Having already released a whole ass full of nifty EPs and splits neatly fitting in with much of the the current eggpunk mold, their previous one recently marked a notable departure into a rougher, fuzzed-out aesthetic form. The newest release by this group based in Rome, Italy feels like a successful integration of both tendencies, sharing a similar quality to weirdo tunes by the likes of Die TV, Electric Prawns 2, Temporary Curse and recent Erik Nervous.
The debut tape via Goodbye Boozy of this Haarlem, Netherlands group is yet another quality release of egg-adjacent, unwieldy garage punk chaos that kinda sounds like a synth-infused Uranium Club in its more streamlined and restrained moments while at other points reaching a level of weirdness akin to infamous garage punk bafflers and headscratchers á la Checkpoint, Pressure Pin, Liquid Face, Skull Cult and Belly Jelly.
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This second EP by an Austin group consisting of, quite possibly, fully imaginary members save for some lone dude in his bedroom, hits all the right pain- and pleasure points of the nervous system with three burning dumpsters worth of primitive and raw-as-fuck three-chord garage- and fuzz punk behaving just about demented enough to please demanding connoisseurs of other stupid fucking shit á la Buck Biloxi, ISIS or Giorgio Murderer. Love it.
I liked what i heard earlier this year on a neat split EP this Providence, Rhode Island duo (?) did with, well... themselves mostly, under the Cindy alias. This new two-track single has more of that same goodness, opening with a perfectly competent Nerves cover and concluding with an original tune carrying some catchy vibes not entirely dissimilar to the likes of R.M.F.C., Billiam, Gonk, Shrudd, Music for Microwaves or Liquid Lunch.
The third EP of this Stockholm group makes an excellent impression with its moderately eccentric and quite varied mix of garage-, post-, synth- and art punk of the somewhat Devo-ish variety that simply delivers the goods, among which is a quirky chaos akin to the likes of Skull Cult and Belly Jelly, the eighties synth punk flashbacks of more recent Isotope Soap, some psychedelia á la Mononegatives and the unpredictability of Pressure Pin. Also quite the surprise is that bonus remix of the thumping closing track Wendy Got Balls, radiating tons of a retro eighties 12" disco edit vibe.
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Horror-/dungeon-themed Garage Punk from Houston. Blown-out, smelly and abrasive, this shit strikes me as a mix of early Strange Attractor, Neo Neos, Lumpy & The Dumpers, Stinkhole and Research Reactor Corp. What the fuck's not to like about such a proposition? I'd much rather listen to that than whatever shit you're listening to.
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New shit by Midgee? Awesome, i'll have two. Wait what, it also has new tunes by Electric Prawns 2? Just shut up and take my money! Melbourne's Midgee once again prove to be a safe bet for fans of quirky synth-/garage-/eggpunk goodness in the vein of Prison Affair, Nuts, Set-Top Box or Beer. Quite a bit more ambitious and varied then are the four tunes by Moffat Beach garage sensation Electric Prawns 2, although on this one they mostly act on the sunnier side of their musical spectrum in a set of compact and catchy-as-hell smashers that exhibit many of the virtues of recent Billiam or Alien Nosejob.
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This exquisitely butt-whooping debut album by Austin, Texas dude Bryan Alchamaa aka Outside View has a whole 15-song all-killer-no-filler package of catchy, partly synth-enhanced and just slightly '77-leaning garage tunes in store for us of which some kinda resemble the straightforward simplicity of Buck Biloxi, The Spits, Bart and the Brats, while others channel the sparkling hymns by the likes of Why Bother?, Deletions, Digital Leather and Lost Sounds.
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To me, previous releases of Mason City, Iowa's Why Bother? have usually been a somewhat hit-and-miss kind of affair, although the undeniable highlights no doubt made up for any instance in which the songwriting was just a tad too undercooked or the performance just didn't quite spark. Over time their hits-to-duds ratio has certainly improved though and their newest offering is hands down their strongest set of new catchy-as-fuck tunes so far, as usual melting strikingly simple '77 vibes, scraps of power pop and plenty of contemporary garage- and synth punk into an impressive succession of unstoppable hooks and melodies with quite a bit of stylictic breadth.
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This neat new tape by a Los Angeles group has some deliciously noisy and hyperactive synth-/electro punk for us that transports some vague feel of the genre's '70s/'80s classics while exact matches with any of those seem kinda elusive, although i'd say Primitive Calculators and Nervous Gender are reasonably close comparisons. Above that, you may draw similarly diffuse connections to recent groups, with certain moments, bits and pieces evoking a bunch of acts as diverse as Lost Packages, ISS, Spyroids, Skull Cult and Freak Genes, plus just a bit of hybrid garage-/post punk á la Tyvek and Shark Toys in more guitar-centered tracks like Ford Branca.
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