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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A wondrous and strange little EP full of otherworldly garage-/power-/fuzz pop from a Philadelphia Duo. The tape starts out as if the insane pop qualities of, say, Booji Boys or Daughter Bat & The Lip Stings collided with the smart rhythmic post punk of Lithics, while the remaining three songs then settle into a slightly more low-key kraut-leaning psychedelic groove, the likes of which you might suspect somewhere in the lo-fi pop worlds of acts like Germ House, Far Corners, Violent Change, Honey Radar or even early Woolen Men. Excellent shit throughout.
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Sydney's Daughter Bat And The Lip Stings, who've already been making some waves with a whole shitload of fun EPs in 2020, are now returning with their strongest selection of tuneful garage punk, fuzz- and power pop smashers so far, their knack for catchy hooks provoking thoroughly flattering comparisons to the likes of Booji Boys, Radioactivity, Royal Headache or Sweet Reaper.
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It's been a whopping five years since this Paris group's debut EP but the wait has paid off handsomely on their first full length release, delivering an endless stream of high-octane melodic (garage-)punk smashers in the vein of groups like Cheap Whine, Short Days, Red Dons and Telecult… you might also sense a hint of Marked Men, Royal Headache or The Thermals. In a few instances, the songwriting doesn't quite cut it and that's when they veer dagerously close to shallow pop punk territory. However, when they hit, they hit hard and even manage to evoke a subtle retro 60s power pop vibe along the way.
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Last year's Health EP was some quality shit already but their newest release is just so ridiculously appealing i wasn't at all prepared for that kind of mayhem. This trio is from Nashville and i suspect that Connor and Sean are the very same dudes best known as Skull Cult otherwise - not a fuckin' clue who Cam is. Oh, and there's one more thing: Being in charge of mixing and mastering, none other than Erik Nervous left his own trademark beer stains all over this cassette whose sound is just as wild and eclectic as consistently catchy. Some echoey garage surf twang? Spaced out psychedelic freakouts? Wire & Mission of Burma vibin' on Benzos? You name it! And hovering even a notch above all that shit, there's the downright perfect 70s power pop-meets-80s hair metal masterpiece Be With You, a knockout punch of the most pleasant kind.
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Um… what meaningful thing is there left to say about a new Alien Nosejob record at this point? They kinda come in two shapes: The grab bag style ones where Mr. Robertson branches out in every direction possible and the hyperfocussed monoculture ones where he doubles down on a single genre - like his hardcore 7"s for example or that synth pop/eurotrash 12" maxi a while ago. Well, this one's another grab bag record and apart from that, it's just the plain old usual awesomeness we've all come to expect from this dude who seems utterly unable to write a dull tune.
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Yet another EP by Bristol's leading powerpop/postpunk manufacture holds yet another pair of irresistibly melancholic earworms. Does it still make sense to namedrop Television Personalities here or might this shit already qualify as downright, dare i say it… beatlesque?
