This spectacular new split LP finally brings us new material of two Los Angeles Groups - both of 'em stubbornly refusing to conform to the established rules and conventions of hardcore punk - after a couple years lacking any "proper" release from both groups.
Rolex come across as powerful as ever in their unpredictable and inventive-as-fuck postcore attacks which on one hand contain echoes of a couple of fairly recent acts like Mystic Inane, Big Bopper, Brandy, Launcher and early Patti, while also being moderately indebted to the likes of Minutemen, Dicks and early Saccharine Trust (whose first LP Surviving You, Always is in desperate need for a reissue goddammit… a criminally overlooked classic of early postcore, years ahead of the curve if you ask me). Add to that occasional flashes of cowpunk, infused with some Lumpy & The Dumpers-style mayhem channeled into an off-the-rails vocal performance and the result is pure weirdcore bliss, leaving no doubt they remain the rightful rulers of their particular subgenre for now.
Grimly Forming's side then mounts a way rougher, yet no less smart and unconventional attack on the senses, counterbalancing unrelenting force with plenty of elaborate structures to build on and a healthy dose of garage-y undercurrent to keep things going smooth and fun all the way through.
It took them over five years to follow up on their excellent debut EP from 2019, but at long last here it is, the first LP by Sydney's Negative Gears, on which they present an even more pitch-black, stone-cold vision than before, funneled into significantly matured and refined compositions and arrangements. Comparisons to US groups like early Institute, Rank/Xerox, Criminal Code and Nag still apply, kind of… but also i can sense some kinship with the widescreen drama of berlin-based duo Dead Finks and its sort-of precursor group, New Zeeland's Trust Punks. Then again, songs like the opening track Negative Gear and Pills carry some of the hallmarks of british post punk powerhouses like Girls In Synthesis and Sievehead while in calmer moments like Ants and Zoned, a melancholia and elegance reminiscent of recent Marbled Eye or Tube Alloys shines through.
Furious anarcho punk from London that refuses to be neatly filed away in a single genre crate, which is always the most thrilling kind of punk shit anyway. Recorded at New York's D4MT Labs, this does indeed share some of the hallmarks of that particular place's most well known export Kaleidoscope and, to a lesser extent, Straw Man Army, while also exposing some overtones of the wider left-field ambitious hardcore spectrum with the likes of early Bad Breeding, Acrylics and Daydream being some of the names coming to mind at first glance.
Brandon Monkey Fingers of St. John's, Canada feel kinda out of place in this day and age and y'all know i'm a sucker for that kind of shit. Their debut album covers a sonic range somewhere inbetween oldschool fuzz punk, '80s and '90s (proto-) grunge and indie rock seasoned with just a hint of sludge-y Amphetamine Reptile-style noise rock flourishes. Among the old guard, you might consider U-Men and early Mudhoney among their spiritual ancestors or the rougher ends of the Sebadoh sonic spectrum. Of more recent ocurrences, i'd name Dog Date and Hellco as possible references as well as early Pale Angels or a less melodic California X. Darth Vader's Boner carries a similar vibe of garage-infused noise rock to The Cowboy and Flat Worms. H.M.P. sounds a bit as if contemporary noise rockers like Metz, John (timestwo), Greys or Vangas got imbued with heavy overtones of Angst-esque psych folk while Norbit has quite some Dinosaur Jr. and Cloud Nothings energy under the hood on its way to a '90s Weezer-esque melodic conclusion.
This group based in Alicante and Valencia, Spain (previously also known as Disli on their first EP) certainly has upped their game on their newest EP via Flexidiscos, on which comparatively simplistic bursts of hard- and postcore alternate with more elaborate post punk constructions - you never know what's gonna happen just one song later. All the while, songs like the über-hymn Glamur Interior skillfully counterbalance that trait with plenty of catchy melodic undercurrent and there's even a touch of Wire-esque psychedelia on the closing track Calambre Exquisito. The opening track, on the other hand, has a bit of a Sauna Youth vibe to it while overall, you might catch some echoes of bands like Pyrex, Waste Man, Sievehead, Tube Alloys, Corker, Rank/Xerox or Criminal Code.
