Krystian Quint may be best known in association with Detroit garage punks The Stools. On his full-band debut under the Quitters moniker however, his tunes take a way more catchy and melancholy direction, largely alternating between two distinct modes of operation, one of 'em radiating the vibes of melodic garage punk acts like Sonic Avenues, Cheap Whine, Marked Men, Bad Sports, Sweet Reaper or, most recently, Eye Ball and The Dumpies. The other one is more reminiscent of moderately emo-ish nineties indie rock á la early Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Sebadoh, Lync and Seam as far as the old guard is concerned, or of more recent stuff like Tape/Off, Treehouse and Pardoner.
The time between the years is - as far as punk rock is concerned - usually defined by those rather tiny and more obscure nuggets, scraps and crumbs that randomly pop up. Same thing this year, so here's a little roundup of some of the curious little short-playing treats that washed up in the last few weeks.
London's Rifle already delighted with two excellent EPs before and their newest one is another full-on blast inbetween the worlds of garage punk, postcore and old KBD-related noise somewhat reminiscent of groups as diverse as Ascot Stabber, early Golden Pelicans, Mystic Inane, Launcher and Rolex. Madrid group Raya, whose debut EP a couple already left me impressed a couple months ago, has another two-track single out now and guess what, it's yet another excellent burst of quirky garage-/eggpunk most reminiscent of other spanish acts like Pringue, Finale and Prison Affair but also international bands like Beer, Set-Top Box and Gremlin. Vacation from Cincinnati have long proven to be a treasure trove of high-octane songcraft in the realms of Power Pop, oldschool Indie Rock, Garage- and Fuzz Punk and their track on a new split single is another high-caliber weapon in their arsenal. The other track by Madison, Wisconsin post punkers Whippets is also really fucking good, reminding me a lot of canadian groups Dead Cells and that recent Psychbike LP. Another high-class gem comes to us in the form of a new 7" by Perth group Pleasants who set off another two explosions of simple and confident power pop that admirers of the likes of Teen Line, Bad Sports, Tommy and the Commies, Mr. Teenage or Corner Boys shouldn't miss. Speaking of catchy tunes, english group Cream Soda have two more of those on their debut 7" via Spinout Nuggets. They have equal amounts of both a Buzzcocks- and Television Personalities-energy to them or alternately, you might name old US underground acts like Broken Talent or more recent shit like Britain's The Suburban Homes and Silicone Values, Australia's Nasty Party or earlier stuff of canadian greats Neutrals as reasonably valid references. And finally, there's another high quality bit of heavy metal-infused fun from Austin's Ninth Circle. It's been an interesting last few years as i actually wouldn't have thought - having lived through the embarrassing, metalcore-infested period from the late '90s to '00s - that the marriage of punk and metal-related sounds would ever produce any more offspring i could get behind, being forever tainted by the era's blunt moshing and cringy display of hypermasculine rage. But here i am in the 2020s, regularly finding much delight in metal-ish sounds from bands that aren't necessarily named Poison Ruïn. Having ignored the metal industrial complex for a long time, i'm severely impaired when it comes to naming any references so i'm just ganna say these two songs fucking rip and that's all you need to know anyway.
So, that's it for this year. As usual i'm gonna take a 2-3 weeks long vacation from blogging and you'll hear back from me when next year's release machine gets into gear again. See you in whatever depressing abomination the year 2025 is shaping up to be.
No unpleasant surprises here, the newest EP of West Palm Beach, Florida group Rude Television is yet another high caliber projectile of catchy, egg-ish garage punk excellence and highly recommended for friends similar shit á la Gee Tee, Erik Nervous, Set-Top Box, Satanic Togas, Power Pants or Tommy Cossack & The Degenerators. Hell, that closing track Rat Bastard may well come to be regarded among the genre's all-time greats in retrospect.
This group of uspecified origin has kept things short and sweet so far and they keep it that way on their third one in a series of digital 2-track singles aswell, once again pulling off two perfect little explosions of catchy-as-fuck melodic garage punk that fans of shit roughly in the manner of Marked Men, Radioactivity, Sonic Avenues, Cheap Whine and early Sweet Reaper should under no circumstances miss out on!
Cardiff's Bad Shout already had a promising debut EP out in 2023 and an even stronger second one this summer, yet so far thay never managed to escape that dreaded "not quite there yet"-status in my humble opinion. Well guess what, Bad Shout are so fucking there now with their third extended play on which they alternate between well-worn bluesy oldschool garage punk smashers, hardcore outbursts and power pop-ish, '77-infused earworms with that slight Dickies note to them, among other things.
Their recent split EP with The Dumpies showed huge progress for both groups and now, after the Dumpies followed that one up with an absolutely brilliant LP already, it's about time for the other shoe to drop in the form of a new Night Court LP, which it does so with an equally respectable thump in a generious seventeen-song burst of pure power pop supremacy, held together by first-rate songcraft and presented in a sonic mode of variable intensity, alternating between garage punk and oldschool indie rock which calls to mind such high-caliber acts as Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, Radioactivity, Bad Sports, Tommy and the Commies, Datenight, Vacation, Teen Line and Cheap Whine.
This long-running, slow-moving dutch group, which i've previously been blissfully ignoring, catapults itself all the more impressively onto my radar with their third and hands down most accomplished LP so far which pours some top-notch songwriting abilities into a quite adaptable sonic pastiche oscillating between oldschool, sometimes psych-leaning garage- and fuzz punk, buzzsaw noise- and power pop as well as a couple of pulsing electro punk bursts. Exactly twice they stumble in my view though, by veering too heavily into kinda sugary oh-so-fucking-twee ASMR territory but hey, ten out of 12 Songs is still quite a good hit ratio and in some of the best moments, they strike me as an alternate reality garage-y version of eighties Fastbacks.
Astoria, Oregon group The Dumpies have been around for a bit already and have been a thoroughly lovable force ever since, yet their recent split EP with Night Court (of which most songs are also included here) signaled a huge leap forward in terms of energy, stylistic diversity and songwriting potency - a promise they certainly make good on with this incredible new LP, cycling through endless iterations of power pop-infused (garage-)punk, melancholy indie rockers and also numerous attacks of straight-up hardcore punk in a single impressive burst of uncontainable creativity, crude humor and eccentricity. There's not a trace of filler to be found on this record. Every song hits home without fail.
After the overflowing bucket of catchy power pop fun that was the debut LP of this australian dude who's also playing in such high caliber acts as R.M.F.C. and Gee Tee, his newest album delivers more of the same basic goodness while improving on it in all aspects across the board and where previously his tunes may have come across as a bit too uniform, samey and clincal at times, on this one his impeccable songwriting chops shine all the brighter helped along by a perfectly fitting production (also: actual drums, finally!) striking just the right balance between gunk and polish to make his simple garage-/fuzz pop tunes sparkle with joy and energy.
To me, previous releases of Mason City, Iowa's Why Bother? have usually been a somewhat hit-and-miss kind of affair, although the undeniable highlights no doubt made up for any instance in which the songwriting was just a tad too undercooked or the performance just didn't quite spark. Over time their hits-to-duds ratio has certainly improved though and their newest offering is hands down their strongest set of new catchy-as-fuck tunes so far, as usual melting strikingly simple '77 vibes, scraps of power pop and plenty of contemporary garage- and synth punk into an impressive succession of unstoppable hooks and melodies with quite a bit of stylictic breadth.
