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.
Another beauty from italian powerhouse label Goodbye Boozy Records. You might remember Buenos Aires group repulsion switch from their 2019 demo and a bunch of EPs they put out since then. Here, we've got easily their strongest batch of tracks so far of their refreshingly simple yet equally explosive, garage-flavored oldschool hardcore sound. Another known quantity here at 12XU headquarters is synth punk guru Klint from Schleswig, Germany who takes charge of side b here with his usual workmanlike precision, curious experimantation and a new couple of tunes mostly on the rougher edge of the spectrum, perfectly complementing the RS tracks.
Funny what a few years of eggpunk-related insanity do to your brain. When Channel 83's previous EP dropped in 2019, i considered this shit to be pretty far out there and totally bonkers while in '23, i can't help but think they fit right in with the current wave of quirky synthpunk acts. I don't consider that a bad thing at all though. These new songs rip!
A whole barrage of digital singles in recent weeks already appeared to foreshadow a new record by the London, Ontario group and indeed here it is, their second LP in all its glory, carrying an excellent new batch of their quite distinct, catchy as hell, always slightly off-kilter and quirky genre mixture containing elements of garage-, post- and synth punk, space- and psychedelic rock. You might compare some bits and pieces here to such groups as Pow!, Useless Eaters and of course the recent collaboration Telegenic Pleasures which also features some of the band members at work here - at this point though, i'd say they're pretty much carved out their own, instantly recognizable little niche.
It's been a whopping five years since we last heard of this Los Angeles group. Their first LP (duh!) is a bit heavier on the hardcore- and garage punk side of things after their older shit had been leaning stronger into its synth-/electro punk tendencies. Those relentlessly brutal electric beats are still front and center here though, giving especially the epic opening shot Open World kind of an industrial-tinged, cursed Ausmuteants-meet-Big Black vibe… with additional overtones of Crisis Man maybe?
Over the course of the past year or two, San Antonio, Texas group Sex Mex have proven to be a reliable bet with their knack for catchy garage-/synth punk and fuzz pop tunes. Their newest batch doesn't disappoint either, delivering a pop goodness highly indebted, among other things, to the more melodic end of the Reatard-related universe, Lost Sounds being the most obvious comparison here but also newer shit á la The Gobs, Witch Piss or Ghoulies wouldn't be too far off.
Along the way in eggpunk's unstoppable crawl towards world domination Istanbul, Turkey is the newest place to join the revolution! Goblin Daycare are dropping their own three cents in the basket with this exquisite batch of catchy as fuck garage- and synth punk smashers in a vein not entirely dissimilar to - and every bit as good as - powerhouse acts such as Nuts, Set-Top Box, Ghoulies or Slimex.
Not a Warttman release but still a pleasantly familiar sound of mildly egg- and electrified garage punk perpetrated by some of the usual suspects who also gave us the likes of Research Reactor Corp., Satanic Togas and The Gobs. Twelve restless caffeine pills you might compare to any of these bands, but which also wouldn't seem out of place next to groups á la S.B.F., Cosas Ilegales, Witch Piss or Ghoulies.
