Three incredible tracks dumped on bandcamp over the course of the past one-and-a-half years made us hungry for more tunes of this Melbourne group and i'm pleased to say that this new probably-not-quite-an-LP's worth material (including the aforementioned singles) fulfills all of the pretty high expectations. What Steröid do to eighties Metal, this group pulls off with regards to '70s hard-, southern rock, a couple of other dad rock-ish vibes and transforms it into an only slightly egg-ish, maximally fuzzed-out aesthetic of ultra-catchy garage punk and power pop with an unusual knack for infectious guitar leads - a glorious non-stop barrage of captivating riffs, resilient hooks and stubborn earworms, in an unlikely way combining some of the traits of, say, Sheer Mag's early EPs and more recent shit by Satanic Togas.
The californian label Grime Stone Records has long been way ahead of the curve when it comes to the more quirky ends of blackened- and dungeon punk releases and even if the musical merits of the bands and projects featured didn't always manage to keep up with their lofty ambitions, these folks have also brought us some undeniable contemporary classics by the likes of Bloody Keep and Drýsildjöfull. The newest cassette by Curta'n Wall is yet another strong contender for the latter category, being a prime example of the more playful and egg-ish - though also in a way quite traditionally dungeon synth-inspired - end of the genre spectrum, drawing on some of the strongest tunes in their already quite prolific discography as a rock-solid basis for their insane sonic escapades while toning down some of the cheesiest (previously often unbearably so) aspects of their sound just enough to hit a certain sweet spot with me. While parts of their previous work have struck me as more novelty than substance, this record has finally grown a healthy amount of real meat around its bones.
One of the things i absolutely adore about the ongoing egg punk explosion is what an incredibly international affair the whole thing has grown into over time and the most recent case in point would be this group from Chengdu, China playing a quirky and synth-heavy addition to the genre, bearing particular similarities to such groups as Italy's Prison Affair, the United States' Beer, Ukraine's Завірюга, Turkey's Goblin Daycare, Israel's Paulo Vicious, Australia's The Gobs, Germany's Egg Idiot and Brazil's Cool Sorcery among many others.
That Evinspragg record has garnered the most publicity of the newest Inscrutable Records batch for several reasons, some of them justifiable, others more annoyingly drama-related. But to be perfectly honest, that one is a bit too ambitious for its own good in my humble opinion and a bit of a mixed bag which starts out incredibly strong, then kinda fizzles out towards the end and i actually feel much more drawn towards the label's other two releases among which is this full-length debut by Johnny Skin. On it, they create a dreamy, melancholy and super-catchy melange blending the yearning vibe of '50s-'60s bubblegum pop ballads with rudimetary, minimalist lo-fi vintage electronic drum beats and synths in a fashion that's gonna draw inevitable comparisons to Suicide and Métal Urbain, interspersed with a bunch of more noisy and dissonant no wave-ish tunes more in the vein of noisy synth punk pioneers á la Primitive Calculators or Nervous Gender and the experimental, psychedelic sounds of Theoretical Girls, Chrome or MX-80.
Another kickass Painter's Tape by yet another Detroit garage group excelling in a moderately egg-ish take on more-or-less contemporary Garage- and Synth Punk that, once you made it past the cheesy intro, doesn't sound very cute at all and much darker than expected with a distinct post punk-ish feel to tracks like Paranoia and quite a bit of stylistic freedom and flexibility reminding me at different points of such groups as S.B.F., Ghoulies, Spits, Stalins Of Sound, Kid Chrome, Lost Sounds, Mind Spiders, Sex Mex, Exit Mould, The Gobs, Broken Prayer and Kerozine.
This Milan, Italy group has already made some smaller ripples in the garage punk scene with a constant drip of singles and EPs starting in 2022, but i'm gonna say they're really coming into their own on their newest EP on which they streamline the old records' comparatively blunt force into a more compact and wieldy vision overall, their high-impact garage-/synth punk mixture holding an ultra-stable balance of catchyness and relentless propulsion while still leaving plenty of room for experimentation and general weirdness, most notable here being the title track which may qualify as a contender for the most unhinged Village People cover tune ever, transferring that old sock about touching and feeling everyone's bodies into a kind of sonic insanity that reminds me more than just a little of the early works of Skull Cult.
Here's a new short-playing dose of madness from that Lansing, Michigan one-man-band and who would have guessed - it's yet another delightful attack of chaotic synth-/electro-/sample punk so blown-out within an inch of its life it leaves me wonderin' whether i'm hearing a guitar or just a mutilated synth in the opening track. Thus, high quality new fodder for friends of other disconcerting noises á la Beef, ISS, Heavy Metal, Klint, Spyroids, R. Clown or Kerozine.
The artwork appears to not very subtly hint at a dungeon-related thing and this almost sounds plausible with the riff-heavy opening track, though after that, the spanish group's newest EP settles into that familiar sound of dreamy, egg-ish noise pop and synthpunk we all know and love them for, albeit with a few unexpected nuances like the aformentioned opening, occasional emo-ish sprinkles, some hints at straightforward, classic indie rock and moments channeling some C86-by-way-of-early shoegaze kind of aesthetic in El Valle De La Muerte and the closing track Sesos En Bandeja.
These New Yorkers' new longplaying cassette is quite a stunner, showing incredible growth from its already thorougly enjoyable predecessor, 2022's Fancy! EP. While that one still had a kinda cute power pop and new wave-ish quality to itself, this one manages to come across as simultaneously more abstract and more mature. Less Television Personalities and more eighties The Fall in its minimalism and repetition, yet at all times feeling very deliberately put together, this further channels the aesthetic traits of old british DIY á la Desperate Bicycles, Membranes, Swell Maps or early Mekons, while a thick load-bearing layer of melancholy interconnects some of the album's most memorable tunes and reminds me quite a bit of a certain strain of aussie groups like Wireheads, Kitchen's Floor and the more downbeat moments of Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Another decent reference point would be yet another not-so-famous famous group - Philadelphia's Famous Mammals - along with a number of other US-based shambolic post- and art punk acts like Society, Germ House, Spiral Rash and Toe Ring.
On their debut cassette carrying the quality seal of the ever-reliable Detroit label Painters Tapes, what this Ohio group pulls off here is nothing short of some top-notch weapons-grade guitar-less synth punk excellence that kinda bridges the gap between oldschool '70s-'80s acts like Nervous Gender, Units, Visitors and Screamers on one hand and some more recent, varyingly egg-ish groups running the gamut from the unpredictable, hyperactive approach of, say, Checkpoint, Titanium Exposé, Pressure Pin to the more minimalist attacks of Beef, Busted Head Racket and some shit right inbetween those worlds like Quitter, Slimex, Isotope Soap, earlier Freak Genes or Billiam's synth punk project NTSC>PAL.
