Their third LP - once again released via the tastefully named label 12XU Records (which i'm totally not involved with, i promise!) - presents Austin punks Xetas' sound in its most mature incarnation yet, most noticeable in terms of its more confident, varied and always rock solid songcraft. Still riding the fine line between straightforward punk rock and energetic post punk/-core, with the needle pointing a bit more in the latter direction this time, you might describe this shit as a curious mix between Red Dons, Video, Meat Wave and Daylight Robbery. In other words: Quality Stuff!
On their recent 7" via Iron Lung, Oakland's Shrinkwrap Killers blow a pretty little hole in your speakers by way of a flawless one-two punch made up of fuzzy, melodic garage punk and bearing some similarity to The Stalins Of Sounds, S.B.F. or Kid Chrome. Nuff said.
Whoa… didn't really expect to hear from those Minneapolis folks again, as five years have already passed since their strong debut EP. On their first long player we get more of that stuff - times 10, thanks to noticeably refined songcraft and forceful performances. This is plain old unpretentious, melodic Punkrock with a clear early 90's bent at its very best. Kinda like a Fusion of Daylight Robbery and Superchunk, but you might also hear some Echoes of Jawbreaker, Samiam, even a very slight trace of Leatherface every now and then…
No rocket science on Chubby & The Gang's debut album, just the plain old melodic punk rock schtick. But boy, is that some really fucking good stuff. '77 catchyness is injected with loads of hardcore energy and given a rough garage surface. Kinda like Booji Boys recorded in high fidelity.
Moist Boy from New Bedford, Massachusetts are one of the rare cases in which a band comes somewhat close to what you could call pop punk without immediately pissing me off. But for me, that's having most to do with incredibly low standards in that particular genre rather than an aversion to simple, straightforward melodies. Pop punk bands just tend to fuck up even the most basic, fundamental components of decent punk rock. Moist Boy don't suck in the slightest and that's thanks to first rate songwriting abilities, an adequately tight and punchy performance and - to counter the sweet catchyness of their melodies - a distinct garage edge as well as some rather dark lyrical content. Quality stuff throughout and required listening if you appreciate bands like Cheap Whine, Dark Thoughts, Steve Adamyk Band… maybe even The Marked Men!
