This neat cassette out on Weather Vane Records by a group sharing members with Vintage Crop among others, immediately captivates with an absolutely timeless make of elegant and well-rounded power pop, supported by way above-average songwriting chops. Think of a couple of more or less contemporary groups like Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, Tommy and the Commies, Bad Sports, The Wind-Ups, Datenight, Ex-Gold, Vacation, Mr. Teenage, Yups, Frozen Teens… pick your poison! Though the whole thing may be a bit too front-loaded with most of the hits residing on side a, which leads to a bit of a slump in the second half… kinda like like a meandering Twin Peaks season 2 it still manages to work itself back up to a glorious finale in the closing track Hold Music.
Finally, a full album of Montreal's Hood Rats who've been making noise for a while already, although their sound really snapped into gear on their two most recent EPs in the winter of '22 - '23. Now this one is comprised mostly of punchy new recordings of songs already known from said EPs and a 2022 demo, but that shouldn't distract you from the fact of what a joyous and complete assault of early '80s straight-ahead, no-frills US punk- and hardcore energy this is, enriched with bits of ancient KBD- and contemporary garage punk. Certainly the definitive incarnation for this lavish set of killer tunes!
Raleigh, North Carolina hard-/postcore powerhouse Sorry State Records has two new treats in store for us. First there's the demo cassette by Atlanta group Chaos OK. Their name suggesting some connection to oldschool british punk already, i'd indeed say the EP starts out with a somewhat UK82-ish vibe in particular, which then later morphs into a shape vaguely similar to more recent, slightly garage-infused hardcore acts á la early Electric Chair and Kaleidoscope, only to end things in the guise of timeless proto noise, postcore and -punk somewhere inbetween the worlds of, say, Crass, Flipper and Drive Like Jehu. Exciting shit!
Another oldschool-ish, although a lot more simple and primitive force of nature is the newest 7" by Finland's Valtatyhjiö who convince by sheer force on this one, having both some traits of '80s continental european hardcore to them as well as - to come full circle as far as british influence is concerned - some flourishes of clearly NWOBHM-inspired (speed-)metal.
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!
Brilliant, thrilling oldschool action on this Philadelphia group's debut EP on which a hybrid garage/hardcore vibe á la Cutters gets fused with a distinct Oi! tendency reminiscent of The Chisel, Chubby And The Gang. Then again, there are some ocurrences of Poison Ruïn-esque riffing to be spotted as well and sometimes the guitar leads operate in classic Radio Birdman territory.
German language "deutschpunk" that doesn't suck still is much of a rarity, sadly. This thing here indeed does not suck in the slightest though. The debut LP of this group from Aachen treads an interesting middle ground, having clear echoes of some of the better and quite obvious german influences (think the likes of Oma Hans, early Muff Potter, Turbostaat, Oiro, Düsenjäger…) while at the same time having a more garage-leaning vibe to them reminiscent of a quite diverse bunch of international acts like Crisis Man, Flowers Of Evil, Waste Man, Ascot Stabber, Mystic Inane… plus the ocasional hint of Hot Snakes / Drive Like Jehu to boot!
Damn, it appears for some weird reason i've skipped posting about all previous releases of this Minneapolis group here, begging the question of what the fuck has been wrong with me all the time. While i'm consulting my therapist about that, lemme just say that this newest Citric Dummies LP is a perfect knockout punch of early '80s-influenced-oldschool-energy-meets-contemporary-garage-punk goodness packing an extra punch due to the always excellent production duties of garage prodigy Erik Nervous, of whom we're gonna hear again this week. While the Hüsker Dü-referencing title and artwork feel kinda goofy at first glance, they're also not entirely out of place as these songs conjure up a fury not entirely dissimilar to the Dü in their prime but similar things could be said of early Naked Raygun, Adolescents, an occasional hint of Bad Brains or a touch of Dickies in their catchiest moments. Every fucking song on here is a simple and precise, premeditated hit in the guts, their incredible song wizardry never failing to land even once.
A strong demo by this Toronto group has four delicious no-frills bangers in store for us located roughly on the intersection of garage punk and postcore, having some Hot Snakes energy to them and a similar vibe to the early works of Video and Teenanger in addition to straightforward punk acts such as Ascot Stabber, Flowers Of Evil, Piss Test as well as a more eccentric breed of garage-meets-hardcore acts á la Launcher and Mystic Inane. Music to my ears!
An unexpected new EP of the fabulous Red Dons, whose mastermind Daniel Husayn apparently has, in recent years, been mostly busy with mastering great tunes rather than playing and recording such. So now here we have the first new material in close to six years of the originally Portland-based group . It's among their most solemn, moody and quiet stuff so far and the gamble pays off just admirably thanks to their unwavering songwriting excellence, an unbending performance and that certain harmonic sensibility that is very much their own.
On this record, every new song kinda reminds me of a different bunch of groups which is great really, many of those being australian which is also rarely a bad sign! The opening track, for example contains echoes of The Estranged, Red Dons, Xetas, Civic, a touch of Saints and Birdman. True Method has the sleazy rockin' qualities of Golden Pelicans and something else i can't really put my finger on right now. Throttle has some dumb straight-ahead Feedtime energy to it and the subsequent stretch of songs then has straightforward garage punk á la Ex-Cult, Sauna Youth blending into more melodic garage and power pop shit á la Radioacticity, Bad Sports, Mind Spiders, Bed Wettin' Bad Boys. Potential to Ride shares a similar vibe with psychedelically inclined post punk acts á la Public Eye, Waste Man or Marbled Eye. Finally, the two closing tracks remind me of the simple, undiluted impact of australian powerhouses Split System, Polute, Jackson Reid Briggs and the Heaters. All of this is grounded in unfailing, confident songcraft and compacted into an incredibly tight, certified all-killer LP.
