid lockdown-bred noise by a multi-generational british trio is arriving here with a roughly three-year delay. A breakneck-speed mixture of brass-enhanced garage punk, hard- and postcore, this stuff is combining the traits of more recent phenomena like, say, Cement Shoes, Crisis Man and Mystic Inane with some equally noisy gruff á la early-to-mid-eighties X, the australian group that is. Making the fun complete though is the infectious joy in the vocals of lead singer Eliza who, if my crummy math and the sparse bits of available information don't fail me, must've been around seven years old at the time of recording.
Raleigh, North Carolina hard-/postcore powerhouse Sorry State Records has two new treats in store for us. First there's the demo cassette by Atlanta group Chaos OK. Their name suggesting some connection to oldschool british punk already, i'd indeed say the EP starts out with a somewhat UK82-ish vibe in particular, which then later morphs into a shape vaguely similar to more recent, slightly garage-infused hardcore acts á la early Electric Chair and Kaleidoscope, only to end things in the guise of timeless proto noise, postcore and -punk somewhere inbetween the worlds of, say, Crass, Flipper and Drive Like Jehu. Exciting shit!
Another oldschool-ish, although a lot more simple and primitive force of nature is the newest 7" by Finland's Valtatyhjiö who convince by sheer force on this one, having both some traits of '80s continental european hardcore to them as well as - to come full circle as far as british influence is concerned - some flourishes of clearly NWOBHM-inspired (speed-)metal.
Excellent shit straddling the fine line between hard- and postcore with a smidge of garage thrown in is what we get on the debut EP of Winnipeg group Jug, reaching our shores courtesy of the always reliable Vancouver noise forge Neon Taste Records. Their sound encapsulates exactly the rough and unruly qualities i seek out most from these genres, at the same time sounding reasonably elaborate and well-constructed. At points, you might draw comparisons to stuff like Acrylics, Mystic Inane, Arse, Daydream, Video, Crisis Man, early Bad Breeding… plus a surprise hint of '77 New York in My Body's Doomed!
Similar things, albeit in a somwhat dumber, equally fun and delightfully primitive fashion, are then brought forth on the debut LP of Milwaukee's Innuendo which has just dropped via Unlawful Assambly and Roach Leg Records and on which they hit a sweet spot between simple and stupid oldschool hardcore energy and KBD-drenched garage insanity, ingredients that have stood the test of time being presented in a way here that still feels fresh and alive.
This New York group's third EP once again showcases them as an overwhelming rowdy force to be reckoned with, made up of equally smart and furious postcore with some surface-level similarities to groups such as Mystic Inane, Wymyns Prysyn, Launcher, Cement Shoes or Liquid Assets. New to me from this group is some pronounced melodic vibe á la Drive Like Jehu-goes-Leatherface in the title track… surprisingly, this too works flawlessly!
It took the Sydney group like a half decade to come up with their third EP but here it finally is in all its glory and spectacle. Their very own fusion of noise rock, hard- and postcore has retained every bit of their frantic energy while mixing shit up just enough to keep things interesting, for example in Shame Bomb, in which they conjure up a previously unheard sense of melancholy. Other times, their speeds and levels of devastation are reaching the explosive force of their debut EP in songs such as Level Skipper and Prick in the Franger, after the slightly more forgiving previous Safe Word EP, while tracks like Night Shift Blues once again supercharge all the grime and dirt of oldschool Amphetamine Repile-style riffing with a relentless hardcore attack.
