Dangerously catchy Lo-Fi garage punk and power pop from Madrid, kinda channeling the strengths of other spanish acts of late, most obviously among those would be Prison Affair, Beta Maximo and Finale while international acts á la Nuts, R.M.F.C. or or Satanic Togas aren’t too far off either.
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Whoa, i didn’t really expect that record to be this fucking good – a hot contender for my favorite power pop record of 2022, plain and simple. Like a curious eggfolk Resonars or Bevis Frond, these songs also radiate the melancholy, dreamy vibes of Lost Balloons with little hints of early Guided By Voices, Soft Boys, Honey Radar or Woolen Men added to the mix for good measure. The quirky and blown-out lo-fi aesthetics simply can’t do anything to lessen the impact and beauty of the superb songwriting chops on display here.
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Canadian garage dude TJ Cabot’s output only grows stronger with each new release and this one ain’t no exception in once again hitting every single nail on the head, hammering home a catchy-as-fuck mix of power pop and garage punk that doesn’t need to shy away from comparisons to greats such as The Marked Men, Erik Nervous, Tommy & The Commies, Andy Human & The Reptoids, Liquids, Bad Sports or Nick Normal.
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This project revolving around Jim Blaha (The Blind Shake, Jim and the French Vanilla) and Annie Sparrows (Soviettes, Awesome Snakes) sounds quite unlike any of Jim Blaha’s other groups that i’m aware of on their second LP, these songs without exception having a dreamy, melancholy power pop vibe and an unlikely post punk edge to them – kinda like a mix between Radioactivity, Mind Spiders and a slightly muted The Estranged fused together by rock solid songwriting chops.
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I almost overlooked this beauty which appears to have been out for a couple months already. Knoxville’s Ex-Gold had put out a delightful debut EP in 2018, a couple of whose songs have also been re-recorded for this new one while the new tracks seamlessly continue the excellence of their debut. That means more quirky powerpop and garage punk with both a slight ’77- and an oldschool indie rock touch. The best comparison i can come up with right now are UK wisecrackers Proto Idiot but fans of stuff like Tommy and the Commies, Bad Sports, Radioactivity, Sweet Reaper, Corner Boys or Steve Adamyk Band should also get a kick out of this.
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Spanish garage poppers Beta Máximo already left a rather positive impression on me with their couple of fairly recent EPs but with this one, they’re finally nailing it if you ask me, striking a perfect balance between snappy garage punk and surf-infused power pop – kinda like a somewhat less eggy, less lo-fi incarnation of Barcelona group Prison Affair.
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The New York group’s newest cassette clicks with me instantly, their quirky power pop tunes striking me as a somewhat new wave-ish melange of melodic, predominantly early british post punk somewhere in the extended neighborhood of groups such as Desperate Bicycles, Mekons, Television Personalities and Swell Maps.
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Nothing short of pure brilliance is what we get once again from that weirdly british sounding Oakland, California group. Their newest EP might be their least post punk, most power pop sounding record so far, bristling with tons of masterfully crafted, endlessly charming Television Personalities worship plus a touch of Mekons or Desperate Bicycles.
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Wow, i didn’t really expect that much enjoyment out of the most recent LP by this New York group… in fact, these folks have completely evaded my radar so far. What we get is a heavily Velvet Underground and Jesus and Mary Chain-inspired melange of fuzz-/power-/noise-/dream pop that convinces by sheer strength of the underlying song substance while in terms of sonics, they sure like to slow-cook their songs at low-to-moderate heat – the results are fucking delicious, just totally melting in your mouth as you relish every single hook, every speck of low-level texture in their rich sonic landscape.
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A new tape by that mystery outfit (possibly) from Hicksville, NY on which they stay as unpredictable as ever, this time delivering a batch of infectious below-one-minute melodic garage smashers – high speed fuzzy power pop kinda like an alternate-reality garage incarnation of early Guided By Voices.
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