An impeccable run of catchy-as-fuck melodic garage- and synth punk tunes on this neat cassette by a group of unknown origin. This has more than just a little of a Lost Sounds vibe to it with further bits and pieces evoking such goodness as Stalins Of Sounds, Teledrome, Kid Chrome, Sex Mex, Jean Mignon and Silicone Values.
Our weekly taste of catchy & funky, egg-related Lo-Fi garage-/synth punk weirdness comes courtesy of some Melbourne dude or group and might be compared in only the most fovorable fashion to the likes of Prison Affair, Nuts, Set-Top Box and Beer. Love it!
On their kickass debut LP, Hamburg group Night Punch present a tight-as-fuck melange of slightly goth-leaning, horror-themed garage-, synth- and post punk that sometimes cranks its tempo up into hardcore spheres, other times being reminiscent of a basic Spits formula spiked with plenty of surprises and unexpected flourishes for an overall equally quirky and dark aesthetic which is sure to please dark punk-, death rock- and dungeon aficinados all the same. Further possible references would be a number of garage- and synth punk acts like The Gobs, Liquid Face, Shrinkwrap Killers, Broken Prayer, Droids Blood, Isotope Soap, the unfiltered thrust of Exwhite, maybe even a hint of Acrylics in the rougher patches.
Though largely reflecting on current themes of our society being overwhelmed with the tribulations and challenges our ever changing hi-tech world keeps throwing at us, the sounds on this NYC artist’s most recent cassette feels more like a flashback to the abrasive, confrontational early days of late ’70s / early ’80s synth- and electro punk, noise and power electronics experimentation in the vein of shit á la Primitive Calculators, Nervous Gender, Screamers, Units or Minimal Man – a noisy bastard more concerned with overwhelming the senses than with nuance or finesse while still coming across surprisingly catchy and hypnotic most of the time.
A strong package of catchy weirdo synth punk tunes by that group from Newcastle, Australia who made a great impression already with their songs on a split EP with Cologne’s Teo Wise. Its two songs are featured here aswell, in significantly more crunchy recordings – a delightful mid-fi aesthetic somewhat reminiscent of, say, early Nots, Slimex, Toe Ring, Daughter Bat and the Lip Stings.
The LA group’s second EP via Popular Affliction Records considerably ups their game with a strong bundle of new tunes while staying largely true to their previous sound, applying a curious synthpunk spin to a rough style of garage punk not dissimilar to the likes of Freakees, Launcher, Liposuction and Liquid Assets.
Lately it appears as if barely ever a couple of weeks go by without a new release by synth punk sensation Klint from Schleswig, Germany. No introductions necessary at this point i guess! Following the pretty rough split EP with Repulsion Switch, here we get another strong batch of tunes predominantly on the rather catchy, often viciously danceable end of the spectrum.
It took a couple years to materialize but here it finally is, the first LP by some dude of unclear whereabouts who previously sparked our curiosity with a kickass 7″ also on Iron Lung Records in 2019. The full length debut is everything you could have hoped for in a new batch of kinda Devo-fied, whimsical, deliciously insane garage-/synth-/eggpunk malfunctions, spicing things up with a slight touch of Television guitar leads and solos added to an overall mixture whose rough parameters also kinda reflect a bunch of more recent phenomena vaguely in the Snooper, Useless Eaters, Alien Nosejob, Set-Top Box, Mononegatives or R.M.F.C. ballpark.
Oakland’s Shrinkwrap Killers, whose prior output always struck me as a bit one-note and hit-and-miss, easily deliver their strongest and most versatile set of new tunes so far on their second LP on Iron Lung Records. This is an eerily familiar mix of sounds and influences which i might describe as simple and accurate as a horror/sci-fi/dystopia themed mashup of Lost Sounds, Spits and Stalins of Sound. Well… for me, it works just fine!
A neat split release via Berlin’s order05records. The opening track by Atlanta post punk institution Nag surprises with some synth-equipped psychedelic vibes á la Mononegatives or some later stuff by Useless Eaters, while detonating another charge of their rough and abrasive sound we’ve come to know and love in the other song. On the flipside then, Italy’s Astio complement the sonic assault with a slightly more conventional but no less classy, mature make of moderately melodic oldschool post punk energy, the kind we’ve heard before from the likes of Criminal Code, Sievehead or, more recently, Pyrex, Body Maintenance or Schedule 1.