Awesome to hear this dude's angel voice again! Just a couple weeks ago, Shogun, best known as the powerhouse front man of Royal Headache, made his triumphant return (let's not forget the neat 2018 Shogun and the Sheets 7" though) with the debut EP of Finnoguns Wake, the duo comprising of him and Finn Berzin and now, pretty much out of nowhere, there's also the debut EP by another band of his, Antenna, popping up which, of his projects so far, aligns closest to the oldschool Royal Headache vibe in terms of its song material while moving on from the rough garage sound towards a somewhat slicker aesthetic inbetween the parameters of straight-up melodic punk rock, noise- and power pop with a kinda unexpected Leatherface edge to it. Sweet!
A new EP by the San Antonio, Texas group and as always i'm happy to say that Sex Mex still sound very much like Sex Mex, their mixture of garage- and synth punk, noise- and power pop transporting the aesthetics of only the most catchy and melodic artifacts out of the whole Reatard era. Reliable shit that doesn't try anything funny and instead just delivers on the hooks!
The EP suffers from non-embeddable bandcamp disease, but you can listen to the whole thing over at their bandcamp page.
A mainstay of recent years in garage punk is back with a somewhat more high-profile LP via Erste Theke Tonträger following a recent string of more understated cassette and digital releases. This thing is as eclectic as any of these but at the same time, a lot more focused, determined and consistent than some of those more scrappy recent offerings. Spanning a spectrum from the propulsive post punk of the opening salvo (When It's Gone, A.P.A.C.), melancholy indie rock ballads (Texas Cloud), compfy synth pop tunes (Let U Know) to straightforward garage-/fuzz punk explosions (Can't Take It, 2 Car Garage), there's plenty of meat to dig your teeth into, all held together by Vinny Earley's always confident, often plainly brilliant songwriting powers. Last but not least, Weekend Shadows and Carryon are further examples of exactly that kind of supreme power-/fuzz pop hymn the dude has always excelled at.
Having first come to my attention via a split tape with AJ Cortes and The Burglars, this group from West Palm Beach, Florida has only gotten stronger with every new release and this one is no exception, delivering a new round of catchy, compact blasts in the somewhat eggy realms of power pop, synth- and garage punk evoking thoroughly favorable comparisons to the likes of Gee Tee, Erik Nervous, Vaguess and Satanic Togas.
Following their still fresh, sensational debut EP, this new 2-track digital single of Cincinnati's Gremlins can do no wrong either, Same Fate being a snappy and perfectly economical garage punk ditty while Bliss once again taps into their more psych-infused melodic sensibilities with some distinct hints of Radioactivity, Ex-Gold or Bad Sports.
Spanish noise pop overlords Beta Maximo return with a strong new batch of tunes. Hard to believe their prolific output began just sometime last summer… Starting out with what i'd consider more of an eggpunk-aesthetic, they've constantly kept changing things up, gradually evolving into a somewhat slower, dreamy and slightly shoegaze-y direction and these new songs strike me as the most realized and well-rounded stuff we've heard from them recently.
Whatever there is to be found out about this Cincinnati, Ohio group is cloaked in a veil of uncertainty, not helped in the least by that kinda stereotypical "loser band" history given on this cassette's bandcamp page. So, probably, there are folks known from groups like The Serfs, The Drin, Crime of Passing and Motorbike at work here and at least some of the songs on this can be traced back to the year 2019, when they first appeared on the Pedestrian Sentiments EP. Otherwise i'm really not too sure if any of the details given are to be believed. You can't argue with the music though, which kicks ass from start to finish, in some way evoking the aesthetics, varying fidelity and stylistic variety of golden era Guided By Voices, otherwise roughly oscillating between jangly power pop in the vein of, say, Bed Wettin' Bad Boys or Bad Sports in tracks like Coward Of The State, Wannabe (A Star) and Silver Queen; grimy psychedelic garage rock (Didn't Win The Lottery, Obnoxious And A Neu) as well as a couple of catchy melodic garage punk smashers carrying the signature of groups á la Booji Boys, Tyvek and Parquet Courts. It's Been A Bad Week kinda resembles the garage-drenched noise aesthetics of A Place To Bury Strangers, Peyton's Kids has sort of a Woolen Men feel to it and throughout, the folk-infused post punk of earlier Chronophage comes to mind more than once.
The second LP of this Chico, California based group led by Jake Sprecher (of Smokescreens, Beehive and Terry Malts fame) picks the strands right up where they were left off on their amazing 2021 debut album Try Not To Think, which is to say: More of their irresistibly catchy blend of noise- and power pop, garage- and fuzz punk making for yet another high-octane bubblegum pop spectacle whose impeccable songwriting prowess never flounders even for a second!
Is that title meant to be understood as a 13th Floor Elevators reference? If so, it kinda fits (plus a ton of Kinks in here as well, i'd say…) as this LP marks the closest the eclectic project of Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants, Smarts, Drug Sweat, etc…) has ever approached classic '60s garage rock territory - a proposition that could easily turn out a recipie for pure boredom in the hands of lesser musicians, but damn… this dude simply knows how to construct and carry a catchy tune. Add to the mix lots of ancient power pop of only the saddest kind and you get an LP that will surely turn out a bit difficult to swallow for some fans of his broader work, yet also doesn't seem too out-of-place if you're familiar with the breadth of previous Alien Nosejob releases, as Robertson has already dabbled in similar fare on albums such as Various Fads and Technological Achievements (2018) and Suddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud (2020), although here he finally goes all-in on this overwhelming sense of doom, an all-devouring black cloud of deep melancholia.
On their second LP - once again brought to us by the tasteful folks of Total Punk Records - Orlando group Cherry Cheeks present themselves at their straightest and simplest, dumbest and catchiest so far making for yet another gloriously fuzzy lump of joyful high-calory power pop, garage- and synth punk fluff with abundant echoes of classy shit á la Smirk, Set-Top Box, Prison Affair, Gee Tee, Ghoulies and ISS.