New Jersey garage freak Reckless Randy first came into my sight with 2022’s neat self-titled debut LP and has since then released another strong EP. On this new (mini-)LP he once again ups the game considerably for what is hands down his most fully realized record to date as is best exemplified by the couple of tracks already known from previous releases, being given a thorough makeover and adding lots of punch on this one. An invigorating caffeine boost of super catchy garage- and synth punk alternating somewhere inbetween the sonics of the classic The Spits school, Die TV (who previously also played the drums on Randy’s records, it appears), Sick Thoughts, Buck Bilixi and Kid Chrome.
What’s there left to say about, like, the only german-language band that matters right now pretty much? The guilty conscience of german DIY punk has released yet another batch of excellent and excentric new tracks in their one-of-a-kind fusion of equally pissed and quirky post-, garage- and synth punk, unceremoniously dumped on Bandcamp as has always kinda been their modus operandi, but also slated for a vinyl release via Phantom Records pretty fucking soon™.
The second EP by Berlin duo Lohn Der Angst is pretty much a seamless continuation, if gradually refined, of what we’ve heard on their first cassette already which is a glorious celebration of repetitive synth punk that on one hand distills the core ingredients of Screamers, Units, Visitors, Nervous Gender, Minimal Man or the unavoidable DAF down to their bones, while also having a constant kraut-y motorik foundation to them over which the spirit of Conny Plank looms large, all of it consolidating into some weird sort of alternate-universe krautrock Suicide.
There are those kinds of bands lacking a rigid quality control and those that don’t, wisely leaving the lesser takes on the cutting room floor. And then there’s that rare third kind that’s seemingly not in need of any amount of quality control ‘cos pretty much anything they create seems to turn into instant gold. This new collection of unreleased shit that accumulated in the trash bin of formerly Orlando-, now apparently Portland-based garage-/synth-/eggpunk institution Cherry Cheeks makes a thorougly convincing case for them belonging into that latter category as even the scraps, odds and ends they came up with so far are the kind of material other groups should be jealous for really, making for an admittedly weirder, more cluttered and fragmented but by no means less thrilling and energizing listening experience!
This group from Newcastle, Australia delivers five first-rate new blows of electrically driven, vaguely egg-ish and noisy high-energy garage punk shit on their first EP, sure to evoke a nervous twitch or two in those already familiar with such phenomena like S.B.F., Kerozine, Factory City Children, Witch Piss, Cthtr, Feeding Tube, The Gobs or Liquid Face… ‘cos this shit is every bit as good.
Two young dutch garage punk upstarts who’ve already proven their potency over the past year-and-change join forces on this neat little split EP. Haarlem troublemakers Achterlicht give us two more of their rather quirky egg-ish synth punk goodness only for Utrecht’s No Brains to easily one-up them in terms of energy, exchanging some of the previous LP’s eighties Naked Raygun-style riffing for a more abrasive garage punk vibe which i think suits them perfectly here.
This is some top-notch, stimulating new shit on the full-length debut of this Raleigh, North Carolina group, hovering somewhere around the rough coordinates of noise-infused post-, garage- and synth Punk. Grim and furious throughout but nonetheless filled to the brim with catchy hooks, this stuff positively reminds me of such respectable forces as Freak Genes, Isotope Soap, Broken Prayer, Powerplant, Kerozine, Cthtr, Beef and S.B.F..
Yup, it’s yet another Gobs EP doing exactly what a Gobs EP is supposed to do. Quirky garage-, fuzz- and synth punk bliss obscured by a thick veil of buzz, noise and perfect Lo-Fi production values, never lacking in terms of catchy hooks and melodies. As i said, it’s the fucking Gobs alright.
I gotta say it’s been an exceptionally fun and joyful ride so far tracking Billiam’s progress gradually morphing from a scrappy-yet-charming eggpunk also-ran into the mighty garage-/synth punk force we know him as today, as he’s only been growing and evolving his sound with every new release, a trend that continues with his newest LP. Not only is this arguably the most densely packed with catchy hooks of all his releases so far, but also the tightest he’s ever sounded with his tunes and arrangements having reached a whole new level of sophistication, elegance and stylistic variety in a relentless nonstop onslaught of viciously contagious earworms.
The two preceding digital Singles TV DVD and Frontier Days sure did a great job at making me eager to finally hear the debut EP by this group from… somewhere and it turns out these tracks aren’t even the strongest this record has to offer! Granted, the egg-ish post punk of the former and the psychedelic garage stylings of the latter still very much hold their own but are certainly just a slight notch below the fluffy power-/fuzz pop of Time To Spare, the catchy garage punk propulsion of Funny Feeling and the sparkling, melancholy Lost Sounds-isms of the closing tune Suggestions. Yup, every song on this is a fucking hit.