Incredible full length debut by this St. Petersburg, Florida group that kinda plays out like a comprehensive roundup of pretty much anything that refused to fit into any of the neat categories of eighties to early nineties hard- and postcore. So much great shit echoed here, from the more left-field segment of the early '80s scene… think like, Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, Crucifucks, Really Red, Dicks and Flipper, also spanning the classic eras of both '80s (Gray Matter, Embrace, Rites Of Spring, One Last Wish) and '90s Dischord-related sounds (Crownhate Ruin, most of all…), also taking some cues from the Touch & Go camp (say, Rapeman, Scratch Acid, early Shellac) and last but not least, freely plundering the legacy of Drive Like Jehu. And that's just barely scratching the surface here. In the current landscape, i'd say groups like Deodorant, Optic Nerve, Big Bopper and Straw Man Army are of a similar spirit. All the while, Work Stress are considerably dialing up the unpredictability and apparent randomness even compared with most of the mentioned acts (though actually i think they're acting quite deliberately here), a trait that pays off spectacularly in songs like Building From Abject Failure, in which dissonant, slow-crawl staccatto rhythms alternate with unexpectedly catchy punk hooks.
The excellent debut by this group from Jackson, Mississippi delivers a couple fun and deranged little bangers made up of rocket-propelled, garage-enhanced, fuzz-infested hard- and postcore shit that's shure to get the approval of seasoned connoisseurs in the realm of other more-or-less recent quirky hardcore phenomena á la Fried E/m, Mystic Inane, Crisis Man, Rolex, Headcheese, ALF and so many more!
This Walsall, UK group comes at us with an intentionally overpowering, uncompromising and maximally nasty clump of dissonant, kinda monotonous noise bridging the gap between only the most confrontative fringes of post punk, noise rock and postcore. Interestingly, almost all of the comparisons i can come up with right now already date a few years back, reminding me of how much of an unexpectedly fertile decade the 2010s were for unwieldy noise rock fare, a genre i struggle to find much excitement in, looking at the current landscape. This record takes me right back there, to the genre's second golden era of groups such as early Metz, USA Nails, Keepers, Overtime, Death Panels, Greys, Vangas, Tunic or John (timestwo). Well, at least a couple of these are still around. Then again, the thick veil of constant, dissonant blown-out noise texture these songs stay cloaked in at all times, somewhat reminds me of the short-lived US post punk sensation Dasher, while the cacophonous saxophone parts call to mind Nearly Dead and the kinda obscure australian 1980s post punk act Fungus Brains or, whenever they add some melodic overtones like in Crime, i can even sense a bit of australian post punk / proto-noise rock powerhouse X.
This Detroit group made quite a bit of a splash already with a strong EP in 2022 and now they're throwing an even better LP at us, once again combining a bit of local (proto-) punk history with flavours of garage punk, hard- and postcore, calling to mind a bit of Nervosas in American Lies and Dollhouse in Kill Your Parents, while otherwise playing out a bit like a good cross-section of a bunch of garage/hardcore-hybrid groups like the somewhat more garage-leaning, KBD-influenced stylings of Launcher, Freakees, Liquid Assets and Mystic Inane as well as the more hardcore-heavy side with groups such as Imploders, Headcheese, Hood Rats, Alf and Cement Shoes.
A kickass debut EP by this Brooklyn, NY group. The opener No Recourse evokes a distinct mid-'80s to early '90s Dischord vibe á la Rites Of Spring, Nation Of Ulysses, Gray Matter… plus a hint of Drive Like Jehu or more recent groups like Wymyns Prysyn, Beast Fiend and Launcher. Fixate comes with a hard change of pace, mostly resembling the spirit of old australian punk and garage legends like X, Saints and God. Scraping Away then returns to the postcore stylings, somehow combining a bit of early Saccharine Trust with the proto-noise rock of Flipper.
